Our Deepest Fear

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us.
We ask ourselves:
Who are we to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?
Actually, who are you not to be?

You are a child of God,
Your playing small does not serve the world.
There’s nothing enlightening about shrinking so that
other people won’t feel insecure around you.
We are born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us.
It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone.

As we let our light shine,
we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.
As we are liberated from our fears,
our presence automatically liberates others.

~ Nelson Mandela 1994 Inaugural Speech

We are powerful beyond measure

Paradigm Blindness

Blinded to the obvious

Those people inside a company or a system often suffer ‘paradigm blindness’ which means that they cannot see the pieces that would bring about the most profound shift or transformation. That is why a person entering the company or system from outside is often able to bring about a paradigm shift as they are not predisposed with the collective blindness.

Motivation for Achievement

What makes the difference between those people who are very inspired to achieve something and those who are not so determined? Those who do almost everything to excel and succeed by putting in a lot of effort and those who don’t work as hard and for whom it is not that important?

The difference lies in the motivation for achievement.

What is Motivation for Achievement?

Motivated for Achievement?

It can be defined as

• Having a strong desire to accomplish something
• Striving for a standard of excellence
• Expending effort in order to excel
• Having an appetite to accomplish a difficult result
• Being driven to outperform others

According to research by David McClelland it has been found that people with a high motivation for achievement work harder, are more future oriented, more innovative, more persistent and they desire success much more than they fear failure. An interesting point is also that they attribute success to internal factors (like optimists do) as opposed to external factors (as do pessimists). In terms of choosing their challenge they have the ability to distinguish a suitable task as being challenging but not impossible. This means that they choose their task wisely and therefore experience the satisfaction of reaching their goals. People with a low motivation for achievement interestingly either choose tasks that are too challenging, in which they are more prone to fail, or tasks that are too easy, in which there is not enough stimulation.

Can you train Motivation for Achievement?

Experiments have shown that humans indeed can learn to become more achievement motivated. You can even learn and teach it to yourself.

As with any behavioral change it is a process over time. Firstly, practice choosing tasks or set goals that are at a suitable level: challenging and yet achievable. Secondly you put more focus on and celebrate your successes rather than being focused on and frustrated about your failures. Thirdly you need to practice being persistent.

Which one of the three steps mentioned here do you want to focus on and in which way is it achievable and still challenging for you?

Like the Japanese proverb says: ‘Fall down seven times, get up eight.’

Social Media – is it a Fad?

Or is it the biggest shift since the Industrial Revolution? This video details out social media facts and figures that are hard to ignore. This video is produced by the author of Socialnomics.

It seems pretty obvious to me that we cannot ignore those facts!

TEAM VALUES ANALYSIS

Values are the specific things in people’s lives that are most important to them. When an individual is aware of their values, they have a set of guiding principles that enables them to behave in a manner that supports who they are and what they really believe in. This can help to prevent behaviours that are subconscious saboteurs of their progress in personal and business relationships.

At an organizational level a clear definition of the values of a company or business defines the culture that develops within the organization. When an organisation’s values are shared and lived by all levels of employees and leadership, a strong core culture develops that sees everyone living and working according to a code of behaviour that supports the vision and mission of the company.

If personal or corporate goals are not being reached there is a good chance this is because individual or company values do not support these goals or are not in alignment with them.

The values analysis process typically involves the following steps:

1. Values analysis of the company and/or senior management
2. Values analysis of key employees
3. Creation of a company or department vision statement describing how the organisation or department sees its future
4. Creation of a company or department mission statement describing the organisation’s or department’s core business
5. Detailed analysis of values at management and employee level and their alignment with each other

There are numerous techniques for eliciting and evaluating values. A simple method is to simply ask the individual to list out the ten things which are most important in their life, and to then rank them from 1 to 10.

This values analysis process can assist in providing a clearly defined vision and mission statement and with:

• Alignment of corporate values with the stated company mission
• Alignment of management with the corporate values
• Alignment of staff with the corporate values

Overall the elicitation and alignment of values leads to more effective direction from management and more motivated action from employees toward the organisation’s vision and objectives.

Who Won the Ticket?

Thank you all who entered into the draw of a FREE TICKET to our one day workshop ‘Change Your Thinking – From Worry to Clarity’ this coming Saturday in Sydney.

We had quite a few entries and some contestants had managed to get 3 entries into the draw!

To find out who won, watch this video:

To all of you who didn’t win – please stay tuned to our future events, seminars and workshop in 2010.

