Author Archives: siodanphoto@gmail.com

About siodanphoto@gmail.com

My name is Siobhain Danaher, I’m a Lean Business Strategist, Writer, Travel Photographer and Optimist based in Co. Limerick, Ireland 💚 🇮🇪 Travel and photography are huge passions of mine and I share both through my website The Photographer’s Guide To Travel. Other passions of mine are Lean culture and personal positive change which is why I have created this website. Lean in business and positive change in life is my philosophy. My vision is to share valuable content with you from the world of Lean and the world of personal growth.

My Journey Through the Stress Performance Curve

Leave a reply

Click to share this post

The Stress Performance Curve is pretty self-explanatory, the more stressed we get the further along the curve we move. Here is an explanation of the different zones on the curve.

1. Boredom Zone

In the first zone there is very low stress and we are bored. Stay here too long and you will feel the effects of boreout which are just as dangerous as burnout. If you are in this zone in your life or work your mental, emotional, physical & spiritual health is at risk.

Performance in this zone is next to nothing.

2. Comfort Zone

As our stress levels increase we move into our comfort zone, this is manageable stress and is on the way to peak performance. It is comfortable here but there is no growth and if you stay here too long, you will slip back into the boredom zone.

Performance in this zone is higher than in the boredom zone but not at it’s best.

3. Stretch Zone

As pressure & stress increases, we move into the stretch zone. This is where our minds & bodies are being stretched. You know that feeling when you’ve got a lot on your plate but you’re totally in control, you are busy but you are really enjoying it.

This is the zone where your level of stress and your level of performance are at their optimal. This is where everyone wants to be – not stressed, not overloaded, not under pressure but challenged, stretched & at absolute peak performance.

This is where we do our best work.

This is where we live our best lives.

This is where our mind, body and soul are at optimum health.

This is where we excel.

In a Lean Culture, this is where employees are the happiest, most productive and where we should aim to stay. When employees are working in this zone they are healthy, happy, engaged, committed, learning, problem solving and enjoying their roles.

Businesses that support their employees to stay in this zone thrive.

4. Strain Zone

As pressure and stress levels increase we now move into the strain zone. We no longer feel in control and we start to feel under pressure, overloaded, too much on our plate and it’s hard to see the wood from the trees. In this zone we are no longer operating at an optimum level – our performance, interest, happiness, health and energy levels decrease and everything starts to go downhill.

Performance in this zone is diminished and reduces every day you stay here.

In this zone we have two choices. One – to continue with the workload, continue taking on pressure and stress and hope it somehow alleviates. This is not a wise choice and we just continue on the slippery slope towards burnout.

The other choice is to STOP.

Stop taking on work, stop taking on activities, stop taking on pressure & stress. Remove as much as we can from our workload. This is a very wise choice and as you start to remove items from your to-do list you will start to move backwards through the Stress Performance Curve.

5. Burnout Zone

When you are in the strain zone and you continue to take on activities/work, you will eventually end up in the the burnout zone.

You may think you are getting loads done, that you are ploughing through stuff and you are on your A-game but you are not. You are now back to the level of performance that you were when you were in the boredom zone.

Performance in this zone is next to nothing.

You may be getting things done but there is no time for thinking, no time for creativity, no time for imagination, no time for innovation, no time for rest, relaxation and recuperation, no time for anything only the to-do list. Whilst you are getting to your to-do list, the pace and quality of work is immensely diminished.

In this zone it’s fight or flight and that’s about it.

Not only is this not sustainable but it is also dangerous to your mental, emotional, physical & spiritual health. There is no enjoyment in what you are doing and you wondering is the to-do list ever going to end! You probably become irritable, unfulfilled, unhappy, unproductive and apathetic.

This is a very real and dangerous place to find yourself in.

If you are here, do everything you can to get out of this zone, your health is more at risk than you can imagine.

The Stress Performance Curve is fascinating and the amount of time we spend in each of the zones and how long it takes us to go from one zone to another is different for us all.

Here is an insight into my journey through the Stress Performance Curve which I hope I never repeat:

In hindsight I probably started 2021 in the stretch zone. In 2020 I had taken on a serious amount of work outside of my day job and even through I absolutely loved every minute of it, I knew I was stretched.

In early 2021 I started doing webinars and launched my first online course ‘Kickstart Your Personal Strategy’ which is something I am very passionate about and was excited to teach it. I was spending lots of time writing/editing blog posts and on social media. Add this to a very busy day job on top of lockdown and it wasn’t long before I started to move into the strain zone.

Of course all of this is in hindsight where we have 20:20 vision!

For most of early 2021, I just felt under pressure all day, every day. There was too much on my plate, I had committed to too much and I was working way too many hours.

