Enough already. What about me?

New for Autumn - HomeShops

I don't know about you, but September always puts a spring in my step. There's something about the chillier evenings, sorting of school uniforms, checking the autumn TV schedules!, which makes me feel excited about what's to come.

HomeShops - workshops at home

I'm celebrating that 'Back to School' feeling by expanding my programme of half-day HomeShops to include all my popular 'change your life' workshops for parents.  I can now offering all three at your home (or mine if you prefer). I've been running 'Put YOU back into your life' for a while like this. Now I'm adding the much-loved 'Taming Time', and 'Find the Work you were Born to Do' workshops, as well.

You just invite some interested friends to your home at a time agreed by us (day, evening or weekend are all fine) and I take it from there. The content is exactly the same as when I run them in venues but it's all in the comfort of your home, with your friends. I've adapted these workshops to suit everyone now, not just parents, so more of your friends and family can benefit.

Your friends will pay from £25 (depending on how many you invite and where you live). And, if you get four friends or more, your place is absolutely free.

Click on the links to the right, to discover more about the content of these three workshops and how they have helped previous participants make amazing changes in their lives.

And then, give me a call or drop me an email. Katie@putyoubackintoyourlife.co.uk or 0208 772 7807. 

 

Who's doing the work they were born to do?

So, who do you think has found they work they were born to do? Wayne Rooney? Joe Cole? How about Fabio Capello? Or perhaps football's not your thing. Andy Murray anyone? 

Nelson Mandela?

Mother Theresa?

But you don't have to be famous to have found the perfect job. Anyone can love what they do, and do what they love. It could be your neighbour, loving his job as a social worker with young people, or your line manager, even.

And most importantly, it could be you!

If you want to find a new career that's satisfying, fulfilling and pays the mortage, but you just don't know where to start, take a look here. You'll find all the details you need about my Find the Work you were Born to do Workshop on Sunday 4th July in South London.

There's still a few places left, so to reserve your place, give me a call today on 020 8772 7807 or send me an email at Katieduckworth@mac.com 

And don't forget to leave us a comment about who you think has found the work they were born to do.

Are you a 'work at home' Mum?

Ha Ha. Just found this tongue-in-cheek guide to being a 'work at home' Mum, or Mom, as the video says. If this is you, enjoy! And if you're looking for more practical advice about making time work for you, come along to my Taming Time workshop for over-scheduled parents on 17 June. Look this way >>>>>>>>>>>

My dream job

I’ve been a bit absent lately haven’t I? The whole of March is blog-free! But that’s OK because I’ve been doing some exciting workshops and talks with some great organisations and businesses, as well as moving my one-to-one clients along the path to their goals. I’ve really enjoyed my last few weeks’ work. Plus I've got some inspiring plans for the future bubbling under...

I don’t know about you, but I find that when I’m doing something that I absolutely love, work feels like fun. Maybe I’m terribly lucky, but on the other hand, I’m not sure ‘luck’ has a whole lot to do with it. I planned it this way. For years I worked in organisations that I admired enormously, but felt that I wasn’t really using my skills and talents to the full. When I trained as a Life Coach, I knew I’d found something I’d be extra good at and would be a big part of my unique contribution to the world.

This is the work I was born to do. What about you? What were you born to do?

 

 

How to discover your core values

Have you any idea what your core values might be?  

No, I don’t mean that you think it’s important to give to charity. Values don’t actually have any moral dimension. Each individual value is neither good nor bad.  

What I mean by ‘values’ are the non-tangible things that you absolutely must have in your life to feel happy and fulfilled. Like Self expression, or Beauty or Achievement.  

Discovering these, and their order of importance, is one of the most useful pieces of self- development work you will ever do. Once you know them, you really have a blueprint for how to live the rest of your life.   You’ll know what big decisions to make.

You’ll know why you’re feeling particularly upbeat or down. You’ll know what small action you could take to feel happier and more fulfilled in any given moment.   

