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January 31, 2012

Helping Others Without Time or Cost

When you do something to help another human being you can achieve a great deal of satisfaction. It does not have to be costly in either time or money, just an extra big smile for the person who serves you coffee on a morning, or to help someone pick up something they have dropped, to open a door or say a few kind words.

The problem is that in today’s world we are often too wrapped up in our own life, short of time, often engaged in two or more things at once and we never give the other person a second glance. When you’re emptying your shopping trolley and talking on the phone to a friend what chance does the cashier have of receiving a smile or kind words?

So how can you help others?

By breathing and pausing for just one single second longer than you have today.

So let’s say you take in a deep breath and stop what you are doing for just one extra second. You create the space in which to see, smell and hear things as your attention is brought back to the now. As you do this not only do you connect to your surroundings, you will also connect to yourself.

Taking a deep breath will fill your body with energy and in turn you can energize another person with a smile. Smiling is infectious, smiling at everyone you meet will change your surroundings.

Come on, help others, it does not need to be a costly exercise in time nor money.

Just breath deeper and smile more!

If you would like help to smile more please contact me!

Tags: KayNewtonCoaching, smile.

Filed under Info, Kay's Musings by wifeinmidlifecrisis on Jan 31st, 2012. Comment.

January 24, 2012

Blaming Other at Midlife

Listen to any conversation in a bar, at the bus stop, a group of best friends, work collegues and you’ll hear blame come into the conversation at soon enough. It is so easy to blame an outside force for whatever situation we find ourself in. Often at midlife we have fallen into a trap…

It may be the fault of the economy that our business is not doing so well. Perhaps our relationship is not working because our partner is not being attentive. Maybe our illness is due to the government adding chemicals to the water.

We are even great at criticizing ourselves and blaming our actions on the way things turn out in our lives. If we hadn’t done this… if we hadn’t done that…

So if we cannot blame someone else, or blame ourselves then what can we do?

What would it be like if you lived in a world where no-one blamed anything or anyone? What would it feel like if everyone was able to live without blame, judgement or criticism?

Is this really impossible?

It is not impossible. It does mean changing lots of though processes and watching the language you use. Be patient with yourself we have had blame, judgement and criticism engrained in us from a very young age. Be Sensibly Selfish and keep the energy you waste from falling into these types of conversation for yourself.

First be aware of what you say in every day conversation, watch those around you and learn how to speak in a different language. Stop a conversation when it begins to come from a place other than love.

Why not start today and begin to change the world.

Tags: blame, Blaming others at midlife, criticism, judgement, Sensibly Selfish.

Filed under Info, Kay's Musings by wifeinmidlifecrisis on Jan 24th, 2012. Comment.

January 12, 2012

Goals and Mole Hills

We are all aware how easy it is to make New Years resolutions and then break them by about this date. A few blimps or excuses and we humans are so quickly off track.

Yesterday I hosted a Business Effective Workshop Clinic which was facilitated by Dr James Rieley, I was facinated by the different ways in which we all take on and use information, how we set ourselves goals and then follow through.

From the meeting it was obvious that some people had taken on bard the training from November and really applied it to their lives, others had done the work and found their comfort zones a stopping point, others had not applied the work to their own life but had used the material to help others, some had done nothing at all. At least they all showed – others didn’t even make it to the free clinic!

When ever I think of applying new information to my life, or decide to set goals, I always think of my recipe for making Mallorcan Almond cake. Living on 10,000mtrs of land here in Mallorca, means we have a few almond trees. I know the real work involved in making just one cake…

In order to make Almond cake you first have to grow, regularly feed and water an almond tree – about 10 years. Then in the heat of the summer, around August, the nuts are ready to pick.

You must first knock them out of the tree, remove their husk and then lay out to dry in the sun. Next the outer shell must be removed my banging each almond with an hammer. Followed by a blanching session to remove the skin, a drying or roasting period followed by a grinding period.

Next the cake must be baked, about an hour of work and then you can eat it.

Fifteen and a half years of labor for fifteen seconds of ultimate Sensibly Selfish gratification.

Whatever you set your mind to do, whatever tools are in your tool box, it is only the constant work and continual re-assessment of your goals that will eventually bring them to fruition. You may have to take a few detours along the way, you may have to climb a few mole hills, yet if you are passionate enough – get there you must! Just think of the rewards!

