What am I celebrating?

I am continuing to celebrate ‘me’ as the birthday fun continues with a family weekend away at Byron Bay. We’re staying at one of the last of the original ’50s north coast beach shacks that has been restored, Partridge Cottage, overlooking the Cape Byron Marine with sand almost right up to the back door!

What am I acknowledging?

I am acknowledging the strength, spirit and courage of a dear friend of mine who today is a undergoing a long and complex operation to remove a tumour from her spine. My love, prayers and thoughts go out to her, her little boys and husband.

What was missing?

I have missed Yoga for the past few weeks – the stilling of thoughts, focus on breath and stretching of muscles.

What small change can I make to have more of that next week?

Simple, no appointments booked in for a Thursday evening so I can attend!

Ready to pop the cork with me? I’d love to hear about your week in the comments…

The Living Savvy lifestyle program uses the principles of life coaching to help you start fine tuning the ordinary to live extraordinary.

In this video, John Raymond (President of the International Coaching Federation of Australasia) explains talks about life coaching, how a life coach can help you, and how to find the right life coach.

What is Life Coaching?

Life coaching is about using questions to think differently, which leads to behaving differently and, ultimately a different result. If you have a goal of changing something about your life, life coaching is a process that will help you make that change.

Will life coaching work for you?

For life coaching to work for you, you need to be willing to engage, willing to share and ready to change.
Are you open to ideas and new information that may lead to a different thinking and behaving? Are you ready to commit to what’s important to you? If the answer is yes, then you will benefit from the life coaching process.

What next?

Do

Choose one small change you can make for the next week.

The first step in the 10 simple steps to start changing your life today is to practice change by doing something different. Think you don’t have the time? Read Jo’s thoughts on finding time for change and then put it in your schedule!

Discover

Learn more about John Raymond…
Learn more about life coaching…

Watch Living Savvy Episode #3 where we meet Vicky – a real woman learning to live savvy with life coaching

Celebrate and Share

Living savvy is about connecting with others, giving and receiving support, and sharing what you have learned. We love to hear your voice. So leave a comment on on of our posts and join us in the forums for more savvy discussion!

Living Savvy Founder, Jo Bassett, introduces Living Savvy – a lifestyle program for personal development and evolution.

How do you live savvy?

When you are living savvy you celebrate what’s important to you, recognise what’s missing, and are confident in making the small changes you need to starting making your dreams a reality – that’s fine tuning the ordinary to live extraordinary.

What about the Living Savvy program and website?

Through the Living Savvy program and website, Jo is gathering together a community of savvy women (and men too!) looking for advice and support to live extraordinary.

This is a place to connect with like-minded people, share ideas and stories, and get practical information to help you start changing your life today. It’s about being entertained, informed and inspired.

What next?

Do

Take a snapshot of the life you are creating

You are already creating your life through what you choose to do each day. This exercise will help you see clearly what’s important to you right now, and how what you do is shaping your life.
Knowledge is power, and this knowledge will give you the power to pinpoint where you can begin making small adjustments to achieve extraordinary results.

Click here for step by step instructions on how to take a snapshot of the life you are creating…

Discover

Learn more about the creator of Living Savvy, Jo Bassett…
Are you living savvy? Find out more…
Watch Living Savvy Episode #2: Life coach John Raymond talks about how life coaching can help you.

Celebrate & Share

Living savvy is about connecting with others, giving and receiving support, and sharing what you have learned. We love to hear your voice. So leave a comment on one of our posts and join us in the forums for more savvy discussion!

A popular exercise in personal development circles is to write your own epitaph – that final, short statement etched on your gravestone that somehow is meant to sum up the contribution you have made to this world in your lifetime.

I’m not so sure about any of that.

I certainly don’t like the idea of writing my own epitaph – it seems too much like tempting fate!

But I guess the real issue is that you can end up thinking of your life purpose as a lofty, sometimes distant, ideal.

Your life purpose is for right now…

My life purpose serves me in a very practical way. When the rain is pouring down, and the kids are wreaking havoc in the family room, and I’m worried about a looming presentation while also trying to deal with my own sadness about a recent loss… that’s when my life purpose is a life saver.

It keeps me afloat and focussed on the next action, it pulls me from my bed and supports me through another day.

… and you’ll find your life purpose in your everyday.

That’s how I articulated my life purpose for myself, and how I’d invite you to begin exploring your life purpose. Start with where you are right now. What choices have you made in your life? Your career? Your relationships? What has captured and held your attention? What themes show up again and again in your daily actions and words and achievements?

Perhaps not everything has been exactly as you would like – it’s valuable to notice that too. The point is, you’re already designing your dream life with your choices and if you observe these carefully a clearer picture will emerge of what is truly important to you.

Once you’ve found it, let it carry you forward!

