Tag: writing

Celebrate every step

Setting goals is a big part of the creative coaching that I offer clients.

I set them for myself and encourage my clients to set them too. After all-that’s what this is all about isn’t it? Setting goals, making a plan and achieving great things

One of my major goals for this year (when I reach 50!) is to get that damn book written! In fact-I have two book ideas on the go, both of which WILL happen this year. The reason they will happen this year is actually quite simple.

Firstly-one of the books HAS to be written because it is a handbook for a course that I am already delivering and the second reason is because I have actually already written them both….confused?!

Well the reality is that I have been so fixated on writing the book, making plans, lists, mind maps and inspiration boards and creatively visualising my book signing…all leading to my ultimate goal that I have totally overlooked the very basic fact that I have already written hundreds of thousands of words over the last couple of years that would probably fill several books-let alone a meagre 2!

Let me explain….! (for my own sanity if nothing else!)

I am first and foremost a writer and a journalist. I have come to coaching in the last few years as part of my role as a university lecturer and as someone who works in challenging and hard to reach communities with vulnerable people.

I started using personal development tools to help my students, became very interested in the whole thing and then studied for  a level 7 diploma as an accredited life coach.

I have worked in the media industry for 30 years and during that time I have written a lot of stuff. My coaching programme Write Your Life revolves around writing!

 

I love my Best Self weekly action plan!
Slightly obsessed with my Best Self Journal!
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I LOVE the products from www.bestself.co they really do help me stay on track and give my productivity levels a much needed kick up the arse!

 

I have now realised (why it has taken so long is anyone’s guess!) that while I have been panicking and putting myself under pressure to write the damn book-I have actually been writing it anyway. The words are already there-they just need a bit of organising and sorting out. I have more than enough material to well and truly finish two books this year.

I feel slightly cheated that I haven’t taken time to stop and realise this before now! I have been so focused on the end game, that everything that has been happening in between has been largely ignored.

When I coach clients-individually or in groups-I am always keen to remind them that the goal is important but so is the journey and that we MUST celebrate every single step-no matter how small we think that step is. All those small steps make a BIG difference and if we don’t celebrate them all and acknowledge we are making progress then we will just arrive relieved and exhausted rather than energised and lifted.

So…if you are setting goals then please do carry in doing that but make sure that you know WHAT is going on WHEN with each step of the process. I am off to listen to my own advice and finish those books….coming soon to all good bookshops!

Everyone can set a goal-and make progress

I have the best job in the world because my working day and week involves helping all sorts of very different people to clear their lives of the clutter and encourage them to set exciting and ambitious  goals.

Since qualifying as a Practitioner of Life Coaching I have seen some amazing transformations take place. People I have worked with have gone on to do the following things:

Train and seek work as a voice over artist

Change their work/life balance

Be honest about the kind of relationship they want and then go out and get one!

Return to education

Fullfil a life long ambition to paint, draw and take photographs

Apply for and get their dream job

I am also working with a group of young women who face daily challenges in their lives around addiction, domestic violence and anxiety. Many of these woman have children being cared for by other people because their lives are so chaotic. These remarkable young women all have plans for the future, they all want a better life for themselves and their families and together we are setting lots of SMART goals to help them get there.It won’t happen overnight but it WILL happen and over the last three weeks they have already started to benefit from taking part in our weekly coaching workshops.

As well as reaching personal goals, everyone I work with starts to write. I provide every client with a journal and their mission is to write in it everyday-or draw or doodle. They write how they feel about their lives, what they want to change and how they plan to do it. Only three percent of us actually bother to spend time writing our goals down. We are a very successful three per cent!

So as we reach the half way point of the first month of 2018 how are your goals looking for this year? I truly believe that if you don’t write your goals down they will simply remain as ideas, hopes and dreams-all of those things are great and a really good starting point for change but why not make this year the year you ACTION those ideas and MAKE them happen?

Grab a notebook and a pen and get writing.

For free tips and advice email me hello@sarahadams.me.uk 

 

 

 

Are you making plans for 2018?

As we hurtle towards the end of the year it is time to take stock and reflect on how our year has been. For many of us it will have been a ‘mixed bag’ of good, bad, happy and sad events but everything that has happened to us or around us will help shape what happens to us next.

By reflecting on what we have been through and the challenges we have faced we can take great strength and comfort that we are always continuing to grow. To make changes and move forward we need to have a clear pathway but we also need to reach levels of acceptance and develop resilience so that we can face challenges head on and turn them to our advantage rather than our disadvantage.

