Prepare, Plan & Prepare
January can be a dark month in business. Retail clients are feeling the credit squeeze from the festivities, and business is slow to restart after holidays, so what do you do with the those spare hours you are not used to having? How about that old business entertainment – planning?

In our partnership we remind our clients of Henry Ford’s statement: “Before everything else, getting ready is the secret of success”. If you find yourself with some precious slow time in your business, I recommend you fill it with preparation, planning and preparation. FIrstly prepare to plan, then plan, then prepare to implement the plan.

Prepare to plan – Ask yourself How, Where, Who, What, Why and When questions about your business as it is. These will unlock new ideas for what you would like to do next. Plan – work these new ideas into a plan which matches your personal exit strategy (not got an exit strategy? how do you know what you want your business to provide for you?). Prepare to implement the plan – a SWOT analysis should do here – assess the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats, then go back to How, Where, Who, What, Why and When to make the plan work.

Now you know what you want to do when the rest of the world wakes up from their winter slumber.

David Bridge
Mayfair Capital Planning
07515 851573

Time For New Vision
There’s always a time of reflection as we let go of one year and approach another with renewed hope, hopefully some wisdom gained, and a vision for how the next year of our one wild and precious life can be. My lovely friend and spiritual mentor, Gill Edwards, died in 2011, and didn’t know her last Christmas would be her last Christmas. How would you live this coming year if it was your last, and best ever? What would you change?

How was 2011 for you? Many say it’s been a tough year. 2012 stands boldly before us, predicted by some to be the end of civilization as we know it, but others say it is the beginning of the new age of Enlightenment. I prefer to believe that. The Buddha once said ‘You will know Enlightenment when it tastes of freedom’. I like that! So I have a question for you – in order for you to have a lighter and enlightened year ahead, what do you have to do differently? What do you need to start doing to have your best year yet? What do you need to stop doing? What do you need to do more of? What do you need to do less of? And what will be the result of doing, or not doing, all of that? Jump forward to New Year’s Eve 2012 and look back on the GREAT year you will have had, and feel really good as you do. Test out your vision ahead of time – see if it’s a vision worth having, a life worth living! Ensure there’s oodles of fun and freedom built in, meaning and purpose, and of course LOVE. Make time for all that’s important to you.

Until next time – here’s to your inspired, healthy and happy year, laden with great dollops of luurve, and a whole lot of fun too!

Kath
International Success Psychologist Kath Temple is an entrepreneur and social entrepreneur. She runs Happiness Events and The Happiness Foundation, and brings the joy back into business, and into people’s lives.

KATH TEMPLE
The Happiness & Success Psychologist
01502 562162
The Lifelong Learning Company
kath@lifelonglearningcompany.com

Start The Year Fresh!
Well here we are in 2012 the year of the Olympics and no doubt some of you will have the desire to win your own Gold medal, and start the month of exercise, and no doubt after a month some of you will give up because you have either over done it, injured yourself or just got bored.

So let’s start with the basics you DONT have to immediately join a Gym and kill yourself trying to look like Arnie or in the case of the ladies some super slim model, start slow, but first put the building blocks in place. Do drink more water, it will hydrate muscles, it will flush out your system of toxins and it will refresh you. Cut out some of the Coffee and replace it with a glass of water.

Think of joints and ligaments as elastic if they dry up, they rip apart a lot easier than if they are lubricated and stretched. PLEASE WARM UP! First stretch the muscles, don’t go from cold to a hundred miles an hour or you will be paying a call in A&E on the way through.

15 minutes of exercise a day will help, you have things around the house you can use. And I know its cold, but a walk is a great exercise, swimming is good if you are just starting up again. If you decide that running is for you don’t hit the pavements first. A jog is ok but start on grass, concrete is unforgiving don’t run a mile in those new trainers get use to them slowly,be kind to your feet, they won’t be any use full of blisters.

Just remember starting slow and building up to something is a lot better than going off from a cannon and landing in a heap on the ground, give it a few months of building up slow and then you can do the Gym and make sure that you take it steady and get help and advice about what you should and should not do.

Steve Kirby
FTST(Dip) ITEC SMA Level 4
Sports and Occupational Injury practitioner
Get Fit Stay Fit 01603 211570