emPOWER Magazine - Autumn 2011

AUTUMN 2011

$9.95 (incl GST)

women

Celebrating INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY 100 YEARS ON

?

Why won’t he

talk to me SOLVING

COMMUNICATION ISSUES

From sacked to

SUCCESSFUL TURNING REDUNDANCY INTO OPPORTUNITY

motivation

Unlimited

5

PRINCIPLES TO GET YOU MOVING

Lisa McCune “Run your own race and do what you love”

● Healing through art therapy ● How old are your cells? ● No cost marketing for your business www.empoweronline.com.au

12 Run your own race Catch up with Lisa McCune while filming the final series of Sea Patrol to find out about the past, the present and what’s next for Australia’s sweetheart.

18 International Women’s Day In celebrating 100 years of empowering women, find out how it started, how it’s grown and why it’s so important for women to get involved.

28 The ability of disability

12 22

At the age of 20 Sophia Whitfield found herself sitting next to her newborn son’s listless body as tubes went into his mouth and machines pumped oxygen into his tiny body. She shares her personal journey.

20 Unlock your brain Discover the most magnificent part of your body 22 Unlimited motivation Learn the five principles to get you moving 25 5 Wishes The profound gift of just one question 26 Develop your psychic ability Access your inner psychic power 30 Why won’t he talk to me? Solve communication issues in your relationship

32 Get smart about dating Your strategy for finding Mr Right

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34 Transpersonal art therapy Healing yourself through artbody 35 How old are your cells? Get a sneak peak at your real age 39 Fat burning arm exercises Six steps to perfect arms 40 The courage to speak Learn to speak with courage and elegance 42 Reinventing your career Seven steps to successful career change 44 No room for complacency Get some momentum in your career

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46 From sacked to successful Turn redundancy into an opportunity 48 A passion for fitness Jacinta Jimenez helping people get fit 24/7 50 Success in direct sales The five habits to grow your business 52 No cost marketing Create an effective email marketing campaign 54 Squid eye Spotting the “tells” in your business

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56 Get your finances on track Five steps to take control 58 The million-dollar seed Real life wealth through property 60 The benefits of home staging Increase the profit on your sale

4 From the desk…

6 Your Say 8 Meet the Experts 11 Acts of Kindness

27 Check it out 38 Great Reads 62 Change Your Life in 15 Minutes

Publisher & Editor Helen Rosing helen@empoweronline.com.au

From the desk...

It’s a very exciting time for us here at emPOWER. After more than a year as an online-only magazine, and many requests from you for the hard copy, we are very proud to say we are now back in print. In addition, we’ve just launched our exciting new VIP membership for the emPOWER website. With this launch has come a stack of new features, the most exciting of which is the new 12-week Ultimate Self-Mastery Coaching Program.

Now, with the proper guidance, tools and support, you can be your own coach. Onto the issue…

Kicking off the Autumn issue, we have the fabulous Lisa McCune on the cover. One of the nicest and most authentic people I have interviewed, I’m sure you’ll enjoy finding out more about Lisa from the set of filming the final series of Sea Patrol. Despite tremendous career success, Lisa is adamant that she is not perfect and doesn’t have it all handled. Enjoy the read on page 12 and see why she’s considered Australia’s sweetheart.

Our special feature this issue celebrates 100 years of International Women’s Day (page 18). Find out why March 8 is such an important day for women and the goal of UNIFEM to have 100 organisations sign the Women’s Empowerment Principles offering guidance on how to empower women in the workplace, marketplace and community.

An inspirational profile that brought tears to my eyes is ‘The ability of disability’ featured on page 28. Sophia Whitfield shares her journey, from the age of 20 when she found herself sitting next to her newborn baby, Luke, in the neonatal intensive care unit through Luke’s diagnosis with cerebral palsy and how his ability to enjoy life has shaped who she is 19 years later.

Onto relationships and we know you’ll enjoy this issue’s contribution from Allan and Barbara Pease on page 30. Always entertaining, ‘Why won’t he talk to me?’ discusses the differences between men and women when it comes to communication and how you can resolve these issues in your relationship.

An article I can particularly relate to in this issue is ‘The courage to speak’ on page 40. Like most people, I find myself a bit anxious when asked to present to large (or small) groups of people. In this article public speaking expert, Dr Annie Wyatt shares some great tips to let go of fear and love being in front of an audience.

Something for your business, check out our article on ‘No cost marketing’ on page 52. Find out how to develop and effective email campaign to get results in your business.

And finally, a different kind of inspirational profile, ‘The million-dollar seed’ on page 58, introduces Robin Atkins who went from a divorced single mum living on the pension at 25 to property millionaire. Made me want to go out and buy a house.

We’ve got plenty of other great articles as well, so whether you are now reading online or sitting in your favourite chair enjoy the issue!

Helen Rosing, Publisher

Graphic Designer Design Box www.designboxweb.com Cover Photography Photography courtesy of Channel Nine Contributors Natalie Ashdown, Lyndsey Baigent, SallyAnne Blanshard, Silvia Damiano, Vicki Dean, Susan Jackson, Katrina Mae, Michelle Hext, Allan & Barbara Pease, Heidi Alexandra Pollard, Catherine Pritchard, Joseph Scott, Susan Scott, Russel Stewart, Tanielle Thomas, Karen Vella, Chloe Wedgwood, Dr Annie Wyatt Production & Subscriptions admin@empoweronline.com.au P: (02) 9686 4398 Advertising Gidon Rosing gidon@empoweronline.com.au P: 0402 822 722 Printed by TBS Print Pty Limited P: 1300 301 321 E: info@tbsprint.com.au www.tbsprint.com.au Powered online by www.issuu.com Published by Indigo Productions Pty Limited ABN: 90 135 381 118 PO Box 1397 Baulkham Hills, NSW, 1755 P: (02) 9686 4398 F: (02) 9686 4394 E: admin@empoweronline.com.au

www.empoweronline.com.au Advertisers and contributors to emPOWER Magazine acknowledge they are aware of the provisions of the Anti-Discrimination Act 1977 and the Trade Practices Act 1974 in relation to false and misleading advertising or statements under other unfair practices and the penalties for breach of provisions of those Acts. The publisher accepts no responsibility for such breaches. Opinions expressed by contributors are their own and not necessarily endorsed by emPOWER Magazine or the publishers. All material in emPOWER magazine is copyright and may not be produced in whole or in part without express permission of the publishers.

ISSN 1835-8705

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• • • • • • •

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About the Presenter: Dr Annie Wyatt is an expert in public speaking and has helped many people to become more conndent and successful as presenters. She holds a Master of Public Health and a Doctorate in Occupational Health, Safety and Adult Education. Dr Annie is also a Certiied Neuro-Linguistic Programming Trainer.

Thank you for all the wonderful feedback on the magazine and website. Keep your comments and ideas coming. Email us at admin@empoweronline.com.au

favourite letter Feeling a little lost at the end of 2010 and in desperate need of motivation, a friend put me onto your fantastic magazine. After having a quick browse, I eagerly read your special feature on ‘Time to Celebrate’ and ‘What’s on your bucket list for 2011?’ (Summer 2011). It was a nice surprise to find out that I did actually achieve something in 2010 and for the first time I also acknowledged what I had ‘learned’ during the year.

My ‘Bucket List’ for 2011 looks great. This year I am committing to daily meditation, controlling my spending and getting a promotion at work.

- Georgie, via email

I was fascinated to read the article on ‘Exploring Kinesiology’ in your Summer 2011 issue. For some time now I have been having tremendous problems sleeping and, although I got the sense that the cause was an emotional one, I really didn’t know where to start to resolve it. After reading the article, I contacted a local kinesiologist and have just had my first session. Although it was a strange experience, I truly feel I am on the right path to a good night’s sleep.

- Amanda, via email

I check your website on a regular basis because it’s got so many good reads and things to check out. My work colleague peeked over my shoulder to see what I was looking at and I told her she just had to check it out. Now she’s hooked, too!

- Elsie, via email

Brandon Bay’s story ‘Surviving the Journey’ was very inspiring for me. I have been battling breast cancer for the last year and although people would say that I am usually very positive, lately I have been letting everything get on top of me. Reading Brandon’s story gave me hope and a new avenue of research for my own treatment. I have since purchased her book and will be attending one of her programs to delve into my own emotional issues.

- Victoria, via email

There is so much good advice on your website and in the magazine that I have now purchased a journal specifically for it. I call it my ‘emPOWERed journal’. I am using it to record my goals and actions, as well as to remind myself of important advice and information I pick up from your articles. I’m also gaining a great collection of inspiring quotes.

- Claire, via email

I really enjoyed Mark Husson’s article ‘Love by the stars’ (Summer 2011). I find that a lot of emPOWER articles are quite indepth and I really enjoyed this light and fun article. I also got some great insight into my tricky Scorpio partner.

- Wendy, via email

Submit ‘Your Say’ through the website at www.empoweronline.com.au or email admin@empoweronline.com.au.

meet the experts

to all our expert contributors Natalie Ashdown is a workplacecoaching expert with over 15 years of corporate management experience and 8 years coaching senior managers and their teams.

She is an author, speaker, facilitator on workplace coaching including relationships, communication and conflict. Natalie is CEO of Open Door Coaching, one of Australia’s leading executive coaching, coach training organisations and a registered training organisation.

Sally-Anne Blanshard is the Career Manager for www.myambition.com, a website dedicated to helping individuals accelerate their job search and career strategy. She has over 12 years experience in consulting in the areas of talent management and career development and regularly blogs on all aspects of career management. In addition, Sally-Anne coaches candidates through interactive tutorials, workshops and one to one sessions

Susan Scott is a best-selling author and visionary leadership development architect. A recognised thought leader in the global business community, Susan and her company, Fierce, Inc., are committed to largescale and individual transformation through the principles set forth in Susan’s two books Fierce Conversations and Fierce Leadership and her company’s corporate training programs.

Dr Annie Wyatt is an accomplished speaker, teacher and published author. As a public speaking and personal development coach, Annie loves to see her clients swap their fear of public speaking for confidence, excitement, enthusiasm and professionalism.

Her background is in adult education and psychological wellbeing at work. She is a certified NLP trainer and uses acceptance and commitment processes in her work.

Susan Jackson is a licensed financial planner and Founder of the Women’s Financial Network (WFN). She is also a regular speaker, media guest and facilitator of money education programs. Susan is the author of The Investment Club Start Up Guide; The Women’s Guide to Property; Why Saving is Like Dieting and Budgets Don’t Work and Ms Moneys Guide to the Global Financial Crisis.

Catherine Pritchard is one of Sydney’s leading naturopaths who has been in practice for almost 10 years. With a degree in Chemistry and Mathematics, Catherine has designed exclusive health programs to improve your health, energy and wellbeing in as little as two weeks.

She specialises in weight loss, fatigue, women’s health and fertility. Her practice is conveniently located in the heart of Sydney CBD.

Chloë Wedgwood, Founder of the Canvas group - Canvas Marketing, Canvas Creative and Canvas Mentors, is passionately committed to supporting businesses generate profit from no cost and low cost marketing techniques. With a background in Media, PR and Marketing, she has been an instrumental force in marketing businesses in a variety of different industries from fashion to property, sports, hospitality and more.

Allan & Barbara Pease are among the World’s foremost communication and relationship experts. The Definitive Book of Body Language offers a serious but “entertaining and humorous” view of how body language works in most life situations, business and work environments, and your personal life.

Regardless of your level of fluency with body language, there is so much to learn from Allan and Barbara Pease.

Silvia Damiano is a thought provoking speaker and facilitator on the topics of Emotional Intelligence, Neuroleadership and Engagement. She is an expert in the design and implementation of Organisational Learning strategies.

Silvia is passionate about converting knowledge into a meaningful experience by integrating the science and the arts, the linear with the creative and by relating to participants with contagious enthusiasm and energy.

Joseph Scott of The Coaching Room is an internationally experienced coach and trainer, delivering corporate and public coaching and training throughout Australia and Asia for some of Australia’s largest organisations.

Over 11 years, he has developed himself and his service offerings to be able to deliver significant coach development, transformation and performance at the top of many of today’s leading businesses.

Entrepreneur, property investor, speaker, philanthropist and author, Heidi Alexandra Pollard is a sought after leadership and communication coach who became a self-made millionaire in her early 30’s. She has over 15 years in leadership roles across a broad range of industries and government. In 2010 she founded Leading Ladies International, a company that supports women in all stages of their career and life.

Tanielle Thomas is an inspirational Singles Coach and Dating Mentor who is passionate about helping singles find the confidence to be themselves, and attract their soul mate. Tanielle is the founder of Full of Life Coaching business, is a Life Coach and NLP Practitioner with a Bachelor of Behavioural Science. Tanielle offers a range of tailored programs that help singles find their love story.

Vicki Dean has been involved in the creative healing arts for the past thirty years. She lives on the land in Yarramalong Valley and opens daily to the teachings offered by the elements, animals and spirit of place. Vicki is the creator of the course Diploma of Shamanism and Transformational Mask and co creator of TranceImaging -immersion into trance, dance and Image.

Karen Vella is a Life Coach, NLP Practitioner and owner of coaching business, You’re The One. She has a vision to reconnect others back to their truest selves with the power of self-belief, self-esteem and self-love. Karen’s expertise can be found in the range of coaching programs and services, she offers from individual coaching to workshops, webinars, writing articles, and keynote speeches.

After developing real estate, Katrina Mae’s passion evolved into StagedHomes in 2003, a highly successful home staging business built on creativity and practicality. Katrina also teaches property investors how to bring the all important WOW factor to their properties. She is the author of The Australian Guide to Home Staging showing homeowners and investors how to achieve top dollar for their properties.

Lyndsey Baigent is a highly sought after coach, founder of the Direct Sales Success Club and host of Party Plan TV. Lyndsey knows what it takes to enjoy the cars, holidays and lucrative income Direct Sales has to offer. Lyndsey is passionate about empowering Direct Sellers to step outside of their comfort zone, take massive action and create the lifestyle of their dreams.

Autumn 2011

Michelle Hext is CEO and founder of Glow Women’s Fitness Online. Michelle’s has 20 years experience in the fitness industry and is now leading the way in Online Personal Training. Through her online training and full time centre Michelle helps women to change their lives through fitness and healthy living. Michelle was recently featured as one of Australia’s Trainers to watch in Ultrafit Magazine.

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We can change the world, one act at a time – a little kindness is all it takes.

I

t’s quite possible you have changed someone’s day without even knowing it. Perhaps you gave a welcoming smile when they were feeling left out, delivered a compliment, opened a door, offered up your seat on the bus or were generally helpful and pleasant when it was most needed. You can probably also think of moments when someone changed your day in a similar way. What happened in each of those moments is called an Act of Kindness – a small action that can make a big difference.

Here’s how some of our readers are getting in on the act.

I’m not sure if this really applies as an act of kindness, but I thought I should mention it anyway. Wherever I am, I always smile at people I pass. Sometimes I even get a smile back. It can make someone’s day just that little bit brighter.

Jodie – via website

There was a young girl trying to cross a really busy street. She looked like she had just come from school. It made me nervous watching her. She would step onto the road and then jump back when she realised it wasn’t safe to cross. I didn’t need to cross the street, but I stood beside her anyway. “Don’t cross yet.” I told her and she nodded. “Okay, half way.” We both crossed to the island in the middle and looked the other way. “And cross again.” We crossed the rest of the way. She waved at me and went on her way.

I’m sure her parents would be grateful if they knew.

Leah – via email

When I serve people in my shop, I alwa ys finish by saying “Have a great day” and give them a smile. Som e people respond, some smile back and some just ignore it, but I still keep it up. However, one day when I said it to a lady, she gave me a big smile back and told me that it really made her day, after she had been having a horrible one. It goes to show that a small act of kindness can really make a difference in someone ’s day.

Marnie – by email

One day, I was caught in the rain. It started bucketing and I didn’t have an umbrella on me. I didn’t even have a newspaper to hide under, not that it actually works, but that’s what they do in movies all the time. I ran into a cafe and was saturated from head to toe. One of the staff told me I couldn’t stay unless I bought a drink or food item, but I didn’t have any money on me. I was just about to beg when man stood up and offered to buy me a coffee so I could stay out of the rain. I was really touched. We’ve since become great friends.

Amalie – via website

I had been in need of a new perfume for a while, so I was trying to find the right scent to be my next one. I found it and gave everyone at work a whiff of my perfumed wrist. I had too many bills to buy it, so I put it on my wish list for the mean time. My boss was going to New Zealand for work and when he came back, he put a present on my desk. I saw it when I got there in the morning and opened it up. It was the perfume I wanted in the biggest size. I didn’t even know he paid that much attention to us!

It really boosted my morale.

Kim – via email

My niece is having a rough time with money. She’s studying part-time and says it can be hard to find reliable work to coincide. She refuses to take money from anyone, preferring constant dinners of pasta and rice so she can stay independent. I decided to send her some money anonymously.

Every now and then, I’ll put $10 or $20 into an envelope, with her name and address typed out so she can’t recognise my handwriting and no return address, and send it to her. She tells her parents all the time about the random money coming to her and I can tell that she isn’t as stressed as she was before. It’s nice to help her out and I’m proud of her attitude.

Sylvia – via email

Submit your Act of Kindness & Win The reader to send in our favourite and most inspiring act of kindness for the next issue will win a fantastic book pack from Exisle Publishing (www.exislepublishing.com.au). The book pack contains copies of Release Your Worries by Dr Cate Howell and Dr Michele Murphy, Making a World of Difference by Miles Roston, All for Love by Megan Gressor and Kerry Cook and Living Proof by Janet Hayward. The pack is valued at $112.

Submit your Act of Kindness at empoweronline.com.au or email admin@empoweronline.com.au.

11

www.empoweonline.com.au

cover story

Run your

own race Lisa McCune is described as one of Australia’s most prominent and versatile performers.

But, as Helen Rosing found out, despite her tremendous career success, she’s also incredibly authentic. We meet Lisa while filming the final series of Sea Patrol to find out about the past, the present and what’s next for Australia’s sweetheart.

Autumn 2011

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cover story

iStockphoto

W

hen you have a look at what Lisa McCune has achieved in her professional career, you can understand where her reputation as one of Australia’s most prominent and versatile performers comes from. Lisa first came to prominence in her long-standing role as Constable Maggie Doyle in Blue Heelers; a role that earned her ten Logie awards.

From here, she starred in a stage version of Sound of Music as Maria VonTrapp before taking a year off to have her first child. Returning to the screen in 2002 she played Verity Marshall in Marshall Law, followed by another year off with her second child.

Lisa again returned to the screen in 2004 as host of Seven Network The World Around Us and Forensic Investigators and in the telemovie Hell Has Harbour Views.

From here, in 2005 her next project was as a guest star in ABC series MDA about a law firm specialising in medical defense before appearing alongside Cate Blanchett in Australian movie Little Fish.

She’s also appeared in a number of musicals and stage productions around Australia, most notably as Sally Bowles in Cabaret and Sarah Brown in Guys & Dolls and it is these roles that have firmly cemented her as one of Australia’s greatest musical theatre assets.

Since 2007, Lisa is best known for her role in the Nine Network drama series Sea Patrol as Lieutenant Kate McGregor, a role that will finish up at the end of the current fifth season. Don’t think that will bother her though, Lisa is already looking forward to new possibilities. She’s already looking at a opportunity in new television series Reef Doctors where she’s also putting on her L-Plates to co-produce and in addition, she’s also the face of new Nine Network digital channel GEM. In Lisa’s own words, she is always willing the “have a crack”. I think we have to agree.

On top of that, Lisa is a committed wife and mother to three children and is renowned for her extraordinary humility, generosity, professionalism and genuinely down-to-earth nature. Yet, she insists that she’s not perfect and doesn’t have it all handled.

Q. Tell us a bit about yourself.

Where did you grow up and how would you describe your childhood?

A. I was born in Sydney and grew up on the beaches of Perth. I had a really great childhood and I feel really blessed growing up on the beach. It was very normal; I played netball on the weekends and did dancing. I don’t remember having a special childhood or anything. I finished school at 16 and went to a drama school. I think I was a slack teenager but by the time but by that time I had pretty much decided what I wanted to do.

Q. What are the key things you

learnt from your upbringing?

A. Mum and dad weren’t involved in the

arts but I learnt early on the value of teamwork. When you start to go to dance schools and singing lessons you gain a lot of discipline. I was very much brought up in a team environment performing with other people. I think it’s made me a dynamic individual amongst a group but at the same time I’m not into solo performances. I never had pressure from mum and dad not to be a performer. I was always very supported.

Q. When did you decide that you

wanted to be an actor? How did you get started?

A. I auditioned for the conservatorium as a singer and I think I realised when I got there that I would be an actor who could sing rather than a singer who could act. I don’t think I ever really had an amazing voice to sing but I loved telling a story and thinking about the character. Looking at the complexity of scripts really fascinated me as well. I guess I wanted to be everything and I realised as an actor I could be anything.

