3 Ways Coaching Helps People

Beige Minimalist 3 Top Tips Plant Based Diet for Beginners Instagram Post 3

 

“Attention energises, intention transforms” – Deepak Chopra 💫

Ever wondered why you’re unable to make change despite feeling frustration, boredom, anxiety or depression about your current life?

Here’s why 🤫

To make any big change in your life, you need to do more than recognise discomfort – you need to create the time, space and resources to get real clarity. From there, change becomes easy.

Ever wondered why people telling you what you should do rarely works? Because sometimes it comes more from a place of projection, protectiveness and bias than objectivity and real listening – truly sitting in the moment with you and really hearing what lies beneath is usually quite different, leaving you feeling heard, understood and pumped to uplevel your life.

This is exactly what I thought coaching wasn’t when I first started out. Honestly, I was hoping it was a quick fix involving talking to a wise owl who could help me cut corners and expedite change fast.

I couldn’t have been more wrong.

When I heard it was being guided by the coach asking a series of questions to help me work out who I was and what I wanted, I thought it sounded like hot air.

Then we started practising coaching – and I ate my words fast 🤭

I quickly realised helping someone connect to who they truly are and what they truly want versus telling them what they should do, is where the magic happens.

I see this kind of magic happen daily with clients – whether midwives moving into project management, financiers moving into consulting, lawyers moving into coaching or graduates moving into advertising and beyond.

It’s not rocket science, but boy does it work.

As a wise friend on Mindline once said, really active listening is like developing a sixth sense.

So I say again – attention energises, intention transforms. Finding space to be truly heard and to deconstruct what’s really going on for you is an essential component to creating the intention required for change.

So if you’re feeling misaligned with your life or career, what’s stopping you from booking a free discovery call here?

And if you’re still feeling stuck, remember, nothing changes if nothing changes 💫

Still unsure? Here’s what a lovely client, Melanie Hartley said: “Coaching with Mel has been the most valuable investment I’ve ever made in myself”.

 

Why Management Consulting Can Feel like a Toxic Relationship

‘Management consulting is like a toxic relationship – you love the salary, status and perks, but you hate the intense workload, demanding clients, lack of work life balance and lack of praise’ – Career Coaching Consulting Client

Are you a management consultant, lawyer or professional who loves the highs of the job – the big pay check, the nice house and the social status but secretly hates the feeling of being stuck in the ‘corporate cage’ where you crave changing out of the ‘always on’ culture but love the big salary and feel trapped by a big mortgage and other liabilities?

Or maybe you’ve reached the pinnacle of your career, near Partnership, only to realise that all your efforts seem to count for nothing unless you hit whopping billable targets or you’re able to bring in new business.

Or maybe you simply don’t have the time to explore these niggling feelings and doubts – or you don’t know who you could talk to to discover alternatives that meet your wider needs?

Perhaps you’ve normalised feeling flat, frustrated or unfulfilled for so long that you’ve failed to notice the negative ripple effect your work is having on your mental health and your wider quality of life with family and friends?

Can you even imagine what it feels like not to have to be perfect every day at work, like you’re on a never-ending treadmill constantly fending off burn-out?

I get it – as a lawyer turned Career and Life Coach, I help smart, successful professionals working in high stress worlds design careers and lives they love – and much as your monkey mind may tell you this isn’t possible, I’m here to tell you it is!

Whether learning simple mindset mastery tricks to help reduce stress and optimise work life balance, learning how to develop boundaries and people please less, exploring career alternatives that thrive off your superb CV or managing wider life goals like love and relationships, I’m here for you.

It’s easy to boost hope and joy in life when you have the right tools and the space to explore what you really want, what your options are and how to reconnect with your strengths to strategise for change. It doesn’t have to be money or happiness – it can be both.

Check out a powerful example of one of many bright but frustrated career coaching clients I work with in the in the short video here.

What do you relate to?

What are your main pain-points?

And how committed to change are you in 2023?

