Let Knowledge Be the Food of Love

As I look out over the stunning city view of Boat Quay and the Singapore river, the Fullerton Hotel and the latest developments of the Marina Bay Sands Integrated Resorts Hotel from my office in Singapore, it's hard to believe that I have the other tropical, jungle like 'Green Life' in Bali. During my month long stay in urbanisation, I breathe a sigh of relief while residing on the 10th floor of a hermetically sealed, air conditioned office which is bug, reptile and vermin free. I don't have to deal with snakes, rats, mice, frogs, termites, pre-historic looking insects whose trajectory just happens to coincide with mine, nor the latest outbreak of moths come to devour our clothes. Fed up with the sight of all my daughters wearing grungy tee-shirts with holes like emmental cheese, I've swapped them for brand new tee-shirts that for now will stay fresh looking in Singapore and yet will eventually take on a grey, off-white appearance when they return to their rural existence in Bali.

I'm loving this sense of urbanised security where I know that we'll all scrub up clean, I won't be surprised by  unfamiliar tropical creatures, power cuts or intermittent internet where the signal comes and goes as if it's dependent on the wind (which it most probably is).  When I have moments of comfort and pleasure like this, I wonder what possessed us to move to Bali in the first place, and yet I know it has been one of the best learning experiences we have ever had. After 9 years of living in in Singapore, I became very comfortable with my lifestyle, so much so that I took its efficiency for granted. The antithesis of Singapore, Bali has given me the new found expereince of taking nothing for granted, dealing with the unexpected and being flexible when things don't go according to plan. Bali has taught me that you never stop learning. We are all still 'green' and there is always new knowledge and wisdom to discover. It's often when things go wrong or not as you had planned, when you learn the most.

Continuing the theme of new knowledge, our Indonesian team assistant gave me a wonderful Christmas gift. She gave me a wooden sculpture, hand made by the gifted, local Balinese craftsmen. The sculpture was of Saraswati, the Goddess of Knowledge and Arts. What a perfect gift.  My assistant knows my voracious appetite for reading topics on personal development, knowledge and wisdom. She puts up with my moaning, sighing and somewhat impatient incredulity when peculiar things happen such as the vanishing snake catcher, who six weeks after the first sighting of a snake has still not turned up at our home, versus a 10 minute wait for 6 men in a van when a 12 inch, harmless snake was first spotted in our garden in Singapore!  Perhaps the snake catcher has had an unfortunate accident in the course of his work. There's also the peculiar situation where our internet provider can not understand why for the last couple of months our connection comes and goes and we have to go slow for 20 or 30 minutes in our working day, while we wait for the connection to come back to us again. Will we ever get to the bottom of this?  I do not know. Maybe a miracle will happen. Our assistant stays remarkably calm and it's as if she knows that I will eventually learn from all these happenings.

Saraswati has four hands representing four aspects of human personality in learning:-

• Mind
• Intellect
• Alertness
• Ego

Saraswati holds sacred scriptures in one hand, a lotus the symbol of true knowledge in the other and with her two other hands she plays the music of love and life on a string instrument called the veena. I'm beginning to wonder whether my helpful and knowing assistant is Saraswati herself!

Adding to Shakespeare's words 'Let music [and knowledge] be the food of love'. We are never too old to stop learning. No matter what happens to you, whether good or not so good, accept the flow of wisdom and knowledge you gain and continue to grow as a person.

As my eldest daughter's (currently clean) tee shirt says:-
"Don't let today's disappointments cast a shadow on tomorrow's dreams."

Merry Christmas and have a NoLimits 2011!

Janet

The Snakes and Ladders of Life

Life can sometimes feel like a game of snakes and ladders.  One moment, life is looking good and it feels like you are making progress up the ladder. The next moment, it can feel like you’ve come hurtling down a slippery snake and gone back quite a few paces. Just when I was thinking that the Bali wildlife of rats, mice, lizards, beetles, cockroaches, ants and pesky mosquitoes didn’t faze me anymore, snakes of different shapes, sizes and colours have turned up at our home. Over the last couple of weeks, there have been eight sightings of different snakes, from babies to adults and poisonous to non-poisonous varieties. I was most alarmed when my five year old daughter told me that she saw a baby snake reading one of her books in her bedroom and that she and our Balinese helper killed a long, green poisonous snake in our garden as if it were merely an everyday occurrence!

We've also witnessed a death in the family - Buddy Bird, a baby, who was rescued from drowning himself in the pond. Instead he gently passed away in a make do nest built by my daughters out of a cardboard box and a bed out of cotton wool. We looked up on the internet how to feed him and made some bird food out of egg and bread which he seemed to enjoy very much. We left him in the capable hands of our eldest daughter and her friend, while we braced the Bali traffic and did some errands at the weekend. By the time we got back he was pronounced dead. He died of severe haemorrhaging and we think our Bali cat, Mango, may have had something to do with his ailing condition. When I asked my daughter and her friend if they had buried Buddy, their response was 'no'.  They had thrown him in the river and if he hasn't been eaten by a snake or some other wild Bali resident, his corpse will be floating in the sea by now. He had exceptionally long legs, so must have been some type of wading bird and being thrown in the water was most probably the best way to go. Our girls bemoaned the fact that he only had a short life, although they understood he was now out of pain and they learned the life lesson, how precious life is.

Apart from the customary power cut and internet failure, I discovered that even though I have plans A, B, C, D and E and 6 staff in Bali who work at our villa and for our company NoLimits, I have no staff to cover me next week when it is both a Muslim and Hindu holiday in Bali and I have a workshop to run in Singapore where there are no public holidays during this time. I was told that maybe I need a Christian house staff member so that I'm covered for all eventualities! The joys of running a company in Singapore and living in Bali. My patience was finally tested when my 3 girls were sent home from school with hand, foot and mouth disease. Because next week is a long holiday, they will be off for 9 days before going back to school!  Oh the joys of being Mum and juggling work responsibilities! As leadership guru John Maxwell says:-

“You don’t overcome challenges by making them smaller. You overcome them by making yourself bigger.”

Even though we have experienced quite a few snakes recently, there have been ladders too. My daughters and I had a wonderful sleepover with a friend and her 3 daughters in Ubud - we had a memorable girls’ weekend and our children learned how to do Batik painting. My friend is a fellow Brit, she recently moved from Singapore to Bali with her husband and family, and we can joke about all our ‘snakes and ladders’ in the usual British self-deprecating manner. We happily talked non-stop until 2am Friday night / Saturday morning! I've learned that in spite of my attempt for order, structure, and contingency planning, things don't always go according to plan. Sometimes it's a case of simply finding an alternative ‘ladder’ to reach our outcomes.

