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Reality show or finance industry?

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Can reality shows teach you anything about your workplace? Before I had the misfortune to turn ill on my last adventure to Borneo, I would have said - not much. So a few weeks and a couple of reality shows later I have changed my mind. Since I am so interested in leadership, communication, group dynamics and relations I soon got caught up in a couple of the shows. The different roles and behaviors are much more apparent on TV since they choose to show only the juicy stuff. 

As in organizations some people think long term and do everything they can for the group. If they spend time taking care of necessary tasks instead of politics, they will be thrown out, no matter if the group will suffer when they are gone. In a workgroup, I always find several people that are extremely good at what they do. Management tends almost to forget that these people exist until they for some reason don’t turn up at work. Those are my favorites. They have much knowledge and are not involved that much in meetings and other non-essentials. They are left doing their job and often like that someone pays attention to them. Their competence could be used much better. When I lead a project my primary goal is to get the results I have been hired to accomplish. Those persons don’t get thrown out at the earliest stages of the reality shows, but on the other hand, they never win. 

Other people only care about politics. Of course, they take on some of the assignments since they don’t want people to understand how little they do. They don't mind hiding behind a wall pretending to be working if they get the opportunity, backstab people, or fool them into trusting in them. That it hurts the others and the group long term does not seem to bother them. Do I need to mention that they are never thrown out early in the show? They are often one of the persons staying longest on the farm/beach/whatever.

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We can love and hate the people that take part in reality shows, and even make jokes about them, but we seldom notice the same behaviors in organizations.

So who are the ones that often win or at least come a long way? The ones that work just hard enough not to be considered lazy, but not so hard that they don’t have time and energy for politics. They should also not be unusually energetic, quiet or talkative. They should be pleasant, friendly, a bit interesting, but not too much. At least this works for Nordic reality shows, except for Paradise Hotel and similar. Unfortunately, workplaces seem to function the same way, at least in the big organizations. So we end up having nice, quiet workplaces with not too many changes. 

To make things happen turbulence is unavoidable. Maybe we need to be more accepting, and even welcome differences? Perhaps we should let the hard working, long term thinking guy win, or the one that has a different view on most things. They might both be better for your company if you want to become the winner in the new reality. We can all agree that change is inevitable! The workplace might be a bit more turbulent until we all learn to communicate better when we have different opinions, but in the long run, we will all be better off.

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Suddenly lost your motivation?

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Have you ever suddenly found yourself without motivation for things you normally love doing? It could be that you can’t get up in the morning to go to work or find your partner to be extremely boring or irritating, or find the Gym you used to love to be impossible to prioritize. I have a special talent - to motivate myself! I am actually good at motivating others too, but that is another story. 

Yet I can suddenly find it extremely hard to find “time” to take my long walk, go swimming, tidy up my office, or plan dinner (I don’t like cooking except for a special dinner, or a party). The strange thing is that motivation seems to disappear suddenly and often for no reason. 

So what do you do when you often don’t know what to cure? I know quite a few people that start looking for a new job when they lose motivation. But they seldom apply for the job since motivation has returned when it is time to send in the application. Some people decide to leave their partner, and we who have to listen to their complaints don’t take them seriously after a few rounds.

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What I suggest is that you focus on something else. The reason you lost motivation is probably temporary, but if it isn’t you can still look for new jobs, partners, or Gyms when you have decided that the lack of motivation is serious and solvable.

There are some things that always work to increase motivation - at least in the short run:

  1. Do something you really like - eat chocolate, drink champagne, sunbathe, read a good book, or meet your best friends.
  2. Take a long walk - the brain will be fooled into believing life is not that bad after all.
  3. Do something that will make you exhausted - boxing, running, climbing, etc but I have to admit that when I have lost motivation I am not capable of that so I go for the first two alternatives.

Good luck!

 

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Passion for improvement?

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What is your passion? You have probably, as I, several things you are passionate about. One of my passions is to travel off the beaten tracks with a light packing. But this blog is about my other passion - tackle change, improvement possibilities, the best possible way! 

