The art of peace is a metaphor for business

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Business coach Brisbane

A calm business mind for me comes from aikido, a subtle Japanese martial art known worldwide as the Art of Peace.  Whilst dojo training is never a life or death situation, it does teach a very useful self protection skill that I can use effectively in 95% of life’s unpleasant situations.   I am not talking about the battle field or the city streets at night.  I am talking about difficult interactions at home, at the office, on the road, at the shops or in the car park. 

Aikido also serves to take me out of my comfort zone regularly and gets me making decisions without thinking whilst under movement.  Remaining calm and relaxed under pressure and under movement is difficult and takes practice.   The good news is that all personal skills are transferrable.  So I simply transfer this state of being to the rest of my life, including my business life.   So even if you don’t have a lot of business skills, staying calm in a crisis and asking for help is your next best option.

A calm mind wins the day

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Business Management Tips

The hallmark of the elite is complete calmness under extreme pressure.  When bullets are flying around their head, or a 20 foot putt stand between them and the green jacket of golf, a calm mind, iron-clad concentration and years of training is what they rely on.   Developing that elusive calm mind is a skill in itself, and also takes considerable practice.   It doesn’t happen naturally when humans are under extreme stress.  The usual adrenalin induced instincts are either ‘fight’ or ‘flight’.   Either can get you wiped out or have your income severely maimed if you don’t know what you are doing.  So either you get yourself some quality training from a quality instructor or you buy yourself some brown corduroy pants!

Gary 0408 756 531

gary@garyweigh.com

Business building Australia – mental toughness

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Business building Australia

As MMA champion, Ice Man Chuck Liddell said, “Mental toughness is no part time thing.”   Mental toughness does not mean swaggering around looking for fights.  It means practiced resistance to breaking down or giving in under pressure.   Note the emphasis on ‘practiced’ resistance.  Like all skill development, mental toughness requires a good coach and relentless practice.  It is also not exclusive to the octagon.  It has application to every facet of life, and is a powerful advantage in business, particularly when combined with calmness and relaxation.

Another workplace bully story

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Business coaching Brisbane

Talk about closing the door on a bully boss.  After putting up with her boss’s harassment and manipulation for too long, a fed up worker evened up the score card.  The bully boss had swung his body around the corner from her office into the doorway of the office next door.   Unfortunately, he was still gripping the door jamb of the office he had just exited.  It was never established whether Ms. Fedup saw the bully boss’s fingers in the door jamb or not, but she simply walked over and closed her office door – hard.  Oh my … what a terrible accident!  He couldn’t flip the left hand bird for quite a while.

The value of training

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Business consultancy Australia

You have probably heard of the SAS motto “Train hard, fight easy”.   It works for the military elite and it also works to produce elite business operators.  Does simply pulling on the uniform and picking up a rifle make you a soldier?  Absolutely not!  No more so than having a good idea and registering a business name making you a business operator.

In both cases, when the odds are against you and things look gloomy, your training and experience is all you have to rely on.   The difference between the elite and you is training – knowledge, skill, and experience.  My advice is “don’t leave home or start a business without it!”

What’s your bully?

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Business coaching Brisbane

One of the reasons that people can’t make New Year resolutions and achieve personal goals is that they can’t extricate themselves from difficult situations they are already in.  It is hard to move on when you are trapped.  In this case I am talking about being trapped at work by a bully.  So this year, I am going to use this blog to shine a light on workplace bullies.  Together we are going to identify, shame, and prosecute a few.

Workplace bullies come in all shapes and sizes; commonly male but not always.  I have seen quite a few and it seems to me that they all have one thing in common.  That is, fear.  It is an inbuilt ‘fear of lack’ developed over a long period of time.  It comes from feeling insecure about some personal attribute – e.g. wealth, status, intelligence, competence, looks, height, popularity, libido.   It probably goes deeper than that but I’m not a psychologist.

Probing and knowing the cause doesn’t excuse the misery bullies cause but it does suggest how fragile they would be if we could strip away their props – e.g. the power, authority, and status symbols, not to mention eradicating that traditional festering environment called the average workplace.

It is my view that most workplace environments enable and empower bullies.  They are simply built for it.  The same structure that supposedly elicits the best work results is the one that causes most misery to its people.  It simply allows relationships that don’t exist elsewhere.  The age-old hierarchical structure and the master-servant relationships of the workplace are tailor made for the underachiever looking to slip the collar of self control and respect for others.