Another 'ladder' has been watching the TED Video on the Green School by visionary founder John Hardy. I'm proud that our girls are experiencing the Green School, a once in a life time opportunity for them and a wonderful, creative way to learn. We've met some fascinating people who have broken the traditional corporate ‘ladder’ approach and are travelling through Bali on their world trips, have taken time out for their children to experience the Green School or have innovatively set up their own businesses either in or outside Bali. I was fortunate enough to be working with a young group of ‘techies’ in Singapore this week, who seemed to think I was 'cool' by living in Bali and running a business in Singapore. A great compliment for a middle aged woman who is old enough to be their Mum!

I have learned from the sad demise of Buddy Bird, life is too short to get stressed about snakes, no internet, not having enough staff to cover public holidays. As perfect timing to my 'what could go wrong next?' thoughts, I came across a quote that inspired me:-

"Make each day your masterpiece."
John Wooden, American Basketball Coach

Make something a masterpiece in each of your days and you’ll easily overcome challenes by being bigger than those snakes.

Janet

Click on the following link to hear John Hardy talk about the Green School:-
john_hardy_my_green_school_dream

Prioritising and Balancing What is Important

Living in Bali gives me many unexpected surprises, which on reflection are usually quite humbling and remind me to respect what is important in life, not only for myself but for others too.  Over a period of four successive days, I experienced a 3 hour power cut when I was about to cook lunch; the next day no gas when I wanted to cook dinner; the day after that no water when it was time for my children to have a shower; and on the fourth day no internet when I had arranged a skype coaching session! I have to admit that by the fourth day, I was starting to get impatient, but I did find ways around these challenges and realised that on reflection these little things that can easily irk us are not important when it comes to the bigger picture of living life. When people say, 'One day, I'll laugh about this', why not laugh now?

What I do enjoy about living in Bali is the complete contrast of the everyday situations I deal with, compared to working in the modern world of commercialisation, technology and business. In my work, I find myself talking strategies about where organisations and their people want to be and then I return to my home in Bali I find myself talking strategies with the house staff about how to prevent snakes from entering our home. Apparently a snake was spotted slithering along the wall that is the boundary to our home. To prevent the snake from returning again, I was asked if I can make a monthly contribution to the Balinese offerings that will be placed in our home on a daily basis. The irony is that, in my world, these little square palm leaf trays containing flowers, incense, rice and small cookies will surely attract the snakes and vermin. It's like putting out a snack for these animals to feast on.  In the Balinese world, these offerings will placate the mischievous demons and express gratitude to the good spirits so that harmony in life can be maintained. To add to this, we now have an offering placed on our cooker every evening, as the cooker unexpectedly stopped working for a few moments one day. I thought it may have been to do with the loose gas connection from the gas cylinder to the cooker, while to our Balinese staff it was the sign of a demon.  I can't help but wonder if the rats and mice who pop down from the rice fields have a party every night on our cooker, but I know the offerings are important to our house staff so I respect them and willingly give my contribution to keep the spirits and demons happy.

These type of humbling situations in Bali remind me about recognising what is important in our lives. What is important to you?  Do you prioritise and balance what is important or do you let life go by without giving it much thought? Do you get caught up in the trappings of trivia, 'busyness' and nagging emotions whirling around in your head, rather than focus on what is really important?  Recently, I ran an Effective Planning and Organising workshop with a group of 25-35 year old IT Consultants. You'd think that technology offers them more than enough planning and organising tools and yet they were missing the vital ingredient that makes our planning and organising most effective. They hadn't stopped to think about what was important. They were too caught up feeling important with all the urgent stuff that they had to deal with, to the extent that they hadn't planned the most important goals in their jobs. You can have all the latest technologically advanced planners and organisers available at your disposal, but if you don't spend some time at least reflecting on what is important, how can you plan, let alone balance your priorities?

I asked this group of IT Consultants, "When you retire what will you tell your grandchildren you did?" A good question to ask yourself too. These consultants didn't have their own children so stretching them to think of grandchildren was quite a challenge for them. This question, however, turned out to be the most poignant for them. They were so caught up with dealing in the here and now, they hadn't given themselves the time to think about what were their important goals to achieve both in their work and life. They were so busy doing, they weren't being. One of the participants confessed that she had no social or family life because she put everything into her job. A job is of course important and it's equally critical to prioritise what else is important so that you can live a balanced life.

In ten years time, how will you remember this year? Will it be the number of emails you sent, the phone calls you made, the number of meetings you attended or how busy you were? Make time to plan and prioritise what is important and take the time to understand / respect what is important to others.

Management guru Stephen Covey (who is a grandfather to 52 children!), tells a story of two men chopping wood. The one man worked hard all day and took no breaks. The other chopper took several breaks during the day and had time to have a nap after lunch.  The chopper who took no breaks was disturbed to see that at the end of the day, the chopper who took breaks had cut more wood than what he had. "How did you chop more wood than me?" asked the chopper who took no breaks.  His companion said "When I took a break, I was sharpening my axe."

What are you doing to sharpen your axe? Make sure you plan what is important. As Stephen Covey says:-

"If the ladder is not leaning against the right wall, every step we take just gets us to the wrong place faster."

Janet

To find out more about our NoLimits Planning and Prioritising workshops contact Sandra Lai on +65 6232 2466 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting              +65 6232 2466      end_of_the_skype_highlighting or email sandralai@nolimitsasia.com

Breaking the Rules

The theme for me over the last week has been about 'Breaking the Rules.'  A note of caution here, I do not mean breaking the law, I am referring to how good it feels when we sometimes go against the rules of convention, tradition and protocol. Having returned from a week long trip in Hong Kong, where I was running two consecutive workshops and which is a favourite NoLimits programme of mine, 'Presenting for Leaders', it brought back memories and nostalgia of the days when I used to live there. There is something about the pace, buzz and sheer rudeness of the taxi drivers and some of the people in Hong Kong that I find captivating, thrilling and unconventional.  