This is because every action you take either honours or dishonours your core values. Every action you take either honours of dishonours - YOU.  

Discovering your core values is a vital part of the work that I do with my coaching clients. You can have a go yourself:  

A good way to start is to think of a time when you felt absolutely great, on top of the world, really, really happy and fulfilled. What do you think it was about yourself that you were honouring?   Perhaps it was your value of Human Connection, or Adventure or Contribution.  

The converse is also true. Think of a time when you felt low or depressed or miserable. It was one of your values that you were dishonouring. Which one?  

When I was training, I had a great coach myself, Francine Kaye, now a top relationship coach www.thedivorcedoctor.co.uk. She said this to me. I tell all my clients and I’d like to share with you.

 “It is never the, person, situation or circumstance that upsets or frustrates me. It is always a value of mine that is being dishonoured or violated.”  

Wow! Talk about having to take responsibility for your own life.            

Seven wise quotes about time

1. Time is our most valuable asset, yet we tend to waste it, kill it, and spend it rather than invest it." Jim Rohn

2. Once you have mastered time, you will understand how true it is that most people overestimate what they can accomplish in a year – and underestimate what they can achieve in a decade!
Anthony Robbins

3. It’s not enough to be busy, so are the ants. The question is, what are we busy about?
Henry David Thoreau

4. Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goal. Henry Ford

5. Until you value yourself, you will not value your time. Until you value your time, you will not do anything with it.
M. Scott Peck

6. Your vision will become clear only when you look into your heart. Who looks outside, dreams. Who looks inside, awakens.  Carl Jung

7. Human beings created the concept of time. Our attitude towards those seconds, minutes and hours is key to how we manage them.

This blogger

'Me time' workshops for parents - bring a friend for free

Has the snow thrown your life off balance in the past few weeks?
 
Maybe you’ve fallen behind with household or admin jobs because the kids were off school or you couldn’t get out in the snow? Perhaps you’re frantically making up missed work days?
 
With all the things that need to be done, you might think you can’t possibly prioritise time for you.
 
Well, now you can! Because I’m making an offer you can’t refuse on my New Year ‘me time’ workshops for parents.
 
When you book either 'Put YOU back into your life' or 'Taming Time' - you can bring along a friend ABSOLUTELY FREE.
 
So, two of you can benefit from these highly practical and motivating workshops.
 

1. This is what you’ll get from my Put YOU back into your life workshop:

-     two and half hours of uninterrupted ‘me time’ to recharge your batteries

-     a deeper understanding of what is really getting in the way of living the life you want (clue: it’s not the weather or the mortgage)

-     a personal action plan for creating more energy, focus and time for YOU over the coming months.

 “Thank you so much Katie! You have done what you set out to do and put me back into my life. The money was nothing for what you have helped me achieve.”  (Sally, one-to-one coaching client, South London)
 
Put YOU back into your life
Sunday 17 January
10am – 12.30pm
 
reCentre
260 Balham High Road
London SW17 7AN
 

2. This is what you’ll get from my Taming Time workshop:

-     practical techniques for managing your family, work and personal life more effectively, so you can catch up after the last few frantic weeks

-     three simple secrets for how to get more done including how never to procrastinate again and how to ditch the ‘to -do’ list

-     a calmer, more positive attitude to time management which will give you more time in the day – whatever the weather.

“I did Katie’s Taming Time workshop because I felt overwhelmed by my to-do list. Since the workshop, I’ve changed the way I organise my time, am more efficient and now I am beginning to create more time for myself.” (Claire, Mum from South West London)
 
Taming Time
Thursday 21 January
7.15 – 9.45pm
 
Lavender Heal
189 Lavender Hill
London SW11 5TB
 
So, these free places are there for the taking. But, don’t delay! You need to contact me NOW - this offer melts away when the snow does.

