3 lessons from last week

Happy Bank holiday Monday and happy 1st of April!!!

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I hope you have had a fantastic weekend and have some awesome plans for today.

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There were a few different things I wanted to talk about in todays newsletter, so I thought I'd bring back an old format of ‘3 things I've learnt this week’ so I could pack in even more value for you!

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Here we go!

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1) People are your biggest asset

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My business has grown significantly over the last few years, and it's not been because of any fantastic marketing campaigns or paid ads, it's truly been because of my network.?

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The investment I've made into building relationships has served me incredibly well, and what's more, it's actually a really fun part of my job.

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If you're not creating time in your week to create, grow, and nurture relationships with new and current connections, I can almost guarantee that this is slowing down your growth both personally and professionally.?

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It's worth recognising that when you're helpful to others, they are likely to be helpful in return, so why not challenge yourself over April to find at least one new connection each week, and one person you can support each week.?

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2) The personal and professional hybrid

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Working in the corporate world has given me many opportunities to see what is getting in the way of people thriving at work, and one of the main culprits is people leaving their personal side at home and embodying a purely professional persona.

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Don't get me wrong, I completely understand that there is an expectation at work for you to behave and hold yourself in a professional manner, which is why I'm not asking you to completely drop your professional tendencies, but what I know to be true is that I've helped solve so many workplace and leadership issues simply by getting people to be more of themselves.

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There's a distinct lack of approaching things in a human way, and instead many people are playing up to who they feel they 'should' be in their role rather than who they actually are, and sadly that approach doesn't often work, making the whole experience quite effortful.

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I really encourage you to take some time to consider how you can be more you at work.

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3) Know why you're doing something

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I'm particularly guilty of this, and have seen many others who go from task to task, social function to social function, and event to event, but with no real reason or understanding of why they are there or doing it.

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Without intention it's hard to really make the most of things, and when we say yes to everything, we can end up in situations with people we don't want to be with, in places we don't want to be, doing things we don't want to do.

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Fortunately this fix is easy. You just need to ask yourself ‘why am I doing this?’, and if the answer is something along the lines of ‘because I want to’, or ‘because I know this is valuable’, then you're on the right track.

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However, if the answer is more along the lines of feeling like you have to, feeling like you should, because you have nothing else to do, or even worse, you don’t know, then you may be better off conserving that energy and finding a more valuable way to spend your time.

Quote for the week

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“We can’t become what we need to be by remaining what we are.”

- Oprah Winfrey

Recommendation

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Who Moved My Cheese

By Dr Spencer Johnson

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"It is the amusing and enlightening story of four characters who live in a maze and look for cheese to nourish them and make them happy. Cheese is a metaphor for what you want to have in life, for example a good job, a loving relationship, money or possessions, health or spiritual peace of mind. The maze is where you look for what you want, perhaps the organisation you work in, or the family or community you live in. The problem is that the cheese keeps moving. In the story, the characters are faced with unexpected change in their search for the cheese. One of them eventually deals with change successfully and writes what he has learned on the maze walls for you to discover. You'll learn how to anticipate, adapt to and enjoy change and be ready to change quickly whenever you need to. Discover the secret of the writing on the wall for yourself and enjoy less stress and more success in your work and life. Written for all ages, this story takes less than an hour to read, but its unique insights will last a lifetime."

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An old repeated recommendation but one of the best! It's pretty much a childrens book and is a very short and easy to read, and you can also pick a used copy up from World of Books for just ￡3.50!?

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There's no excuse not to get this one.

Life Hack

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DSE set up.

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I've recently invested in upgrading my office set up, and it's been a game changer!

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For years I've worked from my laptop, giving no real thought to how good the set up is for me, and slowly over time I've noticed more and more discomfort creep into my back, which is undoubtedly coming from poor posture while working.

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Because of this, I bought a portable laptop riser to bring my laptop screen to eye level, a wireless mouse, and a keyboard so I can type more comfortably.

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This cost barely anything and I have already seen huge benefit from this change, and because it's all portable, I'm able to utilise it both at home and at my work space Foundry.

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Take a minute to check your posture while you're working, maybe even film yourself, and then have a think about what you may need to change in your set up.?

How I'm Helping Others

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This week I helped a client gain the confidence to be able to ask quite an uncomfortable question.?

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She was feeling a real lack of clarity and uncertain about a piece of work, but didn't want to confront this and potentially cause an issue.

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Not long after our call took place, she had confronted the situation, asked the question, and was delighted with how the interaction went.

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I understand the worry the we sometimes face when it comes to asking uncomfortable question, but I can promise you that it's better to ask than to not!

My DM's are always open if you want to talk about ways in which I can support you.

I hope you have a fantastic week, and I'll be back in your inbox next week!

Haydan