For most of my life I have tried to do less and achieve more. For the most part this has been in vain! However it has always been in my mind that the belief, “you have to work hard to get anywhere in life”, really doesn’t fit for me. I appreciate that the people who might be considered successful actually seem to work hard, however there is much more to the story than simply putting in the hours and watching the success and money roll in.

You have to do something that you love. Something that you love to do is never a chore; it never seems like hard work and it always leaves you feeling energised. The belief that you have to work hard to get anywhere in life, on the surface seems true. All the evidence of successful people points to working hard, for long hours and normally struggling to make ends meet in the beginning.

However, if it is something you love to do, it will never feel like hard work, the hours will never seem long and the struggle is all part of the fun of the journey. So many people have said that the joy is in the journey, not the destination. Of course, without a destination there can be no journey.

The bottom line is that you are the one who says what is hard work for you. If you feel as though you are working hard and struggling all the time with it, the chances are that you do not love what you do and there may be a better choice for you. Now before you go and quit your job and live out your lifelong dream… get some help and support - friends, family, maybe even a coach (of course I’d love to help you!) and make sensible plans to create the changes you wish to see.

If you already do what you love to do, then I expect you feel the way that I do, that work doesn’t feel like work! If not, find what you love to do and join the rising number of people who are creating their life purpose on their own terms.

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Technorati Tags: Change, Choice, coach, Creating, family, friends family, how, journey, joy, Life Purpose, lifelong dream, money, Plan, purpose, success, support friends, work

To me, one of the keys to a wonderful life is developing yourself. It’s a constant theme in my life and a lifelong journey. Most of the clients I coach have some idea about developing themselves - for most people it is thrust upon them at work. I remember with fondness some of the team building development courses that I attended when I was employed by HSBC and in particular the lack of attention and willingness to participate that the majority of my fellow colleagues had at the time.

So it’s interesting me to consider why some of my clients are really good at this “developing yourself” stuff and others know that it’s important but don’t make time to learn and grow. To me, it seems possible that the majority of this boils down to the fact that there is often little or even no reason to develop yourself. The majority of us don’t set goals, or don’t believe that we can achieve them. We often don’t stretch ourselves as we have a wonderful thing called a comfort zone that feels ok. So is it really any surprise that the majority of people don’t invest much time or attention to their development?

A really useful question if you are considering developing yourself is “why?” Why do you want to become more than you are? If there is no real clear answer to this, then it’s not likely that the development we do is going to achieve anything. Define your purpose: What is the real reason that you need to stretch and grow? What will you do as the new you that is different to today? Is that important enough for you to go through the growth now?

If the answer is no, it’s not important enough, or if you find that your motivation towards your development is not there, then getting back to basics of looking at your life purpose and your goals is the most important step to take. Without that destination and the desire and hunger to get to the destination, it is likely that the development will never take place. I believe that everyone has everything they need within them already to make wonderful journeys and grow and develop into their most incredible visions of themselves, if they are clear on their reasons for taking the journey.

Technorati Tags: Goals, growth, journey, Personal Development, purpose, why, work

I don’t know if you’ve ever felt like this: you feel unshakable and if things get in the way, you shrug them off or deal with them fast. It’s like being in flow, in the moment or in the zone. In my experience it’s a wonderful place to be and for me it comes about when I am really excited about and totally focused on something.

The real thing here is to establish how you get into that place and then how do you maintain it? To me it boils down to having a purpose or meaning that you are single-mindedly committed to. In that place you are full of confidence (even if a little nervous excitement is present) and great things seem to happen. I think I’ve mentioned before that an old mentor of mine had an expression “Moments of Intensity” and certainly these feel like them.

So how do you find your purpose or meaning? Well, that’s a tough one. I’ve recommended Viktor Frankl’s book, “Man’s Search For Meaning” which will undoubtedly help. I believe that the first place to start is to consider the roles that you have in your life, such as parent, partner, child, sibling, employee, boss, business owner etc and find things in there that you can begin to define your meaning. The bottom line is to find what your life is all about, which is as simple as you stating what that is. As Neale Donald Walsch says in The Secret, there is no blackboard in the sky with your purpose written on it that you have to find. It is your responsibility to define it for yourself and then live your life to the full, expressing yourself through that purpose. There certainly can be more than one, of course one is a good place to start.

Technorati Tags: Beliefs, confidence, focus, how, meaning, neale donald walsch, Plan, purpose, responsibility

As an Executive and Personal Life Coach, I experience the most amazing things with my clients. The majority of the time, the discussion centres around their goals, dreams, hopes, aspirations etc. for the future. This of course is the main difference between Coaching and Counselling (both of course have their place).

The most astounding sessions occur when a person discovers their inner desires and dreams, that they were previously only superficially aware. Given the opportunity in a session to just talk, people amaze themselves by their level of understanding and knowledge of themselves. Even people who think or believe they have no goals, find things deep within themselves that they can strive for and will ultimately bring meaning and purpose to their existence. Of course, there is no secret meaning or purpose, nor is there a destined meaning or purpose for any of us. As Neale Donald Walsch states in The Secret, “Your purpose is what you say it is.”

The beauty is in the discovery. The un-covering of desires and dreams that can allow a person to change from one who simply exists, to one who creates. They create opportunity, wealth, health, leadership, joy, happiness and many, many other wonderful things in their lives.

We’d all be a whole lot happier if perhaps we understood that the “purpose of life” is to figure out what the “purpose of my life” is.

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Technorati Tags: Coaching, Goals, meaning, neale donald walsch, purpose