TRACEY PITTS, PCC

Ahhhh… the beginning of a new year! It reminds me of Back To School… I LOVED my new pens and fresh notebooks. I would make promises to myself that this year would be different, I would study well in advance of exams and not wait to the last minute to write term papers. Ummm… that lasted until the first week of November. It wasn’t that I lacked intention, I just didn’t have the right structures in place to implement the changes I wished to make because my habits were deep rooted. More importantly, I didn’t take time to identify what those structures might be and how they might support me in achieving my academic goals. But that was then, and this is now!

Like you, I have set intentions for this new year but I’ve also had a close look at the structures I need to implement in order to ensure I reach my goals and/or objectives. My “intention” is that I reach every one of them. A powerful structure for me is telling people in my life what I’m up to and clearly identifying exactly what I will need from them when the time comes. And then I do something kind of foreign to most folks… I tattle on myself. In other words, I outline exactly the behaviours I will exhibit when I’m about to sabotage a goal or objective and then I out myself even further and give them clear direction on exactly what I need in order to get back on track. I have high expectations of self and I’ve been known to wield a big stick (just ask my coach) in those dark moments I lack compassion for myself, it is just what’s so with me. So what supports me is to ensure that I source people that are compassionate AND compelling.

So my invitation to you is to take stock of your own declared intentions, goals and objectives and to go that one step further and see if you are properly set up to powerfully implement your plan. Having trouble identifying how you might get in your own way? Indulge me! I LOVE this part of my work, give me a call and let’s review your intentions together, it wont cost you a dime. In the meantime, “create a powerful New Year!”

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Victoria, BC PT Flyer

Interesting notion this one… so this post came about because I caught myself jumping up and down from my desk, checking Facebook, email, my phone messages and even dusting instead of… writing the proposal I had sitting before me. The promise I had made earlier to myself was to have the proposal written by 5:00 pm today and I actually had 2 hours within which to complete the task. “IF” I had stayed on task… Now my procrastination, if it persists could lead to a bigger problem and could actually produce other smaller problems.  This is only one of a myriad of ways in which I self sabotage… I developed a list (I know, I have a morbid fascination with this stuff) and what I discovered is that I actually have more than 10 ways in which I self sabotage such as… drinking too much coffee, staying up late, getting up late, not eating enough of the right things during the day, not stretching before and after a work out.  Now that I have identified the self sabotaging behaviour I can address the symptom that causes the behaviour to begin with. For me it has always been a fear of success so when I’m playing a big game I can be sure that I will begin my self sabotaging behaviour. However, here I leave myself at choice, I can choose the self sabotaging behaviour or recognize the behaviour and choose a behaviour that is in line with my commitment to succeed. That will require putting structure in place so that I keep my commitment until I’ve trained myself to act differently.  So now I’m curious… what are ways that you self sabotage? What do you see is at the root of your behaviour? What are you most afraid of? Failure or success?

Acknowledgment is thanking someone for who they “are” as opposed to thanking them for what they “did”. The difference is quite remarkable. On my way out of a store yesterday I stopped a clerk who had gone out of her way to help me. I said to her, “you know, I just want to acknowledge you for your patience and persistence, I felt taken care of”. At first she blushed and then she said, “It’s funny you would say that, I had a bad morning”, I said, “I didn’t see your bad morning, I saw that you care about people”. Her smile lit up the room and the entire exchange took about 60 seconds. Take on acknowledging the people in your lives today, let me know how it goes…