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smart repetition achieves better results

I’ve been hooked into my own 2014 planning and goals over the last few weeks as you know, but I’ve had these two sayings running around my head:

“Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”

“If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you always got.”

Now, you also know I like a gooooooood stretch and that I’m one for working hard until you crack something. Both sayings suggest getting stuck in a loop, doing the same thing on repeat, getting identical outcomes, unable to move towards your goal. These sayings seem to contradict my mantra of “stretch your life”, which is about moving towards your goals through doing new things AND being persistence in your efforts. Aaaahhh, that’s why they’re bothering me.

I want to propose an alternative interpretation. To achieve the life, career, business or health you want, often there is no “do it once” fix all solution. Rather your achievement is a series of steps. You will need to work hard at each step until you achieve your better results. This could be through simple, identical repetition or by trying the step in different ways, seeking out the approach that works for you.

For example if you’re a career changer, you might send your CV off to numerous job adverts. That’s one method to getting a new job and it can work. This is where the sayings come into play. You might get different results from different applications – “come to interview” vs. “no thank you” responses – but would you use just this one approach over and over again until you land your dream job?

No. More than likely you might also use online tools like LinkedIn or about.me to promote your skills and experiences to the market. Perhaps you’d attend networking events through your professional body or meetup.com to get known by people doing what you want to do. Or join a class to build or refresh your capabilities. Similarly, life, health or business changers need to blend their approaches and be diligence in their efforts to maximise their results.

In summary, added stretch and change to your life is a combination of knowing what you want, recognising when to do the same thing again or when to do something different to improve the results you’re getting AND a passionate dedication to achieving your goals.

I’m starting 2014 practicing what I preach by changing up my knee rehab. The turbo trainer sessions require more repeats to perfect my muscles (can’t tell you how good being back on a bike feels!) and I’ve switch to dry needling with the lovely Hayden at Physio in the City, from soft tissue massage on my leg. As a complete “pass out at the sight of a needle”-phobic, this is really big for me! Session one went well, even if I did do some funny breathing! The results? 4 tiny fingerprint bruises and zero pain! Wahooo!

How are you doing the same things and the different things to achieve your goals, ambitions and dreams? Inspire us in the comments or over on Facebook.

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Get ready for your new year: Activate 2014

Yes the time is here – 2013 is nearly over and your final worksheet in your 4 part review, analyse, prioritise and action plan for your amazing year ahead is now available!

Take time to remove any possibility of overwhelm and manage out risk by chunking up in this worksheet. Then you’ll map out your methods for tackling challenges and hiccups before hitting your diary or my lovely planners to schedule your year as an action plan.

Download the full series here:

And 3 additional bonus downloads: a month, week and day planner to support you throughout 2014 in achieving and hopefully, exceeding your goals, dreams and expectations for the year. Obviously, they do “what they say on the can” – they let you plan out your goals across time plus they frame some useful additional questions to really give you a boost!

I’m so excited for you and your 2014 – I’d love to hear how using these worksheets has enabled you to gain clarity, understanding and drive for your new year’s goals and aspirations. Hold yourself to account in the comments – what are you going to do in 2014 and by when?

P.S. don’t forget to share the worksheets with others, use this clever little link for ease 🙂

 

 

 

 

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Get ready for your new year: Prioritise 2013

How are your Christmas preparations coming along? Here’s mine: decide what to bake for my family, go to the market, bake cookies, brownies, cheesy scones, yummy nutty mushroom loafs (2 of those) and Christmas muffins then wrap presents, do the laundry, change the beds, pack bags and if we get chance put up the tree! Oh the glamour! And fit in time with my girlfriend to get our nails done (aka gossip time) and birthday lunch with my boy! 🙂

Sound familiar? Lots to get done, yet not much time to do it? Prioritisation is the only way – but how? By chronology? By your level of desire? By ease? (or difficulty?). Hmmm tricky.

Worksheet 3 “Prioritise 2014” will help you do just that for your 2014 goals by developing your outputs in the first two worksheets (Say what? Not downloaded them? You can play catch up here: Goodbye 2013 and Decode 2013). Inside you’ll find exercises to playfully stretch your 2014 aspirations and a chance to layer on a spot of reality before working to building and aligning your goals to your values and beliefs. To wrap it all up, you’ll prioritise your goals.

