Posts Tagged ‘linkedin’

Small businesses are on the increase, despite the recession.  Figures from the Office of National Statistics show there were 3.7million small business in 1999 and this had grown to 4.8million in 2009. Of these, the vast majority are solo business owners.

It seems that greater numbers of people are deciding that working for themselves may be a better option. Now there could be many reasons why individuals are deciding to take the risk of setting up in business for themselves.

But is working for yourself that much riskier these days than working for a large organisation?

Given the current economic situation, jobs are no longer secure and redundancy is common place. Job security is much reduced. Even roles within the public sector which had previously seemed a safe bet are now being cut.

However, this is not just due to the recession. Many firms have been undertaking cost saving exercises before the recession started in order to keep abreast of the competition. Pressure to make profits ranks higher than any social concerns about looking after employees.

Loyalty also seems a thing of the past, on both sides of the fence. Once, many organisations offered a job for life, but no longer. Employers want the best people around and won’t carry anyone that is not performing. Likewise, expectations from employees about their developmental career path is high, especially with the younger generation and if they cannot see clear opportunities they will soon move on.

Also, many of the financial benefits associated with employment such as bonuses and pension provisions are being eroded.  The investment risk within pensions is now transferring from employer to employee as we are seeing the demise of final salary schemes.

With increasing pressure to work longer hours as well as the factors referred to above, many are deciding that there is less of a benefit to work for someone else. The gains in time and flexibility over lifestyle management, often outweighs the risk of any reduced income which is likely, especially in the early years of a start up. Furthermore, being free to make the decisions about their work life gives them a greater sense of comfort and security then being at the mercy of someone else’s decisions.

We may now be witnessing a much longer term trend of freelance and self-employed working too, allowing individuals to maintain control over their work life and sub-contract back to larger organisations. The advantage for an employer is scalability of numbers depending on demand without high costs of redundancy and subsequent employment. For individuals it means that they can find more than one organisation to work for so that they are not totally dependent on one employer and, if work ceases, they can still have some form of income.

Clearly, this will be a slow transition and only time will tell if this is a trend or merely a reaction to the current economic climate. However, here is no doubting that more and more people are deciding that the risk of working for themselves is certainly not as great as it used to be.

As autumn runs into winter we see the changes in nature all around us. Many of the trees have lost their leaves, flowers have died back – yet some plants are now coming into their time of flourishing and growing. Some animals hibernate away for the winter and birds migrate to warmer climes, whereas others have built up their strength for the challenging times ahead.

I heard someone say recently that everything in life is either growing or dying – it is nature’s way. There is no standing still. Change is constant.

What is going on right now in your life, your business, your career, your relationships?

What elements are dying right now?

What are you running away from or hiding from?

What is blossoming right now?

Do you really know? Stop and take a good look around in your world today.

Are you controlling the changes or allowing them to happen?

 

Come to the edge.

We might fall.

Come to the edge.

It’s too high!

Come to the edge.

And they came.

And we pushed.

And they flew.

 - Christopher Logue

 

Would you like to transform your life – have a fulfilling career, more wealth, better relationships, greater health and vitality? Of course you would, so what stops you?

Well actually it is you!

We often believe that we can’t achieve unlimited success because of external factors such as you need to be well connected to get the right job, or you need a lucky break to really succeed in business or maybe wealth only stays amongst the rich. But these are just beliefs – and may not be real.

What really holds us back comes down to our communication processes both internal and external.

There is our internal communication process – our thoughts, emotions, beliefs and values; and our external communication process – our actions (or inaction), our behaviour and what we say or don’t say to others. Therefore it is about connecting and relating better with ourselves and with those around us.

Imagine if you will an iceberg. The top 20-25% floats above the water and is visible to all around. This is your external communication process – it’s what others see in you and of you.

The remaining 75-80% stays hidden below the surface. This is your internal communication process. Think about how often you talk to yourself, maybe not out loud, but inside your head. This self-talk can be positive, optimistic and motivational but more often than not it is negative, telling you that you are not good enough or others won’t like you if you do this.

All these thoughts are based on our values and beliefs.

A value is something that is important to you. It could be a sense of what is right like our moral code, such as respect or freedom; or it could be a thing or people such as your family.

A belief is merely something you feel certain about. These are often hard to recognise as they are so ingrained we believe them to be true and so we totally accept them. But they form our version of the truth. Like looking through a window onto a garden, our perspective will be different from the person next door looking through their window.

Our values and beliefs shape the world we see around us, and they lie deep below the surface within our subconscious minds. They also drive our thoughts. Our thoughts drive our emotions, which in turn drive our behaviours and actions.

Our level of success in life, love, work and wealth are therefore dependent on these values, beliefs and emotions. So if you want to achieve greater success you need to change what is important to you both on a conscious level and on a deeper subconscious level.Turning limiting beliefs into more empowering beliefs and adopting values that support our goals, dreams and aspirations are the foundation to long term change.

The good news is that this can be done using a variety of techniques including neuro-linguistic programming, professional coaching, emotional freedom technique, time line therapy and cognitive behavioural techniques, amongst others.

Such tools, techniques and strategies are now often combined and used in conjunction with each other by professional coaches to help you learn how to change, overcome your internal barriers and achieve major transformations in your life.

So I’ll ask you once again, what is stopping you from achieving unlimited success?

Post your answers here

In business and in life successful people want to achieve more. They constantly put themselves under pressure to take more on because the sense of achievement makes them feel successful. Additionally, in a world of rapid change we find ourselves dealing with new challenges every day. This constant pressure, if not controlled, can affect our performance so that over time we need to put in more effort to achieve the same level of success.

So how do we achieve constant, sustained high performance?

Well let us take a look at some top athletes – a 100m runner for example, and how they perform to be the best at what they do. Firstly, they recognise that they need to train regularly to keep themselves fit, and they know that they do not train at the same intensity all year round. They will build up to a major event and then they allow time for their bodies to recover in between high levels of performance. They also recognise that it is not only being in top physical condition that will help them achieve their goal of success, they need to be mentally prepared and emotionally in the right state.

A good representation of this is the Peak Performance Pyramid.

This pyramid shows how athletes build upon their physical capacity to improve their performance. They push themselves physically but alternate this with adequate rest and recovery. Their internal emotional climate needs to be right in order to drive what is called the ideal performance state. They need to be mentally focused, often visualising every step of the race they will run, and the spiritual element is their source of self belief, determination and motivation to succeed.

Taking this into the business and corporate world, today’s managers, professionals, executives and entrepreneurs are also striving to and indeed are expected to perform consistently at high levels. In this environment the focus has often been purely on mental performance, however just as the elite athlete needs to look after other aspects of their wellbeing so does today’s busy professional and executive. To perform consistently over the longer term and avoid stress and burnout the “business athlete” has to harness the power of mind, body and spirit to perform at their best.

In the next few posts we will look at each level of the pyramid to understand how we can enhance our performance by managing our energy levels.

Related Posts

Peak Performance – Physical

Peak Performance – Emotional

Peak Performance – Mental

Peak Performance – Spiritual