Looking back at my journalling around that time, all the healthy habits I had spend years building to sustain balance in my life were gone. By the time April came around that was it, I was in the burnout zone.

If you’ve been burned out or are currently functioning in the burnout zone, it is not a pretty place to be.

it’s not enjoyable, it’s not happy, it’s not fulfilling, it’s not productive, it’s not anything that you would actually want for your life. In this zone everything becomes a challenge, the normal day-to-day activities like exercising, socialising, thinking straight – it’s all so overwhelming.

When I finally realised I was burned out I made the decision to STOP. I stopped everything except my day job, I stopped writing blog posts, I stopped creating content, I stopped doing webinars, I stopped social media.

I STOPPED.

When you stop everything and remove workload from your plate, it doesn’t mean that you automatically go back to the optimal performance stretch zone. It takes time for your mind, body and soul to re-adjust, to get out of that fight or flight mode and to come back into some level of normality.

As I started to move through the strain & stretch phase I finally found myself in the comfort phase. I had successfully removed enough from my plate that I felt comfortable with my workload again.

Naively, I thought that was the end of my journey through the Stress Performance Curve but it wasn’t. I was now working on my day job only and not all of passions outside of work. This presented me with 2 problems.

One, I missed writing & creating content etc but I knew I couldn’t take it all on again without going back to the burnout zone.

Two, I was no longer enjoying my role at work and was operating in the boredom zone there. Operating here is just as detrimental to health as the strain & burnout zones. Even though I was busy, I was no longer doing work that challenged, excited or motivated me.

And so, I made the decision to leave my day job to focus solely on and build a business around my passions in life which are Lean Culture/Strategy, Writing & Travel Photography.

Knowing about and understanding the symptoms of each of the zones of the Stress Performance Curve goes a long way to ensuring you stay in the stretch zone or at least not too far away from it!

Human beings are not machines, we all have limits and going past those limits damages our most valuable asset, our health!

Where are you on the Stress Performance Curve?

How long have you been there?

Are you aware when you are heading into the Strain and Burnout Zones?

Are you aware when you are heading into the Comfort and Boredom Zones?

How do you keep yourself at peak performance in the Stretch Zone?

How do you keep your team and business at peak performance in the Stretch Zone?

Thanks for reading,

Siobhain

x x

Want to read more about Positive Change?

Download your free e-book ‘The A-Z of Effective Change’ and sign up to my Weekly Newsletter below.

Click to share this post

The Stress Performance Curve

Leave a reply

Click to share this post

The Stress Performance Curve is pretty self-explanatory, the more stressed we get the further along the curve we move. Here is an explanation of the different zones on the curve.

1. Boredom Zone

In the first zone there is very low stress and we are bored. Stay here too long and you will feel the effects of boreout which are just as dangerous as burnout. If you are in this zone in your life or work, your mental, emotional, physical & spiritual health is at risk.

Performance in this zone is next to nothing.

2. Comfort Zone

Performance in this zone is higher than in the boredom zone but not at it’s best.

3. Stretch Zone

This is the zone where your level of stress and your level of performance are at their optimal. Everyone wants to be here – not stressed, not overloaded, not under pressure but challenged, stretched & at absolute peak performance.

This is where we do our best work.

This is where we live our best lives.

This is where our mind, body and soul are at optimum health.

This is where we excel.

Businesses that support their employees to stay in this zone thrive.

4. Strain Zone

As pressure and stress levels increase we now move into the strain zone. We no longer feel in control and we start to feel under pressure, overloaded, too much on our plate and it’s hard to see the wood from the trees. In this zone we are no longer operating an optimum level – our performance, interest, happiness, health and energy levels decrease and everything starts to go downhill.

Performance in this zone is diminished and reduces every day you stay here.

The other choice is to STOP.

5. Burnout Zone

When you are in the strain zone and you continue you to take on activities/work and continue to add to your to-do list you will eventually end up in the the burnout zone.

Performance in this zone is next to nothing.

In this zone it’s fight or flight and that’s about it.

This is a very real and dangerous place to find yourself in.

If you are here, do everything you can to get out of this zone, your health is more at risk than you would imagine.

The Stress Performance Curve is fascinating and the amount of time we spend in each of the zones and how long it takes us to go from one zone to another different for us all.

Knowing about and understanding the symptoms of each of the zones of the Stress Performance Curve goes a long way to ensuring you stay in the stretch zone or at least not too far away from it!

Human beings are not machines, we all have limits and going past those limits damages our most valuable asset, our health!

In my next blog post I give you an insight into ‘My Journey through the Stress Performance’.

Where are you on the Stress Performance Curve?

