Personal and Business Growth
Have you ever been at a smorgasbord, and gazed at the vast array of food in front of you in anticipation, not quite sure where to begin?
Maybe you headed straight for what was familiar to you, relaxing into the tastes you recognise and love.
Or perhaps, presented with the opportunity to try something new, you’ve leapt in and experienced fresh flavours and dishes, taking a wee sampling of many things on the table.
This experimentation may have introduced you to something new and exciting that will forever change the way you eat going forward…
There’s even a chance you may have eaten more than you intended, tempted by all the options and regretted it afterwards!
The same is true of business events and conferences you attend.
When you select and then attend an event for you and your business, you might find yourself staying in your comfort zone, simply reinforcing what you already know, or choosing to gently extend and deepen your knowledge in that area.
Or you may take a giant leap into a brand new arena, feeling uncomfortably far out on a learning limb.
And mostly, you’ll fall somewhere between those two, as I did at the recent Shine Live Event.
So how do you make sure you leave the table so to speak, satiated, nourished and even hungry for more?
It starts with self-awareness – what do you want and need?
Self-awareness is your superpower. All change begins with the shift from non-awareness to awareness (then comes the willingness to change – but let’s assume for now, that you have that baked into Your Next Chapter core!).
So when you sit down to plan your new year, deciding what skills you want to improve or gain that will contribute to your growth goals needs to be a part of that planning process (I have some great resources soon to be available for just that, stay tuned)
For example, late last year I decided I needed
To improve my writing
So I enrolled in the wonderful (but demanding, so beware!) Article Writing Course by Sean D’Souza from Psychotactics. By the way, I also interviewed Sean in the Business Visibility Podcast Series – you can read the episode overview and listen in here if this is one of your growth goals too.
To improve my Public Speaking
So I’m attending the Speakers Bootcamp with Sam Cawthorn this weekend (and so is one of my lovely Mastermind Clients, flying in from Adelaide to stay with me first – I’m so lucky to have clients I adore so much they’re welcome in my home anytime!)
To receive a boost of inspiration
And so I booked into Shine Live and jumped on a plane for an adventure.
These were in addition to the across the year, consistent support and accountability I receive in my own Business Mastermind Group.
What will be in your list?
Ask yourself these questions
- What am I looking to achieve, advance or enhance?
- Personally?
- Professionally?
- Something to close a skill gap?
- To inspire or uplift me?
- To assist with networking and collaboration?
- And why do I want these?
Give these questions deep thought before you begin to look around and find what events or experiences can deliver the results you’re seeking. You’ll likely find you have Primary and Secondary growth goals.
The Business Goals Dance
There were so many speakers and workshops at Shine Live I could have been buried in content, had I lost sight of why I was there. But I was ok because of the Goals Dance.
I believe there’s a dance you need to do at events like this to ensure you don’t hit overwhelm.
You need to stay aware of what you most want to walk away with, as this switches on your Reticular Activating System and that means the most relevant content POPS for you. You also need to stay open to your second and third level goals too, so solutions aligned with those goals pop as well.
I was primarily there for inspiration. Specifically, I wanted to develop an Umbrella Mission Statement that would provide me with guidance for the new year. From that would flow my core Umbrella Goals for 2019 (something I always have my Mastermind clients commit to).
That finally dropped in on Day Three of a three-day event, during a Spoken Word Poetry session by a young man, not quite what and where I was expecting it to come from!
I also had those secondary growth goals for the event that cascaded from my Umbrella Goals for the year – one of which was to improve my writing. So when faced with the array of workshop options, the Content Empire Workshop was the key one I chose to attend at the event, and the one I took ample notes on and have an implementation plan for now that I’m back home again.
This Primary and Secondary Growth Goals clarity can help you to dance around the “Bright Shiny Options” syndrome that has hamstrung many an enthusiastic businesswoman.
Please understand though, I am not by any means saying be rigid. We all need to try out a new dance sometimes. But you know what it’s like to try and learn and implement “all the things”. That’s not fun. And it’s seldom the path to progress.
So, get clear on your primary and secondary outcomes, docey doe between the two and be open to learning something new. Hold your expectations loosely and stay open to the how, because sometimes the outcomes you seek turn up in unexpected ways that you can only appreciate with the benefit of kindsight.
What else did I learn that I can share with you?
Snippets of wisdom from the Shine Speakers…
- Exceptionally successful people have exceptional clarity of Vision, Mission and Goals and consistency of Action, taking 100% responsibility for their lives
- Use your GPS – your Goal Producing System
- Ask yourself, what would it take to (insert desire here) in the next 12 months?
Jen Sencar
- Change your thoughts from “I can’t” to “How can I”?
- Never use the phrase one day. Instead, make today your Day One.
- Consistently leave your comfort zone to grow
- Motivation is temporary, but motive is permanent
- Don’t try to leap forward. Creep forward. Momentum is powerful.
Teagan Adams
- Happiness is based on happenings – fleeting ad external. It comes and goes. But joy. Joy is a permanent possession. An internal presence. It has the power to sustain you through the challenges. It remains even in the suffering. It has the power to propel you. Choose joy.
Natasha Hemmingway
- Your life is not a freeway with on and off ramps that you can miss. Neither is your business. Don’t put that pressure on yourself.
- Rather, consider it a garden. Explore it and enjoy it, knowing that when you are finished with one bloom, know there are many others still waiting for you.
- Think of an Oak Tree. What’s above mirrors what’s below. The root system anchors and nourishes the tree. What’s anchoring you?
Donna Brown
- If you want to create an event consider the core of that experience for your attendee – think, what does a fabulous event provide my audience and how can I create that, not “How can I create a great event
- “I feel you” – inspiration, “I got you” – Ideation, “Let’s do this” – Creation
Giselle Morell Marin
- “Sales is the transfer of enthusiasm”
Julie Fairhurst
And some of my own realisations:
- If you are suffering from regular visits into the Comparison Trap Territory, it’s most likely because you have yet to anchor yourself into your own clear Mission. You’re yet to articulate it in a way that directs your actions. You can’t climb a metaphorical mountain. You have to make your vision tangible.
- Clarity may be eluding you because you still think there is a right way to do things. An acceptable way, A sure-fire path to “success” way. There’s not. There’s only the right way for you
- I believe when we can enter into the second half of life fuelled by purpose, meaning and contribution, we age so much better, physically, emotionally and spiritually.
- When you commit to completing the story of becoming the woman you were always meant to be before life, circumstances, fear, routine, paradigms and responsibilities side-tracked you and your potential, your energy and passion reappear. Turn the page.
- I can see and understand my fear… that I have just a little idea. That it’s nothing unique. Nothing that hasn’t been said before. That it lacks depth and momentum. When fear of that flavour comes up for you anchor yourself in this truth. Only your judgment matters. Only your opinion matters. You’ve moved way past the need for approval. Just sing.
So there you go. The tip of the Insight Iceberg from my latest adventures. More are still landing, and it’s up to me to mine them and to make the time in my diary to extend and implement the ones that align with my newly found Umbrella Mission.
I trust these observations are helpful and that you can approach this aspect of your Years End Planning with a new perspective on what you want to learn and experience in 2019.
I’d love to hear what comes up for you!
