OFFER ENDS Midnight tonight!

Hiya,

This time last year I launched my book: ‘How To Change Your Life One Day At A Time‘ at a special introductory price – it also came with a free bonus 90 Day Home Study Program titled: ‘Change Your Mindset, Change Your Life‘.

Many people have now been through the program and read the book and have emailed me with accounts of radical changes in their lives – 36 people have added glowing reviews on Amazon (thank you so much).

Well, tonight that special offer ends and the book will revert to it’s proper price and the program will only be available at £47 or more!

So if you want to change something in your life, or you know someone else that wants to — grab this now whilst you can still get it for the same price as a couple of cups of coffee at your favourite café.

Click here to get it now: http://bit.ly/LmvhIM

This is what Claire said about how the strategies, techniques and processes in the Program helped her:

“I have been on and off antidepressants for 3 years and decided that it was time I tried something else as I had been on a waiting list for CBT and counselling for a very long time in the hope I may be able to come off medication one day. Your program couldn’t have come up at a better time! I was very dubious as, like many people do, I assumed it would be a bit ’namby pamby’ and hippy-ish. However, I decided to bite the bullet and give it a try.

I finally feel in control and no longer feel the need to depend on other people in order to be happy. It is amazing to think that just by changing the way you view things… your outlook on life can change so quickly and radically.”

 

This is what Niki said about the book:

“Whether you feel totally disillusioned with the way your life has unfolded and want a complete change, or there are a few small tweaks which would make a small difference, this book is the one you need if you really want to change your life. Taken as a whole, (I am nowhere near finished) it is enormously powerful, but is cleverly delivered in managable daily suggestions to break down the process and make it a whole lot easier. The most important thing this book has done for me is to help me identify the changes that I really want to make, and for that I am very grateful. This book does exactly what it says on the tin, if you use it and don’t just leave it gathering dust on the shelf along with your life!”

Click here to get your copy now: http://bit.ly/LmvhIM

Take care

Stu

🙂

PS: Every purchaser automatically joins my growing tribe of Ponderers and receives my daily thought provoking Ponders Quotes and Questions email too.

 

What’s the cost of staying in your job?

Hiya,

If you’ve been following my recent posts, talking about whether you can stay in your present job or career or whether you may be better suited to getting out – then take a moment to consider the cost of doing nothing.

If you just stay where you are and you just keep doing what you’ve been doing. Not trying to fall back in love with it, not trying to recraft it into something more enjoyable – but just staying exactly where you are, it will cost you in the long run.

These are the three main areas where doing nothing will cost you:

• Emotionally
• Financially
• Opportunity cost

Emotionally – How I Identified I Was In The Wrong Job  will give you some clues to how you might be feeling right now and how you’re going to continue to feel if you do nothing about it. Anger, frustration, feeling stuck, chest pains etc. etc. It doesn’t get any better unless YOU change something. What’s the cost to your health and well being?

Financially – for me I was almost instantly better off when I made the change I needed. That may not be the case for everyone, but the question I asked myself at the time was: ‘Can I survive with less?’ When I decided I could, it made it easier to make the change – and that’s when opportunity raised its head. What’s the potential cost to your pocket?

Opportunity cost – I would never have known what opportunities were available to me if I had just put my head back in the sand, and I certainly wouldn’t be enjoying the lifestyle I have today. If you don’t put your head over the parapet you’ll never see what lies beyond the fortress walls. You have to consider the opportunities, look for them, recognise them when they show themselves and calculate the cost to you if you don’t seize them. What opportunity will you miss by staying as you are?

Hopefully you’ve spent the time necessary to create, separate and prioritise your opportunities list as mentioned in the last post How To Change Jobs (Step 3) . Those 5 top opportunities open to you, together with understanding the cost of doing nothing, should give you plenty to consider right now.

Mistakes

In my opinion, if you are in a job that you hate, or a company that you hate, then there are two mistakes you can make right now:

• #1 Doing nothing
• #2 Quiting before you understand what your options are

The next step is Deciding. This is the step that really set me on the path to my present lifestyle and circumstances. It seems daunting but in my next post I’m going to reveal how to make the decision process a whole lot easier.

