Tips for Managing Change

Throughout life, change will always be our constant companion.  We will have changes that we make happen, and changes that are thrust upon us and are out of our control.

Despite its inevitability, change still makes us feel anxious and uncertain.  It’s not that we need less change in our lives, instead, we get to learn to adjust our perspective about change so that we can effectively manage it when it happens.

Here are a few tips for handling life’s changes with grace and ease:

  1. Realize that change causes stress.  Therefore to minimize the stress, identify what you can control, what you can influence and what you cannot.
  2. See the change as an opportunity rather than a bad situation.
  3. Keep your eye on your long-term goals.  The circumstances of the present situation can distract you from your goals. So remind yourself that things will be different once you get through the change.
  4. Be open to what can be learned from the change, and ask yourself “What can this experience teach me?”

The one change you can expect is that things are going to change. Using these few simple strategies can help you smoothly navigate your next change.

To your success and happiness
Corinne

What are you Attracting?

There’s a spring in Marissa’s step, and she simply radiates positive, upbeat, can-do energy. She’s “in the flow.” Good things continue to happen in her work and personal life with seeming effortlessness.

Contrast this with Kelly, who puts in twice as many hours at work-super-long, hard hours every day-yet rarely achieves what she’s striving so hard to create.

What’s the difference? Hint: It has to do with Marissa’s ability to attract what she wants. However, this kind of attraction has nothing to do with looks.

Rather, it’s about Marissa’s ability to attract abundance by living in a way that’s in tune with her purpose, her passions, her most vital and alive self.

The law of attraction. It’s not just some woo-woo theory, it’s scientific: like matter attracts like. It’s similar to a radio broadcast: when tuned into a particular station, you will only hear (attract) the frequency of radio waves that match that station’s signal. And when that happens, everything seems easy, not a struggle.

Once you change the way you are inside, the outer world changes,” writes Joe Vitale, author of the recent best-seller The Attractor Factor.

Vitale is one of dozens of authors who write persuasively on the subject, as is Sonia Choquette, author of Your Heart’s Desire: Creating the Life You Really Want. Most suggest the same key ingredients for attracting into your life what you want:

* Get clear on what you want and why. It’s not enough to know what you do not want. It is much easier to get what you want when know what it is that you want! Getting crystal clear is where the “magic” of attraction all begins.

* Imagine it. See it as happening. “Conscious change is brought about by the two qualities inherent in consciousness: attention and intention,” writes Deepak Chopra. “Attention energizes, and intention transforms. Whatever you put your attention on will grow stronger in your life.”

* Keep yourself receptive. Enjoy life, play, relax have FUN. Stress, exhaustion, sluggishness, etc., can all interfere with attraction. In the radio station analogy, they become the “static” that interfere with the “frequencies” of that which you’re wanting to attract. Though taking a day off to relax rather than working frantically may seem as difficult as stepping off a precipice, it can be just what is needed. At times we get to slow down to speed up.

* Listen to your intuitive nudges. Attraction isn’t about sitting back and waiting for it all to come to you. Action is always required to meet goals and make dreams come true. Vitale writes: “Your job is to ask for what you want, and then to act on the inner nudges you get to do things, like make phone calls, write letters, visit a certain person, or whatever.” Don’t worry if your “nudges” do not make immediate sense. The “why” will reveal itself later.

* Surrender control. This means to let go and trust. Let go of the particular way in which things will happen. Let go of fear, doubt, worry and disappointment. Let go of the notion of struggle. Trust that the outcome will be just right.

So whether it’s a job promotion, landing that huge client or buying a new house, claim your dream.

It’s yours if you want it!

To your success and happiness
Corinne

The Road Ahead: What Will You Do to Finish Strong?

We have now stepped into the last 3 months of this wonderful year. Checking in from time to time on the way things are done and the results we are getting can bring opportunities for great success. It helps us look at what is working, what is not working, what is missing and the next steps needed to be successful. The trouble we can get into is that at times reaction to change may be fearful and irrational, which can result in failures, a decrease in quality and a loss of production. When it comes to work and business, it can be tempting to give in to those anxieties by doing what’s always been done. But priming the pump to have a better ending of the year always involves some form of adjustment to free up the time, money and energy to tackle new opportunities.

How do you decide what changes are the most important ones to make?

Ask yourself these questions:
1. What personal and business tolerations have interfered with personal and work progress so far this year? Tolerations are a good indication of issues in need of resolution.

2. Are we, or am I, on track for the goals we/I created for this year? Why or why not? How will those obstacles be addressed? Setting new goals without having evaluated the goals and the results so far can result in a cycle of substandard results.

3. What fiscally responsible goal (making more money, collaborating, creating new products/services, improved marketing strategy, improving the company culture, being a better leader etc.) will also be fun? All work and no play make Jack and Jill dull (and bored) boys and girls, as the saying goes.

What do you need to change to end strong?

Choose passion over profit. Connect to your bigger purpose in life, work and business and the rewards will flow effortlessly. Passionate people attract success.

Higher learning. Technology changes fast. Staying on top of what’s working now is only half the battle. Discovering what’s up and coming and leveraging that knowledge is the key to an exceptional year.