If you’d like to explore how I can help you master your mind and re-design your career or personal life, drop me a message here for a free discovery call. Helping smart, successful professionals get unstuck fast is my superpower 🙂

Here’s what a recent legal client said:

‘Thank you so much for everything – I feel like you’re the best investment I made in myself in years. I feel much more connected to my true self and have more trust in myself than I have had in a long time. You have a real gift’

The Surprising Reason Coaching will Change your Life

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“Attention energises, intention transforms” – Deepak Chopra

Ever wondered, like the legal client below before we worked together, why you’re unable to make change despite feeling frustration, boredom, anxiety or depression about your personal or professional life?

Here’s why..

To make any big change in your life, you need to do more than recognise discomfort – you need to create the time, space and resources to get real clarity. From there, change becomes easy.

Ever wondered why people telling you what you should do rarely works?

Because sometimes it comes more from a place of projection, protectiveness and bias than objectivity and real listening – truly sitting in the moment with you and really hearing what lies beneath is usually quite different, leaving you feeling heard, understood and pumped to uplevel your life.

This is exactly what I thought coaching wasn’t when I first started out. Honestly, I was hoping it was a quick fix involving talking to a wise owl who could help me cut corners and expedite change fast.

I couldn’t have been more wrong.

When I heard it was being guided by the coach asking a series of questions to help me work out who I was and what I wanted, I thought it sounded like hot air.

Then we started practising coaching – and I ate my words fast..

I quickly realised helping someone connect to who they truly are and what they truly want versus telling them what they should do, is where the magic happens.

I see this kind of magic happen daily with clients like the lovely client in the quote below who found coaching more powerful than years of therapy, management consultants sick of toxic work environments, midwives tired of emotions to financiers and creatives ready to change their personal or professional lives.

Screenshot 2023 08 03 at 14.10.52

As a wise friend on Mindline once said, really active listening is like developing a sixth sense and it should have a profound effect on the client.

So I say again – attention energises, intention transforms. Finding space to be truly heard and to deconstruct what’s really going on for you is an essential component to creating the intention required for change.

So if you’re feeling misaligned with your life or career and are seeking greater fulfilment, joy and inspiration in your life, what’s stopping you? As Einstein said: “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.”

I have a very small number of complimentary coaching discovery call slots remaining before Christmas if you’d like to hear more about how coaching could help change your personal or professional life, so if you’re sick of the status quo and want to start next year with a new lease of life, get in touch here.

Disclaimer: If you don’t want results, this won’t be for you!

 

The Surprising Similarity between Careers and Dating

5 Main Differences Between Dating And Being In A Relationship

“Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life” – Confucius

Ever gone on a date you weren’t excited about to discover, well, it was a waste of time?

Ever sent in multiple job applications or done an interview somewhat half-heartedly to discover, shock horror, you weren’t successful?

Or maybe you’re struggling to excel in your current role (or even get through the day..) because your heart’s just not in it?

I always say there are multiple parallels between love and careers. If you’re not excited, it’s not the right one! What happens when we settle on a half-hearted love? Yup, it ends in tears. Careers are no different as I explain in my short video here.

Do not, I repeat, do not, settle with your career.

Feeing disconnected 5 days’ a week is a BIG DEAL and will affect your mental health and wider life whether your love life, relationships with your children, wellbeing or otherwise.

If you think you’re lost, confused, stuck – you’re not nearly as lost as you think, trust me. I see these feelings ALL THE TIME with clients who invariably become unstuck within just 1-3 sessions. Confusion, apathy and frustration may alarm you but they excite me (!) because they are merely signs of unmet needs and when you work out what you need to be happy, the rest is easy.

Don’t believe me?

One creative career coaching client thought she was totally lost job wise and was sliding into depression when we first connected. She was also worried her career joylessness was endangering her relationship. By session 2, she was a different person – with a 360 energy / clarity turnaround once she got clear on her values. She wasn’t remotely crazy or even that lost once she had the space to explore what was really going on – she was just in the wrong role in a misaligned work environment.

She now has her dream job for a leading fashion house in Amsterdam and feels truly seen, heard and fulfilled.