Stay tuned

Stu

🙂

PS: Sign up for my free online video training series here: CLICK HERE and get my daily ‘Ponders Quotes and Questions‘ thought provoking emails automatically.

How to Change Jobs (Step 3)

Hiya,

Welcome back to this series of posts about understanding your opportunities and how they may lead you to your next career step.

In the last post How To Change Jobs (Step 2) we discussed sorting your opportunities list (of at least 30 items) into an A, B and C list. Give it a quick read if you need to.

You should have ended up with 10 items on your ‘A’ list. These should be the 1o things that you really enjoy doing, whether as a hobby or a part time income stream, or what you do right now for your job or what you’d LOVE to do.

Now sort this final list into order – #1 being the absolute best thing, right at the top. #2 being the 2nd best thing you think you could do, or would love to do, #3 being the third, and so on.

Once you’ve done that, get a pad and write down as many things as you’d need in order to make that #1 thing a reality. It might be that you need to retrain in some way. You might need to network with some industry leaders in your area. You might need to find certain resources like an accountant, financial advisor etc.

Then organise that list into the top 5 things you need to do.

You might be thinking right now – I hate all this list writing and thinking. I just want the answer. And I understand – I was there, to some degree I revisit there from time to time. But what I’ve learned over these last 10 years is… you get out what you put in. There is no short cut, you have to be prepared to do whatever it takes to get what you want in life. If this is too much hard work – ask yourself if you’re really committed to change your life. Are you committed to finding the career you love?

I hope you decide that you are, because I can’t help you if you’re not.

Those top 5 things that you need to do are now your opportunity to explore whether you can change your job or career.

Look out for my next post “What’s the cost of staying in your job?”

Take care

Stu

🙂

PS: My Free online Video Training series is here: CLICK HERE to sign up, and get my daily ‘Ponders Quotes and Questions’ thought provoking emails automatically.

PPS: My ‘Change Your Mindset, Change Your Life‘ 90 Day Program is still available as a complimentary bonus when you buy a copy of my book see here for details – offer ends 31st May.

How to Change Jobs (Step 2)

Hiya,

So, following on in this series of posts about getting out of a job that you feel trapped in, bullied, overworked, frustrated, used, or in any number of ways are just down right tired of – here’s what to do with your Opportunities List.

If you haven’t read the last 2 posts How to Change Jobs and Obstacles = Opportunities then take a quick look at them as this post will make a lot more sense if you do.

OK, presuming you’ve made your list and you have at least 30 things on there that you could do as well as your present job. Including things such as hobbies, activities that you have a skill in, other things that you just love doing, even if at the moment you don’t think you could make much, or even any money at.

The idea is that writing all these ideas down acts as a brain dump. You get rid of all the chatter and put it on paper – filed out of the way, so that your subconscious can offer forwards other options that you wouldn’t ordinarily think of.

When I first did this exercise after experiencing my catalyst, item number 27 was: start my own print consultancy business. That’s right, the most obvious thing to do for me – which was staring me in the face, which had been suggested many times by colleagues and friends, was simply not on my initial radar. It might seem crazy but we become so programmed by our education system, our family, friends, colleagues etc. that we’re good at something so we should just keep doing that, that when we decide we don’t want to do that anymore, we forget that we can still do it – but for ourselves instead. What we really might be thinking is: I don’t want to do this for someone else anymore.

So, on to prioritising your opportunities – go through your list and put the letter ‘A‘ next to just 10 of those things that you’d really like doing, the ones you’d love. The ones that you would jump excitedly out of bed for in the morning.

Then go back through the list and mark the letter ‘B‘ next to the next 10 things that you could do, if push came to shove,  – even if only on a part time basis.

Then mark the letter ‘C‘ next to all the remaining things that you really don’t want to do, you might be good at them, but you just don’t want to do them.

Now copy just the letter ‘A’s onto a separate sheet of paper.

In my own ‘A‘ list I had painting, writing, starting my own business based on my job, investing in property and teaching amongst other things. Once I had my ‘A‘ list I felt a surge of determination, but I knew I still needed even more focus.

In my next post How to Change Jobs (Step 3) I’ll explain what I did next.

