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Planet Positive Change

Practical tools for positive change

A Night Of Meditation At The V&A Episode 0010

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Hey There Fabulous,

Welcome to A Night of meditation at the V&A, the tenth episode of The Positive Change Guru Podcast, the podcast for a positive community. We want you to be inspired, achieve your dreams and take action. Our mission is to help you achieve your goals and unleash your awesomeness by providing you with practical, actionable tools for positive change. There’s something just a bit special about delivering mediation in the V&A at night so we decided to share that with you.

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Resilience at Work Podcast_Episode 009

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Hey There Friends,

Welcome to Resilience at Work, the ninth episode of The Positive Change Guru Podcast, the podcast for a positive community. We want you to be inspired, achieve your dreams and take action. Our mission is to help you achieve your goals and unleash your awesomeness by providing you with practical, actionable tools for positive change. So what better place to start than with the subject of our ninth episode, the resilience at work podcast all about resilience, what it is, what gets in the way of it and how to get on down and develop some.

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Silence Your Inner Critic

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Silence your inner critic? You would if you could, but sometimes it seems to have a mind of it’s own. Do you sometimes

  • Feel not good enough?
  • Believe everything you say sounds stupid?
  • Before you even try you’re afraid of failing?
  • Wonder why no one else seems to feel like that?
  • Allow your inner critic to sabotage your goals?
  • Feel that you’re in a cycle of negativity?
  • Wonder what’s wrong with you?

Wish your inner critic would just shut the *£@!** up?
You’re not alone, self defeating thoughts affect every one of us some point and can be a major obstacle to achieving success. But how to silence it?

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Episode 7: 5 Tips To Rock Your Personal Brand

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Welcome Back Fabulous Positive Change Guru Podcast Friends! In this episode we’ll be looking at 5 ways to rock your personal brand.

In this episode we’ll talk you through how to build a powerful personal brand. We’ll take a deep dive and

  • Examine the concept of brand
  • Take a look at firmly establishing your unique selling proposition (USP)
  • Discover why your passions will signpost you towards your authenticity & inform your brand
  • Uncover why your purpose is key and why is should be clear to you and others
  • Why your values are the GPS to your unique personal branding

The term ‘Personal Branding’ was first used in 1997 by Tom Peters in his Fast Company article, The Brand Called You. Tom explains,

“Regardless of age, regardless of position, regardless of the business we happen to be in, all of us need to understand the importance of branding. We are CEOs of our own companies: Me Inc. To be in business today, our most important job is to be head marketer for the brand called You.”

We all have a personal brand. Amazon’s Jeff Bezos famously defined a personal brand as ‘what people say about you when you are not in the room.’ A personal brand is something we use daily, before we meet someone, when we meet them and after each encounter. Given that your brand is continuously working on your behalf, it makes sense to devote some quality development time into crafting the brand called you.

One aspect of developing a personal brand that many people I work with find less than easy is establishing their Unique Selling Proposition or USP.

How to find your unique selling proposition or USP

“Be yourself. Everyone else is already taken.” Oscar Wilde’s observation is a great starting place when establishing your USP. Your USP sets you apart from others, it is authentic and unique to you. Don’t be daunted by this stage of the personal branding process. Dedicate some serious thinking time now to what makes your brand distinctive and you’ll reap the benefits in the long-term.

5 tips to rock your personal brand & establish your USP:

1. Start by taking a look at the personal brands of people you admire, they may be friends, colleagues or celebrities. Common to all of the individuals who inspire you will be a strong personal brand. Make a list of each person’s USP. What make their USP clear and distinctive? Is it value driven? Is it linked to detail or quality? Analyse, analyse, analyse and make note of everything you see that can help you to develop your own USP.

2. Ask others what advice/job/guidance they specifically come to you above all others for. Why do they place their trust in you to meet their needs, rather than ask someone else? What is so compelling about the way you operate? Understanding how others view you and your skills provides valuable USP information about what already makes you distinctive in the eyes of others.

3. What makes your heart sing? Think back to events in life that have really ignited your passions and inspired you. When have you felt most satisfied and engaged? Look for connections between these moments to reveal an overall pattern that points to your true passions. The passions in your life are a great indicator of what makes you truly authentic and unique.

4. Establish your purpose. Your purpose should be clear to you and to everyone who comes into contact with you and your personal brand. Establishing a clear purpose provides focus. Purpose is paramount to your USP. A strong focus is essential. We move towards that which we focus on and your personal brand is no exception. Purpose and focus provide a rudder for your personal brand.

5. Recognise and list your values and ensure that they are reflected in your USP and personal brand. Values are pivotal to everything we do in life, they underpin the decisions we make and the activities we engage in. The combination of values that you hold speaks volumes about what makes what you do (and how you do it) unique. The Values in Action (VIA) Survey is a great place to start work on establishing the values that you hold dear.