The only thing that is certain is that life is constantly changing! It doesn’t matter how hard we try to stop the world from spinning we will only get worn out while the world continues to spin. Do we like change? Absolutely! If it affects others! Who doesn’t want others to change? You might want to change the colleague that is too detailed, too lazy, or too sloppy! And what about your partner? There are probably a few areas in which you like him or her to change. But do you want to change yourself? Only if you are the one that decided to change! You don’t like people to impose change on you!

One of the significant changes that is affecting all of us and will continue to do so is digitalization. All my projects since I started my carrier has had to do with digitalization. Mostly as a possibility to make business more efficient due to new tools and systems. It’s not a new phenomenon, but digitalization 1985 that was a major change by then is a story to laugh at today. The digital change is going faster the more it’s affecting more areas and more parts of daily life. I can assure you that much more can be done to keep up with change in almost all big companies and organizations. Most of you know that there are still too many old models, processes, and systems around. Why are they not replaced? They function good enough (at least according to all of those that don’t like someone to impose a change on them), and it’s expensive (so we rather wait until the world stops spinning and see what we need to do by then…). I could give you more examples but let us continue with how to implement change faster and smoother. 

I love to keep my eyes and ears open to see and understand trends and use that understanding to implement necessary changes. Since change is inevitable, you might just as well do the best you can to adapt smoothly. Is it possible? Absolutely, and it’s not even that difficult, but you have to deal with it consciously. And please don’t wait for things to settle - they will not!

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The 4-step model to handle change and other challenges

Understanding is the most tricky step. We have to admit that we face change whether we like it or not. The sooner we accept that change is here, the sooner we can start making the best of the situation.

Analyzing is to find the possible ways to adapt to the change we face. When you skip denial, you can concentrate on collecting the best information from the best sources, and present at least 2 possible solutions, preferably 3. One could be - we refuse to change.

Then it’s time to decide how you want to tackle the change you face. You might feel you have no choice, but that is never true. You can always walk away. It might be costly but is always possible even though that seldom is my suggested solution.

The implementation phase is, of course, the most challenging. When finally faced with the fact that change will affect each person, resistance and questioning grow strong, but you can’t easily detect it. People unconsciously hide it behind arguments and facts. Through good leadership and clear goals you will succeed, but not if you don’t stay focused and conscious. 

I will continue to inspire you to dare to handle the effects of coming changes earlier. The next blogs will cover communication and people which is what you need to manage to succeed in implementing change and staying ahead of your competitors.

Why do you do what you do?

Most people I talk to want to change something in their lives. At this time of the year, people want to change more. What do you want to change? Job? House? Health? Travel? 

The first thing to think through is why you have your current job or why you live where you live. Before deciding to make a change, you need to take some time to think about some of the important decisions you made some time ago. I am sure you had good reasons to make the decision that has taken you where you are even though you might not like the result. When you know more about the history of the decision you can avoid making the same mistake again. But beware - don’t get stuck in the history and don’t start blaming yourself for making the bad choices. Just take a dissociated look at the situation you were in when you made your choice, understand that it was the best choice you saw back then, and learn why you should not make the same mistake now when you know better.

I was the Administrative Manager for a company that had multiplied. I had recruited a lot of competent people to the company, and suddenly I had to inform them that the company went into bankruptcy. How could I let that happen? Well, the fact is I was seriously worried about profitability and cash flow and presented the facts to the owners repeatedly. The owners did not listen to my warnings. One day the company lawyer came to the office and informed me that the company was in a due diligence process and was not allowed to slow down the expansion or make any major changes during the process. When the deal did not go through the company went bankrupt. I admit I considered the owners to act silly before I knew why! Could I have done something differently? Actually - not much. What did I learn? That you can end up in a situation that you did not choose and you might not even believe such a thing could happen - not even in your worst case scenario. 

When I work with change, no matter if it’s an organizational change, business process overview, new financial regulations or system development, I always do my best to figure out why it looks as it does and assume that the decisions some time ago were right back then. I can assure you it’s much easier to discuss the coming changes when I have acknowledged the history. 

So if you are about to make changes in your life - start with asking why! But make sure not to blame yourself for making bad decisions. That will not take you anywhere. 

Good luck with all your interesting choices! 

