Quote: Mahatma Gandhi

“There is more to life than simply increasing it’s speed.”

Mahatma Gandhi

 

Why Businesses Shouldn’t Keep Growing

Lazy convention suggests that business success is all about rising turnover and profits.

This is simply not true.

I’ve already written a bit about how a general economy shrink is not necessarily a bad thing and also a post in praise of small businesses (take a read!) so expanding on that theme I want to take a look at the conventional thinking that says a business should keep growing indefinitely.

This was prompted by a memo from my accountant which noticed that while our fees regularly trickle up we have the odd period when our turnover falls – she sounded a little worried.

Perhaps I should explain a little about my work: I speak at conferences, provide consultancy and train people in the medical and pharmaceutical industry. I’m a freelancer – as are the 3 others who make up my company’s (excellent) team. I work with whom I like when it is convenient for me to do so.  I don’t have a boss to keep happy or a lavish lifestyle to fund.

My Freedom Bus Business

Sometimes I don’t like to work too hard on this business – conventional folk would refer to these periods as “holidays” (I may be doing other “work”: looking after my godson, checking out our investment properties, managing our websites, visiting the family, shopping, tidying the office, hoiking leaves out the swimming pool or mowing the lawn – but not fee earning work. I might even be lying on a beach somewhere!).

Other times I am in normal working mode: 3-4 hours a day, 3-4 days a week. Other times it’s all-out earning: a dozen days consultancy in half a dozen countries with associated flights, hotels and long evenings of “networking” with businessmen and women.

It’s usually after a burst like this that I’ll take a “holiday”.

If other bits of my life are hectic, I’ll also choose to do less fee work.  At the end of last year we moved house – so for a few months we eased up on the fee-earning work.

It was this period of quiet non-earning that prompted my accountants query.  Was the business in trouble? What was the outlook?

“If you’re not growing in business you are dying!”

I was able to reassure her that the Freedom Bus was in fine health and it made me recall some of the exhortations of corporate folk I knew who lazily spout about “if you’re not growing in business you are dying!”

Utter nonsense.

Business success is touted as being about indefinitely rising turnover and profits. But what has business success got to do with more and more money? Think about it.

We don’t just define personal success in this way … well OK some one-dimensional saddos might, but most of us don’t.

I’m not even sure that indefinite growth is possible – I tend to think that all companies move in cycles. Even if it were possible, what possible value would indefinite growth bring?

If one asks people in the medical world “what grows and grows indefinitely?” – They have a chilling one word answer; “Cancer”.  And as we know cancer grows until it kills that which supports it.

Most stock answers about why constant growth is desirable point to boosting investment, shareholder value, job security etc. More rubbish.

Why are we in business?

Are we running businesses to keep accountants and Wall Street analysts happy?  Do we work and provide services to fuel pension funds and create work for investment bankers and corporate lawyers? (Clue: the answer is “NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!”)

What about job security? You say. Well one great way businesses squeeze more profits is by cutting jobs, then cutting real wages, then outsourcing to India before finally outsourcing to Vietnam. That’s the £12 an hour to 18p an hour way to boost profits and delight the bankers. Great.

Know when enough is enough

We need sufficient profits to keep the business functioning. Pay everyone well. Invest in improvements and tuck a little away for rainy days or future opportunities.  But no more.

We don’t need to keep fuelling the hyper-driven greedy short-term views of the money men.

In every market niche there is a right organic size for a specific type of business. Too small is too small…but too big is just that: too big. (We have laws against monopolies for reasons too).

Those businesses that grow too fast are at great risk. They get fat. They get over-stretched. The culture that once made them experts at what they do and a great place to work gets diluted. Customers notice and employees notice.

The too-fat firms then begin a series of yo-yo diets. They lay people off to streamline, expand again and downsize once more. All the time they do this they strip out the essence that once worked so well. The humanity also fades as business-speak and money-focus takes over.

One only has to watch the news to see how many big firms struggle during financial downturns. Some of the debts, losses and personal tragedy are appalling. And all because they greedily wanted to get bigger and bigger.

Profit beyond the minimum is not essential for survival. Certainly a deficit can be deadly to a business but a surplus can also be very troublesome. Someone will want to spend it, gamble with it, open new swanky offices, take over a smaller rival, expand into other new areas of business or generally speculate with it.

The balance gets broken. It is like saying “my children have too many toys at Christmas … we’d better have another baby!”

Get better not bigger!

Instead of growing the size of your business why not grow the skills? Get better not bigger!  Invest in the quality of what you already have: the people, the systems, the care and attention.