Tags: Business Effectiveness Workshop Series, Goals, mole hills, New Years Resolutions, Sensibly Selfish.

Filed under Info, Kay's Musings by wifeinmidlifecrisis on Jan 12th, 2012. Comment.

December 26, 2011

Business Effectiveness Workshop Series – Event 2

Learning to Juggle

Most of us spend much of our lives in a state of what feels like perpetual juggling. We have multiple balls in the air, and seem to be in an eternal struggle to make sure that we focus on the right stuff, for the right reasons, and at the right times.

Often we miss the mark and even more often, find that somehow we have managed to have even more balls in the air with little or no chance of achieving what we set out to achieve.

Being able to survive the stress and seemingly never-ending turmoil of juggling everything in your life requires that you know what you would like to achieve

for your own life. It also requires that you have a plan of how to make this vision real.

In this session of the Business Effectiveness Workshop Series, you will learn how to:

- Put clarity around your personal vision

- Learn how to identify what you need to do to realise that future vision

- Distinguish between the things that appear to be urgent that can take you off track, and what is important to be able to stay on track

- Map out a plan that you can use to realise your potential.

This session will be facilitated by James Rieley. Rieley was the CEO of a successful business for over twenty years; holds a Ph.D. in Organisational Effectiveness, and advises the CEO’s and senior teams of organisations from all business sectors. In addition, Rieley is the author of “Gaming the System;” “Leadership;” “ Strategy and Performance;” “Change and Crisis Management;” and the “Plain Talk about Business Performance” newsletter.

Rieley is a Certified Facilitator for The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People.

Note: Learning to Juggle is a highly interactive participant workshop and will require course pre-work, but does not have anything to do with working in a circus.

Workshop date: 25 January 2012

Workshop location: The Respiralia Centre – St Agustin

Workshop fee: €125,00, including lunch

Workshop level: Intermediate

For further information or registration for this session, or any of the other information for the Business Effectiveness Workshop Series. For more information contact me Kay Newton – 00 34 617 482 462.

Filed under Info, Kay's Musings by wifeinmidlifecrisis on Dec 26th, 2011. Comment.

December 21, 2011

Be More Selfish at Christmas

What do you think of when you read the title of this article? Did you perhaps imagine a scrooge type character, who nobody likes and everyone avoids at Christmas? Yet to be selfish at Christmas does not mean that people will dislike you or avoid you but rather the opposite.

Being Selfish will allow you to have a great time and more importantly, those you love will enjoy your company too. Being Selfish at Christmas means allowing yourself space in which to decide exactly what you want from the festivities.

Just be Sensibly Selfish…

You may have to negotiate with those you love and create a compromise over the real sticking points. Yet just by doing this you are able to arrive at a place of peace within yourself. When you are happy and content those around you will also be happy and content.

You may have different ideas and plans than the rest of your family and friends. Just make sure they really understand what you want and expect from Christmas. It’s too late on the day to realize there has been a lack of communication.

If there is really something you do not want to do. Do not be afraid of stating this. Just do it with love, with no excuses and you may be surprised to see how much they understand.

If you have committed to something that you now realize was a mistake for whatever reason, then de-commit. Again just do it from a place of love and without excuses.

Be The Star That You Are.

Have a wonderful Christmas.

Sensibly Selfish Midlife Coaching for women

Tags: be the star that you are, midlife coaching for women, sensiblyselfish.

Filed under Info, Kay's Musings by wifeinmidlifecrisis on Dec 21st, 2011. Comment.

December 9, 2011

Post-Its and Midlife

The story of post-Its is remarkable in itself. Apparently the inventor took 15 years to persuade someone that they needed a glue that didn’t stick. The rest is history as they say – Post Its are now one of the most used items in day to day life. So how can you use Post-Its in Midlife?

Take my week for example. Post-Its were put to use at the ‘Business Effectiveness Workshop Series’ here in Mallorca. Where they were use to show local business people how to make decisions. You do not even need to have a business to use these techniques, you can resolve any issue with this simple technique.

Here’s what you need to do

1. Choose something that you wish to resolve. This could be starting up a new business, time management, relationship issues and so on.

