Welcome!

The monthly e mail newsletter for business professionals who want growth from Energise Brand Communications Ltd and Rachel Brushfield.

The purpose of this newsletter is to share simple tips and tools to make your life and work easier & help you to market yourself & your business as a unique brand.

This month’s theme is about …………… Maximising your potential.

Who are you and who do you want to be? Are you living the life you want, doing the job you want or running the business you want? If not, why not? Just imagine what it would be like if you were to not only believe that this is possible but make it happen.

What’s going through your mind? Life’s not like that; I don’t have time; I don’t deserve it; I’m too stressed; I don’t know how to make those changes happen; it will cost too much; I can’t be bothered; I should look after other people’s needs and not think about my own; I didn’t have the right upbringing or the wrong education; it wouldn’t make any difference; I can’t affect fate. Really? Is that true or are they just excuses?

Do you really know what you are capable of? How good you’d feel if you were to maximise your potential and what this would do for the world? Why wait?

It is very easy to put it off. We all do it. Not quite getting around to making that first step. So you stay still and stay stuck, feeling out of sorts and counting the hours or days in at least one area of your life or work. Isn’t life too short? Imagine getting to the end of your life and looking back. Do you really want to carry on exactly as you are?

I know it isn’t always going to be easy, I am not pretending otherwise. However, anything in life is a choice and both change and challenge are a great way to grow and learn. So how about it?

In this newsletter:

* Knowing yourself
* Accepting yourself
* Knowing what you want
* How does coaching help you maximise your potential?
* 12 simple tips to help you maximise your potential
* Special April 2005 offer

Please forward this newsletter to anyone who might find it useful. Thanks!
If you received it this time forwarded from someone and would like to receive it direct each month to your in-box, please email mail@energisingconnector.co.uk and put Receive Energise newsletter in the subject box, and we’ll add you to our mailing list. Thanks!

So what can help you to maximise your potential? Here’s 3 things for starters.

Knowing yourself

How well do you really know yourself? What makes you happy; your own definition of success; what specific triggers stress you; what buttons when pressed cause you to overreact and how to best manage them; what your unique talents, gifts, qualities, skills and experiences are.

It is not selfish to think about yourself, it’s wise. Often in Britain, we knock people when they’re up and we knock them when they are down. So if you can’t win, why not choose to steer your own path through life?

It is really important to invest time in knowing yourself. Increasingly in our society, individuals need to take responsibility for themselves in many ways and knowing yourself inside out is the first step to do this.

Did you know that self-help and personal development is one of the fastest growing sectors of the book industry? You’re not alone and it is wise not weak to seek support, whether helping yourself, buying a book, attending a course or having a coach.

Self-acceptance and self-belief

85% of the population suffer from low self-esteem. You are not alone. We don’t talk about it though do we?! Nor do we talk about fear or being afraid, in case people think we are weak or inadequate. Many people doubt themselves and their abilities, wish they were someone different, and beat themselves up with self-criticism. We pretend everything is ok and vent our frustration indirectly with misplaced anger, often without realising why or even that we are doing it.

Lack of self-belief acts as a brake to potential. Your potential and my potential. What a waste of human potentiality and just imagine what could be possible with improved self-belief?

Often people are very confident in some areas, but not others, i.e. confidence and self-belief is context specific, e.g. relationships, work, appearance etc.

You are responsible for realising your own potential and to market yourself. If you don’t truly believe in yourself, why should anyone else? It’s like flying a flag at half-mast, and indeed lack of confidence shows in people’s posture, voice, words and body language, apologising for how they really feel inside.

It takes time and work to improve self-belief, but to accept yourself is one of the most important things you can do for yourself and for the benefit of others. It’s the difference between shrinking and expanding. Life can then start to get better and better.

To quote Nelson Mandela “You playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightening about shrinking….. we are all meant to shine, as children do".

You can identify the causes of low self-esteem, make changes and increase your self-belief. Knowing what you want and taking positive steps forwards is also key.

Knowing what you want

What do you want? What do you really want? Do you have a clear vision and mission of what you want from your life, what you want to give, do or be during this lifetime? Sounds obvious, doesn’t it, but how many people think about it and live life ‘on-purpose’?

Setting and achieving goals is motivating in itself and makes you feel good. It helps you to grow and increases your confidence and fulfilment.

Knowing what you want is like having a clear horizon that you are always moving towards, step-by-step, feeling good, with clear landmarks on the way. It’s a journey that you have thought about and made happen, rather than being buffeted around aimlessly by the wind, against your will. Storms may come so you go off course for a while and your boat might capsize a couple of times, but you can get back on course, keeping your eye on the horizon and using your compass.

Make some time to think about what you want.

How does coaching help maximise your potential?

• Coaching is 100% about maximising your potential – it helps you to be the person you want to be and supports you to uncover how to
• In coaching you get to know yourself very well which helps you to make more informed choices and decisions. We explore your strengths and skills, your values and motivations, your beliefs and what you want
• Coaching gives you a clearer sense of purpose and helps you define a clear vision, mission, motivating SMART goals and a plan to achieve them
• A coach is a safe, confidential and objective person with whom you can be completely open and honest about your fears, any lack of self confidence without being judged, from someone whose only agenda is helping you to be more on your terms
• A coach holds up a metaphorical ‘mirror’ to enable you see your ‘blind spots’ and helps you to identify any limiting beliefs that are holding you back, making you more resourceful
• A coach is an ally, guide and champion for your success, whereas often in life and especially in business, your success can be a threat to other people who see you as a ‘competitor’
• Coaching flags up any obstacles to your success and identifies simple step-by-step actions to get around them, jump over them or remove them
• Having coaching in your diary makes time for you to focus on yourself and your potential. Without coaching, often people put their own needs last and allow other less important things to get in the way. It’s easy for time to drift by and nothing to change.