 

 

Successful Goal Setting

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Episode 6: Successful Goal Setting. Using Goal Setting To Achieve Your Most Audacious Dreams

Hey Fabulous Positive Change Guru Friends! It’s great to see you again. This week we’re asking…..

Is there something that you’ve always wanted to do? Something that you dream of achieving? A goal that is still on your list or a change that you want to make but don’t know where to start? You’re in the right place!

Goal setting is your road map to success without it your dream is, well, just a twinkle in your minds eye. Join us for this goal setting episode where we walk you step by step through goal setting to make your most audacious goals reality. We’ll take you through;

  • Why most people fail to achieve the goals they set
  • The GROW Model
  • Ideas for getting clear about what you want to achieve
  • How to generate ideas to achieve your goal
  • Creating a road map to guide you towards your goal
  • The importance of reviewing your progress
  • How to manage priorities and ensure that your goal stays on track

Goal Setting For Success

Psychologist, Viktor Frankl, observed that,

“Life can be pulled by goals just as surely as it can be pushed by drives.”

When you are committed to making a change in life, strategic goal setting is crucial to success. Time spent on goal setting will, as Frankl described, help pull you towards your goal. Once you appreciate how crucial effective goal setting is for success you will want to utilise the power of goal setting every time you decide to make a change.

A popular model used by coaches to support goal setting is the GROW model. This model talks you through each step of the goal setting process. The GROW model also invites you to anticipate possible obstacles and prepare solutions to overcome them. If you are new to goal setting then the GROW model is a great place to start.

So what exactly is the GROW Model?

Successful Goal setting requires a goal

G = this is where you describe your goal. Successful goal setting means putting pen to paper. Why write your goal down? Mark McCormack, in his book What They Don’t Teach You in the Harvard Business School, describes a 1979 study done with Harvard MBA students. Students from the class of ’79 were asked,

“Have you set clear, written goals for the future and made plans to accomplish them?”

Only 3% of students had written goals, 13% had goals but had not written them down and an incredible 84% had no goals at all.

Fast forward ten years and the class was interviewed again. The 13% of the class who had used goal setting but hadn’t written goals were earning twice as much as the 84% with no goals. What of the 3% of the class who had written goals? On average, the written goal setting 3% group were earning ten times more than the other 97% combined.

What a great reason to write down your goal! Measurable goal setting is essential because you will need to be able to measure progress and success along the way. Also consider the timeframe you will allow yourself to reach your goal. Incorporate the timescale into your goal.

Successful Goal setting needs to be realistic

R = Is your goal Realistic? At this stage of the goal setting process you will be examining what steps need to be taken to help you achieve your goal. You may find that your main goal actually involves lots of smaller steps or sub-goals. Consider what you have tried before and how effective past methods have been. How is your timescale shaping up when you consider these sub-goals? If necessary, revise the timescale for achieving your goal.

When considering how realistic your goal is, it’s essential to ask yourself, “how motivated am I to succeed?” Strong motivation will keep you focused when the going gets tough. If your motivation is low, question whether the goal you have chosen is right for you. Examining your motivation, consider how well your goal fits in with other goals. Is this goal a good fit with other goals or is there conflict? If conflict exists, decide what is most important to you. What lifestyle are you working towards? What will help you achieve your dreams? What leaves you feeling demotivated and despondent? Which goals energise you? Adjust the conflicting goals accordingly.

Successful Goal setting considers options and obstacles

O = What are the available options to support you to achieve your goal? At this stage of the goal setting process try to consider as many options as possible. Weigh the options. Choose the option that is the best fit for you and which will successfully propel you towards your goal.

The O in this goal setting model also allows you to consider any obstacles you may encounter. What are the potential difficulties? Thinking about obstacles now can prevent events, people or circumstances from derailing your efforts in the future. What can you put in place now to ensure success when obstacles arise?

Successful Goal setting points the way forwards

W = This is what you will do or the way forwards. Pull together the what, when, why, how and whom of your goal setting process. At this stage you are action planning.

Throughout the rest of the GROW model you have thought about your motivation, how realistic your goal is, any possible obstacles and how these will be overcome. The final stage of the goal setting process enables you to incorporate all of this into your action plan. Consider periodically setting time aside to review your progress. Most importantly, don’t forget to celebrate your accomplishments along the way and take time to savour your success when your goal is achieved.

Feeling all fired up? We’ve got your back! Take a look at our blog Goal Architecture Made Simple for even more tips on making your goal reality and don;t forget that you can access a huge range of free resources to help you on your way to success on the rest of our website www.planetpositivechange.com We’ll see you there! 

How to Develop a Growth Mindset Team_ Episode 005

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Are you developing a growth mindset team?  Start with our ten tips and tricks to develop a growth mindset culture.

1. Promote problem solving through failure

A growth mindset team problem solves by analysing failures. Help your team understand that taking reasonable risks and experiencing a few failures along the way is an essential part of the process that leads to increased creativity and innovation. Encourage your team to anticipate setbacks and ask..how will you overcome them?

