Category Archives: Thoughts On Change

3 Steps To Your Quarterly Review

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Image Credit: Madhuri Gupta

The end of every quarter is a super time to look back and reflect on how things went and plan for the quarter ahead.

Personal strategy is all about creating an amazing, fulfilled, purposeful and meaningful life yet it is only as good as the reflection you do and the action you take as a result.

Your quarterly review is a deep dive into the progress of your goals which is way more than we see daily, weekly and monthly. As humans we are wired to perform better when we are making progress which is why reflection is so important. You may not think you are making progress yet you are probably making way more progress than you think. 

On reflection, this will become very clear!

First let’s start with why your quarterly review is important. 

Simon Sinek is famous for his brilliant TED Talk ‘How great leaders inspire action’ with over 13 million views on YouTube. In this video, Simon talks about the importance of knowing your ‘why’ in terms of everything you do.

When it comes to everything in your life, your why is the first step to success. 

Here are 3 reasons why your quarterly review deserves to be your priority, 

  1. It slows you down and gives you time to think

We live in an extremely fast paced world where we seem to be so busy all the time. 

Reflection of any kind allows us to be still in the present moment and to give the necessary time and space required to learn from the past. 

Not to dwell on or judge the past, but to take the learnings from it and move forward with more knowledge, focus, intention, purpose, motivation & understanding of what our priorities are.

Do you give yourself the gift of sufficient time & space to reflect regularly and learn from reflection?

  1. It allows you to celebrate your success and take action to create more

We make progress in our lives every day yet we are sometimes so busy getting things done that we don’t see all of our wins and successes.

Reflecting on the past 3 months highlights all the amazing wins and successes you have every single day of which we all have so many.

When we understand what contributes to our success, we can replicate and build on this to bring more success. 

Do you celebrate your wins or do you move through life at the speed of light, not looking back to acknowledge and celebrate your success?

  1. It allows you to acknowledge challenges and transform them into success

Challenges are a normal part of life. 

Sometimes we don’t want to face our challenges yet it is from these challenges that we can grow the most as human beings.

When we reflect on our challenges we can learn from them and take action to avoid them in the future. Avoiding our challenges in the future also gives us space to turn our challenges into opportunities for success. 

Do you acknowledge your challenges, learn from them and take action to turn them into opportunities for success?

  • We spend much time learning from the outside world yet our greatest learnings happen when we take notice of and reflect on our own lives.
  • Nothing will teach you more than your own life, isn’t that worth giving some precious time to?​

​Here are the four steps to carry our your quarterly review,​

​Step 1: Grab a notebook and pen

Henriette Anne Klauser’s book Write it down, Make it Happen outlines the science behind physically writing down your goals, giving them a higher chance of success.

One of the most powerful ways to track your goals and reflect on them is daily journalling. If you have been journaling over the past three months, your journal will be an invaluable source of learning.

​I use ​Moleskine journals ​for writing and reflecting on goals. Moleskine journals are beautiful, hard wearing and in my humble opinion the best journals in the world!

If someone were to ask me where to start with any change in their life I would say buy a nice notebook and write down your goals, it’s so simple yet so effective. 

I also use the following online tools yet pen and paper will always be my favourite.

✅ The ​Asana App​  is super easy to use, is highly organised and is an excellent project management tool.

✅ All of the ​Google Suite​ tools (Docs, Sheets & Slides) are easy to use and all connect seamlessly.

​ Step 2: Categorise the areas of your life​

Life can be very busy and so it’s important that your goals have clear and defined categories in which to sit, this also makes reflection so much easier.

I use the Wheel of Life to categorise my life into Sense of Self, Relationships, Health, Work, Finance, Fun/Experiences, Environment & Contribution, you can use these or create categories of your own.

​​Step 3: Reflect and learn

Reflection and learning can go as deep as you want to go, below are a list of simple questions if you are just starting out with reflection.

Reflection question 1: What went well over the past 3 months?

There are so many blessings in our lives each and every day, sometimes it’s just a matter of taking a closer look to find them, you may see that life goes your way more than you may realise.

