Guided Meditation In Coaching

Guided Meditation in Coaching can bring about deeper and longer lasting positive change for the future – I can hear the deep breathes already even before I have started – REALLY – I hear you ask.

Well yes – I am finding that the more work I am doing with people keeps taking me back to an interest and passion I have always had around me to do with this side of my work. Meditation, relaxation, therapies that can sit with people to help them – getting to know yourself from the inside out – touching base with your inner person, inner self, inner goddess – who ever it might be – but touching base there and HEALING many of the deep rooted issues there, before moving on to becoming more successful personally and in career or business.

Using it to work on my self is so beneficial – the clouds or fog of confusion and lack of clarity are lifting and I believe I am in a better frame of mind, knowing and understanding of what it is I want, what my goals and ambitions are and also being more calm, more in control and greater enabled to become focused on HOW I am going to go about getting them.

Guided Meditation In Coaching don`t necessarily sit together in the purest of senses according to many – but for me I really think they do – not everyone is business savvy in how they approach things, many of my clients need space and time to work out what to focus on first and how to get the space to be able to do that.

Using Guided Meditation techniques in my Coaching sessions – where it is requested and agreed to – does just that – we spend a bit of the session focusing on the guided meditation and then discuss what the meditation brought about for them and decide on action plans for the future – goals can become clearer and focus is more defined and clarity is there as the client is less stressed, more relaxed and able to get to what they really want to focus on rather than it often getting jumbled up in the chaos and jabber that often surround many of us when trying to make changes in our lives. The inner self talk can be a powerful tool for good but it can also cause self doubt and sabotage on being able to get to where we want to go far too easily.

Hence why Guided Meditation & Coaching works for me with some of my clients – not all want to use it but its one that I use with increasing frequency.

Often primarily in the early days of the coaching relationship and then many clients go on to want just meditation sessions as it allows them space and time to focus on what they want for themselves and to learn to get better at it and hone the skill of meditation more.

What is Guided Meditation?

Guided meditation is when you are guided, by a narrator, to elicit a specific change in your life. You are first guided to relax your body and mind, to help you reach a deep meditative state before going on a journey, in your mind, to reach a specific goal.

As the brain does not distinguish between an imagined event and a real one, the experience you have with a guided meditation is just like having a real experience. This has an amazing effect on your life due to the way the brain works.

There are many studies that show that practicing something in your mind is almost as good as practicing it in real life.

The beauty of a guided meditation is that you can bring about change in your body by using your mind, and that means activating muscles, changing your biological state, and even changing the way the cells in your body work.

Pay attention! Here comes the science bit

I am often asked why guided meditation is so effective, so I would like to give you a little science behind guided meditation, and why it benefits you so much.

If you think of your mind as being an MP3 player, with hundreds of songs uploaded. All the songs on this MP3 player represent a program that dictates the way you think, act and behave in certain situations. These programs have been installed since your childhood and more added as you’ve aged.

So, for example if you were told, as a child that you were no good at maths, a program has been installed in your subconscious mind telling you that you’re no good at maths. Years later as an adult, someone asks you how to do a calculation for something, you quickly tell them ‘Oh, I don’t know I’m no good at maths.’ Your brain doesn’t even try the calculation as it takes it for granted that you’ll never be able to do it as you’re no good at maths.

The fascinating part about all of this is that the programs have not only been written and stored in the brain, but stored in the very cells of your body. The brain has literally created a path, a neural network, to coordinate your actions based on environmental factors, which speaks to the cells in your body.

If you stop to think about the implications of this for a second, you’ll realize that our genes do not determine who we are; it’s the images we create in our minds of ourselves that determine who we are.

We have thousands of programs written into our subconscious mind, and each program will determine how we think, act and behave in any given situation. The trouble is, it’s extremely difficult to change these programs without some type of way to access the subconscious mind to rewrite the programs, and make a new neural pathway that will communicate effectively with the cells and genes in our body.

Guided meditation has the power to reach your subconscious mind, by feeding it images, sounds, and directing your imagination to experience all your senses, thereby giving your brain an experience of what feels like a real experience. When you have a real experience new neural pathways are made that affect your whole body, so when you listen to a guided meditation from GuidedMind your are literally rewiring your brain to form new neural pathways for your future success.

So now looking at Guided Meditation and Coaching you can see how sort of `hot wiring` your brain to think differently will support you in your journey to make changes, working on your goals, action planning for the future and how in coaching, mentoring it is a great way and another tool in supporting you in that journey and ultimately getting your goals, desires, dreams, ambitions and all that you want to work towards success either personally, in business or career or performance in a job.

Contact me for more details – I will be running Guided Meditation workshops and sessions locally but sign up to my newsletter by contacting me on

sharonjardine@sljassociates.co.uk or sign up via contact on the website.

https://www.facebook.com/sharonjardinecoachingandtrainingassociates

Be Your Own Life Coach

Posted on 03.4.14 | 1 Comment

Be your own Life Coach

Making and taking tough decisions is not always easy but starting with being your own Life Coach is vital.

Being focused on yourself is the most important point and the very beginning of any one persons journey – let me support you being your own Life Coach in this vital starting point for yourself and learn what I know will make long lasting changes, transformational changes, to you, both personally and professionally in your business or career for the future.