Q. How did you get started?

A. I did dancing from a young age but

I guess for me the start was going to the Western Australia Academy of Performing Arts when I was very young at 17. It was there that I really got to watch other performers and

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choose what I liked and didn’t like and that was a great way to learn. I was quite shy and it took me sometime to come out of my shell. I also loved being institutionalised so I did very well.

Q. What challenges did you face in

the beginning breaking into the industry?

A. I think the challenges for me were perhaps less than a lot of people who were older because I didn’t have the commitments other people had; I didn’t have a family or own property.

I think I was quite fortunate to be able to take risks and I also had great people to support and to look after me.

I was very lucky to be used in a number of pilots by Channel Seven and then they found Blue Heelers.

I guess I was kind of on a radar; I don’t know what they said behind closed doors but they obviously saw something there.

Q. You have done such a variety of

things in your career, from TV, to musical theater and even in TV Advertisements for Coles.

What do you feel have been the highlights?

A. I think everything. That must sound a bit too good to be true but every experience, good and bad has made me who and what I am today as a performer and person. I’m incredibly resilient. I get knocked down but I’ll get back up again and have a crack. I don’t mind a bit of healthy criticism as long as it’s healthy.

Q. You were probably best

known initially for your role as Constable Maggie Doyle in Blue Heelers, what do you remember thinking back on that time?

A. I remember the great time we had.

A lot of us were really young working on that show and were all getting a start and we just had a ball. We were working with great people. John Woods was really responsible for much of my development during that time.

It was a terrific place to be and very much right place at the right time kind of stuff.

www.empoweonline.com.au

cover story

Q. During that time you won four

Gold Logie Awards for Most Popular TV Personality. Overall you’ve won an incredible ten Logies and numerous other awards. What is it like to win these big awards?

A. At the time I was quite humbled by it and in a way I found it slightly embarrassing. We were in a studio all day, working such long hours and I felt like I was being picked out of a bunch of dedicated people. I was really humbled that people knew who I was and liked what I was doing. I was really aware that the public was behind me on those nights; it was one night of the year when I thought, “WOW, I’m ok”.

But now, I am incredibly proud of them. Now I think “I’ve got one of those” and I want to show them off. I’m not so worried now about being pulled down by the tall-poppy syndrome.

Q. Is there one you are the most proud of and why?

A. Probably the final one on Heelers

because it was the one that showed my longevity. It was the beginning of the new millennium and I was about to embark on a new path, which was a risk. It kind of felt like the public were saying “Good on you” and not giving me backlash about leaving the show.

Q. Sea Patrol is now into its fifth

season, what have you loved most about being involved in this show?

A. The action. I just think it’s absolutely

spectacular and to be on the water all day and screaming around the ocean on fast boats, it’s exhilarating and quite powerful. I have really thrived being capable in that environment.

Q. Do you relate to your character Lt Kate McGregor?

A. No, to be honest I feel sorry for her.

In my life have a family and a career.

She has a career and is desperately in love with this man in her life but on the boat in her position she has had to make a choice. She’s struggled with that. I really like her as a character; I think she has a lot of spunk.

Q. I understand that you do most of

Q. Something very different for you,

Q. I understand that this is the final

your guest role in Rake playing Lucy Marx (a manipulative mother hell bent on doing anything to free her jailbird daughter) saw you writhing about in a seedy bedroom. What was it like to turn bad?

A. I was really wrapped when they rang me. It’s really nice to be taken out of the zone of where you normally play.

I figured that no one would be asking me to take my gear off in 20 years so why not get it off now [laughs]. It was devine and the whole cast were lovely.

A. Yes, it’s our last one. The boat will

Q. Did you hesitate before

your own stunts for Sea Patrol.

Why have you chosen to do this?

A. Any stunts that are too bad are definitely done by other people but things like being able to jump from one moving boat to another is great.

You know what these people are doing rather than just sitting on the sidelines while someone else goes and does that stuff and gets the rush. I also think it adds to the authenticity of the show. season of Sea Patrol.

sail without us. We’ve had five great seasons. It’s a very high-end drama, not inexpensive to make and with that comes an end. I think we’ve all really learned a lot and are all ready for the next one. I think we’ll go onto something bigger and better. I will definitely miss the people I have been working with.

Q. You’ve also done a lot of musical theatre, like The Sound of Music, Cabaret and Guys and Dolls.

Autumn 2011

What do you enjoy about theatre work?

A. Probably the challenge of a live audience; having to perform eight days a week and having to find something extra every time to keep it fresh. I find that the stamina you need for theatre work is quite different than television.

On television you might get a 3-10 minutes scene and it’s more about being there and knowing your lines.

Theatre is so much more about your whole being and your body because you’ve got the same three hours on stage, the lines are the same but it requires much more effort.

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accepting the role?

A. It didn’t really worry me. I was more

concerned about my son, who’s turning 10, sitting around with his mates when he’s 13 doing a project on mum and finding Rake. I thought “oh well, you know, it’s what I do”. I don’t have any hang-ups really.

Q. When you’re involved in sex

scenes like that, how do you deal with it at home explaining to your kids what’s going on?

A. I haven’t talked about Rake with them, they don’t know about that one, unless one of the other parents has talked to them about it [laughs].

They travel with us and they understand what we do. We do lots of dressing up and play-acting at home so they kind of understand it all. I’ll deal with that one before he’s old enough to do that search… you know something like, “sometimes you play characters who don’t like to keep their clothes on…”

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cover story

Q. You’ve got a new role coming

up in Reef Doctors. Tell us about the new show and that role?

I understand you’re also coproducing the show.

A. I have my learner’s plates on. I’ll probably start working on that after we finish Sea Patrol. It doesn’t have a set title yet but it’s a medical series based in the tropics of far-north Queensland.

It’s interesting to do research on tropical medicine; there are a lot of new things being found and a lot of boundaries. It will also be interesting to see how a series develops from the grass roots up.

Q. What else would you like to achieve in your career?

A. I would love to keep working. I don’t

want to leave a mark, I just want to be involved.

Q. You’re about to hit the ‘40’ mark.

Is it a time of reflection for you or is it just like any other birthday?

A. I feel like I get so much attention in my everyday life that I just want to sit down on the beach with a few beers with some friends on a rug. I’m not into the Hallmark occasion and celebrating.

We had our ten year wedding anniversary last year and sat down and went “far out it’s been an amazing ten years, let’s have another ten like those”.

I like where I am now and I’m much more confident as I get older.

Maybe you get less time and start thinking, “Oh, quick, what do I want to achieve?” I have a list of things in myself that I know I would like to be doing in the next five years and that’s what I’ll work towards. Anyway, 40 sounds much better than 39.

Q. Looking back on your life so far,

what do you feel you would have done differently?

A. I think if I lived in a different time I might have done things differently.

It’s a terrible thing where you go, “if I changed anything in my life

Autumn 2011

I wouldn’t have the three beautiful children that I have now or the husband I have now and they are the most precious things to me that mean I have done everything right. To think that I had done anything differently at all would mean that my past would be different and I wouldn’t have them now.

Q. With such a busy workload, how do you make time for yourself?

A. It sounds terrible but I think work is

my time for myself. I operate fully as me when I’m at work. It’s a totally selfish and indulgent time because I’m working on my character and the show and I indulge myself that way.

I love reading, I read a lot of biographies. I’m getting greedy about time and I want more of it but it’s just time management really.

Q. Tell us about your family? What

do you love most about being a mum to Archer, Oliver and Remy?

A. I love that we’ve made these three very different people who actually get along well most of the time. I have special moments with them and also very frustrating moments with them. I learn from them. I just think it’s the best thing to be part of.

Q. What do you think is the key to

having a great relationship with your kids?

A. I don’t know; I’m still working on that.

I think that I just want to be really good friends with my kids when they’re older. I’d love for them to want to talk to me about stuff. I think parenthood is a real learning curve and I don’t have it all handled. Honesty and love perhaps?

Q. You’ve been married for over 10

years (Lisa married Technician Tim Disney in 2000). Tell us what lessons you’ve learnt through your own marriage?

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A. I think I just learned that I married a

really good person. We balance each other very well. We communicate really well. We have frustrating times and sometimes we don’t get enough time together around work and children but we always come out the other end. We’ve changed enough together that we enjoy our lives together. It’s the first time in relationships that I’ve been totally accepting of what the other person wants to do. I feel very supported and strengthened by Tim.

Q. What do you think is the secret to success?

A. I set my own pace. I don’t spend my

time worrying about what someone else is doing or seeing what someone else has got. There’s always going to be someone better than you or someone who has more luck them you. All of that stuff can get in the way. I’ve had to make myself see that.

Q. What is the best piece of advice

you have that might help other women realise they can reach their full potential?

A. Run your own race and do what you love.

Q. Any final words?

A. You must add that by no means am

I perfect. I’m always seeking answers because I really don’t have it all sorted.

special feature

women

Celebrating

International Women’s Day, celebrated on March 8th, is a global day to commemorate the economic, political and social achievements of women in the past, present and future. Executive Director of UN Women Australia, Julie McKay explains…

I

nternational Women’s Day is a day when women are recognised for their achievements, regardless of divisions, whether national, ethnic, cultural or religious. It is an occasion for looking back on past struggles and accomplishments, and more importantly, for looking ahead to the untapped potential and opportunities that await future generations of women.

As we mark the 100th Anniversary of International Women’s Day, it is important that we look back at the history of this important day. In 1910, Clara Zetkin, the leader of the Women’s Office for the Social Democratic Party in Germany tabled the idea of an International Women’s Day at the second International Conference of Working Women in Copenhagen. The proposal received unanimous assent from over one hundred women representing seventeen countries. The very first International Women’s Day was held the following year with meetings and protests being held across Europe with one street demonstration attracting over 30,000 women. The day sparked great public debate, and advocates drew attention to the necessity of extending the right to vote to women to make parliaments more democratic.

In Australia, International Women’s Day was first celebrated in 1928 in Sydney, when the Militant Women’s Movement called for equal pay for equal work, an eight hour working day and paid leave.

The next year, International Women’s Day was celebrated in similar fashion in Brisbane and in 1931, annual marches

Autumn 2011

began in Sydney and Melbourne, which have been held every year since. Since these early days, International Women’s Day has continued to grow and as we mark the 100th Anniversary, we will see International Women’s Day Events happening throughout Australia, from Christmas Island to Coober Pedy.

Despite this momentous occasion, it is important that we look at what still needs to be achieved to ensure that gender equality becomes realised throughout the world. The Australian National Committee for UN Women, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, will be leading the national celebrations of International Women’s Day. We are holding our annual flagship breakfast and lunches, supporting International Women’s Day events in regional and remote areas and launching an extensive schools engagement program aimed at engaging young people in discussions about gender equality.

We now need to think about how we change the game and how we ensure that gender equality does become a reality for women throughout the world. UN Women Australia believes women’s leadership and political participation is integral to realising gender equality. Globally, only 19.1% of parliamentarians are female and in Australia, although we currently have a female Prime Minister and Governor General, we saw the percentage of women in the Federal Parliament decrease following the 2010 Federal Election. With this in mind, UN Women Australia will be

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focusing on the Women’s Empowerment Principles, empowering young women and ensuring women’s access to political participation globally along with fundraising for UN Women Programs in developing countries this International Women’s Day.

Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs) Empowering women to participate fully in economic life across all sectors is essential to building stronger economies, achieving internationally agreed goals for development and sustainability, and to improving the quality of lives for women, men, families and communities. In March 2010, UN Women and the United Nations Global Compact launched the Women’s Empowerment Principles.

The private sector is a key partner in efforts to advance gender equality and empowering women, given current research demonstrates that investing in women is both beneficial for business and the community at large. Yet, ensuring the inclusion of women’s talents, skills and energies – from executive offices to the factory floor and the supply chain – requires intentional actions and deliberate policies.

The Women’s Empowerment Principles offer practical guidance to business and the private sector on how to empower women in the workplace, marketplace and community. The Principles are designed to support companies in reviewing existing policies

special feature

and practices – or establishing new ones – to realise women’s empowerment.

In brief, the Women’s Empowerment Principles aim to: 1. Establish high-level corporate leadership for gender equality.

2. Treat all women and men fairly at work — respect and support human rights and non-discrimination.

3. Ensure the health, safety and wellbeing of all women and men workers.

4. Promote education, training and professional development for women.

5. Implement enterprise development, supply chain and marketing practices that empower women.

6. Promote equality through community initiatives and advocacy.

7. Measure and publicly report on progress to achieve gender equality.

This International Women’s Day, we will launch a campaign aiming to achieve, at a minimum, one-hundred Australian organisations to sign on to the Principles. To date, the Westpac Group, Carnival Australia, Parsons Brinkerhoff, Pottinger, Fullarton Lutheron Homes and the Bedford Group have agreed to take a leadership role around implementing the Principles. We will be working with the Australian Human Resources Institute to hold a Gender Equity in the Workplace Summit.

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Empowering young women UN Women Australia is committed to empowering and supporting young women into leadership roles. We know that when young women receive access to leadership training, mentoring and opportunities to further their personal and professional development, they are more likely to progress to senior positions in workplaces.

UN Women Australia held the first Young Women’s Leadership Summit in Sydney in 2009 and out of this Summit, Young UN Women Australia was born.

In each State and Territory we have a leadership group of young women and men who organise events, provide training and support young women’s leadership.

In 2011, we will be hosting a range of training seminars for school aged girls interested in taking on leadership roles in their schools. For the first time this year we were also pleased to support a

young woman to participate in the United Nation’s annual policy forum on gender equality – the Commission on the Status of Women.

UN Women’s projects UN Women works to promote women’s leadership the world over. In particular, UN Women enables women to lead in societies where opportunities for women continue to be limited. The following are two examples of UN Women’s leadership projects around the world: Afghan Resource Centre for Women in Politics In Afghanistan, UN Women supports the Resource Centre for Women in Politics.

The centre is dedicated to providing Afghan women with access to important tools for leadership including a library, internet access and capacity building programs and workshops. The centre provides a safe space and networking opportunity for female Afghani politicians, enabling them to debate issues and work together productively in an environment designed to support them. The space available at the centre includes a media and TV Room, conference rooms, and a lecture hall for workshops.

Cambodian Women Representation Following on from the Cambodia 2009 election, it appears that UN Women’s democratic governance projects are translating into higher levels of representation. The number of women commune councillors elected increased from 28 to 79 in Kampong Tom (14% of all seats) and from 95 to 148 in Kampong

Cham (11% of all seats). UN Women funded projects and provided support to over 900 women candidates and doubled the number of women listed at the top of the roster of candidates from 1,161 to 2,328.

A Brief Timeline 100 years of Progress 1918

Ada Evans won the right to be admitted as Australia’s first female lawyer.

1921

Edith Cowan became the first woman to be elected to an Australian parliament in the Western Australian Legislative Assembly.

1943

Dame Enid Lyons became the first Australian Woman to be elected to the Federal Parliament for the United Australia Party.

1962

Indigenous Australian women had the right to vote at all levels of government and in all states and territories for the first time.

1966

The “marriage bar” was lifted and women were no longer forced to resign from their jobs when they married.

1969

The Federal Parliament legislated for equal pay with the ‘Equal Pay for Work of Equal Value’ Act.

1981

Marital rape became criminalised in NSW.

1987

Mary Gaudron became the first woman to be appointed to the High Court of Australia.

2010

Julia Gillard became the first female Prime Minister of Australia

For more information about UN Women Australia, the Women’s Empowerment Principles or International Women’s Day, visit www.unwomen.org.au or www.internationalwomensday.org.au

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Julie McKay is the Executive Director of UN Women Australia (formerly UNIFEM Australia); one of the youngest Executive Directors of a national women’s organisation. She holds a Masters in Public Policy and in December, became the first staff member of a non-profit organisation to win the Australian Institute of Management’s Young Manager of the Year Award.

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you | Feature

Unlock your

BRAIN

As Sylvia Damiano explains, the brain is arguably the most magnificent part of our human body. Despite being the object of study for hundreds of years, this complex organ has remained shrouded in mystery to the majority of us. Until now…

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very day, more and more evidence is emerging from research labs around the world explaining how the different areas of the brain work and how it’s functioning impacts our everyday lives.

This organ not only consumes 20 per cent of our oxygen intake, but also is responsible for our thinking, perceptions, memory, emotions, language and movement.

Due to the recent advancements in science and technology, we have learnt more about the brain in the last five years that in the previous 5,000 years! But while Neuroscience is something that the majority of us will never become experts in, a question relevant to all of us is; how can we apply this knowledge of the brain in our personal and business lives to improve and enhance the way we deal with things?

It is not surprising, that some of these findings have become a hot topic of conversation on television programs or a captivating subject for people to write innumerable articles, books, and blogs, with the aim of conveying - among other things – the significance of getting to know our brains more closely.

Autumn 2011

Typing the word “brain” in Google provides us with 727,000,000 hits – seven times the amount that one gets when searching for the word “leadership”, a theme that has always been extremely fashionable.

Our human bodies interact with the environment and it is the brain that registers any stimulus from it via our senses, which respond by generating actions. Even though we all share the basic anatomy of the brain and have a similar number of neurons (approximately 100 billion), each brain is unique because of its extreme sensitivity to environmental signals. Therefore, each of us has unique personalities. Even brain scans of identical twins reveal that their brains are quite different.

Author Rita Carter says: “Neuroscientific investigation of the brain is very much a work in progress and noone knows what the finished picture will look like. It may be that the brain is so complicated that it can never understand itself entirely.”

Complicated or not, neuroscientists continue discovering and producing research papers about this 1.4 kg jelly-like pinkish mass inside our skulls. Ignoring this valuable information, so varied and so rich, which can offer something of interest to everyone, limits our self knowledge.

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There are scientists who study how the brain is continuously rewiring itself, a process called ‘neuroplasticity’. This capacity of the brain to grow new brain cells and connections between them, even in old age, has allowed people with brain damage to compensate its deficiencies by learning and practising specific brain exercises. Before this incredible breakthrough, it was believed that the brain, once formed, could not change.

Knowing, however, that we can alter existing neural connections to develop new ways of being and doing things, sheds new light on how we can look at ourselves and our potential to affect a cure in certain cases, to learn and to change.

Napping has also proved to make a person smarter by boosting the brain’s capacities.

There is clear evidence that lifelong learning is beneficial for the brain. Keeping our brain engaged in intellectual activity not only protects us against dementia but also keeps our memory fit in terms of storing and retrieving information. A surprising and satisfying example is the

iStockphoto

Feature | you

case of my own mother who at 81 years of age decided to take up computer classes, with the purpose of being able to write me emails as she lives on the other side of the world. In less than four months, she learnt to use word processing, send emails and use the Internet. She was absolutely thrilled when she started to navigate the web, discovering that she could read about anything that popped into her mind and with very little effort.

Proud of her accomplishments and in view of the fact that she had never touched a mouse before, she was flabbergasted when she received a reply to her first email.

Without a doubt our brains can learn new skills, if we have the will to dedicate the time and the effort.

Her only (and wise) observation about this new hobby was: “Now I understand how many marriages are having problems.

Your mind can be absorbed in these activities so much that you forget about the world around you.”

In relation to technology and human interactions, what I have found valuable are the investigations emerging from a new discipline called social cognitive neuroscience. As someone who graduated in biological sciences, and ended up working in the corporate world assisting others to foster leadership and team skills, I am mostly faced with the issues of silo mentality, lack of collaboration and the inability to communicate and lead others effectively. That is why I have been so motivated to understand how our social brains function.

Scientists in this field are committed to exploring how humans interact with each other from a social, cognitive and neural perspective. Taking into account how intensely social we are as a species, and being aware of how we make use of our emotional and cognitive circuits in the brain, is exceptionally handy for anyone who wants to develop healthy relationships at work and in other areas of their life.

Research conducted by Dr. Lieberman and Dr. Eisenberg from the University of California reveals that social pain and

pleasure resemble physical pain and pleasure because the brain uses similar circuits. Feelings of isolation, exclusion from a group or unfair treatment may activate certain areas in the brain, causing significant distress or what Lieberman calls “social pain”. Social pain may hurt us as much as if we were suffering from a physical injury.

This has enormous impact on people’s feelings when we interact with one another, not only at work but elsewhere. Fostering social connections and ensuring that people are treated fairly and are included, rather than excluded, are simple measures to improve morale and engagement in a work group.

Hence, socialisation matters. Enjoying what technology has to offer, in terms of an easy and speedy method to communicate, does not replace the need of our social brains to have frequent face to face encounters with other people, in order to build trust, and to experience the feeling of ‘belonging’ that most of us crave.

We could summarise a lot of the research available by saying that taking care of our brain is extremely important.

Going to the gym, to keep our muscles fit is something many people do without questioning it.

The brain is no different. It improves with physical and mental exercises, good nutrition, play, social connection and calming activities such as meditation and relaxation.