Jack Canfield, in the best seller The Success Principles, writes that discovering his life purpose has injected passion, determination and sense of fulfilment into everything he does.

I have discovered that my life purpose is to help others fine tune the ordinary to live extraordinary. At the heart of this purpose is the belief – I can never dream too big for myself or others. This carries me forward everyday. And if I am remembered as someone who dreamed too big? Well, that’s OK with me.

So, now I’d love to hear, what carries you forward everyday? What life purpose is being revealed in your everyday choices? How will you be remembered?

What am I celebrating?

I am continuing to celebrate ‘me’ as the birthday fun continues with a dinner on Saturday evening.  I have planned a month of celebrations so this may be a theme for the next week or so.

What am I acknowledging?

Birthdays are a great time to reflect and look within.  Entering a new decade also brings with it a promise for new opportunities for personal evolution. So have been aware of thoughts that are floating through my head about who I am, what I do and who I wish to become.

What was missing?

Turning off the computer by 10pm each night.  Have not been consistent with this but more aware of the time to say “enough”.

What small change can I make to have more of that next week?

Last week I committed to reaching for my novel and not the TV remote when I am winding down from my evening session on the computer. No turning on the TV after 10pm at night!  This has been happening and I am going to commit to again this week because it hasn’t been easy – I love unwinding in front of the  TV but also know that I rarely turn it off “after the next ad” while a book will lull me off to sleep.

This is a common question asked by many of my coaching clients. Often, the very thing you are trying to change – a life packed with demands and responsibilities at home and at work – leaves you very little time to reflect, to plan, and to start making the changes.

Add to that the fact that all the aspects you want to change seem like a massive a job. Balance, health, awareness, do good for the community, family – how can you fit all this in?

Trying to do it all, trying to squeeze it in when you ‘have a moment’, just doesn’t work

In her video (just click the play button above to watch), Cat talks about feeling overwhelmed when she looks at her dream board because in her current state of pressure and stress it simply doesn’t seem possible.

When she thinks about how it might happen, she doesn’t want “just another shopping list of goals, because I’ve done that in the past and it begins to lose its meaning”.

Commit to one thing

This is one of the tips from my 10 simple steps to start changing your life today.

Choose one small practice, and schedule a time for that to happen. Small and regular works best – just 10 minutes a day could be all you need to start making changes.

I will often choose one question to reflect on for the week and make use of daily habits or space I already have in place – like exercising or doing the dishes. So I will think about my one question every time I go for a run, or am standing at the sink, and then jot down my thoughts and answers.

In Cat’s case, I challenged her to keep her daily ‘looking after me’ appointment for one week.

What’s one small commitment you could make to yourself this week?

In 2008, she embarked on 365 Days of Grateful, a personal project for which every day for one year, she took a single Polaroid photograph of something she was grateful for.

You can view the wonderful photographs from her first 365 Days of Grateful here. And you can read the original Notebook article via the PDF Hailey has posted on her blog here. And she also continued her practice of gratitude into 2009 and 2010 – together with a fellow ‘blissed out mama’ – here.

The good stuff in life can be surprisingly simple

Here at Living Savvy, we talk about how we can fine tune the ordinary to live extraordinary, but let’s not forget how many truly exquisite, magical moments are to be found in the ordinary, just as it is.

The literal capturing of just one moment in a Polaroid is a powerful expression of that idea – because looking at Hailey’s images you can feel the depth of gratitude that emerges from those moments:

• running alongside while her daughter rides a bike
• freshly planted basil plants
• even a backyard full of yellow weeds!

In our community forum we’ve started a list of 101 ordinary things we can do to live extraordinary – check it out and add your suggestions.

We usually find what we’re looking for

Hailey says:

I found that in the practice of doing it every day I started to catch things I would have otherwise walked straight past… It’s easy to spend our lives rushing from one thing to the next, but this allowed me to kind of press pause each day and savour those beautiful moments that would otherwise pass me by.

I’ve noticed the same effect with my weekly Champagne Friday practice. As I consciously acknowledge and celebrate the great things happening each week, it heightens my awareness of what is going well the following week.

It’s like, have you ever wanted a particular colour of shoes to match an outfit for a big event? Say you really want red shoes, and suddenly you’re seeing them everywhere you never saw them before. Even on other people’s feet!

Intentionally look for something, and you will find it.

What are you paying attention to in your life? What would you like to start looking for?

What am I celebrating?

Me! It was my birthday this week.  A new decade – the forties.   The day was filled with champagne, friends, family, presents & good wishes.  If this is any indication of the decade to come, bring it on I say!

What am I acknowledging?

My recent radio interview on 612 Brisbane. I made a conscious decision not to ’swat up’ on pre-prepared answers but instead to centre myself and focus on getting to that place where I could walk into the studio with a feeling of anticipation, excitement and confidence.

What was missing?