I will share with you over the coming weeks – case studies of where I have worked with real people such as you on making those changes and how working with me can do the same or similar for you.

But start with you – do some of the ground work yourself – get an interest in being your own Life Coach as well – start the changes now and realise that you matter and that you are that important.

Be your own Life Coach – I started doing exactly just that – hey who coaches coaches.

Fiona Harrold – be your own life coach.

http://Be Your Own Life Coach: How to Take Control of Your Life and Achieve Your Wildest Dreams

This little book started such a huge change in my life – I had already been making and taking tough decisions on making long term changes in my career, setting up in business and also some in my personal life. But what this book did was open a window a fraction of space for me to see how much more work I needed to do ….. on ME – nothing else just ME.

I now follow Fiona`s work and coaching and I admire her approach as a Coach that I would like to emulate and role model. I have had the privilege of being on a coaching programme she ran in 2013 and this further galvanised me to refocus and get to know with greater depth and clarity what I really wanted for me and my future.

This small book started a domino effect of getting for myself my own coach – both looking at my business and myself on a personal basis and realising the impact this investment could have on all areas of my life – not just where I thought it would be in.

Thats why I highly recommend not just this book, but also starting with yourself – be your own life coach – if you do not see the benefit of it all, then it does not matter how many, or who or what you get coaching in and around either your business or personal – you will just be given tools but have no motivation, no interest or see no value or worth in those tools. Then they are just a waste of time, energy, finances and effort. Basically you will only go so far and will very quickly slip back into bad habits and unsuccessful ways of being, working and running your life or your business.

Mine in the early days was all about believing in myself, getting rid of self doubt and having self worth.

Recently I have gone back and re read Fiona Harrolds book as I have been following her on Facebook and also doing some webinars and coaching sessions with her as well – following on from all of this I actually took up an investment of a coaching programme with her and the benefits catapulted me forward in both my personal and also my business life.

I realised I needed to invest in me and to do that I needed not just a good coach but a great coach – one who I could connect with and that is what I got on that coaching programme. She has from this little book and me focusing on myself as being my own coach, me to realise that I could use all my skills, expertise and years of experience and be an excellent coach in turn to others who work alongside me. That is now what I offer from me just being my own Life Coach.

Now while coaching other people is not what everyone else is going to do – having a good coach is what everyone needs and that is now what I offer and I know that my clients receive. I will share with you over the coming blogs some of those case studies of clients and organisations I have worked with – how and where coaching has worked for them and why they see the worth and value to them of a Coach on both a personal and business level.

Coaching is about making and taking tough decisions – we often do not realise how much we sabotage ourselves and our businesses or potential for successful futures. So read this little gem and start the journey by being your own coach and enjoy.

www.facebook.com/sharonjardinecoachingandtrainingassociates

Twitter : @sharonjardine

Sharon Jardine – email : sharonjardine@sljassociates.co.uk

New Year New You New Start – Financial Literacy

Posted on 01.26.14 | Leave a Comment

New Year New You New Start – Financial Literacy

Financial Literacy – for me has become the greates learning curve both on a personal and a professional / business level. When I was in paid work as an employee all I wanted to do was earn more, get higher up the career ladder , get recognition for all that hard work that I was doing and get rewarded with something to show for it all.

When redundancy came around I found out how quickly 20 + years was actually worth in £ cash – and it was not that good – and despite all the years of working so hard and not being finanically rewarded for those extra hours, stress and dedication – my redundancy pay came down to purely length of service and payments made only on ratio of how Redundancy payment calculations are constructed – so this taught me a great and very powerful lesson I am determined never to repeat again – Know your worth and know what you are working for and why.

But this is not just about money as such – this New Year New You New Start part is around understanding Financial Literacy – in that I want to introduce you to the term and for you to ask the question – because believe me it will run across your personal and definitely into your business life – are you Financially Literate – do you understand money, your attitude to it and how you relate to money. If you do great x if you do not – then this is the final area but a vastly important area to get to grips with in this new year new you new start for 2014.

How hard do you work ? – do you work for money or do you make your money work for you?

Ok – so why should I want to be more financially literate – doh why not? I am not doing it for the money I hear you say – ok then here is a fact.

a. You will never be able to afford me as your coach – fact – I am a business and you pay me by the hour – I am not free.

b. You will never run a successful business and probably work exceptionally hard to earn money that you never hold on to and end up ultimately working too hard for too little money and never have the work / life balance you ever wanted in your life, owe out money all over the place and end up stressing over money all the time and ultimately always chasing money as you will never have enough. Your business will never be financially in a position for you to be able to leave it ie take holiday or take a break and you will always be in debt moving from crisis to crisis and financial worry to financial worry.

Phew that was alot …………… but do you get a picture forming here.

I am not going to talk to you in this blog about making money – NO – I want you to look at your understanding of your Attitude you have to money, about money, how it relates to you, how you see money and how you relate to money – that is about understanding what Financial Literacy is all about – for me and its here that I learnt huge valuable lessons over the past few years.

So lets start by asking the questions…..

What is your attitude to Money ? What were you told about money growing up? How was money referred to in your home by your parents, family and so forth – even your community?

