An opportunity to kick start 2012

Step up and make it a powerful and fulfilling 2012!

It's that time again ...will you be making New Year's Resolutions? 

Or are you like many well-intentioned people who have decided it's a losing battle and not worth the aggravation? 

New Year's Resolutions are always filled with good intentions and hope for a better life this year than we had last year. But what happens when February rolls around and our good intentions have become a source of frustration and self-recrimination? We give up and believe that we can never change and feel that our lives will stay stuck in a rut while people around us seem to be able to succeed.

However if you live in the South Lakes and Furness Peninsula region help is at hand.

Life Coaching and life planning sessions! 

For help with all this positive personal change stuff Eric Barker (life and business coach) is offering a 2 hour face to face life coaching session for only £35.00 during the month of January to help you kick start your year.

Life coaching can really help to clarify what you really want or need in your personal lives and stimulates you to start taking powerful action steps towards your goals.

To take up Eric’s offer you can contact him on:

• Landline 01229 208644 or 
• Mob: 07716184045 
• Email him at enb159@gmail.com

Eric is an accredited life coach and has works with numerous individuals and groups over the last six years to help them achieve significant positive change in their work and personal lives.

The sessions are completely confidential !

This is a great chance to make 2011 a year of powerful positive change!

Don’t miss out Book your session now!.

Why writing down your goals is a powerful process.

"Vision is specific. It is goal-oriented and undeniably tenacious. Vision investigates and delineates what is currently practiced and seeks to tweak it to produce qualitative results. Vision personified walks in the Spirit of Excellence, aggravates the status quo, and frustrates any attempt to perpetuate mediocre performance." Marcus Mason (National Writing project)

For many of us, accomplishing what we dream of is a challenge mainly because we fail to properly articulate WHAT it is we truly want! More damaging to our chance of success is the sad truth that our dreams cannot become our reality if they stay locked inside our head and we NEVER act upon them.

However once you put something in writing it becomes much more concrete and tangible than what we keep in our heads making our  plans easier to stick to and succeed at.

Several benefits come out of the writing process:


ATTENTION AND AFFIRMATION
* When you write down your ideas and goals your mind will automatically focus your full attention on them promoting more creative thinking and motivation for taking action.
ACCOUNTABILITY
* In addition you will be forced to clarify what you're doing and in some instances what you want others to do. As long as an idea remains in our heads, it's not made accountable as we don't usually subject our ideas to rigorous scrutiny when they're just random or even re occurring thoughts. In contrast when we write out the idea, goal or plan its strengths and weaknesses begin to surface as we consider the idea more critically.
ACCESSIBILITY
* Since most thoughts for the future are often complex or uncertain, a written version of your plan enables you to organise and illustrate your points with more detail and therefore explain much more simply to others what you intend to do and what you are trying to achieve.
AIDE- MEMOIR
* Recorded words create a "memorial of truth" which enables you to be constantly reminded of the ideas and goals and desired outcomes and this in turn will renew determination to complete the task or project with a sure and steady step.


And the Lord answered me, and said, "Write the vision, and make it plain upon tablets, that he may run that readeth it."

—Habakkuk 2:1-3, King James Bible

Got an idea goal or dream for your life? 

Write it down and see it take shape!

The sound of disappointment...

Disappointment makes you want to give up...
when things go wrong and out lives are impacted by difficulty and pain....
when we don't get what we wanted or what we expected...
when people break their promises and let us down...
when we cant even live up to our own expectations........we get disappointed!


Which reminds me of a song....

Here comes that sinking feeling

Nobody hurts me like you do.

You cut into me like a poison dart.

Creep into my sleep at night.

Break into my dreams and tear them

apart.

Here comes that sinking feeling.

Have you ever felt the sound of

disappointment?

It pounds in your head like hammer

blows.

Comes on gentle and smiling.

And it likes to leave a scar before it goes.

here comes that sinking feeling.... 

Lennox/Stewart (the Eurythmics)

So how can we overcome that sinking feeling?


When our hopes and dreams are fully anchored in a confident expectation of good things from the hand of God we have the perfect antidote for the disappointment of the past and the fear of the future.

Where have you anchored your hopes and dreams?

Gods Blueprint

“In the Fingerprint of God lies the Blueprint for your Life”

We are made in God’s image, His original idea , His creative thought, His unique design, formed by His perfect hand and bearing His hallmark........God’s workmanship for a specific purpose which has already been prepared beforehand so that we can if we choose walk in it.