If that resonates, hit me up for a free discovery call and feel the anxiety reduce and hope spike!

As an ex-lawyer turned career and life coach who works with smart, successful people in high-stress jobs, my superpower is helping ‘confused’ clients get unstuck fast and reconnect with careers that make them truly happy, fulfilled and excited to get up in the morning.

Remember: “The only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle.” – Steve Jobs

#career #careers #job #interview #mentalhealth #wellbeing #work#finance #managementconsulting #consulting #lifecoaching#careercoaching #coaching #success #happiness #leaders#leadership #wellbeing #insurance #redundancy #HR #law#property #CEO #manager #lawyer #jobs #people

What’s the Difference between Coaching & Therapy?

The difference between coaching, counseling, mentoring and consulting - Savvy Self Growth

“I never cease to be amazed by the power of the coaching process” – John Russell, Managing Director, Harley Davidson Europe

Have you ever wondered what the difference is between coaching and counselling?

Or maybe, like me 7 years ago, your first impression of coaching was some wacky American self-help thing full of hot air?

That was until I started practising coaching and had to eat my words, fast.

Y’see, though coaching isn’t rocket science, it’s amazing the magic that happens when we have the space to really explore who we really are, how we really feel and what we really WANT versus what we feel we SHOULD do – the latter usually signals a disconnect from the true self and is often no more than a societal construct whether conditioning from our parents we assumed knew better than us or from those around us.

Ironic, really, given that real motivation, excitement and joy in life comes from doing what you really WANT to do versus what you feel you SHOULD do (the latter being a top 5 regret of the dying according the the bestselling author and palliative nurse, Bronnie Ware). That’s coaching in a nutshell – it helps you to connect to your most authentic self, which releases a huge energy surge so you can move from where you are now to where you want to be much faster than before.

That’s why leading professionals like Bob Nardelli, CEO of Home Depot say: “People, unless coached, never reach their maximum capabilities”.

And by people, I’m talking clients from all walks of life – managers, company directors, MBA students and downright cynics. Like my highly successful friend who was dismayed he couldn’t become a Partner at his FTSE 500 company without a coaching session. After an hour with the coach, he soon changed his mind.

If, like him 6 years’ back, you’re wondering what coaching is all about or how it could serve you with results based goods, check out the difference between coaching and counselling in my short video here.

And if that tickles your fancy, or you have any questions about it, drop me a line or book in a free discovery call here to learn more about how career and life coaching could uplevel your energy, productivity and success tenfold in 2023.

Be warned, though, while coaching and counselling are different beasts, there’s a reason why a handful of clients say they’ve got more out of one coaching session than years’ of therapy…

#coaching #people #motivation #energy #law #lawyers#managementconsulting #managementconsulting #property#insurance #thebar #barristers #chambers #HR #partners#managers #stress #mentalhealth #wellbeing #happiness #success#learninganddevelopment #personaldevelopment#peakperformance #relationships #communication #transformation#promotion #politics #careerchange #life #change #therapy#counselling #power #CEO #csuite #CFO #CTO #CIO #COO#support

5 Top Tips for Becoming a Life Coach: What I Wish I’d Known Earlier

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Coaching offers the secrets to happiness most of my career and life coaching clients dream of: freedom, work life balance, creativity and the ability to be an entrepreneur and run your own business on your own terms. What’s not to love?!

Having coached and mentored many career coaching and life coaching clients keen to switch careers into coaching, here are some top tips most coaches to be are unaware of:

1. Choose the Right Coaching Course

Any course you spend money on should be seen as an investment rather than an expense. A high value course should be measured for the return on investment it provides versus the cost. The coaching course I did worked well for me because it offered the flexibility of online study and was well reputed because it markets itself extremely well with free weekend taster courses – but great marketing doesn’t equal great quality. I’ve since met many coaches and can clearly see some stand-out courses which cost a lot more money but which yield notably excellent returns in terms of skills, business tips and certification. So take the time to connect with well-established coaches with wide networks and ask them which coaching schools they’d recommend based on the coaches they’ve met. The right investment will pay dividends in terms of building your confidence, skills and future business.