2. Take a pack of Post-Its and begin brainstorming. Write down everything on separate Post-Its, the only rule is that each post It cannot have more than six words and one of them must be a verb.

3. Take as much time as you need and explore all issues, getting help from a second source will also make the task more fun and give you other ideas.

4. When you have finished begin to sort them into different categories. You choose what makes sense to you. You may not be able to put all your post Its into categories at first, leave those that do not seem to fit. Stack each Post-It below the next until you have numerous columns. You will probably end up with around six logical groups.

5. Next decide upon a title for your categories. When you read your Post-Its you will know what to call each group. These are the main issues that you need to tackle to solve your problem.

6. These are now the areas you will need to tackle in order to solve your problem. You may need to decide upon what is the first category to start with and break down these tasks into step by step plans. You may need help to do this as sometimes it is not obvious what comes first.

The Hoshin planning methodology can be used to help see the way forward. Use it and become Sensibly Selfish at midlife!

If you need further help please do not hesitate to contact me.

Tags: Hoshin methodology, KayNewtonCoaching, Mallorca, sensiblyselfish.

Filed under Info, Kay's Musings by wifeinmidlifecrisis on Dec 9th, 2011. Comment.

November 28, 2011

Midlife Connections

How many people do you know? When we reach midlife the number of people that have touched out lives is really astounding. Have you ever really sat and thought about this? It is a worthwhile task to take time out and think about how your life changed as these people came into your life.

A paper and pen are useful tools for this exercise. Write down all those you keep in contact with and also those who you no longer meet. Think about all the places you have visited in your life, think of all the groups you have been involved in, the places you used to frequent and those you now frequent on a daily basis. Think of all the people your partner knew or knows, the connections made through your kids at the school or after school activities.

Look again at your list and to each persons name add a list of contacts of people they also know. This list may include people you have in common or people you would like to connect with. Take time to do this it is, come back to the list often, add when your memory allows!

Now take time to look at the list again and ask yourself what can this person do for me? What is it that I need in my life today and how can I achieve it by asking this person to help.

Your life has changed, now at midlife it may be the perfect opportunity to reconnect with certain people, just as it maybe the perfect time to disconnect with others around you. Be ‘Sensibly Selfish’ at this point – what is it that you really want?

The final, yet most important question of all is to ask of your now amazing long list… what can I do for this person? Who can I introduce them to? How can I be of service? What bit of information would they like to hear from me?

As the end of the year approaches, taking time out to connect to those who make you who you really are, will bring endless rewards in the New Year. Give it a go and let me know your results.

Tags: midlife, New Year, Sensibly Selfish.

Filed under Info, Kay's Musings by wifeinmidlifecrisis on Nov 28th, 2011. Comment.

November 21, 2011

On a Midlife Mission – Making a Commitment

You can see from the previous two posts that at the moment I am a woman on a mission! The Business Effectiveness Workshop Series is about to hit Mallorca. I have a feeling that if this is a success here amongst small businesses we will have to role it out world wide!

I always love it when a plan comes into action. How a goal can be made reality, how the people you need to make it happen always show at the right time.

At my presentation at Mood Beach here in Mallorca this week, I commented upon how I committed to my education over the past two years. How I signed on the dotted line of the contract, not knowing how on earth I would pay for it all and yet every time I was due to make a payment the money was there.

I posted this quote in facebook this week which to me says it all : "Resourcefulness shows up AFTER you make a commitment." D. Priestley

What are you committing to this week?

Why not send me a message here and lets begin a conversation.

Tags: Business Effectiveness Workshop Series, commitment, KayNewtonCoaching.

Filed under Info, Kay's Musings by wifeinmidlifecrisis on Nov 21st, 2011. Comment.

November 17, 2011

Business Effectiveness in Mallorca

That was the main comment from the delegates who attended the mini workshops run by James Rieley and Kay Newton at the Small Business Day at Mood Beach 19th October 2011 – NOT ENOUGH TIME!

Both James and Kay have retaliated by creating six workshops entitled the BEW Series or Business Effective Workshop Series. The first will begin at the Kip McGrath learning centre, Son Quint Golf, on the 30th of November, 9.30 – 16.30 hrs

Says Kay “Each of the workshops will be based around the four principals of Thinking, Achieving, Influencing and Leading. When you learn new skills or re-vamp old ones, even in todays economic climate and competitive market your business is virtually guaranteed to thrive.