Think of your small specialized business like a great university or orchestra.  Cambridge university could have colleges all around the world (imagine how popular they’d be in the USA!) – but they don’t – they just keep getting better.  The Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra is great – they make a wonderful sound with 120 people (or so). Do the directors of the orchestra have a business plan to expand to 4,000 musicians? No of course not!

I hope your Freedom Bus business earns you sufficient profits and you know when enough is enough.  Do you agree or disagree?

 

Quote: Albert Einstein

“Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new”.

 

Let’s Party Like it’s 1399!

When many people think of life in the early Middle Ages they imagine a life of toil and struggle, long hours of unrelenting back breaking work that yields just enough to survive.

The truth is somewhat different. True, during harvest time rural western Europeans of the early Middle Ages did work very hard indeed – from dawn to darkness, getting in the harvest. But this seasonal work was not the norm. In fact we know from contemporary records that typically people worked from dawn til noon around 200 days a year, both on their own patch of smallholding and for their landlords and church.

This amounts to around 1,200 hours of work a year – a little more than half the amount of work put in by the modern day Brit’ and probably less than half the work of a modern day crazily-workaholic American!

So what did they do with all their free time?

Well they enjoyed themselves!

Of course for religious reasons, Sundays were holy days and a day off from work all through the year.  The pre-reformation Catholic Christian church was the origin of many of the festivals and feast days in the year. So too were more ancient pre-Christian festivals (some of which got co-opted by the church). And the annual passing of the seasons with their agricultural rhythms also added special days for the largely rural population

Let’s take a look at the typical festival and feasting filled year of an early Middle Ages Briton.

The year begins with New Years Day. This was a day of celebration, drinking, toasting and “first footing” (visiting friends).

The holiday from work and winter fun continued right through until 12^th night or the Epiphany on the 6^th of January.

Then it was back to work … up until the first Monday after 12^th night. This was another festival day called “Plough Monday”. The traditional start of the ploughing season was celebrated with processions, candlelit ceremonies, plays and feasting.

The 1^st of February saw the pre-Christian celebration day of Imbolc.  Imbolc is thought to be Celtic in origin and it is certainly true that the celebrations were greater in Celtic strongholds in Britain.  The church kind of took over the celebrations of Imbolc by combining it with St Brigid’s day – and many less-Celtic communities spent their day celebrating St Brigid unaware of the Celtic pagan origin.

Whatever you called it, 1st of February is traditionally party-time.

The next day, 2^nd February is Candlemas, a holy holiday with the associated feasting.

Then of course we have St Valentines day on the 14^th February – this, as today, was a minor festival for lovers to show each other their affection.

7 Sundays before Easter is Shrove Sunday, this is followed by Collup Monday and then Shrove Tuesday (today’s Mardi Gras or Pancake Day). This 3 day festival was a major wild and uproarious springtime party. There were ball games, drinking, feasting and much merriment.  This makes our modern day effort of a few pancakes seem very feeble! This letting off of steam, of course, was before the self-imposed restraint of Lent.

Lent itself was virtually festival free – in keeping with its sombre tone. It also coincided with a period of intensive farm work: sowing and tending the young crops.  The only exceptions during Lent would be for the feast day of “Lady Day” or The Annunciation on 25^th March and for the Irish St Patrick’s day 17^th March and the Welsh St David’s day on the 1^st March.

Much fun would be had every year on All Fools day, 1^st April with many jokes and pranks being played – just like today’s April Fools day.

Easter itself was the major religious festival of the year. In the early Middle Ages in Britain it was forbidden to work for the 2 weeks before and the 2 weeks after Easter.

A 4 week holiday from work! Marvellous!

The Sunday before Easter is Palm Sunday and traditionally a day for decorating the home and for processions through the streets.

The last Thursday before Easter is Last Supper day or Maundy Thursday and traditionally bosses or landlords would provide gifts for their workers. It was still Lent so the feasting would be kept to a minimum – I’m not sure if this was a stingy bosses trick.

The next day is Good Friday (or more correctly God’s Friday) – a religious day as was Easter Sunday itself. Though on the Sunday the restraint of Lent was broken and the real feasting began. At last!

The next 2 days, the Monday and Tuesday were called “Lifting Days” when parties of young men and women would flirt outrageously with each other and generally misbehave after the Lenten piousness! Woo-hoo!

The following Monday and Tuesday saw the huge climax in post Easter celebrations with the Hocktide Festival. This was a riot of boozing, dancing, sports, hunting, fairs and feasts where traditionally everyone wore their new clothes if they had them. Fancy!