Do you have patterns of money in your family, with you now ? ie are you in debt? how often do you get into debt? what is your attitude to debt?

When I use the word RICH – what image jumps out to you – these are the areas that I start to work on with you when we do our coaching sessions – working through this area allows you to understand how you manage money, see money, feel money, images of money, and your attitude to money – as they all relate to success – and not always around wealth and financial success.

Money is only one area we work on – success is not money alone but it may well be one area that you work on to ensure you have greater opportunity to get to the successful outcome or goal that you want. It has a part to play whether we like it or not it is part of the overall equation.

I will relate this to me and give you an example –

Took redundancy 2011 – at that time was in debt, mortgage, credit cards and loans – decided Redundancy would last about 2 years and I could take time out to get well after heart operation and might decide to get back into part time work later on. All my life I have been told – work hard get educated and get more money – well did all that and we still had a good wage but not vast wealth that I would have liked. I often said then – my job is my vocation money is not necessarily the main reason I work – well how right I was about that especially when it came to my company looking after me after all those years of extended loyality. When it came to it, all my worth was calculated in complete years that had worked for the company and nothing more – not the success that I had brought to that company, not the time putting in when did not get paid or get time back, nothing but years calculated to the least amount of money that they could pay me as possible – I was only ever referred to as a number – faceless and emotionless and purely fiancially driven. I totally understand it – but it taught me a valuable lesson in worth, value and my interpretation of where I put my value of me higher than the company put their value of me – plus despite being vocational / educational and working for development community etc it was still a business and businesses look at The Bottom Line – cost.

Less that 12 months later – still had credit cards, still had loans and needed to get into work asap – nothing financially had changed including how we spent as a couple with 2 people working on 2 good salaries. Reality check arrived and it was big – then decided after a crap attempt working for `friends` and being screwed over and going for a job in a large major supermarket chain for minimum wage and at last minute turning it down – to take leap of faith and started up SLJ Training – realised very quickly not the right environment for Training etc – so went back and retrained and learnt all I could around Coaching and Business Development. Took previous skills as a Senior Manager in Council and turned all those skills into business directed skills for Coaching and Business Coaching – plus add on qualified counsellor, managed staff and teams and budgets for 20 + years into skills I could harness in SLJ Coaching & Training Associates. But the biggest part of all the learning (and this was someone who has been in the education and educational / learning world for all my adult life ) was to learn about my attitude to money, what it meant to me, how I related to it and how it managed me in so many cases and not often in a positive way.

And rightly so you are saying – AND SO WHAT………..

What I did in the meantime was – read and learn, listen and talk to people who understood the business world and success – what I needed to do was also change – change me and change my attitude to money, how I earnt it, what I did with it and what I needed it for.

My ultimate goal (I have a few but start with this one) is to own a Villa in Turkey to be able to retire there or have a retirement home outside of UK in the sun – I want to do this by around 55 but as Mike retires from his salary job 58 will go for then – that gives me 10 years (11 actually) to do it in. Plus Retire from `working` life (not sure I ever will but ultimate goal.

This does not happen on fresh air – but I also have 2 teenage kids to school, head off to college, university and clothe, feed and sort as well in the meantime – basically without an income this will not happen.

In changing my mind set around Money and getting better and better at it – I am now making changes – I am no longer spending and I am looking at my spending patterns and how and what we need , we have little or no personal debt, credit cards are paid off, mortgage for house has been dealt with, we save at a higher level than ever before – I am more savvy with money and what I do for money and what includes how to go about making money. This in little over 2 years and even more so over the past 12 – 18 months.

My learning around money is improving and improved vastly – I know more and more about what I want money to do for me rather than previously working my ass off for money and still having nothing at end of month – rather than me just working for money – NOW money works for me.

I now know that for my Business to get better – for me to improve their and in my personal life I need to have assets not liabilities, I need to make money work for me not me killing myself working for money and I also need to be astute in what I do with my money – ultimately I can do more and give more and have a greater impact in my goals for my business and for me in starting up my business.

Thats the start of Financial Literacy – there are loads more but this is just a glimpse into what you do with me – not just dealing with light nice things but really delving in deep (not into your accounts – thats for you and your accountant) but about what you value money to be for your success or your journey towards success. What it means to you?

So if you are ready for the New Year New You New Start and learning about Financial Literacy – then contact me further and lets journey together – the more you understand yourself, your attitudes and what you want from life via personal goals and beyond the more you will be come successful in your business goals and life – goes without saying really as one is not separate from the other.

Money and Financial Literacy are not dirty words, but an area which is vast and getting a greater and better understanding of it and how you relate to it and work with it – can only make anything you do better – becoming Financially Literate is the ultimate part of the changes of New Year New You New Start for 2014.

Thank you for reading my musings over the past few weeks and I hope as we end January 2014 to hear from you, that you have enjoyed or gotten something from what I have been saying and might be interested in talking to me about being your coach for the future.

Best wishes and Keep in Touch

Sharon –

New Year New You New Start – Goal Setting

Posted on 01.19.14 | Leave a Comment

New Year New You New Start – Goal Setting

Question I am going to start off with on our 3rd blog session in January 2014 – Do you set goals ? Do you write them down ? Today you are – WHY? because people who write down their goals are more likely to actually ACHIEVE their goals, targets, dreams, ambitions, desires – what ever you want to call them – writing them down is the starting point.

