Pep Talk!

Lawyers looking for a career change?

Mon, 19 Mar 2012 12:31:00 GMT

I’ve just come across this interesting article in the Law Society Gazette about Lawyers who want to change roles and how they’ve gone about doing it, something many of my clients are interested in! You can read it here www.careerbalance.co.uk/resources/docs/11-13-feature.pdf .

If that is an area of interest, then it's also worth having a look at the website www.moretolaw.co.uk for some great ideas about roles lawyers have moved into after law (and conversely those who have moved to law later in their careers!).

New Report out on Business Benefits of Management and Leadership Development – important for any employer!

Mon, 12 Mar 2012 14:35:00 GMT

A new report based on the largest study of its kind in the UK so far and published by the Chartered Management Institute explores the business benefits of Management and Leadership Development (MLD). The recommendations are of interest to any employer looking to maximise their return on investment from training and development.

As regards coaching, the report states that 'Coaching, either by line manager or external practitioners, appears in the top five most effective types of MLD for women but not for men. Coaching by external practitioners is identified by over half of CEOs and senior managers as something they wish they had received earlier in their careers.'

'Coaching is highly rated at different management levels, but line manager coaching is ranked more highly at more junior levels while coaching by external practitioners is valued more highly by more senior managers.'

'There is also some evidence that women managers particularly value coaching, both by line manager and external practitioners.'

The study found, among other things, that high performing organisations spent more on MLD and that "on the job" development was the most prevalent form of MLD. This included providing coaching at all levels and building coaching capability within the organisation at all levels through leader as coach programmes and accrediting internal coaches.

The full report can be downloaded from the CMI website.

http://www.managers.org.uk/business-benefits-management-and-leadership-development

Active Listening - how comfortable are you being a listener?

Tue, 01 Feb 2011 16:02:00 GMT

"Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around." Leo Buscaglia

We all know how important it is for our communication with work colleagues or friends that we are active listeners, but how comfortable are you in being an active listener?

Why not find out by considering your answers to the following statements?

If I had to choose between listening and speaking I would.............................................

.......................................................................................................................................

I find it easy to listen to someone when...........................................................................

......................................................................................................................................

I find it difficult to listen to someone when.......................................................................

......................................................................................................................................

I respond emotionally to the following words and phrases............................................

.......................................................................................................................................

The best listener I know is ................................................................................................. because................................................................................................................................

.........................................................................................................................................

Habits I find irritating in a speaker are...............................................................................

.........................................................................................................................................

To become a more effective listener I need to..................................................................

.........................................................................................................................................

Reflect on your answers to the 7 statements and decide what you want to do next to improve your active listening skills.

Action Points – 3 things I commit to do to improve my active listening skills

By when?

How will I know I’ve achieved them? What will I see/hear/feel?

How Effective Are Your Active Listening Skills? - A Quiz

Tue, 01 Feb 2011 15:52:00 GMT

“Years ago I tried to top everybody, but I don’t anymore, I realised it was killing conversation. When you’re always trying for a topper you aren’t really listening. It ruins communication.” Groucho Marx

Why not try this quiz to focus your thinking on your own active listening skills and find out how effective an active listener you are?

If your answer is “Always”, mark A, if it is “Sometimes” mark B, if it is “Rarely or Never” mark C

1. I maintain eye contact with the speaker.

2.     I encourage the speaker with my facial expression and nodding.

3.    I don't pretend interest in the subject - I am genuinely interested!

4.    I have an open posture whilst listening.

5.    I allow the speaker to finish and don't interrupt even if I think I know what they are going to say next!

6.    I listen actively to the speaker even if I disagree with them!

7.    I ignore external distractions (phones, traffic, other conversations etc.) whilst listening.

8.    I summarise what has been said to me to check my understanding is correct.

9.    I am aware of the speakers body language when I listen.

10.    I am aware of the speakers feelings as they speak to me.

11.    I pick up on changes to the tone of the speakers voice as the subject matter changes.

12.    I ask questions to check understanding.

13.    I am happy to be silent to give the speaker space to think and speak.

14.    I am good at knowing when to speak and when to listen.

15.    I do not day dream or drift off in my own thoughts when listening to someone else.

16.    I do nto mentally prepare a rebuttal whilst the speaker is talking.

17.    I concentrate hard when I listen to someone else.

18.    I do not tune people out who say things I don't agree with or don't want to hear.

19.    I learn something from each person I speak to.

20.    I listen to the speakers viewpoint even if it is different from my own.

Now count up how many A’s, B’s and C’s you scored and find out what kind of active listener you are by reading the key below.

