‘Sarah’s got a great job, look how well she has done for herself’
‘Sanjay is so smart. I wish I’d applied myself to my studies like he has’
‘Sandy has done really well for herself – just look at that great house and the holidays she goes on’
‘Marco and Tina have the perfect family life. I’m so jealous’
‘Brian’s so ballsy. Just look at how he reinvented himself and started that business of his’
‘Emma is so damn organised. I wish had the kind of work-life balance she’s achieved’
Stop Comparing
Comparing yourself to others is drilled into us from childhood and school. But it’s completely misplaced and irrelevant when most of us get into adulthood and are in charge of managing our careers.
“Pay no attention to what the critics say; no statue has ever been erected to a critic” - Jean Sibelius
Whenever you attempt anything worthwhile, you’ll often have more disbelievers than you will have believers.
Whether you decide to transform your business and your team, decide to change careers and pursue your passion, commit to starting a new business venture, choose to become a consultant or interim manager – in fact, do anything big, important or different and you’ll often find 3 things happen:
a) The people who you thought would support you the most – probably won’t (the support often comes from the least expected sources)
Whilst celebrity chef Jamie Oliver has had his fair share of critics over the years, I’ve always been a big fan. Not necessarily because of his culinary skills, but because of what he stands for.
Jamie has worked tirelessly to give young unemployed people an opportunity to become chefs and transform their lives through his innovative Fifteen restaurants. He’s campaigned to change the way schools and the government feed children to turn around the obesity timebomb.
So I was delighted to see that his work was rewarded last week at the TED talks, where was awarded the 2010 Ted Prize and gave the inspirational talk above about his wish to educate children on food and so eradicate obesity and dietary illnesses.
So how does a celebrity chef win such a prestigious award and be invited to speak in front of such an auspicious audience?
“The master in the art of living makes little distinction between his work and his play, his labour and his leisure, his mind and his body, his information and his recreation, his love and his religion.
He hardly knows which is which.
He simply pursues his vision of excellence in whatever he does, leaving others to decide whether he is working or playing.
1. Play to strengths
2. Do work that you enjoy
3. Work in an environment that suits your style and values
4. Make your work compliment your overall lifestyle
5. Do something of value instead of just chasing the money Click here to read the rest…
“Every adversity carries within it the seed of equal or greater benefit”
- Napoleon Hill
In 2005, when I ran a half marathon for the first time, I tore my calf 8 weeks before the race and was advised to pull out of it. But I kept telling myself that it was a hurdle to overcome and not a brick wall. So I found an amazing physiotherapist who I visited twice a week, radically changed my diet and started visualising daily so that I was mentally prepared to complete the race.
“I don’t know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody” - Bill Cosby
I’ve recently returned from spending a week in Colombia (South America) for a friend’s wedding. It was, of course, a lovely sunny place to spend the new year whilst the UK was experiencing the worst winter weather for 30 years.
Before returning to ice-cold London last weekend, Ispent an afternoon volunteering with an amazing NGO in Colombia’s third city – Cali.Forming Futures (Fundación Formación DeFuturos) is a charitable foundation which helps 16 – 20 year olds make the transition from state-funded foster homes to becoming successful, independent adults.
Crisis is a charity that runs centres each Christmas to provide London’s homeless people with food, shelter, entertainment and companionship through the Christmas period. In fact they ran the biggest ever volunteer event in the UK, with 9,000+ volunteers over a 10-day period.
I’d never done anything like this before but, having read about the record numbers of people becoming homeless last year due to the financial crisis, I thought I would volunteer my time on the 23rd and 24th December – after all it was just two days.
I was part of the “Learning and Skills” team of volunteerswho helped the homeless ‘clients’ improve specific skills such as literacy, numeracy, language skills, computer skills, artistic skills etc. Given my background, my main focus was to offer advice and help to people about finding work. After all, finding work and earning money has a knock-on effect on being homeless. Helping a homeless person find work could literary change their life.
But in reality, most people that come into the shelters are looking for a warm meal and people to chat to rather than for advice on how to improve their skills. So on Christmas Eve I found myself and a fellow volunteer (Carol), chatting to a homeless 60-year old Irish man over a cup of tea in the canteen of the school that was hosting the shelter.
1. The person who made you redundant. It may not seem like it now, but in the long run, they may have done you a huge favour. (You just don’t get to find out why until much later… )
2. The recruiter who offered you genuine help and advise, even though they couldn’t provide solid opportunities for you
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