Over the last few blogs I focused on YOU – getting you ready and in the right frame of mind to – CHANGE – to make CHANGES – and be READY TO CHANGE.

Now we are focusing on GOAL SETTING – New Year, New You, New Start – is about making daily changes, putting in place good positive habits and SETTING GOALS.

Coaching or Mentoring for me is about this picture – I am your guide, your map reader to assist you in reading the road map that you need to set out, to guide you and show you what is possible for you – in your personal life, career, employability, weight, personal development and of course your business.

I will work with you to assist YOU to Determine WHAT you want and WHY you want it. I assist you to understand what is important, and what you need to do to achieve YOUR GOALS by GOAL SETTING.

BUT

this is where it gets exciting, interesting and challenging at times as well.

Now we begin to break down your Goals into steps, we design a plan , a plan of action and that is what I work with you on – this is where as your coach and mentor I do my job – working with you on transforming and making the transitions from having a dream into a reality.

This is the value of goal setting – making them Specific, Measurable, Attainable/Achievable, Relevant & Realistic but most important of all as well Time Bound.

This is now were YOU start to become SMART – and start taking the path or road map to achieving all your dreams and ambitions – in any or all avenues of your life.

Working with people – not clients or customers – but people – this is the most exciting part of my work – being with you and watching and working with you on your transformation and transition into achieving your goals.

Taking steps to make your goals happen is invaluable.

Make it happen today – take a pen or pencil, paper and start writing down what goals you want or what you want in your life, personal or business – why do you want them. What difference will it make to your life having them – write that down also, then write down what difference to you or your life is there in not having them – once you start thinking in this way you start to see changes – New Year New You New Start.

Now you need to start looking at it from this point of view and telling yourself – “I am going to achieve my goals, dreams and ambitions” and start with imagining or thinking that you have them already – what do you see, hear, feel – what does it look like for you – personal or business – if you had those goals already achieved, what difference would it make to your life.

Hold on to that image, hold onto those thoughts and now write down what you need to do to break the goal down further into steps – what steps do you need to take to get to that goal.

What blocks or barriers are there as obstacles that might stop you getting there – and then how are you going to over come them – what are you going to put in place to remove those blocks, barriers or obstacles.

See what you are doing! – slowly but surely you are setting out your ACTION PLAN in how to achieve your goals.

Most importantly of all – put dates to those actions, when are you going to start it and when are you going to do it – and of course when you need it finished or completed by – setting dates and even times to it – make it real – make them SMART.

Don`t use ambiguous words – give it all full details – the more details the better – an example = I want to lose weight – by end of year, well losing a kilo is still losing weight but you want to lost 10 kilos – so define it. I want to lose 10 kilos in weight and I want to lose 2 kilos each month, 1/2 kilo each week for the next 5 months or 20 weeks.

Another example: I want to make money – ok so you make £10 this week or this month – you still made money – or you can give it details :-

I want to change from having a 4 figure or 5 figure yearly salary and want to have a 6 figure yearly salary – ok so how you going to do that? My question would be next – what do you need to change or do to make that happen – do you need to learn new skills, better use of your money, your time, do you need to change jobs, do another job – what additional knowlege, skills, and abilities do you need to acquire to achieve your goal and how will you acquire them.

See whats happening here ! You are defining and refining your action plan – being specific – follow this and you will soon find that goals you have had become achievable.

Thats the coaching / mentor role to work with you on Goal Setting – Making an Action Plan to achieving those Goals – getting you to keep to the action points and ultimately working with you to get to where you want to go and achieving your goals.

So start now – get Goal Setting and enjoy your New Year, New You and New Start to 2014. Make it count.

New Year New You New Start – Your State of Mind

Posted on 01.18.14 | Leave a Comment

New Year New You New Start

Your State of Mind

Start the New You Now – sharing this link to not just Dr Wayne W Dyer but also the link to the website for the free 7 day programme of being able to listen to interviews, online films and articles.

https://www.facebook.com/drwaynedyer/

“Start the New You Now is available all weekend – all 7 days of conversations, yoga and the 7 movies are all available free starting right now – if you missed any of the life changing conversations or the movies this is your chance. I highly recommend My Greatest Teacher the movie on day 5 and The Shift movie on Day 6. If you have time I would also listen to Christiane Northrup’s interview on day 1.

enjoy the weekend – here is the link

http://www.hayhousenewyounow.com/listen/

If you have been listening and watching during the week please let others know what you think they should watch or listen to.”

Why not over this weekend take the time to look into it all. You will be so pleased that you have done so and I know you will all get so much more from it all.

Even if you are not full immersed in it all – you will take some thing away from it that will ultimately help you make your life better.

Your State of Mind – is all important in this all

Coaching that I do at SLJ Coaching and Training Associates uses many many techniques and approaches that help support your transitions in life, evaluate where you are currently to where you want to be or go ultimately in your personal and also your business.Looking at were the blocks and hurdles are and supporting you in finding you your solutions to those for ultimate success in your goals for life. I work with you on goal setting, getting the priorities right for you, setting them and then setting out your journey or development plan of how to go about going and achieving those goals.