Stay tuned

Stu

🙂

PS: Free online Video Training series here: CLICK HERE to sign up, and get my daily ‘Ponders Quotes and Questions’ thought provoking emails automatically.

PPS: My ‘Change Your Mindset, Change Your Life‘ 90 Day Program is still available as a complimentary bonus when you buy a copy of my book see here for details – offer ends 31st May.

Obstacles = Opportunities

Hiya,

Following on from my last post How To Change Jobs – I suggested you make a skills & opportunities list.

I want to help that process along a bit more because I know how important it is for gaining clarity to your next step.

When I quit my job 10 years ago I had considered what else I could do by creating one of these long opportunities lists. I even had ‘Litter Picker’ on my list – seriously! I had written everything I could think of that I could do. It didn’t matter how dumb it seemed or how menial – I wanted to exit my job so bad I considered anything!

I made this video a while back which will help you figure out what some of your opportunities might be (sorry about the bad lighting).

So continue for a couple more days adding to your list. As promised, in my next post I’ll explain what to do with it.

Enjoy

Stu

🙂

PS: Free online Video Training series here: CLICK HERE to sign up, and get my daily ‘Ponders Quotes and Questions‘ thought provoking emails automatically.

PPS: My ‘Change Your Mindset, Change Your Life‘ 90 Day Program is still available as a complimentary bonus when you buy a copy of my book see here for details – offer ends 31st May.

 

How To Change Jobs

Hiya,

In the last post here we discussed how you can change how you feel about your job, please take time to read it if you haven’t already. Can you fall in love with your job (Pt.3) 

In today’s post I’m going to cover the very first thing that needs to happen if you do decide to move to another job, company or career – and especially if you want to start your own business.

How to Change Jobs

So whether you want to change your job or change the company you work for, or start your own business there’s ONE thing you absolutely must do – Change Your Mindset.

Most people think their qualifications or skills or network are the most important factors in creating the career of their dreams, WRONG! It’s our Mindset that determines the results we get in life. Your Mindset is made up of your beliefs, past experiences and associations you have about those experiences – good or bad!

You may not even realise how your Mindset has sabotaged you in the past or how it might continue to do so in the future. A great indicator of your Mindset is your life. If your life reflects all of your hopes and dreams and you are fulfilled and content, then I bet you have a great Mindset. If however, you look at your life and see areas that need definite improvement, then a shift in your Mindset is what’s required.

The good thing is the present state of your life is a result of who you ‘were‘ not who you ‘are‘ or ‘can be‘.

How To Change Your Life One Day At A Time

How To Change Your Life One Day At A Time provides a simple guide each day for an entire year that will help you shift your Mindset and improve ANY area of your life whether that’s your job, your relationships, your health, your achievements or anything else.

It’s a collection of all the learnings I’ve received over the last 20+ years on my journey of self improvement (which is ongoing) – many of which led me 10 years ago to get out of the rat race, start my own company, become a successful artist, a property investor and an author amongst other things.

If I can create the lifestyle I always dreamed of by changing my Mindset – YOU can too!

What are your options?

I suggest one exercise from the book – write an opportunities list. Get a pad or blank sheet of paper and over the next week write down every skill you have and then turn those skills into opportunities. Don’t worry if you’re not an expert at something, and remember to consider ALL of the things you have some skill at – you don’t have to think about doing that thing as a full-time job. And include them even if you think you’d never want to earn money at it – just for the moment.

It will take at least a week to exhaust all of your skills/opportunities – talk with family members and close friends – they will be a mine of useful suggestions. You should aim to have at least 30 items on your list.

Consider things like:

Your present job – could be happier doing this in another company

Spin-offs of my present job – could do another aspect of my job in another company

Able to cook – could work in a restaurant or cafe

An interest in writing – could write articles for magazines or information books

Coaching kids sports – could offer one to one tuition

Clean driving license – could drive a taxi, courier van, limo etc.

Experience in volunteer group – could work for a charity

Love to paint – could sell art to galleries, art shops etc.

Good at DIY – could become a handyman/woman

Very organised – could become a PA

The list is waaaay bigger than you will first imagine. As it grows, so will your excitement and confidence that you can get away from the job you’re in. This in turn will shift your Mindset about the possibilities in front of you.