Napping has also proved to make a person smarter by refreshing and boosting the brain’s capacities, based on recent studies conducted by Dr. Matthew Walker, presented at the Annual American Association for the Advancement of Science in San Diego.

Dr. Walker demonstrated that the brain’s ability to learn new information is not stable throughout the day. Part of the

brain that stores memory can be blocked in one day, like a full email inbox in your computer. The researchers found that napping for 45 minutes to one hour is enough to increase the brain’s ability to learn new facts in the following hours.

You may be wondering, how is it possible for me to take a nap with such a busy schedule? My response to this question is; it is up to us to create the best working conditions for ourselves and for others who work with us. Maybe if you were able to take a nap or perhaps a 15 minute meditation in a meeting room – it would be beneficial.

One thing for sure is that continuously sitting at a computer screen or running a diary full of back-to-back meetings will not make you sharper or perform more effectively.

How we feel affects our decisions, performance and behaviour. The best decisions are not the ones taken when we are tense, stressed or overworked. Regular short breaks and positive interactions are essential for a healthy brain at work.

Becoming familiar with these facts and role-modelling appropriate behaviours to manage our health and wellbeing are essential for a balanced life and a better society.

Silvia Damiano is currently organising Australia’s first Brain Art Exhibition and Unconference, due to take place from March 3 to 12, 2011 at Global Gallery, Paddington, Sydney. For more information please visit www.brainartexhibition.com

If you are interested in having a brain assessment or learning more about the brain and its applications in life, leadership and business ask Silvia at hello@aboutmybrain.com

Silvia Damiano is a charismatic and thought provoking speaker and facilitator on the topics of Emotional Intelligence, Neuroleadership and Engagement. She is passionate about converting knowledge into a meaningful experience by integrating the science and the arts, the linear with the creative and by relating to participants with contagious enthusiasm and energy. www.aboutmybrain.com

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you | In Focus

Unlimited

motivation

Joseph Scott introduces you to the five principles of having unlimited motivation in your life.

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n life we need energy to live, to exist and to do things (with our life and with others). Yet sometimes we can miss life by simply talking ourselves out of it. Just like this: • I just can’t be bothered…

• It’s just too much effort and I’m tired…

• It’s not worth it, who cares?

• Sure, one of these days…

• Yes, I know that I should, but…

Sound familiar? If this sounds like you, you are lacking one of the key ingredients in the recipe of life – motivation.

MOTIVATION; a psychological process that arouses the individual into action, toward a desired outcome or goal; the reason for the action.

We can define motivation but does that help? Usually not enough. What is this thing called ‘motivation’? Where do you find it? How can we take responsibility for our own motivation? We believe there are five key principles to attaining and maintaining motivation:

1.

Motivation is not a thing; it’s a process The word motivation is not a real noun.

You will never trip over a hunk of motivation that someone has left in the bathroom, nor will you find a chunk of it in the fridge. Has anyone ever bought a kilo of motivation lately? I think not.

Autumn 2011

Motivation is a set of thinking strategies or processes that we run for ourselves.

2.

We are responsible for the amount of motivation we have

Notice what you just read above – “a set of thinking strategies or processes that we run for ourselves”. What does this mean?

It means that we are responsible for how motivated or not we are in every moment of every day! It means there is no point looking to someone outside of ourselves to provide motivation for us. In fact, it is impossible for another person to motivate us; only we can decide what is or is not motivational.

You are responsible for yourself – what you say and do, what you think and feel, the way you structure and frame what you want.

Have you ever felt empowered? Have you ever felt on top of your game? When was this and where? In what context was it?

How empowered did you feel?

Put yourself back in that time and as you remember that state, allow yourself to become aware of your two private inner powers of: • Thinking: representing, believing, valuing, understanding, reasoning, etc.

• Emoting: feeling, somatising, emoting, valuing, etc.

• In the context of that experience of empowerment, also notice your two public or outer powers by which you can influence yourself and the world: • Speaking: using language, using symbols, asserting, etc.

• Behaving: acting, responding, relating, etc.

How does it feel as you just notice and enjoy these powers? How fully do you feel

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them now? Access them so that you begin to feel these powers. What do you need to do to amplify them? Do you appreciate these powers?

What else is it that drives us to feel motivated? What drives motivation?

Further, how does motivation drive us toward what we want, need or believe?

What is this fuel?

3.

Emotions are the fuel of motivation Our emotions are ultimately what drive us.

Let us take a look at how emotions drive or move us to action. The best place to start may be with the word “emotion”. Emotion or e-motion, could be looked upon as “energy in motion”. Our emotions are our energy. Typically we can put emotions’ into three distinctive categories: • Positive • Neutral • Negative If we can define our emotions into these three simple types and we believe that our emotions are our energy in motion, we can make the same distinctions for our types of energy – positive, neutral and negative energy.

4.

People can motivate themselves using these three different types of energy The affect of positive emotion often gives us the energy to move toward what we want or need, we somehow feel pulled or drawn (motivated). When we experience neutral emotions we can “take it or leave it”. And, in experiencing negative emotions we experience discomfort, a form of pain that pushes us (or motivates us) to try to

In Focus | you

move away from the cause of such. We can represent this with a diagram known as the axis of motivation:

Negative Away From Toward Positive

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Whether we move away from the pain and consequences or toward the good feelings or outcomes in our life, both create energy that we put into motion to do something. This is motivation.

What this gives us is a strategy for developing unlimited motivation for anything we want to do or have in life.

Typically, human beings have a preference to which end of the motivational axis they become or get motivated by. We can ask ourselves some questions to identify our own preference for getting motivated.

Consider each of the following and notice if you are motivated toward what you want or away from what you don’t want: I get out of bed in the morning because • I have to (away from) • I want to start the day (toward) I eat well and regularly because • I want to be well and live life as fully as I can (toward) • If I don’t I will become unhealthy or possibly ill (away from)

When asked, I will go out and socialise with others because • I like to meet and be with other people (toward) • It is rude not too and I don’t want to upset anyone (away from) I keep my home clean because • I like it like that (toward) • I get moaned at if I don’t, or someone unexpected may come around (away from) I go to the gym or exercise because • I want to get the health benefits from it (toward) • If I don’t my health may get worse (away from) I generally do things because • I can (toward) • I have to (away from) How many ‘towards’ or ‘away from’ did you identify? Most people will find themselves using motivation at just one end of the axis, either mainly toward or mainly away from.

Now that you have this understanding on how you are typically motivated, we can move to the final principle that brings all the other principles together and will show you how to get unlimited amounts of motivation for the rest of your life.

5.

Combine both away from and toward energies at the same time

By doing this you will create a personal motivation system that propels you into action. By becoming more aware of the other energy available to you, at the other end of the motivation axis, you can ramp up your emotional motivation to get you to take action, to feel motivated and finally in control of you.

Spend the next five minutes to take yourself through the unlimited motivation pattern below. These five simple questions can be applied to anything that you need more motivation for, any time, anywhere.

After you have used this pattern a few times, it will become very natural you will be motivating yourself like an expert.

The Unlimited Motivation Pattern Identify something in your life you want to have or be more motivated about. Once you have identified something, write it down so you have a record to remind yourself of what you are working on Notice your current motivation style associated with this activity. Are you motivated away from or toward what you want? If you are ‘away from’, read and ask yourself Part A below. If you are ‘toward’, read and ask yourself Part B below.

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Part A. You are moving away from the pain or consequences, but you can put up with it for a while. First, notice how real the discomfort is. Consider what would be even more painful if you don’t take action on this. Then, to add more energy to your motivation determine what you will get that is good or pleasurable once you have taken the action or started the activity. Come up with something that is big and important.

Notice how good it feels and how good it will feel when you have completed this activity. As you experience all of this about that activity, notice just how much energy you have for taking the step to be doing it.

Go and do it!

Part B. You are moving toward the activity, but it doesn’t pull on you enough to take any action. First, notice just what attracts or pulls you toward it in the first place. Now as you think about that, ask yourself, what is important to me about this? What does the importance of this mean to you, how do you feel about it now, knowing this? Imagine what it would mean if you never did this. You would never realise this meaning and its importance.

It could be the start of procrastinating on other important and meaningful things in life, you wouldn’t want that to be true, would you? Sit with this awareness and notice the heightened pleasure and possible pain if you don’t act on this as soon as you can. Notice how much energy and motivation you now have for this. Go and do it!

As a final note, congratulate yourself on doing or starting this activity and notice how well you can motivate yourself to take the actions that are important to you. Feel a sense of independence and pride as you read this and start to take the first steps to becoming an expert at developing your own motivation. Imagine the possibilities you now have for your life. Practice makes perfect.

Joseph Scott of The Coaching Room is an internationally experienced coach and trainer, delivering corporate and public coaching and training throughout Australia and Asia for some of Australia’s largest corporations and government institutions.

He has dedicated the past 11 years to developing himself and his service offerings to deliver significant coach development, transformation and performance. www.thecoachingroom.com.au

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s e h wis Five

wishes

Feature | you

changes our lives. ly nd ou of pr t a th ft gi g we are given a one question assistin st ju s sk a Sometimes in life all t a th ok bo s Five Wishes, a for life.

Karen Vella discusse five greatest wishes ur yo st fe ni a m lly fu you to power

R

e ecently, a colleague of min she ich wh k, boo a me handed ll ou’ insisted I must read. “Y , said she read it in one night” ut abo all it’s “it’s called Five Wishes and true!” There was e com s am dre r you g makin the sensation me e a look in her eye that gav nge my life. I cha to ng that this book was goi excited, knowing raced home that evening, beautiful story that there in the pages of this ssage. She was I would find a profound me right. work of The book Five Wishes is the Times rk Yo w Ne a s, Dr Gay Hendrick changing life a had o wh hor bestselling aut s to alter wa t tha conversation in his thirties the book is ll, she nut a the events of his life. In answering how g erin cov dis about a process of r ke you dreams one simple question can ma s readers to picture come true. Five Wishes ask ed and poses the thb themselves on their dea five things you the be uld question “what wo mean you had would have done that would life?” lived a successful, fulfilling ut For more information abo ad nlo dow to or hes Wis Five the questions visit . www.5wishesbook.com

I would now like to share this gift with you, however, before we do on your so, take a moment to reflect limited amount a has th ear on e life. Your tim to you. What n of days that remain unknow ment only to mo last y if you reached the ver ly fulfilling tru a d live not discover you had rt’s hea your life; you had not followed l in that fee you deepest wishes? What would you , ple peo st mo moment? If you’re like t”. gre “re red we ans would probably

iStockphoto

The invitation

the gift of Are you willing to receive ate your cre to it use the question and ng your usi , are you If ? life own fulfilled to the end of lf rse imagination, transport you r deathbed, you on are your life. Imagine you . you and I am visiting

The questions

te success?

Was your life a comple

plete the following: _____________.

If you answered “no”, com ause I didn’t _________ not a total success is bec was life my on reas n The mai other reasons: Now write down four _______. _____________________ e success because I didn’t ___________________. ___ My life was not a complet ___ ___ ’t didn I e success because _______.

My life was not a complet _____________________ e success because I didn’t _____________. ___ ___ ___ My life was not a complet ___ ___ ’t e success because I didn My life was not a complet The next step is to tur

n those reasons into

wishes:

______.

______ _____________________ a total success, I wish I’d For my life to have been ______________. ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ And I wish I’d _________ _____________. _____________________ I also wish I’d _________ _. ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ______ ___.

And __________________ _____________________ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ And ___

to the question. have answered “yes” sible that you might pos experiences or also five it’s , the n rse cou dow te Of , take a moment to wri tion bra cele of e sak For the t made it a success: accomplishments tha __________. _____________________ succeeded because I ___ First and foremost, my life _________________.

I __________________ I also succeeded because ___________. ___ ___ _______________ And because I _________ _________________. ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ And because I ___ _________. _____________________ And because I _________ wait until the that you don’t have to ples of Five Wishes is nci the exercises pri ted in ple ma com the ’ve of e On If you r wishes into reality. you n sent-tense tur pre to into life r hes you wis end of orming your the process by transf ams. dre above you can begin r you of life the use to create affirmations you can ____. _____________________ ___ ___ ___ res me.)

I enjoy ______ a man/woman who ado with ship tion rela ng (Eg. I enjoy a lovi _________________.

And __________________ _________________.

And __________________ _________________.

And __________________ _________________. ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ And

nged, revised and reexpressions that can be cha ing ath bre ng, de your livi are hes Your wis as navigational tools to gui play with them, use them m, the h s. wit ces rk pro Wo d. the tise oy priori ove all, enj your friends and family. Ab way and share them with ner of coaching business, , NLP Practitioner and ow ach Co ividual e Lif a is lla Ve Karen grams and services from ind rs a range of coaching pro offe e Sh e.

On es. e Th ech e spe u’r e Yo keynot binars, writing articles, and coaching to workshops, we ne.com.au. eo eth ur yo w. ww or om.au Karen@youretheone.c

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www.empoweonline.com.au

you | Spirituality

c i h c y ps

r u o y p o l e Dev

ability

el Steward

ss ability? As Ru ic h c sy p e v ha dered if you n o w r e wake it up. v e to u d o e y e n e v st a H e ju all have it; w e w s, in la p x e

W

hen I was a child, I saw a poster that showed a photograph of the Grand Canyon. It depicted its might and majesty, and underneath the picture it simply said “to wonder is to begin to understand.” Those words have stayed with me, and they are as true today as they were then.

How do you become a psychic?

If you are reading this, then you have already begun! The first step to waking up your psychic faculty is to admit to yourself that you have one. It takes time for the subconscious to be able to communicate with the conscious mind, and the best way to do this is to simply start thinking about it.

For example, you could say to yourself, “I am psychic” on a daily basis and try to discuss this with whoever is willing. You should also try to read about the subject; again, this helps to wake things up. Knowledge will help, as you need some understanding of how things work. Adopt the policy you would take with a new hobby. Become involved in it, buy books and magazines, and look for more information on the Internet.

Become familiar with various approaches and opinions, and start to develop your own ideas. Deal directly with what appeals to you, what your logic finds reasonable. Disregard what you find difficult to accept. You cn always return to it at a later time.

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Practice

Practice can be a dreaded word that brings back thoughts of piano lessons and times tables, but it is just as important in the world of the psychic. It’s all about getting used to information coming to you from a different source. The more you practice, the easier it becomes. So what can you do?

Try pausing before you do something. For example, when the phone rings, pause a few seconds before answering. Can you tell who it is? Try it when someone knocks at your front door. Try it at work. Can you tell when someone is happy, sad or preoccupied?

Your mind will have become used to receiving information with your usual senses, and it will take time for it to accept this transition. You may be attracted to Tarot cards, and these will help develop your psychic awareness.

You could ask close friends or relatives to let you hold an object belonging to them, such as a lighter, ring or keys. Calm your mind and while exploring the object with your hands, try to let a picture come into your mind. It may be very brief at first, but mention it to the object’s owner anyway to see if he or she can relate to it. When you do this as a beginner, the pictures you see are often very trivial. For example, it could be something they were going to buy; a favourite colour or that they missed a bus and were annoyed about it. Try to find someone who can be patient and understanding, and take your time. It’s no use trying to force the information to come through. Above all, accept the fact

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that you are going to be wrong from time to time. The human mind has a habit of filling in the blanks when psychic intuition is not forthcoming. Also, perhaps a little confusingly, some of the information that may come through can have no bearing at the time, but come to light a few days later.

One important thing: if you do see a picture or get a feeling about something, pursue it. It’s amazing how many people become satisfied with just a little bit of information when there is usually more to be had. It’s great when you get it right, but more difficult is working out why you got it right. Try to remember what it felt like as the vision came into your mind so you can recapture the feeling next time.

If you manage to get this far, you are making good progress. It is possible, however, to pursue these images further.

Ask with your mind to know more about what you are seeing. If appropriate, you will get a negative or positive feeling about what you have seen or felt. This is how psychics work. These positive/negative feelings are used to tell a client about which way they should go in a situation. Alternatively, you may just get more information about an event. If you do, tell the person you are with, but please do not try to be a counsellor until you are ready. Remember, you are dealing with people’s lives and emotions.

Stay tuned for Part two of developing your psychic ability in the next issue of emPOWER.

*Reproduced with permission from Russel Steward. psychic.wonders2001@virgin.net

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inspiration | Profile

The ability

disability of

At the age of 20 Sophia Whitfield found herself sitting next to her newborn son’s listless body as tubes went into his mouth, machines beeped incessantly and his chest rose up and down in an automated rhythmic motion pumping oxygen into his tiny body. She shares her personal journey.

A

neonatal intensive care unit is a harrowing place to find yourself. Babies are lined up wall-to-wall, no bigger than bags of sugar, machines alarm constantly and weeping parents sit in terror and despair next to their newborn babies. No one is able to hold his or her fragile child in those first few days. Parents have to be content with talking to their newborns and holding their hands through the tiny windows of an incubator. Our son looked like a monster next to the tiny premature babies. It gave us a false sense of his health, which was failing, on every level.

We waited, as did other parents for our newborn to recover, for death or for a life marred by permanent brain damage.

These were the three options we were given on day four. Before day four our son was just “very sick”. By day four we had moved on to possibilities. In amongst these possibilities was life – precious life.

Our son progressed down the bays in intensive care; each bay was similar to a ward, until he finally reached the special care nursery. I have haunting memories of this time; watching my son’s face show all the motions of a newborn crying but in complete silence. The tubes prevented any sound from being let out of his tiny body.

Eventually the tubes came out of Luke’s mouth and throat and gave him his voice. Other tubes still had to be inserted delivering essential antibiotics; as all the veins in his arms and legs had collapsed the nursing staff had to find a new way of delivering the antibiotics. Luke had his first

Autumn 2011

haircut at two weeks of age and when the first lot of tubes went in through veins in his head we heard his voice, his screams for the very first time, as did everyone else in the hospital.

Finally three weeks after we were admitted to hospital and one day before my 21st birthday we were allowed to go home. Luke was eating and sleeping like all regular newborns and things looked hopeful. His CAT scan was clear and we left hospital full of euphoria. We were discharged with the warning that our son had had an enormous collapse and they could give us no guarantees that everything would go smoothly but as far as they could tell things looked good.

Three months later a paediatrician informed us that our son was now no longer developing normally. The news hit me hard. I didn’t really know what to make of it. Worse still, no diagnosis had been given. What exactly did “not developing normally,” mean? I was already struggling with an 18-month-old daughter and a three-month-old son. How was I supposed to deal with this? What was I supposed to do? The paediatrician had referred us to an occupational therapist. She came to our house once a week to do basic exercises with Luke but it all seemed very inane.

All I knew is that Luke had stiff limbs.

This was obvious. He had been slow to reach milestones such as smiling and was certainly nowhere near being able to support his head. The only condition I could think of that had the same indicators was cerebral palsy. At the time I did not

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need a referral from a doctor. As a parent I could simply walk into The Spastic Centre (soon to be called the Cerebral Palsy Alliance) and ask for assistance. I marched in with Luke in my arms and asked for help.

It took a panel of therapists 40 minutes to decide that, yes, they could treat him and that, yes, he probably did have cerebral palsy. It wasn’t until 10 months later that a doctor told me conclusively that Luke had cerebral palsy. It was still a shock to hear the words spoken out loud. Of course I knew he had cerebral palsy I just didn’t want it acknowledged.

And so began five years of constant therapy. I dedicated my time to finding and implementing both mainstream and alternative therapies for Luke. We went to The Spastic Centre at least twice a week for occupational therapy, physiotherapy and speech therapy. I began a new program called Doman Delacato therapy. This rather strange therapy required three people to move our son in a crawling pattern for five minutes at a time over a one-hour period. Luke was then placed on a slide gravity was supposed to assist him go down the slide after we had programmed his brain with a ‘patterning” routine. Over these five years I had 60 volunteers coming through my house to help. Some were rostered on once a month, some once a fortnight and some once a week. It was a crazy time. I felt I had limited time to help my son and needed to do everything I could to help him.

Through the chaos and craziness I met some incredible people. Most of them

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Profile | inspiration

volunteers. I had arrived from the UK a year before the birth of our daughter, then lived in Melbourne for two years before returning to Sydney. I had few friends and certainly no time to develop any friendships. The people who came through my house were strangers. An article was written in the local paper and volunteers called to assist us. On a Wednesday evening three young ladies used to finish work at the local Westpac bank and arrive on my doorstep at 5.30pm to help me with Luke’s last session of the day. These were the people I spent my time with. Generous, caring volunteers whose dedication to a little boy they barely knew was inspirational. During the five years of therapy not one volunteer pulled out. They all stood by us.

I can’t say that any of this therapy helped Luke. It is not something that can be measured. He is a young man with a profound disability, unable to walk, talk or eat – he is fed through a tube. However I needed to be able to do something. I couldn’t sit by and watch without taking action. Would I do it again? Probably.

Although I would like to think I would be less radical. I came close to losing my husband, who was pretty much ignored for five years.

Towards the end of the fourth year of therapy I was feeling a little despondent and fairly poor. I had thrown money at every therapy that had been offered.