“Ours is not the quest to leave our mark, But to discover His mark in us”

So life is not about achieving your personal best but rather about fulfilling the unique purpose you were created to accomplish in God’s universe.

Connecting with that Purpose allows you to pursue your calling in life and to plan for intentional living in every area of your life—living on purpose--now and in the years to come.

Three things you need to do in order to connect with your God given destiny.

1.    Know God personally through faith in Jesus Christ.

God invites us to know Him, to be in relationship with Him, to be His friends.

2.     Desire  and seek after Gods will for your life above all else:

Gods will is good, pleasing and perfect why would we not want to give ourselves to do it?

3.    Ask God “what am I made for”?

God does not want us to miss our calling and Jesus himself said that we should ask in order to receive. Expect God to answer this question in various ways

·         Through the Bible

·         Through the gentle promptings of the Holy Spirit

·         Through the advice and guidance of other mature Christians

·         Through the deep desires of your heart as you seek Him.

·         Through an understanding of your personality type and your natural and spiritual gifting that enable you to do certain things really well and to be fruitful in particular areas of work and ministry.

You will never grasp the full meaning of your life apart from the context of what God is up to in the world. You were God’s idea. So if you want to know your purpose in life, you must first recognize that it’s not really your purpose you seek, but God’s purpose for you.

Life planning for the New Year?

The New Year is almost upon us and it’s a great chance to think about starting to develop a life plan to help you focus on what’s really important and to increase your effectiveness and overall success.

So if you are thinking of making positive changes to your life in 2012 here are three questions to get your grey matter working on some powerful goals.

1.       What is one change you could make to your work/life that would make the biggest positive difference?

a.       What is the cost of you not doing anything about this

b.      What is it about this situation that needs to be different?

2.        What three things are you doing that do not serve or support you and those closest to you?

a.        How could you turn this around immediately?

b.       What is the value of your current attitude?

3.        What would you try now if you knew you couldn’t fail and the outcome would be good for you and your loved ones?

a.        How could you make this goal more specific or measurable? 

10 WAYS TO SHARPEN YOUR FOCUS

·   Focus on what you want rather than on what you don’t want to be.

·        Focus on what can be done rather than on what you cannot do

·        Focus on your strengths and not your weakness

·        Focus on solutions not problems

·        Focus on building people up not tearing them down

·        Focus on making friends rather than getting even with your enemies

·        Focus on being the best you can be and not on trying to copy someone  else

·        Focus on following Jesus rather than fighting the devil

·        Focus on Gods promises rather than life’s circumstances

·        Focus on Gods faithfulness rather that your failure

What you focus on is what you get...

What you magnify captivates your vision

7 Ways that leaders can make a positive impact on those they lead

Confident leaders know that people, who feel they matter, will. People who feel they don’t matter, won’t.

1.   Develop their skills. Competence means I matter.

2.   Give them authority to make choices. Warren Buffet said, “Delegate almost to the point of abdication.” He owns over 80 businesses. The third richest man in the world (Forbes 2011) tells the CEO’s of his businesses that he doesn’t expect to hear from them more than once a year. He says the business is yours; you run it.

3.   Explain their impact. Create goals, milestones, and deliverables that highlight the results of their efforts, positive or negative.

4.   Tie daily behaviors to purpose. Tell them what their behaviors mean in practical terms. One social enterprise that worked with single mothers brought single mothers into the office. Seeing the people they served gave purpose to daily activities.

5.   Build their security by acting consistently. Secure people dare to courageously act. Secure people trust that you won’t harm them. Insecure people constantly walk on thin ice.

6.   Encouragement is an inexpensive way to reward people but it is most effective when done sincerely and consistently.

7.   Make sure any feedback you give is strength centered and evidence based. In other words don’t just tell them they did well tell them exactly what it was that they did well.

7 things you can do today to make a difference to your world

1.    Helping someone who can't repay you: Give yourself away it’s a powerful and freeing choice to decide to deliberately do good to someone who has nothing to give you in return.

2.    Doing one thing that takes you outside your comfort zone: The only way to grow as a person is to stretch yourself and develop muscles that you never knew you had.

3.    Giving grateful thanks for your daily bread: Gratitude is not only a fitting response to the many blessings that we experience in our daily lives but it also opens the door to further blessings; I mean we all know its very hard to give gifts to people who have proved to be ungrateful in the past.

4.    Leaving others a little better than you found them: Make a point of encouraging someone today it is a most powerful thing to build someone up rather that tearing them down or not even acknowledging them at all. Most of us can agree that we would not be where we are today if someone had not taken the time to encourage us with a word “in season”.

