Archive for July, 2009

Do You Feel Like Flopping This Summer?

Posted by Ian Barrett On July - 25 - 2009

It is very tempting after all your hard work over the term and throughout the school year, to just want to flop on a beach somewhere. However, Anthony Seldon writing in the Times Educational Supplement, believes a changes is as good as a rest.

“The summer holidays are clearly vital in restoring your equilibrium,” says Anthony Seldon, Master of Wellington College. “It is the teacher’s equivalent to a good night’s sleep after you have been up all night at a party, or having a sleepless night worrying about a difficult class.”

Instead of hanging up a hammock and snoozing all summer long, Anthony Seldon suggests to staff in schools – do something energetic, be bold, go outside and holiday in the British Isles.

fotolia_1052627_lDo Something Energetic

Physical exhaustion is a great prelude for a good flop. A good tennis match or an impromptu game of rugby in the park can fill an afternoon with fun, and be truly relaxing. Anthony Seldon said lazing by a beach or sleeping in everyday only leads to us feeling we haven’t accomplished very much, and feeling even more lethargic. He suggests playing cricket, trying morris dancing, recreational walking, ball games..or (can you believe) swimming the English Channel!

Be Bold

Try out different destinations or activities to keep your mind sharp and remind yourself to think outside the box. You may have favourite places you like to visit, but there are so many new things to do and see. Here are some of Anthony Sheldon’s ideas for things you may not have tried, but have always wanted to do: rock climbing under the Clifton Suspension Bridge, a ride on a hovercraft, playing in a brass band, visiting Brixton and eating fried plantains, or taking up gardening and hiring an allotment.

Go Outside

So long as you use lots of sunscreen, there is nothing better than being outside in sunny weather. The English weather being what it is however, you might prefer to pack your waterproof and wellies. Whatever you decide, there’s loads to get up to outside. How about: taking in your favourite pub garden, camping in the Lake District, taking a narrowboat ride through the canals of England, painting your garden shed, or visiting Kew Gardens.

Holiday in the British Isles

There are endless destinations on our jewel of an island that can offer you inspiration and life-changing memories. Many of England’s destinations are easily accessible via a short jaunt by rail, car or even bicycle. You could visit the Royal Festival Hall, the English countryside, Bekonscot model village, Lincoln Cathedral, Burgh Island, the English seaside…to name just a few.

Five Daily Self Improvement Practices To Change Your Life

Posted by Ian Barrett On July - 21 - 2009

As a student of personal development and self improvement, you’ve no doubt come to the understanding that everything you achieve in life is fundamentally determined by your thinking. Thoughts are real things, which lead to a feeling, which lead to an action, which lead to an outcome. This is the basis by which you create your life.

So it stands to reason that no matter what you wish to create in your life, applying a consistent daily practice — a routine — that will promote good thinking habits can only serve you in creating more of what you want in life… and help to make you much more proficient at the same time.

In my experience, I’ve come to see the power of applying five very basic practices into my daily routine that have become strong habits and that have served to strengthen my ability to deliberately apply Law of Attraction in my life.

No doubt you’ve heard of all of these, but have you made them a daily habit for yourself in order to benefit from their combined power? Perhaps not.

If one or more of these elements is missing from your routine, you may find yourself struggling in one or more areas of your life.

1: Regular self improvement time every day.

As John Henry Newman said, “Growth is the only evidence of life.” So contribute to your growth as a leader in your own life by spending Happy Retiree Thumbsupfocused time on your personal growth and development every day.

Or don’t, in which case you are really choosing to stop living.

Spend even just 20 minutes writing out your goals and affirmations. Listen to a CD. Read an inspiring book. Learn from the masters. Feed yourself every day with positive thoughts and messages.

Begin to integrate these things into your day and develop the habit of doing so daily. By doing so, you are feeding your mind in a positive way.

2: Quiet your mind and then visualize your success every day.

Professional athletes and top business leaders know the power of visualization. Self help teachers through history have extolled the virtues of learning to quiet your mind with meditation.

At least once a day, take the time to quiet your mind and connect with whom you intend to be — the CEO of you, the leader of you, the inspiring leader of your own life who has massive results and success at whatever you choose.

Use a brief meditation to quiet the rampant mind chatter… take a couple of deep breaths, close your eyes, and focus on your breathing for even for just a couple of minutes. That’s all it needs to take.