2. Marketing is King

As I always say, a great coach without marketing is like a chateau without road signs. It doesn’t matter how gifted you are if people can’t find you. My personal path involved undertaking my coaching training and developing my coaching skills through a lot of free sessions, gathering client testimonials so I could build my future brand (website and blog) and writing articles on areas of interest around happiness, success and personal development. The truth is, this was an easy win as writing sets my heart a-flutter and sharing learnings from books I was reading and my own new experiences living in wonderful new places on paths less travelled, was an easy way to energise myself, consolidate key pearls of wisdom and build my profile as a personal development specialist. Much later, I turned my attention to marketing, such as writing articles for publications such as the Huffington Post, investing in PR, exploring search engine optimisation and creating a podcast to get more traffic to my website. Marketing is like a game — you’ve got to play the game if you want to create enough chemistry calls to make a living. For while coaching may meet those much sought after values such as freedom and work life balance, this isn’t much fun if you’re not earning enough money to make a living. With great testimonials and enough client enquiries, you can increase your prices and be sure to make what you need and more every month with the kind of freedom, stability and growth that, well, sets you free!

3. Work for Coaching Companies as a Freelance Coach

Once you’ve got enough coaching hours and great testimonials under your belt, it shouldn’t be too hard to secure freelance coaching as an associate coach. This is a really high results producing activity as it ensures you get clients funnelled to you without any marketing costs your end. The other major benefit is the business acumen you acquire from seeing how other coaching businesses operate. If you’d told me when I started coaching that I could easily sell 9 session career coaching packages to clients, I never would’ve believed you. I would’ve also found it hard to believe that I could even make £300 a month from coaching! Working for more established coaching companies has proven otherwise, teaching me powerful tools around effective marketing, how to conduct powerful chemistry calls to convert potential clients whilst boosting my confidence though coaching hundreds of clients across different industries and at different levels from undergraduates to trainees, associates, managers and CEOs.

4. Play to your Passions

Although people often speak about the importance of having a niche, I advise new coaches to start broad unless you’re sure what direction you want to take. If you know you’re nuts about nutrition and want to go hammer and tongs to train as a nutrition or health coach, go for it, as passion sells. But if you’re unsure, don’t corner yourself too soon. Instead, enjoy experimenting by working with a range of clients and getting curious about what you most enjoy. I worked with a real mix of people and noticed that career coaching clients naturally gravitated towards me because of my own career coaching journey from lawyer to life and career coach. I also realised that having worked across a range of fields from property and law to PR, journalism, copywriting, higher education and start-ups gave me unique insight into a range of careers that could benefit clients across a real breadth of diverse career sectors. I also realised that my journalism experience and First Class degree in English were superpowers other coaches may not have, helping clients with key pain points whether nailing CV’s, applications, cover letters and interviews to secure the jobs of their dreams. What are your unique strengths, experiences, passions and selling points? And how might these support the area of coaching that you could work in?

5. Carve out a Unique Selling Point

While coaching sounds like the killer career in terms of work life balance, freedom and making a difference, this also means it attracts a lot of people who want a piece of the cake. To ensure you stand out from the crowd, think about what your unique selling points are and how they can bolster your brand identity and origin tale. For instance, as a lawyer turned life coach, I have a unique selling point as a coach who has successfully traversed career change — particularly from the high stress, ‘always-on’ corporate world, to a more freedom filled, values-driven, coaching lifestyle. This story resonates well with professionals like lawyers and management consultants who can be a little snobby about who they work with. My creative strengths as a writer have meant that I leant into creating my own blog and writing on subjects that inspired my own personal development from how to take the stress out of online dating, to top tips for moving abroad (think London to Madrid and the French Alps), to how to master your mind and transform your life and career. My strengths as a writer separate me from other coaches and have helped me gain PR opportunities with publications like Grazia, The Financial Times, Huffington Post, Refinery29, Elephant Journal and Refinery29; this has paid dividends in boosting my gravitas as a commercial creative hybrid who specialises in helping a range of professionals who are confused about their careers find work they love!