5.    Not being afraid to ask for help: nobody is perfect not even you so don’t try to make it on your own. We are made for relationship.

6.    Giving the best time of your day to God... He is after all the source of Love, Joy and Peace. We were all made for relationship with our heavenly father.

7. Doing today what you want to put off till tomorrow: As my mother often reminded me                                  "Procrastination is the thief of time and the grave of opportunity”.

Remember that the seeds you sow today will reap a harvest tomorrow or maybe the next day but whatever happens be sure the harvest will come.

What will you sow today?

Seven good reasons to use a Christian life coach

1.   Jesus is the master life coach!

2.   A Christian Coach understands that God created and equipped you for a specific purpose, and that He has promised to guide and empower you to fulfill your unique destiny.

3.   Seeing Yourself as God Sees You Is the Key to Lasting Change

·         A Christian coach helps you to see yourself as God sees you, helps you to rid yourself of limiting beliefs that are getting in the way and supports you to move forward. You think feel and act according to what you believe. Christian life coaching helps you to replace lies you believe about yourself and your circumstances with life-giving Biblical truth.

o   When you change what you believe, your thoughts change.

o   When you change the way you think your feelings change.

o   When you feel differently about things it affects the way you behave.

o   When your behaviour changes, your whole life begins to change.

4.   Christian Life Coaching helps you to define success for you as God sees it rather than how the world sees it.

5.   Christian Life Coaching helps you to operate from a foundation of faith in God.

6.   Christian Life Coaching  enables you to grow and achieve without compromising your dependence on God and Christian values.

7.   Christian Life Coaching is sensitive to the leading and prompting of the Holy Spirit

To book a  life coaching/life planning session with Eric send an email with your contact details to enb159@gmail.com   or ring 01229 208644 for more details.

How you could Use a Christian Life Coach?

·                     to deepen your walk with God

·                     to help you live in line with your values

·                     to help you get through barriers like unforgiveness

·                     to demolish mindsets that hold you back

·                     to communicate more effectively

·                     enhance relationships

·                     strengthen your family

·                     to help you bring balance to your life

·                     talk through difficulties & develop a plan of action

·                     support you to achieve your goals

·                     to help you reach for your destiny

7 steps to setting effective goals for 2012


When you sit down and write out your goals, you move yourself into the top 3% of people in our society. 


So why not launch yourselves into 2012 with something to aim for and look forward to!!

1. Decide what you really want in each area of your life. Be specific!
2. Write down that goal for each area clearly and in detail;
3. Set a specific deadline. If it is a large goal, break it down into sub-goals.
4. Make a priority list of everything you can think of that you are going to have to do to achieve each specific goal.
5. Take action immediately on the most important thing you can do on your plan. 
6. Do something every day that moves you toward the attainment of one or more of your important goals. Maintain the momentum!         
7. Review Your Goals Daily. Study and review your goals every day to be sure they are still your most important goals. You will find yourself adding goals to your list as time passes. You will also find yourself deleting goals that are no longer as important as you once thought.

Set aside a few hours during the next 2 weeks before the New year arrives to do this exercise and get ready for an exciting journey.

If you need help identifying what you really want or feel that you are stuck and can't move forward then I am offering life coaching /life planning sessions in January>Ring 01229 208644 for more details or email me on enb159@gmail.com

7 REASONS WHY YOU NEED A WRITTEN LIFE PLAN

This is taken from a blog by Michael Hyatt which is a brilliant personal development/leadership blog .

Most people spend more time planning a one-week vacation than identifying what outcomes they want to see in the major areas of their lives. In other words, most people wander aimlessly from week to week, with no clear destination in mind. Many are then surprised when life doesn’t turn out like they hoped. But is it any wonder?

This is why I believe everyone—especially leaders—should take the time to create a written life plan document. There are at least seven reasons why I believe this is important:

1. A life plan will help you clarify your most important priorities. Your boss has a set of priorities for you. So does your spouse. Perhaps others do, too. But what about you? Do you have a list? What is important to you?
2. A life plan will enable you to maintain balance. Some people sacrifice their marriage for their career. Others sacrifice their health or their relationship with their children. But what if you could have robust health, an excellent marriage, and a successful career? I’m here to tell you it is possible—but only if you have a plan.
3. A life plan will provide a filter by which you can say “no” to lesser things.Once you have said “yes” to what matters most, you are in a great position to say “no” to those activities that matter less. Suddenly you have the clarity—and the courage—to manage your opportunities rather than to be managed by them.
4. A life plan will empower you to identify and address your current realities. You can’t get where you want to go unless you start with where you are. What are the most brutal realities of your life? Where are you falling short? Where do you know you need to improve?
5. A life plan will equip you to envision a better future. You need to acknowledge where you are, but you also need to see clearly where you are going. What do you want in each of the major categories of your life? What would they look like in their ideal state? This is where it starts to get fun!
6. A life plan will serve as a road map for accomplishing what matters most.Once you know where you are and where you are going, you are in a position to create an action plan for getting there. It doesn’t have to be complicated, but you do have to identify the mile-markers and waypoints along the journey. A life plan does that.
7. A life plan will help ensure that you don’t finish life with regrets. For many people, life is not turning out like they had hoped. They are disappointed, confused, and discouraged. But it doesn’t have to be this way. While you can’t control everything, you can live your life with a plan and dramatically improve your chances of ending up at a destination you choose.

7  Habits for successful Christian living!
I have recently spent some time  meditating on some scripture which was written, according to the author in order to prevent followers of Jesus becoming unproductive and unsuccessful in their lives of faith. Which i have taken to mean that the advice given must be intended to promote lives which are successful, fruitful and productive.

Most of us want to make our lives count for something significant and there is a cry within all of us to live lives of meaning and purpose , lives which have a positive impact or make a real difference to our communities or the world at large. Jesus himself said that it was Gods will for us to bear much fruit..which implies being productive, to prosper, to live successfully.

2 Peter 1 v 3-9 lists 7 things which are habits to be developed in order for us to make the most of our relationship with God and to be people who make an impact for Him on a consistent basis.
The fact that there are seven habits obviously reminds me of the Steven Covey classic and as a result I have drawn some comparisons and some contrasts. 

This meditation is a work in progress as there is much to consider but here are a few thoughts for starters....lets call it "7  Habits for successful Christian living"!

Habit #1: Add to your faith goodness/moral excellence.

If you want to be successful as a Christian practice doing the right things right! 

Habit #2 : Add to your goodness Knowledge.

If you want to be successful as a Christian learn to know how to do the right things right but also be prepared to find out a whole bunch of other ways of working that you never thought were possible. Knowledge means learning to change and adapt, to develop and progress to deeper levels of excellence or to put it another way from one degree of glory to another.. Knowing Gods ways as well as His works is the key to real growth.

Habit #3: Add to your knowledge self control.

If you want to be successful as a Christian practice doing the right things right on a consistent basis in order to develop a lifestyle of discipline where you take responsibility for being pro-actively righteous and being a proactive learner (which is another word for disciple).

Habit #4 add to your self control perseverance:

when self control doesn't work and you give in or give up or  you fall flat on your face... you gotta get up and keep going. Following Jesus is a long term commitment not a short term fashion. Keep on keeping on, get back up, keep walking , keep running, persist, commit, choose to go forward, press on to the higher calling of the Lord. These habits are long term commitments to faith and following.

OK so up to this point this stuff is all very familiar to those who read self improvement books and watch personal development gurus giving their motivational speeches and all of this is good stuff but there is something else that we need to mark us out from the self help movement and that is the next habit....

Habit #5: Add to your perseverance Godliness

Central to all the stuff about taking responsibility and being proactive and persistent and setting goals and driving things forward is this timely reminder that all this encouragement to be diligent and make an effort is founded on the central purpose of becoming like Jesus, of aspiring to be like God himself ..."be perfect as I am perfect". we must not forget that following principles alone will never make us like Jesus because it is the life of Christ in us that is ultimately our hope of glory (success). His life, his grace, his power has given us all e need for life and godliness so we must never lose sight of the habit of being God focused, Godly minded, God fearing, God Loving, God praising, God knowing and all the other things it takes to be Godly. Every other habit that has gone before is meant to be centred on our aspiration to know God and to make Him known which leads us onto 

Habit #6: Add to your Godliness brotherly kindness/ compassion.

all this personal and spiritual development is not just for us it is for those around us. the inward working of all these habits must eventually find an expression in acts of mercy, kindness and compassion in the part of the world where we have influence, starting with family and friend and working out to communities, regions and nations. this is where we have impact , this is where we start to change the world, this is where the fruit begins to be produced. 

Habit #7: to brotherly kindness add Love; 

We can only keep all this effort up if we have revelation and an experience of Gods Love in our hearts. the love of God compels us, energises us and motivates us to acts of service.Gods love over flows to us so that we in turn can be generous on every occasion.

Without Love we are nothing.

So make every effort to add to your faith and express it all in acts of Love.