Many of the clients I am working with at the moment face daily challenges. They are rehabilitating from drug or alcohol addiction or from a life of crime and prison sentences. They are all doing well but their lives are hard. Many are full of regret, shame and fear for what will happen to them next. It is very difficult for them to see any of their challenges as positive but they are ALL doing really well as they work through the Write Your Life programme. Despite some initial resistance to the workshops they are embracing the idea of writing daily journals and creating mind maps and visions boards to help them focus on the future and give them impetus and  motivation to keep moving forward. They are all setting goals for next year and beyond and I truly believe that with the support of the coaching they are all getting and by believing in themselves, they WILL achieve great things-we all have the capacity to make changes but we have to clear the clutter, define our goals and then believe in ourselves that we CAN do it.

My big goal for 2018 is to write the book of the Write Your Life coaching programme and create an online course to go with it. This way I can reach more people and help them to move forward with their lives by using the power and impact of writing, journaling and creativity.

So…there are my goals so far…get in touch and tell  me yours.

Email me: hello@sarahadams.me.uk

 

Embrace the fruits of autumn and declutter your life

Autumn has definitely arrived-tomorrow is Halloween, followed swiftly by bonfire night and before we know it, Christmas will be just around the corner.

This morning, here in Oxfordshire, we had our first frost of the season. My garden is still looking gorgeous with the last remaining blooms reaching out to enjoy a cold but blue sky day-it is day when we should all be glad to be alive and be out there taking in the air and enjoying a crisp autumnal walk-once this has been posted that is just what I will be doing!

 

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I love autumn-I see it as a season of celebration. Quite apart from the bountiful fruits and vegetables that we are still enjoying, if the weather is bright and dry then surely we should see this as a positive. This morning I caught up with a friend-we both spotted a rambling rose bush that was still in flower with an abundance of gorgeous vintage pink blooms-it looked stunning against the blue sky as the sunshine bounced off its slightly crisp petals.

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This was a visual treat and one that once the wet and cold of November kicks in will be a distant memory so I savoured it and enjoyed it in all its glory. My friend had another take on this and sighed-saying what a shame that summer was over and that soon there will be no flowers left until springtime. She saw this in a completely different way to me. While I saw the roses as a positive and uplifting seasonal punctuation to my morning, my friend saw it as a loss, a regret and something that made her feel low and lacking.

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Autumn can be seen as the season that rids us of summer rather than the season that allows us to enjoy the final days of brightness before enjoying a period of rest and recuperation ready for spring. Nature is edging into a period of dormancy and consolidation and it is time for us to do that too. Rather than see this time of year as  negative, we should take our lead from nature and conserve our energies and remove anything from our lives that will not serve us well in the future.

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Self limiting beliefs can start to kick in more as the year progresses. We often feel tired, perhaps dread the cold and starkness that winter can represent and find it hard to deal with fewer daylight hours.

Instead of focusing on the perceived negatives of the season, grab your journal and write about the colours, the crispness and all that we have to be grateful for this autumn. Find joy in small pleasures-wrapping up in your favourite scarf or investing in some bright jewel-coloured knitwear, maybe treating your hands with a new luxurious hand cream or getting out and taking advantage of autumn light to take some fabulous photos. Take your coffee or hot chocolate or tea outside-wrap up warm and sit in the sunshine while you enjoy your warming beverage.

Stock up on logs for your woodburner, create delicious warming recipes and fill your home with candles, sumptuous blankets and throws and comfy cushions. Catch up on your reading and writing-and declutter!

Clearing your cupboards and drawers at this time of year is the ultimate therapy and clears the way for positive change in your life by giving you clarity and a new pathway to plan your goals for the coming months. So grab your notebook and start planning!

Set some short term goals, go through the process of decluttering and embrace all that autumn has to offer.

Write.Believe.Receive.Repeat!

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Love your lists and Write Your Life!

Are you a list lover? Do you have lists of lists or maybe even books of lists of lists? Personally, I am a bit of a fiend for a list! I love bullet points, ticks, different coloured pens, the odd doodle here and there and I REALLY love a mind map!

 

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Just the thrill of making a list excites me-a clean sheet of paper or a beautiful new notebook and the perfect pen-what’s NOT to love! And as for the ticking off process-oh happy days! I remember a time when life was pretty tiresome for one reason or another and I was struggling just to get through the basic tasks of the day. Someone said to me “make a short list of simple tasks and try and complete one each day-you will feel much better.” Well it worked and now I use lists for all sorts of things but mostly for setting goals and personal development planning.

 

This week I have been working with a client who has hit a situation of list overwhelm. Although she also sees the huge benefits associated with list making and planning to set achievable goals, she has found that her lists are actually causing her stress rather than giving her clarity.

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There are various reasons for this happening, one is connected with distraction, one with procrastination and another with hero syndrome. Sometimes when we are faced with challenging situations rather than grab life by the balls and deal with it, we don’t. Instead we find a million reasons to delay, distract, detract and deflect whatever it is that we really need to deal with.