I work with you on your State of Mind – looking at the New You and how those transformations can spill over into your personal life obviously and also your business life – as your whole approach to things will change.

Remember – what you put out there is what you get back – eg I sometimes feel overwhelmed with not enough hours in the day to do what I want to do – what happens = I never have enough hours in the day to do what I want to do and get frustrated and more and more overwhelmed.

What am I doing now? Shift in thoughts – Looking at my State of MInd – I plan what I need to do – breaking it down into smaller daily jobs in a more thoughtful way in order of priority and I allocate them the time I am able to – I started this only very recently in all areas personal and business and I feel now – instead of waking up and going omg I have too much to do today and not enough time. I wake up and go – ok I have 3 jobs that are needed to be done today – I will do them then and then tick them off the list, if they get finished then great if not then they are top priority list for tomorrow. My feelings of being overwhelmed are reduced and I feel more in control of what I can do and I am doing – and slowly but surely I am doing more as completing tasks rather than being overwhelmed and panicking and doing nothing as previously felt like a rabbit in the headlights stunned into being frozen.

If you correct your mind, the rest of your life will fall into place. -Lao Tzu = Your State of Mind

How wonderful are these words and for all of us so very true in our modern times from way back then – If you correct your mind, the rest of your life will fall into place – for me this has been the journey that I am walking on right this moment and have been journeying towards for some time – slowly but surely the pieces are falling into place as I am getting myself `correct in my mind` and now know that as that happens ` the rest of my life is falling into place`.

Small Daily Improvements are the key to staggering long term results – they are in deed very profound words – but often we start (as I have done so many times) in a rush of enthusiasm – lose weight, new business, new projects, decluttering , business adventures – and the list goes on – and then in days or even weeks its set to the side or you give up in frustration and feeling of being overwhelmed and disappointed – as it is not going the way you wanted or at the pace you need etc etc etc.

I often used to say – the Time is not right – what I was waiting for was often the Perfect time to do something – or if the project, idea or something that I was doing did not work out immediately in the perfect way that I planned – it was therefore a failure and stop – then panic and get upset, annoyed, overwhelmed, anxious and more and more frustrated – what I am now realising more and more in my work, my life and my business – is that there is no perfect time – my state of mind was that I wanted Perfectionism – and becasue nothing is ever that perfect or runs that smoothly ( we all wish) then I thought it was a failure and that I had failed – my State of Mind needed fixing.

Now I Think differently and therefore ACT differently – I am now making and have made huge changes in my thought processes, my thinking and this is truly being reflected in my personal and business life – I am ok now with it all and not waiting until the Time is Right – I am doing it Right Now and changing daily.

To keep progressing, you must learn, commit and do – learn, commit and do, and learn, commit, and do it all over and over again – Stephen R. Covey

Make those small daily improvements, change your thoughts, change your state of mind, learn how to do that, commit to doing that and keep doing them over and over again on a daily basis. Learn and commit to becoming in a New Year New You New Start.

Thank you for indulging me in my blogging – as I am learning along with you all also and for that I genuinely appreciate your time, patience and support. x Sharon x

email : sharonjardine@sljassociates.co.uk

www.facebook.com/sharonjardinecoachingandtrainingassociates

https://twitter.com/sharonjardine

What do I need a Coach for?

Posted on 11.4.13 | Leave a Comment

What do I need a Coach for?

Indeed you might well ask that question! How many people actually know or understand what a coach is or even what they do and why they would even want to have one?

So…. Let me try to explain in plain terms – just what I am saying a coach does and what coaching can do for you – either personally in your own life, career or business – at what ever level you operate at.

Do you need a coach?

No – not everyone NEEDS a coach, BUT successful people choose to have a coach often in their personal, career or business lives.

Why?

Because it has worked for them as it helps them to work towards and increasingly meet their goals to find more fulfillment in their lives – personally and professionally.

Ask people what it does for them having a coach and all will probably come back with similar answers:

Keeps me focused and on track,
Finds the blind spots,
Makes me feel accountable to myself in what I am doing and direction I am working in.

Sometimes people just need a coach to help them gain knowledge and information that is very specific for their need i.e. a business coach, or performance career coach etc.

Sometimes it’s even to find new resources that they need – and even more so it is often to find out what is STOPPING you from accomplishing or becoming the successful person, getting a job opportunity or business that you want in your life.

Who needs a coach?

Coaching is used often by people who are time restrained – they do not have the time to:

sit and do courses,
read up on things,
research etc and the list goes on

But they are also up to being challenged on what they do and why they do it.

I know in my coaching experience, asking those simple but hard hitting questions are the ones that often just open the road up for development and drive for the client I am working with.

Often I hear people saying to me:

no I do not need a coach or coaching at the minute
it’s not really for me
it’s a waste of money
I am my own coach.

Did you know that Richard Branson, like many major big business players and owners has on average 5 business coaches and mentors for himself.