Send me your bullying stories and let’s act.

Luck is the success you plan for

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Business building tips Brisbane

When planning your 2012 resolutions, think about this!  ‘Luck’ is an unexpected outcome that befalls people who generally don’t act; don’t do; and love to procrastinate.  Luck plays no part in planning and operating a business or managing risk.  What appears to be luck to observers is simply what happens to people who act, do and persevere with it.   The more you swing the bat, the more you hit the ball.  Funnily enough, luck in business is actually the success you planned for, viewed through the eyes of self doubt.  If you can deal with your fear and believe in yourself, then most of the time, what might appear to be luck is no more than you should expect.

Business planning – tire kickers & chokers

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Met another would-be business planning client the other day!   It’s not a regular occurrence, but an occasional distraction.  Many people like the idea of being in business for themselves but the reality scares the crap out of them.  They get at or near the start line and choke.   My brand of coaching removes all the dreaming right after the ‘vision’ stage.  After that it resembles hard work.  After a long period of procrastination, that can be a harsh reality.  The choke statement was that she couldn’t proceed until she received a tax refund she was waiting on.   If anyone really has to wait for a tax refund to pay a business expense (in this case ‘advice’) then they are in real trouble.  If you are serious you’ve just got to man-up (or woman-up) and take control.  It’s just another reason why you plan first!

To know more about business planning

Email me at gary@garyweigh.com

Mobile: 0408756531

If your business building strategy is right, be patient

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Business building aiki style 

When you start a business money is usually short and enthusiasm is usually high.  You are in a hurry and you want to get going.  You implement your business building plans and you want everything to happen immediately, if not sooner. 

If that doesn’t happen, you become impatient and a little desperate and wonder why this great idea and all your best-laid plans are not working.  Then you change something!!  That can be a mistake because too often it will be a compromise in the interest of expediency.  You have just compromised your original intention.

You need to be committed to your original plan and be patient.  If it is well thought out, it will be a logical and cohesive plan.  When you implement, your actions need time to propagate and you need to hold your nerve.  So maintain your centre and extend strongly.  That is, maintain rock solid intention.

If you believe in your original intention, then let it run and wait for the result.  If it doesn’t work, find out why and then make the adjustment.

It could be the case that your original plan may have been a great idea but for some reason it is not working.  For example, you get the best brochures printed, distribute them to your target customers and the phone doesn’t ring.  The brochure part was fine but people generally need more than one contact before they buy.  So the idea was good but the strategy may be underdeveloped.  Therefore, a good strategy simply stops short.

Deal in facts, not fear!!  You are in control of your destiny and the power lies within you.  So when you are business building, stay in control.  Don’t abdicate that power to someone else, and especially not to those success saboteurs in your head – ‘fear’ and ‘self doubt’.  Trust your instincts and maintain you centre.

If you would like to see more of Aikido-in-action in everyday life, check out my Aikido Secrets blog at http://www.aikido-secrets-to-calm-success.com/

Gary Weigh

Business Coach gary@garyweigh.com

Mobile: 0408756531

Understand your need for money

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Consider this before business building!  Nobody ever wants money for money’s sake.  Money has no intrinsic value.  Its value lies only in what it can purchase.  So there are reasons why you want money in your life.  What are they?

 It might be to buy a new house, travel overseas or educate your kids.  These are great goals and so is the desire to be financially independent.

Understanding why you want money helps create strength in your motivation for generating money. If deep down you are striving to (for example) improve the lot of your family and to make life easier for your kids than it was for you, then you are generating some very powerful motives for making money.

On the other hand, if your motives extend no deeper than buying new baubles each week, then your motivation may not be strong.  You risk being distracted by the next shiny thing dangling in front of your eyes.  But if it works for you, stick with it.

Before you can tell other people where you are coming from, you must understand it yourself.  So it doesn’t hurt to do a little bit of honest self assessment.  Dig deep!

Seek motivation deeper than simply being able to pay your monthly bills.  Why stop there!  If you can do that then you can achieve the next level of income, and the one after that.  You can keep moving forward one step at a time towards realising your dreams.

If you would like to see more of Aikido-in-action in everyday life, check out my Aikido Secrets blog at http://www.aikido-secrets–to-calm-success.com

Gary Weigh

Business Coach gary@garyweigh.com

Mobile: 0408756531