Mostly A’s

You are a fantastic active listener both in and out of work. And people respect you for your ability to communicate clearly and listen intently. You are probably a great influencer and negotiator too! Keep working at it!

Mostly B’s

You are a capable active listener and could work on changing some of your behaviours so that you get the most out of active listening and avoid any conflicts or misunderstandings. Start by working on those answers which you gave a “C” to then move on to the B’s. Think about what you need to do to make the person you are listening to aware that you have really heard what they said. Consider paraphrasing what they said and identify the feelings behind what they said. Try to be empathetic and non judgemental in your communication, whether verbal or otherwise.

Mostly C’s

Keep working on your active listening skills otherwise you are going to find it extremely difficult to communicate whether in a work or social context. Pick one or two of the “C” answers you gave, and really practice them in a real context so that you would give those skills an “A” the next time you do this quiz. Make a conscious effort to understand the complete message being sent by the speaker and not just the words. If you are confused say so! Soon you will find that there are less misunderstandings and better communication between yourself and your colleagues and friends.

Some helpful Active Listening Questions to Use

I’m curious...

I’m interested in...

I’d love to know more about...

What would the consequences of that be?

What is the hardest part of that for you?

So what you are saying is....Is that right?

Tell me about...

What do you mean by...?

Stress Management through language

Tue, 25 Jan 2011 19:03:00 GMT

I have had cause to think quite a lot about stress lately, having reviewed with interest Catrin Mills’ new book (Effective Stress Management Techniques for Lawyers - see book reviews) and finding “stress” as a theme cropping up time and again with my coaching client’s, particularly those clients working in the legal field. I’ve also become more and more interested in the way we use language and how its use can affect our thoughts and actions. Putting the two strands together has led me to some interesting conclusions around stress management.

Part of the answer to the questions, “what is stress?”, and “how we can deal with it?” for me lies in the language we use to describe situations to ourselves, because the language we use affects how we view things.

I believe that stress is the effect of a person’s internal reaction to external events and each internal reaction is likely to be different to the same event. That is to say, one person can find an event stress inducing whereas someone else might take it in their stride. So why might that be?

It is partly the language we use (whether in the internal messages we give ourselves or how we describe the event to others) which affects how we view an event and determines whether we feel stressed by the event or not.

At the start of many coaching relationships I often notice how my client’s language effectively ambushes their chances to be all that they can be. What do I mean by this?

Well, I often hear clients say things like:

“I should....but...” (I should leave work early but I never seem to be able to”) or

“I must...” (“I must go to the gym after work”) or

“I need to...” (“I need to get all my work finished before I go on holiday”)

“I ought to...” (“I ought to take this work home with me”).

“I have to...” (I have to delegate work, although it would be quicker to do it myself)

To my way of thinking each of these generalisations suggest that there is some higher power requiring my client to act in this way i.e. my clients are not acting of their own free will. After all, if they really wanted to do it, they would use words like “I would like to...” or “I want to...” instead of “I should...”, wouldn’t they?

By using this type of language my clients are effectively cutting down their options, removing their control or will and this can lead to an increase in internal stress feelings.

When I ask my client who is requiring them to stay late or go to the gym or take work home, they are generally not altogether sure. They sometimes say it might be their boss, their clients, their colleagues or their family. Occasionally they will say they are. But when I probe a bit deeper it turns out that the boss has never asked them to stay late on days when they’ve finished their work, or their clients are just as happy to wait for the work when they return from holiday. And they can’t identify why they would want to do it in the first place.

It’s an interesting phenomena. Some people might call it a critical inner voice speaking to them telling them what they should be doing. Some believe it is the values they lead their lives by or how they have been brought up. It may be that they are responding to the example set by others or what they believe is expected in a given situation or within a particular culture, but it doesn’t mean it’s true! Just being aware that they are acting on a generalisation and that they have a choice not to can reduce the stress response.

Another set of “generalisation” words which often have a similar internal stress inducing effect are words like always, never, every time, whenever, everyone, no one. Usually someone experiences an incident and generalises by their use of language that the same thing will always/never happen in the future or everyone/no one will do that or feel like that, although logically if they thought about it they would probably come to the conclusion that this was not necessarily the case.