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Archive - pick your favourite subjects!

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Storytelling

What should your story tell about you? What is the result you should get from your private story and your business story? Whose story should you tell and who should tell yours?

I attend many seminars and lectures and I always take notes. Sometimes I note what they say and other times I note what the speaker makes me realize. Today I found these notes.

  1. Your story should strengthen your identity.

  2. Do something others want to talk about.

  3. Other people should deliver your story.

  4. How can you fascinate your environment?

  5. Be honest, humble and transparent.

  6. Be the most daring!

  7. Passion is key! Everything else can be copied.

  8. Work hard and be nice to people!

I know I tend to give up at number 2, get back on track at number 5, become too scared at number 6 but be totally committed on 7-8.

Remember that the value when someone else tells your story is so much greater than when you tell it yourself so whose story can you tell today?

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Denial?!

Denial is a good way to stay positive but also a perfect way to miss the early signs that you are facing a challenge. Early action will lead to better result faster in the vast majority of cases. So here is a fast track to handle challenges, changes and to succeed with improvements. 

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Face facts! Skip denial when you face challenges - recognize, accept and act as fast as you can. It’s always better to catch and treat problems early! You can still keep a positive attitude. It’s actually much better since that will keep you focused on the solution instead of the problem.

Stay calm - don’t panic! When you stay calm you think clearly and act rationally.

Focus on what you are good at and can improve and quit some of the things that take time and sucks energy. Dare to leave a job or an assignment - trust your instinct!

Believe you are better than you are! When you believe you can run maximum 5 kilometres you won’t ever run more but if you believe you won’t have any problems running a marathon you will definitely be able to run at least 10 kilometres. It’s just the way it works. The lower your expectations are - the less you will achieve! Tell your brain that there are no limits and it won’t show you any.

Plan ahead! Be prepared to act on coming challenges. Don’t get caught with your pants down - definitely not if you are the one in charge. You need to be prepared and act before your staff gets worried.

Work hard! Activity will make you happier that being lazy and it will get you closer to your goal faster that if you relax on the sofa. Happy from working hard + happy for reaching your goal = win-win!

Have fun! You will have a much nicer ride with a smile! Everything you do gets easier if you decide to enjoy it!

  • Be prepared and positive!

  • Believe in yourself!

  • Have fun!

Gratitude and patience

Today I feel grateful for what I have - a fantastic family, great friends, a great brain, good health, a beautiful home and that I am positive, creative and supportive. There is more to be grateful for but this will do for now.

If you are tired of people telling you about their fantastic lives it might be good to bear in mind that talking or writing about bad things is a good way to tell your brain how bad things are and that does not help you to get through your challenges. If your brain believes that things are going your way it will continue to find solutions and new routes to get you back on track and that is where you want to be! So be kind and supportive even if you realise that your friends are not being “realistic”.

So if some part of you knows things are not going well? How do you stay motivated? It ain’t easy that’s sure but are there any alternatives? I would say no. If you do nothing you will be dragged along the wrong path. But gratitude and patience will get you through and back on track!

  • Always try hard to find something, however small, to be grateful for in every situation; family, friends, sunshine, a walk, flowers or a good book. Any problem seems smaller as soon as you are a bit happier.
  • Be patient. Continue to go step by step, however small, in the direction you want to go. Think and say uplifting and motivating things to yourself and you will get there!

The last couple of years were not easy. I made a decision to give! I was fortunate to having learnt a lot about how to motivate myself and others and decided to write a book and blog about it. My goal was to improve people’s private life and to improve leadership in companies and organisations. So I spent plenty of time and money to write, edit and publish my book “Leadership and wisdom - how to motivate yourself and others”. I have celebrated every step of the way - the Swedish book, the Swedish E-book and finally the American book and E-book.

So what is the result this far? I learnt a lot as I wrote in my last blog but did I manage to sell many books? Did I get any reviews? The answer is no. I know I did not do enough marketing and the things I have done were obviously not the right things so I don’t blame anybody else. But have I given up? Absolutely not! I continue to write new books. I keep tweeting, blogging and being active on Instagram. I am still convinced that “it will be alright in the end and if it’s not alright it’s not the end” (from Hotel Marigold).