Now why would he need them and you do not? What makes it different for him? His coaches are not his every day staff – but hired for what do they do for him:

Ask hard hitting, challenging and thought provoking questions – the why factor
Why you doing what you doing? Why you do it like that? What is the pay off for you, your business, your employees, your profit margin, your outcomes, does it link to vision of company, or yourself or where you want to be.
Keeping you on target, on focus and in line with ultimate goal of where you want you or your business to go.
Prioritizing your work, looking for the blind spots and asking what changes you are going to make and how going to make them to keep you on target in focus of where you ultimately want to go or where or who you want to be.
Discuss changes that need to be made – I am a very honest coach in that I say it as it is – I do not give people flannel on what I think they want to hear.
When people tell me they do not need coaching or a coach and have few or any clients and business not doing well – my response is if you had a coach it would help you find out why you are NOT being a success – then once you on road to success you would only need a coach or coaching if and when need it for getting to next level of success.
Often the blocks to people becoming successful are themselves. Another blog another issue to cover.

But also what steps need to take place for them to get to end goal or vision or dream – what changes need to happen to them and to their business if it involves their career or business. Sometimes it has nothing to do with their career or business that stops them from being successful but they themselves and their own internal issues.

Coaching is NOT is counselling

Some people do have an illusion coaching is about counselling a person.

It is most definitely not!

I often refer my clients onto counsellors that they can contact outside of my sessions. Coaching is about dealing with here and now, future plans and how to go about doing them and getting the goals, dreams and ambitions that you want.

But sometimes things from the past that shape how we view our lives, think and behave may need to be resolved – but not in a coaching session.

So now you have a bit of an insight into what do you need a coach for?

My last question would be – do you need a coach?

Contact me: sharonjardine@sljassociates.co.uk – head over to my FB page for more information and updates on how coaching can work for you.

www.facebook.com/sharonjardinecoachingandtrainingassociates

Coaching is about lifting you, your career and/or your business up to the next level – doing it as others that are successful entrepreneurs and business people do.

Top athletes, top teams, top anyone has a coach and uses coaching to get them to their goals, ambitions and dreams faster, more direct and with more defined clarity than those that do not.

Making the change to having a coach will have an impact on all areas of your life. You are in control and you lead on the change. All a coach does is help you `see` how and where the opportunity for change can take place.

Are you ready to start seriously striving for success?

That is what you need a coach for! Get in touch!

So you want to create a successful Business?

Posted on 10.25.13 | Leave a Comment

How to create a successful Business?

So you want to create a successful Business?

If only the answer was so simple and straight forward. I have found this the most difficult and thought provoking aspect to the whole process of setting up my own business and running it.

The early days of any business is difficult but crucial:

business plans,
funding,
insurance,
tax,
registration as self employed or setting up as Ltd company, CIC or Ltd by Guarantee

Its a nightmare, scary, necessary and there are so many out there offering `free` advice and guidance, courses and set up support. It all becomes a whirl wind and a bit mind blowing!

But the first year passes in a haze – to network or not to network that is the question – what to read first, sign up for this course, sign up for that help and support, call myself small business, entrepreneur or director. The list goes on – and time flys by.

But still the question I will ask is this:

Have you really created a successful business?

Is it working for you?
Are you happy about the direction you are going?
Are you ready for that success?
Does it look anything like what you thought it would be like?
What next?

Creating a successful business – what next?`

See now comes more and more questions – but not necessarily the answers to go along side those questions. This is now the phase of no return. Set up and operating is all well and good – but what happens next?

I see all these networking events, business advisors and organisations – let us help you in your set up and get you going…

But 12 months down the line, 18 months later – what happens next?

Have you created a successful business?

Is it earning you a living?

What is success even?

Big questions and not necessarily lots of answers.

SO… my next step is now to work on this with you for the next 12 – 18 months, filling in the gap of where others are not. Using my coaching skills and expertise, knowledge of running my previous work and projects successfully from a business style approach and running my own companies successfully as they are today.

Taking the next step

create a successful business - the door is opening

Open the door to a successful business! Coaching will help you succeed

Taking a small start up business to the next step – a potential growth and growing business – to the size and scale you want it to be.

If you are happy to be a small very localised but profitable business in your local community then that is not an issue or a problem.

But if you have designs and desires to grow regionally, nationally or even internationally, that is where the taking your dreams to a new level comes in.

This for me is the next step for my business www.sljassociates.co.uk

The SLJ Facebook page now comes into its own. Over the coming weeks and months I will be working on bringing online and offline courses, seminars and workshops to assist people to do just that – take the next step to a successful business.

Why not come and join me and find out how you can reach for the stars and fulfil your dream in creating your business into the success you dreamt it to be!

Are you ready to change challenge? Day 4

Posted on 08.20.13 | Leave a Comment

Are you ready to change challenge? Day 4

Over previous few days been asking you to really look hard at yourself and WHY you do and WHY you think as you do – previous self limiting beliefs and conditioning from your past is so too often the reason why people are not successful or happy with what or how they do things.

Are you ready to change challenge? Day 4 – is all about putting that all behind you – I know as said in previously blogs this is only a small part a small fraction of the work that I do with you in a coaching session and set up but it gives you the flavours of what you can do – either through looking at your own journey to change or your own journey of change – reading booking of Life Coaching or other self made people – people of success and finding out what they did – especially if they have originally come from similar backgrounds to yourself. Often the biggest obstacle to success, happiness and your future is YOU – no one else just You – resolve the issues of the past, let them go, move on and rewrite what it is you really want – who you really want to be, set your goals and go for it. I have already pointed you in the direction of an Author who I have read and loved her approach, work and ethos.