How long have your been there?

Are you aware when you are heading into the Strain and Burnout Zones?

Are you aware when you are heading into the Comfort and Boredom Zones?

How do you keep yourself at peak performance in the Stretch Zone?

How do you keep your team and your business at peak performance in the Stretch Zone?

Thanks for reading,

Siobhain

x x

Want to read more about Positive Change?

Download your free e-book ‘The A-Z of Effective Change’ and sign up to my Weekly Newsletter below.

Click to share this post

The Importance of Time Off

Leave a reply

Click to share this post

Image Credit: Stefan Sagmeister’s Time Off timeline

In October 2021 I left my job without another which for many reasons was the right decision for me albeit a difficult one to make. I had planned to take a break to the end of 2021 and then set up my own business in early 2022.

Then I watched Stefan Sagmeister’s Ted Talk and the direction of my life changed completely.

That was over 4 years ago now and Stefan’s video still has the huge impact on my life.

Stefan Sagmeister runs a design studio in New York and every 7 years he closes it for a year to pursue some little experiments, things that are always difficult to accomplish during the regular working year. In this year Stefan and his team are not available to any of their clients as they are totally closed.’

Stefan refers to this time as a ‘A LOVELY AND VERY ENERGETIC TIME’.

That’s it, 30 seconds into this Ted Talk I was hooked. All plans of setting up and running my own business faded from my mind.

I wanted this time, I wanted ‘A LOVELY AND VERY ENERGETIC TIME’ just as Stefan had described.

Stefan is very lucky to work on his passions of music & design but outlines that after a while even this can get boring and everything starts to look the same. This is true for any work we do, even if it is something we are deeply passionate about. We need variety and we need to be learning to nurture & fuel our creativity & innovation, keeping our work fresh & exciting.

Below is Stefan’s genius idea in a timeline.

Stefan explains we spend roughly the first 25 years of our lives learning in some form of education, we spend roughly the next 40 years working and if we are lucky enough, we spend roughly the next 15 years in retirement.

Stefan takes 5 of these retirement years and disperses them throughout his working life – GENIUS!

Stefan explains that this is clearly enjoyable for him but also the work that comes out of this year flows back into his company and society at large and so is beneficial to everyone.

Stefan outlines some of the creative ideas & success that he and other companies such as 3M and Google have had by giving their employees time to creatively pursue whatever they want. It is this creativity that keeps people FRESH, CREATIVE & INNOVATIVE.

It is this FRESHNESS, CREATIVITY & INNOVATION that differentiates companies that grow & succeed from companies that regress & fail.

Thankfully this creative time allowed Art Fry to develop the Post-It while working with 3M! Anyone who knows me well knows my obsession with Post-Its!

After 30 seconds of his Ted Talk, Stefan had inspired me to take TIME OFF.

Time to spend with loved ones, time to learn, time to focus on all the things I wasn’t getting to while I was working
Time to enjoy this ‘LOVELY AND ENERGETIC TIME’, time to fuel and nurture my creativity & innovation
Time to do whatever it is that I want to do

I’m currently over 4 years into my TIME OFF and even though I didn’t plan it to be so long, this TIME OFF has been an amazing gift.

Is there something you want to take TIME OFF FROM?

Do you take time to nurture & fuel your CREATIVITY & INNOVATION?

How much time do you spend pursuing what you want to pursue?

Want to join my weekly newsletter on all things positive change? Download your free ebook The A-Z of Effective Change below and I’ll see you there

Thanks for reading,

Siobhain

x x

Click to share this post

Do You Have Decision Fatigue?

Leave a reply

Click to share this post

Seemingly, adults make about 35,000 decisions a day.

Can you imagine how taxing that is on your brain? The more we do, the more decisions we have to make, the more decisions we make the more pressure is placed on our brains, minds and bodies.

The more pressure that is on us, the less we are able to make quality decisions.

According to Wikipedia, decision fatigue is ‘the deteriorating quality of decisions made by an individual after a long session of decision making. It is now understood as one of the causes of irrational trade-offs in decision making. Decision fatigue may also lead to consumers making poor choices with their purchases’.

The above graphic is a visual explanation of this.

To a certain point, which is different for all of us, we make good quality decisions, promptly and with confidence. These decisions yield the results we want and we move forward with our lives .

Past a certain point, which again is different for all of us, we make poor quality decisions, are slow to make these decisions and make them with less confidence. These decisions do not yield the results we want and we don’t move forward with our lives.

As you can see from the graph, when you move past this point, it’s a slippery slope!!

I know this from personal experience – a few years ago I was making good quality decisions, promptly and with confidence. These decisions yielded the results I wanted and I was moving forward with my life.