In England we then have the national saint day on 23^rd April for St George – widely celebrated in pre-protestant England. Long before fat, shaven headed, tattooed buffoons started sticking St Georges flags on plastic sticks to their white vans.

On the night of 30^th April there would be bonfires lit for the May Day celebrations. These date back to pagan times when this festival was called Beltane. May Day itself carried on many Beltane traditions: fires, parties and associated fertility symbols made with new green vegetation. The dancing traditionally centred (literally) on or around the Maypole which despite is priapic image has no known links to fertility (or has it? We can only speculate!).

One thing is for certain, that Beltane/May day did herald a 2 week period of bunking off from work, sexual freedom and al fresco love making – where many young men and women would contrive to go out into the newly green and sunny woods to, ahem, “collect greenery”.  Pwoarrrr!

The 6^th Thursday after Easter was another holiday – Ascension Day. This was preceded on the Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday by the celebration Rogation days where it was traditional to promenade around the parish or village boundary and then have a celebratory blessing and meal.

The 7^th Sunday after Easter is Pentecost or Whitsun another excuse for a religious festival.

It was around Whitsun that it was traditional to have “Ales”. “Ales” were really just boozy local knees-ups. The local community would, for no good reason, decide to organize a “Whitsun Ale” and enjoy themselves. This type of thing still goes on in rural France where we live – and jolly good fun they are too!

The second Thursday after Pentecost is the festival of Corpus Christi. This festival would usually be a mixture of plays, performances, craft fairs and a meal put on by local tradespeople and guilds.

In early June or late May the sheep would be shorn – another excuse for a post-shearing feasting!

Mid Summer would be celebrated with another pagan originated festival involving the burning of large bonfires on mid-summers day, June 23^rd. This became enmeshed with the churches’ celebrations of St John the Baptist on 24^th June. Turning it into a 2 day mid summer festival.

Summer was also the time for another round of local festivities called “wakes”. Like the Whitsun Ales these were just excuses to have a good time. Parish wakes became noted for their debauchery, with much fist-fighting, cock-fighting, bear-baiting, gambling, boozing and sex. Many regarded the violence as therapeutic and many wakes lasted for 3 days or up to a week. Local names for wakes included: revels, hoppings and very appropriately: thumps!

The wakes took place during quieter agricultural periods while waiting for the crops to grow and after the sheep sheering.

The end of July would see the harvest of flooring rushes and a “rush bearing” procession and feast would be had.

The 1^st August saw another ancient festival of Lammas or “First Fruits”. This was another bonfire lead party with dancing (it was also a time for paying your landlord his rent, so anything to take your mind off bill paying was welcome!).

At the end of August all the harvesting would be over – this was the time of hardest work in the rural year and was followed by a big party when the work was done called “Harvest Home” – the precursor to our harvest festivals…(once again the church muscles in on the people’s feast!)

Throughout the summer and into autumn many parishes would also down tools, if the workload permitted it ( and for our freedom and party loving ancestors it usually did!), to celebrate key saint’s days. Namely: St Simon June 29^th, St James July 25^th, St Bartholomew August 24^th, St Matthew September 21^st, St Luke October 18^th and St Jude October 28^th.  If the local church’s saint was one of these it would signify a major knees-up.

The major Saint day celebrated in this period was St Michael (not from Marks & Spencer!) on Michaelmas Day September 29^th. This was always a large festival.

Another major celtic festival was Samhain. This falls on 1^st November. It too marked the end of the harvest and the coming of winter. Traditionally it was celebrated on the 3 days before, the day itself and the three days after.  Once again the church incorporated this festival into its festival of All Saints Day (1^st November) and All Souls Day (2^nd November).

On 11^th November is St Martin’s feast day – this was traditionally the time to kill the family pig and preserve its meat for winter. With all that fresh pork, inevitably it turned into a major meal!

Four Sundays before Christmas began the build-up to Yule time. The houses would begin to be decorated and many would start saving up provisions for the Christmas feast.

Christmas Eve would often be a day of fasting.

Christmas day itself, like today, would be a major feast as would St Stephen’s day on the 26^th.

The partying would continue through until 12^th night the following year.

I think it’s a shame that Henry VIII and his daughter Elizabeth banned many of these festivities. And what was left was almost destroyed by the enslavement and urbanization of the population during the industrial revolution.

We on the Freedom Bus can begin to reclaim our traditional feast days – I’ve just checked my diary: tomorrow is St James’ day and we are off to a party – how great is that!?