Are you ready to change challenge? Day 4 is about embedding good habits into your daily routine and day – do you know about Affirmations – mediation time – well every morning and every night I want you to start doing some Affirmations – you can do them to a mirror, when in bed, before go to bed or get up in the morning, out loud or silently to yourself. BUT do them!

Just one positive thought in the morning can change your whole day.

Here are some affirmations you can use, or make up your own – but use only positive words and language! After all, you have been using negative affirmations for years – you need to practice now the positive ones to affirm the new you, new image and new start.

Write them in your journal or print them out and pin them where you can see them every day.

* I like myself

* I now take responsibility for making my life work

* My future is full of interesting surprises and wonderful opportunities

* I am good enough

* I now know I deserve to have more fun, laughter, money and success

* I approve of myself completely, including in the presence of others

* I now choose to like and trust myself and to treat myself with the utmost respect

Repeat them daily – change your self talk to yourself – respect yourself in this new you, new image and new start to care about you and that means to respect yourself – and believe in yourself 100% that you will be and can be successful – remember I asked you for 4 things and self belief and self discipline were 2 of them – this is were the self discipline comes in big time – repeat daily and especially over 30 + days and journal the difference it can make over the coming month or 2 – seriously you will be surprised by the simple but big difference it can make.

Are you ready to change challenge? Day 4 is about “for me” – you showing yourself the respect you need to begin your transformation – metaphorically of course, but hey I am not stopping anyone from making other changes in themselves if that is what you want to do – go for it – I believe in you and trust you 100% to know what your changes need to be and how much you want them.

On my journey I have been making big huge changes – physically, emotionally and psychologically – all have contributed to massive changes happening then all around me within my personal life, family life and business life – I am not perfect nor ever would claim to be – but you know what I have stopped punishing myself, putting myself down (still have to remind that inner voice to stop being critical but getting there) and believing in myself that I have the self discipline and self reliance and resources to be successful in everything that I do – as I do and I can.

Are you ready to change challenge? Day 4 – Well are you? Are you really ready to change?

I trust that you are and motivated to really get stuck in – keep your journal, contact me for 1:1 sessions or email/phone coaching details also.

Taking these 7 steps – 1 each day is the start – start to change and enjoy the transformation and enjoy becoming the successful, happy and motivated person that you want to be and can be – respect yourself to be able to do it.

Are you ready to change challenge – day 3

Posted on 08.17.13 | Leave a Comment

Are you ready to change challenge – day 3

Well yesterday was a tough day as I asked you to challenge yourself and ask yourself some tough questions – asking questions about our limiting beliefs is about getting to the root cause of why sometimes we are stopped in our tracks in achieving all that we want – we sabotage ourselves and enforce our negative inner voice/ self talk and therefore feel we fail or do not succeed because we ultimately have been conditioned to from our past.

Are you ready to change – the challenge for day 3 – New you new image new start

You now have some insights on how you operate as a person – you have written out and recognised those beliefs that you have about yourself and those that have been told to you repeatedly over the past years from childhood or even later in adulthood. But why are you allowing these damaging and controlling beliefs to influence you – now we need to get you working on a new you – not a total change (no personality transplants or anything like that – keeping all the good and lovely things that are you and contribute to you being a unique and individual person) but getting rid of the bad belief systems that you have been conditioned to hearing and believing about yourself for years.

Are you ready to change challenge – day 3 – new you new image new start

This is only a short and brief view into the world of coaching and the coaching process – this is what it is all about – it can be fast, challenging and demanding – I demand a lot from my clients afterall thats what it is all about – making positive and progressive changes – challenging the old ways of doing things and looking for the new ways and solutions to resolving problems – I believe in you that you can do it, make the changes and grow as a person to becoming a more fulfilled, happier, peaceful and resourceful person. You are your own key to success – dig deep folks and believe me you have it all there – we just need to get the tweaking and tuning right and then off you go and begin to really live the life you truly want to live – both personally and in business – thats the power of coaching.

So Are you ready to change challenge – day 3 is now to work on you – the new you the new image and new start – and we have not even begun to look at the future processes of goal setting or goals for your future or anything – working on you is the start of the journey and what an exciting journey it is going to be and is already.

Are you ready to change challenge – day 3 – Yes I hear you shout – well ok shout it louder and lets begin.

Day 3 – Journal exercise; Complete the following statements………..

a. The person I am choosing to be from this day on is someone who is ………..

b. The qualities I most want to emphasise and enjoy in myself are………..

When finished Write this out somewhere – either in the journal or on a separate piece of paper sign and date it – even start a mood board – cork board and cut out inspirational sayings, things you want to work for, photos of self of weight and image you want to achieve (be real as well do not set yourself up to fail). I have one in my study for each of my businesses and personal one – I have photos of types of villa want to buy when retire – goal and target, what I want for next car, I have printed out date and weight I want to be by christmas and then next year etc ) helps in visualising what I would like both in material terms and also saying that inspire me and things I want to aspire to re short, medium and long term goals in my life and businesses.

Statement:

“I am now ready to give life to this new image of myself, from this day forth. I commit to reinforcing these qualities until they are a deeply ingrained part of who I am and who I am seen to be.”