My first reminder of the unconventional was when I jumped in a taxi to drive me to my hotel. I immediately sensed there was no time for pleasantries when I didn't get a response to my polite, 'pleased to meet you' hello. Many taxi drivers in Hong Kong do not speak English, so I was already equipped with a print out of the hotel address and its location. Using sign language, which consisted of the taxi driver grunting with a firm nod, we both knew where we stood. In no time at all we were on our way. We sped off, as if we were going to race the Formula One circuit, tyres burning, engine screeching, as I and my hand luggage were flung across the back seat of the taxi and I clung onto my seatbelt, desperately trying to fasten it. It was if we had no time to lose at all.

Although Hong Kong is Chinese in so many ways, such as the towering concrete blocks, unconventionally built in an ad-hoc fashion, with their characteristic poles hanging out washing like flags saluting the city; the seemingly rude behaviours where people push in (rules about queuing are virtually non-existent and even when there are attempted planned queues, people still push in); as well as their direct bargaining approach, where you are left wondering whether you did get a good price; it does have some 'homely' and 'conventional' characteristics for me that date back to its British colonial days. The buses, for example, are double-deckers and the fire engines look just like the British ones. It made me smile when one of the Hong Kong participants on my workshop told me that she spent her honeymoon in the main cities of Europe and particularly liked London because the double-decker buses reminded her of 'home.'

The old fashioned Hong Kong tram brought back memories of Europe, until the taxi driver decided to break tradition and beat the congested traffic jam by driving along the tram lines! It felt like being in one of those action packed, car chase movies, where we would do anything to get ahead.

The two storey colonial buildings that nestle at the feet of the ultra-modern, tall, gleaming and architecturally exquisite masterpieces against the dramatic backdrop of the tree covered mountains, demonstrate how the untraditional can mix with the traditional. The rules of keeping the 'old' with the 'old' and the 'new' with the 'new' have refreshingly been broken and can similarly be applied with the way in which we manage our work and life.


While running our NoLimits' 'Presenting for Leaders' programme, I encouraged participants to 'break the rules' of their traditional Powerpoint presentations and stand out from the crowd by using visuals with few words, pictures and no bullet points. I also encouraged them to use metaphors and stories to present their key messages with clarity, impact and confidence. Just because your boss and colleagues use a deck of 68 slides with enough data and words to sink a battle ship, doesn't mean that you have to do this too.

As the great inventor, Thomas Edison said:-

"There are no rules here, we are trying to accomplish something."

Sometimes it's good to break the rules to accomplish what we want and to help us get to our destination quicker, just like the Hong Kong taxi drivers did with me!

Janet

Find out more about 'breaking the rules' of the conventional PowerPoint presentations and how to stand out from the crowd by contacting Sandra Lai on sandralai@nolimitsasia.com

The Answer Lies in the Question

While flying back from Singapore to Bali, I was looking forward to some 'down time' and using my anonymity to not have to talk to anyone. Do you ever have those moments when you just want to veg out? (Wasn't sure if all my readers would understand what 'veg out' means - apparently it is to relax in a slothful and mindless manner and this is exactly how I would depict my feelings at this time). I wanted to see the end of the film that I started watching on the way to Singapore, so was quite happy to be on my own. My seat was at the end of a row of three and next to two Asian men. As we were waiting to take off, the more senior man in the middle seat started talking to me. As much as I wanted to switch off, after three days of meetings, training and coaching in Singapore, I couldn't be impolite and ignore him. It turned out that these two men were on their way back home to Bali. The younger one was 25 years old and had been looking for a job in telecommunications in Singapore where he could improve his English skills. His ultimate career ambition was to work in the USA. He had been working in telecommunications for four years in Bali and had only spoken Indonesian.  The challenge for him in Singapore was that he couldn't speak enough English to get a job and then be able to improve his English.

Have you ever come across the situation where you want to do something, but you don't have enough of whatever you need to be able to get what you want? I empathised with this young Balinese man. I experienced it early on in my career and since then, when I didn't have enough experience to do what I wanted to do, but how could I get experience when I didn't have enough experience in the first place?! I have met and coached many people in similar situations whether they are starting out in their careers or wanting to make a transition into something else. How do you get the experience without having the experience in the first place?  The answer lies in the question.

The older man asked me many questions such as the usual interrogation applicable to a foreigner, 'Where are you from, What do you do, Where do you live etc'.  As part of this questioning process he discovered that I work from both Bali and Singapore.  He then proceeded to ask me the direct question, "Could my friend work with you?  He can improve his English and do whatever you need him to do." As I momentarily paused to respond he added: "He can work for you for free for 3 months, so he can improve his English." The young man looked at me hopefully, his brown eyes asking for me to give him a chance, although I wasn't sure how much he understood that his friend had just committed him to working for free. Inspite of being surprised by the direct question, I admired the older man for doing what he could to help and guide the younger guy and the young man who was willing to do anything (even work for free) to improve his English. I have an enormous amount of respect and time for people who have an attitude where they will do whatever they can to learn a new skill, or do what they have to do to get where they want to get.  People like this will not let obstacles, limitations or hurdles get in their way. Knowing that I could make it possible for this young man to learn English, I was happy to hand over my business card and tell him to contact me.

The next day I received a prompt email response from the 25 year old which he had obviously written all by himself. It made me smile that he wanted to 'learn speak English on the busyness sidelines' and if I wasn't too busy he wanted to 'play while helping me at my home in Bali'!  Apparently, this is a direct translation from Indonesian which means that he would like to visit me. He apologised profusely for disturbing me and sincerely appreciated that I had shown an interest in helping him. As a result he now has an interview with my Balinese team leader to see if she can find an appropriate role for this willing individual in the team - as we have so much to do and he is offering his services for free, I am sure he will be able to help out.

In life, if you don't ask you don't get. If something is not working the way you want it to, ask yourself  'What can I do to make things work?, What do I need? How can I get it?'. What empowering questions can you ask yourself or others to get the results you are looking for? 

When asking others, throw away all concerns about making a fool of yourself. As the Chinese proverb says:-

"He who asks is a fool for five minutes, but he who does not ask remains a fool forever."

In your work and personal life too as Jack Canfield says:-

"If you are not moving closer to what you want in sales (or in life), you probably aren't doing enough asking."

My 5 year old daughter informed me that we have one mouth and two ears, so that we do less talking and listen more. Remember to ask and listen more. The answer lies in the question.

Janet

Find out more about how to ask the right questions by attending our next Coaching for Leaders programme. Contact Sandra Lai on +65 6232 2466 or email sandralai@nolimitsasia.com

Being Mum

The last week has been an interesting one, juggling some work and mainly being Mum / Head Entertainment Organiser for my 3 daughters who had their half term week break from the Green School.  My husband happened to be in Singapore and Hong Kong (sometimes I think he feels outnumbered by us girls - even our pets are all girls), so it was up to me and my girls to entertain ourselves in Bali.