Celebrate success. Acknowledging and rewarding success keeps everyone motivated. Mark those mini-milestones with celebration and recognition!

Add, do not subtract. When repeat clients stop buying your products or services, something needs to change. Instead of cutting prices, add value instead–bundle existing services/products, add bonuses or create new offerings add relationship.

What are your blind spots? Every driver has blind spots. That’s what rear-view mirrors are for. Blind spots in the work and business environment can be harder to identify. How does a person avert disaster in a work environment without the benefit of mirrors?

Ask around. Getting honest feedback from clients, customers and service providers can be as uncomfortable as it is invaluable. Do it anyway. (We have the tools to help you get the feedback you need) Check them out Click here

Seek professional help. Getting an objective outsider’s opinion can help you see what is going well or not.

Coffee time. Chat up a colleague and encourage them to share their observations about what you are doing well and what needs improvement. Sometimes what needs to change is missed because it is so “obvious.”

Moving into the last quarter of this year doesn’t have to be a scary proposition.  Having a clear sense of what’s ahead can circumvent failure and create a successful year.  And, who doesn’t want that!

I wish you success and happiness
Corinne

PS: I would love to hear your thoughts and Ideas. Share below.

To Make Time, Take Time

If time were an animal, it would be on the endangered species list.  At least that’s how it seems: Too much to do, too many places to be, too little time to do it all.

On the job and at home, we are increasingly imprisoned by the perception that time is a scarce and limited resource. We rush from one commitment or activity to another and believe that we haven’t a minute to spare.

We yearn for more time, yet we often feel anxious and guilty when idle.

Is this how life is supposed to be?  No! Nor does it have to be.

Until we change our relationship to time, our lives will continue to speed away from us-at enormous cost to our health and to direct experience of ourselves and the world around us.

“There is no issue, no aspect of human life, that exceeds this in importance,” says Jacob Needleman, author of  Time and the Soul. “The destruction of time is literally the destruction of life.”

When we learn to shift time, our relationships become more rewarding, our time spent alone is richer, our aging is more satisfying, our work is more fruitful and our stress and anxiety are less paralyzing, or even nonexistent.

To allow time to “breathe” more in your life, do some or all of the following suggestions from Stephan Rechtschaffen, author of Timeshifting, as well as others. See if your reservoir of time starts to refill.

Pause. Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Han suggests taking a deep breath before answering the phone. Other conscious pauses throughout the day-a moment of silence before each meal, sitting in the car a few minutes before entering the house after work-help us to “come home” to ourselves.

Carve out idle time alone. Greek philosopher Aristotle noted that “nature requires us not only to be able to work well, also to idle well.” Just because you’re not doing anything doesn’t mean that nothing’s getting done!

Live as fully as possible in the present moment. When we leave behind thoughts of the past or future, we can experience time more peacefully, says Eckhart Tolle, author of The Power of Now.

Toss your schedule whenever you can. Even better, schedule spontaneous time and then surprise yourself.

Examine underlying reasons for your busyness. What emotions would you experience if you weren’t so busy? What would you wish for? Emotional work is challenging, and essential if we are to stop running from our hearts.

Play. Whether you sing, wrestle, paint, shake your bootie-whatever-play helps us to step outside of ordinary time.

Create time retreats. Once a year or so, choose to do something for a week or more that allows you to shift into a different rhythm-something where you can just “be” without the need for doing anything.

Spend time in nature. We cannot help but slowdown in nature’s unhurried pace. Watching a soaring bird or examining a flower can seem to stretch a minute into an hour.

We can experience time more purposefully and meaningfully-so that it’s not an enemy robbing us of the joy of life. We needn’t be at time’s mercy. When we change our awareness, we can actually experience the gifts of time.

What do you do to make time for what matters?

To your success and HAPPINESS,
Corinne

 

 

What are YOU expecting?

The other day I was telling someone a story about something that had happen to me years ago. As I was getting to the part where I was the victim I realized “wow I’m still telling that story as if I WAS the victim”

If you have not heard of “reframing” or “cognitive restructuring” I would look into it. There is a lot of good work being done with it.

Then I thought, because of those “stories” I am already expecting something.  In almost every situation I find I have some sort of expectation. Meaning that I still look through those “rose colored glasses” or whatever color glasses my stories happen to tint them.  And, because of that, I am expecting some sort of something, good bad or indifferent.

Corinne calls those glasses BS. (our Belief System through which we filter everything.)

I do not mean to, sometimes it just happens if I’m not being open to the moment being new (if that makes sense). Then I realized I’m not just expecting something because of my BS, I’m accepting it as well.

Since then I’ve been looking at “What am I expecting? What am I accepting?” and “Is this the story I want to tell?” So, knowing I can’t get more then I will accept. I’m working on not expecting anything and accepting only what is best for me.

Whew! Epiphanies come when you least expect them. I’ll accept that.

What were you expecting?

Well, whatever it was I hope you will accept a gift from us here at Edge Of Change.  It is Corinne’s birthday this month and in Hobbit tradition she wanted to give everyone a birthday present. Not that I’m calling her a Hobbit just that she really liked those stories.

Mike McElroy

Click here to get Corinne’s gift to you (no strings attached)