Sleep.  I have heard people say (including myself at times) that sleep is overrated but after many nights of only 6 hours sleep my body and brain are requesting a quality night of rest.

What small change can I make to have more of that next week?

I’m going to reach for my novel and not the TV remote when I am winding down from my evening session on the computer. No turning on the TV after 10pm at night!

Ready to pop the cork with me? I’d love to hear about your week in the comments…

What about when our personal choices run up against our ‘labels’?

They’re tricky things, labels. They’re often assigned to us with a whole lot of expectations that we didn’t necessarily sign up for. Expectations around how we should dress and behave and talk. Expectations that don’t always align with our personal choices.

Take the label ‘WAGs’…

That’s for the Wives And Girlfriends of sportsmen. It seems to guarantee a certain level of public scrutiny and attract a good amount of ridicule if said public scrutiny is not handled well.

As was the case when Haley Bracken was judged to have had a ‘frock shock’ at the Allan Border Medal awards night last month, with her self-designed, see-through mesh, floral mermaid gown.

Dare to be different

Good-natured Mia Freedman suggested Haley be given a break as at least she’s not, unlike many celebrities, been styled within an inch of her life by fashionista clone creators.

Do we expect everyone to get it perfectly right every time? Wouldn’t if be boring if we did?

There are certainly photographs in my own album that I look back on and wonder, “What the hell was I thinking?!” But hey, I was expressing myself and trying something different. Better that then to be lost in the crowd I say. So, good on Haley for giving it a go and showing us her own unique style.

And different again

Then there’s inspirational women (who also carry the label of WAG), like Tracy Bevan who helped set up the McGrath Foundation with her best friend Jane McGrath, who lost her fight with breast cancer in 2008. Tracy is now the Executive Director of the Foundation and continues to work tirelessly to increase awareness of the disease and to raise funds.

Like I said, labels are tricky things. However, ultimately, I believe that each of us defines our own personal brand, regardless of the labels others might apply. The question is: how will you choose to show up?

Do these questions make you feel uncomfortable? Don’t be surprised if they do. From an early age most of us are taught that it’s not nice to boast, and later in life the ‘tall poppy syndrome’ keeps us from wanting to stand out in the crowd. So, instead, we constantly remind ourselves of our own shortcomings, and do our best to blend in.

You are special

And acknowledging it doesn’t mean you think you’re better than everyone else. The fact is, we are all different. Your experiences, your outlook, your sensibilities, your stage of life, all these characteristics combine to create your unique personal brand.

Uncovering your personal brand means getting clear on your best qualities and strengths, embracing what makes you special, and shining your truth to the world. When you live this way, comfortable and confidently expressing your personal brand, you’ll find a new ease with everything. Your personal brand transcends the expectations of others and helps you align the external – how you dress, how you work, how you interact with others – with the internal

So, let’s get started.

Exercise 1: Your Best Qualities

• Write a list of your 20 best qualities – yes, 20! Turn off that very well practised negative tape and think creatively.
• Narrow this list to five key positive qualities that best represent you.
• Ask three people whose opinion you respect to tell you the five qualities they most love and admire about you. Ask them to provide specific examples.
• Combine your list and their list and finalise your top five qualities.

Exercise 2: Go Deeper

• Choose your favourite drink – it might be champagne or a banana smoothie or a short black.
• Now, role play the drink. That’s right, write down, “I am champagne. I am light and bubbly.” Or, “I am a banana smoothie. I’m nutritious, rich and frothy.” It may feel silly funny, but role playing allows you to express qualities you might otherwise censure. Go with it, and always capture your first response.
• Now look at the qualities you have uncovered. What did you discover?
• Try it with your favourite type of shoes, favourite car, favourite animal…

Inspired by an exercise from Barbara Sher’s book “Wishcraft”.

Exercise 3: Play With Your Personal Brand

• Gather together a large piece of cardboard, scissors, glue and a stack of women’s fashion or general interest magazines.
• Reread your top qualities and hold them in your mind.
• Close your eyes and imagine yourself in an everyday situation – walking into the office, meeting friends for lunch, or visiting your child’s school.
• Choose just one scene and imagine yourself confident, expressing your best qualities, comfortable in how you look and present to others. What are you wearing? How does it feel?
• Now find matching images from your magazine and build your style board.
• Repeat this exercise for different scenes and see what style emerges.
• Take your completed style board to your wardrobe and compare what you have to what you really want. Start fine tuning today!

Inspired by an exercise from Jennifer Louden’s book “Woman’s Comfort Book: A Self-Nurturing Guide for Restoring Balance in Your Life”.

This exercise relates to clothing but your personal brand can (and should) be expressed in everything you are creating in your life – your job, your family, your home. Play with the possibilities…

Share your discoveries in the comments below. Or join the conversation in the Living Savvy community forum.