12 simple tips to help you maximise your potential

Here are 12 simple tips to help you maximise your potential :

1. Invest in your own continued professional development (CPD) to develop key skills or knowledge e.g. networking, public speaking, presentation skills etc
2. Choose a coach and/or mentor to support you in maximising your own potential
3. Model people who have what you want. Notice what they do and how they do it and shortcut your learning curve by copying and adapting their approach
4. Be persistent, be persistent, be persistent – this is the number one factor for success.
5. Define a motivating vision, mission, SMART goals, strategy and plan for your life, career or business. Review regularly to monitor progress, reflect & learn and identify the next actions forward
6. Take responsibility for yourself. If you make a mistake, apologise and learn from it and don’t blame others
7. Speak the truth – it doesn’t half save a lot of time, stop waste and keep things simple!
8. Create, build and develop a supportive personal and professional network whom you trust and can learn from. Share your vision and goals with them, ask for their help and do the same for them
9. Let go of your ego – do you want to be right or do you want to be happy?
10. Live and work smart; do, delegate or dump. Focus on what you’re good at and love and enlist the help, skills and support of others for the rest
11. Adopt a ‘givers gain’ philosophy to life – help others maximise their potential and they will choose to help you maximise your potential. This ‘win win’ strategy is alot nicer than either covert or overt manipulation. You feel good and they feel good too.
12. Know yourself inside out and accept yourself. This will minimise the energy you waste beating yourself up with ‘if onlys’ and ‘what if’s’ so you have more energy to focus on realising your potential.

Remember that if you introduce a new client to us, you can qualify for a free session for yourself, so please forward this ezine on to anyone who might find it useful.

So get to know yourself, believe in yourself and get clear about what you want. Please let us know if you’d like a chat about how we can help you to do this.

We look forward to hearing from you.
Cheers

Rachel Brushfield ©
Director, coach and marketing mentor
Energise – Insight & Clarity for Growth

Previous newsletter topics include: how to do absolutely nothing; listening; career choice and change; stress; focus for results; procrastination; reflection; fear; rapport; productivity; self-branding; beliefs; time management and S.M.A.R.T. goals.

If you’d like to receive a back copy of any of these, please e mail us to mail@energisingconnector.co.uk putting the Energise Tips & Tools newsletter of interest in the subject box.

Contact

Rachel Brushfield
Energise Brand Communications Ltd.
t +44 (0) 845 22 55 010
m +44 (0) 7973 911137
mail@energisingconnector.co.uk
http://www.energisingconnector.co.uk/
Offices in WC2 and Chiswick W6

Helping business professionals make leap ups.

Energise - Insight & Clarity for Growth

Special April 2005 offer

What topics would you like covered in future Energise ezines? Go to our web site www.energisingconnector.co.uk, and e-mail us your topic ideas using the ‘contact us’ button. If we use your idea in the May 2005 issue, you will get a free 1 hour coaching session. We also welcome feedback about or suggested improvements to the Energise ezine

Why Energise?

There are lots of coaching companies, so why choose us? Here’s some facts about Energise:

WHY:

We feel strongly about helping people to help themselves and are passionate about addressing low self-esteem & lack of self-belief in society that so often acts as a brake to people maximising their potential. Often people don’t recognise their own talents and potential, so with our background in marketing and brand communications, we help our clients to market themselves as a unique brand so they maximise their potential

HOW:

We personalise our service to the individual and get to the heart of the matter fast, so are time and cost effective. We are down to earth, focused and focusing, practical, human and energising. Unlike many coaching companies, we do not insist on a contract, so coaching is flexible from as little as 1 hour a month.

WHO:

We work with: big companies including Diageo, Sony Ericsson, Cranfield University, AWAS and Clifford Chance, small businesses and many individuals. We also do pro-bono work for selected charities e.g. working with disaffected young people and prisoners.

WHERE:

Our central London office is on Denmark Street, WC2 - the Energise ThinkSpace which is also available for hire, we coach from our West London home office in W6 and on the telephone

WHEN:

Energise was set up in 1997 so we have an established track record of 8 years plus 10 years full time experience before that. We coach our clients from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday – Friday. We work with people at a crossroads/point of transition in their lives and jobs, helping them to define their goals and realise and maximise their potential.

WHAT:

Our services are:
C areer coaching, CV design & personalised outplacement
A ction learning sets
M arketing & brand mentoring
E xecutive coaching
L ife coaching

More tips and tools

Our web site has a ‘Tips and tools’ section, which is regularly updated, sharing free tips and tools to help make life easy. Why not check it out?

Visit www.energisingconnector.co.uk and click on the Tips & Tools button

Memberships

Energise have professional memberships with:
The Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM)
The International Coaching Federation (ICF)
The Chartered Institute of Personnel Development (CIPD)
Business Network International (BNI).

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