By the beginning of the week, I had already organised 2 sleep-overs and a  couple of playdates at our place and was feeling quite exhausted from the fear of children knocking themselves out by precariously swinging from the tree and divebombing into the pool and chasing themselves around the house playing tag as they slid and slipped across the wet tiles with our two Bali dogs excitedly barking and running close on the heals of the children. My biggest fear was not so much the children cutting their heads open on the slippery stone and tiles, but where on earth would I take them to in a place like Bali.  I knew my route so well to Accident and Emergency in Singapore, I could have done it blindfolded but I've heard the standard of healthcare in Bali is a far cry from Singapore, so rather than worry about something that is more likely to happen if I did think about it, I decided to turn my attention to everything turning out ok, which it fortunately did!

Being Mum, also requires for some unknown reason, dealing with the pets that the children claim to own. It was early morning, the girls had eaten their breakfast and were quietly occupying themselves. Even though I was dressed in my gym gear (including wearing my anonymous cap and sunglasses) I didn't feel like going for my usual walk/jog with the dogs so I decided to do some skipping instead. My peace was shortlived, when the two dogs who happen to be sisters started bickering at one another.  As the volume of their screeching became louder and louder, I had no choice but to intervene, trying to split the dogs apart with my skipping rope. All I could see was our black dog, Midnight, seemingly mauling our cream coloured dog - Cream- by the scruff of her neck, so much so her white fur had turned pink from blood.
My immediate reaction was to shout and scream, which only heightened the noise and created even more havoc. Hearing the din, my two Balinese house staff came running to help me out, so now I also had two people who didn't understand me as well. We reverted to sign language and then I noticed that Midnight's teeth had got caught up in Cream's metal choker collar. Cream was suffocating as Midnight tried to pull away and Midnight's mouth was full of blood from her teeth being stuck in the chain. I wanted to faint at the sight and smell of blood. In spite of being brought up as a butcher's daughter and taking pigs tails and cows eyes to school, so that all the other children would be in awe of me, I become quite pathetic at the sight and smell of blood. By now there was blood everywhere as I tried to hold the frantic dogs together and tried to think of a way to untangle them.  Strangely enough my children, had vanished from the scene of carnage.

"Pliers," I shouted to the staff trying to demonstrate that we needed to cut the collars in order to free the dogs. The wife ran off in a frenzy and quickly brought back a pair of the smallest scissors I have ever seen!

"No, no bigger," I exclaimed as I tried to demonstrate 'big' by holding out my chest, while desperately clinging onto the dogs, the one going beserk in pain and the other almost dying from suffocation. The wife ran off again and came back with a pair of huge shears that were so heavy that her petit frame could hardly lift them! There was no way I was going to slip these shears under the dog's collar that was already so tight it was choking her to death. 

As we struggled to keep ourselves and the frantic dogs from falling into the goldfish pond, my driver turned up for work. He casually looked at us, smiled, spoke some Indonsian to the husband and wife and walked off! He re-appeared after about 5 minutes with a pair of pliers.  Oh thank god, even though my driver's English is limited to "Raining today" or "Sunny today", he had the common sense to realise that we needed a pair of pliers. As he approached the dogs with the pair of pliers, they both jumped up and magically released themselves from the tangle that they had got themselves into. When I asked the girls what had happened to them, they said they were too scared to help! This whole little episode seemed to wear me out for the rest of the day. Luckily in the afternoon, we had the good fortune to pop over to a beach destination in Bali called Sanur. We met up with my 10 year old's teacher who also used to be her teacher in Singapore and we had a lovely, relaxed afternoon looking out onto the beach and calm, blue turquoise sea.

The next day I was determined to have a good time, so we drove up to Ubud to do some Christmas shopping (living away from the UK, I have to be organised when sending back presents for Christmas). I had a romantic idea of my 3 daughters and me merrily walking the streets, admiring the little boutique shops and happily buying presents. We arrived and parked in Ubud at 11.15am, five minutes later my 5 year old started complaining about how far she had walked in the heat. The sun was beating down and the pavements in Ubud are pot-holed, broken and totally uneven, so it was like climbing a series of mini mountains for my youngest daughter. My two older girls started to complain too and wanted to stop for lunch. So we stopped for early lunch at 11.30am and abandoned our early Christmas shopping plans. Fortunately we were in Ubud for another reason, where I could kick 'Plan B' into action and after a surprisingly enjoyable, complaint free lunch, we drove off to find our friends who also used to live in Singapore and now lived just outside Ubud.  My friend, Louise, told me that we should drive straight, pass the big temple and we would easily see the sign for their place. She failed to tell me how many temples there were before we got to the big temple!  In Bali every house has a temple and they are of all shapes and sizes. To add to this conundrum, there seemed to be many temples along the road that all looked fairly big. Every corner we turned we thought we had hit the big temple only to find yet another temple along the road. I never realised Bali had so many temples until I started looking for one big temple.

It was like trying to spot the odd one out in a Balinese procession!

As we kept on passing yet another temple, my driver very kindly pointed out to me "Many temples, Ms Janet." We continued driving and my instinct told me that we would soon bump into this big temple. I wasn't sure how big it would be, but somehow it would stand out, maybe like the Eiffel Tower, although the further along the road we drove, the more rural it seemed to get.
Suddenly we saw a different coloured temple that was made of dark grey marble which had a sign with gold engraving on it. We had made it and shortly afterwards saw Louise's daughter waiting out on the road for us. We had a great time with Louise and her girls at her villa, so it was well worth observing the number of temples that do exist along a short stretch of road in Bali.

Finally, at the end of an entertaining week, after putting my tired girls to bed, I started to switch off all the lights downstairs when I noticed the cat and dogs on high alert. The dogs were barking at something in the kitchen and the cat was in her 'ready, aim, pounce' position. Curiously, I leaned forward to see what was going on and was startled to see a medium sized rat (or extra large mouse), with one very long tail, squealing and sitting up on its back legs as it perched on our kitchen stool! In the dim light, the shadow of the rat almost looked cute, like a squirrel without a bushy tail. I quickly came to my senses and reminded myself that this was not another pet in our household, but unwanted vermin that was hanging around my kitchen. For a short moment, I wondered whether I should search the house for a large spade and attempt to kill this unwelcome visitor. Instead, I decided to leave them all to it and just retired to my bedroom exhausted and hoping that the rat wouldn't look for solace where I was!