What comes to mind when you ask yourself the above questions? Feel free to drop me your thoughts or queries here.

5 Top Tips for Changing Careers in Your 30s

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Shifting career at any point can feel scary, sometimes all the scarier in your 30s. At this age, you’re no longer the fearless undergraduate hungry to cut your teeth in competitive new industries and the rose tinted spectacles of inexperience may have well and truly fallen off. You may also feel burdened by the liabilities of real life whether mortgages, children or otherwise.

But do not fear! These fears are very normal — so normal, that I see them again and again in career coaching clients hungry for career change but often disabled by fear. This is exactly why they seek out career coaching — so they can find ways to master their minds and harness easy to apply methods to shift into careers that truly excite and fulfil them.

So here are 5 top tips for taking the stress out of switching careers in your 30s, fast:

  1. The Values Audit

Before even contemplating changing careers, it’s important to get clear on your values — the needs or drivers you need to be connecting with in life to feel happy. I call this your ‘Toolkit for Life’ because once you know what energises and excites you, you have a roadmap for happiness and the clarity to shift path with confidence. For instance, it was easy for me to leave law and traverse into creating my own business when I realised I needed greater work life balance, freedom and fun to feel truly fulfilled in life. Getting clear on your values also helps you label why you’ve felt unfulfilled by prior roles, organisations or industries which brings clarity, relief and validation — the ideal springboard for career change. For instance, let’s say you’ve felt drained working in a very process driven role and you realise creativity is central to your sense of self — it’s then easy to see why you’ve felt out of sorts and more motivating to shift into a career that really compliments you. To get clear on your values, start by asking yourself what you can’t do without in life at large? What would your dream job involve? What are you key frustrations and what’s the opposite of each? What would make you truly happy? As Mahatma Gandhi reminds us: ‘Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.’

  1. Identify your ‘Why’

Most career coaching clients have no idea what their purpose is — that North Star that guides the bigger picture. For some career coaching clients, this may be making a difference, for others it may be spending quality time with family, for others it may be winning awards and becoming an expert in their field. To work out your ‘why’, ask yourself who do you admire in life and why? How would you like to be remembered when you leave this world? What kind of things would you like to hear people saying about you at your funeral? What kind of legacy would you like to leave? A lot of us think in ego driven, linear ways when it comes to careers, but as Steve Jobs warns us: ‘I reached the pinnacle of success in the business world. In others’ eyes, my life is an epitome of success. However, aside from work, I have little joy. In the end, wealth is only a fact of life that I am accustomed to’. So park your ego and ask yourself instead, what does success really mean to you? What would drive you on days when you feel like giving up? What kind of career and impact would leave you feeling proud at the end of your days?

  1. Connect to the Truth

One of the key regrets Bronnie Ware identifies in her book, ‘The Top 5 Regrets of the Dying’ is: ‘I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not a life others expected of me’. So many of my career coaching clients fall into roles because their parents told them law or consulting would be a good idea or because the job title sounds sexy at dinner parties. Although it’s natural to be led by others when we’re young and unaware of what really drives us, with age comes experience, of different people, different roles and different corporate cultures — and greater awareness of how we really feel about each! By the time you’re in your 30s, you have an ideal backdrop from which to explore what you’ve liked, disliked and craved more of in a role and environment. This commercial landscape sheds light on the key factors which drive aligned career change including your leading strengths, your passions and interests, your values and your purpose. So instead of thinking it’s too late to change, see your experience for what it is — a vehicle to truth — uncovering key pearls of wisdom around what truly makes you happy. As F Scott Fitzgerald reminds us: ‘It’s never too late to be who you want to be’. Look at Ray Croc, the founder of McDonald’s — he was 52 when he opened his first McDonald’s franchise!