Wassail!

By Ian Chamberlain

 

Remember What’s Important

A friend sent me this story by email today and it serves as a lovely reminder to us all about what’s important  in life – thanks Sarah!

When things in your life seem almost too much to handle, when 24 hours in a day are not enough, remember the mayonnaise jar and the 2 Beers …..

An old dental professor stood before his philosophy class and had some items in front of him.  When the class began, he wordlessly picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls. He then asked the students if the jar was full. They agreed that it was.

The professor then picked up a box of small pebbles and poured them into the jar.   He shook the jar lightly.  The pebbles rolled into the open areas between the golf balls. He then asked the students again if the jar was full.  They agreed it was.  The old professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar.  Of course, the sand filled up everything else. He asked once more if the jar was full. The students responded with a unanimous ‘yes.’

The old boy then produced two Beers from under the table and poured the entire contents into the jar effectively filling the empty space between the sand.  The students laughed. “‘Now,” said the professor as the laughter subsided, “I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life. The golf balls are the important things – your family, your children, your health, your friends and your favourite passions – and if  everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full.”

“The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, your house and your car.  The sand is everything else – the small stuff.  If you put the sand into the jar first,” he continued, “there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls.  The same goes for life.  If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff you will never have room for the things that are important to you.”

“Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness.  Spend time with your children.  Spend time with your parents.  Visit with grandparents.  Take time to get medical checkups.  Take your spouse out to dinner.  Play another 18.  There will always be time to clean the house and fix the waste disposal.  Take care of the golf ball first – the things that really matter.  Set your priorities.  The rest is just sand.”

One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the Beer represented.  The professor smiled and said, “I’m glad you asked.  The Beer just shows you that no matter how full your life may seem, there’s always time and room for a couple of Beers with a friend.”

Do you need to take time out to reassess what’s important in your life?  If so, take a look our Retreat in SW France.

 

Freedom Quote

“All religions, arts and sciences are branches of the same tree.  All these aspirations are directed towards ennobling man’s life, lifting it from the sphere of mere physical existence and leading the individual towards freedom.”

Albert Einstein

 

Take a Nap

We are all getting over tired!

Adults today sleep 70 minutes a day less than their grandparents did and our children sleep 90 minutes a day less than their counterparts 100 years ago.

Lack of sleep harms our immune systems, mood, digestion and nervous systems. It can cause migraines, allergies, anxieties and food intolerances.  It makes us accident prone.

So why have we got ourselves into this situation? Well it’s all part of the work-hard-spend-hard post Industrial Revolution Protestant ethic.  Couple this with the invention of the light bulb which became commonplace around 100 years ago and we have a society that is ashamed to take a nap or have a lie in.

Indeed, Edison sold his light bulb idea on the very notion that workforces could be made to be more productive for longer.  Ironic that he himself was a confirmed daytime siesta taker!

Now that workaholic American and Northern European culture is synonymous with “business culture” other nations are catching the anti-napping bug. In China, the traditional practice of xiu-xi (napping) is reportedly under threat from managers who fear that their hugely productive and hardworking employees will be viewed as lazy by western visitors. How sad.

Thomas Edison (and many other “achievers” like Churchill, Proust, Voltaire, Lennon and Milton) knew that his own productivity and creativity were enhanced by taking a nap. This has today been proven by “Sleep Scientists”. And indeed there is a whole industry of gurus extolling the benefits of Power Napping for your workforce.

Unsurprisingly, we at the Freedom Bus are not fans of the term Power Nap and its connotations of being another way to squeeze more toil out of staff!  Though if this is what it takes to convince the strivers of corporate culture that a nap is a good idea it’s not all bad.

For us napping is something to be savoured not squeezed in between meetings because our bosses think we’ll become sharper negotiators.

We are pretty sure that if there is a heaven, then napping will be commonplace there just as it is amongst paradise-like tropical island cultures.  Boffins have confirmed that if we are left alone (i.e. allowed to sleep when we want), within a week or two most of us adopt a sleep pattern of 7-9 hours night time sleep plus an early afternoon nap.  Napping is in-built into our bodies’ rhythms.

A refreshing and revitalizing 40 winks is an ideal way to divide the day up – it’s a perfect bit of “me time”: our families, bosses, customers and other responsibilities can wait a while. Napping is liberating. And napping is counter-culture to the rat race…it is Freedom Bus!