Although I could have easily filled my time with work, I was glad I made the time to be 'Mum' and value the adventures, memories and life's lessons that my girls and I experienced together during their half term.

As the wonderful and wise French novelist, Honore de Balzac quoted:

"A mother's happiness is like a beacon, lighting up the future, but reflected also on the past in the guise of fond memories."

Being 'Mum', although exhausting at times, has rewards that far outweigh being anybody else and brings lots of happiness.

Janet

For information about NoLimits personal and professional development, coaching and recruitment services, contact www.nolimitsasia.com info@nolimitsasia.com +65 6232 2466

The Gods Are On My Side!

 

After being immobilised by a mass of Balinese worshippers, luck seems to have been on my side. Either these kind people put a good word in for a harassed looking ex-patriate woman, noticing that I desperately needed help or it could have been to do with my visit to the Goa Gajah in Ubud, alternatively known as Elephant Cave which is thought to have been a hermitage for eleventh-century Hindu priests. Maybe the spirit of an eleventh-century priest took pity on me? Who knows? Whoever or whatever caused this fortunate intervention in my life, has given me hope that no matter what obstacles or challenges may present themselves, we can be grateful for what we do have and be even more grateful when things do go our way.

My first stroke of luck was by booking a KLM flight to Singapore (they are currently offering a great deal). Normally I fly back and fore on the budget airlines which, during the peak times, feels like I've jumped on an over-crowded bus that happens to fly in the air rather than drive on the ground. At times, I also feel a little ripped off, such as when I'm thirsty, I'm forced to pay US$3.00 for a bottle of water when it costs less than US$1.00 in the supermarket and I can't even take my own water on the plane due to security reasons. On the KLM flight, however, I was given water for 'free' and I didn't have to worry about scraping together enough Indonesian rupiah to pay for it! I must have been the source of amusement to other KLM passengers. I felt so privileged and excited to be in economy class, I couldn't stop smiling. I was so grateful for the headphones, the stewardess looked at me peculiarly, like I had appeared from the caveman ages. I hurriedly put on my headphones and selected a nice, romantic movie 'Letters to Juliet'. What a treat! I had no children and no husband to dictate my movie selection. A warning appeared on the screen to let me know that there wasn't enough time to watch the whole film on the flight. I didn't mind in the slightest, the thrill of having a TV screen far outweighed not being able to see the end of the film. The smell of hot bread rolls, drove my taste buds into an instant salivation delight and the prospect of selecting wine to accompany my dinner, seemed too good to be true, so I politely asked for water instead and afterwards kicked myself for not having been bold enough to ask for some wine. The spicy, stodgy noodles delivered to me were a bit of a disappointment, but I optimistically told myself that the food would be much better on my return because the food would be prepared in Singapore rather than Bali. There were mainly Europeans on the flight on their way back home from Bali via a quick stopover in Singapore. I was enjoying my experience so much I wanted to stay on board with them rather than alight in Singapore.

My second stroke of luck was the next day, when I ventured out in Singapore first thing in the morning. I was still smiling from having flown economy rather than budget, the sun was shining and I was on my way to catch up with my long standing French hairdresser Davieeeeeeed (this is how he pronounces his name David and he calls me Janeeeeeeeete which I absolutely adore and makes my knees quiver). En route, I noticed how serious the workers looked in Singapore as they marched to their offices and must admit that I missed the smiling faces of the Balinese
people. Fortunately for me, my hairdresser who usually only cuts my hair, highlighted my hair this time and we spent 3 hours having a wonderful chat comparing the pros and cons of Bali and Singapore.  In the evening I presented to a group of Swedish business professionals and was mistaken for being Swedish! My cover was broken when I couldn't respond to them in Swedish. I was flattered by this compliment and can only assume that they made this mistake because I had my hair highlighted that morning!

My third stroke of luck was on my return to Bali.  Sandra, our Office Manager in Singapore asked if I would like her to try to check in on-line for me and then she could get me a seat at the front of the plane. On the way back to Bali, it always makes sense to sit as close to the front of the plane as possible to get ahead of the long queues of people who quickly congregate and at a snail's pace make their way through the painstaking immigration process. If I can get to the front of the plane, I can cut down my queuing time by at least an hour! When I arrived at the check-in desk, the assistant attached a 'priority' label to my luggage. I thought this as rather kind of her and assumed that she had done this because the plane would be carrying on to a further destination beyond Bali. She then asked me where my return ticket to Singapore was, looked at me suspiciously and sent me over to another desk where I had to quene up again and report to an official looking man. Not being amused about having to queue once again, I pompously explained that I have a villa in Bali as well as a place in Singapore! The officials apologised and allowed me through as a frequent traveller. Rather than the free for all, rugby scrum to the plane, KLM uses a more civilised and orderly approach. They allow you on the plane according to seating order, so after Business Class, people with disabilities and parents with young families, the back of the plane goes first, followed by the middle and front of economy class. I looked at my seat number and it said '2F'. How convenient, Sandra must have placed me at the front of the plane after all. I waited for my seat number to be shouted out, but they seemed to forget about my row, so I assertively made my way forward and joined the long queue onto the plane. The Dutch cabin crew laughed and joked with me that I would eventually get a seat, even if it meant sitting on somebody's lap. I laughed and joked back that at least I would be sitting on top of the long queue.  As I walked through the Business Class section, I could see a blonde, young air stewardess handing out red and bright blue alcoholic cocktails to the passengers. While wondering what these drinks consisted of, I saw two young Asian females laughing and excitedly taking photos of themselves holding up their cocktails with glee and looking as if they had never travelled Business Class before. Well I was excited to be flying economy compared to the budget airlines. When I walked into the economy section, I panicked as the seat numbers started from number 10. I quickly doubled back against the crowd of passengers who were still wading their way down the ailes and I asked an air stewardess what had happened to my number. She sent me in the direction of Business Class!  I couldn't believe my luck, the nitpicky check-in assistant wasn't so nitpicky after all. This kind woman had given me a seat in Business Class! No wonder my baggage was given a priority label. I was treated to a first class meal of salmon and dill appetizer, garouper fish, organic carrots and new potatoes as my main meal and a blackcurrant desert. All this was delivered on porcelain plates and with a real knife and fork. I was given a vanity bag with an eye mask, toothpaste, socks and lip salve and at the end of the journey was given a quaint little porcelain, blue and white Dutch house. The toilets had anti-deodorant, handcream and facial moisturising cream - I used the whole lot and smelt absolutely wonderful which was more than could be said about my neighbour who had B.O. and snored like a fog horn. Oh well you can't win them all, but I did manage to drown out the snoring with my headphones and the fragrant smells of the lotions from the washroom created a protective ring around me which seemed to repel the smell of the guy sitting next to me. This was my first experience of KLM and a very pleasant experience it was. I was very grateful indeed and will remember to count my blessings.