As I took on more and more work and became busier & busier, my decision making reduced in quality, became slower and I made decisions with a lot less confidence. These decisions yielded the results I did not want and I wasn’t moving forward with my life.

In hindsight I realised I had decision fatigue! Decision fatigue eventually led to burnout where it’s difficult to make any decisions at all!

How will you know if you have decision fatigue?

The biggest indicator of decision fatigue will be that you are getting results you don’t want. You will also notice that you are,

Slow to make decisions
Making poor or bad decisions
Overwhelmed with your to do list
Finding it hard to focus on the right decisions
Feeling irritable and on edge when having to make decisions

What is the cost of decision fatigue?

There is a big cost to decision fatigue as our decisions determine our actions and our actions create our lives. Decision fatigue will cost,

Your mental, physical, emotional & spiritual health
Your time, energy and money
Your sense of self

Decision fatigue can be hugely damaging yet eliminating it is very simple – if you want to make good quality decisions, slow down and take on less – the less you do, the better your decisions will be.

When you slow down, take on less, start making better decisions and eliminate decision fatigue,

You will enjoy your life & work more
You will save time, money & energy
Decisions you make will be made quicker
Decisions you make will yield the results that you want
You will be less overwhelmed, frustrated, unproductive
Decisions you make will be made with more confidence
Your mental, emotional, physical & spiritual health will improve

Do you have decision fatigue?

If so, what can you remove from your life to reduce or eliminate this fatigue?

I write a weekly email on all things positive change – if you want to join, download your free ebook The A-Z of Effective Change below and I’ll see you there.

Thanks for reading,

Siobhain

x x

Click to share this post

Is Your Life & Work In Flow?

Leave a reply

Click to share this post

Image Credit: The Internet

Have you heard of the concept of flow?

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi was a Hungarian-American psychologist who passed away on 20th October 2021. I’ve been aware of his work for ages and have become fascinated by the concept of flow.

‘In his best selling book ‘Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience’ Csíkszentmihályi outlined his theory that people are happiest when they are in a state of flow—a state of concentration or complete absorption with the activity at hand and the situation. Flow is a state in which people are so involved in an activity that nothing else seems to matter. The idea of flow is identical to the feeling of being in the zone or in the groove. The flow state is an optimal state of intrinsic motivation, where the person is fully immersed in what they are doing. This is a feeling everyone has at times, characterised by a feeling of great absorption, engagement, fulfillment, and skill and during which temporal concerns (time, food, ego-self, etc.) are typically ignored.’ Wikipedia

Doesn’t flow sound great?

You know that feeling when you are doing something or working on something and absolutely nothing else matters. You are in a world of your own and you could keep doing the activity or work forever and it would never get boring or dull?

This is FLOW.

It would make sense that we would want to spend as much time as possible in our personal & professional lives in a state of flow which Mihaly explains is a necessity for our happiness and well being.

Below is Mihaly’s model of flow in relation to challenge and ability.

‘To achieve a flow state, a balance must be struck between the challenge of the task and the skill of the performer. If the task is too easy or too difficult, flow cannot occur as both skill level and challenge level must be matched and high; if skill and challenge are low and matched, then apathy results.’ Wikipedia

How important is this model in terms of our personal and professional lives?

It is a quick and simple explanation of what we feel when we are either challenged too much or too little and what we feel when we possess or do not possess skills & abilities required to meet these challenges.

How helpful would this be in terms of happiness in our personal and professional lives?

What it does show is that to be happy, confident, contented & focused you need to be continuously challenged and continuously growing your skillset to match those challenges.

Fascinating eh?

Here are two amazing Ted Talks from the late, great Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi.

As well as explaining flow, in the video below, Mihaly also talks about the relationship between happiness & money and how it’s not a linear relationship meaning that gaining more and more money past a certain point will not bring you happiness!

TED Talk – Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi – Flow – 2004

In this Ted Talk, Mihaly goes deeper into the relationship between happiness and flow.

Living in flow – the secret of happiness with Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi at Happiness & Its Causes 2014

Lean philosophy is all about growth of people in the workplace to ensure growth of business. There wouldn’t be much growth of people or business if everyone were anxious, worried, apathetic or bored!

Hence the necessity to prioritise people’s skill development and challenge to match.

This ensures your workforce are alert, focused, happy, confident and contented. All necessities for people & business growth.

I’m in flow when I spend time with family & friends or when I am writing, reading, creating content, teaching, learning/researching, exercising, traveling, taking/editing photos. Not surprising then that these are my passions in life.

When are you in flow?

Is your work/business in flow?

How can you bring more flow into your life?

Here’s to more flow in all of our lives!

