Better Business, Better Life Newsletter – Issue 8

WHAT’S INSIDE THIS ISSUE:

Find of the Week:

Here’s this week’s business tip, life hack & find of the week… And don’t forget the inspirational quote, which you can download as a wallpaper or lock screen for your phone.

BONUS – We’re running a series of events that teach the EOS Model & tools. If you’d like to attend & learn more about EOS, understand how to use the tools plus go home with a workbook & a copy of the Traction book (& a free lunch) then send me an email & I’ll send you a VIP code that will get you either a complimentary ticket or a discounted ticket to the event. See the link to the event at the bottom of the email.

If you find great things that you’d like to share then feel free to email me for inclusion in one of my weekly newsletters.

BETTER BUSINESS

Are you stuck in the forest?

I’ve been running a number of Annual Planning sessions with clients over the past few weeks & it’s brought home how important these annual planning sessions are. Even with regular meetings & quarterly reviews, it’s still sometimes easy to get lost in the forest. Let me share this fable to set the scene…

“A group of explorers was working its way through a jungle, hacking through thick underbrush.

Exhausted after several hours, they stopped to rest. Looking around, the brush was so thick they could only see tree trunks, leaves, and vines as the tunnel they had cleared curved out of sight.  It was so thick they hadn’t even realized they weren’t traveling in a straight line.

One young explorer said, “I have an idea. Why don’t we climb a tree so we can see where we’ve been and where we are going?”

When they climbed high enough to see, they became furious. All their hard work had been wasted effort, for they had made an almost complete circle.

Running a business sometimes feels like being caught in a jungle. And even if you’re trying to be careful, it can be easy to get so occupied with hacking away at the day-to-day obstacles that you lose track of your direction.”

The Annual Planning Session is the most important meeting of your year because it’s when you climb the tree to see where you’ve been and where you are going.

It is a time when you and your senior leaders celebrate your accomplishments, strengthen your team relationships, and work together to set the course for your company’s future.

However, it can be tempting, when you are so busy to push it aside. Who needs more planning when we have so much to do?

So, did you know that the most important part of your annual planning session isn’t the actual planning?

If you’re like many companies, your leadership team skips the most critical component of your annual planning. And it negatively impacts your team’s creativity and goal setting for the coming year.

Business leaders of entrepreneurial companies are so hard-charging, so busy, and so overwhelmed, that they tend to see only the gaps ahead of them. These are the goals, ideals, and accomplishments they haven’t reached yet. When you’re feeling overworked from the previous year and start looking at all the gaps you have yet to cover, it can put you into the wrong frame of mind for moving forward.

If this sounds familiar, there’s an easy way out of this mental trap. And it’s guaranteed to energize your leadership team with renewed creativity. Before you do any planning for the future, look back on the past.

BETTER LIFE

It’s ok to not be ok…

I work with a team from the US & I’ve been told It’s mental health month in the US. We don’t get our mental health awareness week until later in the year, however, sadly, I have become aware the business world has lost several more good people this month & so I think it’s a really good time to be taking a look at our mental well-being & others around us.

It’s always a difficult subject because you ask people how they are & you often get an ok – and how many of us ask more than that?

People seem fine from the outside – full of smiles & positivity, but is that truly reflected internally or are they putting on a mask?

So how do you recognise when you, or others around you are stressed & what can you do about it?

I thought I’d keep with the international them so whilst this article is from the UK, it’s just as relevant for us Kiwis. Here are the 3 steps to take when feeling stressed.

1. Realise when it is causing you a problem

Try to make the connection between feeling tired or ill and the pressures you are faced with
Look out for physical warnings such as tense muscles, over-tiredness, headaches or migraines

2. Identify the causes

Try to identify the underlying causes
Sort the possible reasons for your stress into three categories
- 1) those with a practical solution
- 2) those that will get better given time and
- 3) those you can’t do anything about
Try to release the worry of those in the second and third groups and let them go

3. Review your lifestyle

Could you be taking on too much?
Are there things you are doing which could be handed over to someone else?
Can you do things in a more leisurely way?
To act on the answer to these questions, you may need to prioritise things you are trying to achieve and re-organise your life
This will help to release pressure that can come from trying to do everything at once

The article also covers 7 steps to help protect yourself from stress –

And how do you ask someone if they are truly OK (when they’re clearly not)?

Sometimes, it’s hard to tell someone that you’re struggling, so use these tips to help someone if you think they are just saying what they think you want to hear & you are genuinely concerned.

Article – Managing & Reducing Stress

Tips – How to Ask

FIND OF THE WEEK

But I don’t eat fried food?

That was my response when someone told me how they had got an air fryer & it was fabulous. But as they explained to me all the things that they had cooked in it, I realised it might be a handy little gadget to have.

However, in our tiny city pad, we don’t have much space so another gadget taking up valuable kitchen working surface seemed illogical.

And then I found this Kogan 14-in-1 device from Dick Smith. Its first appeal was that it was a rectangle – not a circle like most air fryers – I can’t get my head around circles & how much space they waste, so it already scored bonus points.

This little gadget air fries, bakes, roasts, slow cooks, sautes, steams & a whole bunch of other things. Our Chinese dumplings have never been so easy to steam & we air just about anything these days.

So if you feel like you’re missing out on air frying but don’t want to give up a huge amount of space, then I highly recommend this.

And by the way – air-fried Kale is surprisingly good!

Kogan 14-in-1

INSPIRATIONAL QUOTE

Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.

Rob Siltanen

Remember, you can download this quote as wallpaper or a screen lock image for your phone.

BONUS – Don’t forget our EOS Event coming up. You don’t want to miss this one, trust me! – How to get everything you want from your business!

EOS Business Event

NEED HELP?

If you’d like to learn more about any of these tools or would like to find out how I can help you achieve a better life through creating a better business, then book a free Discovery Call with me.

We’ll talk about what you want to get from your business & your life & come up with a plan to do that!

Book a FREE Discovery Call here

Debra Chantry-Taylor

Certified EOS Implementer | Accredited Family Business Advisor | Entrepreneurial Leadership & Business Coach | Speaker & Workshop Facilitator