Are you doing enough of what matters to you?
Ian McDermott
Global Thought Leader | Trusted Advisor |Training, Consulting and Coaching in over 100 of the World's Top Companies | Delivering Coaching, Neuroscience and NLP Training | Author
Last week a close friend of mine told me how he’d turned around an under-performing sales team. The crucial piece was having them assess on a Friday afternoon how the week had gone and then identify what they needed to do next week and who they would be contacting. This would ensure they came in on Monday morning focused, prepared and with a sense of purpose. What he’d done was create a tight feedback loop that fed forward every single week. Re-view and Pre-view. This is the basis of life-long learning. It’s a practice anyone can develop.
Think of summer as a long weekend. Instead of just using this approach at work how about doing this with your life. What would it be like to come back from your summer focused, prepared and with a sense of purpose?
Raising your game
Part of effective preparation is knowing how you will raise your game to make the most of the opportunities in front of you. If you want some help getting started, take a look at my recent blog post ‘Raising your Game: The two most important questions to get started’.
Doing what matters to you
For me one of the most important questions I ask myself is; whatever I’m doing next, does it matter to me? If I can’t say yes I need to check why I’m doing it. Maybe it’s a necessary means to an end that most certainly does matter to me.
This has been particularly on my mind as ITS prepares to enter its 30th year. So many people who have trained with us came to learn skills and went on to change their lives. Often they go on to change the lives of others too. Take former barrister, QC and judge, Lawrence Kershen. He took his NLP Practitioner Programme with ITS in 1989 and went on to literally change the legal system.
How One Man Changed the Legal System: Lawrence’s Story
Here’s a great example of what can happen if we choose to follow what matters to us. Even if you aren’t aware of the journey you’re on - yet! - if you know that what you’re doing next matters to you then you’re definitely on the right path.
In September our annual NLP Practitioner Programme with Neuroscience and ICF Accredited Mastering the Coach Approach Programme both begin. If you want to be doing more of what matters to you then I suggest you check them out. I designed them to give you practical skills which will raise your game and give you new choices.
So whilst the number of out of office replies reaching your inbox increases during the ‘quiet’ summer months, you might like to ask yourself:
- What really matters to you?
- Are you actively preparing to have more of this in your life?
- Are you ready to take the next steps?
And if it feels right, I look forward to showing you what’s possible after the summer.