Want to read more about Positive Change?

Download your free e-book ‘The A-Z of Effective Change’ below.

Thanks for reading,

Siobhain

x x

Click to share this post

What’s In and Out of Your Control?

2 Replies

Click to share this post

Where does your time, energy and focus go?

Is it on what you control?

Is it on what you don’t control?

Over time I have learned that there is only one thing you control in this life and that is yourself.

Everything outside of yourself is out of your control.

Every person, every event, every situation, every single thing outside of yourself is out of your control.

Because of this, wouldn’t it make sense to give the majority of our time and energy to what we can control?

In an ideal world the answer would be yes but we don’t live in an ideal world. We live in a messy, unpredictable, busy world where most of what we encounter during our daily lives is outside of us.

So if we don’t control what is outside of us, how do we change it?

We can try to.change things outside of us yet it’s much easier to just control our reaction to things outside of us.

We absolutely 100% can control our reaction to every single thing that happens.

Easier said than done for sure.

The next time you are in a situation that you want to change, think about the following,

1. How can I accept this?

Eckhart Tolle in my favourite book The Power of Now suggests to accept everything as if we had chosen it.

Following this acceptance, Eckhart then suggests to ask what the situation is trying to teach us.

Acceptance of difficult situations is not easy yet is totally in our control.

Acceptance is a concept that takes a bit of getting used to but absolutely brings much peace of mind.

2. Can I change this?

Yes, then change it.

No, then how can I change how I view it?

Wayne Dyer in his masterpiece book ‘Change Your Thoughts, Change Your Life’ introduces the concept of changing how we view things which doesn’t change what they are but changes our perception of them.

Wayne’s beautiful quote sums up this thinking ‘If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change. Again, a concept that takes a bit of getting usd to but also brings much peace of mind.

How we view and think about any situation is totally in our control

3. Do I need to make a long term plan?

If you can’t accept something and can’t change it then the only other option is to remove yourself from the situation.

This is not always straight forward or easy and might take some planning on your part.
While you plan to remove yourself from the situation, acceptance and changing how you view the situation will go a long way to protecting you and your mental health.

Making a plan to remove yourself from the situation will give you something to focus on other than the situation itself.

4. Reflect on your reaction

The more I reflect, the more I learn about how I react in situations that I want to change and how I make decisions, big and small.

Reflection is one of the most powerful things you can do to learn more about yourself.

Do you reflect on decisions you make and how you react to situations you want to change?

Reflection on and learning from every situation is totally in our control.

The next time you are faced with a challenging situation you want to change, I hope the above will support you with acceptance, changing how you view the situation, planning to remove yourself from it and reflection on all of the above.

As mentioned above, here are 2 life changing books that I love and that you might love also..

‘The Power of Now’ by Eckhart Tolle

By far my favourite book of all time, if you only ever read one book in your lifetime, let it be this one! Eckhart’s follow on book ‘A New Earth’ is equally as good.

‘Change Your Thoughts, Change Your Life’ by Dr Wayne Dyer

An incredible book on how to change situations by changing how we think about them which is turn totally transforms our lives. Anything by Dr. Wayne Dyer is a transformational read.

Want to join my weekly newsletter on all things positive change? Download your free ebook The A-Z of Effective Change below and I’ll see you there.

Thanks for reading,

Siobhain

x x

Click to share this post

Is What You Think, Say & Do Aligned?

Leave a reply

Click to share this post

Mahatma Gandhi is well renowned for his deep wisdom and I just love his quote,

“Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.”

Is what you THINK, SAY & DO in harmony?

This is a very simple question but takes some deep thought to answer.

Does what you THINK ALIGN WITH WHAT YOU SAY?

Does what you SAY ALIGN WITH WHAT YOU DO?

Of course this is a difficult place to get to at all times but even being aware of the relationship between what you THINK, SAY & DO is a step closer to happiness.

Here’s where unhappiness creeps in.

When we don’t say what we think, we bottle it up.

This not only causes discord within us but can cause discord with others as we aren’t SPEAKING OUR TRUTH.

When we don’t behave aligned with what we say, we are giving off mixed signals. Again, this not only causes discord within us but can cause discord with others as we are not LIVING OUR TRUTH.

If we do the above for long enough what we THINK, SAY & DO becomes misaligned resulting in deep happiness.

I’m sure Mahatma Gandhi didn’t mean that we tell everyone our each and every thought.

The interpretation I take from his quote, is more around being true to ourselves in our being.

That we are THINKING, SAYING & DOING aligned to our values and to who we are at our core. That we are speaking up for ourselves and what we believe in, that we are striving to be the very best version of ourselves that we can be.