To book your two places for the price of one (£35) call me on 0208 772 7808 or email Katie@putyoubackintoyourlife.co.uk

New Year's Resolutions - how to keep them

Most of us make New Year's Resolutions, but how often do we actually succeed in achieving them? Here's a few coaching tips to make sure that 2010 is the year that you do:

• Get specific. You're much more likely to succeed if you know exactly what you want to be different. Vague resolutions like 'go to the gym more' are rarely kept.

• Write out your resolution, and write it in the present tense. For example, you could replace 'I will go to the gym more' with 'I go to the gym three times a week for 45 minutes'. It tricks your mind into thinking that you're doing it already. And writing anything down makes it more likely you'll achieve it. Especially if you read your resolution outloud everyday.

• Keep it positive. Avoid resolutions which are about cutting down or dropping things. Focus on what you want rather than what you don't want.

• Break big resolutions down into steps with deadlines - and keep focused on taking just one step at a time.

• Give yourself a reward when you've achieved an interim step. Plan what these will be beforehand and they become a motivation in themselves. It's really easy to lose motivation if your goal seems a long way off.

• Get allies. Tell people what you're doing and ask for their encouragement. You can even ask them to hold you accountable if that helps. But make sure your allies are really positive and supportive. If friends and family are more like to be discouraging  - keep your resolution to yourself!

Good luck - you can do it!

 

Ten things that went right for me in 2009

I've just opened a Christmas card to find a truly depressing Round Robin letter inside. Just a couple of bits of mildly good news tacked onto the end of a string of miseries. What a year these poor people have had.

But why send these miserable things? Why focus on what's gone wrong? I wanna hear what went right.

This is the closest I'll ever get to a Round Robin - my ten things that went right in 2009.

Good thing No 1 As I write, proper fluffy snow is falling, lit golden by the street lamp outside the window. It's so calming and perfectly beautiful. And exactly right for Christmas.

Good thing No 2 Chris and Ola won Strictly!! (Not strictly my good thing, I know, but SO exciting)

Good thing No 3  Watching my daughter's first nativity play at school. She had one line, shared with four other 'snowflakes' dressed in what can only be described as doilies. But she was so bold and so up for it, and she twirled magnificently. And yes, I cried.

Good thing No 4 The same youngest daughter starting school in September. She loves it and it's given me more time to devote to my coaching practice - which I love.

Good thing No 5 A fabulous summer holiday in Italy with friends. All of us child-free for a week, it was like going back in time as we lazed by the pool, read more novels than in the previous year and drank gorgeous wine, ate fabulous food, sang and laughed.  Highly recommended to stressed-out parents - if at all possible. 

Good thing no 6 Seeing Jude Law on stage in Hamlet. Nuff said.

Good thing no 7 Getting positive feedback from my coaching clients, sometimes months after we've stopped working together. It is so fantastic to hear how they are getting along and makes my job just the best.

Good thing no 8 Witnessing my oldest daughter transform into a more thoughtful, more responsible, dare I say, 'grown up' girl. It's quite remarkable how she has changed.

Good thing no 9 Discovering Twitter. So much fun and such a great opportunity to get out there and take part in the world. I never would have believed it.

Good thing no 10 Despite the 'economic downturn', I've still got a job which I love, I've still got a beautiful family, I've still got a home, caring friends and a life worth living. 

Wishing you a Merry Christmas & a
positive, challenging, thought-provoking and fabulous New Year

'Acting as If' Part One

1. Choose an area of your life where you would like to make changes. It could be home, work, children, whatever.  You may have been paralysed with fear and inaction recently, because of all your 'what ifs' and 'yes buts' but all that is about to change.

2. Ask yourself this important question:  'If I truly believe that I matter in this area of my life, what would I do?' Make a list right now of 10 things you would do if you believed that you mattered.

3. Start doing the actions on the list. Right now. Step by step from one to 10. You are now 'acting as if' you believed you mattered. Suspend any disbelief that you matter, just pretend that you do. Fake it.