In my next post I’ll explain what to do with that list of opportunities.

Stay tuned

Stu

🙂

PS: Free online video training series here: CLICK HERE sign up and get my daily ‘Ponders Quotes and Questions‘ thought provoking emails automatically.

PPS: My ‘Change Your Mindset, Change Your Life‘ 90 Day Program is available as a complimentary bonus when you buy a copy of the book see here for details – offer ends 31st May.

Can you fall in love with your job? (Pt.3)

Please read the first two parts if you haven’t already where we discuss what bothers you about your job and why:

Read Part 1 Here: Can you fall in love with your job? (Pt.1)

Read Part 2 Here: Can you fall in love with your job? (Pt.2)

In this post we explore…

How You Can Change It

Understanding what your own core values are will be a good indicator if the culture you are working in is a good fit for you. Write a list of your values and compare them with what you think your company stands for. Trust, honesty, fairness, responsibility for example.

In trying to change how you feel about your job The Harvard Business Review advises:

Look at yourself – could you be the cause of the issue?

Find meaning – finding meaning and purpose in what we do often leads to motivation and inspiration.

Alter what you do – by simply acting a different way you will change the results that you get, things could improve by that alone

Change who you interract with – often the catalyst for upset is another person, avoid them if possible, alter how you react to them by using some calming techniques such as deep breathing and pausing before responding

Resist complaining – what you think about you bring about – literally your own complaining could be creating some or all of the dissatisfaction you are experiencing.

Other ways may be to examine your company and identify other departments or sections you’d rather work in, then, retrain to work there if you need to.

Facing your fears can cause massive change too. If you are afraid of asking for a raise or to transfer to another department or to confront that colleague etc. weigh up the pros and cons of acting anyway. What are the potential consequences of facing your fear? Once you identify them they usually shrink – even if it’s just a little. Also, if you can identify them – then accept them, it’s much easier to take that step into the fearful.

Now let’s look on the positive side.

What is it that you like about your job? Everyone likes something about their job, no matter how small. What was it that first excited you about your job? Think of 5 things you like about your job right now and write them down.

Was that difficult? If so, then it’s possible you’re in the wrong job, or the wrong company. If not, then there’s still hope that you can fall in love with your job.

Some Common Mistakes

Let’s identify a couple of mistakes people make (I certainly did) when considering their present career situation.

1. I’m stuck and there’s nothing I can do about it. Actually, you just feel stuck. There’s plenty you can do about it which I’ll be discussing in my next post How to Change Jobs (coming soon).

2. I need to quit this job right now. If you have the finances in place then possibly, if not, this is the worst thing you can do. It’s easier to get a job from a job – ask anyone that’s been unemployed for a while. Take time to consider your options (more about this in my next post).

3. This is the wrong time to look for another job. With the economy as it is, unemployment rising still, inflation out-pacing pay rises – it would certainly seem that way. But actually, recession is a furnace for opportunity and I’ll be discussing how you identify yours in my next post.

Job Change Example

When I decided to quit my job 10 years ago I had previously thought all of the above. I had a ‘stuck in a rut’ mindset for years. That changed, and my circumstances followed shortly after. As I look back I realise I had more options than I could possibly have imagined – fortunately I persued more than one which has led to a much more balanced and fulfilled lifestyle now. This can happen for you too.

Summary

We started by exploring what it is about your present job that bothers you, whether that was a lack of purpose or meaning, lack of opportunity to learn and progress or you’re simply exhausted on a daily basis.

We then discussed ‘why’ these things bothered you. Maybe there are associations being made from previous experiences from when you were younger. We asked if why you chose this job in the first place and why those decisions may have led to your present dissatisfaction.

And today we looked at ways you can change your present circumstances and fall back in love with your job or at least identify whether you need to change it. We wrapped up with some common mistakes people make when they are feeling frustrated and trapped by their job – if this is you, please hold on at least until you’ve read my next post.

In that we will go deeper into how you decide to move on and what you move on to.

Hope you’ve found these last 3 posts useful.