Below are examples of questions that will reflect on what went well for you over the past 3 months. Take time to think deeply about the answers, document what comes to mind and enjoy the process.

Over the past 3 months, 

  • What did you do that you enjoyed?
  • What worked out how you wanted?
  • What brought you joy and happiness?
  • How did you bring success into your life?
  • Where did you spend your time that brought you joy?
  • When were you at your happiest over the past 3 months?

Reflection question 2: What didn’t go well over the past 3 months?

Happiness and unhappiness go hand in hand, no human life is devoid of either.

There is no such thing as the perfect life that is happy all the time, however there is a level of contentment and inner peace that can be reached by understanding what takes our joy away and working to understand, avoid and eliminate this.

Our challenges can turn into opportunities for success if we take the time to evaluate and learn from them.

Below are examples of questions that reflect on what didn’t go well for you over the past 3 months. Take time to think deeply about the answers, document what comes to mind and enjoy the process.

Over the past 3 months,

  • What didn’t work how you wanted?
  • What happened that you didn’t enjoy?
  • What challenges did you experience?
  • How did you deal with these challenges?
  • Where did you spend your time that didn’t bring you joy?
  • When were you at your unhappiest over the past 3 months?

Reflection question 3: What did you learn in each area of your life?

The only way we evolve as humans is by learning and by using these learnings to take action that propels us forward. 

The below questions on each category in the wheel of life will support you to turn your learnings into action.

Sense of Self: What did you learn about yourself? How did you grow and evolve as a person? Have you dedicated time to personal development? What did you learn about your relationship with yourself, has your relationship with yourself improved or disimproved?

Relationships: What did you learn about your relationship with others, has your relationship with others improved or disimproved? Are there relationships you want but don’t have? Are there relationships you have but don’t want?

Health: What did you learn about your physical, mental, emotional and spiritual health?  Did you give sufficient time to your health? Did your health improve? Did your health disimprove?

Work: What did you learn about your work? Are you growing and developing in your work? Has your work moved forward and improved? Has your work moved backward and disimproved? Is your work bringing you joy and peace or misery and stress?

Finance: What did you learn about personal finance? Did your personal finances improve? Did your personal finances disimprove? Did your mindset around finance and abundance improve? 

Experiences/Fun: Did you have fun and enjoyable experiences over the past 3 months? What experiences did you enjoy? What experiences did you not enjoy? How can you bring more fun island enjoyable experiences into your life?

Environment: What did you learn about your environment? Did your environment improve? For me environment relates to my home and also our planet, both are of immense importance to me and bring me happiness and joy.

Contribution: What did you learn about contribution?  Did you make the world a better place by contributing your time, money or skills? Giving doesn’t have to be grand gestures, giving in the smallest possible way can often be the most impactful.

⭐️ No matter how the past 3 months went for you, know that you are worth celebrating.

⭐️ Even just being here is reason enough to celebrate, everything on top of that is a bonus. 

Wishing you health and happiness as you look back at the past 3 months and look forward to the next 3 months.

I write a 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

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Zzzzz

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Thanks to the brilliant Andy Kefford for the above image

“The Only Thing That Is Constant Is Change”

This quote from Heraclitus suggests change is constantly happening and is inevitable. As we change and evolve every second, minute, hour and day of our lives it is essential that we find time in our busy schedules to rest and recharge our body, mind and soul.

Whatever we do for rest and relaxation, whether it’s reading, listening to music, spending time alone, spending time with others, exercising, meditating, sleeping or just being, it is so very important to schedule rest and relaxation into our calendar each and every day.

Resting, relaxing, reconnecting with ourselves will not only replenish our energy levels, keeping our mind and body and spirit healthy, it will also keep us sane!!!

My basics for resting and relaxation are spending time with family and friends, solitude,  reading, writing, meditating, journaling and exercising.

As we are all different and unique, only you will know best how to bring rest and relaxation into your life. Only you will know how you best bring rest and relaxation into your life – do you make time for this in your life during times of change?

What are your basics for rest and relaxation?

Do you make enough time for rest and relaxation? 

