Have you had inspiration deficit disorder?

By Donovan Grant

Do you find that some days you just don’t feel inspired to do anything? We’ve all been there. You know, where you can have all the best intention, but you just can’t get it going.

It may be that you need to get a report written, review your finances or simply something like attend some meetings.

What do you do when you don’t feel inspired to follow through? Do you just call it a day and say “I’ll try again tomorrow?” or are you able to get something done.

The easy option is what most people take and they end up doing something which is less hassle instead. Examples of this are ‘veging-out’ in front of the TV, have a beer or glass of wine or even do something fun like going for a walk.

Have you got a go to solution to get yourself inspired?

One of my favourite books by Stephen Pressfield is call the War of Art and in he talks about what makes someone a professional. There is a quote where someone asked the British writer Somerset Maugham whether he writes according to a schedule or only when inspiration strikes. Somerset agreed “I only write when inspiration strikes and luckily it strikes at 9:00 o’clock every morning!”

This is an interesting lesson for us to learn in this reply… we can’t wait for the right moment or the perfect setting before we start working, we have to start right now. The first step in getting inspired is showing up and then getting to work.

Just suppose for a moment that Serena Williams rang up her tennis coach, Patrick Mouratoglou and said “hey, coach I’m not coming to train today because I’m not feeling inspired!”

What do you think the coach Patrick’s reply would be?

Get to the gym now!

Maybe, just maybe inspiration on shows up when we show up.

We’ve got to create our own sense of urgency and just adopt a do it now attitude. Don’t become a procrastinator by waiting for a looming deadline before getting down to work.

At the end of the day, when it comes to getting inspired, I think Serena sums it up perfectly for us “Everyone’s dream can come true if you just stick to it and work hard.”

Let’s get inspired!

With gratitude.

Donovan

What do you think? Do you have a secret way to get yourself inspired? Leave a comment in the box below. We love to hear from you.

Donovan Grant is a coach, mentor, blogger and seminar leader who brings his wisdom as an IT professional for over 20 years to coaching clients from the stages of career struggle through to career freedom. He is a passionate and committed leader who believes that we experience more growth, fulfilment and happiness at work when we are doing what we love. www.donovangrant.com

Bouncing back is often the most difficult step in midlife

By Donovan Grant

It’s easy to get empowered for an hour by listening to a motivational audio or DVD program. But, if you want to be empowered to live an optimal life- what it really takes is to get you there is resilience!

You may be thinking that resilience is something reserved for people who are engaged in battle, but let’s have a closer look.

It could be the ability to bounce back from a setback. It may be the fact that you can keep on track despite having distractions around you. Or it may be that you want your goal so much that you refuse to be denied.

And here’s the thing- no matter what calling you have in life resilience could be a great ally.

Anyone who’s ever tried to kick an unwanted habit will know what it feels like to have resilience as an ally. In fact the difference between success and failure in anything could just be how quickly you are able to shrug off a problem that is holding you back.

Just think about professional soccer players in a match. The big difference between them and amateurs is the desire to win, their ability to recover from challenges and their quick and creative thinking to make something happen.

These players don’t stand around thinking about what went wrong when they lose the ball. Their first instinct is normally let’s get the ball back; what can I do to help the team and they get back into position straight away. Resilience is important to us all; at work, as a parent and at play!

Have you ever had one of those mornings?

You know when it seems like everything’s going wrong… The milk gets spilt on the counter, the kids are dragging their feet getting ready for school, you can’t find your favourite shirt and then you get half way to the station and realise you’ve left your train season ticket in your other jacket pocket. Times like this are frustrating and it is useful to be resilient.

Without resilience you may find yourself getting dragged down and life starts chipping away at your self-confidence, self-esteem and self-competence!

Let’s face it though; we’re all going to have these annoying things that can happen when we least expect; so the question is how will you respond?

During tough times we need to take smart action…

We’ve handled career challenges, medical issues and parenting problems by making the right move. Nothing in life runs smoothly all the time, but what a difference optimism and resiliency makes as you handle everything that comes your way!

Just imagine if you were able to simply change some of your results just by having a little more resilience. This could be the key to coping with problems as they arise rather than allowing them to fester. And the starting point is looking within and asking yourself “what do I want?” and “what is stopping me?”

You can develop resiliency skills easier than you think…

Here are 3 proven ways that can help you to develop your resilience:

1. Increase your self-belief: Think of a time when you were totally being a genius, what were you doing? Why was it so special to you? What strategies did you use?
2. Increase your flexibility: How flexible are you? As we start to get a bit older, it’s easy to settle rather than embrace change… how can you be 1% more flexible today?

3. Increase your exercise and recovery time: Experts say that if you get adequate exercise and rest, it is the best cure for being stuck… Are you following a regular exercise plan? And what’s your sleep pattern like?

Remember this- Change is inevitable for sure, practice resilience this week; make a comeback.