I am at my unhappiest when what I THINK, SAY & DO are out of alignment and at my happiest when what I THINK, SAY & DO are aligned as much as possible.

Is what you THINK, SAY & DO aligned & in harmony?

How can you achieve more alignment in what you THINK, SAY & DO?

Here’s a super video on the power of truth telling.

The Power of Truth Telling | Christine Carter | TEDxThacherSchool

Want to read more about Positive Change?

Download your free e-book ‘The A-Z of Effective Change’ below.

Thanks for reading,

Siobhain

x x

Click to share this post

Where are you on the Emotional Scale?

Leave a reply

Click to share this post

Image Credit: Madhuri Gupta

Our emotions, whether consciously or subconsciously drive every single thing we do.

Emotions are not only in the driving seat, they’ve got Google Maps!

Our emotions set the direction & determine our each and every move.

They determine what we say & how we say it, determine what we think and subsequently determine what comes in and out of our lives.

Pretty important yeah?

Well worth some time to evaluate and understand!

So, for today, tomorrow and beyond, where do you want your emotions to take you?

The image above is the Emotional Guidance Scale. This is attributed to Abraham Hicks and is a scale of emotions going from the highest of joy, empowerment, love, freedom to the lowest of fear, powerlessness & depression.

Take a look at the emotional scale, create some quiet time for yourself and have a think about where you currently are on this emotional scale, what are your underlying emotions each and every day?

Of course our emotions can fluctuate during the day but at a high level we will find ourselves in and around a few numbers on the scale.

Are you on the upward spiral where you are feeling hopeful, optimistic, positive, enthusiastic & content?

Are you on the downward spiral where you are feeling overwhelmed, frustrated, disappointed, doubtful, worried, angry & discouraged?

Wherever you are on this scale, ask what is contributing to your emotions and what changes can you make to move yourself up the upward spiral.

Every one of us should be aiming for & moving towards the pinnacle of the upper scale spiral of joy, knowledge, empowerment, freedom, love and appreciation. I smile just thinking about these words!

After taking on way too much work & many steep learning curves last year, I was hovering around overwhelmed, frustrated, disappointed & impatient and had much work to do to climb back to the upward spiral of hopeful, positive, enthusiastic and content!

Where are you on the Emotional Scale?

Where would you like to be?

How will you get there?

Thanks for reading,

Siobhain

x x

Want to read more about Positive Change?

Download your free e-book ‘The A-Z of Effective Change’ below.

Click to share this post

21 Lessons Learned in 2021

Leave a reply

Click to share this post

I love looking back, reflecting on and learning from what has gone by, then using these learnings to create positive change in my life. 2021 was a year of many lessons learned, some harder than previous years but all very valuable.

When you start to treat both wins & challenges as lessons learned, life’s ups and downs become wondrous and exciting and even the challenging times seem to have a sparkly silver lining!

Here is 21 of my favourite lessons learned from 2021,

Time with loved ones is the most precious gift
Our most important relationship is with ourselves
The only person who defines our value & our worth is ourselves
People are amazing, that includes YOU!
Health is wealth
Money cannot buy health but health is required to make money (read that again)
Abundance is not just about money – it is about love, health, time, freedom and everything else important that money can’t buy
You need a vision to give you direction in life & business – no vision, no direction, no progress
Where & with who we spend our time & energy directly impacts our mental, physical, emotional & spiritual health
Everyone needs support and everyone deserves to be supported
Loving who you are and loving what you do is the key to inner happiness & contentment
Burnout and boreout are very real & very damaging
To create a new version of ourselves, we need to let go of the old version
For introverts, solitude is just as important as oxygen
We are the authors of our own story – no-one else holds the pen
How we spend our energy is just as important as how we spend our time
No growth occurs in the comfort of our comfort zones
Everyone has challenges that most people know nothing about
Acceptance of challenging times goes a long way to overcoming them
Everything is on time and in perfect time
Florence & The Machine were spot on – ‘It’s always darkest before the dawn’!

What lessons did you learn in 2021?

How will these learnings support you in 2022?

I’d love to know what you learned in 2021, comment below or share with me on social.

I hope that whatever 2021 brought you, you can build on & learn from it to make 2022 your best year ever.

May 2022 bring you and your loved ones health, happiness, peace & prosperity.

Thanks for reading, stay safe,

Siobhain

x x

Below is a list of blog posts designed to support you with your Annual Review, you can download your ‘Annual Review Workbook’ below also.

