Peace of mind … or fear disguised?

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Business building tips Brisbane

We are prepared to pay handsomely for peace of mind.  Even though a peaceful mind might not be the ultimate outcome, we can still cross it off the mental list as one less problem to worry about.     Peace of mind is a perception of safety that offers some form of protection against any one of our many squillion fears.  An example would be buying security screens or life insurance.

Alternatively, it can come from reaching a goal and achieving something.  An example would be finishing university with feelings of pride and self-satisfaction, together with the belief that a degree is likely to ensure continuing employment.  The corollary of course could be viewed as a safety measure to overcome the fear of unemployment and financial loss.  Here we go with the fears again!  It turns out that fear in one form or another, drives us all and plays a big part in our buying behaviour.

Do different to see different

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If you want to find different things then look in different places.  So many people I meet in my business coaching Brisbane consultancy are looking for that one good idea that will be their financial success and professional triumph.   Well the harsh reality is that you are never going to find it while you look at the same old view through the same old eyes.  You have got to do something different before you can see something different.  So here are five (5) ideas to start with:

  1. Stop watching the evening news.  It is the same each day; all bad news apart from the standard kitten rescue story; more crime, more scams, more accidents; more people killed and injured; politicians still scrapping; share market going up or down; and the value of the dollar still fluctuating
  2. Think about what you would do if it was your job to research and present the nation’s good news.  For a start, you would have to turn off your police CB radio and stop following ambulances.  Secondly, you could look past today and lengthen your time frame from a day to a month.  Thirdly, you could appoint yourself as the researcher and editor of “Monthly Good News and Innovation”.  There is plenty of good news and positive stories out there.
  3. Quit short term thinking.  Nothing worthwhile is ever going to happen in a day.  It is the daily routines that inhibit lateral living
  4. You must get out of the house or the office; that’s where the rest of the world is.  It is also where all of the opportunity is.  Join a club, go walking, play a sport; do something different (and enjoyable) to kick start your emergence from the rut
  5. Start seeing the world through different eyes.  Do some travel, learn new skills and meet new people outside of your normal group, and even outside your home town, state or country

Here’s another height challenged office bully

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Gary Weigh

This is sent in by one of my readers. It has got to be the quote of the year from a height-challenged senior manager called Peter. “I’m firm but fair … and I’m the only short man I know who doesn’t have short man syndrome.” Yeah right! It turns out that the little fella is super sensitive about his height.

He is a real charmer (smarmy smooth) but underneath little Pete is a serial office bully of the manipulative kind who relies on undermining, power abuse and status cues to bolster his flagging insecurity. It still doesn’t seem to make him any taller but it does make the office laugh harder behind his back!

Live laterally! Expand your life sideways

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Gary Weigh business coaching Brisbane

Luck does not fall in your lap.  You must find ways to find it.  Or maybe it was sitting on your lap all along.  In that case you need to learn how to see it.

Here’s how to do it.  This is the guide.  the detail of what, how and who is entirely up to you.  It depends on what you are looking for.

  • Develop a calm positive mind
  • Look out further than a day
  • Gain new knowledge
  • Intersect new people
  • Be prepared for what you find

These are the 5 keys to finding opportunity and what many would call luck.  It is true that the more get out of your rut; the more persistent you are; the more you expand your horizons, the luckier you will get.  You never know; you may find something a whole lot better that you never set out to look for.

Looking for business coaching Brisbane. Check it out at Be Coached

The humble entrepreneur

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Business consultancy

Being wrong can feel exactly the same as being right, because even in error, the blind assumption of righteousness underlies the assertion.  However, that feeling can change dramatically at the moment the error is realised.   Embarrassment, humiliation, shame are just some of the words to describe what follows that well known sinking feeling.  But it needn’t be that way because ‘error’ is one half of the age-old problem solving tool called ‘trial and error’.  Without recognition of error there are no further trials and no therefore no progression to a solution.  So this is the time where we should differentiate belief in the self from blind righteous belief.  A little humility and Ego detachment go a long way when it comes to assertions of right and wrong.   For the entrepreneur, nothing gets done without self belief, but blind righteous belief in an erroneous assertion could lead to a very costly business failure indeed.

The times they are a’changin’

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Business Planning

If it’s not online or doesn’t have a significant online presence, you best re-think your business model.  Everything can be bought online and customer service and security is constantly improving.   Online marketing and product / service technology is improving and escalating exponentially.   So just imagine what it will be like in another 5 years … 10 years.   The threats to bricks and mortar businesses loom larger every day, particularly those with substantial investment in real estate.   Just as the advent of the supermarket killed off the corner grocery store, so will the internet decimate department stores, electrical stores and other retail giants.   

Like lemmings to the edge of the cliff, the march to oblivion has now been accelerated by the GFC.   Although there are many assertions bandied around about unlevel playing fields, the real reason is resistance to change and ill-preparedness.  It’s been too good for too long.  A lot of this chatter and lobbying is merely a ruse to buy time so that outdated business models can be revised.

Is your business bigger than you?

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Are you business building or are you simply self-employed?  Is your business bigger than you, or are you the sum total of your business?  It is a critical question and I ask it because it matters a lot if your health, for whatever reason, fails you.  Heath events happen to the best of us and the ability of your business to survive your ill-health depends on the quality of the enterprise that has been built or bought. 

The engine of your business is you.  The smaller the business, the more vital is the engine.  A bigger business with staff has some chance of generating some back-up propulsion.  So the critical question for you is whether your business vehicle can still travel without its main engine – you!

This bullying story is hard to top

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Gary Weigh & Associates – business coaching Brisbane

Gary Weigh

When I first read bullying story, I was gobsmacked.   This is hard to top!

“This is about a sociopathic office bully called Colin.   Affectionately known as ‘Col’ by his legion of enemies, Colin was a senior manager in a prominent service company who could be best described as a boorish and obnoxious pig.   When introduced to a new employee, he would simply look up from his desk and tell the new incumbent to “get f***ked”.  Nothing more!  Colin thought accessing private information and calling an employee’s home phone at 2.30am to ask the whereabouts of a file was hilariously funny.   He would then proceed to harass and bully the sleepless employee next day. 

Fat and balding, and obviously with a house full of concave mirrors, Colin also fancied himself as a lady’s man.  To make him look tougher and more rugged, he rode a Harley Davidson bike.   To complete the delusional self image, he strongly hinted at being a Vietnam veteran even though he is too young by a decade. But undeterred, he would phone a male employee’s home at what he thought was bedtime for the express purpose of chatting socially with the employee’s wife.  Does he remind you of the loser would-be spy from the Arnold Schwarzenegger movie ‘True Lies’?”

Keep sending them in!

Practicing the art of business

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Business building

In the Japanese art of Aikido it is subtlety, timing, practiced positioning and advanced state of mind that make the art work.  We follow this philosophy when approaching the challenges of business building.  Even in the art of business, practice doesn’t make perfect.  Perfect practice does.  At first the  student merely learns the outer forms of techniques.  I say ‘outer forms’ because it is all about first principles and gross movements; about where to put hands and feet.   Over time, the inner forms begin to emerge even though plenty of mistakes are made.   The mind and body finally get it together and begin to act as one.  What used to be the outer forms now become instinctive blueprints. 

Smaller and more subtle movement begins to emerge, taking the place of bigger movements to achieve the same, if not better, result.  Principles of leading, blending, centeredness and control, all driven by strong positive Ki extension finally begin to make sense.  Individual techniques give way to a calm, relaxed and well practiced way of doing things.  Aikido is a great metaphor for practicing business.