An A to Z of personal development - direction

"If you don't know where you are going, how can you expect to get there?" ~ Basil S. Walsh

Many clients who come to me for coaching are searching for direction – they want focus and a sense of purpose, to be moving towards something meaningful, and to have clarity and confidence about where they are going in their lives (and who they want to be). Having a clear direction means we can set our compass and make better choices, through asking ourselves if a contemplated action takes us nearer our goals or detracts us from the course we have set.

Knowing our direction and where we ultimately want to be, gives us satisfaction in getting there and in what is learned along the way (the journey is important too) as it motivates us to keep moving forward and achieve even more, knowing that we have been successful so far.

One of the things that motivated me to make changes in my life and later become a coach, was attending a seminar by Chris Croft in which he talked about planning our vacations - if we went on holiday without knowing where we were headed, we risked driving away from our house and ending up in a nearby cul-de-sac. Life is the same! That image stayed with me and I began thinking about how important it was to have life goals and plan my way forward.

· "Direction determines destination." ~ Jim Rohn
· "Lack of direction, not lack of time, is the problem. We all have twenty-four-hour days." ~ Zig Ziglar
· "The great thing in the world is not so much where we stand as in what direction we are moving." ~ Oliver Wendell Holmes
· "You've got to think about the big things while you're doing the small things, so that all the small things go in the right direction." ~ Alvin Toffler
· "Make sure you know where you are going - as a man going nowhere usually gets there!" ~ Author unknown to me

Monday Motivation - 23 February

“Never fear shadows. They simply mean there's a light shining somewhere nearby.” ~ Ruth E. Renkel

Monday Motivation - 9 February

"You can conquer almost any fear if you will make up your mind to do so. For remember, fear doesn't exist anywhere except in the mind." ~ Dale Carnegie, 1888-1955, Speaker and Author

An A to Z of personal development - communication continued

Writing about communication in the context of personal development, my initial thoughts are around us taking responsibility for ensuring that our communication is clearly understood by the intended recipient. We need to ensure that our message is clear and unambiguous.

· “Communication is never what is sent, only what is received.” ~ Unknown

We also need to take account of the others involved – so we write for the reader, or avoid jargon with those outside our specialist field.

It is also of great importance to understand that all of us take in information through the filter of our expectations, beliefs and stories, so we may not hear the words being spoken because we expect a different message or we get caught up in our own history and allow words to trigger emotions not relevant to the current situation.

And to communicate well, it also helps to have an awareness of how others process information. So - are they auditory; preferring to listen, to talk through ideas, responding to words such as ‘how does this sound to you’ or are they visual; responding to written documents, mind maps, colourful images, words such as ‘see, imagine, and visualize.’ Or they could be kinesthetic, needing to be asked how they feel, or what their gut reaction is, so that they can get to grips with an idea.

· “The problem with communication... is the illusion that it has been accomplished." ~ George Bernard Shaw

· “Find the courage to ask questions and to express what you really want. Communicate with others as clearly as you can to avoid misunderstandings, sadness and drama. With just this one agreement, you can completely transform your life.” ~ Don Miguel Ruiz

Some useful resources can be found in the following two books: “I only say this because I love you” by Deborah Tannen, and “Fierce Conversations” by Susan Scott.

An A to Z of personal development - communication

Brian Tracy explains why communication is so important: "Your ability to negotiate, communicate, influence, and persuade others to do things is absolutely indispensable to everything you accomplish in life."

Monday Motivation - 2 February

“Thou hast only to follow the wall far enough and there will be a door in it.” ~ Marguerite de Angeli