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 and help you to market yourself and your business as a unique brand.

This month’s theme is about…………… Becoming unstuck.

Do you ever feel stuck? In a meeting? With a project? In a relationship? With your career? When facing a big life changing decision or uncertain change? Not a nice feeling, is it? It can be very dehabilitating. The good news is that feeling ‘stuck’ is common, normal and easy to address once you know how.

I find that when I’m feeling stuck and not taking action, there’s always a good reason. It’s just a question of working out what the reason is. And asking a question is a good way to pinpoint the reason. Try this for yourself now.

Think of something/somewhere where you feel stuck. Got one? Now, ask yourself What’s the block? Listen to whatever pops into your head or heart. Now, ask yourself Who or what would help shift the block? Next, ask yourself; What’s the first step forward and when will I take it? Clearer now? See a way forward or at least a chink of light? That was a little taster of how coaching works.

All our clients are feeling stuck in some way. They are going through a major transition, decision point or transformation and come to us because they are fed up of being stuck and are ready and willing to move forward, fast and easily. We just help them with the able bit. What I most love about coaching is that I help people to help themselves. To unstick themselves, in their own way and at their own pace. I’m simply an energising catalyst for their change and growth. I don’t tell give them a solution, they uncover it for themselves, which is empowering. I’m like a pair of swimming armbands, needed for a short while and then redundant.

In this newsletter:

• What are the causes of feeling stuck?
• 12 simple tips to help address stuckness

Please forward this newsletter to anyone who might find it useful.
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 Ezine please in the subject box, and we’ll add you to our mailing list. Thanks!

What are the causes of feeling stuck?

Stuckness has many causes. A big one in our busy world is overwhelm and having too much to do and not enough time. Feeling stressed and tired makes this even worse because you become less resourceful to find a way forward, a vicious circle.

Another common cause is when part of you wants to do one thing and another part wants to do something else, like an inner tug of war. The result? Feeling stuck and inaction. This is caused by conflicting values, something we explore in coaching.

Another one is unconscious self-sabotage. You know those little voices in your head? You’re not going mad, they are normal! They are called ‘Gremlins’ and can tie you in knots and cause your stuckness !

'The mind is its own place, and in itself, can make heaven of Hell, and a hell of Heaven' John Milton

Gremlins are the unhelpful voices of your limiting beliefs, e.g. I’m not intelligent enough, I’m not creative enough, I don’t deserve it, I’m too old, I don’t know how etc.. We all have them, they just need to be identified and then managed.

Other causes can be summarised by the ‘don’t knows’. Think of problems or challenges that you or your organisation is facing which feel stuck currently, and reflect on which ‘don’t know’ is causing the bottleneck.

• Don’t know how – uncertain re capability or knowledge or lacking skill, actual or perceived
• Don’t know why – unclear purpose, vision, outcome or motivation, misalignment with values or beliefs

'If you believe you can, you probably can. If you believe you won't, you most assuredly won't. Belief is the ignition switch that gets you off the launching pad."' Denis Waitley

• Don’t know who – unclear role or responsibility
• Don’t know what – unclear objective, task, action or brief
• Don’t know when/where – need for planning, prioritisation

All of these ‘don’t knows’ can be shifted and transformed

12 simple tips to help address stuckness

Here are some different solutions to help you and your company when things feel stuck.

1. Do tasks one at a time and clear away everything else from your desk and mind
2. Write tasks very clearly and specifically so you are left in no doubt about what you need to do
3. Keeping your final outcome in mind, identify the first step. Don’t worry about the 9 th or 10 th step until you’ve taken the first
4. Create a 1 page plan for projects
5. Segment tasks to make them feel clearer and help you prioritise
6. Have a ‘stuckness audit’ with yourself, for a project or your company to identify the ‘don’t knows’
7. Identify the consequence of the stuckness and the benefit of taking action
8. Check in with yourself regularly and make time to ask yourself a self-reflective question
9. Get a coach or mentor to help you see the wood for the trees. If you are standing in the middle of the trees, it is understandably hard to see the path out into the clearing.
10. Speak the truth. Express what you see, feel or hear when you notice stuckness. Simply articulating it can help shift it.
11. Acknowledge that stuckness and inaction is okay sometimes and it isn’t normal or realistic to have growth spurts all the time, otherwise it would be Spring all year round!
12. Think of someone who you admire. Look at the problem through their eyes. What would they do?

We would love to help energise you or your organisation to create progress and help you leap forward. We are happy to have an exploratory chat, and just being asked questions about a challenge can help.

'They say that time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself' Andy Warhol

We look forward to hearing from you.

Cheers

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

Previous newsletter topics include: self-promotion; safe risk; optimism; more health, wealth and happiness; how to handle ‘difficult’ people; how to stop wasting and save time; maximising your potential;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
www.energisingconnector.co.uk/
Offices in WC2 and Chiswick W6

Helping business professionals make leap ups.

Energise - Insight & Clarity for Growth

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

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

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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