5 Steps To Your Annual Review

Get SERIOUS about your Intentions and Goals for 2022

Click to share this post

Annual Review 2021

Leave a reply

Click to share this post

In the Lean/Continuous Improvement world we carry out ‘Hansei’ which is Japanese for ‘Self-Reflection’. Hansei allows us to reflect on our goals evaluating what worked so we can celebrate & build on the successes and also evaluating what didn’t work so we can adjust and change direction. I have been carrying out a personal Hansei in the form of an Annual Review for many years and find it hard to believe this is the 9th year I have published this review online. See annual reviews from past years at the end of this blog post.

2020 was a year like no other on a global scale and for me 2021 felt like the hangover from 2020! In 2021 I reached very few of the goals I set for myself and it was a year of immense unplanned and challenging change.

Whatever 2021 brought you, I hope you find time to reflect on your year, leave behind what doesn’t serve you and bring into 2022 everything that supports and nurtures you.

I use my version of the Wheel of Life below, you could use this or your own version for your goal setting and reviewing. Below is my Annual Review for the year that was 2021,

Relationships:

As always, Mike, my family and my friends are my reason for everything. and the source of much of my happiness. Similarly to 2020, even though we were in lockdown and in varying degrees of restrictions, I spent loads of time with Mike and my family in 2021. Working from home, removing the long commute from my day and working reduced hours gave me precious time to spend with those I love.

Everything has a silver lining, for me this was definitely the silver lining for 2020 & 2021, more quality time with loved ones and less rushing & racing around trying to get everything done.

I will be bringing this slower, less stressful, more peaceful way of life with me into 2022.

Similar to most people, I didn’t get abroad in 2021 but I did enjoy many day trips with family & friends and spent lots of time with family in my hometown of Kilfinane which was lovely. I also attended my friend’s Fiona & Trevor’s wedding (as photographer) which was amazing and I had a few days away after that.

Here’s hoping the world becomes safer so we can travel freely in 2022 and enjoy holidays & weekends away with loved ones again!

Health is Wealth:

There is no truer saying than health is wealth.

In 2021 my loved ones remained safe and healthy which is the greatest gift of all. I hope you and your loved ones remained safe during 2021, we have more work to do to ensure this in 2022

I have always been aware of the importance of physical, mental, emotional, & spiritual health and over the past few years, for many reasons, this awareness has been brought to a deeper level. 2021 was challenging for me in all areas of my health and I didn’t reach any of the goals I set for myself. Healthy habits I had spent years building were broken and I have much work to do to embed them again.

I suffered serious burnout early in 2021 which pretty much negatively impacted the rest of 2021 for me. This was due to working a day job and trying to build a business on the side – lesson learned! Following this, I stopped working on my writing & business for most of 2021 and took a break from social media for about 8 months.

Physical, mental, emotional, & spiritual health is a journey and just like any other journey, it’s important to keep learning & keep moving forward no matter the pace!!

Here’s to a healthy 2022 in Mind, Body & Soul for us all!

Finance:

Every year I learn more and more about personal finance and every year I wish personal finance was a subject I learned in school, it certainly would have saved me much trial and error. Just like health, finance is a journey of which learning & understanding are constant companions.

In 2021 my entrepreneur income (outside my day job) was more than ever! 8% of my income came from entrepreneur work and 3 separate income streams which was very exciting!

In contrast to this, my earnings were the lowest they have been in a very long time. I was on reduced hours due to the pandemic and then I left my day job in October, without another job. For a million reasons this was the best decision for me, albeit a difficult one.

I am a born optimist and so always find a silver lining. In leaving my day job, what I have lost in income I have gained in the precious resource of time. Where and with who I spend this valuable resource means more to me than anything money can buy.

Ironically when I left my day job, my income reduced but I felt more abundant in so many other areas of my life. This taught me that abundance is not just about money – it is also about love, time, health, freedom and everything else that money cannot buy.

Work/Business/Purpose:

In 2021 everything changed immensely for me in terms of my work, writing & business.

I got very serious about setting up my own business early in 2021 and with the support of my moach (mentor & coach) Natalie Sisson and her 10K Club I realised many firsts in my business.

I launched and delivered my first 6 week online course of which I loved every minute of. I held my first free webinar and my first paid webinars. I was interviewed on Natalie Sisson’s podcast and Sharon Singh Sidhu’s podcast which were my very first podcasts. I ran my first 5 day email challenge which was not very successful but was an abundance of lessons learned. I co-started the Women in Lean (WIL) Personal Strategy Table with Debbie Barnard. WIL is an amazing group of Women in Lean founded by Karyn Ross and Dorsey Sherman where we share our knowledge, thoughts, wins & challenges of being part of the wonderful world of Lean.

In Q1, all of the above on top of a day job resulted in me taking on way too much work and getting seriously burnt out. This was awful and I felt the effects of it in every area of my life for the rest of the year.