Read Part 1 Here: Can you fall in love with your job? (Pt.1)

Read Part 2 Here: Can you fall in love with your job? (Pt.2)

Enjoy

Stu

🙂

PS: Sign up for my free online video training series here: CLICK HERE and get my daily ‘Ponders Quotes and Questions‘ thought provoking emails automatically.

Can you fall in love with your job? (Pt.2)

Why Does Your Job Bother You?

Believe me, it’s very rarely the money although most of us think that’s a big factor.

If you haven’t already read yesterday’s post Can you fall in love with your job? please do – it only takes 2 minutes, and sets the scene for this one.

So, once you’ve written your list of what bothers you, read it a few of times over the next 24 hours as this will help you understand the ‘why’ behind each one. The real ‘why’ – not just because it annoys you, or undermines you, or doesn’t pay well, but rather, see if there is a more emotional reason – such as it reminds you of a time when you were bullied as a child, or reminds you of someone saying you weren’t good enough or trying hard enough.

These associations can have powerful effects on our state of mind, and we can often blow things out of proportion because of them. We all need to be really honest with ourselves as we explore this. A bad association from the past can leave a hair trigger in our subconscious if we let it.

Considering these three questions about why you chose your job will help:

1.Is this the job you dreamed of as a kid?

2. Is this something you stumbled into or maybe were groomed for by a parent or sibling?

3. Did you choose this job just because you needed the work?

If it was what you dreamed of, then in what ways is it not working out as you planned or hoped? It might be the people, maybe some difficult aspects of the work you hadn’t considered, or is it the working environment you don’t like?

If it is something you’ve stumbled or been coerced into, then is it what YOU really want. Who are you trying to please and why? What would happen if you decided to quit?

If it’s just a job because you needed to DO something, what would have to change for you to love it? Are there aspects of it that you do like?

Exploring the answers to these three questions could make it clear ‘why’ you’re dissatisfied right now. Read your list of what bothers you and ask ‘Why does that bother me?’ after each one. Your subconscious will offer up reason after reason, and it probably won’t be the first thing you think of. So as you come up with a reason ask again: ‘Why does THAT bother me?’ and so on until you happen upon a reason that really makes sense. A core reason.

For me I started by thinking that the long hours were what bothered me, then the pressure of constant deadlines, then the interference from my boss in the planning.

As I continued asking ‘why’, all reasons came back to my feeling stifled creatively, and not feeling like I was in control of my own destiny.

Hopefully this exercise will help you discover ‘why’ your present job bothers you and tomorrow we’ll go on to the last part of this article: How You Can Change It.

Enjoy

Stu

🙂

Related posts:

Can you fall in love with your job? (Pt.1)

Can you fall in love with your job (Pt. 3)

Can you fall in love with your job? (Pt.1)

1. What’s Going On That Bothers You?

2. Why Does Your Job Bother You?

3. How You Can Change It

__________________________________________________

Hiya,

In this post I’d like to challenge whether you can fall in love with your present job or whether you need to make plans to exit.

According to Gretchen Spreitzer, University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business – the three main reasons people are dissatisfied with their job are:

#1 Their job has no meaning or purpose to them

#2 It provides little opportunity to learn, or

#3 It leaves them depleted at the end of the work day

(Source: http://hbr.org/2012/01/creating-sustainable-performance/ar/1)

What’s Going On That Bothers You?

Now, it’s easy to find reasons why you don’t like your job, and you may relate to one or more of the above. Without doubt you need to understand precisely what bothers you, otherwise you could leap out of the fire and into the proverbial frying pan.

You may be completely clear what the problem is, if you’re not – consider if it has something to do with your communication with colleagues, subordinates, or superiors. Maybe you feel undervalued, disrespected, used, underpaid, manipulated etc.

Write a list of things that bother you.

For me, I found that I was getting increasingly frustrated at the lack of creativity in my job. I realised that no matter how far I got in the company I would always be unfulfilled.

I’m going to presume that you’d like to change your situation, so tomorrow we’ll take a look at ‘why’ these things bother you. And it might not be what you think.

Enjoy

Stu

🙂

Related posts:

How I Identified I Was In The Wrong Job!

Can you fall in love with your job (Pt 2)