  1. Leverage Your Experience

Career coaching clients often panic that they lack the experience to shift paths into a new career, forgetting they have developed some great transferable skills they can use as evidence to launch into new career directions. Start by asking yourself what are your leading skills? What have you been most complimented on in prior jobs? What comes naturally to you? What are you doing when you’re most energised? And which of these skills overlap with leading skills in your new area of interest? Remember, existing killer skills can often be taken forward in new directions! You can also minimise panicking about career change by asking yourself what unique selling points you have in terms of prior expertise that you could harness to push you to the top of the CV pile for a new role. For instance, a client of mine had been a midwife for 15 years and was interested in moving into project management and innovation. Initially she panicked about her seeming lack of experience in these fields, but she soon started thinking more strategically, identifying how she could harness her unique selling point of clinical experience in new areas of interest. You guessed it, she found her dream job in a clinical setting and has been promoted twice already! If you don’t have experience in a new area of interest, what quick wins could help you close the gap, whether work experience, a course or seeking advice from people in that area?

  1. Chats with People

The most high results producing activity you can engage in, informational interviews with people in areas of interest will help you deepen clarity around new avenues, fast. Many career coaching clients panic about talking to strangers so start by asking yourself who you know in possible areas of interest and also who you know who may know people they can connect you to. Remember, we’ve all been confused in life — it’s the one commonality of being human — and people generally love talking about themselves, especially if you make them feel special. The one common mistake I see career coaching clients make here is the same problem I see in cover letters, job applications and job interviews — if you don’t bespoke your approach to the person or organisation you’re trying to seduce with specific examples of why you think they’re special, they won’t make time to talk to you. To be seen as worthwhile, you need to prove you’ve done your homework, showcasing your research, communication and interpersonal skills through specific examples that evidence your interest. The litmus test is asking yourself: ‘Could the reasons I’m giving to evidence my interest in this person apply to someone else?’ If the answer is yes, your reasons are too vague and not specific enough. To get clear on what reasons you could give, start by asking yourself, what 3 things truly inspire me about this person or their organisation? Then think of a specific example for each whether an article they’ve written, a project they’ve worked on or otherwise. Remember, authenticity and passion sells!

So there you have it — 5 simple ways to boost clarity to get clear on career change fast! It’s easy when you know how! Don’t believe me? These top tips have helped hundreds of career coaching clients like Marcel, all united by confusion, self-doubt and sometimes crippling fear, change careers in sometimes radical ways:

“Mel was arguably one of the best things that happened to me last year. I had just moved to the UK and found myself facing a lot of professional challenges regarding self-promotion, speculative approaches, interviews, etc. With a well-planned, straightforward programme, Mel made me rediscover my strengths and taught me how to adapt them to my new reality. Thanks to her strategies, I was able to thrive and secure a leading role at a huge multinational company!”

 

Executive Coaching: The Fortune 500’s Best Kept Secret

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“For years, CEOs of some of the most successful and largest companies have relied on executive coaches. Henry McKinnell, CEO of Pfizer, Meg Whitman, CEO of eBay, and David Pottruck, CEO of Charles Schwab & Co., are just a few who rely on a “trusted adviser”

The Business Journal

Did you know that between 25 and 40 percent of Fortune 500 companies use executive coaches to help their leaders peak perform? I was surprised this figure was so high — not because I don’t understand why successful companies would invest in coaching for their CEO’s and C-Suite — but because it’s one of the best kept secrets around.

These clandestine connoisseurs described an average return of more than $100,000, about six times what executive coaching costs them. That’s the equivalent of six round the world business class flights.

But that doesn’t explain why savvy business leaders invest in something that sounds suspiciously like mumbo-jumbo.

Maybe because “executives and HR managers know coaching is the most potent tool for inducing lasting personal change”.

So what makes coaching so special?

The answer is simple.

It’s because of what it’s not.

Instead of being another top down programme forced on over-stretched employees, coaching empowers people to develop their own solutions to issues and goals, with a dash of mentoring thrown in. This increases the chances of action tenfold.

In other words, it’s the missing link to high performance leadership success.

So what are the benefits?

“Workers at all levels of the corporate ladder are enlisting coaches for guidance on how to improve their performance, boost their profits, and make better decisions about everything from personnel to strategy”.