It was at this time that two people told me about the Hart Walker. Luke had not been able to be supported in any walker that was currently available in Australia.

A doctor had told me about a walker she had seen in Yorkshire, in the UK. She said the kids walking in this walker were all just like Luke. I was, at the time, seeing this doctor for a music therapy program, another therapy I was trialling. I was a little reticent to believe such brilliant things could happen. It no longer seemed a possibility that my son would walk unsupported. I was fed up with people promising the world and not delivering.

Two weeks later however, my sister called form London to say she had just watched a new inventors program on TV and had seen a child with cerebral palsy walking in a Hart Walker. Children with cerebral palsy, just like Luke, could walk in this walker.

I booked a flight to London with Luke and fell into my parent’s arms at Heathrow airport.

To my amazement Luke was strapped into this walker and took his very first steps. It was the first time I had seen my son upright, the same height as his peers, walking proudly up and down the clinic hallway. It was magic.

On our return from the UK a group of parents got together and with The Spastic Centre a Hart Walker program was established which has now provided over 1,000 walkers in Australia. It is now called the Go Mobility program. It was an exciting time to be involved in a new project; parents needed something new and positive for their children. At the time, the Hart Walker was it.

Luke was able to use the Hart Walker until his 10th birthday when essential surgery made it impossible for him to

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straighten his legs enough to get back into the walker.

Luke is now 19 years of age. He was integrated into mainstream school and recently received his HSC. This year is an enormous change for him and us. It has taken me over a year to put together a meaningful week for Luke. He will be studying at TAFE two days a week, has been asked to help out at his old school one day a week and the remaining two days he will train in a sport called Boccia. He has his eye on the Paralympics.

Luke is a remarkable young man not just because of the things he has achieved but because he has the ability to enjoy life more than anyone I know.

At the end of the day I reflect on the remarkable affect Luke has had on all of us.

Sometimes we take our children for granted but we know we have a bond as a family through what could have been perceived as a tragic event but has, in the end, been the making of us all.

www.empoweonline.com.au

life | Feature

Why won’t he

talk to me?

We all know that men are not great communicators and women love to talk but do you know why? Body language experts Allan and Barbara Pease explain and help you solve the communication issues on your relationship.

A

bout one in two marriages ends in a divorce these days and we are all too familiar with the various problems that can lead to a breakup. Arguments can begin at sunrise and not stop until after sunset. This kind of fragile relationship is like a time bomb ready to explode at any time. The romance and dreams these couples once built together vanish into obscurity and the most common reason for this is a lack of communication.

So why don’t men regularly talk to their wife, partner or girlfriend in an open, relaxed way? Why do they struggle to express their thoughts and emotions to the same extent women do? It’s an age-old question, asked by women across the globe.

Women just can’t understand this. Women love to talk. Women can talk under water.

Women talk about their day, their night, the food they had for lunch, what the neighbour did last week that she heard about from her best friend, who heard it from the lady at the supermarket… and so on, and so on…

Why men are not great communicators We have known for thousands of years that men aren’t the best conversationalists, particularly when compared to women.

Not only do girls generally start speaking earlier than boys, but a three-year-old girl has nearly twice the vocabulary of a three year old boy, with her speech almost 100% comprehensible.

For males, speech and language are not critical brain skills. They operate mainly in the left-brain and have no specific large locations. Studies with left brain-damaged people show that most speech disorders in males occur in the left/rear hemisphere and

Autumn 2011

mainly left/front for females. When a male talks, MRI scans show that his entire left hemisphere becomes active as it searches to find a center for speaking, which it will not find. Consequently, men are not as good at talking. Men mumble more, they use filler words like “um”, “arh”, and “like” during conversation, and are more likely to drop the “g” from the end of words resulting in “goin’” “comin” and so on.

When men get together so cially to watch a football game, that’s exactly what they do, watch the game.

They don’t talk all the way through to each other. However women, when they gather together socially, do nothing but chat away, regardless of whether they are watching a film, or shopping, or eating, or playing sport. On Valentine’s Day, florists tell men to “Say it with flowers”, because they know men are hopeless at saying it any other way, and they have been very successful because of this fact.

Another perfect example of this problem with men is that they will always choose greeting cards that have heaps of words pre-written inside. That way there is less

30

room for them to have to write their own “greetings”.

The only time when men come close to communicating more openly is when the division of communication in the tightly compartmentalized brain is broken down, usually by copious amounts of alcohol!

Men appreciate a time of quiet at the end of the day, much like when their biological ancestors would come back from a hunting trip, and just sit and “fire-gaze” at night. Men like to come home and clear the mind, with no talking, no communicating, just sitting, fire gazing (today’s equivalent is reading the paper, or watching TV) and mentally filing the problems of the day.

Feature | life

Why women are great communicators For women, speech and language are areas located primarily in the front left hemisphere of the brain, with other smaller areas in the right hemisphere. Therefore, biologically, they are more capable of effective verbal communication. They enjoy it, and do lots of it. With more specific areas allocated in the brain to communication, the other areas of the brain are therefore freed up for use, enabling her to do lots of different tasks at once while talking. Also as a result of this, women are more capable of learning foreign languages, and are better at grammar, punctuation, and spelling.

74% of working women, and 98% of non-working women name the biggest failing of their boyfriends and husbands as reluctance to talk.

Women get rid of their problems by talking about them. Therefore when a woman talks at the end of her day, her objective is to discharge the problems, not to find conclusions or solutions. Women always think aloud. A woman’s brain is pre-wired to use speech, as a main form of expression and this is one of her strengths.

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Men versus women Women speak 6000 – 8000 words and vocal cues a day. They use an additional 2000 - 3000 vocal sounds, as well as 8000 – 10,000 gestures, facial expressions, head movements and other body signals.

Contrast this to a man. He will use just 2000-4000 words, and 1000-2000 vocal sounds, and makes a mere 2000-3000 body language signals. His daily average adds up to around 7000 communication words, just over a third the output of most women!

This difference usually becomes apparent at the end of the day when a man and a woman sit down together for dinner.

He’s completed his 7000 “words” and has no desire to communicate anymore.

If she’s spent the day talking with people

she may have used her quota of “words” and also has little desire to say much more.

However, if she has been home all day with the kids, she may only have used up to 2000-3000 “words” and still has 15000 to go! This can create the familiar friction that some couples experience at the dinner table. When he is silent, it’s easy for the woman to start feeling unloved.

Men talk silently (in their head) Men have evolved as warriors, protectors and problem solvers. Their brain bias and social conditioning prevent them from showing fear or uncertainty. This is why when a man is asked to solve a problem he will often say “Can you leave it with me?” He then takes the time to think it over, silently and with an expressionless face. Only when he has to answer will he speak or look animated to show he is ready to communicate the solution. Men talk mainly inside their heads. This self-talk is misconstrued by women as the man being bored. He may in fact be solving his problems as he sits gazing out the window, or watching mindless sport on TV. He often will become angry when his down time of self-talk is interrupted, as a man can only do one thing at a time; this being a result of his mono-tracking brain.

Therefore, he cannot speak to his wife, watch TV, silent talk in his mind, and eat all at once. This silent talk is why women often feel their partner is being sulky, distant or neglecting. Men can go out and have a “quiet drink” with the boys, and that’s exactly what it is, but when a man goes out to dinner with a women, if he isn’t speaking the whole time, she gets worried.

Women think aloud In contrast to this, women think aloud; the opposite approach to men. Women talk everything they are thinking, and therefore confuse their male partner, who thinks she is seeking solutions from him. She isn’t. She is just thinking (aloud). Women however will verbalise the list out loud, in random order, mentioning all the options, and possibilities. This is one of the main reason men feel that women talk too much.

In a working situation, men think the woman is unintelligent, and a scatterbrain because she is talking about all this out loud. Women do this as a result of their

31

multi-tracking brain. This means that they can undertake many tasks at once, talking, thinking, and doing all at once.

What’s the answer?

Women need to accept that men’s brains really do behave very differently from their own. As Dr Brizendine, who runs a “mood and hormone” clinic in San Francisco once said, “Women have an eight-lane superhighway for processing emotion, while men have a small country road”.

In order for women to keep this difference between the sexes from causing distress in their relationship, they must come to the realisation that at the end of the day, their man needs some space to clear his mind before he is ready to talk to her. Remember the difference in volume of words that men and women speak each day. A simple solution may be for some women to call their best friends more often, as an outlet for their ‘remaining words’, rather than expect their men to listen.

Men too need to accept that women need to talk to relieve their stress, talk about their problems as well as their plans for the coming day. Men need to remember that women are not searching for solutions from them; hence they can just sit back, relax, and let the woman speak her words.

Special for emPOWER readers Purchase any 1 of Allan & Barbara’s Relationship series books, and receive FREE of CHARGE their “ How Compatible Are You” Relationship Quiz Book (RRP $15) to see how your relationship stacks up! To order, visit www.peaseinternational.com, go to the “ Special Offers” under “Products” there will be an emPOWER Readers special.

Allan & Barbara Pease are Australia’s most successful married Authors. Their Worldwide Bestselling books include The Definitive Book of Body Language, Why Men Want Sex and Women Need Love, and Why Men Don’t Listen and Women Can’t Read Maps. www.peaseinternational.com

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life | Feature

Get smart about

Dating isn’t always easy, especially if you’ve been on the market for a while. But as Tanielle Thomas shows, getting clear on what you want will help to bypass the Mr Wrongs to find Mr Right.

I

f you’re serious about having a fulfilling relationship then you need to get smart about dating.

Developing a smart dating plan could help you approach a new relationship from a place of strength, with clear criteria for success.

The purpose of dating is to decide if you’re interested in pursuing a relationship. The problem is that a lot of people are not clear on what their criteria is. Without it, decisions are based on emotions - a gut feeling - rather than a strategic process.

When I ask people what they are looking for in a partner, the typical responses include wanting somebody they can connect with, someone who understands them, who is tall, handsome, funny, has a good job and so on. But if we dig a little deeper, you’ll find there is a broad range of measures that are far more important when it comes to defining a fulfilling relationship.

Attraction and chemistry are a must, but if this is your only criteria you’re at risk of letting your emotions run away from you. You’ll be ready to jump straight into things without knowing some of the most vital details of all - their values.

Values are like glue; the essence that bonds you with your partner for the long-term, so finding out what his values are before you fall head over heels is a must. Your values are the emotions or experiences that are important to you; the ones you want to feel most. So you need to

Autumn 2011

consider what the values are you want to experience after the honeymoon is over.

In order to know what values you want him to have, you must be clear on your own. Sit down and make a list of your 10 most important values, particularly the ones you want to experience in a relationship. Then, whittle it down to your top five. This will help you determine what values your partner should also possess in order to compliment you and bolster the relationship. Do you enjoy freedom, excitement, stability and loyalty? Or perhaps growth and gratitude are essential priorities in your life.

This is not to say that a loving relationship can’t thrive with different values. The point is to know what values are not so important to you and what values are deal breakers.

What is your number one value? The one thing you would want above anything else? And how would that impact your partner? If he values non-stop excitement and adrenalin pumping adventure while you hold more value in the comfort of home and security – is this a sustainable partnership for you? It might sound harder than you think to elicit these types of values; some women can be more worried about scaring a potential partner off than they are about actually knowing if he’s a match.

Try firing off a few questions that can get a tangible response. For example, “what’s important to you?”, “what are you passionate about?” and “what do you like about that?” are simple ways to get a conversation rolling and an easy way to establish what’s important to another person.

Hobbies can also be a window into what others value most. If they pursue activities that gel with you then you could be on a winner. But if their down time is deeply etched in bad habits, you need to consider the consequences.

Also, get a sense of how they spend their time, who they spend it with and what they are getting out of it. This will paint a picture of what someone values – you just need to be open to seeing them and take action if there’s no alignment.

On the flip side, deal breakers are also important. If you’re already emotionally invested and are suddenly confronted by a red flag, it’s much harder to make smart decisions. The tendency is to leave it – to ‘see what happens’ – because for some, the hope that it could work is better than starting all over again.

Relationships are about compromise, but one thing that is not worth compromising on is you.

Tanielle Thomas is an inspirational Singles Coach and Dating Mentor who is passionate about helping singles find the confidence to be themselves, and attract their soul mate. To find out about her tailored coaching programs visit www.fulloflifecoaching.com.au or email tanielle@fulloflifecoaching.com.au

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BE AN

EXTENDED DISC® CONSULTANT & TRAINER STRENGTHSCOPE™

OR A

PRACTITIONER

The Extended DISC System is a set of integrated tools for enhancing individual, team and organisational performance. It delivers customised reports focusing on a person's unconscious behavioural style that help you to understand yourself, colleagues, teams and organisation in ways you that will astound you. No need to learn new concepts, models or terminology. One system, multiple applications.

Extended DISC ® is fast becoming the international benchmark in coaching tools For a sneak peek, Get your FREE Behavioural Indicator eBook, where you’ll learn the four key behavioural styles, how to identify them in yourself and others, and how to work with the different styles. Simply simply download at www.talenttools.com.au/free--ebook.html Strengthscope™ is new from the UK, and it’s world's leading strengths assessment tool designed for the workplace environment and with an optional 360° feedback. Strengthscope™ helps individuals, teams and organisations build greater awareness of their strengths and how these can be used to optimise performance and engagement at work.

Request our free Strengthscope™ Information by visiting www.talenttools.com.au/strengthscope-reports.html Strengthscope™ promotes Strengths Based Coaching and the fast growing positive psychology movement.

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Phone the Team at Talent Tools on +61 7 3103 0177 or email us at team@talenttools.com.au www.talenttools.com.au

wellbeing | Spotlight on

Transpersonal

Therapy

Art

From the earliest days humans have expressed themselves through art, creating images and symbols to communicate their inner landscape.

Did you know though, that art could also be used to heal? Vicki Dean explains…

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rt enables one to access and express parts of the psyche that are not yet conscious. Art therapy is a tool to assist us to explore and express our inner world in order to heal and live a more authentic life.

In western culture many people feel disconnected from themselves, the land and their community. Transpersonal Art Therapy (TAT) attends to healing this alienation rather than focusing entirely on the individual’s pathology. It is a holistic approach that focuses on the health of the body, mind, emotions, soul and spirit.

Transpersonal, which literally means “beyond the personal” marries psychology and spirituality. It unites ancient and modern wisdom and offers a range of tools and techniques to explore the many aspects of our existence.

The Transpersonal Art Therapist’s role is to build a bridge between their world and the

Autumn 2011

world of the client so that they can facilitate the client to discover their own innate potentials and healing. The therapist assists the client to understand, amplify and develop their inner symbolic language.

It can be said that a symbol has a universal meaning however it also has a meaning that is personal and will be different for every person. For example if I draw or dream of a snake I can explore world mythology to get a sense of the universal meaning, for example, rebirth, shedding of skin. In my personal experience thought, the snake has always indicated the beginning of a new adventure.

Most people seek therapy, as their “story” is no longer working for them. TAT offers tools to re-script that story so that life is imbued with meaning and fulfillment.

Like the angophora tree that embraces its own wound and heals from within, we all have the potential to reinvent our lives and ourselves.

Many people feel they need to be artistic in order to see an art therapist. On the contrary, people with artistic ability can actually become overly concerned with skill and attached to the product. In this case, they are usually asked to swap to their non-dominant hand to allow something authentic to come through. The therapist may use collage, clay and various other mediums for expression. It is the process and what is revealed that offers the healing potentiality, rather than the skill involved or the finished product.

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What is art therapy used for?

Many people consult with a Transpersonal Art Therapist to address issues in their life, such as relationship problems, depression or loss of a loved one. Art therapy can assist clients to reconcile emotional conflicts, foster self-awareness, develop social skills, solve problems, reduce anxiety, provide orientation and increase self-esteem. It has also been successfully used in trauma and with people who have experienced natural disasters.

In my experience, many people also seek a transpersonal practitioner as they have a sense that there is more to life; that they are not living to their full potential. Gurdjieff, a mystic and spiritual teacher, uses the analogy that, as humans we are like a mansion, however we are choosing to live in only one or two rooms.

Transpersonal work is a path towards self-realisation that offers tools for us to delve into hidden dimensions of ourselves and retrieve and embody these riches in our life.

During our lifetime we face many transitions (for example, child to adolescent, single to married). There are few rites of passage available to help us mark these or to navigate through the turning points. TAT offers that help.

The power of art therapy is beginning to be more recognised and it is becoming more prevalent in a wide variety of arenas. It is utilised in private practice, in hospitals, with dementia patients, in schools and with children and adolescents.

Spotlight on | wellbeing

What does art therapy involve?

During the initial session the therapist will begin with client-centered counseling to establish rapport, get an understanding of the client’s story and decide the direction that would be beneficial for the client at this time in their life. An appropriate process would then be selected and explained in detail to ascertain if it resonates with the client.

The therapist may then guide the client through an imagined or meditative process so they can access something deeper within themselves.

Some examples of exercises that may be used in transpersonal art therapy include” • Scribble maze – the client covers the page with lines and scribbles using large movements. The paper in then turned around to see if any forms are visible. If so, those form are developed and a story begins to emerge; • Public Face – the client folds the paper so there is an inner and outer section. On the outside, the client then expresses, through any medium (collage, paint, pastel), a representation of the face they perceive they show the world (persona). On the inner section the client is then asked to express the face that is shown more rarely to others; • Mapping – the client works with the Therapist to create a map, or visual representation of where they are in life. The map can then be used as a guide and to inspire them to move forward.

After the artwork has been completed, the therapist then proceeds with a series of open-ended questions to explore the associations, patterns and healing potential reflected in the work.

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Art therapy in practice After 25 years of marriage, after their children had left home, Julie’s* husband left her without forewarning. Whilst Julie had a circle of social friends, she did not feel deeply connected and she had also not worked in outside employment since her marriage.

When Julie rang, I explained that my role was to offer her techniques that had the potential to facilitate her accessing her wisdom and resources. Her response was, “I do not have any wisdom or resources”.

When I went on to articulate the principle

that everybody has these qualities within themselves and that art therapy could help her access them, she expressed delighted surprise.

Julie had been absorbed for the last 25 years in the worlds of her husband and children. She did not have an identity outside of this structure and was facing disintegration with nothing to hold onto. Julie was extremely open to the work and entered it with courage and determination.

She had always had an interest in the transpersonal however had not done anything concrete about engaging with it.

Our work began with her mapping her present situation. Julie resonated with mandalas, a circular template that represents the whole self. This was an excellent technique as it gave a structure and holding to her work.

In one of our early sessions, she created two mandalas – one representing her present situation and one representing her future hopes and who she was becoming. In the latter part of her therapy, she voiced how the mandala of Hope hung on her bedroom wall and became her guide and mentor in between sessions.

Many times during early sessions, Julie would thank me for my advice and insight. Reflecting back to her, she became increasingly more aware that these pearls came from her and I was merely feeding back material that had come from her engagement with her artworks and processes. Julie was used to placing her identity, wisdom and insight onto others and the reclamation of this over time enabled her to begin to calve out a new identity where she knew her own opinions and what she wanted for herself in life.

After several months of intensive work, Julie left regular therapy and continued to implement changes in her life, including a daily mandala, joining a meditation group and doing volunteer work. She would intermittently ring up for an appointment when she felt she needed more work.

Mandala of hope The following is one of the transpersonal art therapy exercises you may like to try for yourself: • Before you begin, you may wish to play some inspirational music and

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create a special atmosphere for example light a candle as you work; • Draw a large circle onto Art Paper; • Sit quietly for a moment. Allow yourself to follow your breathing until you are in a place of calmness and openness; • Imagine you are seeing a bird’s eye view of your life. Imagine your hopes and dreams for your future and who you are becoming; • When you are ready, gaze into the box of crayons and allow yourself to be attracted to a colour. Begin to place colour and images onto the page (if you begin to think or criticise your work change hands and begin to work with your non-dominant hand); As mentioned, after completion of your work an art therapist would ask open ended questions to help you amplify your work and illuminate your inner world. The following are examples of questions they would ask, that you can also reflect upon: • As you look at your work where is your eye drawn?

• Is it the colour, shape or image you are drawn to? Describe this.

• What associations to you have to this?

• Does this resonate with anything in your life right now?

Place your mandala somewhere prominent so that it can continue to speak and inform you over time. You may also wish to consult with a Transpersonal Art Therapist to gain more insight into your work. *Name change for privacy

Vicki Dean is the Principal of the College of Complementary Medicine (transpersonal faculty) where she teaches Transpersonal Art Therapy, Counselling and Shamanic courses. She has a Bachelor of Arts, Graduate Certificate in Psychology and Diplomas in Education, Transpersonal Counselling, Art Therapy, Shamanic Practice, Aromatherapy, Remedial Massage. www.complementary.com.au

www.empoweonline.com.au

wellbeing | Feature

How old are your

cells?