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So I will continue to be grateful for everything I have and keep giving. I hope you will too and if you need an uplifting word or a piece of advice you know where to find me. My next book series will be #motheranddaughter #travelling but I am also working on several books about #projects #leadership and #change. I am just not sure about the best next step to take. If you have any tips for me I would really appreciate if you contacted me.

Get yourself going and keep smiling! Make this ride a good one!

Let go - dare to live your dreams!

One evening this week I had an interesting discussion with people from different businesses. Why don’t we live our dreams? It’s sad that people often regret not having lived their dreams when life is about to end. We all agreed that life is here and now and too short not to live our dreams . A “failure” is much better that not having tried. So what is holding us back? Do you want to have your own horse, go mountain climbing, move to the countryside, learn to dive or run a marathon? When I ask people why they don’t quit their job, set up a company, move houses, go for a health challenge or leave their partner a common respons is “that’s easy for you to say”. And then they come up with many more or less creative reasons - or excuses - for not living their dreams. “I can’t afford it”, “I will lose my pension”, “If I fail I will not find a new job”, “I don’t have enough energy”, “I will be alone for the rest of my life” etc. Most excuses are related to security! Security can never be measured or viewed objectively it’s always a personal assessment. You decide when you feel secure enough. The more time you spend outside your comfort zone the less security you will need.

Dreams are never fulfilled inside your comfort zone!

So is it easier for me than for others? Of course not. I have left well paid jobs with no parachute for dreams that did not work out and for dreams that worked out ok. And I am not done living my dreams. I am always prepared to work hard to do what I love and I enjoy the ride. Follow me and you will find out!

So why should you live your dreams? Small dreams are still dreams! There is no such thing as security! You might live in a bunker with supplies for the rest of your life but not even then can you be totally secure. You might turn ill or misjudge your need of supplies or find out security without challenges is worth nothing. Things are changing so fast! There are no jobs you can be sure to keep the rest of your life. Pensions are suddenly worth nothing and your partner might decide to leave you. When you start to take small steps outside your comfort zone you will soon dare to take more and bigger steps! Dare to dream, dare to take that first small step to live your dreams and you will increase your level of security when you are more in control of your own security.

When you are prepared to live and work outside your comfort zone you will be able to take on the challenges that come your way, suddenly everything is possible and to lose a job or a partner is just another possibility in life.

See you outside our comfort zones!

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The world is changing - so what?

If you read some of the books and articles I do you know how rapidly the world is changing even though you might not want to admit it. I choose to discuss the #changing world from a business and technological perspective. There are plenty of less good changes in the environment and politics that I leave for those who are better suited to write and talk about.

The last two weeks I have listened to leaders of big #financial companies as well as young global #leaders and just finished reading “The industries of the future” by Alec Ross. My summary is that the big traditional companies in the financial industry say “yes the world is changing but it will not affect us very much”. I am not that sure!

Alec Ross says that the major reason for Google not running it’s own superior bank is current regulations. Will regulations change? Looking back they definitely have so why shouldn’t they continue to change? Will there be new and totally different business opportunities in the future even in the financial industry? Definitely - we just don’t know exactly which.

I don’t blame people in good positions with high salary and nice benefits looking forward to a good pension resisting change. If they make changes and fail they might get fired and lose their nice benefits. So they’re probably (personally) better off just sitting still and hope their competitors will do the same.

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But if you are the #leader of such a company or a shareholder you need to admit that we will see robotics and other technological innovations in most areas where we have been doing so called “intelligent and qualified work” like financial analysis and project administration. Even legal work and implementation of regulations is mainly reading and analyzing data which artificial intelligence will do better than humans - very soon. We cannot resist #change it will happen even if we continue to say “The world is changing - but I am not”. Such a negative blog! Not at all. I love change and what would our lives be like if we would know exactly what tomorrow will bring us? Boring! We would soon lose our drive to get up in the morning to pursue the day. We need a bit of surprise in our lives and the world IS changing. The only thing you need to do is to be more changeable!