I love the way Joel Olsteen summed it up…

“Hard times may have held you down but they will not last forever; when all is said and done, you will be increased.”

Here’s to taking resilience to the next level.

Donovan

Donovan Grant is a coach, mentor, blogger, speaker and IT professional who brings his wisdom of parenting for the last 21 years and coaching clients through the stages of raising youth and empowering leaders with life lessons that are changing generations.  He is a passionate and committed leader who believes that we all have the ability to help to change someone else’s life. Actively doing so as a catalyst for many years he teaches how to live a life of success, balance, integrity and fun, whether at work or at play.www.donovangrant.com

Letting your sunshine energy in during midlife

By Donovan Grant

Sometimes with what life throws you it’s so hard to stay motivated and remain focused on your own personal goals. Refocusing energy into the right tasks, goals and people is key to your success.

What we often forget about being busy especially in midlife, is that it is not how much time we have, it is how we use our time doing the important things first. This of course is a lot easier said than done.

Anyone who has tried to limit the energy drainers in their life will know the challenges involved. It varies for everyone of course; it could be relationships, negative people, negative self-talk, fears or just doing work that bores the pants off you.

But when we become overwhelmed and out of control, the obvious thing is to look for someone or something else to blame. The truth is that it’s important to disengage from time to time.

While it is essential to work hard to achieve your goals, it is also necessary to disconnect and recharge to keep your life in balance. A lack of energy definitely has the power to throw you off track, whether physical or mental. It’s quite normal to have the ups and downs in life but when it becomes constant, this is like a warning sign.

Just ponder for a moment about the battery in your TV remote control… you know that you get the best output when the batteries are fully charged. When the batteries start to run out, we have to press the buttons harder and some of the functions on the remote just don’t work at all. Eventually, it stops working all together!

It’s the same for you and me too! If we don’t recharge our own batteries from time to time we will lose control.

I don’t know about you but I find that if I forget to renew my energy it is no surprise that my timing is off. What it really means is that I didn’t plan my time wisely enough to have the moments of reflection; mental, physical and spiritual. Just kept going regardless of what the cost would be.It's more important when you're in your forties.

Wouldn’t it be better if we could commit to ‘shutting the office door’ and take a well-earned break? This could be a great way to restore your energy.

Another consideration could be asking yourself “if I want to bring more energy into my life, what could I let go of?” We all have a bit of de-cluttering to do… for some it’s relationships, activities, habits or maybe just distractions that take us away from our using our time wisely. Just because you are in midlife doesn’t mean you’ve got it all figured out.

The bottom line is we all must figure out how to get fully charged and then how to take advantage of that energy and use it to the best of our abilities.

The truth is, how we feel on the inside always shows up on the outside. If you feel energetic you will look energetic and if you don’t, then you know what…

So what do you choose?

Does harnessing you energy and focus on being in the best possible state appeal to you?

Here are the simple tips that will take you one step closer to being a super energised human being:

• Set yourself up for a great day every day by asking yourself, “What is one thing that I am so looking forward to today?”
• Live with an attitude of gratitude – When we are thankful and actually show appreciation to others, this has been proven to elevate our own mood
• Drink plenty of water and have some healthy energy snacks available all the time
• Once a week, take time to reflect and journal the ups and downs of your week. When you do this regularly, you will start to identify patterns and where your energy drainers are.

Remember this- our lives are measured by the decisions we make and what we decide to focus our energy on while we are here, not by the amount of years we are on this planet.

Everything we do requires the use of energy. In midlife unhealthy eating habits, lack of exercise, negativity, unfocused goals and other strategies are all contributing factors to energy loss. To operate at an optimal level and live a happier and healthier lifestyle needs us to be good stewards of our energy.

It is time to remove the distractions and say goodbye to energy drainers.

Let’s do all we can do to become super energised human beings!

To your energised midlife!

Donovan

Donovan Grant is a coach, mentor, blogger, speaker and IT professional who brings his wisdom of parenting for the last 21 years and coaching clients through the stages of raising youth and empowering leaders with life lessons that are changing generations.  He is a passionate and committed leader who believes that we all have the ability to help to change someone else’s life. Actively doing so as a catalyst for many years he teaches how to live a life of success, balance, integrity and fun, whether at work or at play.www.donovangrant.com

Be of good courage for your goals: Even if you stand alone

By Donovan Grant

“Courage: the most important of all the virtues because without courage, you can't practice any other virtue consistently.” ~ Maya Angelou 

Could a good dose of courage be just the energiser that you've been looking for right now?

You may be thinking “no, not me Don” but the question for today is when is the last time you took a stand for your goals?

If you have ever set yourself a challenging goal and either succeeded or failed in pursuit of it, you would know that it takes courage to achieve a goal. Of course, when you aim for something that stretches you, it might just be a bit too scary for more than one reason:

Maybe you’ve said to yourself, this is too hard, or I don’t have the time or maybe you didn’t have support from the people around. The list really is endless.