Napping also means we can party and merry make longer into the night – how cool is that! And I’ve not even mentioned the post love-making nap…

So what are my napping tips?

1. Adopt a positive mindset toward napping – banish guilt or shame! If it helps, remember that the research is unequivocal (NASA study suggests a 34% improvement in performance and a 54% improvement in alertness amongst nappers! Athens University study showed a third drop in heart attack risk for nappers!  Founders of all the world’s major religions were nappers or pro-napping! You will have less sick days and be a better problem solver!)
2. Avoid naps before 11am or after 8pm. The best time is typically early afternoon, say between 2pm and 5 pm.
3. It is quality and not necessarily quantity that counts: our bodies become drowsy every 90 minutes or so quite naturally, we begin to yawn, our eyelids get heavy etc. It is at the beginning of one of these “windows of napping opportunity” that we should begin our nap if possible, and a nap taken then need only last 5-10 minutes to be of significant benefit. Optimum nap time seems to be around 30 minutes of sleeping – though it is personal and you may prefer more.
4. Make it regular – if you can’t manage every day go for 3 days a week. Try and have your nap around the same time each day.
5. Create a little napping routine – switch off the phone, read a particular text, practice a visualisation or meditation etc to get you in the mood for napping-time.
6. Wake up slowly – don’t jump up and immediately crack on with the daily grind after a nap. Ease yourself back in gently: lay in your bed awake for a couple of minutes, splash water on your face, brush your teeth or have a cup of tea.
7. It can take a week or two to “get into it” so persevere – it will become a delicious and health giving habit eventually.

All this writing about napping has me yawning … time for a snooze. Sweet dreams!

Written by Ian Chamberlain

Do you need to push the pause button on your life and take time out for yourself?  If so, take a look at our Retreat in SW France.

 

Finding Freedom In Mid-life

It is no surprise that the quest to simplify our lifestyles, find more fulfilling work, free ourselves from the expectations of others and live a life more closely aligned with our true values and principles often arises between the ages of 35 and 50.  Double those figures and you’ve reached the life expectancy of a healthy adult.  So if you are between those ages, like it or not, you’re in mid-life, and what an exciting journey this could turn out to be if you choose to embrace it!

Psychologists recognise mid-life as a normal developmental stage of  life.  Like adolescence, it’s a transformational period than can be denied but not escaped.  We hear of classic mid-life crisis stories:  the family man buying a super fast sports car or motorbike, the housewife having an affair after years in a monogamous marriage, the successful professional inexplicably leaving a thriving career… I’m sure you can think of more.  These behaviours can often be scorned, ridiculed or simply misunderstood by others.

The truth is mid-life presents a turning point in our lives.  It is the chance to re-evaluate who we really are, what we stand for and how we really want to live our lives.  It’s an opportunity to look deep within ourselves and start a personal transformation.   For some this can be an enlightening period of discovery producing years of great contentment.  Many people find their true calling or vocation in mid-life or let go of self-abusive addictions and discover vitality and health they’ve never experienced before.  Others may uncover a creative gift which brings them great joy or find the self esteem to end unhealthy relationships.

Unfortunately the journey is not always so easy and direct.  For many people, mid-life presents a time of immense stress, discomfort and suffering as they try to hold on to their old way of being – the comfort zone of the last 40 years or so.  We may have lived our lives to this point being guided by what others think and tell us is right or best – our parents, teachers, employers, the government, our partners and friends have all played a part in this (often well intentioned advice and opinions but given from their perspective not ours).  We have played out our roles in life as we thought we were supposed to play them.  This socialisation process may have worked pretty well for us in the first half of life, but unfortunately it often moves us further away from our true identity.

At some point this identity or True Self needs to emerge and when it does you may experience one or several of the following:

• A persistent lack of fulfilment in your career
• A lack of connection to friends or family members
• A loss of intimacy or communication with your partner
• Loneliness, sadness or depression
• Lack of pleasure from things you used to enjoy
• Feeling lost, confused and unsure of what you want
• Feeling that something is missing and you don’t know what

The point is, these feelings are all trying to tell you something.  Ignoring them or denying they exist won’t work.  If we disconnect from our feelings we make decisions that are not in our best interest and our threshold for stress and anxiety increases, often leading to physical or mental illness.  No – it’s time to be courageous, take a deep breath and look inside yourself.  Listen, observe and feel.  Allow your True Self to emerge and it will help you find your path to greater happiness and fulfilment.