  • See change as something interesting that you will find new, maybe a bit challenging, ways through!
  • Be here and now and look forward to the future! It will come anyway so why not look forward to it?
  • Don’t ever say “it was better before” (you might have been better before) and try hard to avoid thinking it.

As always I am here to answer any questions you might have. And if you don’t agree with me I am happy to listen to your arguments!

What can you learn from your favourite hobby?

It’s often from your hobbies you learn the things that are most useful at work or in challenging situations. Why? When you do things you love your mind is open. You are more willing to learn. So listen and learn from having fun! Me and my family love to travel. A convenient well planned trip is not for us. We look forward to see places that not too many people visit and learn from the challenges we run into. Here are some of the things I learnt during the latest trip to Thailand and Cambodia.

Most things have more upsides than downsides

For the majority of our holiday we had barely decided which country to spend time in so we let people we met, or circumstances, have impact on our decisions. When a German couple we met on a bus from Phnom Penh asked us to accompany them to Otres Beach we ended up sharing home with too many grasshoppers but we also met Mickey on the beach. He sold us a boat trip to paradise in form of Koh Ta Kiev. There we found the biggest spider we have ever been close to, except in an aquarium, in our bathroom. If we can call a toilet without running water a bathroom. Definitely more upsides than downsides! Paradise is not easy to find and Koh Ta Kiev is definitely one! Unfortunately there will be a Chinese complex on the island in 2-3 years so hurry up if you want to visit paradise outside your comfort zone.

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You can get used to almost anything

The first days we found grasshoppers disturbing and at the end of our trip we lived happily with big lizards and not even dangerous centipedes scared us off. It does not take long to get used to new circumstances if you want to. My 15-year old daughter admitted that she was a bit scared even of small insects at the beginning of our trip but they did not bother her at all at the end. She was so brave! She shared bathroom with 3 big lizards without a blink except for the “almost hart attack” she got the first time she opened the door.

You learn from everything

The loose plan we had was to visit Koh Kong but too many advised against it so we went to Koh Rong Samloem instead. There we learnt that it does not matter how nice the surrounding is people can still be negative and rude. We loved the island but the lack of service, visitors finding a problem to every solution and everything being so “difficult” made the stay on the beautiful island less memorable.

You can find a meaning with most things and you find it quicker if you look for it

Every time we ran into problems, and there were quite a few which is normal when you travel the way we do, we directly talked about the upside of the problem. When boats and buses took of before schedule we found it to be good that we had chosen to have margins those times and that we learnt the lesson so we would not miss more important connections. We learnt how important it is to keep calm since there is absolutely no use being stressed or upset. The best thing you can do is to sit back and hope you will catch the boat in time. The driver is doing his best and you will only risk your life by shouting at him.

Learn by having fun you too!

Attitude! Molly 95

Does attitude impact your life? Even if a lot of research show that - many still argue against it. I am though convinced that attitude impact everything but I am also well aware that attitude is not always easy to change. Mainly due to our resistance - we don’t want to change our attitude!

I would like to positively impact everybody’s attitude and as many of you know I always look for role models. I need them as my own reminders and as stories to tell. A few weeks ago I met Molly 95. She has faced many challenges in her life. She has lost children and has for many years taken care of a child with a serious mental condition. What a woman!! I believe she is one of the most positive, constructive, curious and learning persons I have ever met. When she talks about her daily life it sounds like a person under 30! She lives a busy life and loves to take a drink with her daughters and some of their family and friends on Friday evenings and always takes the opportunity to take the happy hour drinks with her neighbours on Tuesdays and Thursdays. On Wednesdays she sees one of her daughters and one of the other evenings the other daughter stays over. In feels like an energy field around her. And she has a really positive attitude toward life every day!

Many of my friends half her age don’t want to drive in Stockholm! Molly is sorry that her daughters don’t want her to drive any more due to the very hectic traffic in the San Fransisco area.

What can we learn from Molly? A lot but I will only mention a few things so I have a reason to write about her again later on.

  • When someone suggests something nice even if it’s a late night activity we should say YES! Molly always does.
  • When someone suggests a change in our life we should say YES or at least not NO! Molly just moved closer to her daughters but of course have to make new friends leaving many of the old friends behind. We often don’t accept some negative consequences of a decision even if the decision primarily would lead to good things.

