21 days to a Happier you!!

Time is free...yet priceless!!

I have just got home from a three week trip in Europe {and yes it was amazing thank you}!! One of these weeks was spent following the Tour de France in a camper van {motorhome} with 6 of my family members. 

Did I fear whether we’d all still speak to each other after this rather cozy adventure? Well of course I did. But that was when I thought we were in for 7 days in the sun. Which was not the case. No instead we had rain. A lot of it. Everyday. But thank God {quite literally  that I have the family that I do – with minds set on adventure, we took the rain in our stride, bought raincoats, umbrellas and poncho’s and waddled our way through an epic week.

Now bare with me, as while this isn’t the focus on my Blog post, it is the source from where’s I gained my inspiration for this post. You see, life is fairly simple when it’s just YOU, doing what YOU love doing, spinning on your little hamster wheel. When life gets interesting is when you put a number of hamster wheels into a confined space {did I hear you say hello family} – you got it!!

This was our first family holiday in a few of years…and definitely our first long family holiday as grown adults.

Now as kids, you pretty much do what your parenst tell you to do. But as adult children, we tend to have developed our own ways of doing things – basically, our ‘go to’s’.

One of the beautiful things I learnt on this trip – was the gift of time. And how perfectly ok it is, that each of us see time so differently. Personally, I tend to wake with the birds – to embrace the day and to never let a minute pass by without having done something constructive with it. Now while this has served me in many ways, it is also quite exhausting. I always blamed my “I can’t sit still lifestyle” on my upbringing, but then there I found myself this past week, sitting working on my mac or reading my kindle that was glued to the table under my throbbing thumbs {a camper is quite a vehicle to maneuver and lets just say things didn’t stay where you put them}, while the remainder of my family did things that they considered ‘maximizing their time”.  

There is little that’s more exhausting, than trying to live your life pleasing others. And let’s face it – they’re not usually pleased anyway.

Knowing how best to structure your day {your time} is awfully freeing – as it not only gives you permission to be YOU…but it always gives me {or others} permission to be me {them}!!! Win win!!!

Time is indeed free, but priceless too and that means it deserves your best!!!

If this all sounds great but unfortunately you’re in a rut right now that screams anything but “I’m making the most of my day”, then let’s connect & see what we can do to shift things up a bit. 

THIS IS YOUR LIFE. ONE LIFE TO LIVE. MAKE IT COUNT!

Inspired for more - Gorgeous pics of this Durbs event!!

Two Saturdays ago I hosted a lovely morning {Inspired for more} for young business owners in the greater Durbs area. The heart behind the event, was two-fold:

Number 1...

I wanted to inspire girls who have taken the BIG, brave step of following their dreams and starting their own ‘thing’ with some practical tips and coaching tools.

Number 2...

I wanted them to have a chance to meet other inspiring creative business owners; network a bit and basically just be reminded that they are not alone in this venture to create something sustainable, successful and beautiful!

After making cappuccinos and small talk, we started the morning off with some inspiration & ice-breakers. And where better to be inspired and to let-go-a-little than sitting cross-legged on the grass, barefoot and beautiful! We had such fun finding out a little about each other, after which I ran a fun activity where we all got to tap into the ‘why’ behind our business. I am a firm believer that clients buy into your ‘why’, and not your ‘what’, so before we jumped into what they all did, I thought it worthwhile to zone in on WHY they do what they do. 

{It's so easy to forget why you doing what you are doing, and in that, to lose passion} 

So this activity got us on our feet, thinking, chatting & I even added in a little creative garden hunt to meet the needs of these creative minds J {You can read all about my passion for the ‘why’ behind your business here}

After some garden-inspirational-time, we made our way back up to the house, where we indulged in both healthy & yummy breakfast niceties, more coffee of course and plenty chatter.

With full bellies we dived into our next activity which involved working through a simple but oh-so-effective coaching exercise where I walked the girls through a process that helps to visually reveal where your time {business-wise} is currently being spent, and then to do some reassessing and goal setting around this exercise. We all had little worksheets, which we filled in and {fingers-crossed} were able to take home and put these ideas from paper into practice.

Finally, the morning ended with some networking time, intentional conversations, and swopping of business cards all the while nibbling on delicious brownies sponsored by Liquorice Gourmet.

PS - Special thanks to Desiree Dales for taking these gorgeous pics!!