For example someone might say, either aloud or to themselves internally:

“I never do the work how she likes it.”

“I always mess up.”

“No one invites me to meetings about things like that.”

“Every time I try to complete a transaction, I fail.”

Just as in the examples where my client has used the ought to or should type language, by generalising using these universal generalisation words (e.g. always, every time, never etc.), my clients are cutting down their options and as a result increasing their internal stressors. Just think, how different they would feel about the task and themselves if instead of saying:

“I never do the work how she likes it.”, they said instead:

“She liked most of my report last time but wasn’t happy with one part so I will pay attention to doing that part better this time.”

Quite often if I hear my client use the generalisation words I will ask them to reformulate the sentence which they can find hard to do. For example if they have said:

“I should leave work early” they find it quite hard to change this to:

“I would like to leave work early” and give me a rye smile when they say it!

If it was just words then I don’t think it would be difficult at all. However, words have meaning and by using new words you change how you view an issue and how you are going to act upon it. Changing a point of view is quite hard but gets easier the more it is done.

Most clients I work with find it difficult at first to think about what the alternatives might be to their first stress inducing thoughts. For example if a client thinks they should have been invited to a meeting, what alternatives can they come up with to that thought? Sometimes it helps them to think about the situation as if they were someone else, someone whom they admire. What would that person think in this situation? How might they view it? Sometimes they can think of themselves as someone from a different department or a visitor viewing the events almost like a fly on the wall. Once they start to think in this way it often becomes second nature to come up with alternative ways of seeing things and means that they do not build up the resentments which lead to stress.

Noticing and reflecting on the use of words like ought to or should or always or never in our everyday speech or our internal voice is the first step. Trying to replace those generalisation words with other words which can put a whole new slant on a situation is the next step. Thinking about what the alternatives are to how we initially view an event can also make it feel less stressful inside. Why don’t you try it and let me know how you get on?

Coach the Business Coach Training Events for July, September and October

Thu, 01 Jul 2010 08:05:00 GMT

Dates for your diary!

Following the phenomenal success of the Coach the Coach Taster session in collaboration with Willow Training Ltd earlier this month, we have scheduled another two dates in July at Hemel Hempstead and Milton Keynes. More information about these events is attached here Coaching Tasters July 10 including some of the fantastic feedback we were given at the previous event.

Also, in response to demand following the original Coaching Taster session, we have put together a two day programme aimed at taking the Business Managers Coaching skills to the next level. Information and how to book is also attached here 2 Day Coach the Business Coach Training.

We look forward to seeing you at one of our fantastic future events!

Please do forward details on to your friends and colleagues if any of these events may be of interest to them.

Well Formed Outcomes

Tue, 02 Feb 2010 16:35:00 GMT

Do you sometimes wonder why you can achieve some things but not others? I’ve been thinking about it a lot recently. When I look back on what I wanted to achieve in the last quarter some things came easily and other things are still on my to do list!

On a personal note, a good example is my desire to lose weight. I was successful in losing weight last year but reached a point where I just couldn’t do it anymore. With the advent of the New Year, losing weight has been back on my mind and at the weekend I felt ready to start again. But why was I ready now and not 6 months ago?

Well as an NLP Practitioner I think in “well formed outcomes”. This is the opposite of “problem thinking”. Problem thinking questions are questions like: When did it start? Whose fault is it? Why haven’t you solved it yet? You may have heard these questions many times at work when things have gone wrong. With outcome thinking it is more useful to ask what we want instead of the current state of affairs and what we are going to do about it.

To solve the problem you have to have an outcome in mind. Why not try it for yourself by answering the following 9 questions?

What do you want?

The answer to this question must be stated in the positive. Don’t ask what you don’t want or what you want to avoid! If you find it difficult to come up with a positive answer, then turn your negative into a positive by asking “what do I want instead”.

So for me, instead of not wanting to be fat, my positive outcome is that I want to get my old jeans on. In a business context if you want to reduce your debt, your positive outcome might be to improve your cash flow.

Evidence – how will you know you are succeeding/have succeeded?

On your journey towards your outcome think about what you will measure to know you are on the right track. Ask yourself now what you will see, hear and feel when you reach your outcome.