If you have experienced any of the above, you are not alone.  Many people in mid-life are encountering the same things as you, but who talks about it?  If you would like help, support and guidance through your mid-life journey why not take some time out and come on our ‘Finding Your Smile’ Mid-life Retreat here in the South of France.  We’d love to see you!  Click here to find out more about the mid-life retreat.

Good luck and God bless.

Written by Kate Chamberlain

If you’d like speak to me personally about the ‘Finding Your Smile’ Mid-life Retreat,  please email me via the contact box below to set up a free telephone consultation:

Name(required)

Email(required)

Website

Message

 

Do Something Silly!

Sometimes you just gotta do something silly!

 

Being True at Work

Throughout my working life I’ve had many experiences where I have been totally engaged in what I’m doing, full of energy, motivation and a sense of purpose.  I have felt a real joy doing what I do best and knowing that I’m making a positive difference.  In short, I’ve felt ALIVE!  (That’s me front left working and having fun with my clients during a training seminar).

I’ve also had times when I’ve been fearful, depressed, kept my head down, done what’s asked of me while feeling unappreciated, unfulfilled and lacklustre.   Which employee would you rather have working for you?  Which employee would you rather be?

It’s only recently that I came to understand what was going on here.  In scenario one I was being my True Self – allowing myself to connect with, utilise and display my natural gifts and talents in order to help others learn, grow and develop.  In scenario two I was displaying my Persona or False Self.  It was an act of compliance.  My response to an environment where none of my values were being met and none of my gifts were being valued – by the people I worked for or by me.

You might think this sounds like I’m blaming others for my downturn, but I’m not.  I realise now that I had been valuing myself based on whether others thought I was worthy or not. It is easy to let your True Self shine through when others are nurturing, encouraging, praising and supporting you.  Much tougher (for me anyway) was remaining true to myself in the face of adversity – a changing corporate culture from innovation to tradition, a change of boss from inspirational leader to micro-manager, sexual harassment and bullying, confrontational behaviours apparently displayed to test your mettle – a power struggle based on the need to control.  Yikes!  No wonder I wanted to get out of there!

My response was to leave the corporate world and set up my own business as a freelance trainer, coach and reflexologist.  This was a great move for me in many respects and I have no regrets about my career move.  However, I wish I could have left giving sincere and truthful reasons for my departure – constructive feedback which may have given the organisation food for thought on how to retain passionate, skilled and experienced workers.  Now THAT WOULD have been congruent with my True Self.  To be honest, I felt they didn’t really care, but stronger than that were the fears of rejection and the possibility of making enemies whom I would later meet during my efforts to secure freelance work.

So you see I changed my circumstances considerably.  I became my own boss, I was free to try out new ideas without seeking permission first, and I had the flexibility to choose where and when I worked and with whom.  What I still hadn’t addressed was my lack of self confidence to be the real me in any given situation.  Even as a freelancer the need for approval from others was so strong that I was still bending and swaying to the tune of potential clients in order to adapt myself to their values and cultures.  Don’t get me wrong…I’m all for versatile communication when dealing with different types of people.  But when you start to trample over your own values then trouble starts.

The lesson for me, and in fact for all of us, is that it is not others who give us self-worth.  Only we can do that.  Your True Self is not supposed to be visible solely when everything is nice and rosy.  Allow your True Self to shine through whatever the circumstances – it will be your rock, your support, your nurturer.  Start by getting to know and appreciate your True Self.  That means becoming aware of your core values and gifts, connecting with them and expressing them, not denying your inner passions because you feel others won’t approve.  How much better would I have felt about myself when I left that job  if I’d had the courage to stand up for my own values and beliefs when the chips were down?  A lot I’m sure!

There is also a lesson here for the managers and leaders among you, should you care to take it.  While each of us is undeniably responsible for our own lives, thoughts and behaviours, we also know that we are greatly influenced by the people around us.  I’m sure each of you can remember key people in your lives who have had tremendous influence on you be it positive or negative.  May be a parent, a teacher or a boss?  As adults we spend a huge amount of our time at work and so managers and leaders within our organisations play a very important role in our development.  Are you creating an environment in which your employees can thrive and passionately give the very best of themselves at work?  Are you setting an example to them by being YOUR True Self?

I’m on a mission to uncover my True Self and to allow it to live and breath properly at last, to truly come alive!  My purpose is to use my creativity and passion for life to help others do the same.  If that’s of interest to you then maybe we should talk.  If not, then thanks for listening and good luck!

Written by Kate Chamberlain

Do you need to discover your True Self and start living and working authentically?  If so, then take a look at our Midlife Retreat in SW France which will help you do just that.