'When I started counting my blessings my whole life turned around." 
Willie Nelson

Janet

Enjoy discovering how to turn your life around on our intensive 7 day NLP programme in Bali this Nov 28 - Dec 4 NoLimits NLP 
www.nolimitsasia.com  

Who is Right?

After having spent the week before last in Singapore, last week I spent the whole week in Bali. Apart from both countries being located in Asia, they are poles apart, like positive is to negative. As usual, Bali tested my urbanised, 'I'm right' ways and I learnt some lessons along the way......

We have a driver who usually takes our girls back and fore to school. For the first three days of last week he was unable to do this as his wife had taken ill, so it was over to me to drive the girls to school and pick them up again. At first it was quite a novelty driving the 40 minute ride across the Balinese countryside; through a chaotic town where it seemed more akin to being a gladiator charging into a ring, rather than driving across the busy junctions (as the traffic is endless, the only way to get across is to nudge your way through. Miraculously, the barrage of motorbike, lorry and car drivers amazingly just seem to let you through without any aggressive beeping of horns or acts of revenge!); and right through to yet more Balinese rice fields, potholes and deep into the jungle where the Green School is situated.

What's interesting about driving in Bali is that I seem to spend most of the time on the other side of the road and I barely get beyond third gear! While dicing with death, to overtake the stream of motorbikes, chugging trucks, vehicles (if you can call some of them this) that are driving at a snail's pace, as if they have all the time in the world (and they most probably do), and the odd ancient tourist bus converting most of its diesel fuel into puffs of smoke in the air, it's like virtual driving on a computer game which has unexpected obstacles that pop up from nowhere.

It was Day 3 of driving the girls back and fore to school and the novelty of pretending to be Formula One driver, Schumacher, on the Bali roads was wearing thin.  By the time I had dropped off the girls, returned home to do some work, back again to school to pick up the girls and back home, I was spending 4 hours of my day commuting and picking up / dropping off the girls!  The final straw to test my patience was when I had to drive up a bank to avoid running over a group of kneeling women who were giving offerings across the junction of a main road (you'd be arrested for causing an obstruction in other countries) and twenty minutes later, my car was suddenly immobilised when I drove into a group of worshippers who engulfed my car like a swarm of bees. As this dense mass of contented, smiling people surrounded my car while singing, creating a din with their drums and merrily ambling along the road, they showed absolutely no concern about causing a delay for me whatsoever. Initially, I felt a pang of annoyance and said to myself 'no wonder nothing gets done in this country!' Gradually, as I stood stationary with nothing else to do but look at these happy, care-free people, I couldn't help but smile. According to my map of the world, I should be able to drive along the road and get to my destination on time. According to their map of the world, it was perfectly acceptable to bring the traffic to a standstill and cause a major bout of congestion. Who was right?  Neither of us really, as there is no right answer and yet by respecting their map of the world (after all I was in their country), I was able to quickly change my perspective and avoid getting stressed about this whole situation I had found myself in.

When I returned home that evening, my attention was drawn to a frame on my wall. It says:-

"Go placidly amid the noise and the haste and remember what peace there may be in silence,
As far as possible without surrender be on good terms with all persons. Speak your truth quietly and clearly, and listen to others, even the dull and ignorant; they too have their story. Avoid loud and aggressive persons, they are vexations to the spirit. If you compare yourself to others you may become vain and bitter, for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans. Keep interested in your career however humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time. Exercise caution in your business affairs, for the world is full of trickery. But let this not blind you to what virtue there is; many persons strive for high ideals and everywhere life is full of heroism. Be yourself, especially do not feign affection. Neither be cynical about love; for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment it is as perennial as the grass. Take kindly the counsel of years gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture this strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune. But do not distress yourself with imaginings. Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness. Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself. You are the child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here. And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.
Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be; and whatever your labours and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life, keep peace with your soul. With all its shams, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be cheerful. Strive to be happy."
Max Ehrmann 1927 

What can you do more of to respect other people's map of the world? How will it cause less stress if you do?


As well as respecting other people's map of the world, these Balinese people taught me to remember to smile. As Phyllis Diller says:-

"A smile is a curve that sets everything straight."


Remember to smile and your map of the world will change for the better.


Janet
Discover more about understanding maps of the world on our intensive 7 day NLP programme in Bali this Nov 28 - Dec 4 NoLimits NLP 
www.nolimitsasia.com 

I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For

While attempting to do my early morning walk/jog (more like walk) last week, I was pursued hot on the heels by a pack of undernourished, mangy looking, yapping and some snarling Bali dogs who attempted to fight my two innocent, timid, well-fed and posh looking Bali dogs; I slid a few times on the gravel that was used as a permanent solution to fill some of the crater like pot holes (won't be long before those massive holes start re-appearing); and I received continuous accolades from the stream of passersby on their motorbikes who beeped and used the universal language of jeering as they overtook me. I wasn't sure whether this was in support of my mission of getting fit and at the same time looking great on the road, or that the jeers were in jest, but I decided to go with the former option. I had hoped to be inconspicuous by wearing dark sunglasses and a cap that I pulled down over my face, so I could hardly see anyone, but my pale white skin must have blinded them and stood out, like a flash of lightening in a dark sky!

While carrying on with my mission of getting fit, in spite of my dogs nervously jumping all over the place and nearly tripping me up on several occasions, my IPOD started playing U2's song 'I still haven't found what I'm looking For'. Quite an appropriate song really. While encountering the obstacles of simply going for a walk/jog in the Balinese countryside, I started wondering "Is this really what I'm looking for?"!

The theme of this U2 song continued when I went on a business trip to Singapore. Mid week, I ran a team development session with a CEO and her senior leaders. I ran an activity to discover their values and over half the group were looking for a better work/life balance. Not a huge surprise really when these people are working in the modern world of crackberries, emails and instant communication.  Technology was supposed to make us more efficient. Instead it's allowed us to do even more work, at any time and any place!

The priority of our values can change in order, depending on whether we feel we are obtaining what is important to us and if we compromise our values, we will feel conflict. To find what we are looking for, it's good to know what is important to us.