To get into my old jeans I will lose 1-2lbs per week and within a month I will hope to have lost at least an inch off my waist. I’ll know I have achieved my outcome when I can see myself easily getting into my old pair of jeans, they will feel really comfortable and won’t pinch and I will hear people complimenting me on how good I look!

Specifics: Where, when and with whom?

As well as considering specifically what you do want, consider specifically what you don’t want.

I specifically want to be able to get into my old jeans by the beginning of April when I won’t be able to continue to wear the thick woolly jumpers which are currently hiding my midriff! I specifically want to feel thinner around my tummy area. I am going to a social event in April with some friends who haven’t seen me for a while and I want to achieve my outcome by then so they will notice a difference.

Resources: What resources do you have?

Resources fall into 5 categories. Objects; people; role models; personal qualities; and money.

For my weight loss the objects might be low fat cookery books, TV programmes, music tapes to relax me. Sometimes I eat out of boredom so objects like taking a bath or giving myself a pedicure at difficult moments might help. A photo of me at the start of my weight loss might be a good motivator and I’ve decided to hang the jeans on my wardrobe door so I see them each morning!

People who can help with my weight loss are my son, who could keep his sweets hidden away from me! I will tell my mum what my goals are and ask her to check in with me once a week to see how I am getting on.

Role models – inspirational stories in magazines about people who have already achieved their goals would be good to keep on hand. Joining a diet club where I can talk to the leaders about their experiences might also help me.

Personal qualities – I know that when I set my mind to something I can achieve it. I also know I have succeeded in the past and have the capability to do it.

Money – I hope that I will save money from not buying bottles of wine and extra treats! I may have to pay to attend a slimming club if I need that extra support and know I can afford that from the saving on treats!

Control: Can you start and maintain this outcome?

You need to ask yourself whether reaching your desired outcome is under your direct control or whether others may need to help you get to your outcome. If you do need others to help, ask yourself how you can persuade them or what can you offer them to get their help.

With my weight loss goal, most of it is under my control. I may need support from my mum or from a slimming club but can get that through explaining what I need and paying my weekly club subscription.

Ecology: What are the wider consequences?

This is an area that many people don’t consider when setting their desired goals and is a very important failure factor. Ask yourself what the opportunity cost of achieving this outcome is. What will you have to give up? What’s good about the present situation which you might lose? What might also happen when you get your outcome?

With my weight loss the inevitable trade off for me is the affect it will have on my social life! For example, I enjoy going out for Sunday lunch at the weekend or inviting friends round to my house for a home cooked meal. I also enjoy a glass of champagne on a Saturday night. So the opportunity cost of fitting into my jeans by April might be that I will not be able to do these things or else I will need to change some of my habits in order to continue to lose weight whilst doing them.

What I could do is make sure I go out for a long run before I go for Sunday lunch, or change my dinner party menu to foods which fit with my regime. I will probably have to face the fact that I’ll need to give up the Champagne, but maybe I can treat myself with a nice glass of Aqua Libra! (not quite so good, I know, but getting into my jeans is more important to me!)

When I get to my desired weight there maybe detractors who think I might have gone too far, who “prefer” my old self. There maybe those who don’t like it because it changes the relationship between us. I will need to consider how I will deal with them and what I will say to them.

Identity: Is the outcome in keeping with who you are?

When considering business outcomes you should consider this at the personal and organisational level. Does the desired outcome fit with the business culture? Does agreeing to do a project at work which will involve late nights and time away from home satisfy your family values and who you are?

For my weight loss outcome, being thinner and fitter doesn’t detract from who I am. I see myself as an energetic, enthusiastic individual and losing weight brings me closer to that identity.

How do your outcomes fit together?

You need to consider whether the outcome is too large to get your head around or too small not to be motivational. If it is too big, break it into smaller outcomes, too small then link smaller outcomes together to make a more substantial outcome which is motivational.

I would like to get into my old jeans, that’s two dress sizes to lose and to me this seems a small enough outcome to be achievable by April but not so big that I think it is totally impossible.

Action Plan: What to do next?

Once you have answered all these questions you are ready to act or delegate. In a business context, you need to let those who you delegate to know what the bigger picture is. For example, two builders were once asked what they were doing. The first said they were laying bricks, the second that they were building a wonderful house. Guess which builder was more motivated and worked better?

For me this means calling my mum and letting her know the bigger picture of what my desired outcome is and to ask for her support. It also means posting this blog!