James continues the conversation “It is no good sitting in a classroom and listening to someone telling what they think you should be doing, you need to be hands on, applying your new skills to your business immediately, that’s why we use accelerated learning techniques at the workshop – delegates must be willing to roll up their sleeves and ‘Just do It’. The workshops are hands on meaning there is limited space.”

The first of the series is titled ‘Knowing Where To Go and How To Get There’. This workshop will help business owners investigate whether the business path they have chosen is appropriate and achievable for today, their goals and strategies align, as well as look at unintended consequences that arise and what can be done to deal with them.

James has 20 years CEO experience, a PHD in Business Effectiveness and is the author of four books dedicated to the theme.

Says Kay “My personal journey has led me to spend thousands of euros in the past two years attending courses in the UK and as far away as Malaysia where business techniques are far more advanced than anything taught here in Mallorca. We are very fortunate to have James’ knowledge here on our doorstep”

She goes on to say “The course will cost 250€ for the day. It is a commitment to show that you are willing to work hard on the day. Any delegate attending, if applying their new knowledge will reap the cost back three fold. Yet there is a snag… past experience tells us nothing will change if the boss turns up the very next day and attempts to implement the new skills without first spending hours informing his team. Therefore it makes sense that anyone would bringing one member of their team with them, should be allowed to invite that person for free!”

If you would like to reserve a place or find out more contact Kay

Filed under Info, Kay's Musings by wifeinmidlifecrisis on Nov 17th, 2011. Comment.

November 3, 2011

Introducing The Business Workshop Series – Mallorca

What could be better than holding a business mastermind group? How about getting some of the best in the business world to come and spend a day with you, using accelerated learning techniques helping you to take your business to the next level.

The Business Effectiveness Workshop Series was developed as a way to help improve both personal and organisational effectiveness. The workshops are facilitated by credible, recognised experts in the key areas of personal and business competence, and are offered every two months.

If you would like to become more personally effective, or would like to improve the effectiveness of your business, then this series can bring you demonstrable results. Here is why:

Typically, anyone who starts a business wants it to be successful;
Business success can be the effectiveness of decision-making;
Effective decision-making requires specific skills and perspectives;
Therefore, for a business leader or owner who wants to be successful,
it makes sense to strive to learn new skills and perspectives.

The Business Effectiveness Workshop Series is not your typical “let’s get together and try to promote our own business” programmes. The series is all about examining why we make the decisions we do; how to make better decisions; and how to ensure that our decisions can result in sustainable performance gains. Individual workshops in the series last one day, and are identified as either Beginner, Intermediate, or Advanced content levels.

Facilitated by credible professionals who have demonstrated their ability to help business leaders make the right decisions, for the right reasons, at the right time. Participation in the Business Effectiveness Workshop Series will cause you to change the way you think about your own decision-making processes.

The Business Effectiveness Workshop Series is for you if you want to:

- Increase your ability to be personally effective;

- Increase the effectiveness of your business

- Learn new skills and increase your competence

- Find better solutions to fundamental problems

- Find better ways to involve your team

- Create the success you want to achieve

Business Effectiveness Workshop Series – Event 1

Knowing Where to Go and How to Get There

The key foundational elements of long-term, sustainable organisational success include the need to have a clear path to follow, along with a sound rationale for why this path will be successful. In order to have these elements, it is crucial to know what to do and what might occur along this journey. In addition, the ability to understand what unintended consequences might occur can be the differentiator between success or failure.

In this session of the Business Effectiveness Workshop Series, you will learn how to:

- Determine if the path you have chosen is appropriate and achievable

- Build alignment around your personal and/or organisational goals and strategy

- Determine what potential unintended consequences might occur

- Identify appropriate contingencies to deal with unintended consequences

Note: Knowing Where to Go and How to Get There is a highly interactive participant workshop.

Workshop date: November 2011

Workshop location: Mallorca

Workshop fee: 250 €

Workshop level: Advanced

Contact me for more information

Tags: Business Effectiveness, business matermind, Mallorca.

Filed under Info, Kay's Musings by wifeinmidlifecrisis on Nov 3rd, 2011. Comment.

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