If you’re interested to know how healthy you are on the inside the cellular health test can give you a real sense of how old you actually are. Catherine Pritchard explains‌

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lso known as the VLA Assessment (Vitality, Longevity and Anti-aging Assessment), the cellular health test can provide with you with a sneak peak at some of the key markers of ageing. This quick, painless yet informative test takes advantage of modern science to produce accurate results regarding your body fat, muscle mass, cellular energy and fluid balance through the use bio-impedance.

NASA uses this form of technology to measure how much muscle their astronauts lose in space.

The cellular health test allows you to have a snap shot of your current health and over time the changes you make to your diet and or exercise can allow you to monitor the effectiveness of your program.

Studies show that muscle mass is considered to be one of the key markers of ageing. If you are prone to skipping those gym sessions and have a history of crash dieting or poor nutrition then your muscle might not be as good as what it could be for your age. The more muscle you have as you age, the better off you are. Statistically most people lose muscle with ageing largely due to a decline in their protein intake and resistance training exercise like weights.

Maintaining adequate muscle mass throughout life is dependent on both these factors as well as good digestion to ensure optimal nutrient and protein absorption.

Your results are compared to the ideal value for your height and frame size so that

Autumn 2011

you know whether your body composition is good or needs a little improvement. If you like a before and after comparison, then this test is ideal for those wanting to embark on a weight loss or exercise program so you can accurately monitor changes in your body fat and muscle mass.

Interestingly, just because you are thin, doesn’t automatically mean you are healthy when it comes to body composition. Many thin people can be underweight in muscle due to poor eating habits or digestive disturbances. For this reason, accurate analysis of body composition is far more important than your actual weight on the scales.

The cellular health test is more than just a body fat and muscle analysis. For good health, in addition to adequate muscle mass, you also need good cellular health.

The membrane that surrounds the cell needs to have good integrity and the cell, as a whole needs, to be capable of making energy. Good nutrition, optimal digestion, adequately managed stress, essential fatty acids, proteins and an abundance of nutrients involved in making energy at a cellular level are essential to getting good results in this area. Alcohol, coffee, fatty foods, inflammation, stress and poor bowel habits can greatly impact these results.

Your waist measurement is also an important factor when it comes to disease prevention and good health. The cellular health test takes into account your waist and in conjunction with your body fat and muscle mass, will calculate how old your body is, based on these risk factors. Waist measurements should ideally be under 80cm for women and under 94 for a man.

The main result that people are interested in when having this test is the age of their body. You know your own age, but is the age of your body, older or younger than you are? Your age is calculated from your waist, body fat, muscle mass, cellular energy and fluid distribution results.

Specific key nutrients, along with dietary and lifestyle changes, will be prescribed by your healthcare practitioner to improve your results. One of the key benefits to the cellular health test is tracking your results after making these changes and watching your cellular age improve over time. So whether it is weight loss, good health, vitality or disease prevention that you are after, the cellular health test can help inspire you to make the changes you need to make and allow you to track the positive changes over time.

Catherine Pritchard (BSc. BHSc. Adv ND) is a scientific naturopath who has been using the cellular health test in her practice in the Sydney CBD for almost 10 years. She has designed exclusive programs to assist people lose weight and increase their health, energy and wellbeing. www.catherinepritchard.com.au 02 9247 4633

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Enjoy some time out for yourself with these new inspiring and motivational books.

Losing the Last 5 Kilos

By Michelle Bridges, Penguin Australia, $29.95

Desperate to lose those last 5 kilos but they just won’t budge? Whether it’s post-baby body, excess winter weight, or middle-age spread that has crept up on you – as long as you have 30 days and the motivation and desire to stay on track then The Biggest Loser trainer, Michelle Bridges can help. Michelle provides everything you will need to succeed in shifting those last stubborn few kilos, including day-by-day meal and exercise plans and low-cal recipes. Featuring killer exercises with detailed descriptions and photos, and even weekly shopping lists so you don’t need to think, you just have to do.

Life Without Limits

Bring out Their Best

By Nick Vujicic, Allen & Unwin, $24.99

Life Without Limits is the story of Nick Vujicic, a gutsy 27-year-old born without arms or legs, who is now an internationally successful motivational speaker. Nick encourages everyone to find their life purpose and, whatever their obstacles, to go for it.

Stressing the importance of our attitude as the most powerful tool we have at our disposal, Nick illustrates how the choices we make can have a profound effect on our lives and the lives of those around us. He shows through his own life that the major keys in fulfilling our biggest dreams are persistence and choosing to embrace failure as a learning experience, rather than allowing the guilt and fear of failure to paralyze us.

By Natalie Ashdown, Palmer Higgs Books, $34.95

Coaching has been proven to be the best way to bring out the innovation, creativity and accountability in individuals and teams. Today’s best leaders and organisations are introducing a coaching culture into the workplace – where coaching skills and behaviours are ‘the way we do things around here’. Bring Out Their Best provides a practical framework for introducing coaching into Australian organisations and offers, best practice case studies on the implementation of coaching culture. A must read for HR professionals, senior managers, team leaders and business owners.

Dance Until It Rains

By Andrew Jobling, Exisle Publishing, $32.99

Preventing Workplace Bullying

Dance Until It Rains shares the life of a remarkable lady - ex-AFL footballer Andrew Jobling’s mother, Sue. It highlights the amazing lessons that each of us can learn, not only from her life, but also from our own. It is an inspirational story of love, hope and overcoming life’s obstacles and will help you to find the motivation to create a better level of wellbeing and a happier life for yourself.

It delivers a treasure trove of universal life lessons, helping those who are lacking in direction and in need of selfimprovement with inspiring words of wisdom.

By Dr Anne Wyatt & Dr Carlo Caponecchia, Allen & Unwin, $35.00

Workplace bullying can make life unbearable for employees and undermine an organisation’s bottom line. Preventing Workplace Bullying identifies what is, and what isn’t, bullying and demystifies some of the controversial issues within the problem, including personality conflicts, workplace psychopaths and personal versus organizational responsibility. With information and evidence-based solutions for anyone affected by bullying at work, this book details how to improve interpersonal relationships by proactive and systematic prevention and management of bullying.

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Autumn 2011

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Fitness | wellbeing

4 Weeks to

toned arms Do you dread the thought of baring those wobbly, pasty white arms in your favourite dress or tank top? Michelle Hext has the answer and shows how to get great arms in four weeks.

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e warned, great arms don’t come easily but if you’re prepared to work hard over the next four weeks you will see some great results.

The exercises below are designed to build muscle and create definition giving you great tone but be aware, if you don’t eat well, do cardio and work the rest of your body just as hard, the results will still not be there.

Do this workout twice a week and be sure to leave a day in between each session.

In relation to the repetitions for each exercise, if you tend to put on muscle mass easily and don’t like that look, do three sets of 15 repetitions using a lighter weight.

For women who struggle to put on muscle mass, do five sets of 6-10 repetitions with a heavier weight. As soon as you can manage 10 repetitions it is time to increase your weight to the point at which you can only just do six.

Triceps dips

bring one dumbbell up to chest height. As you bring the dumbbell back to the start position begin to raise the other hand.

Again make sure you tuck your elbows close to your side.

Biceps bar curl

Triceps pull-down with straight bar

Start with your feet shoulder width apart and the barbell resting on your thighs, with your palms facing outwards. Exhale as you bring the bar to chest height before lowering it back down. Make sure you keep your elbows tucked in nice and tight to your body.

Push-ups

Attach a straight bar to the high pulley at the gym. Stand with your feet shoulder width and your hands resting on the bar with palms facing up and gripping the bar.

Pull down until the backs of your hands rest on your thighs before returning to the start position. Exhale as you pull down.

Your push-up position begins with your hands close together. Make a triangle with your index fingers and thumbs and tuck your elbows in close to your body. If you are not strong enough to complete the push-up all the way to the floor just go as low as you can manage. Exhale as you push up.

Preacher bar curl

Standing alternating hammer curls

Begin in staggered stance (one foot forward). Use both hands to raise one dumbbell above your head with your arms almost straight. Your palms should be facing the roof. In a controlled motion bring the dumbbell down behind your neck. Keep your elbows close to your head; your elbows do not move just your forearms. Exhale on the upward motion.

Begin with your feet shoulder width apart with a dumbbell in each hand with your palms facing inwards.

Exhale as you

Set up the bar on the Preacher Bench and adjust the padding to a comfortable height.

Exhale as you bring the bar towards your chest before taking it back down to start position.

Overhead triceps extension

Michelle Hext is CEO and founder of Glow Women’s Fitness Online. Michelle’s has 20 years experience in the fitness industry and is now leading the way in Online Personal Training. Michelle helps women to change their lives through fitness and healthy living. www.glowwomensfitnessonline.com.au

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If you have access to an assisted dip machine at the gym then use this. If not do the dips with your feet on the floor (or with your feet up on a swiss ball or

bench for added intensity) and your arms on a bench. Lower your body down until your upper arms are parallel to the floor, then raise up to the starting position. Exhale on the way up.

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www.empoweonline.com.au

career | Feature

The

SPEAK

courage to

Public speaking – we either love it or hate it, but as Annie Wyatt shows we can all learn to do it with courage and elegance.

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he first time I spoke in public I was about 17. I had a very lucky break. What happened that night set me up in a very positive sense for the rest of my career as a presenter.

Somehow, I had been coerced into giving a lecture to a group of 300 paying guests. It was a charitable event. I didn’t feel able to get out of it (I hadn’t yet learned to say ‘no’, I guess). I was terrified. All the ‘fight or flight’ hormonal responses were happening – rapid breathing and heart rate, muscle tension and so on.

I had researched and prepared well.

I had rehearsed and rehearsed. I suppose at some level I knew the lecture was passable. It was during the days before computers and I had meticulously printed out the lecture so that it was easy to read.

But still, it was a new experience and a challenging type of exposure for me. I felt very vulnerable and kept asking myself all the “what if” questions that the chattering mind is so good at throwing up at us when we are nervous. What if I had pitched it incorrectly? What if they don’t agree? What if they know something I don’t know?

What if the microphone doesn’t work?

Autumn 2011

What if I open my mouth and nothing comes out (it sure felt as if that was going to happen). What if (negative thought)…what if (negative thought)…what if (another negative thought).

I got off to a shaky start. Then I spotted her. In the third row was a woman with a lovely smile on her face. She was quite a bit older than me, nicely dressed and sporting my favourite Katherine Hepburn hairdo.

She kept smiling at me and nodded her endorsement and approval of every word I was saying. I focused like a laser on her and drew incredible strength from her very positive body language. I performed better and better and by the end of the presentation the strength she had given me flipped the fear into excitement, exhilaration and enthusiasm.

As soon as my presentation was over, the spontaneous applause was almost overwhelming. Suddenly, I wanted to be a speaker for the rest of my life! I had found my niche! A kind of quantum leap had occurred inside my head in the space of an hour. Mind you, I still had a great deal to learn about speaking. Nevertheless, I was on my way.

Following the presentation, as I moved

40

out towards the place where supper was being served, I observed something that stopped me in my tracks. I saw the woman who had been smiling and nodding. She was standing all alone struggling to lift her cup to her mouth. She had a marked tremor. Despite the fact that there was no one near her, she was still smiling and nodding as she had done during my presentation. I realised that she had given no endorsement of my presentation whatsoever.

I gave the situation a great deal of thought on the way home and I still reflect on it today. It got me through the lecture and sparked in me a true passion for presenting in public. And yet it was all just fiction. I was simply lucky because if the woman had the habit of shaking her head, biting her lip and looking puzzled or disapproving, I doubt that I would ever have spoken in public again. And, if everyone had just stared at me passively or in some way reflected my negative mind chatter back to me? Or had only limply applauded? Again, it would probably have been my first and last public presentation.

And yet, nothing about the presentation would have been different

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Fearure | career

with the exception of my fast growing personal confidence. Whatever the reaction I received, the presentation was essentially the same. Just as the positive reaction I perceived was not real, nor were my fears about the presentation.

Following that night I learnt a lot about evaluating, piloting and trusting the quality of my presentations for myself. Not that I do not constantly seek feedback from others to help my performance improve – I rely on that heavily. However, I have learned to apply my own criteria for whether or not what I have to say and the way I will say it will be a worthwhile contribution for the audience. The vast amount of training and coaching I have undergone in order to continuously improve my performance has served to increase my “presenter courage” over time. The best way to get better and better at speaking is to do it – speak and speak and speak. Each time you will learn something new.

Some concerns in relation to presenting are worth respecting and some do not serve us. Applied to public speaking, we could usefully ask questions such as: Have I assessed the needs of the audience? Have I sufficiently researched the content? How well have I structured the content? Have I rehearsed sufficiently? Have I piloted my presentation/audio visual material/ handouts with people who will be helpfully critical? Have I acted on the feedback of myself and others? Have I rehearsed the final version? If you have ticked all those boxes, then it is time to enjoy what you are doing and ‘go with the flow’.

As we all know at the logical level, many thoughts that limit us (expressed in our negative mind chatter) are quite unreasonable. However, somehow we remain wedded to them. Here’s an exercise you might like to do to assist with the ‘unhooking’ of negative thoughts.

Write down a list of your limiting beliefs around presenting in public. Examples may include, ‘I don’t deserve to succeed’; ‘I am worthless’; ‘I will stuff it up’. Listen to how you are saying these things in your

mind. Can you link what you are saying to anyone? A teacher? Your mother? Your father?

Just as the positive reaction I perceived was not real, nor were my fears about the presentation.

Now, for this next part, you may wish to ensure you are alone. Play with the limiting beliefs as you say them out loud. Speed up the voices. Use a cartoon character’s voice. Now slow the voice right down; so slow that the words cannot be recognised like a recording being played at the wrong speed. Sing the limiting beliefs to ‘Happy Birthday’ or a zany tune. Keep distorting the voice until you begin to laugh at it. When you are done playing, ask about the positive intention of the voice. For example is it attempting to ensure you are safe or making sure that you are well prepared? Change the words of the messages to express their best or highest intention and make the message useful. For example ‘I will muddle it up’ may be restated as ‘I will make it clear’.

This should give you insights as to how you can take your presentation to a higher level.

Of course, unlike in the case of lectures, speeches and orations, there are situations in which we cannot specifically prepare and practise. Sometimes we are called upon to speak with little or no notice or undertake an impromptu introduction of someone to an audience. Over the years I have gathered various approaches to this type of situation, which, no matter what the topic or the circumstances, see me in good stead. In that sense, as far as possible, preparation and practise has taken place.

Setting up your tool kit for unexpected circumstances is a lot of fun. An example is that of a (long dead) University Chancellor who was held in awe because he “had

41

something special and personal to say to each student with whom he shook hands at their graduation”. When asked about this, he revealed that in fact he only had seven “little prepared bits and some questions” and that as each student approached, he intuitively decided which one of his seven “little prepared bits” he would say and which of the questions he would ask. People in high public office are often very skilled at speaking unhesitatingly and apparently spontaneously. In fact, they have developed foolproof strategies over time.

Things will ‘go wrong’ from time to time and as a result you will cumulatively gather better skills, insights and strategies.

It is your recovery strategy that matters.

Some of the most fantastic presentations I have attended are memorable for the way in which the speakers recovered from things going wrong. For example, a woman at a very glamorous speaking event tripped up the stairs and fell on approach to the podium. She simply rolled over onto her elbow and said, “Look, I think I will alter the order of things a little.

I will begin by taking questions from the floor.” The applause continued as she inelegantly arose, smoothed her evening dress, walked confidently to the podium and began. The way in which she handled the situation gained her instant rapport with the audience. Sometimes, as we have seen in Australia a few times recently, a mistake is made such as the wrong winner being announced. A sincere apology was appropriate and given in each case. And then the show went on. The show always goes on. You know that, don’t you?

Dr Annie Wyatt is a public speaking and personal development coach. She is an accomplished presenter and published author. Her background is in adult education and psychological well-being at work. She is a certified NLP trainer and uses acceptance and commitment processes in her workshops and coaching sessions. www.DrAnnie.com.au

www.empoweonline.com.au

career | Feature

Reinventing your

career

With two months of the new year now behind you, it’s common to start wondering whether it’s time to improve your life and make a career change.

T

here are many reasons for considering a career change.

Maybe you’re looking for a higher salary, better work life balance or less travel. You could be frustrated that you have grown beyond your current job and want to find a career path that will better use your skills.

Perhaps you have passion or hobby that you’d like to incorporate in a job or as a business but don’t believe it could make any money.

If it’s going to happen, you need to take action. However, if you’re not careful you’ll get caught up in the stress of everyday life and lose another year. If you’re ready to switch your career and prepare yourself for the next big leap there is no time like the present. The following seven steps will help you decide which career to follow, reinvent yourself and get ready for the changes ahead.

Step 1 - Assess your likes, dislikes, skills, values and personality type.

If you are unhappy in your current career you will no doubt be able to identify your dislikes. However it is equally important to reveal what the activities or tasks are that give you the greatest sense of satisfaction. What skills come to you easily and effortlessly both at work and at home? What excites you and gives you energy?

Step 3 - Assess if you have the right skills and experience to gain entry into the field already.

Consider your current skills that are transferrable to your new career such as leadership and planning. Consider the additional skills you’ll need to handle the transition and build credibility. It’s more than likely you’ll need to switch companies, but don’t overlook your current one, if the new skills could be used in your current job, see if your employer will support your training.

Step 4 - Consider the logistics for the career change to take place.

Consider the potential impact on each aspect of your life from health and wealth to personal development and relationships. Transitioning may also require a period without paid employment or even a physical relocation.

If either is the case, you will need to review your financial position.

Step 5 – Review your signature style and consider reinventing your personal brand.

Step 6 - Get out and speak to people.

One of the real keys to successfully changing careers will be your networking abilities. People in your network may be able to give you job leads, offer you advice, information and introductions. Join the professional associations in your new field and start getting to know and be known by people in the industry.

Step 7 - Find a mentor or hire a career coach.

Changing careers is often a major life decision that can be overwhelming. A coach may administer tests to ascertain your values and personality so they can help you match your style with potential jobs. They will also provide support to help you through the rough patches. A mentor with specific industry experience may be able to share their career journey and introduce you to their connections and networks.

Remember that, in a sense, you are starting your career again from square one. Changing career takes courage; moving from the safety of something you know to something completely new can be terrifying. Take your time; with planning and preparation it can be an incredibly freeing and exciting growth period in your life!

Step 2 - Start researching new careers both online and offline.

It’s not just what you will do in a new career but who you will need to be that counts. Your style and brand are built on your unique combination of personality, interests, skills and values. Choose your brand and then update your email ignature, clothing, resume and social network profiles to reflect it.

Spend time researching the types of careers that centre around your passions, skills and likes. Don’t expect this to be straightforward and immediate, it’s a natural part of the career change process to feel uncertain.

Entrepreneur, coach, author, property investor and speaker, Heidi Alexandra Pollard helps people boost their career and create their dream lives. Known as ‘The Communicators’ Coach’ she values integrity and speaks the truth. Her goal is to inspire people to live their legacy not leave it. admin@leadingvalue.net, www.boostyourcareer.com.au, www.leadingladiesinternational.com.au

Autumn 2011

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Sign up for Value Ad, a free monthly ezine for smart, savvy professionals who want more prosperity, passion and purpose in life. www.leadingvalue.net

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career| Feature

No room for

complacency Like everything, the job market has it’s highs and lows. Sally-Anne Blanchard asks the important question - if we, all of a sudden, hit another low, will you be ready?

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ith the job market taking the sharp nosedive that it did during the Global Financial Crisis (GFC), it was evident that there were thousands of people who had simply been plodding along in their jobs.

Overnight, positions were made redundant and for those involved, this generally came as such a shock that only then were they forced to consider what they would do next. In my experience with clients, it was an incredibly hard job to find a new job with businesses going into survival mode. Yet, at the same time, many people remained happily employed, seemingly unaffected by the impact of the GFC and continuing to develop their careers.

If you consider the basic definition of career from businessdictionary.com as “the progress and actions taken by a person throughout a lifetime, especially related to that person’s occupations”, two key words appear - progress and action – plus an element of responsibility for the individual in relation to that career.

If you sit back and do not take action or make progress in your career it should be

Autumn 2011

expect that your career will stall. Think of it like servicing your car, you need to make sure that the oil level is right, your tyres are pumped and you have enough fuel to make the journey.

In taking responsibility for your career, the aim is not only to maintain momentum but to gain momentum as the months pass by. Consider these tips to ensure you do not become complacent and lose progress.

Get on-track and reflect Do you know what is expected of you dayto-day or month-to-month? If not, check in with your manager and make sure you are on the right track with your performance.

You may go through a formal review process. This is the perfect environment for a frank discussion about what you are achieving and what you want to get more involved in. Treat your performance review as a two-way business conversation and look to negotiate on your future plans and skill development. Some of my clients respond with “but I don’t have a review”.

My response…arrange one! Your manager should be impressed that you are looking to review your progress within the firm. A little effort goes a long way.