Print this out and put it in a prominent position for you to read and see often. Now from today onwards your behaviour, choices and decisions you want to make sure they fit this description of you. When you are faced with a choice or a decision ask yourself – What is the answer, given the person I am now? I will also recommend a book to read now also – as I have found of all the books I have read recently has really resonated a lot with me personally.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Your-Own-Life-Coach-ebook/dp/B0043VD6BC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1376748247&sr=8-1&keywords=fiona+harrold

Read Fiona Harrolds books and check out for yourself how powerful a world coaching can be both for yourself and your business – her books are excellent to read and easy starting points for your journey into becoming a new you and having a new start.

Enjoy and have fun – remember this is the start of an exciting journey of self discovery into the new you that you want to be – this new you and new start will be being as unique as you were before but becoming more successful and achieving more of the life that you want to have rather than been told you should have – work on you as starting point and everything will eventually fall into place.

Good luck and lets look forward to Day 4 of the challenge.

Are you ready to change challenge – Day 2

Posted on 08.16.13 | Leave a Comment

Are you ready to change challenge – Day 2

Yesterday I asked you to answer 2 questions;

Who do you think you are? and Who do you need to think you are to have the life you want?

Why did I ask these 2 questions? Because we need to start with understanding of ourselves and how we see ourselves and especially how you see yourself.

Are you ready to change challenge today is about our own Self belief in ourselves, challenging the self limiting beliefs that we have of ourself, our abilities, talents, business ability and right to be successful or even happy with our life, our selves and what we do or who we are.

We need to believe in ourselves (in yourself) 100%, when you view yourself as being worthy of everything good that you can do or create for yourself and regard yourself as worthy of only the best – then you begin to create a world around you that is positive,successful and happy because basically anything becomes possible. I am not talking about money or finances here – I am talking about living a life that you deserve – happiness, peaceful, financial freedom (it will come if you focus on working on it positively and productively), successful and worthy of deserving all these things. We need to focus on our good qualities and our strengths but all too often we find ourselves being negative, focusing on our bad qualities, using negative self talk, focusing on our weaknesses and surrounding ourselves with those people who just back all of that up – after all its easier to do that – and many of our own self limiting beliefs from our childhood and past also back that up too – I am not worthy, I do not deserve being happy, successful, financial freedom, its too hard to work that hard, its too much for me, I can not lose this weight, I am not that smart – oh its always me – poor me poor me poor me blah blah blah blah – we allow our inner self talk and our past dictate who we are and what we are doing now, and what we want to do in the future. Hence we form the `bad` habits of not believing in ourselves and now working on ourselves and making ourselves personally or in business successful – first small defeat or failure – give up and tick the box of more evidence of why we are not worthy of success or happiness.

STOP IT NOW – are you ready for the change challenge?

You said you were ready to commit – you said you are ready for the change challenge – you agreed to the 4 things I asked of you.

Motivation, Self Belief, Self Discipline and Willingness to Challenge yourself.

So do it now – from yesterdays questions put your past behind and focus only on the future – we have been working on being positive, using positive language, being around positive people living positive no matter where. I know its not easy but start forming the good habits for yourself now for your future – small steps become huge steps and great movements forward – and are the format for making long term habits for successful lives and successful living.

Are you ready to change? – challenge then your self limiting beliefs, let go of the past that is holding you back, silence your negative self talk/ inner voice – Believe in you 100%

Are you ready to change challenge – start today Believe in yourself – believe you are worthy, deserving and that you can and will be successful and that you will achieve that person you need to be to have the life you want. Otherwise you will continue to stay in exactly the same place you are now and have exactly the same results you have now – you are reading this blog and following this challenge for a reason – go on you have nothing to lose and all to gain.

Are you ready to change challenge – You have the motivation now as committed to change – you are now starting that journey of self belief and believing in yourself 100% that you can do it. Now have the discipline to keep on that track over these last 5 days and have the willingness to challenge yourself – start making the changes towards having the life that you want – personal or business.

Day 2 – Journal – write in this your responses to these statements;

The limiting beliefs I hold about myself are……………………….

The 3 limiting beliefs that hold me back most of all are……………………

From these responses to these statements you now have all the information you need about the most damaging and restrictive ways in which you see yourself. These last 3 main ones show you how powerful their influences have over your life – lets look at changing those beliefs and no longer let your past conditioning influence your life any longer.

1 more for today please if that is ok – I ask you 1 more exercise to do – then tomorrow we are going to move onwards – to leaving them behind and moving on to the new you and leaving them all behind in the past.

Write down in your journal

The cost to me, in my life, of my limiting beliefs is……. (write down 5, no more than 10)

This can be difficult and upsetting – but do not dwell on this long – write them down recognise them for what they are but dwell no longer than necessary acknowledge them and then let go of them.

Are you ready to change challenge – it is now time to let go of the past and begin building your future – tomorrow onwards.

Good luck, have fun with this and enjoy.

Guided Meditation In Coaching

What is Guided Meditation?

Pay attention! Here comes the science bit

Be Your Own Life Coach

New Year New You New Start – Financial Literacy

New Year New You New Start – Goal Setting

New Year New You New Start – Goal Setting

New Year New You New Start – Your State of Mind

What do I need a Coach for?