If you have any goals which you are struggling with, why not try working through these questions and see if it makes the outcome more achievable. I’d love to hear how you get on!

How to find a good coach!

Tue, 12 Jan 2010 09:55:00 GMT

I meet a lot of other coaches at networking events and training courses, so I am aware there are a lot of us out there! But as a consumer of coaching services, how do you really know whether the coach you meet is any good? A friend of mine recently asked me what I would look for in a good coach if I was a consumer, so I thought it might be helpful to give some pointers to potential purchasers of coaching.

The key coaching attributes divide into two categories: Interpersonal Skills and Background, Qualifications and Ethics.

Interpersonal Skills

Research suggests that interpersonal skills (such as empathy, encouragement, authenticity, intelligence, compassion and approachability), communication skills (such as tact, listening/silence, questions), and instrumental support (such as the ability to stimulate, and to work on resistance to change and creativity) are the three most important things to look for in your coach.

You can certainly get an impression of whether your coach has some of these qualities at a networking meeting. Ask yourself whether you felt stimulated by their incisive questions. Did they really listen to you and give you time to speak? Were they interested in what you had to say? Did you feel comforted and encouraged by the interaction?

CIPD publishes a list of coach attributes which commonly characterise effective coaches in their Guide Coaching and Buying Coaching Services. Other organisations such as the EMCC (European Mentoring and Coaching Council) or the ICF (International Coach Federation) have also published lists of core coaching competencies.

CIPD suggest that you look for self awareness of the coach, their ability to motivate, give feedback, to identify significant patterns of thinking and behaving, to establish rapport, to develop a plan, evaluate outcomes and to promote action.

These are slightly more difficult to spot in a networking conversation, but could be found out through asking the coach for examples of how they have done this in the past. You could ask whether they have their own life or business plan. Consider whether they seem set in their views or are open to new ways of looking at things.

Background, Qualifications and Ethics

Good coaches will also comply with a professional code of ethics and will understand how to manage coaching relationships. You may also want to check whether they are supervised (i.e. they have regular coaching themselves) and hold professional indemnity insurance. A good coach will also offer you a free initial meeting/coaching session so that you can be sure that you like their personality, style and techniques.

You should ask them to explain the coaching contract to you, including confidentiality requirements, how long the coaching sessions will last, how many sessions you will need to achieve your goals, and the total cost.

Finally the little question of qualifications is more difficult to answer due to the current diversity of courses and accreditation in the coaching industry and the many below par short training courses offered.

This may mean that you may need to do a little more research, for example, on their website, to check their credentials. One way to do this is to look for a coach who has a recent qualification accredited by a well regarded coaching body, for example, EMCC, ICF, or Association for Coaches (AC) or alternatively is accredited themselves by one of those bodies through their coaching experience rather than paper qualifications. You can also ask them how many hours of continuing professional development they have done recently and how many hours of coaching they have given.

Depending on the reason for coaching, it is always worth checking out their business experience and credentials. For example, you may feel more comfortable being coached by someone who has worked in your industry. A good coach should be able to give you the answers to these questions.

In summary, if you are about to make an investment in yourself and your development by employing a coach, just as you would making an investment in a new car, or phone, or washing machine, do the research to make sure you get what you are paying for!

New Year's Resolutions

Mon, 21 Dec 2009 10:24:00 GMT

Well, the Christmas tree and all the baubles are up, the flashing LED lights are at the window and I feel like I am living in a Santa’s grotto! Perfectly the snow which fell last week in Hertfordshire looks like it will be staying around now until Christmas day. I went out for a lovely long walk in the countryside yesterday finished off by a thaw in front of an open fire and a roast dinner and got to thinking about what the New Year will hold for me and my business. It’s that time of year, isn’t it, looking back at the old and looking forward to the new.

Apart from the usual business planning I do each quarter, a more holistic personal approach to use is the Wheel of Life. Imagine a wheel divided into 8 sections which together represent one way of describing a whole life. The sections are divided Career, Money, Health, Friends and Family, Significant Other/Romance, Personal Growth, Fun and Recreation, Physical Environment.

You can measure your satisfaction in each area on a scale of 1-10 and plot this on the spoke dividing each section of the wheel, 0 being the centre point and 10 the outer edge of the wheel. The ideal, of course, is to have a smooth wheel with each section having the same high 10 score. Overall if some areas have low scores you are in for a bit of a bumpy ride! Low satisfaction scores are of course the areas to work on.