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Ask for more If you are smashing through your workload day-to-day what support can you offer to your immediate manager and peers?

Put your hand up to get involved in more projects.

Be seen We all have someone at work that seems to be known by everyone and even loved by everyone. These people interact and network across the business as much as possible. It is important to be seen in any organisation and to be known to many different stakeholders. If a new opportunity comes along, the more people on your side the better.

Adopt ‘new’ skills Think about how you can enhance your leadership skills or organisational skills.

Volunteering with younger adults or running a sporting team is a great way to be able to give back some of your time to generating new skills. Being able to expand on your professional skill set in a nonwork environment will be viewed upon favourably by anyone.

Feature | career

Elise approached me after her company had been taken over by another business. She was expected to take on a new role with the newly formed company that would incorporate more duties for the same salary. We worked through a few points to find out if this was the right role for her. Did the role give her enough stimulation day to day? Was there an opportunity to learn new skills? If this role were advertised would she have applied for it? In the end she decided that it would be worth taking the role and gave it a six-month window to see how it would evolve.

Look around you Think about who else is climbing their career within your organisation. How are they doing this? Talk to them and seek their advice. You will be surprised how keen people are to help others excel.

who has the potential of doing your job? In order to make the process of progressing a smooth one, is there somebody you can identify who can fill your shoes? The pain of replacing you could be preventative to your success.

What’s your career plan?

Develop your ultimate plan. Think about where you are now, where you want to be and how you will get there. You may also consider who will help you get there. Be strategic in how you approach your next

1. ROLE

•Will the role sti mulate you?

•Will this role giv e you the oppo rtunities to use existing skills an your d challenge yo ur thinking?

•Is there room for growth with in the role?

•There are 52 weeks in the ye ar. Will you lea bed to go to wo ping out of rk each week.

Get a mentor Having someone who you can bounce your ideas off will aid you in your quest of career climbing. Indentifying the right mentor is the challenge. The person should be senior to you, have experience in the area you are keen to get involved in, be able to commit to giving you time, either in informal coffee catch ups or a more formal employer scheme and challenge your thinking.

Having a mentor is a great way to have a confidential and professional opinion on your career and the direction you are heading. As your career grows you may consider being a mentor too.

Claire knew that she needed some help to navigate her way through the complex corporate structure in her law firm. She approached HR about whether they offered a mentoring scheme. Her skill set and aspirations were discussed and she was ‘matched’ with a senior female partner who would catch up with her on a monthly basis to discuss her career path. This not only allowed Claire the chance to think about where she was heading but to also have the opportunity to have a senior partner champion her cause gave her instant visibility for future projects. iStockphoto

Groom a successor If you want to continue to move up the career ladder can you identify someone

2. PROGRES

3. CU LT U RE

4. LOCA TIO

three years. You may need to knuckle down and simply get experience or perhaps you are in a position to study and learn new things?

At anytime, try this five point plan to support your thinking in relation to the role you are in or wish to move to. Use the five point plan to keep you focused on progression and taking action with your job search or even when working out if you should stay in your current role. Take a look and see if this can support you with your thinking.

N

5. SA LA RY

Y☐ N☐

SI ON •Does the role yo

u are in, or wish to be in allow yo chance to enha nce and develop u the your skills?

•Is there a forma lised Learning & Development •Do you have ac path? cess to great me ntors?

•Are you enjoy ing the people you work with?

•Are you inspir ed in your curre nt role?

•Do you have ac cess to great me ntors?

•Is the culture of the firm you are in or want that aligns to yo to be in, one ur own persona l values?

•Does the locati on of the role su it your lifestyle? to the gym, shop (eg. close s, cafes) •Can you endu re the commute /walk/run to wo is no point work rk? There ing in ‘Whoop -whoop’ if you leave because it are likely to is too far a journ ey.

•Is the financia l package reaso nable and fair similar roles for based on the work you wi ll be doing?

•Does the pack age include the benefits you wo uld expect?

Y☐ N☐

Y☐ N☐

Y☐ N☐

Y☐ N☐

Sally-Anne Blanshard is the Career Manager for www.myambition.com a website dedicated to helping individuals accelerate their job search and career strategy. In addition Sally-Anne coaches candidates through interactive tutorials, workshops and one to one coaching sessions. sally-anne@myambition.com www.myambition.com

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www.empoweonline.com.au

career | Feature

From

successful! sacked to

A

family member was recently one of 950 people made redundant from our largest telecommunications company and told me that the estimated average payout to those people, including him was $100,000. I thought to myself “cha ching!”

I couldn’t think about anything better than getting $100k for leaving a company, its like winning Lotto!

He didn’t see it that way! He was focussed on “I don’t have a job” and “we have to live on that, until I get a job”. I just kept thinking, “Wow, $100k, imagine what you can do with that!”

When I was made redundant, eight years ago now, I received about $10,000 or one months pay. I used it as a platform to kick-start my new life and career and launched my coaching business. Sure it wasn’t the $40k bonus I was expecting to fund my fledging business with, but it was a one month reprieve from hitting the papers and going for job interviews – which I was convinced I would not do, despite the well wishing advice from the outplacement consultant assigned to work with me.

Most of us will experience redundancy at some point in our career or watch colleagues wrestle with the ‘take it, don’t take it’ scenario or see others who practically beg to be made redundant or maybe survive first round and second round ‘cuts’ but left with doing more work with less resources.

In today’s workplace, one thing is common; when an organisation decides to initiate a round of redundancies, it affects everyone – those who leave, those who stay, those whose make the decisions and those who don’t, family and friends.

Autumn 2011

So in this article, I want to explore the key steps from going from sacked to successful. And in doing so, how you can turn what can be a very worrisome time, into a really rewarding opportunity.

1. Acknowledge that the emotions are normal You will go through a range of emotions when you are first sacked including anger, blame, feelings of bitterness and thoughts such as “why me?” and “they owe me”. You’ll probably also experience deeper worrying feelings like “what am I going to do?” and “how will we survive”. My psychologist colleagues tell me that this is all normal, and that it will pass.

I remember walking on the beach when a massive storm blew up and I was caught out and drenched in the rain.

I was angry, brooding, thinking bad thoughts about my former employer and I actually shook my fist at the storm and said “so you think this is going to stop me!” Rather embarrassing to admit actually, but the storm passed fairly soon, and so did my mood.

2. Rest and use the time to get healthy Don’t just jump out of the fire into the frying pan; don’t be so quick to get a new job. You are probably strung out, exhausted, highly wired and may not realise how hard you where pushing things. The family member I talked about earlier said he didn’t realise how unhappy he was and how much time he spent travelling and missing his family.

Take it easy, do coffee, go for walks, refresh and rejuvenate – that’s the most

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Even though the market is said to have recovered, redundancies are still common. But, as Natalie Ashdown shows, you can turn a worrisome time into a rewarding opportunity. important thing – to use the time after your redundancy to get healthy.

I dropped five kilos in the months after my redundancy, not through stress or diets, just by spending time on “me” exercising and eating well. I had previously lived on a diet of lattes, bagels and adrenalin and that had to change.

3. Ask yourself great questions The key to go from sacked to successful is to start asking yourself great questions.

Don’t ask questions like “how will I get a job?” and “what am I going to do now?”

Try instead, “what do I really want?”, “what am I really passionate about?” and “how can I build my career from here?

Rather than scouring the newspaper and internet for jobs take some time to reflect, and ask yourself “what do I really want to be when I grow up?”

When deciding what to do next, consider what you are passionate about.

Even if you don’t know exactly, you can at least create a list of criteria that have to be included in your new role.

Sometimes it’s easier to make a list of what you don’t want – that’s ok to. Then you can ask yourself “ok, if that’s what I don’t want, what is the opposite. What do I want?”

For me I said, “I will never again cry over banking software!” Yes, the days of blood, sweat and tears and busting my gut for projects that where riddled with egos and politics where over. I decided I was going to be hanging out with amazing people, picking my team and making a real difference to people’s lives. I wanted to have fun, be healthy and have more time for relationships. That’s what I started with. That’s what I created.

s

successful!

Feature | career

Use the time to create and even invest some of the cash payout, in what you really want.

Start with the end in mind. I wanted a thriving and successful company.

4. Don’t limit yourself or your thinking

Don’t worry about failure! If your new ideas don’t work you can always go and get a job! “How funny”, I always thought to myself, “if this grand idea about a company doesn’t work, I’ll just go and get a job”.

I never did go and get a job.

Now for many of us, the redundancy payment may not be enough to really live on for very long. You will need to be able to fund yourself. I didn’t get a job but I did get a three-day consulting opportunity that provided money for the new business. I decided not to commit to more than three days because it would take time away from what I really wanted to do. I cut the three days back to two days once I started to build opportunities in my business.

I also turned down a major opportunity to work internationally, on a similar project that I had been on in my previous roles. Even now, I can’t believe it, but in a way, that was one of the critical decisions that moved me from sacked to successful.

By the way, I’m not suggesting you all run out and start a company. And I’m not suggesting it’s easy, or simple but I have heard so many inspiring stories of people who are doing what they love now, because of these moments of truth.

Once you get clear about what you really want to do (and this might take a little bit of time), then it’s time to communicate your intentions to your network. Calling in your network is the quickest and easiest way to land a new opportunity. Think about who you know, who knows someone, who knows someone, who knows what you want to do and can point you in the right direction?

No doubt you already have a great network of people. If not, it’s definitely time to develop one. Consider which networking groups you can join and start making the effort to build lasting, beneficial relationships.

It’s all possible for you!

Bring Out Their Best provides a practical framework for introducing coaching into Australian organisations and offers, for the first time, best practice Australian case studies on the implementation of coaching culture.

Natalie Ashdown is CEO of the Open Door Coaching Group and author of the latest book on best practice corporate coaching Bring Out Their Best – Inspiring a Coaching Culture in Your Workplace.

Natalie has coached senior executives and their teams over the past eight years. www.opendoorcoaching.com.au

iStockphoto

Don’t limit yourself in this phase – remember that anything is possible.

Don’t limit your thinking by sabotaging statements like “that will never happen” or “I could never do that”.

Sometimes we get dragged back to what’s comfortable, what’s traditional or what our parents or friends would expect us to do. Forget about that, it’s not about them - it’s about you!

I remember buying the newspaper to look for jobs, because that’s what my husband wanted me to do, and that’s what the outplacement consultant suggested.

I told them both that I wanted to start a company – they both said, “buy the paper in the meantime”.

My mother-in-law asked me for months and months after my redundancy “how is the job hunting going?” I said to her, “I’m not getting a job, I’m starting a company”. She never really got it. She spent her time telling me, “most small businesses fail”. I knew I wasn’t starting a “small business” - I was starting a “company”.

5. Don’t worry about failure

6. Call in your network

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www.empoweonline.com.au

business | Success profile

A passion for Jacinta McDonnell Jimenez along with her brother Justin McDonnell are the master franchisees for Anytime Fitness for Australia and New Zealand. Strong, confident and determined, you’ll be inspired by Jacinta’s attitude in business.

Q. Tell us a bit about you. What were

you doing before Anytime Fitness?

I grew up in a family that runs health clubs in Australia and I have owned a number of different clubs over the years. My first experience in the fitness industry was working at a gym owned by my parents called ‘Club Fitness’. I did everything from cleaning to managing the gym.

I went on to become the state operations manager of Fernwood Women’s Health Club holding this position for three years.

After a short break to give birth to my daughter, I then went on to open my own female health club in Sydney CBD and ran this for three years, before becoming master franchisor for Anytime Fitness Australia and New Zealand in 2008.

Q. Tell us about Anytime Fitness

Anytime Fitness is a convenient 24-hour fitness club franchise with almost 1,400 clubs around the world.

Anytime Fitness offers the community access to a clean, safe and friendly fitness environment for men and women. It provides affordable access to a wide variety of high quality cardio, strength and free weight equipment by world leading companies such as Life Fitness as well as shower facilities.

Anytime Fitness was founded in the USA in 2002 as an alternative to larger and more expensive health clubs. It has grown to become the fastest growing fitness club franchise in the USA with a new club opening every business day and a new member joining every three minutes.

Autumn 2011

Q. Where did the idea for Anytime

Fitness come from and how did it get started?

Our interest in Anytime Fitness was piqued about three years ago, when my brother Justin and I read about the franchise in an industry trade magazine. Six weeks later, we booked a flight to Minnesota, met with Anytime Fitness corporate staff and spent the next week touring more than 50 Anytime Fitness clubs between the Twin Cities and Chicago.

We were immediately struck by the atmosphere in the clubs; the attentive staff, happy members, everything about the clubs told us that these are well-run clubs with great potential. Justin and I understood the fitness industry in Australia and New Zealand quite well and we knew that the 24-hour concept of Anytime Fitness would work. So we signed a master franchisor agreement for Australia and New Zealand.

Q. What have been the challenges of working with a US Franchisor As we were the first international master franchisors, we asked some questions that the US franchisor hadn’t been asked before and hadn’t necessarily thought of. This made for some exciting conversations and it has been a fun and a positive learning curve for all involved.

Q. What were the early days like in

the business? How did you feel?

The early days were hard work as Justin and I managed every part of the business and wore many hats. This

48

being said, it was also an exciting and very enjoyable time. I always like a start-up as everything is new and exciting.

Q. What were your fears in the

early days?

In the very early days, my fear was that the Australian market would not love the brand as much as the USA members do. I felt so passionate about the brand and I was scared that others wouldn’t see it the same way. Luckily we now have a very passionate team of staff, some very passionate franchisees along with a growing membership base of 40,000+ so this fear is long gone!

Q. In the early days did everyone support you or were people cautious?

Our close family and friends were extremely supportive as was my husband. However, the general fitness industry was somewhat cautious of the concept. It seemed such an amazing opportunity and the timing seemed perfect so I was surprised when others didn’t see this straight away.

Q. Once the business started,

how have you grown?

We started in June 2008 and now have over 70 clubs open with a further 85 already purchased and pipelined to open. We expect that by the end of 2011 we will be sold out in terms of available territories in Australia. We’ve grown at

Success profile | business

a rate I never expected and it feels very rewarding to be part of this.

Q. How have you funded the

business?

We had two investors from the beginning and based on the rapid growth we have experienced, we haven’t required any further funding.

Q. Has there been a point in the

business where you knew that you would make it?

I never doubted that we would make it. Failing was not an option. I guess that’s one of my strengths.

Q. What are you most proud of in

your achievement to date?

I am proud of how well I work with my brother, building a wonderful team of passionate staff members whilst enjoying time with my family.

Q. What have you found to be your

biggest challenges?

As the business grew and we could no longer do everything ourselves, we had to recruit staff and due to the rapid growth this happened very quickly.

Managing this growth was challenging for me personally as I had to learn to let go of certain parts of the business and allow staff to really own and manage these departments for us.

Q. How did you overcome these

challenges?

By assessing my strengths and realising that there are some areas that should be handed over to others.

iStockphoto

Q. How have you had to grow

personally with the growth of Anytime Fitness?

Managing a team is harder than doing the work yourself sometimes. Through

having to manage a team of people in many different departments, I have had to really review my management style and ensure that I was able to inspire each team member to see the whole picture and not just their department. This has challenged me personally and has been critical to enable the business to grow at the rate it has.

I now view businesses with a more global approach. Last year, we partnered up and now have part ownership in Anytime Fitness in the UK. This is something that I would never have considered before this business. It has opened my eyes to other markets and opportunities, something I would have been too scared to consider before starting Anytime Fitness. One lesson I have learnt as a business woman is to leave the fear behind - create your own opportunities and embrace those that are presented to you.

Q. Who have been your mentors?

We have been lucky to have a great working relationship with Anytime USA and the founders of the business have had a great impact on us. To manage the growth as they have and still be passionate about the brand is inspiring. The founders’ background in fitness makes them great mentors.

Q. If you were starting in business

all over again, what would you do differently?

I think we could have employed some more staff earlier than we did. The growth of the business occurred so quickly and we were anticipating it to slow down [or fearing that it would], so we decided to wait before hiring.

But it never actually slowed down - we should have trusted that it wouldn’t and hired staff sooner. Lesson learnt.

Q. What’s next for Anytime Fitness?

Having grown our national franchise to an annual turnover exceeding $3.3M in 2009/10 we now have plans to open 350 Anytime Fitness clubs in Australia and New Zealand within the next five years.

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Q. What else would you like to

achieve in business?

To be the largest and most respected fitness chain in Australia. This will require our franchisees to be successful by providing each community with the type of club we are proud of.

Q. How have you balanced your

personal and family life with building the business?

I think this is every woman’s challenge!

I try to ensure that I find a balance of family life, work, personal time for my own training and exercise along with some time for my girlfriends. After many attempts of UVF, my husband and I had our second daughter three months ago. So between starting the business 2.5 years ago and finally having our second child, I have had to really stay focused on a balanced lifestyle.

I have had to become very good at managing my time and knowing my strengths and putting these to work.

Now with two daughters, I have less time to devote to the business. To address this issue, we have recruited more staff to manage some of the roles, particularly the ones I am not strong in. This has allowed me to maintain a better work life balance and, in the long term, I think it will be a good move for the business.

Q. What do you feel is the secret of

success?

From the outset, we knew what worked in gyms and what members want.

Anytime Fitness focuses on convenience and affordability – that’s what people are looking for these days. They also demand quality exercise equipment in a clean and friendly environment – all things we can offer them through the Anytime Fitness clubs.

I have always been passionate about helping others improve their own health and well-being. I truly believe it’s one of the most important things you can do and this has led to Justin’s and my success.

Q. What advice do you have for other

women starting out in business?

Believe in yourself and be fearless.

Know what you are good at and also what you are not, so you can ensure you utilise your strengths and hire for your weaknesses.

www.empoweonline.com.au

business | Feature

Success in direct

sales Direct sales is often considered one of the most challenging businesses in which to succeed. As Lyndsey Baigent shows, it’s those who develop consistent habits in their business everyday who come out on top.

O

ver the years I’ve had the privilege of mentoring hundreds of people in direct sales. The difference between those who struggle and those who are successful all boils down to one thing HABITS! What are your habits supporting – struggle or success?

If you want this year to be your most profitable year in direct sales, you need to change your habits around: • How you are thinking • Who you are being • What you are doing In my experience, I’ve found that most direct sellers have a sense of what they need to do to be successful, it’s how they are thinking and who they are being that lets them down.

Embrace the following habits to experience huge growth in your direct sales business.

Autumn 2011

HABIT #1 Step outside your comfort zone Of all the habits shared below, this is the one that makes all the difference; not just in business but in life as well. Over the years I’ve noticed that the people who choose to step outside of their comfort zone and “grow” have more chance of creating highly profitable businesses and reaping the many rewards the industry has to offer than those who don’t.

If you don’t already have the abundance you want, whether it relates to your finances, health, relationships or career, you haven’t stepped outside of your comfort zone consistently enough to make it happen. If you want to create a successful direct sales business stepping outside of your comfort zone must become a daily habit and ultimately a way a life.

Want to know the easiest way to make it a habit? Do something that feels a little scary every day. It doesn’t have to be huge, just something. Perhaps it’s

50

making a phone call you’ve been putting off, having a conversation with someone you’ve been avoiding, or learning to say no.

You need courage in direct sales.

Courage is an emotional state we can all access but if you don’t use it you lose it.

By doing something a little scary each day, you will ensure your state of courage is at the ready. Before you know it you’ll be doing things you never dreamed possible and be well on your way to creating a highly successful direct sales business.

HABIT #2 Treat your business like a business When you first start out in direct sales it’s important to understand that working for yourself is no easy feat. It probably sounds like lots of fun because you can choose your own hours and don’t have someone telling you what to do all day but the truth is that if you don’t treat your

Feature | business

business like a business you’ll make no money.

While you also want to enjoy what you do and be challenged, the purpose of your business is to make money. If it is costing you money month after month, what you have at best is an expensive hobby.

There are three things you can do right now to ensure that treating your business like a business becomes a habit: 1. Decide how many hours a day or week you want to work. Schedule the time in your diary and stick to it; no excuses!

2. Ensure you set yourself sales, bookings and team building targets every week and take purposeful action toward your targets.

3. Implement a system that enables you to keep track of your income and expenditure. Knowing whether you are running at a profit of loss is imperative to your business.

iStockphoto

HABIT #3 Set goals and create a plan to achieve them I’m constantly amazed at the amount of people who don’t set goals, yet have an expectation to achieve what they want in life. It’s like trying to play a game of football with no goal posts. How would the team know which end of the field to head for? How would they know where to kick the ball to score a goal? The answer is: they wouldn’t.

You may think it strange but achieving success in your direct sales business and winning a game of football aren’t much different. On both accounts you must know where the goal posts are and have a solid game plan if you want to WIN the game.

Below are three important steps you must consider when setting your goals: 1. Set goals that are big enough to get you excited when you think about achieving them. The key here is to stretch yourself; don’t be tempted to play it safe. Feeling a little uncomfortable about the size of your goal is a good thing, as it will challenge you to grow.