If we feel that our work/life balance is being compromised, it's best to do something proactive to resolve this conflict. When it comes to work/life balance, I've now learned that for me it's not a case of finishing work at 5pm. I'd rather call it work/life values, so I know what to focus on at the time. When I'm working, I choose to focus on my work and when I'm with my family I choose to be in the moment with them. As Oprah Winfrey says:-

"I've learned that you can't have everything and do everything at the same time."

If I still haven't found what I'm looking for, then I can listen to what the feedback is telling me and do something about it. What can you do so that your values are not in conflict and that you can find what you are looking for?

Janet



Establish your own work-life priorities on our intensive 7 day NLP programme in Bali this Nov 28 - Dec 4 NoLimits NLP 
www.nolimitsasia.com 

Crazy about Coconuts

Have you ever noticed if you have bought a car that suddenly the same make car appears everywhere? Or that if you have an idea, it seems to grow so that you see further connections?

After being presented with one coconut by my 10 year old daughter last week, suddenly I'm seeing coconuts everywhere! Every time we go out in the car or for a walk we see coconut trees and count how many coconuts there are and we notice the numerous coconut stalls on the sides of the road. We now have at least 8 coconuts in our kitchen lined up for consumption. My brother-in-law who is passionate about eating healthily and keeping fit and is staying with us at the moment has talked incessantly about the health benefits of coconuts. We now know how to open coconuts, have consumed gallons of coconut water (a young coconut can hold up to 1.5 litres of water), eaten the soft, gel like textured coconut flesh (very different to the hard coconut flesh in the old, shrivelled, brown coconuts), blended coconut smoothies and we add coconut oil to our cooking. My brother-in-law re-assures me that we can also use coconut oil to stop our hair going green when we use the swimming pool (a regular challenge that my family and other people with blonde hair have experienced in Bali), as a face and body oil to keep dry skin and wrinkles at bay, as a natural way to lose weight and for our energy levels to soar! It really feels like we've gone crazy about coconuts. Our Balinese staff have been so bemused at us tucking into lots of coconuts and acting as if we have struck gold when they are as common as weeds in Bali, they went home and brought us lots of free coconuts that were simply hanging from their trees.

I used to have a limited perspective about coconuts and now I have discovered a whole new world of information and experiences. It feels like I have opened a treasure chest of valuable health information about the coconut. How has all this happened? To deal with the mass of information surrounding us and avoid overloading our senses, our brains filter what is useful to us.  By focusing on coconuts, I have activated the Reticular Activating System (RAS) of the brain which sets up neural pathways for me to consciously pay attention to them. The RAS has many functions and is particularly useful when motivating ourselves to achieve our aspirations, goals and consciously focus on what we want.

Next time you have a thought, idea or goal to achieve let your RAS direct you to focus your attention. There is a caveat to be noted here, 'you have to know what you want'.  If you focus on what you don't want your RAS will filter information so that your attention is focused on this. If I don't want to be poor, my RAS will focus on this. Alternatively, if I want to be rich, the RAS will direct my attention to finding ways to do this. You can use your RAS to help you focus on your health, wealth, relationships, career, work, studies and what you want in life. If you want to focus on being a better leader, parent, partner etc your RAS will help you to focus and find ways to do this.

Visit Mark Joyner for more of his personal development brain puzzle cartoons.

In the study of Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) which is focused on how to most resourcefully use our brain / neurology, there is a saying:

"Attention goes where energy flows."

What can you do to make sure your attention is focused on what you want?

To find out more about the fascinating subject of NLP, join our next Business Leaders NLP Programme in Bali in November. http://nolimits.typepad.com/nolimitsnlp/

Life's Moments to Savour

It's not every day when your child comes home from school and presents you with a fresh coconut. My 10 year old daughter proudly announced that she had found it underneath a coconut tree at the Green School and that it was a present for me. Having been brought up in the Black Mountains of Wales, where spruce trees are more the norm, I haven't got a clue how to open a freshly fallen coconut. My only recollection of coconuts in Wales was at the funfairs I used to go to as a child, where you could win a dying goldfish in a plastic bag, attempt to eat a big candy floss that would stick to your face like a spider's web and then win an ancient, shrivelled brown hairy coconut. It used to be hard enough cracking those exotic things that came from some far away place! When my daughter presented me with this green shell, it felt like being given a box of chocolates in an unbreakable safe. Like chocolate, I adore fresh coconut, but this gigantic, green, avocado shaped nut that had another nut within it and was the weight of a cannon ball, was going to be a tough one to crack. This unexpected moment did make me chuckle though and it is definitely one to remember and remind my daughter when she gets older. There are not many international schools where your child returns home with freshly fallen coconuts and so is something else to admire about the Green School!

Another couple of moments to savour over the last week have been to do with my work.  I ran a Presenting for Leaders workshop with a group of private bankers and then a team development session using the Myers Briggs Type Indicator with a bunch of lawyers from across the Asia Pacific region. Lawyers and bankers? Not necessarily renowned as perhaps the easiest groups of people to work with (apologies for this stereotyping and if you happen to be a banker or lawyer reading this). These talented people, however, turned out to be great fun to work with, highly participative and appreciative.  From both groups I received excellent feedback which was a huge boost for my morale and I was made to feel so welcome by both groups, I instantly wanted to become a banker and lawyer!. These moments of appreciation, interested participation and good feedback are what makes me enjoy my work and life even more.

The vital ingredient to making all these moments all the more enjoyable was by me being in rapport. I could have so easily carried on looking intently at my computer when my daughter presented me with a coconut at my work desk. Instead, I consciously moved away from my computer and desk and showed an interest in what my daughter had proudly brought home for me. By doing this she felt even prouder about her coconut and this made me feel good. With the group of bankers and lawyers, the vital technique again was building rapport. It was good for me to be interested and connected with them for them to be interested in me.

As Maya Angelou said:-

"I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel."

Whether you are talking with a child, no matter what age, or with an adult no matter what age; whether they are your work colleagues, family or customers, it's how you make people feel that is most important. The best and only way to make you and them feel good is to be in rapport.

What can you do to build better rapport with others around you? You will notice that your communication instantly improves by taking some little extra time to be in rapport and you will be rewarded with good feelings / life moments to savour.
 