Download your copy here: Get ready for your new year: Prioritise 2014

I’d love for you to share one of your goals in the comments and how you’re feeling about starting 2014? “Activate 2014” will be out on 26th December – b-mail subscribers get it first, so sign-up in the little green box (top right on browsers) to ensure it lands safely in your inbox!

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Get ready for your new year: Decode 2013

Time for the second part of our 4 part debriefing and planning process to ensure your 2014 meets your hopes and ambitions. Were you able to take that little bit of “me time” to reflect fondly on how 2013 has been for you? If that slot hasn’t come up yet – schedule it now, along with time to do the second worksheet. You can download worksheet 1 – “Goodbye 2013” below in the bullet list.

To recap the full series, the 4 worksheets are:

Your cheesy grin inducing and tear jerking review of 2013 in worksheet 1 provides you with the raw data to now decode in this week’s worksheet. In this one, you’ll find a set of exercises to unpick, demystify and analyse 2013, as well as start to contrast it with your 2014 aspirations.

Download your worksheet here: Get_ready_for_your_new_year_Decode_2013

By the end of this wondersheet (yes I made that up and I like it!), you’ll have the building blocks and 2014 vision for our third instalment next week…..I can hardly wait….

When you get to the end of the worksheet, why not post your final exercise’s outcome? I’d love to see how your 2014 is shaping up! Either drop a note in the comments here or hop over to Facebook and share a photo.

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3 lessons on the speed of change – are you a winner?

I want you to cast your mind back to Aesop’s Fables and specifically, the Hare and the Tortoise story. Remember it? They have a race and the hare thinks “oh the tortoise is sooooo slow, I’m gonna win this easy” and then snoozes away under a tree. The tortoise takes the race at his pace, suiting his actions to his talents – determination, tenacity and courage. Tortoise wins the race, much to hare’s surprise.

Once you set off on your change journey, you can get tangled up in your own hare and tortoise dilemma.

Part of you will, I’m sure, be super keen to speed away towards your goal and then one or both of 2 things happen: You lose energy and drive, take a nap under your tree and then struggle to get going again. Or you get a lead as things come easy to you, so you back off the gas and take a nap under your tree and then struggle to get going again. Complacency isn’t change’s friend – you have to invest your time, effort and energies into making it happen.

Lesson #1: Don’t go at it like a bunny!!

There is also a part of you who REALLLLLLY wants to win your race. A part of you who can picture life in glorious technicolor with your change race won and is going to work at it until you get there.

But you recognise significant, permanent change requires a sustainable pace – your speed of change needs to be the one you can keep up until you cross the finish line. This means you’re able to tackle the easy and tough with the same level of zest, motivation and commitment. Just like the tortoise, who crossed the line at his slow and steady speed.

Lesson #2: Move at your own pace to create sustainable change.

I wonder what the other forest animals made of the betting odds on the start line. Would they have backed the hare as the likely winner? Or gambled on the tortoise’s wisdom? And how would those bets influence the competitor’s mindset?

The spectators and commentators in your change race might also be split on the outcome. Some will back you all the way and others might have some doubts. Whatever the type or size of change you’ll looking to achieve – your mindset and outlook will have a real impact. Who you gonna believe? Those on the sidelines or your gut, your instincts, your inner oomph?

The tortoise may not have been the obvious winner, but I bet he believed he could cross that finishing line ahead of the hare by doing it at his own pace.

Lesson #3: Believe you can win from the b in bang.

Aesop wanted his fables to deliver morals, ethics and strong values to his readers. OK my interpretation is probably not quite what he was thinking, but heck we’ll never know. My b-mail fable seeks to enable you to stretch your life in positive ways.

Enjoy the newness of the starting phase, but don’t let complacency slip in. Be realistic in your pace to ensure you can sustain your energy right across the finishing line and trust your ability to succeed.

How do these 3 lessons apply to your change journey? Have they made you rethink your timescale or shift your race mindset? I’d really like you to share your observations and thoughts in the comments.

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