2. Get clear on where you are now.

Don’t make it worse than it is and

don’t make it better than it is. Tell it exactly how it is.

3. Decide where you want to be and then create a plan to get from where you are now to where you want to be.

Without a map, chances are you’ll spend a lot of time going around in circles. You may look busy, but you won’t win the game.

HABIT #4 Take massive action I’ve seen lots of people take time to put the stakes in the ground and define their goals, yet when it comes to taking action they sit on the bench. I’ve noticed that the typical “bench sitter” is very free with their advice about how to play the game, often shouting instructions to those on the field, and when it comes to implementing their own game plan they remain on the bench.

I know the position of “bench sitter” well because it’s one I’ve played many times myself. In fact I’ve lost count of the amount of times I’ve set goals and done absolutely nothing. It can sometimes appear that there are lots of reasons why people choose to do this but they all boil down to one thing – FEAR!

It’s important to understand that working for yourself is no easy feat.

Fear of failure and fear of rejection often present as the major reasons why the “bench sitter” is reluctant to take action.

Questions like “what if I can’t make it work?”, “what happens if I ask someone to join my team and they say no?” or “what if no one will have a party for me?” often run like worn out records through the minds of people who remain on the bench.

Operating from a place of fear will only serve to keep you on the bench. In that space you can always find a reason why you’re not good enough and why you won’t achieve your goals. By consistently taking massive action you will eventually lose the fear build a very successful business.

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HABIT #5 Develop an attitude of gratitude Do you sometimes feel fearful when it comes to making your phone calls, presenting your product or sharing your business opportunity with others?

If you do, you’ll be pleased to know, you are not alone and there is an easy way to move through your fear. The key is to develop an attitude of gratitude and focus on what you are grateful for, instead of what you are fearful of. When you shift your focus from fear to gratitude your fear disappears.

You may be thinking that it can’t be that easy but try it and see that it works. It is impossible for you to experience emotions of fear and gratitude at the same time.

Like anything in order to develop an attitude of gratitude you need to create a ritual to ensure it becomes habit. The easiest way to do this is to include five minutes of gratitude in the morning and five minutes at night as part of your daily routine. This will ensure you start and end your day feeling great. Here’s a step by step by process you can use to make gratitude a habit: • Spend your five minutes focusing on everything in life you are grateful for.

You can do this as you exercise, by enjoying a moment of solitude and closing your eyes or as you are enjoying a quiet cup of tea or coffee.

• Start by focusing on all the things you are grateful for about yourself, then move through to your immediate family, extended family, friends, colleagues, clients and even people you don’t know who have made a contribution to the world you live in.

• Lastly, think of all the things that you have in your life that you didn’t even have to create, such as food, electricity, cars, computers, internet.

Lyndsey Baigent is a highly sought after coach, founder of the Direct Sales Success Club and host of Party Plan TV. Having created a highly successful business herself, Lyndsey knows first hand what it takes to enjoy the cars, holidays and lucrative income a career in Direct Sales has to offer.

Visit www.directsalessuccess.com.au

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business | Feature

No cost

marketing An email marketing campaign is an effective (and free) strategy to build your business. Marketing guru Chloe Wedgwood explains the benefits and how to develop and effective email campaign that gets results.

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orking in marketing for a few years I was surprised to discover many people, particularly small business owners (especially the sole proprietors), don’t understand the importance of marketing. Many don’t have an accurate view of what marketing is and how it can help to grow a business. Marketing is in fact the process of retaining and attracting clients and without clients you have no business.

There is often the misconception that marketing requires large budgets, which, to a small business, carries a high risk.

However, there are many strategies that involve little or no cost, that still generate new customers and increase sales. The beauty about these strategies is they deliver the same objectives and results with same relative impact, but therefore have a lower risk.

Email marketing is one such strategy that involves no cost. Every business can benefit email direct marketing as part of their marketing mix. Email marketing is a cost effective solution that generates an immediate response and is an excellent tool for building and maintaining relationships.

The best way to use email marketing is in association with a promotion that generates a sense of urgency. It demands your audience to engage with you and act on your offer.

Benefits of email marketing • Generates an immediate response • Email campaigns cost less to produce and distribute than traditional marketing

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• Emails can be produced and distributed extremely quickly • Response rates for email campaigns are higher than traditional direct marketing • Builds customer relationships • Provides a platform for the promotion of special events and promotions • Reinforces campaign strategies • Allows for targeted marketing strategies • Provide the ability to focus on target markets and to personalise with a name • Results are immediately measurable • Allows for testing to be done at a fraction of the cost • Allows you to showcase new products and services • Provides Brand awareness • Provides businesses with the opportunity to create an ongoing dialogue with customers • Adds value to products and services

Elements of an effective email campaign • Personalisation via insertion of your recipient’s first name • An attention grabbing subject line of 50 or less characters – it must entice the reader to want to open the email and read it • Email body that relates to the subject line • Content that is valuable in itself, whether or not they purchase from you • Keep it short and succinct and selling the benefits • Ensure it’s entertaining as well as informative – avoid the hard sell • Offer special “subscribers only” promotions and follow through. Don’t

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•

•

•

•

•

have the same offer on the sales page everyone else goes to. Give them a special link for a page you create with the discount just for them. The same holds true for the “customer only” promotions. This should be exclusive offer to your readers Link to your site – always include a link to your product page or home page in URL form so that the reader can copy and paste if they prefer, for security reasons. For example, instead of linking “Canvas Marketing Email Solutions”, link “http://www.

CanvasMarketingEmailSolutions.com. au” Contact details – always be sure to include full contact details; a phone number and/or location and email address as well as a link to your site where they can learn more Call to action – entice people to take an action. Make it extremely visible and well placed for easy visibility so they click through. Show subscribers you care about giving them the valuable newsletter you promised. Email campaigns build relationships, and relationships open the door to sales and referrals.

Sign off – make sure you have an end to your email that is appropriate to the purpose of the email and the type of relationship you’re building. Consider whether it should be an individual or a company name Image – including an image will reinforce your message and speaks to people in a visual way. Be sure to use high quality images. Often

Feature | business

incorporating an image with a person in it will encourage a greater engagement with your audience – giving a message personality and the ability to generate emotion which will facilitate your desired action • Distribution time counts – send your emails at the times most people are likely to be online in your main geographical region. According to the latest statistics, Tuesday morning at 10am is the best time to distribute an email and second to that is Thursday at 10am. The aim of this is to not compete with the work they have to catch up on from the weekend nor their wind down to the weekend, but during the week when they may welcome a short distraction.

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Streamlining your email campaign Your database will play an integral role in the impact of your email marketing campaign, which is why it’s important to both collect a good database and maintain up-keep of it. t is also a good idea to segment your database according to their preferences (which can be gathered when they first sign up) and test the response of your email on a small section. You will then be able to carefully target the messages to these segments, deliver a product they are more likely to purchase and generate a greater response. In time you’ll be able to predict the click through and even conversion of these customers to specific offers. Rather than bombard your database with numerous emails you should aim to create a newsletter whereby people who’ve opted in will expect to receive information and offers at specific intervals.

Incorporating an autoresponder service (many are free) will allow you to monitor the success of your email campaign.

The autoresponder service’s software will automatically generate delivery of sequenced emails to your subscribers. You set the intervals, such as first email within 24 hours, second email, two days later and so forth. You load the emails you write into the system. And they deliver on your behalf, enabling you to handle a much larger subscription base.

The best way to get started is to search Google for “free autoresponder,” and you will find decent services. With most of these, the trade off for the free service will be that they advertise in your emails. If so, make sure their advertisement won’t distract from

your message. Some, autoresponders don’t place ads but simply require you to link to their site from your home page.

Know that some of these free services use the “double opt-in”. This means that the subscriber will receive an email asking them to click (or copy and paste) a URL to signify they really meant to subscribe.

This might cut down on your subscription numbers, but the double opt in ensures the people that really want to subscribe do, it’s not about the quantity of your database but the quality.

If you don’t mind paying for a service that does even more for you, such as tracking subscribers’ interactions with your email and site, AWeber is one of the best and allows you to pay per amount of subscribers while having as many lists as you want. They start out at around $25 a month. And they don’t require double opt-in.

Be sure that the service you choose complies with anti-spam laws. To check up on these, go to Spam Act 2003 http:// www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/cth/consol_ act/sa200366/ and always remember to provide your subscribers with the option to ‘opt out’ if they wish. You will not benefit from disgruntled subscribers if they cannot unsubscribe. Offering this is not only a

legality but also email direct marketing etiquette along with letting people know you won’t on-sell your data to other companies.

When you do invest a little money into your marketing, pay attention to the ‘return on investment’ (ROI). Track the cost per sale and the conversion. Use Google Analytics on your site to track visitors and goals, such as opt-ins and sales. It’s free to use. Start with a simple plan and dedicate some resources and time to it. The key to generating a steady flow of new business leads, month after month (rather than the peaks and troughs so many businesses experience) is persistence.

As you can see marketing needn’t involve spending a lot of money if you don’t have the budget. What effective marketing does require is time and perseverance.

So be ready to test and measure, test and measure, test and measure...

While effective marketing can be done for no or little cost, once you have a little profit to invest back into your business, it can really pay to outsource some of the work, whether that is email marketing, social media or more comprehensive marketing campaigns for example, the idea is to for you to focus on doing what you do best and outsource the rest.

Chloë Wedgwood has a background in Media, PR and Marketing. As Managing Director of Canvas Marketing, Canvas Creative and Canvas Mentors, she is passionate about educating businesses on how to generate profit from no cost and low cost marketing techniques. Contact Chloe on 1300 876 583 or email chloew@canvasmarketing.com.au

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business | Feature

eye

Squid

As a business owner it’s vital to be able to notice things in your business before issues occur.

Here, author Susan Scott shares an exerpt from her book on developing a “squid eye” in your business.

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y friend Paul Lindbergh, an advanced aikido practitioner and killer jazz musician, moved to Hawaii as a teenager and soon began diving with native Hawaiians for squid, a highly prized catch that could be sold for a tidy sum or taken home and served for dinner. But after weeks of diving, despite the fact that the local guys always caught plenty, he had caught only one squid, which must have been stupid and unfortunate – the squid, not Paul. When he expressed his frustration – “How come you guys catch squid and I don’t?” – the Hawaiians laughed and said, “You gotta have ‘squid eye’.” “What the hell is squid eye?” Paul responded.

They explained. “It’s the ability to see the squid while he is blending into his natural environment. It’s the ability to see him just being himself. It is the ability to see him even when he doesn’t want you to see him, to see him even when he is hiding.

Be advised he is very skilled. You must understand he is there.” The Hawaiians began to tell Paul many things about the squid. For example, one might see a few small stones lying on the bottom of the ocean and understand that the squid put them there. When Paul saw those stones and maybe some shells, they told him to look for a small hole at the base. Once you know what you’re looking for, you realise you’re standing in a patch of them.

As Paul puts it: Seeing squid means you see many things that others cannot and do not see. It means having sight in the

Autumn 2011

presence of the blind. It means that you are a selective and efficient information gatherer. This is what “squid eye” really means, and when you apply it to other aspects of your life, you will have, metaphorically, more tuna in your net and fewer guppies. And if you can see one “tell,” you automatically get others. It’s almost like beginning to understand the nature of a “tell” or the nature of signs left behind for our eyes and senses to use.

Once Paul learned the “tells” he had no difficulty finding squid ever again.

Spotting the “Tells” For Paul, tells signaled the presence of a potential feast, famine, even danger. My fishing reef has been the hallways and conference rooms of global companies.

Over time I developed squid eye and squid ear, learning the “tells” that predict the future more accurately and vividly than how the stock price is trending.

I’m sure you’ve noticed that even some of the most successful organisations fail to outlast a few generations of management because they are unable to see the threats they face and the imperative to change.

And while there are threats we can do little about – a competitor’s amazing new gizmo, the price of oil, a housingmarket crash, an economic downturn, mother nature, et cetera – there’s plenty going on right under our noses that we can do something about. But we don’t, because we can’t see the tells signaling that something we’re doing is not working, perhaps never did work, is in no danger

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of working and that, indeed, something is very, very wrong.

As a simple example of spotting a “tell”, I was once giving a keynote to an auditorium filled with executives from a wide variety of organisations. I explained that many client contacted my company because they wanted to improve their organisations in the areas of honesty, openness and transparency. I then asked the audience to raise their hands if their organisation’s mission, vision and values statement mentioned these things. Most hands went up. I then asked the audience to raise their hands if their organisations provided 360-degree anonymous feedback.

Another sea of hands went up. “Okay”, I said “here’s an opportunity for your to practice squid eye. If an organisation declares that it values honesty, openness and transparency, what’s the “tell” in the words 360-degree anonymous feedback? There was silence, followed by a collective, audible “anonymous!”

Congratulations, you’ve spotted your first squid.

What might you notice in your organisation if you were practicing squid eye?

Susan Scott is a best-selling author and visionary leadership development architect.

Susan is the author of two books, Fierce Conversations: Achieving Success at Work & in Life - One Conversation at a Time and Fierce Leadership: A Bold Alternative to the Worst “Best” Practices of Business Today. www.fierceinc.com.

Register today to have an opportunity to invest and learn with Leverage Property Get started today!

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Would you like to work with other like minded people who have proven success in property development?

If you answered Yes to any of these questions, Leverage Property can help you.

About Leverage Property As founder of Leverage Property, Libby Lombardo has traded, sold and developed millions of dollars worth of property. She didn’t go from being a high-school dropout to sampling life on a Lear jet without a passion for being pro-active and making extraordinary things happen!

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finances | Feature

Get your finances

on track Successful money management has to be one of modern life’s greatest dilemmas. Susan Jackson provides the five key steps to getting on track with your finances.

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n over 20 years of advising clients, the topic I’m asked about more than anything else is the subject of effective money management. And it’s not just those on low or limited incomes asking; it’s just as likely to come from a professional on a six-figure income - after all, the bigger the salary the more there is to spend.

Time and time again, clients tell me that they know what they have to do or should be doing, but each month they find if impossible to stick to their budget.

Many tell me they have been good savers in the past but now struggle to manage from week-to-week. They say that despite earning more than they did in the past, they seem to save less and less.

Others are overwhelmed with debt and wonder how they went so quickly from being debt free to debt overload. They often describe their financial situation as “feeling trapped” or “out of control”. Many feel a huge sense of failure and guilt and can’t imagine ever being back in charge of their money.

It’s amazing that the standard approach to solving this for people has changed little over the years and what’s more, little

Autumn 2011

research is done in this area. Typically you are told to draw up a budget where you list your income and expenditure and what’s left over is what you can save. But time and time again this approach fails.

In my early years as a financial planner, I was as guilty as the next person of adopting this approach with clients. I struggled to understand why it did not work which got me thinking about the other factors that influence the success or failure of our money management. Endeavoring to find answers to these questions, I spoke to psychologists and behavior experts, read countless books and research papers on habits, motivation and changing behavior

Understanding your money persona is a key part of getting on track with your money. and interviewed both successful and not so successful money managers.

It was not an easy task, mainly because I was not exactly sure what I was looking

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for or hoping to find. Promising theories lead to dead ends while random comments turned into startling gems of enlightenment.

Finally, I was able to come up with some theories about how to make longterm, permanent change to your money management.

Over the years, I refined and developed these further and was able to help clients take back control of their money. The key fact is that doing a budget is just one step in changing your spending habits. We need to also understand our money persona, what influences our spending and how we go about creating new habits and behaviour.

There is however no one-size-fits-all solution, so you need to work out what is going to work for you. It also takes time to get back on track and it’s quite likely you’ll fall off the good-money-behavior-wagon a couple of times before you get it right.

To get started, work through the following steps:

Step 1 – Make the decision Make a conscious decision to take back control, stop procrastinating and make getting financially organised a higher priority than what it currently is. Set aside a regular time to work through what you need to do and identify what you need to modify. It’s also time to get rid of the word budget and instead think of your money in more positive terms i.e. money planning, prioritised spending etc.

Feature | finances

Step 2 – Understand your current position Good, bad or ugly you need to have a clear understanding of your current financial position. It’s time to take stock and face up to your spending damage. This is often the uncomfortable part we avoid because it requires working out where your money went over the past 12 months, but it’s a critical part of the process. A bit like having a fitness assessment before you start to exercise, you need to know what financial shape you’re in before you can start to work out a new money program. If you don’t know where your money goes then you might need to keep a money diary for six to eight weeks.

Step 3 – Work out your spending style Are you a debtor, binger, spender, closeter or justifier? Understanding your money persona and what drives it is a key part of getting on track with your money.

Seventy percent of our money skills and attitude come from our childhood and you might be surprised at how much your spending habits are being influenced by your childhood experiences. Perhaps your overspending is a result of trying to make up for what you missed out on as a child or maybe you avoid money altogether because your parents argued over money.

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Step 4 – Find the right structure It’s obvious your current structure is not working, but what is the right structure for you? Multiple accounts or envelopes work for some while others prefer a more streamlined approach. What sort of access do you need? Should you use cash or credit? Will a computer based program work for you or are you a physical diary person? Finding the right structure will depend on the level of detail, involvement, access and discipline level required and it may take some trial and error to find the system and structure that works best for you.

Step 5 – Stick to it Once you have a better understanding of your money behavior, have set achievable financial goals and found the right money management system, you need to ensure you are able to stick to your new regime.

The first thing is to undertake a critical assessment of your plan to ensure you are being realistic and have not overlooked any important aspects. It’s vital that whatever plan you start off with is achievable, otherwise you are setting yourself up for potential failure and reinforcing your negative self-belief around money.

What you need to consider will depend on your particular situation. If you are part of a couple, it could be a bit of double trouble and you might need to set some rules that suit you both. If your children view you as a mobile ATM then you will need some specific strategies to deal with this. Serial credit card offenders might need to retrain their cards or banish them completely. Each of us will have different issues to deal with and the important thing is to face up to the reality. There are also a number of secret weapons you can arm yourself with to help you stay on track: • You can increase your chances of staying motivated and on track by having a Money Buddy. A Money Buddy is someone who you meet with on a regular basis to review how you are going and help steer you back on the right path if you find yourself heading off track.

• The Spend Devil lives in all of us and whilst a bit of retail therapy can be good, too much can wreak havoc on our carefully laid out plans. This is where spending cards can keep you in control. You write down things you need to buy on the spending card and carry this in your wallet. When you feel the Spend Devil raising her head get out your spending card and buy some things from the list. By the time you have made two to three purchases you will have appeased the Spend Devil but

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also avoided buying things you don’t need.

• Getting on track with your money often creates a sense of not being able to spend or enjoy nice things in life and this is where Adopting A Pig can help. No matter how dire your financial situation or how you decide to restructure your financial affairs you need to factor in some rewards. But before you whip out the credit card and start shopping there is a slight catch you need to save up for these rewards.

This is why you need to adopt a piggy bank or use an existing moneybox or container. The basic diet of your pig will be spare change but its favorite food is actually monies redirected from impulse spending. It enjoys eating the monies you save by taking your lunch to work, walking instead of buying a train ticket etc. You will find that the more you feed you pig the fatter it will become and the sooner you can enjoy some rewards. Although don’t be surprised if you find yourself wanting to put your piggy contents towards larger rewards like holidays etc.

Read more about why I believe Saving is like Dieting and Budgets Don’t Work and check out the tools I developed for getting you back on track at www.msmoney.com.au

Susan Jackson is the Founder and Executive Director of the Women’s Financial Network (WFN). A licensed financial planner, she is also a regular speaker, media guest, facilitator of money education programs and magazine article contributor. She is also the author of several books including Why Saving is Like Dieting and Budgets Don’t Work. www.msmoney.com.au

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finances | Feature

The seed

I

On her 25th birthday, Robyn Atkins received a birthday card from a friend containing a onemillion dollar note. That was the seed that planted the idea for Robyn that one day, she could have a million dollars.

n order to tell my story, it’s necessary to go right back to the very beginning. I got married and had my first child at 18. By age 25, I was a divorced single mum with three children. We were surviving on the pension and lived in a housing commission home. A time came along when I had nothing to feed my children except mince and rice.

Growing up in our neighbourhood, girls as young as 15 were having babies.

My girls and my son deserved a better reality than that. I wanted to be a better role model for them; I wanted my daughters to know that they weren’t destined to be teenage mums. I wanted my son to know that being a father meant more than getting a girl pregnant and leaving her with a family to raise. I knew I had to change things to give them a better life.

A leap of faith With a huge leap of faith, I decided to look for work. This was really difficult, as I had low confidence and few skills. I had been taking care of the kids all by myself for years, so arranging babysitters and letting go was really hard. But, I trusted that going to work was the right thing for us all and I had to have faith that everything was going to be okay.

I discovered that I had a lot to offer at work. I was noticed and people started to respect me as a reliable and hard working person. Eventually, I was promoted. As my income increased, so did my confidence and belief in my plans for my family. I knew that I was giving my

Autumn 2011

children greater opportunities and a new reality.

