Ultra Running Debate

I recently took part in Women's Running Magazine debate regarding running Ultra's (anything over the marathon distance of 26.2 miles - mainly off road and involving cake!), this was for their April edition - it was great fun and I'm enjoying getting back into the Ultras again this year after a year off - if you want to know more how I can help you, your club or your business go further than you thought possible then contact me.

Interview for Coach in Focus

I was asked to be interviewed for a Coach in Focus series by Team Beds&Luton - if you're interested in any sport in the Bedfordshire area then please do get in contact with them as they support and encourage clubs, coaches and individuals in all Sports and here's a link to the interview!

Coach in Focus - Annie Page

How to have a fit and healthy business

I have recently been talking with clients about looking after their overall health and fitness in order to decrease stress at work and therefore feel good and be more creative and make better decisions.

We don't live in different pockets, however much we think we categorise different areas of our life, work, home, fitness, friends, etc - it is about how we balance all these areas and create the life we want.

Making sure we have the right mindset to do this is fundamental and when we are feeling fit and healthy, we automatically look after ourselves better, eat well and enjoy being in the moment rather than worrying about decisions we made in the past or ones we are going to make in the future.

Being able to understand our thinking and how we can development our mindset to help us create more opportunities to do the things we want to do and have the business we want to have are the building blocks we need to put in place.

Working with a new client, we started thinking about how I can support them to achieve their health and fitness goals they have, this includes weekly talks over Skype to record progress and look at what might get in the way for the next week and what we have learnt from the week before.  What started to happen was that we also discussed the business and what was going on with that as well - this seemed a natural progression using all aspects of my core skills with great results for the client.

One of the main points is that making your health and fitness a part of your business means that you are not trying to fit everything in to 'spare time' or feeling guilty for taking time out during the day - as it all becomes part of your goal to create a growing and sustainable business alongside a healthy mind and healthy body.

In a report commissioned by Business in the Community they said

‘The health and wellbeing of employees makes an essential contribution to business success.  I believe that employees are at their most productive and creative when they are in an environment that supports their health and wellbeing.  Even a small on-going investment in the wellbeing of your staff can pay big dividends for your business.  It can help improve your bottom line.  It can reduce absenteeism and improve staff retention.  And you will reap the rewards that come from having a motivated staff and a vibrant workplace…..

Remember you are an employee as well as the owner or director within your business!

They also created the following model to highlight the benefits.

If you are interested in finding out how you can enjoy these benefits for yourself and grow and develop your business through your own health and fitness then contact me to talk through how I can support you to create the business you want.

annie@essentii.co.uk  or 01525 633874

Business and Personal Development Courses for 2015!!

Delighted to announce that we will be running our successful courses again in 2015!!

Clearly Essential

NLP Business Foundation and Full Practitioner Programme

This course is your essential toolkit for work and life.  You can do the 9 day Business Foundation or the full 18 day NLP Practitioner Programme.

Neuro Linguistic Programming is a proven method for enhancing communication and people skills.  It helps us to better understand ourselves and others; finding our own pathways to success.  This course covers the essential NLP Practitioner content, accredited by the Professional Guild of NLP, ensuring that you would be fully qualified to take your studying further if you desired.

Part 1 - NLP Business Foundation

9 days

The first 9 days of this programme covers all the essential information and techniques for you to understand how you work and be able to take back your learning to your workplace and use it effectively to produce greater results for you, your team and your business.

21 - 23 April 2015

19 - 21 May 2015

9 - 11 June 2015

Part 2 - NLP Practitioner

9 days

The next 9 days will continue on from the Business Foundation with more techniques and learning for you to build your knowledge and expertise and understanding of your reality and understanding others  This gives you a full NLP Practitioner certificate accredited by the Professional Guild of NLP.

7 - 9 July 2015

4  6 August 2015

8 - 10 September 2015

Costs

Full NLP Practitioner Part 1 & 2 - £2900 + VAT (before 15 May 2015)

Business Foundation Part 1 only - £1900 + VAT

NLP Practitioner Part 2 £1400 + VAT (if booked after 15 May 2015)

Venue

The course will be at Wyboston Lakes Conference Centre, Wyboston, Bedfordshire with easy access to major road connections

For more information and to book contact:

Annie Page : 01525 633874 or annie@essentii.co.uk

Lucy Hampton : 07931 902826 or lucy.hampton@clearpossibilities.com

Mindset development - what stops you?

It never ceases to amaze me how many people agree that understanding how they think and how they can influence themselves to have greater choice in action and options and how well they understand others to be able to be effective in their communication is a great thing to have and yet very few actually do anything about it.

There is a lot of 'shelf-help' out there where people think that by reading about how they can do or be better, faster, more creative, etc, etc means they don't actually have to put in any time actually 'doing' it will 'just happen'.

Being in the lucky position to work with both people in sport and business I see many similarities in the mindset of those I work with.

It can take a while for some to believe that I use the same tools and techniques in both areas to create achievements and growth and it's all about adapting them to your own specific circumstances.

So what stops people taking the next step and developing their own mindset to build and grow their business or achieve in their sporting arena.

Here are three reasons why I think people stop themselves working on mindset development...

Isn't that the weird stuff... who knows what you're going to ask me to do... and what if I'm doing something no-one else is... won't that look weird...