The Wheel can be individualised by considering your own 8 job or career priorities. For example, 8 Management Competencies to consider might be Communication, Results, Managing Change, Strategic Planning, Customer Service, Team Development, Risk Taking and Decision Making.

The next step is to set your Goals and Commitments for each area. Make a list of the 8 areas and against each write one goal and commitment. With goals there is a specific point in time when you will or will not have accomplished it. (We all know about SMART goals). Commitments are different and are an ongoing quality of life shift and will not be measurable. For example, under Health my goal is to complete 3 x 10k races by the end of 2010 and my commitment is that I am committed to a healthful lifestyle and a fit body.

Break this down further by thinking about the daily habits which taken together on a regular basis will be the foundation on which these goals and commitments can be achieved. For example, under the Management Competency “Communication” my daily habit is to go and speak to each of my team members each day (rather than e-mailing them!) and have lunch with them at the canteen once a week. You can track this with a simple monthly tick table where you list each daily habit against each day of the month.

Although quite formulaic, this approach will give you a focus against which you can measure your success – or failure! The bit I find most interesting is the section of the wheel which you consistently fail at. As an NLP Practitioner I believe there is no such thing as failure, only feedback. Identifying then exploring the areas which you don’t meet your goals and commitments can often be linked back to strong values and limiting beliefs and the first step in changing these (and yes the good news is they can be changed!) is identifying them and starting to think about them in a different way.

For example, a friend of mine had tried for a long time to lose weight. She identified the value linked to this was that she thought it vital to live life to the full. For her this originally meant saying yes to another glass of wine or slice of cake. Revisiting this value, she found this was not working for her and she decided that in order to live life to the full meant living longer, exercising more and an extra slice of cake would not achieve that!

Best wishes for the holiday season, and a prosperous and healthy new year!

My first Post - a year in the life of an executive coach!

Fri, 04 Dec 2009 16:16:00 GMT

This is my first blog and I thought I’d take the time to reflect on my year so far. What an amazing year I’ve had! Having been coached myself in a business context, I decided to leave my corporate job and legal career and start out on my own with my own Executive and Business Coaching enterprise. For me, this has been the catalyst for so many new things happening to me, outside of my business life.

Getting things right professionally has meant that so many other things have fallen into place. My business now gives me the independence and flexibility I craved. I can set up meetings when they suit me (to a certain extent!), I can take my lap top into the garden if it’s a nice day, or decide at the last minute to take some time off and have a duvet day. Of course it’s not all idyllic – getting up for a networking meeting at 6.30am is not my idea of fun (not being a morning person) but it’s my choice, which is the difference which makes the difference.

It has also given me back my family life. Like many professional career women I had lived with the gnawing guilt of having it all, but having nothing. By this I mean I got the status and intellectual stimulation of a professional career but didn’t get to see the “little” things like watching my son play football for his school or being there when he got home to hear his stories about his day. My stress has reduced dramatically, I’ve lost weight, taken up running (including some 10k races which I never thought I’d be able to do!), and I’m feeling more healthy than I had for a long time. I’ve also got my mojo back!

My “mojo” is responsible for many things I’ve said yes to this year! I said yes to being a model for a charity fashion show my friend was running. I said “yes” to being a Life Drawing Model, which for me was like a parachute jump for someone else – scary and exciting at the same time. I’ve started baking again too, and my son now swears by my chocolate brownies. I’ve already made the Christmas pudding and presents this year will be homemade jam! I judged recently at a school’s business challenge. I’ve also gone back to doing ballroom and Latin American dancing (which I learnt as a child). I even decided on the spur of the moment to buy a bicycle and have been out and about enjoying the Hertfordshire countryside. And it seems that every time I’ve said yes, it’s filled up my confidence bank a little more and means that I’m more likely to say yes to the next opportunity. I’ve got my eyes on trying out a climbing wall next!

Sure, I don’t have the income I used to, and can’t blow cash on a whim but then I don’t need to any more to make me happy. Gone are the days of dreading Monday morning and willing Friday to come around – for me there aren’t enough hours in the day to do all that I want to do! If I was going to advise anyone I’d say start small and try something you’ve always wanted to do or used to love but have been put off doing. Take the chance to say yes when someone invites you to take part in something – you might even enjoy it - I have!