By this time, I was setting us up so that we no longer had to rely on social security.

It definitely wasn’t financial security but it was a start. As I became happier and more confident, my children benefited tremendously; their own self-confidence improved. I finally felt like the role model I always wanted to be for them and I discovered my own independence.

I was beginning to learn how empowering it was to control my own destiny, financial future and life direction.

I noticed that it was my change in thinking that was getting me the results I wanted.

Changing from a pensioner recipient mindset to an independent workingwoman mindset made all the difference.

I spoke to real-life people who were reallife investors, achieving real-life results.

I spent time investing in personal development and paid for courses that taught me how to set goals and achieve everything I ever wanted.

When my friend gave me that milliondollar note, I didn’t know if I could ever have a million dollars. I just knew that the seed of the idea was now planted in my mind. Maybe one day I could be a millionaire. Maybe one day I could be financially free and never have to worry about money again.

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The time came when I felt so happy within myself that I was ready to share my life with another person. I met Ken in 1984 and in 1986 we married.

An extraordinary life Some people are content with an ordinary life, but I knew I wanted an extraordinary quality of life.

Ken and I bought our first home in 1988. With pure determination and working a number of jobs, we managed to get the deposit together within 12 months.

All we had to do now was find the home big enough for all of us.

Things were going well for us. I felt secure in myself, I was in a loving marriage, owned my own home and had a good stable job. I was happy and settled. Still, I was interested in moving ahead, especially financially. Although I was happy within myself, Ken and I were strapped for money. We were both in our second marriage and had five children between us.

I read books about finance, but I couldn’t see how I would ever become wealthy.

For over a decade I did nothing about my dream to become financially free.

It was at this stage that I went to a presentation run by our neighbour, who was a real estate agent. The meeting was very interesting; they talked about building wealth through buying multiple properties.

My immediate thoughts were, “This is way out of our league. We can’t afford it. How can we get ahead in life and buy all these investment properties, when we worked so hard just to buy our first home?”

I couldn’t see how it could happen.

Even if it did work, I thought, we’re

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Fearure | finances

already in our late 40s. How long would this take? We’re not getting any younger. I don’t want to lose our home. Maybe this whole thing is just a scam.

I look back on these words now and can see that I was focusing on everything I didn’t want, rather than what I did want. I was scared and I let those fears control my thinking.

Not long after, I was made redundant after nine years of dedicated and loyal service. And, as if the feelings of rejection, worthlessness and betrayal from losing my job weren’t already painful enough, I then found out that I had a mere $38,000 in superannuation. That was all I had for retirement. How was this small amount supposed to last me the rest of my life?

As I look back now on my financial freedom journey, I realise that it was the best thing that could have happened to me. The critical event of being made redundant forced us to take total control of our financial future; we had to take 100% responsibility for our destiny.

They say that, in life, the teacher arrives when the student is ready. Even though I thought property investing was impossible for us to achieve, I decided to talk to some property investors I had met at the meeting a few months before. This turned out to be the crucial first step.

I spoke to real-life people who were real-life investors, achieving real-life results.

I asked them about their experiences and discovered that they were very confident and happy with their achievements through property. I started to get new frames of reference. I realised if this had worked for other people, it could work for us too?

The next crucial step we took was to find out how much we could borrow and were told that banks were willing to lend us enough money to buy two properties, which was exciting and a little unnerving.

Did we want to take on such a large debt at this stage of life? The alternative was working towards a government pension and that frightened me more.

When I told friends and family about the idea of investing in property, they said things like: “You’ll lose your home.”

“It won’t work.”

“I know someone who knows someone who tried that. It didn’t work for them.”

Eventually, I got to the point where I said to people, “If you can show me

something better, I’d be happy to consider it.” Nobody around us could show us an alternative and I watched as all of these well-meaning people did the same thing every day – getting up, going to work, coming home, taking a “she’ll be right” attitude to their financial future.

Just as I had taken that leap of faith years ago to enter the job market, look for work and leave my children in someone else’s care to give them a better life, I took that leap again.

a double lock-up garage in Ipswich. At the time, there was nothing but the odd fibro cottage in the area and initially I thought, “What are we doing looking for an investment property here?” However, instead of looking at what was there at the time, we looked forward into the future and saw a lot of potential. We were right. Since then, there has been major redevelopment and now there’s a huge shopping complex and new homes everywhere.

In the same year, we were looking at a three-bedroom villa with a double lock-up garage in Balcatta, WA. I was nervous about investing $272,000 because it was the most expensive of all the properties we had bought so far. Just as we had pushed ourselves previously, we took that leap again and bought it. That was a good decision because the capital growth has been great.

Deviating From The Strategy

Growing our portfolio So, in October 1999, Ken and I bought our first investment property; a brand new three-bedroom townhouse in Sunnybank, Queensland, close to transport and shops.

Time moved on and every year I would think about that one million dollar note and wonder if it could be achieved.

A few months later, we bought our second investment property in Labrador, Queensland; another three-bedroom townhouse.

I felt like it was all too easy. Did we miss something, or was it really that easy to buy investment property? Well, it was that easy. So we kept going. We kept moving forward every chance we could.

When we heard whispers that the Western Australian property market was going to start “moving”, we found a property in Kenwick, about 12km south-east of Perth. It was close to schools, shops, the highway and there were new railway stations being built, which meant shorter travel time into the CBD in the near future.

After the Kenwick purchase, we focused again on Queensland and in 2002, we bought a four-bedroom house with

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Of course we’ve made some mistakes along the way. We once bought two units in an over-55 complex in Armidale, NSW. We diverted from our plan of buying regular residential properties and tried something different. The result is that we haven’t seen the same capital growth in these as with the rest of the portfolio.

The million-dollar celebration In August 2003, we were officially millionaires and we celebrated the occasion with 28 friends over lunch. Since then, we’ve gone onwards and upwards. We haven’t always gotten it right but we’ve never stopped believing in ourselves and what we want to achieve. Today, I’m a proud grandmother, I run my own business and I’m totally involved in charity work.

I’m also a millionaire. Gee, that has a nice ring to it – “I’m a millionaire”.

If nothing else, please remember to keep your dreams alive and ignore those Dream Stealers who try to take those dreams from us. If you really want it bad enough, whatever it is for you, you will achieve it!

For Robyn’s full story and those of 11 other inspired property investors, check out Journeys Along the Property Path. www.ipip.com.au

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finance | In property

The benefits of

Home-Staging

Although, home staging is big in the US, it’s still a new concept in Australia. Katrina Maes explains how home staging can increase your profit on sale.

P

ut simply, home staging is preparing a property for sale with the aim of making it as appealing as possible to as many people as

possible.

The process involves careful research of other properties sold in the area, setting a budget, cutting your clutter, meticulous cleaning, upgrading and finally, “setting the stage”. If done correctly the results can be remarkable. According to research of 150 staged homes in Australia over the past two years: NON-STAGED HOMES

STAGED HOMES

Average day to sell a general listing

22 days

9 days

Sales on auction day

84 per cent

97 per cent

Average percentage above asking price

0.4 per cent

7.8 per cent

Based on the above, by staging a property valued at $500,000,STAGED the owner NON-STAGED could pocket anHOMES additional $39,000.

HOMES That’s equivalent to the annual salary of many Average day to sellpeople. a 9 days 22 days general The Australian Guide to Home listing

had moved out and taken the furniture from these rooms with her). The office was full of professional books. Both parents had demanding careers and didn’t get to spend much time at home.

I wrote my ‘must-get-done-before-putting-the-property-on-the-market’ list and my quote for staging dressings and emailed them off to the client. Due to their busy schedules at that time of year, I didn’t even get to meet the owners, Kevin and Sonia, until it was time to de-stage (empty out).

It was then I learned that Kevin thought home staging was the most ridiculous concept he had ever heard off. However, due to the pressures of work and the need to try and achieve a timely sale, Sonia managed to get him to agree to its application to their property. Kevin laughed as Sonia told me this, then started to explain that he could not believe it was the same property when it was staged. “It felt totally different and I have to admit I was tempted to cancel plans to move and stay. I’m in marketing and what you did to the property makes complete 12 sense!”

SANDERSON ST 14 SANDERSON ST Here’s a summary of what we did: NON-STAGED HOME STAGED HOME • Packed up and stored the old entertainment 4 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms,unit study, 4 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, study, formal lounge dining, formal lounge dining, meals, • Donated the cat-scratched couches to themeals, Salvos Description rumpus, family room, double rumpus, family room, double • De-cluttered garage, alfresco area.

• Brought in artwork, dining tables and chairs for the formalgarage, diningalfresco room area.

• Brought a lounge suite, floor$624,500 rug, cushions and throw for the lounge room $709,000 Sales in Price • Replaced old linen with new in all of the bedrooms.

26 6 Days listed

Money talks When I was asked to stage Kevin and Sonia’s property, the agent gave me the details of a property two-doors down the same street that had sold seven days earlier. It was virtually identical. It was with this property that we were able to compare final outcomes.

12 SANDERSON ST NON-STAGED HOME

Description

4 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, study, formal lounge dining, meals, rumpus, family room, double garage, alfresco area.

Sales Price

$624,500

$709,000

Days listed

26

6

Staging by Katrina Maes is

84 97 Sales on available from all good book auction day per cent per cent shops.

Average Home staging percentage 0.4 at work7.8 aboveAfter knockingper twice teenager centa distracted per cent asking price answered. His voice faded, “Hi, come in.

Take a look around. Mum said to call her when you’ve finished...”

I took out my notebook and started my walk around. The large two storey home was about 20 years old. Within ten minutes I had their story. The owners had three grown up children. The formal living and dining areas of the home were completely empty (later I learned the eldest daughter

Autumn 2011

14 SANDERSON ST STAGED HOME

4 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, study, formal lounge dining, meals, rumpus, family room, double garage, alfresco area.

That’s an additional $84,500, or 13 per cent!

It’s the little things that you do when you are staging your home that make a difference.

Staging requires concentrated attention to detail and you need to remind yourself constantly that you are NOT staging the property according to your tastes but to the taste of potential buyers – as many of them as possible. You need to ask yourself every step of the way, “If I spend time and/or money on this, will it increase the end sale price?”

Home staging is one of the most exciting short-term investments you can ever make!

After developing real estate for some years, Katrina Mae’s passion evolved into StagedHomes in 2003, a highly successful home staging business built on combining creativity with practicality. Katrina also teaches property investors how to bring the all important WOW factor to their properties. www.stagedhomes.com.au

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change your life in 15 minutes

Practiceyour

EFT

Discovered by Gary Craig in the 1980’s, Emotional Freedom Technique (or EFT) is aimed at reducing the emotional impact of memories and incidents that trigger emotional distress. And yes, it only takes 15 minutes…

E

FT has been known to provide relief from a range of ailments and illnesses, from life-long fears and phobias to serious physical ailments, body image issues, cravings and addictions, as well as issues around relationships and money.

The basis of EFT is that if you have a negative thought, feeling or belief vibrating at as energy in your body then you will actually be attracting this vibration in your external world.

When using EFT, you stimulate specific energy meridian points on the body by tapping them with your fingertips. At the same time you repeat a series of specific statements. To practice EFT:

1.

Identify an emotional issue

For example you may relate to “I feel like a failure” or “I’m worthless.

2.

Rate your emotion

When thinking about the emotional issue you have identified, give yourself a rating on a scale of 0-10 in relation to how it makes you feel – 0 being it hardly effects you and 10 being the worst you could possibly feel.

3.

Create the “set-up” statement Insert your issue into the following statement – “Even though I feel [insert here] I deeply love and accept myself”.

4.

Tap away

5.

Reassess

6.

Other issues

You may find that while you complete the process for one issue, another issue arises for you. This can happen when the original issue is actually just hiding a deeper problem. If this is the case, repeat the process above in relation to the second issue.

As you tap repeatedly on each of the tapping (or meridian) points, say your statement out loud three times. Start with the “karate chop”, then each of the three fingers and thumb. Then, move to the eyebrow points and work your way down the body. Finish with the top of your head.

Once you’ve completed the tapping process, take another measurement, on a scale of 0-10 as to how thinking about the emotional issue makes you feel now.

You should notice that your rating has decreased, even slightly. If you still have some emotional charge around the issue, repeat the above steps.

Once again, on completion, take another measurement. Continue the process until you feel completely free of the issue.

Thanks to Gary Craig for sharing his amazing process. For more information, you can download your free Get Started Package at www.EFTuniverse.com

Autumn 2011

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coaching toolkit

iStockphoto

Coach yourself to success

63

AUTUMN 2011 www.empoweonline.com.au

LIVE YOUR BEST LIFE week 1

Set Your Goals

AREAS OF YOUR LIFE

Date:

Welcome to your first coaching session and congratulations for taking the first step to improving your life. In this first session you will be setting two inspiring goals for different areas of your life. Using the coaching models provided, complete the following exercises.

Where are you now?

On the chart, rate yourself on a scale of 0 - 10 in relation to where you feel you are at in each area of your life right now. Then, draw a line around the chart, joining the dots where you have marked your rating in each area. partner 10

family

eg.

6

7

2

3 4 wellbeing

finances

A ‘10’ means you consider that area is perfect and a ‘0’ means major improvement is needed.

social

0

PARTNER Think about this area in the context of whether you’re single or in a relationship. If you’re in a relationship, it refers to how you feel about your life with your partner. Is your relationship what you want it to be? If you’re single, think about your level of satisfaction with being single. Some people would love a committed relationship and others are content as they are. How do 6 you feel?

7

FAMILY This area refers to how you 5 feel about your relationships with family members. The rating you give this area should be an average for all family 2 relationships. While some will be strong, others may not be so good.

5

wellbeing

business/career

Where do you want to be?

spirituality

Next, give yourself a rating in relation to where you want to be in each area of your life in the next 1 - 2 months. Again, use a scale of 0 - 10 and draw a line around the chart, joining the dots where you have marked your rating in each area. Don’t be afraid to dream a little but consider what you can realistically achieve in that time. There’s no need to aim for a perfect 10 in any or every area. partner 10

family

self

Imagine your life with these results

SOCIAL Similarly, this area refers to how you feel about your relationships 4 with friends and your satisfaction with your level of social/fun activity. Again, provide an average rating of your relationships and social activity.

WELLBEING This is your overall sense of wellbeing and how you feel about your health & fitness.

SPIRITUALITY If you’re a spiritual or religious person, this area refers to your level of connectedness with your beliefs.

If you’re not spiritual or religious, think about your level of contentment with life in general.

6

eg.

BUSINESS/CAREER This area considers 7 the level of success and/or fulfilment5 you feel in relation to your business, career or current employment.

5

finances

8

2

3

10

social

0

5

2

FINANCES This final area refers to how you feel about your level of financial freedom and/or your progression2 3 towards your desired level of financial freedom.

4

wellbeing

business/career 10

spirituality Autumn 2011

SELF This is your relationship with yourself. Consider how much love, appreciation, acceptance and respect you have for yourself.

eg.

5

8

2

social

family

self

5

Use this goal-setting tool over the next three months to achieve your goals and improve your life. Set the dates for your coaching sessions and let’s get started.

64

8

Creating your goal Now it’s time to create your goals. To begin with, choose one area of your life that you would like to improve. Say it’s ‘Partner’ and you want to go from a rating of 4 to 8. Using the goal template over the page, create a written goal outlining what that new rating means to you - perhaps it’s about finding a soulmate or re-connecting with your husband.

Every goal that you write should be an emPOWER goal.

Think about the emPOWER principles as you go through the process

Wellbein

It is the 30 g I feel so ha t h Ju n e 2011 and what I haveppy and proud of reached my achieved. I have 60kgs and I goal weight of am fit, healt look fantastic. I much more hy and have so fit into that energy. Now I can and I feel fasexy black dress bulous.

Write your goal in the present tense, as if you’ve already achieved it. Make it meaningful, including some strong emotions, and make sure your goal is inspiring to you. Use only positive words and be specific – focus on what you do want instead of what you don’t want. Be a little realistic (but not too much) about what you can achieve in the timeframe chosen. Remember, too, your goal needs to be your own, not a goal to change someone else. You can only take responsibility for improving yourself and your life.

Goal 1

Write your goal

Fill in the spaces below to create your first goal. Remember, you’re writing in the present tense and be positive - with the right attitude you’ll get where you want to be much faster.

What you want [Date] [Emotion1] [Emotion 2] to achieve It is .............................. and I feel so ................................................... and .......................................................

I/We...................................................................................................................................................................................

I/We...................................................................................................................................................................................

I/We...................................................................................................................................................................................

Now I/We........................................................................................................................................................................... and I feel.............................................................................................................................................................................

[Emotion3] Why you want to achieve it

Goal 2

Write your goal

Fill in the spaces below to create your first goal. Remember, you’re writing in the present tense and be positive – with the right attitude you’ll get where you want to be much faster.

It is .............................. and I feel so ............................................................. and ..............................................................

I/We...................................................................................................................................................................................

I/We...................................................................................................................................................................................

I/We...................................................................................................................................................................................

Now I/We...........................................................................................................................................................................

iStockphoto

and I feel.............................................................................................................................................................................

Required action: Your only action for the next week is to read your goals every day. Read them out loud and, as you read each one, experience how you will feel when you have achieved what you want. This is called visualisation and is an important step in the goalsetting process – visualise your goals as if you have already achieved them.

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week 2

Making it Happen

Date:

Now that you’ve been reading your goals for a week, consider whether you need to change or add anything to your goals to make them even more meaningful and inspiring. In this session, it’s time to start setting (and doing) the actions necessary to achieve each goal.

Required action: 1. If necessary, add to or change your goals.

2. On the action sheet provided, make a list of the actions you need to take in the next two weeks to get closer to your goals. Remember, these are your goals and you’re responsible for the actions, so be as detailed as you can.

3. Choose a motivational book to read or course to attend to expand your learning.

4. Continue to read and visualise your goals everyday.

Goal 1 Action

Completed

................................................................................................................................................................................. ................................................................................................................................................................................. ................................................................................................................................................................................. ................................................................................................................................................................................. ................................................................................................................................................................................. ................................................................................................................................................................................. ................................................................................................................................................................................. ................................................................................................................................................................................. ................................................................................................................................................................................. ................................................................................................................................................................................. ................................................................................................................................................................................. ................................................................................................................................................................................. .................................................................................................................................................................................

Goal 2 Action

Completed

................................................................................................................................................................................. ................................................................................................................................................................................. ................................................................................................................................................................................. ................................................................................................................................................................................. ................................................................................................................................................................................. ................................................................................................................................................................................. ................................................................................................................................................................................. ................................................................................................................................................................................. ................................................................................................................................................................................. ................................................................................................................................................................................. ................................................................................................................................................................................. ................................................................................................................................................................................. ................................................................................................................................................................................. .................................................................................................................................................................................

Autumn 2011

66

week 4

Date:

Reflect on your goals and actions. Are you achieving what you’d planned to by this time? If you feel that you’ve lost some motivation for achieving your goals, or that you aren’t getting any closer to achieving them, it’s quite normal for people to experience this at some stage during the coaching process. To give you a reminder, and a shot of motivation, do the first action suggested below.

Consider your results from the last two weeks. Have you completed all of your actions?

If not, what got in your way? What can you do differently to prevent the same outcome in the next two weeks? If you’ve completed all of your actions, perhaps you can now push yourself a little harder.

Required action: 1. Meet with a friend or partner and share your goals with them. Explain to them all the reasons why you want to achieve each goal and how it inspires you. Ask them to hold you accountable.

2. On a new piece of paper, set some new specific actions for each goal over the next two weeks. Remember to challenge yourself. Anything worth achieving may be a little uncomfortable.

3. Continue to read and visualise your goals every day.

week 6

Date:

Hopefully you are well on your way to achieving your goals. If not, you may need to consider adjusting your goal date a little. This is normal and can happen for numerous reasons. You may have underestimated the time it would take, you may have gotten off track, or perhaps you may need to be more strict with yourself in taking actions. Remember, if nothing changes, nothing changes. It is up to you to achieve your goals.

Required action: 1. Adjust your date if necessary.

2. For each goal, make a list of 20 reasons why you want to achieve the goal. Remind yourself of how good you will feel and how life will be different.

3. On a new piece of paper, make a list of the actions you need to take in the next two weeks to get you closer to your goal. Remember to challenge yourself.

4. Decide on one nice thing you are going to buy or do to celebrate achieving your goal.

5. Continue to read and visualise your goal every day.

week 8

Date:

Well done for making it to Week 8 and congratulations if you have achieved any of your goals. If not, don’t lose hope, things sometimes just take longer than initially expected. Either way, it’s important to celebrate how far you have come.

iStockphoto

Required action: 1. Celebrate your success to date. Do something nice or buy yourself your chosen gift.

2. If you have adjusted your goal date, continue to set actions every two weeks and read your goal every day.

3. If you’ve achieved your goal, get ready to set some more goals and start again at Week 1.

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