‘We will be more successful in all our endeavors if we can let go of the habit of running all the time, and take little pauses to relax and re-center ourselves. And we’ll also have a lot more joy in living.’ Thich Nhat Hanh

Want to read more?

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

Thanks for reading,

Siobhain

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You

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Thanks to the brilliant Andy Kefford for the above image

All change starts and ends with you.

No matter how big or small, no matter how long it takes, no matter how crazy it sounds, no matter how many doubts and fears you have – all change that you want to see and bring into your life starts with you.

We may think that we need external factors to bring change into our lives and be happy with such change. We all know the saying ‘I’ll be happy when….’. This may be true for short term unsustainable change but for real long term sustainable changes in life and in business it is internal factors that determine success.

How much do we want change and how hard are we going to work for it?

When it comes to change, Mahatma Gandhi summed it up when he said 

‘Be the change you want to see in the world’.

How can we expect the world around us to change if we remain the same? 

How can we expect more from life without changing ourselves?

What change do you want to see in your world?

“If we don’t change, we don’t grow. If we don’t grow, we aren’t really living.”  Gail Sheehy

Want to read more?

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

Thanks for reading,

Siobhain

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Xtra Effort

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Thanks to the brilliant Andy Kefford for the above image

No matter what type of change you are going through or implementing you will need strength.

Strength to ensure you follow through on what is required for change, strength to be able to support yourself through change, strength to support others through change and strength to ensure you keep going no matter what external factors and obstacles may come your way.

If you put extra effort into building your Physical, Mental and Emotional strength, nothing will get in your way of change. Keeping your mind, body and emotions strong and healthy will make everything along the path of change is that little bit easier.

How do you put xtra effort into your physical, mental and emotional strength?

Are you putting in xtra effort towards the change you want?

‘No matter what kind of challenges or difficulties or painful situations you go through in your life, we all have something deep within us that we can reach down and find the inner strength to get through them.’  Alana Stewart

How do you build your physical, mental and emotional strength?

Want to read more?

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

Thanks for reading,

Siobhain

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Work

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Thanks to the brilliant Andy Kefford for the above image

As outlined in my previous post, having a grand vision is critical to creating and sustaining positive change in your professional and personal life.

When you have determined what your vision is, then it’s work – consistent work, hard work, and focused work that is required to realise your vision.

Sustainable change is a step by step process. Each step towards change requires a different type of work. A new skill may be required or you may need to re-energise  the skills you already have, it may be research or planning that is the next step, delegation of work may be the best way to go or asking for the help and the support of others. You may require inner work to build up your confidence, bravery, patience, resilience and motivation, all necessary elements for change.

One of my favourite quotes by Brendon Burchard comes to mind when thinking about the amount of work required for change,

‘When you knock on the door of opportunity, do not be surprised that it is work who answers.’ Brendon Burchard

What work do you have to do to implement the change you desire?

What new skills do you need?

What personal development will support you?

Want to read more?

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

Thanks for reading,

Siobhain

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Vision

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Thanks to the brilliant Andy Kefford for the above image

In order to bring Positive Change into your personal life, professional life or business you will need a VISION.

As defined by the Oxford Dictionary, a vision is the ability to think about or plan the future with imagination or wisdom, a mental image of what the future will or could be like, a vivid mental image, especially a fanciful one of the future.

A favourite quote of mine from is

“Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars.” Norman Vincent Peale

Shooting for the moon is indeed a grand vision but why would you shoot for anything less?

The above quote is so true and something to keep in mind when you are creating your own grand vision.

A grand vision will stretch you personally and professionally to work towards it.

A grand vision will ensure you either reach the moon or do indeed fall among the stars.

A grand vision will keep you on track, keep you centered, keep you focused on your goals and will bring clarity and comfort when times get tough.

In the world of Lean we use the term True North to describe where we are aspire to be and what we are working towards.

True North like a vision becomes the compass that continuously shows you where you are going and if you are on or off track.

When you are clear what your vision is you can take the action required to bring your vision to life.

What is your personal vision?

What is your professional vision/vision for your company?

Are you working towards this vision every day?

‘Vision is the art of seeing what is invisible to others’ Jonathan Swift

Want to read more?