If you missed out on this event, please don’t fret as…as-of August I will be running monthly networking brekkies, for young, dynamic business owners!! The morning will include an early light breakfast, an active business coaching exercise and then a guest speaker will be presenting on work/ideas from her business – this could be YOU.  These mornings will be ALL about time to build your network, meet other inspiring business owners, grow your company through coaching exercises, goal-set & ultimately remind you why you love what you do!! 

Sign up to be the first to know when these monthly-meet-ups begin

x C

What's in your hands??

We are entering week three of my Happiness Project course and with ‘giving’ being one the 5 Happiness habits that we aim to establish in our lives over this 21 day course, I thought I’d share some of my own thoughts with you along these lines...

So, today I want to ask you a simple question: What form of giving comes easiest to you???

I’m not saying that giving comes easily to all of us, but I do believe that there is an innate desire in all of us to give, in some small way.

I once heard a sermon {don’t let this chase you away, this is worth a read} on the concept of giving. The pastor mentioned that God asked what Moses, when he was heading for the red sea, what he had in his hand. And Moses replied “a stick”. God then encouraged him to use what was ‘in his hands’ when he reached the Red sea. You know the rest….the sea parted J

The pastor then challenged us on the concept of giving by asking “What do you have in your hands?’ What he meant by this was what are your talents, what do you have easy access to? Be it time, money, resources – what is in your hands?
 

So my encouragement today, it to reflect on what you have in your hands? Simple example – I LOVE inspiring people and have plenty resources to help with this. So my challenge is to see where I can contribute (give) without receiving anything in return. Get it??

YOU are awesome!!! 

Remember, the world awaits people who know who they are deep down and are able to live from that space - BE that person :)

Multi-tasking...vice or virtue??

One of the buzz words amongst psychologists and life coaches for 2013 and definitely running into 2014 is “mindfulness”. Simply put, Mindfulness means “being aware”.

In this fast moving, chaotic world where it’s probable that by the time you’ve bought your new Iphone the next model is already being released, it’s no wonder that people are feeling overwhelmed, overworked, vague and forgetful. The truth is that we were never meant to focus on twenty things at once. It is not in our design to multi-task (at least not as much as we currently are) and it sure doesn't have any long term benefits on our way of life, work standards or even brains.  

Forgetfulness is often blamed on age (which of course plays a part) but for the most part, the reason you walk into a room and forget why you’re there, is due to one cause and one cause only. Multi-tasking. What was previously considered a behavioral characteristic of the ‘successful’ is now seen as an easy excuse for getting a lot done, badly.

Mindfulness, minus all the new-age chatter, is a simple concept teaching us to slow down. To slow down and to focus on what we do, think, eat, feel, how we behave and even how we relate to others. To be mindful, is to be awakened. It is to tune in.

Mindfulness may sound heavy, but in truth it’s freeing and oh-so-easy to start applying to your life.

3 tips to try today that will move you towards a more mindfulness YOU…

#1 – Set aside 10 minutes at the start of your work day, to focus. Rather than arriving at work and getting caught up in tasks with little planning, still yourself for 10 minutes

#2 – Cut down on multitasking – this doesn’t mean cut it out completely, but rather try to really focus on the task at hand, this way giving each activity the time the task deserves. Doing this exercise three times a day, will help you zone in on what needs to be done and in turn you will find that you get more done, more effectively.

#3 – Sit down when you eat. This is not a hard and fast rule, but it definitely plays a role in helping us be more mindful of what’s going into our bodies and why. Eating for what your body needs and not merely out of habit, boredom or emotionally driven will help you control your weight and feel more in touch with what your body needs and how it feels. 

The day my blog became my journal...

As you may know I spent the past 2 months backpacking through South East Asia with H, my husband. Our trip was incredible; we got to see amazing places, eat incredible foods and both felt that our adventurous sides were fed in abundance, but you can read all about our travelling adventures here….what I want to share with you today is my own little blog rethink & why rethinking your blog's purpose is well worth your time!!!

Getting away from ‘it all’ is sometimes just what we all need. And for me, having scheduled all my blog-posts in advance and sold my cellphone, I knew that this time away would give me a well-needed break from the blogging, social media world.

To backtrack a little, I used to be one those types who owned a shelf of journals, and spent at least an hour a day filling these pages with thoughts, dreams, fears and prayers…but then social media stole my heart and so what was once saved for the blank pages of a book only I would read became a bit of a free for all. Running a blog is all things wonderful but like most things in life, it can start to take up more time than it needs to and so balance once again needs to be attained and prioritized.