2. Encourage your growth mindset team to talk about how they overcome challenges and setbacks

The culture you create within your business is reflected in everything you do and say. Encourage your team to understand the value and benefits of talking about their professional challenges and setbacks and sharing the tools and techniques they’ve used to overcome difficulties.

3. Encourage the process

Avoid the fixed mindset trap of only focusing on successful outcomes. A purely results driven business risks losing the fertile learning ground that’s contained within both successes and failures. Results matter but learning from the process that your team is constantly engaged in is just as important if you want to create an innovative, agile and resilient culture. Ask your team, what did you learn from the process?

4. Ask your team …where is the challenge?

Invite people out of their comfort zones by asking them to constantly choose and immerse themselves in new challenge. A fixed mindset approach encourages us to stick with that which we’re confident we can achieve and a fear of failure prevents us from breaking free from this limiting approach. In contrast, a growth mindset enables us to take on new challenges wholeheartedly, taking failures in our stride as we relish the new opportunities that a challenge can bring.

5. Encourage a culture of development rather than genius

Carol Dweck’s research has shown that organisation’s who worship a culture of genius rather than development can become places where the majority of employees feel undervalued, disengaged and unsupported. When you encourage a development culture research shows your team is more likely to feel committed, engaged, supported and more able to take on innovative and challenging tasks.

6. Make sure you don’t just talk the growth mindset

At PCG we sometimes hear people in organisations complaining that although leaders talk about growth mindset they do little to embody it. Let your people know that you’re serious about developing as a growth mindset team by talking and walking a growth mindset. Lead by example and talk your team through how you’ve overcome setbacks, dealt with failures and challenged yourself to develop skills and abilities.

7. Encourage reasonable risk

In fixed mindset organisations innovation can be stifled because people resist taking risks for fear of being blamed when things go wrong. Encourage your team to take on acceptable risk in order to support them in developing new strengths and skills.

8. Emphasise that errors are the route to mastery

A growth mindset team understands the need to embrace failure as part of the route to success. When a team member talks about their failures and tells you, “I can’t do this” encourage them to add “yet.” Encourage your team to embrace failure and learn from it by explaining that real mastery is impossible without encountering and surmounting failures.

9. Growth mindset teams ask…who are you collaborating with, who are you mentoring?

In growth mindset teams people share information across teams and networks and support each other to achieve the organisation’s goals. Mentoring and collaboration can spark innovation, improve performance and increase organisational resilience when the going gets tough. Regularly ask your team to share who they are mentoring or collaborating with and how this has benefited them, the team and the organisation.

10. Look for your fixed mindset triggers and encourage others to do the same

The first step to develop a growth mindset team is to recognise what triggers our fixed mindset responses. Learn to listen out for your own fixed mindset triggers and encourage others to do the same by monitoring your inner dialogue and emotional responses.

We love to talk about all things growth mindset at Positive Change Guru. Check out our forthcoming events or get in touch to find out more about our suite of courses and discuss bespoke growth mindset training for your organisation. 

Are Emotional Vampires Sucking the Life Out of You Podcast_004

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Are you under attack from emotional vampires?

No matter how positive you are, sometimes you’re in a situation where those around you have lost their mojo and radiate negativity. Unknowingly these emotional vampires suck the positivity out of everyone around them with their doom and gloom approach to life. It can happen to any of us and we’re all entitled to an off day but on a regular basis it can be exhausting and completely drain your energy levels. If you frequently find yourself in a situation where you’re surrounded by negativity, in the office, with friends or even at home, here’s our quick survival guide to managing emotional vampires. [Read more…]

Discover How to Overcome Imposter Syndrome Podcast_003

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Hi Friends,

Welcome to the third episode of The Positive Change Guru Podcast, the podcast for a positive community. We want you to be inspired, achieve your dreams and take action. Our mission is to help you achieve your goals and unleash your awesomeness by providing you with practical, actionable tools for positive change. So what better place to start than with the subject of our third episode, the imposter syndrome podcast all about feeling like a fake and how to overcome it. Let’s go! [Read more…]

Introduction to Mindfulness 002

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Hi Friends,

Welcome to the second episode of The Positive Change Guru Podcast, the podcast for a positive community. We want you to be inspired, achieve your dreams and take action. Our mission is to help you achieve your goals and unleash your awesomeness by providing you with practical, actionable tools for positive change. So what better place to start than with the subject of our second episode,  Introduction to Mindfulness. Let’s go! [Read more…]

Develop a growth mindset for success_001

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Hi Friends,

Welcome to the first episode of The Positive Change Guru Podcast, the podcast for a positive community. We want you to be inspired, achieve your dreams and take action. Our mission is to help you achieve your goals and unleash your awesomeness by providing you with practical, actionable tools for positive change. So what better place to start than with the subject of our first episode – developing a growth mindset for success. Let’s go! [Read more…]