Mindset development is about practical, useful, techniques that you learn with your coach and adapt for yourself, nothing weird in that.  Also whether you are in business or sport, being different from your rivals is actually a good thing and gives you the mindset edge.

Don't need to do it - my thinking has got me this far... there's nothing wrong with me... it's all 'shelf-help' and no use to anyone...

Mindset development is not there just for those who have got stuck (although it's a great thing to do if that's the case) but it also helps you understand yourself and your thinking and identify in others how they think so that you can develop further and out think your sports opponents or business rivals

I can't be bothered... I don't have the time...

Mindset development will deliver results if you apply yourself.  It's fine if you don't want to; just don't expect to be the leaders in your industry or the driving force in your sport.  We can always make time for the things we believe to be important and mindset development is important and a few minutes a day is all that you need.  If you can't be bothered to be motivated about what you want to achieve, why should anyone else around you be interested...

If you'd like to know more about mindset development to give you an edge over your competitors and how you can have practical, useful techniques tailored to you in order to build, grow and achieve in all aspects of your sport, business and life then contact me on annie@essentii.co.uk

Murphy's Plough

Over the last couple of weeks I've spoken to quite a few people who have managed to stop themselves planning and achieving their goals (and we're only half way through January!)

How..?

By deciding that the person they want to include, need help from or want to ask an opinion of will not want to be included, want to help or be bothered to give their opinion.  The conversation has already been held in the 'askers' head and the outcome decided!

This is mind reading and to be honest as human beings, we're not really that good at it, especially when it comes to asking for help or needing to have a difficult conversation.  When I've spoken to clients and asked them to see the situation as if they were being asked for help just about everyone says 'well yes of course I would help, why wouldn't I?'

It reminded me of a story I was sent a few years ago... I don't know the author and so cannot accurately credit it...

Murphys Plough

McGinty, a farmer, needed to plough his field before the dry spell set in, but his own plough had broken.

"I know, I'll ask my neighbour, farmer Murphy, to borrow his plough.  He's a good man; I'm sure he'll have done his ploughing by now and he'll be glad to lend me his machine."

So McGinty began to walk the three or four fields to Murphy's farm.

After a field of walking, McGinty says to himself, "I hope that Murphy has finished all his own poughing or he'll not be able to lend me his machine..."

Then after a few more minutes of worrying and walking, McGinty says to himself, "and what if Murphy's plough is old and on it's last legs - he'll never be wanting to lend it to me will he?"

And after another field, McGinty says, "Murphy was never a very helpful fellow, I reckon maybe he won't be too keen to lend me his plough even if it's in perfect working order and he's finished all his own ploughing weeks ago..."

As McGinty arrives at Murphy's farm, McGinty is thinking, "That old Murphy can be a mean old fellow.  I reckon even if he's got all his ploughing done and his own machine is siting there doing nothing, he'll not lend it to me just to watch me go to ruin..."

McGinty walks up Murphy's front path, knocks on the door and Murphy answers.

"Well good morning Mr McGinty, what can I do for you?" says Murphy.

And McGinty says with eyes bulging, "You can take your bloody plough and you can stick it up your bloody arse!"

So if you're having conversations in your head that aren't helping you achieve, stop!! and go and have them in person (before you've decided they won't help).  The results are normally greater than you ever expected!

If you want to know more about how you can have difficult conversations and communicate effectively with the people around you, including those you find more difficult to be with and you want to build yourself, your team and your business then have a look and book onto the Business Foundation course and NLP Practitioner course I am running with my friend and colleague Lucy Hampton - Essentii Courses

The picture above is of Suffolk Punch horses which are endangered - if you want to know more about these amazing horses then visit - Suffolk Punch Trust

We always do it like that...

A consultant was asked into a manufacturing company to help and advise them on the efficiency of their procedures and to look at ways of improving them.  As he was reviewing all the paperwork he came across a daily report which was used as a record of absentee rates, machine failure, down time, etc.  The form that was used was manually filled iin on a copy of a copy of a copy which was a long way from the original!

The photocopied forms were particularly fuzzy at the top right corner, where a small box had a heading that was not clear at all.  The consultant was interested to note that the figure '0' had been written in every daily report for the past year.  On questioning the members of staff who completed the report they told him that they always put a zero in that box, and when he asked them why they looked at each other blankly.  "Hmm.., not sure really." they said "We always do it like that."

Intrigued, the consultant visited the archives to see if he could find a clearer version of the form, to be able to see what was originally being reported on and whether it actually held any significance now!  He went back through the decades of records and found that the zero return had continued uninterrupted for as far back as the records extended - at least thirty years!  None of the forms were any clearer than those currently being used.

A little frustrated, he packed the boxes back up and turned to leave when another folder caught his eye.  It was titled 'master forms'.  Sure enough inside it he found the original daily report master copy in pristine condition.  In the top right corner was the mysterious box, with the heading clearly shown... 'Number of Air Raids today'

If you are finding yourself saying 'we always do it like that' more often than not then it is time to step back and look at what you are doing and to see if it is still what is needed.  If not then you need to take ACTION to change old processes! 

You will need to change your 'thinking' processes as well as the 'practical' processes.  If you are looking to grow and evolve your business make sure you look at the whole and that includes you.  If you want understand how this will work for you then get in touch.