Newsletter Subscription: If you would like to be on our mailing list, please subscribe here.

Win a Ticket to ‘Change Your Thinking’ – Valued at $360

Today for the first time we are giving you the chance to win a ticket to our upcoming workshop ‘Change Your Thinking’ valued at $360.

Before we go any further: Given that our workshop is held in Sydney on the 14 November 2009 this giveaway is probably most likely for anyone in Australia who is wiling and able to make that time and date. However if you have already purchased your ticket or have other commitments for that date we will give you a  free ticket to one of our upcoming one day workshops in 2010 !

How to Enter

Easy! Here are your options:

1. Join Achievement Coaching & Consulting Facebook Page as a fan
2. Join Reach for the Sky Counselling Facebook Page as a fan
3. Write a comment here, in 25 words or fewer, sharing how you believe this workshop might benefit you.

The previous blog post explains all the details and benefits of the workshop. Click here for more information or go to www.achievementcoaching.com.au and click on ‘events’.

For each of the options 1 – 3 you will receive one entry into the draw.

Entries will close Sunday 8 November 8pm AEST (Sydney time).

All entries go into a draw and Anna and Nathalie will draw the winner on Monday 9 November 9am. The draw will be filmed and uploaded here on the blog – we’ll keep you posted.

Change Your Thinking – From Worry to Clarity

Today’s environment is asking all of us to grow beyond the current ways we think and interact with the world. How can you improve your thoughts to become more at ease with any challenges you are facing in your career, relationship, finances, personal life and health?

This workshop will show you how to really understand and stretch your thinking process to find more resourceful ways.

What this Workshop offers:

•understanding the underlying process of thinking
•finding out more about the workings of the mind
•reasons for positive and negative thinking
•learning how to better deal with thought and emotions
•interactive exercises to stretch your thinking
•practical tools to shift from worry to clarity

What the Benefits are for you:

•spend less time worrying and therefore be more efficient
•shift limitations into opportunities
•let go of excuses and judgment
•have more time for the things you enjoy
•less conflicting thoughts and emotions
•increased sense of joy, wellbeing and freedom in everyday life

This workshop is for you if you ‘don’t need help’ but are aware there are more options out there that you want to tap into.

Date and Time: Saturday, 14 Nov 2009            9.30am – 5 pm
Venue: Citigate Central Hotel Sydney

Cost: $360 includes morning/afternoon tea and buffet lunch
Early Bird: $295 if paid in full until 31/10/2009

Fore more Information and bookings call

Anna Guy 0412 560 846 or
Nathalie Himmelrich 0405 701 707

Click here to view the flyer

Comparison – Competition Need

Better, worse, more than, less than, more special, more common… Often human interactions are a game to differentiate ourselves from our fellow human being in some way that makes us feel superior. The ego is racing against the fear of going unnoticed.

I'm higher

Let’s have a look at a typical conversation:

Person A: How are you today?

Person B: I am OK. I have got a bit of a headache.

Person A: Oh well, that is nothing. I am hurting from my head to my toes…

Here a conversation in relationship:

Husband: I had such a tough day at work. I need a rest.

Wife: Well I’m so tired. I had to deal with the plumber in the morning and could not do the grocery shopping and then in the afternoon I had all the kids from the neighborhood over to feed and look after. I can barely keep my eyes open. Guess how much I need a rest?

In a business setting it might sound like this:

Employee 1: I have got such a fantastic office at my new job with views over the harbor!

Employee 2: We are lucky because we get to work wireless from wherever we want to in the whole complex where I work and one day a week we can even opt to work from home.

Many of our daily conversations follow the ego’s fight for recognition, superiority, specialness or uniqueness of some kind.

Are you walking around your daily life comparing yourself with others? Are you secretly thinking of yourself as ‘worse than’ or ‘better than’ other people? Are you gossiping about others? If this is normal every conversation that you have within yourself or with others and you wonder: ‘And so what’s the point?’ – ask yourself:

• If I could not compete about being better or worse of, having more or less than, having done more or less of etc. who would I be?
• What is the feeling that I try to manage when I compare myself?
• What would there be left to talk about if I could not gossip, judge and compare?

The need for continuous competition costs vital energy and in the end leaves you dissatisfied. Once we start to disengage from these conversations there might be very little left to be said for some time until our habits change. The benefit will be feeling more joyous and content, connecting deeply with others and standing in your own truth.

Hope

This inspiring video was created by a 20 yo as a submission to a contest entitled U@50.

You need to watch it right through until the end (trust me):