Janet

Discover more about the powerful techniques of how to be in rapport by joining our next 7 day NLP Leadership Programme NoLimits NLP

For more information about NoLimits personal and professional development, coaching and recruitment services, contact info@nolimitsasia.com +65 6232 2466

Let It Be

It's been a year since we moved our family home to Bali while running our personal and professional development business, NoLimits, from Singapore. Our company philosophy is about 'no limits', infact there's even a pop song called NoLimit (I discovered this through a good friend after I had named the company, remember this?: 2 Unlimited NoLimit youtube) and there are no limits if you put your mind to it and you really want it. In the space of one year we have expanded our business to recruitment and I have seen my life change considerably by living in Bali. Although hair raising and as painful as extracting teeth at times, it has been an amazing experience for us. There have been ups and downs, satifsaction and dissatisfaction, frustration, fun, laughter and happiness all rolled into one.

You may be saying to yourself so what is the title to this blog about?  Why 'let it be'? I've been wondering to myself, now that a year has passed, how I would describe the biggest life lesson from all of this and the first words that came to mind were 'let it be', so intuitively I have decided to go with this title. I happened to be swimming laps in the pool at our villa at the time (if you can call it laps, I have to turn every two minutes as it's more of a plunge pool than lap pool) and I was reflecting on what has been happening over the last few days since my return from holidays in the UK (strange as it may sound, as I live in Bali I have to go on holiday somewhere). One of the bigger frustrations is that I waited a year for our container with our personal belongings from Singapore to arrive to discover a bizarre combination of my favourite black leather jacket, all my cookbooks and a couple of lampshades went missing! As my Bali friend Sarah said there's most probably somebody in Asia who is now sporting a black leather jacket, wearing a lampshade and pretending to be Jamie Oliver! I'm not bothered about the cookbooks or lampshades but I am mourning the fact that my black leather jacket and I have finally parted after all these years together.  My black leather jacket and I go back twenty years ago when I was living in London. It has followed me around Asia for the last ten years. Admittedly I haven't worn it for the last ten years because it's too darn hot but it has always faithfully waited in my wardrobe for that 'one day' when the opportunity would finally present itself. Maybe as in life, what's the point of holding onto things for one day ....... wherever my leather jacket has landed up, I hope it is appreciated and getting some good use now.

So as I swam my short lengths in the pool, turning around every two minutes like one of the Queen's guards pacing Buckingham Palace, I realised that it's all about letting it be. Sometimes we have to let go no matter how close or dear something may be, or how intense or principled we feel. It's best to accept and move on, when nothing can be done about it. As a man in India once politely instructed me, shrugging his shoulders and holding out his arms - I was frustrated I couldn't book an auto-rickshaw on a public holiday (Independence Day) - "This day is to celebrate when we were freed from you," he exclaimed, pointing his finger at me as if I had to take the blame for all the misdemeanours of my colonial forefathers, "and besides this is India." he sighed, as if to say 'you can't expect anything else.'. So I now have 'this is Bali.'  For all it's frustrations and inefficiencies it has a charm and character that I can't help but admire and a calmness that pervades. In the space of one year I have moved from trying to change things, the frustrating things that don't work out the way I want, to a state of accepting, doing what I can to mitigate and moving on with a smile. Life's lessons in Bali have taught me to be more adaptable, patient and to know when to let it be. 

As the words to the Beatles song says:-

"There will be an answer, let it be."
Let it be - youtube

What can you do to let it be and move on?

Janet

For more information about NoLimits personal and professional development, coaching and recruitment services, contact info@nolimitsasia.com +65 6232 2466

Take the First Step

Take the First Step

I've finally arrived back to Bali after a circuitous return from the UK via Bangkok and Singapore. It's good to be back among all my stuff, but in some respects I'd love to run away from my beckoning responsibilities such as unpacking; getting my children back into the school routine; catching up on my long queue of emails which feels like a backlog of planes waiting at Heathrow airport; getting back into the flow of my work tasks and goals (as well as remembering them); scheduling and synchronising my diary with upcoming personal and professional development workshops, coaching sessions and meetings; getting into a healthy eating  routine (went totally out of the window in the UK, although I do believe it's good to eat cream sponges, tasty cottage pies and drink luxury hot chocolates to survive in a cooler climate); summoning up the stamina to exercise again (why is it so much easier to get out of the exercise routine rather than into it?!); and returning to sorting out / finding places for the container of belongings that arrived from Singapore just before I left for the UK (I didn't realise I had so much junk).

There are times in our lives when we would like to abscond from our responsibilities and things that we know we should be doing, but haven't got around to doing. All it requires is taking the first step and then it isn't as bad or as big a task as what we had imagined (apart from sorting out my container full of junk - much worse than what I had imagined). Taking this first step reminds me of the analogy of climbing a mountain. My 3 daughters, my brother and his German Shepherd dog recently climbed the Black Mountains in Wales. Admittedly these mountains are only 811 metres high, but it was quite an achievement to influence my 5 year old daughter, who complained bitterly all the way up, to reach the top, as well as my 10 year old daughter who wanted to know if we could take the elevator when we reached the half way point (she has spent far too much time in urbanised Singapore!). Sometimes there are no quick fixes or easy ways out, such as an elevator miraculously appearing when we were struggling. Once we had started climbing the mountain we were reluctant to turn back no matter what difficulties we encountered, such as my 5 year old daughter who stubbornly lay down like a lead weight in one of those 'you can't move me' positions and refused to carry on.

In life too, it's simply a matter of taking the first step. No matter how hard or tedious the journey may be, it's a wonderful feeling when you finally reach the top and you can look back and admire what you have achieved. Sometimes in life, as on the mountain, you have to go back down. Having reached the summit, you will find that you have all the more experience and know what's ahead of you to go back down. In some instances this is easier to achieve than climbing up to the top. When we descended the Black Mountains, we decided that the best way to get down was to slide on our bottoms. We acquired sheep droppings, purple wimberry and green grass stains en route, as well as being attacked by some gruesome, prickly thistles, but it was so much fun. My 5 year old daughter enjoyed herself so much, she wanted to climb back up the mountain again and quickly seemed to forget all the pain that she seemed to have endured on the way up! Having climbed the mountain once, will give us the confidence to do this again as we learn how to deal with and know what is ahead of us.

What can you do today to take the first step? As Martin Luther King, Junior, quoted:

"Take the first step in faith. You don't have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step."

Take the first step in whatever it is you want to achieve or have outstanding and you'll be surprised how easily you can do it.

Janet

Take the first step by finding out further information from NoLimits about our personal and professional development and coaching services, please contact info@nolimitsasia.com