Let us all go “Molly” during November!

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How do you think?

Your most important values will have great impact on all your decisions no matter if you know your values or not. So how do you think? What is important to you? It is often not so visible from your current job or living what your values are. A persons entire job or housing carrier tells a lot but a quicker way to find out is to check holiday preferences. Your holidays reflect your current values well so let us start there. How do you spend your holidays or would like to spend your holidays?

I have many friends who spend most of their holidays at the same place. They know that the climate is good, the people are nice, the food is good, the hotel/house/flat is great, the water is clean or the nature is fantastic. So why not go back? Why look for new places that might be worse or just as good when you already know a great place? 

Others always go for the best hotels, the most convenient ways of travelling, the best restaurants and don’t care about the cost. So if they can only afford a holiday every 5 years they do it anyway. And why not have a luxurious holiday? Why do the things you normally do? Shouldn’t a holiday be something extra? If I can’t afford it I’d rather stay at home!

And then there are people like me who love the unplanned, local, adventurous even if it mostly is much less convenient. They often prefer to share a meal with a Sri Lankan family on a local train, third class, before a luxury dinner since the feeling, the memory and the story with the locals stay so much longer in their harts and minds. And why not? Why pay for luxury when people and experiences are what matters?

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Is one way of spending holidays better than the other? Absolutely not! As a friend of mine said “how do you dare to travel like you do - I would like to but do not dare to”. If you think about values like “security”, “status”, “challenge”, “money”, “freedom”, “harmony” - in which group above do you find them? Tell me how you would like to spend your holiday and I will tell you what you value the most! Then you might realize that those values also steer the other areas of your life.

You might not want to admit that holiday habits is a choice and argue that you make your decisions based on time, money and health! Don’t! Those are just excuses even if they are good excuses. Read more about excuses in my book “Ledarskap & Klokskap” (it will soon be available in English) or contact me to learn more about excuses.

Lazy or mindful or?

I suddenly realized it was several weeks since my last blog! That has not happened since I started my blog. So have I given up, been lazy or been practicing mindfulness? The truth is neither, but for some reason, I have not prioritized the blog. Why not? I might be because the blog has not yet reached enough readers. Or that the weather has been too good?

What have I been doing the last weeks? I have had 4 mayor priorities:

  1. My book “Leadership & Wisdom - how to motivate yourself and others” 
  2. My elderly relatives
  3. My family
  4. The small wonders of life and myself

The title of the American version of my book is still not decided, but the editing is almost finished so I can proceed and hopefully get it published soon. Like every author, I hate being edited so that process is sucking energy even if I know it is necessary and my editor is fantastic.

The elderly relatives are not here for that much longer so the time spent with mother 82, father in law 88 and aunt Very 90 feels like the right priority. We have traveled around with them visiting old friends, eating good lunches and looking at churches.

I have had a fantastic trip to see the midnight sun with my mother and my daughters. We have had a lot of time together during that week which is rare in our busy lives! I also spent 4 days with my teenage daughter swimming, picking berries, chasing pokémons and relaxing in our garden house! If you know teenagers, you know how glad I am to have had time to really socialize with her. I have also had more time with my other daughter than in years, and we had great talks about everything. Invaluable! Not to mention having carried out several projects on our houses with the man of my life. That cannot be regarded as less than great priority.

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The small wonders of life have gotten more attention from me than in many years. I have been swimming, eating all kind of berries, having ice-cream in the sun, doing my morning yoga and relaxing. Why do I include myself in the small wonders of life? Since without “me” there are now small wonders in life that I can see. Most of us spend too little time on what we need and really want to do. If you think about how valuable your health is and how you tend not to prioritize it - if you are totally honest - you have the chance to “redecide” your priorities.

 

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Change Management

That we live in constant change is no surprise, and we accept it in theory, as a statement. When it comes to implementing the theory, to take action, it becomes a different story. The questions and objections we use are many! An example is “Is this change that will last?” Well, the answer is NO because a change never lasts since we live in constant change. And still, we actually want to know whether a new phenomenon will last before we are prepared to adopt it. We also want to know if others have tried it, preferably for a longer period, if there is evidence that it works - and will last! If we trace this behavior back, it protected us from eating the wrong things or being eaten. A life-saving attitude! Still valid in some situations. But you will die from not adopting too. When there is no cheese left you have to find new cheese (“Who moved my cheese”).

