Tune In To Your Strengths

Happy New Year everyone! It’s not too late to wish you a HNY is it? I mean there are 11 months left afterall!

At this time of year many of us spend a lot of time looking at the year ahead. We focus on our goals and our aims, what we want to accomplish and achieve and what areas we want to improve on. We often feel very excited at our list of goals but the excitement can dissipate as the year moves on and we realise that some of these goals are not being realised. I think we spend too much time focusing on what we want to improve on and not enough time acknowledging what we’re already good at. If we spent more time looking inwards and observing our strengths, we would feel better and could end up achieving more. 

Imagine yourself as a radio- you have a choice to tune in to whatever station takes your fancy. Next time you find yourself listening to 'how you can improve', retune the station and listen to 'all the things you’re already good at.'

Enjoy your day, enjoy your week but most of all enjoy who you are and all the wonderful strengths within you that make you so unique and awesome!

Declutter Your Space

I often talk to my two best friends about the importance of decluttering and I thought this would be a perfect topic for my blog post.

We’ve all experienced clutter in the home or in the workplace. In my house, the most cluttered space is the bedroom chair; jeans, tops, t-shirts, socks, all get thrown on to the same little space. I find myself watching the clothes accumulate until the moment where nothing else can fit on the pile and it’s only then that I take the initiative to sort the clothes out! But what a lovely feeling I get when it’s done! Suddenly I can see the chair again and calmness fills the room. Does this sound familiar?

In contrast though is my desk, this is the place where I work and I need a clean and tidy space to do so. It’s such a nice feeling to sit down each morning to a declutted space. My message today is that I honestly believe a clear space can create a clear head.

So next time you find yourself surrounded by clutter, spend a few moments decluttering and see how it makes you feel!

Sky's The Limit!

Your imagination is one of your greatest assets! We all have the ability to think and create whatever we want in our imagination. However, often when we start to dream about what we want, our negative self-talk voice can interrupt the flow of thoughts by telling us we will never be able to achieve our dreams. But why should we listen to this voice? Don’t be afraid to use your imagination. Life is short and you only get one so remember the sky’s the limit! What are you dreaming today?

Don't Suppress Negativity

Every week at some point you will experience a negative emotion. Perhaps you’ll feel sad, angry, anxious or fearful. There are of course many different reasons as to why we feel negativity, but it’s how you deal with those feelings that determine how long they last.

I used to think that the best way to deal with negative emotions was to try and escape them. However, I have since realised that it can be very damaging to suppress your negativity. Imagine an issue that gets you down time and time again. You can cover it up very easily just by the distractions you encounter every day-but all you are doing is pushing it away from the surface-and it will at some point reoccur presenting you with the same negative feelings over and over again unless-of course- you deal with it.

So how do you deal with it? Well we don’t want to confront negativity with negativity! So here’s the hard part….next time you feel a negative emotion, instead of trying to push it away, try and embrace it. Show compassion towards it. Focus on the feeling and breathe with the feeling. Notice the parts of your body that feel tense or uneasy as you experience your negative emotion. And remember, nothing’s permanent. The feeling will pass.

I’ve been working hard on this one, and believe me you will become better at dealing with your negative emotions. You’re just re-wiring your way of dealing with negativity.

Leave Your Tunnel of Mishaps Behind You

Do you ever have those days where everything is going wrong? Perhaps you slept through your alarm, you burnt your toast, your train got cancelled, you were late for work …you experienced a snowball effect of mishaps right in front of your eyes…ah poor you!! Do you then find yourself at 10am thinking, ‘this is going to be such a rubbish day’ simply because of a few mishaps? Well next time you feel like this, remember that there are still many hours left in your day, and therefore a lot of time to experience some really positive moments. Don’t give up on your day so easily, don’t accept that that’s the way it is going to be today! Move out of the mishap tunnel into the open space that allows positivity to sweep back in to your life. Enjoy your day.

What Do You Do When Things Don't Go Your Way?

There are two options here:

1-You dwell on the negatives, which can result in self-pity or at worse, cause you to give up!

OR

2-You draw on something positive and pick yourself up. In this case, you can start exploring ways to move forward.

We all face difficult situations in life but it is ultimately up to us to decide how we want to react to them. So if it’s a job you didn’t get, a trophy you didn’t win, or an argument you lost, pick yourself up and don’t waste another moment trapped in the cycle of negativity.

I’m sure some of you might be thinking but how do I do that? Well a great starting point is to make a list of all the things you are grateful for in your life. This might be for the comfortable bed you slept in, or for the neighbour who said good morning to you. Often it is the little things that go unnoticed that we forget to acknowledge.

I’d like to leave you with a quote by Robert Collier which I believe sums up today’s blog post:

‘All power is from within and therefore under our control’.

Charlie's 5 Motivational Tips...

As a self-employed Musician I enjoy being my own boss and not having to report to anyone. There are many benefits to this lifestyle, and I feel very grateful to be in this position. I'm also very fortunate that I find it easy to motivate myself but I know it's not easy for everyone so in today's blog post, I wanted to share with you 5 strategies I use for staying motivated:

1-Be thankful: 

Start your working day with gratitude! Although you may not feel like it first thing on a Monday, remind yourself of all the wonderful things you have in your life. Believe it or not many people would love to be doing what you're doing!

2-Pat yourself on the back:

Too often, we rely on others to compliment us, to say well done or well tried but when was the last time you told yourself that? Whether I have a productive day or not, I always try and say something positive to myself and yes that really does involve patting myself on the back!

3-Set clear goals:

I love setting myself goals, it not only gives me something to focus on but it’s another excuse to pat myself on the back! It’s important to remember that even if you don’t achieve a particular goal, at least you tried! How amazing is that? You didn’t succumb to the fear of not reaching your goal.

4-If it's not working, move on:

When you find yourself struggling to work through something, it’s not necessarily a good idea to push through, indeed by doing so, you may end up procrastinating. But by stepping aside from that task-even momentarily-it allows you to recharge your batteries and return with fresh eyes.

5-Immerse yourself fully:

We all have those days where we can’t be bothered to do something and inevitably we can switch off. But what happens if you stay switched on even during something you don’t want to be doing? Well it takes a lot of energy for sure, but it makes for a much more worth while experience. You can even start to feel enjoyment and you’ll most probably be happier for it. At the end of the day anything you do in life is what you make it!