Before leaving Korea I bought a new journal. In true Korean style, the front page reads “Someday, Dream will come true. When you are bright eyed and bushy tailed you should try to achieve your goal.” There is no other way to explain this jumble of words and adjectives that don’t fit together at all and yet still make you smile, other than, ‘welcome to English in Korea’. On purchasing this delightful bright pink journal, I knew that deep down it was going to be more than just a travel journal. It was my time to rethink this whole blogging, social media thing and come up with a new game plan.

On the 21^st Feb, the day before we left Korea, I wrote on page 1 of my new journal, “For a while now I’ve needed a new outlet for my thoughts, ideas, longings and fears, away from blogging, facebook and coaching. And here I sit having just found it. Thank you Lord.” And so began my new little journaling journey. Over the past two months I got to rethink blogging, what the purpose of my specific blog was and distinguishing between what was meant for journal space and what for blogging. This shift in thought not only gave me back a sense of privacy in my life, but it also reawaken my love for blogging and the topics I actually want to write about. So stay tuned for mixture of inspirational living, the pursuit of happiness, career advise and tips for starting your own business.

For the bloggers out there – I challenge you to spend some time today rethinking what the purpose of your blog is, why you started your blog and who your target market is. Then, according to your answers, figure out what in-fact you should and shouldn’t be blogging about. It’s not about limiting you or boxing you in, it’s all about letting go of ‘vague’ and giving your blog a stronger voice, presence and purpose!! This may mean you buying a journal like me, or possibly the opposite and maybe you are needing to give your readers more access to you and your beautiful, but either way – a little blogging-purpose rethink will remind you of your strengths, your vision and your blogging voice.  

Happy blogging…
xC

Starting your day on a high!!

If you’re anything like the rest of us, I’m guessing your morning looks something like this…

Alarm goes off, your swear, turn it off, lie in bed for a few more minutes (sometimes skipping the gym session you had planned). Shower, get ready, eat a quick breakfast (possibly while doing your hair or make up, or you so busy doing your hair that you forget to eat breakfast) and you’re in your car ready to hit the morning traffic, feeling awake but having barely processed what this day will hold.

The word ‘routine’ holds so many negative connotations that I genuinely hate the taste of the word, let alone the sound of it. However, humans are routine-beings, and that means that whether you admit it or not, your morning does have a certain routine, be it chaotic or orderly, routine is hidden in there somewhere. But having a morning routine, of some sort, does not mean that you are optimizing your day…well not just yet.

Having a healthy morning routine has been proved to be one of the non-negotiables in most successful peoples’ lives. Creating a morning routine that works for you, your career and your life could be the tipping point you’re needing to living life on a high. It’s the one time of day where you have complete control over how it will pan out and how you will feel by the time you walk out the door (or into your office).

So what does a healthy morning routine look like?

I want you to think back to a day (as recently as possible) when things just went right, you know one of those days you catch yourself smiling for no real reason apart from the fact that life is good. Now, try to think back to how that day began. 90% of people who had particularly ‘good’ days can agree that there day started on a happy note.

A healthy morning routine looks different to everyone, and that’s why it is so 100% essential that you become the master of your morning. Own it, embrace it, let the YOU shine out of it – and I can guarantee you that you will start your day with an added bounce in your step!!

What does this mean for you??

Well, firstly you need to ask yourself; What does my morning routine look like right now? Am I optimizing my morning the way I should? Does my morning routine scream “Man, I love my life”?

If not, what would my ideal start to the day look like? (Now, if you answer with a quick ‘I would sleep all morning’ then it’s time you relooked at more than just your morning – career/life assessments aren’t a bad thing to do once in a while). But those thoughts aside, I know that you could probably come up with a good 4 – 5 things that if included in your morning, your day generally starts on a high.

Here’s a little Coaching exercise to help get you started:

Name one thing you will do differently tomorrow morning that you know will help you start the day on a high.

There are many things in life we want to do, but just don’t ever get there. Don’t let this be one of them. Your morning routine is vital to your happiness levels – make it count!!

PS – I am busy creating a 1 week workbook called “Starting my day on a high”, that will soon be available to all my website subscribers. The workbook is aimed at helping you find the right mix that will make your morning routine count!!