This particular client has some big decisions to make around her career and job choices-she knows this because this is the very reason that she came to see me in the first place and signed up for some coaching. BUT-instead of applying herself to this she decided to make a long, complex list of things she must do-many of which actually related to things that don’t require any attention right now and one or two that are actually not her goals at all but someone else’s! As well as distracting herself from the real business of the day, my client is experiencing a bit of hero syndrome and feels responsible for sorting out things that actually are not her business.

This pathway is exhausting and will not help her to plan effectively for her goals. She is excited about making changes but has gone away this week to do a lot of decluttering and defining so that she can get back to using list making as a really useful part of the Write Your Life programme.

 

Are you a list maker? Would you like to know more about how you can use writing to change your life? Email me hello@sarahadams.me.uk for some free tips and to sign up to my monthly newsletter.

 

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I can feel an idea coming on…

If you are anything like me (and I suspect you might be) you probably go through phases of having many, many ideas for ‘things’ you would like to do. Now, I am not talking leisure pursuits here (although they are good things to do anyway) I am talking about career development or business ideas.

Having lots of ideas is great-it shows that you have energy, dynamism, imagination, creativity and a desire for change, all of which are excellent character traits that will serve you well on your personal development journey. But-what happens when you find yourself in overwhelm or overload mode?

Often, when life is not quite working out the way we would like it to, we become very good at distracting ourselves from whatever the difficulty is. We do this by basically ignoring it, hoping that it will go away, and while we are pushing that particular challenge away we start to focus on something else-something new and exciting that will effectively distract us from the challenge that needs to be dealt with.

This challenge quickly grows a trunk and large ears and becomes the elephant in the room of your progress. It will sit there patiently day in and day out-waiting for you to acknowledge it and deal with it.

Here’s the thing about elephants-they are pretty massive and they can’t be hidden for ever.

The way I work with clients who come to me for personal development coaching is to tackle the clutter first and to do that we have to talk about what that clutter looks like. The clutter is the elephant in the room-whether you label it as a challenge, an issue, a difficulty or a massive pile of steaming crap-it is my friends undeniably clutter that will do a great job of stopping you from moving forward.

Trying to plot a positive path through life, setting goals along the way that will help you to achieve amazing things will NOT work if you do not deal with the clutter first-and all those brilliant ideas and notions that you keep having are just doing their best to divert your attention from what REALLY needs to be dealt with.

So the message today is this-continue to have your amazing ideas and write them down in your journal-then park them. Park them for as long as it takes you to de clutter whatever areas of your life need the most attention.

Here are three areas of your life for you to look at a decide if they need decluttering:

Physical decluttering-your home/office/car/handbag/briefcase-if you are surrounded by stuff you don’t need but are just hanging on to then it will drag you down and black your progress. Take one area at a time and tackle it.

Emotional decluttering-how is your self-belief system? Do you have doubts about your ability to change your life? Write down how you feel about the changes you want to make and identify any negative thoughts-then de clutter those thoughts and move on.

Friendships/relationships/colleagues: Negative people will drag you down-I am not suggesting you actually get rid of people in your life (although some of my clients have decided to end relationships and friendships) that is up to you, but if the people around you are not supporting you then acknowledge that and find people who will.

Having ideas is great-I have lots all the time but I have learned that the only way for me to reach my goals is to always return to de clutter mode first. Once I have clarity and can see a clear pathway forward I can pursue my new idea with vigour-make a plan and reach my goal without having to deal with any elephants blocking my way.

The first step towards personal development work is to declutter-only then can you effectively define your goals and start manifesting positive changes.

Sign up for our newsletter and Write Your Life!

I know, I know…you already get LOADS of newsletters each week ping pinging into your inbox-I expect that most of them get deleted and never see the light of day!

That begs the question-WHY on earth I am wasting my time creating yet another newsletter that in our world of digital overload we probably don’t need?

Well-the bottom line my friends is that I am a writer as well as a life coach-that’s why and how I developed the Write Your Life programme in the first place, and surely the best way to spread the news about how writing, journaling and generally getting your creative groove on can help transform your life-is to write about it!

Far from being my side hustle-I have been writing for 30 years-it’s the life coaching that has come along as a result of it and changed my life so it’s only fair that I share all that with the world.

So-to encourage you to sign up and take advantage of some brilliant free tips and advice and secure a very good discount on my new e-course, I promise that my lovely (and it WILL be lovely) newsletter will be:

  • Short, enticing and exciting
  • Beautiful to look at
  • Offer truly fabulous life tips, advice and help for anyone who is stuck
  • Give my loyal readers and followers an exclusive discount on my e-course
  • Give anyone who signs up for the course a FREE email coaching session to help you get started.

So really-what’s NOT to love? If you really want to change your life, take control and set some inspiring goals then what are you actually waiting for?

Go to my contact page and get in touch and I will make sure you receive our weekly newsletter.

With love and positivity

S x