Then visualize in your mind that you are achieving your goals. The goals needn’t be major; just ensure they reflect something you really want. Is it a new car? Great… visualize yourself looking at new cars. See and enter the dealership in your mind. Sit in the car in the showroom. Visualize yourself taking the car for a test drive. Where are you driving? How does it handle? How does the new car smell? Now visualize completing your offer sheet and choosing all the options you want. Picture yourself picking up the keys and taking delivery of your car.

Professional sprinters will visualize their entire race from entering the starting blocks, right through to the finish line. There’s incredible power in doing that.

You, too, will experience tremendous results just from taking five minutes each day to visualize yourself achieving what you want in specific detail. So find a time when you can be alone for five minutes and do it.

3: Schedule one hour of core time.

Set aside one hour, which you’ve explicitly scheduled in your day, which is your uninterrupted time spent only on activities that will move you closer to your goals.

What are those activities? The more time you spend visualizing, the clearer the path to follow to get there will become. You will find yourself inspired to take actions — your inner voice will begin to guide you.

Perhaps it’s taking a course, or undertaking a project, or starting a home business… whatever the appropriate steps happen to be, they will become clear to you.

Just be sure to set aside the time to actually do them. If you can’t find the time, then get up an hour earlier or go to bed an hour later. No matter what, find the hour. And protect that hour jealously.

It is in this time that you ultimately make your dreams come true. It is this time that you are taking the action that needs to be taken.

4: Lead yourself in everything you do.

Set the expectation of leadership in everything you do. What does this mean?

Simply, it means holding yourself accountable for actually doing what you say you intend to do. What’s the one action you can take today that helps to move your forward in the direction of your goals? You already know what it is because you’ve done the visualization. So the next thing for you to do is to actually do it.

Don’t wait for someone else to do it for you. Action is what makes it all come together. Consistently taking the action you’ve identified (which you can do in your scheduled core time) puts you in integrity with yourself and sends a clear signal to the Universe that you’re ready to begin receiving what you want.

fotolia_5440850_l5: Mastermind with other people.

Spend time with others who are successful in what they do and are effective leaders. These may be people you already know, such as business associates, friends, or co-workers. Or you may need to start to make new friends and build new networks in your community.

Other leaders are easy to spot. They are successful. Build relationships with them. Exchange ideas. You learn the most from people who are already accomplishing that to which you aspire.

Make a point of hanging around with people who will help you get better. Spend at least 30 minutes masterminding every day. It may take the form of a phone conversation. Or a lunch. Or exchanging emails. Or listening to a presentation. Or joining a club or association.

It doesn’t matter so long as you make a habit of doing some kind of masterminding every day.

Consistently applying these five daily personal development habits will ensure you maintain a healthy mindset and high energy. They will make you more effective in all aspects of your life.

Article written by Warren Wojnowski

EXCLUSIVE SUMMER SPECIAL OFFER!

Posted by Ian Barrett On July - 7 - 2009

6 Week Interactive Online Coaching Programme for Teachers and Support Staff

LIMITED OFFER – ONLY £45/$72

Helping you to unleash your full potential and be happy, fulfilled, successful and stress-free in your job at school.

Boost Your Confidence & Effectiveness In Preparation For The New School Year In September

Exclusively for Summer 2009, the Plain Sailing Coaching Programmes for Teachers and Support Staff are now available for a limited 6 week period during the holidays/vacation.

FOR ONLY £45 you will get 15 online coaching sessions with full interaction from an experienced coach and teacher. The sessions can be completed at your own leisure over the 6 weeks and are available online 24/7.

BE EMPOWERED WITH THE LATEST TOOLS AND STRATEGIES TO HELP YOU:fotolia_6070570_l1

  • cope with the stressful demands and pressures of working in a school;
  • gain extra motivation and inspiration to fulfil your roles and responsibilities;
  • improve your communication and interpersonal skills;
  • manage and prioritise your time more effectively;
  • develop healthy and effective relationships with other members of staff, pupils and parents;
  • develop a healthier work/life balance;
  • identify and eradicate any limiting beliefs that have been holding you back;
  • uncover solutions for overcoming low levels of self-esteem and self-confidence…..and much more.

OUTLINE OF THE COACHING PROGRAMME

Stage 1: Introduction to the Journey

An introduction to Plain Sailing Core Programme followed by an overview of the programme and to Coaching Interactive.

Stage 2: Your Background

This will enable your coach to get to know you and the issues currently facing you in school and then tailor suitable interactive sessions for you.

Stage 3: Preparation

This will allow you to thoroughly explore the values and beliefs that are important to you both in education and in your wider life. This will lead to possible options for action.