Whether strengthening business development, presentation and leadership skills or facilitating target attainment and peak performance, coaching increases confidence, self-awareness and resourcefulness, bolstering company growth, profitability and market share.

But if, like some initially sceptical clients, you still think coaching sounds a little like hot air, you might change your tune when you learn:

The business demand for coaching is nearly doubling each year. Out of the $80 billion being currently spent on corporate education, FLI Research estimates that $2 billion is spent on executive coaching at senior executive levels in Fortune 500 companies.

Not only that:

IBISWorld research reports that the size of the US and UK corporate wellness industry is now more than $8bn — and growing.

If you’re still not convinced, that’s ok. I had to see it to believe it myself.

But when I did — let me tell you — the idea of being a hot shot lawyer became far less appealing than helping professionals transform their lives and businesses.

Want to find out more? Book a discovery call with me here.

The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari: A Powerful Tale Every Stressed-Out City Professional Should Read

What Would You Change?

The rise of death bed marriages, and are they a good idea? - Stowe Family  Law

Picture the scene… You’re lying on your deathbed looking back at your life. All you can hear is the ticking of the clock and the quiet mumblings of voices swimming around you. What chapters of your life would you pause and zoom in on, savouring the happiness that you felt? And what would you regret? Not spending more time with your family, not meeting more people, not laughing enough or not billing more hours at the office? It seems simple when we look at it like that, but it’s easy to get swept up in the helter skelter of City life, losing touch with the values that give us real purpose. These are the sorts of questions that Sharma’s bestselling novel, “The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari”, will have you asking.

Balance Versus Success.

Heavy it may sound, but Sharma’s style is anything but. Described by Brian Tracy, as a “fun, fascinating, fanciful adventure into the realms of personal development,” this is an inspiring story full of insightful messages for city professionals on how to achieve greater balance, control and effectiveness in their daily lives. And as one of the world’s leading experts on leadership and personal development and author of 12 international bestsellers, Robin Sharma knows a thing or two about success…

What Is Wealth?

Living in a city is stressful as hell

It is success in its widest sense that is the crux of this powerful tale. This is a story about Julian Mantle, a hotshot lawyer whose out of balance lifestyle culminates in a near fatal heart attack in a packed courtroom. His collapse provokes a spiritual crisis, leading him to seek answers to life’s most important questions.

On a quest for happiness and fulfilment, he sells his prized possessions (including his Ferrari) and embarks upon a pilgrimage to India, where he discovers a group of monks who teach him the secrets of true happiness. Enlightened, he returns to the “very troubled” Western world, devoting himself to spreading this ancient wisdom to professionals who have lost sight of the “huge difference between well-being and being well-off”.

What Can We Learn From Julian Mantle?

Whether you’re a lawyer, an aspiring leader of industry or just hungry for recognition at work, there is some of Julian Mantle in all of us. Whether the dash of ego, the good education, the impressive job title, or the seemingly ‘have-it-all lifestyle’, we can relate to the intensity of his world, a world full of success and glamour but devoid of time; time to think, to feel and to develop spiritually. Our identification with this high-achieving, aspirational Alpha male, makes his fallout all the more disturbing.

But Mantle’s collapse is about far more than the physical dangers of work overload – his near death experience is the root from which Sharma philosophises outwards to explore the damaging internal effects of unbalanced, chaotic lives and how we can empower ourselves to find lasting happiness.

Indeed, the tale of Julian’s transformation from Type A senior partner at a leading law firm, who “at a fifty three years old, looked as if he was in his late seventies,” to a “youthful, vital and smiling model of change,” evidences the truth behind the transformational tips and techniques that he teaches.

What Are Sharma’s Top Tips?

A warmhearted, practical guide about the power of potential, here are some of the most inspiring lessons from “The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari”:

1. “There is no such thing as objective reality or the ‘real world’. There are no absolutes.”