As mentioned above, I left my day job in October, without another job. This was not an easy decision but it was the right decision for me at the time. Following this, what I had in income was replaced with the precious resource of time.

I had time to myself, time for those I love, time to think, plan, dream and be, time to close projects, time to write, time to schedule social media posts, time to do what brings me joy fulfilment and happiness. After I left work I had so much time for writing and loved every minute of it, writing makes me blissfully happy.

One constant in my work in 2021 was my weekly email to those on my mailing list. I am so grateful to everyone who has signed up for this weekly email as without knowing it they were a flashlight when the light at the end of the professional tunnel was very dim.

If you want to sign up to my mailing list and receive my weekly email, download your free ebook linked in the image below and you’ll be signed up.

Another constant throughout 2021 was the support of my small but mighty team. Debbie, Madhuri and Mugdha are a dream to work with and supported me more than they can realise in 2021.

Over the past few years I have missed Travel Photography so much. In 2022 I am going to reenergise my passion for Travel Photography and am very much looking forward to this – watch this space.

2021 brought so much change in my professional world – some planned but mostly unplanned. I have realised that life is a bit like this, no matter how much we plan, the path that is meant for us (not necessarily the path we plan) will always be the path we travel!

Personal Development:

Reading physical books is one of my favourite things to do. I love audiobooks but there is nothing more relaxing than sitting with a physical book and immersing myself in it’s wisdom.

Here’s a list of books I read & loved in 2021 and highly recommend. Think & Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill, and The Power of Intention and Wishes Fulfilled by Dr Wayne Dyer (RIP), Start with Why by Simon Sinek, The Greatest Salesman by Og Mandino, The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle, The 5 Invitations by Frank Ostaseski, The Seat of the Soul by Gary Zukav, Ranger 22 by Ray Goggins, The 4 Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz, Ikigai by Hector Garcia & Francesc Miralles.

‘Learning to Lead, Leading to Learn’ (hard copy & audible) was my absolute favourite book of 2021. Lean is a business philosophy that I follow both professionally & personally. Every year I am more aware of the power & necessity of a Lean culture/strategy in business and the importance of growing people to grow business. Katie’s book ‘‘Learning to Lead, Leading to Learn’ absolutely nails the philosophy of people centric leadership & business. If you are in leadership & business of any kind, I highly recommend Katie’s book.

I completed the Certificate in Business & Executive Coaching and loved every minute of it. The biggest learning I took from it is that life coaching, while designed to support others, is really a journey of self discovery. If you don’t take that journey yourself, you can’t support others to do so!

In 2020/2021, I bought many online courses but didn’t have the time to dedicate to all of them. Now I’m not working, I’ll have plenty time to go through all these courses and am looking forward to it all.

Social Life/Fun:

This category could be combined with relationships as it is with those I love that I have the most fun times. No-one makes me laugh out loud more than those I love and those who love me, they are food for my soul!

Reflection on this category of my life is short and sweet which kind of sums up my social life!!!

Environment:

This category for me is about the planet and also our beautiful home.

In terms of the planet, I reduced my plastic usage but the more I reduced, the more I realised I used. This is a work in progress. Global warming is a very real thing and small steps taken by many can really make a difference.

Mike and I cleared out our spare room so I could have a home office. It’s all set up with my Visual Management boards and I absolutely love it.

Even though I have read Marie Kondo’s ‘The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up’ I seem to be continuously clearing clutter! I haven’t carried out Marie’s technique to banish clutter for once and or all – maybe 2022 is the year for that!

Contribution:

I have been supporting 4 main charities for many years and year on year I try to give more to each charity. Charities have been severely impacted by the global pandemic and so need our support more than ever.

That’s it, my 2021 in review.

As with all Annual Reviews, looking back and reviewing my year brings pride in what I have achieved but also many lessons learned and things I would like to do differently that I will bring into 2022.

Thank you for reading my blog posts and your kind words during 2021, I really appreciate your support. I hope whatever 2021 brought you that you can build on & learn from it to make 2022 your best year ever.

May 2022 bring you and your loved ones health, happiness, peace & prosperity.

Thanks for reading, stay safe,

Siobhain

x x x

Want to carry out your own Annual Review? Below is a list of blog posts designed to support you with your annual review, you can download your ‘Annual Review Workbook’ below also.

5 Reasons To Prioritise Your Annual Review

5 Steps To Your Annual Review

Get SERIOUS about your Intentions and Goals for 2022

My previous annual reviews can be found below,

Annual Review 2013 Annual Review 2014 Annual Review 2015 Annual Review 2016

Annual Review 2017 Annual Review 2018 Annual Review 2019

Annual Review 2020

Click to share this post