As a person, you can be more or less reluctant to adopt a new phenomenon. You can be an early or late adaptor or selectively early or late. Some are early adopters when it comes to food but late in technique or vice versa. Some people I know will easily buy the latest technique but refuse to try vegetarian food. Some people rush out to buy the latest fashion while others wait so long that they are almost early for the next time it will be fashion. I wore tie and braces when I was a teenager, and my teenage daughter is wearing them know. Had I been a late enough adaptor I would have been hot today…

The biggest threat to companies is to be too late and too unwilling to change and the second biggest threat is to be too early to adopt change. Too late and your products or services will be obsolete but too early nobody will understand you. When you time it perfectly, you make a fortune!

I meet a lot of entrepreneurs in my networks, but most of my clients are big, old, stable companies and organizations. Many small companies are good at timing the adoption, and if they don’t, they won’t survive. Too many of the big companies are far too late adopters. I am sure that will not be a profitable path the coming years. I am sure we will see big companies struggling to survive if they don’t become better in change management. Each employee can help. Don’t be afraid to speak up!

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Have fun and increase your intelligence!

Sometimes you need verification that you are doing some things right! I am so sure, sometimes tiring sure, that some of the things I do are good for me and others. My family and friends might get tired of me always trying to convince them about the importance of exercising, reading and meditation. It felt so good yesterday when I read an interesting scientific article that agreed with me! Now I might make family and friends ever more tired because now I know I am right! Ok, you can probably find articles that argue against me, but right now I decide what to write. But as usual, I look forward to countering arguments or, even better, hear that you agree with me ….. 

7 things you should consider doing if you want to increase (or keep) your intelligence: 

Learn to play an instrument - I know I have wanted to learn how to play the flute since I was a child. Is the time to start now? 

Sports - actually this is my challenge. I exercise, but I don't do sports. The benefit from sports is that it increases the ability to handle abstract ideas and complex data. I suddenly realize that I can start golfing again! 

Meditate regularly - check for me. I do it most days when I come home after work. I start my days with yoga and reboot my brain in the afternoon with meditation. Stress and worries keep us from concentrating and learn new skills. Meditation helps you to shut out irrelevant thoughts and improve your ability to learn new things. 

Games and play - this part is fun! Crosswords, Sudoku, and building lego are examples of excellent exercise for your brain. Become smarter by playing!! Can't get much better... 

Exercise! Improved blood circulation increases your brain's ability to function. And since it's good for the rest of you too I can't find reasons not to exercise. 

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Read books! Here we go.... you become better at handling and storing information and improve your language. You learn new things while you have great moments in the sun or your favorite chair. I just loved this article!! 

Learn a new language - Duolingo check! I am now 42 % fluent in Spanish and will definitely take on more languages. A study of 800 persons from 1947 to 2008 showed that learning grammar and new words sharpen intelligence and reduce the risk of dementia later in life. 

So what are you waiting for? Get out there, start having, even more, fun while you increase your intelligence and reduce the risk of dementia! 

I look forward to hearing about your progress!

 

Happiness?

Happiness

Are you happy? Are you happy most of the time or just once in a while? 

I am so extremely grateful for what I have got. So why do I sometimes give up and get so extremely tired? Do you recognise the feeling? Most of us are quite pleased with what we have but most of us are still not happy. Research in this area shows that happiness is like a bump on the road. 

We win the lottery, get married or get a salary raise and in three months or maximum two years we are back on our normal level of happiness. Strange isn't it? Especially since most of us spend a lot of time dreaming about meeting the “right” partner, winning the lottery or getting extremely rich from a great business deal, moving to a house on a white sandy beach, buying a hotel, living in a castle with a wine yard in France, retire and buy a dog, etc. Most people I know dream of another, better life. 

Research also shows that if people suffer from illness or get handicapped their level of happiness is in most cases restored after a couple of months or a couple of years. They are just as happy again even though their health is no better.