2. “The secret of true happiness is simple. Find out what you truly love to do and then direct all your energy towards doing it. If you study the happiest, healthiest, most satisfied people of our world, you will see that each and every one of them has found their passion in life, and then spent their days pursuing it. Once you are focusing your mental power and energy on a pursuit that you love, abundance flows into our life and all your desires are fulfilled with ease and grace.”

3. “Most people live within the confines of their comfort zone. The best thing you can do for yourself is regularly move beyond it. This is the way to realise your true potential.”

4. “Achievement need not be of the material sort. Personally my objectives are to attain peace of mind, self-mastery and enlightenment. If I fail to accomplish these goals by the end of my life, I am certain that I will die feeling unfulfilled and dissatisfied.” 5. “Dare to dream that you are more than the sum of your current circumstances. Once you find your purpose, life becomes much easier and far more rewarding.”

What The Critics Say…

The reviews speak for themselves. While Paulo Coelho, #1 bestselling author of The Alchemist, calls it, “A captivating story that teaches as it delights…helping people all over the world lead great lives,” and Richard Carlson, PhD and author of the #1 New York Times bestseller, “Don’t Sweat The Small Stuff”, says, “Robin Sharma has the rare gift of writing books that are truly life-changing.

What’s The Moral Of The Tale?

‘The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari’ is packed full of useful messages and tips for city professionals to find lasting happiness. Whether showing that it’s normal if your goals change over time, or if the passion that you once felt for a job gives way to a sense of emptiness, it will certainly change your perspective.

Unlike the neatly packaged identities that social media cultivates, Sharma teaches us that life is a journey and we are constantly evolving creatures with shifting values and needs. There are no mistakes, only lessons.

As products of Generation Y, it’s easy to pursue competitive roles out of a sense of duty but Sharma shows us the value of reflection and questioning – are we so busy chasing the big pleasures of life that we are missing out on all the little ones? Are we really doing what we love?

So if you’re in a job that’s dominating your life or you’re simply interested in happiness and self-development, read this book. And if you think you don’t have time, all the more reason to. Life is all about choices and investing in yourself is the best investment you will ever make.

Julian Mantle’s heart attack was his defining moment – his wake up call – giving him the chance to live a more inspired life. This book may be the wake up call that you’ve been looking for…

Career Mistakes or Regrets? Top Tips for Changing Jobs Without the Stress

career coaching tips

“Our finest moments are most likely to occur when we are feeling deeply uncomfortable, unhappy, or unfulfilled. For it is only in such moments, propelled by our discomfort, that we are likely to step out of our ruts and start searching for different ways or truer answers”

M. Scott Peck

If you went to bed feeling anxious about your work week ahead in a job you dislike, or you’ve woken up feeling sick about another day in an environment or role that simply doesn’t fit you, don’t despair.
That fear is a barometer for much needed change and scary as taking the leap can feel, it’s much easier when you break it down into bite size steps.
If you relate to the above, check out my feature in @refinery29 in the link in bio, ‘I Changed My Career & Regret It. Now What?’, for the ultimate guide to making that big leap – and not looking back.
From the four steps crucial to avoiding career change regret to how to sell a misstep on your CV, it’s packed full of solutions to common pain points clients fret about whether midwives, financiers, lawyers to graphic designers and marketeers. The pain is often the same and the paralysis analysis can often feel crippling without simple steps forward.
Here’s a teaser:
Don’t dive in headfirst. Whether you’re considering changing careers for the first time or feel that a recent change isn’t right for you, step one is making sure you don’t rush your next decision.
“The most important thing in the transitional phase,” says Melanie, “is not to panic and just jump into something else quickly because you can. You need to get clear on what you need to be happy and what your key frustrations are. Because if you dig beneath frustration it’s usually a barometer for exactly what you need more of.”
Read more top tips to career change via the link in my bio and feel the stress dissipate 🪴
Remember, you don’t have to get it perfect, you just gotta get it going ✨

#career #fear #stress #job #wrong #coaching #careercoaching #happy #life #happiness #peace #fulfilment #joy #hope #change

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Remember, you don’t have to get it perfect, you just have to get it going.

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Melanie