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

Thanks for reading,

Siobhain

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Unknown

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Thanks to the brilliant Andy Kefford for the above image

All change requires taking a leap of faith into the unknown.

We know we want to change, we know we need to change, we know what we have to do to change, yet the path to change is unknown and mostly the destination of change is also unknown.  

Leaping into the unknown may create feelings of stress and anxiety but those feelings will soon pass as the journey to change commences. With every step we take along the path of change, we become more comfortable with change, more comfortable with the unknown that lies ahead and sometimes we learn to enjoy the journey into the unknown.

The unknown is more common than we realise.

Every day we wake up we are faced with the unknown, nobody knows what the day ahead holds. We may know where we are going every day (work, school, college, holidays) but nobody knows what will happen or what the day holds in store for us.

When we become familiar and comfortable with the unknown, it becomes less of a scary concept.

Instead of stressful and anxious feelings we start to feel excited and inspired by the unknown which allows us to take even bigger strides towards positive change.

‘The challenge of the unknown future is so much more exciting than the stories of the accomplished past’  Simon Sinek

Want to read more? Download your free e-book ‘The A-Z of Effective Change’ below. 

Thanks for reading,

Siobhain

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Time

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Thanks to the brilliant Andy Kefford for the above image

As mentioned in previous posts, sustainable change takes time, lots of time.

If you want to make change you will need to protect your time like a lioness protects her new-born cub! Your time belongs to you, it is solely yours and only you can decide where your time goes.

Sometimes we give so freely of our time that it becomes someone else’s and we are left wondering where it went!!

Would you give your money away as freely as you give your time? I didn’t think so!!

One of my all time favourite quotes is by Jim Rohn, 

‘Time is more valuable than money. You can get more money, but you cannot get more time’ Jim Rohn

This quote is so true and is especially pertinent when you are going through personal or professional change.

Take time to think, time to plan, time to ensure your decisions are the right ones for you, ensure your time remains your own and is spent wisely on bringing the change you are working towards into being.

Who uses your time?

is it the same person who uses your money?

Something to think about!

Want to read more?

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

Thanks for reading,

Siobhain

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Support

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Thanks to the brilliant Andy Kefford for the above image

No matter who we are or what our roles are in life we all need support.

Personal and professional change is a certainty and no matter how big or small the changes we go through are, change is made so much easier with support from those close to us.

Support doesn’t have to be a big grand gesture, more often than not it is the small gestures, the small acts and words of support that can make the biggest difference.

Are you giving support to those close to you personally and professionally?

Are you receiving the support you need?

Surround yourself with those who care about you and who will be by your side through thick and thin. Having sincere and active support will help you, guide you, motivate you and inspire you. 

‘ Be strong, be fearless, be beautiful. And believe that anything is possible when you have the right people there to support you’ Misty Copeland

Want to read more?

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

Thanks for reading,

Siobhain

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Respect

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Thanks to the brilliant Andy Kefford for the above image

Respect for yourself and others is a critical ingredient for lasting business and personal relationships. Without respect in relationships you will always be on shaky ground and making sustainable positive changes will continuously be an uphill struggle.

Respect and the importance of respect can mean something different for everyone and so you need to figure out what respect means and how important it is to you.

What does it mean to have self-respect in your personal and professional relationships?

What respect do you give and want from others in your personal and professional relationships?

What are your boundaries in terms of this respect?

To have respect for others you first must have respect for yourself. Just like Pinky in the image above, he must first have his respect t-shirt on before he can give respect t-shirts to his friends.

Respect for yourself will ensure that situations you find yourself in are healthy for you and healthy for others and that decisions you make are based on a very solid foundation. If a situation is not healthy for you or you find your boundaries are being compromised, your internal self-respect compass will give you the strength and courage to face these situations and determine next steps.

Giving respect to others shows you value them which makes personal and professional relationships strong and enduring. in times of change relationships built on mutual respect will stand the test of time.  

Give respect to those close to you and there is no surer thing but it will be reciprocated!

‘One of the most sincere forms of respect is actually listening to what another has to say’ 

Bryant H. McGill

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Siobhain

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Originality

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