Content and happiness does not differ between extremely wealthy people and people leading extremely simple lives and it does not differ between healthy and sick people. Discouraging facts? Well not really since you now know that you will continue to be reasonably happy even if you don’t manage to win the lottery. And there is other research showing that you can increase your personal level of happiness so that your bump on the road becomes more like a step on a staircase. Sounds interesting? 

  • The best way to be happier is to enjoy the ride towards your goals! 
  • Happiness is the combination of enjoying what you have today and looking forward to what you will receive tomorrow.
  • What you value most will make you happy so what do you value most?
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Ms. Joy - a clever lady with ideas!

Ms Joy is seen as a visionary. She always finds new solutions to processes or functions that have been creating problems at work or at home. At work she is always challenging business processes, systems, organization and products. She is fortunate enough to having worked in a very innovative company and is highly valued for her ideas and that she always is willing to discuss her ideas and explain how she has come to her conclusions. Her family is in most cases also positive to her changes, at least after some discussions. One day she got an offer to change jobs and the offer was too good to resist. So much more salary and some fringe benefits that she really appreciated, free healthcare, an interesting training program and a possible carrier path that could take her abroad which always had been on her vision board.

 

After a month at the new job Ms Joy had realized that the business processes and systems would not keep the company competitive for very long. She was very interested in networking, reading and listening to lectures in her business area and all other areas that she could have any use of (IT system development, marketing, communication, leadership, sustainability, etc) and considered herself to be well educated and updated. She prepared her presentation of the new suggested plan for new business processes and systems thoroughly. She did not worry at all since she was used to getting support for her ideas and that anyone questioning them would raise their doubts, listen to arguments, perhaps having a second round of fact collection and then get her ideas through. Of course there often was a need of modifications due to limited resources, time or money, but in most cases she had been happy with the decisions and implemented solutions.

She was chocked by the way her ideas were received! The answer was NO! The company had been competitive up until now and did not expect things to change. They were not at all interested in listening to how Ms Joy had come to her conclusions and her efforts to make them listen and understand just made their attitude even more negative.

What should she do? She went home early that day and ran a private workshop. 

Stay at the new job and accept that they are not interested in her ideas? Not a very good idea since she was convinced that the company would not stay competitive and therefore her carrier path did suddenly not look very good. Or quit directly? But she just changed jobs! Should she even consider staying at a job where they didn’t even bother to listen to her ideas?

What did she decide? Do you want to give your version of how the story ended?

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Should I stay or should I go now?

Ms. Joy had a dilemma as described in last week’s blog. She spent a lot of time refreshing her core values and beliefs about her mission and the vision she had of her life. She decided to go for one of the following alternatives. Which? 

Alternative 1:

After considering leaving directly she got scared to run out of money and get bad references. She decided to stay and try new ways to present her ideas, prepare herself better next time and be more patient. After another 6 months and several new presentations that resulted in NO, NO and another NO, she had lost her interest in presenting new ideas, started to worry about all sorts of things, lost her energy and positive attitude. She did not get any more job offers so when the company went bankrupt a year later she had to take the job she could get. A job that paid a lot less than the job she left 18 months earlier.

Alternative 2:

Ms. Joy did a lot of thinking and decided that her ability to be a visionary and an innovator were too valuable talents to get thrown away. She also decided that if she would live according to her most important beliefs she could not stay at the company. She made another presentation with the goal to make the management change their mind and make the suggested changes. She failed and informed her boss that she would start looking for a new job. She got an offer to have her old job back but decided to take on another new challenge. The salary was a bit lower initially but Ms. Joy decided that she would never be scared to change jobs again so if the salary would not increase she would be out there looking for new opportunities. She was happy, energetic and even stronger in her belief that she is a visionary.

You probably guessed that Ms Joy decided to leave based on her core values and beliefs but I guess that you can see that if you don’t enjoy too much change and insecurity you often choose alternative 1 when you find yourself in a similar situation. Too great need of security might lead to the opposite and often does! 

Another week with plenty of visits outside your comfort zone? Good luck and as usual - I am always here to support you!