4. As you begin to take these actions, you will soon discover something that your confident inner self knew all along. You do matter. You do count. You can make a difference. You are no longer 'acting as if' - it is true.

When we wait to 'feel as if', we keep ourselves stuck in fear. When we 'act as if' the power of taking action moves us forward, and ultimately changes how we feel. We then want to take even more action. It's a beautiful, virtuous circle.

'Acting as if' is a simple confidence-building technique for moving forward despite fears and anxieties. I first discovered it in the book which is now required reading for all my coaching clients Feel the Fear and Do it Anyway by self-development goddess Susan Jeffers. http://www.susanjeffers.com

Bye bye procrastination

Aargh..! A whole month since my last post. October just kind of disappeared.

But here I am at last and ready to make a commitment to blogging at least three times in November.

Procrastination? Me!?

So, why no blog? I've been meaning to do it, after all. Do I suspect some procrastination? What me? A life coach? Surely not!

Yup, that's exactly what it is.

When I put something off, it's usually because I'm relating whatever it is I have to do with some kind of pain (even if I don't realise it). In this case, the pain of facing the fact that my blog is not being seen by a whole lot of people - so much techie stuff to learn!

So instead of getting on and facing it, I find something else to do.

Surprise!  Life coaches aren't perfect! But thankfully I know what to do about it and it's crazily easy.

Banish procrastination in 5

I show my clients that however demanding their lives (and most are incredibly busy mums) they can stop procrastinating in about five minutes flat. The thing is, is that procrastination isn't an action, it's a feeling - a horrible, guilty, 'weighing down on your shoulders' feeling that makes you feel absolutely useless. But you can stop that feeling right now and never experience it again.

Really.

Obviously, the odd task can sneak through the net, like last month's blogging, but on the whole, I've pretty much banished procrastination from my life using this method. And so have many of my clients.

So, here's how.

5 easy steps

Step 1. Make a choice - are you going to do this particular job or are you not?

If the answer is NO, forget about it. Throw out the relevant piece of paper, pass the job to someone else, or do whatever you have to do not think about it ever again.

If the answer is YES, then…

Step 2. Decide when you're going to do. Decide how long it's going to take, and this is important -  BLOCK IT INTO YOUR DIARY. If you have to move it because you've got swine flu or whatever, BLOCK IT IN AGAIN. Don’t just add it to your to-do list. This is an absolute non-starter for your favourite procrastinations. You'll just keep not doing them.

Step 3. Then, spend a little time re-associating the job you are currently associating with pain or fear, with pleasure. This way, you will genuinely want to do it. (Have you ever noticed, by the way, that you never, ever procrastinate on something you love doing?)

So for instance, if you're putting off, oh I dunno, fitting the draft excluder to the back door… Think about how warm the kitchen is going to be and how great you're going to feel when you've done it. Don’t let the fact that you're really busy, and have no idea how to do it, let you put off handling it for a moment longer. Focus on the pleasure, not the pain.

Step 4. Forget about it - this is so much easier now you know when you're going to do it.

Step 5. When the moment of truth arrives, as scheduled into your diary, remind yourself of all the pleasurable reasons you are doing this particular job  - and just do it!

So. Here goes. I'm going to follow my own advice:

Step 1. Make a choice. Am I going to write my blog at least three times in November or not?  YES!

Step 2.  When am I going to do it? Umm… I'm getting my diary out now… here's 45 mins here …and here ….and here. Great. It's scheduled in.

Step 3. Associate the job with pleasure. Remind myself why I write my blog - because I love writing, because making meaningful connections with followers is fantastic and all the other many reasons why blogging is so much fun.

Step 4. Forget about it.

Step 5. Do it! Ooh, there goes my blog. Heading for cyberspace now. What a lovely, satisfied feeling.

Now, I just have to work out how to get more people to read it. Any tips?