Stage 4: My Life Mapping Session

You will create a map of your current life in relation to your roles and responsibilities in school. By examining what is important to you and assessing your current status in each area, you will be able to clearly define your dreams and the meaning of the fulfilment of those dreams. You will then be guided to consider what to do, in order to achieve your goals.

Stage 5: Your Strengths, Skills & Attributes

By identifying your strengths you will learn how to work with and leverage those strengths in order to fulfil your dreams.

Stage 6: Your Goals

You will get in touch with your calling, the reason why you are here, and identify what makes you truly happy.

Stage 7: Your Personal Values and Beliefs

You will be guided to help identify your core values and beliefs in education and in your job. Once these are clarified, you can make better decisions in order to reach your goals.

Stage 8: Defining & Fulfilling Your Vision

Your vision, beliefs and goals are examined and analysed. Then a plan of action starts to be formulated.

Stage 9: Setting Goals and Objectives

Choose the area you wish to focus on first, and then build a programme with goals and objectives for short, medium or long term. These can be linked to any targets that have already been set for you.

Stage 10: The GROW Web Session

Choose your first target and learn how to expand the options available to you.

Stage 11: Progress Report

You will be guided to routinely assess and report your progress to yourself and your coach.

Stage 12: Review

Complete the questionnaire and converse with your coach on the process you have undergone and the impact it has had. An invitation will follow to further grow using a specific coaching programme tailored for you by your coach.

Stage 13: Using the GROW Model and My Life Map as Ongoing Coaching Tools

It is important to continue growing by re-visiting the GROW Model and your My Life and go through the whole process again for different areas of concern in your job at school.

thriving growing grass word

CLICK HERE TO FIND OUT MORE AND REGISTER

CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THE POWER OF ONLINE COACHING

CLICK HERE TO WATCH A PRESENTATION ABOUT INTERACTIVE COACHING

Stress Busting Tips For Staff In Schools

Posted by Ian Barrett On July - 2 - 2009

What types of stress do school staff have to deal with?

I am sure you agree that most people have no idea about the amount of stress that teachers and other school staff deal with on a daily basis. Quite often they don’t just have one or two problem children, but an oversized classroom full of them.

Not only do school staff have the stress of dealing with so many diverse children each day, but they also have the enormous pressure of educating and helping to mould these children into productive members of society. With all the rules, regulations, guidelines and performance expectations all around, school staff can have very high levels of stress. Working in schools is very demanding.

More often than not, teachers and other school staff have to take work home overnight or at weekends in order to be well prepared and organised for the next teaching day.

So what exactly can school staff do?

So with all these stressors surrounding them, how can teachers and other school staff manage their stress? First and foremost they must make sure to take good care of themselves. They need to accept that they are human, and as such they are just as fallible as the parents of the children they teach. No one is perfect and we all make mistakes from time to time.

When they do make a mistake then they must accept responsibility for it and move on. One important step in stress management in schools is to foster a close friendship with someone in whom they may freely confide. This will give them an outlet for their frustration so that it is not allowed to fester inside.

Some Stress Busting Tips

untitled-3Here are some ideas for teachers and other school staff to help reduce their stress to a more manageable level.

1. Eat right

By skipping meals you are depriving your body of the extra nutrients that it needs when faced with large levels of stress.

2. Get plenty of sleep

When you don’t get the rest you need, your body may respond by causing you to be irritable. You may also react poorly to the situations that normally would not cause you to be stressed.

3. Try to exercise

Exercise has been validated as an important stress relief tool. It has also been found to alleviate depression as well, which makes it very powerful in relieving stress.

4. Have a good sense of humour

We all know that laughter is the best for of medicine. There is plenty of medical evidence to prove that people who keep a light heart tend not to feel the effects of stress as strongly as those who have no sense of humour.

Ultimately, you must be aware that stress can be dangerous when you are dealing with a high amount of it on a daily basis. It can take a toll on your body, so it is vital that you find ways to cope and reduce stress in order to live a happier life. So:

5. Learn not to worry

Worrying is a negative way of using our imagination. We often generate scenarios that do not exist, yet we use these scenarios to stress ourselves out. Cutting out worry can greatly reduce stress.

6. Take things slow

We live in a fast-paced world. Almost everyone is impatient. A hectic lifestyle is a stressful lifestyle. Learn to pause, slow your pace, and you will begin to feel better.

7. Find the positive

It is easy to think negatively and put ourselves down in any situation. Start training you brain to find the positive in all situations. A positive attitude will not allow stress to overcome you.

If you would like any more information about beating stress, please do get in touch with me.