How do you find the courage to keep going when the party poopers (including friends) say “you can’t do that?”

The obvious answer is to say “yes I can!”

But, sometimes it can be quite natural to question yourself when there is doubt thrown towards the things that you do. For you to stick to your plan, the question becomes which do you fear most, the disapproval of others or loss of your integrity? You’re going to need courage.

To many people, courage is what they see when they go to the cinema to watch a movie. The star of the movie normally comes good by going on an adventure, showing bravery and determination to reach an amazing ending. So courage can be seen as something only special people do.

But here’s the funny thing- these are the same traits that you and I need to reach our stretch goals too.

What will happen if we don't take courageous action?

Well, one thing for sure is that tons of people quit on their goals before reaching their desired outcome. Dare I say it, gave up just as the going got tough. A challenge that initially seemed perfect just wasn’t worth the effort anymore.

Yes, it’ possible you may have chosen the wrong goal in the first place, but often happens because it was easier to follow the crowd than stand alone.

Here’s something I found out the hard way- knowing what to do, doesn’t mean that you will do it. This is why we can’t listen to what people say, we have to watch what they do. It’s okay to have principles if you act on them. Otherwise what is the point?

In a nutshell, there is no grey area when it comes to your own moral courage. You either have it or you don’t.

You may remember in spring 2012, President Obama had his back to the wall regarding the US health care debate. The easy and popular vote across the country was not to make any drastic reforms.

The President chose the courageous thing and made history by backing health care reform across America. He took a stand for what he believed in even though this decision could have negatively impacted his chances for re-election. 

And yes, President Obama got re-elected. 

Are you ready to keep going when the easy option would be to turn back instead?

Passing the point of no return and focusing on the mission will be worth it. Just imagine, crossing the finishing line and being able to look in the mirror and say to yourself “I did it!”  Anything is possible!

I believe deep within we all have a treasure chest of courage that patiently rests. It will be there to ensure that no matter what obstacle you face and you will overcome; one step at a time.

Please join us in the fight for courage and demand excellence of yourself always. You may even wonder how you ever managed without it.

Ponder on this question in a quiet moment today:

If I was to act with courage today, what would I do to take a stand for my goals?

Let’s always do the right thing!

To your courageous heart

Donovan

What are your thoughts about courage? Do you think courage when you think goals? Tell us what you think, we are waiting for your feedback.

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Donovan Grant is a coach, mentor, blogger, speaker and IT professional who brings his wisdom of parenting for the last 21 years and coaching clients through the stages of raising youth and empowering leaders with life lessons that are changing generations.  He is a passionate and committed leader who believes that we all have the ability to help to change someone else’s life. Actively doing so as a catalyst for many years he teaches how to live a life of success, balance, integrity and fun, whether at work or at play.www.donovangrant.com

Mid-life already? Play to your strengths and develop a new game plan
By Donovan Grant

When you play to your strengths you’ll have fun, fun, fun! The unfortunate thing too many of us have been told “you’ve got to work on your weaknesses?”

The question is, does working on your weaknesses come from the place of comparing yourself with others?

Now I am all for having a bit of balance and being competent in many different things, but surely you can’t be an expert in them all?

You're Measured

When we think about it, most of us have been measured in some way or another since we were kids. When you’re born your height and weight are checked; you go to school and you keep getting tests and when you go to work you have a performance review once or twice a year.

This has all been done so that someone else can tell you how you are doing. Everyone wants you to be a well-rounded individual. The problem is, balanced thinking like this does not leave room for the Picasso’s, Michael Jordan’s and Shakespeare’s of this world.

We can’t all be the same!

You're Gifted

FACT: You will have things that are so easy and natural for you to do that many other people would find very difficult. And the same is true in the reverse. So why don’t you focus on using your core skills as much as possible and do your best at that?

When I watched the England rugby team play against France recently, it was plain to see that all the players were in their best positions; forward, backs and midfielders and the team won. The team was playing to its strengths.

The coach didn’t ask the backs to play in the forward positions that would’ve been silly! It would have weakened the team. So why do parents, managers and well-meaning friends ask you to play out of position in life?

The downside of course is when we focus on our weakness it can work against us. Just think if you stopped doing all the things that enjoyed and were excellent at and instead you had to spend your time doing things that you were not good at. My guess is that you’d be fed up, your productivity would be low and your value to the company would decrease in a big way.

This would not be a smart move at all.

You're Born To Succeed

Let’s get real here; each one of us is unique. Furthermore, if you are ever to give a gift to this world it must and will only come out of fulfilment to your core strengths. It will have to be doing something that you love and you are excellent at.

This snippet from PGA, Golf Coach Blake Smith is so appropriate for us non-golfers too…

“Strategy is often a forgotten part of the game of golf.  We all play golf differently; some of us bomb the driver while others make a lot of putts.  The key to scoring is to play to your strengths and develop a game plan according to those strengths.” 

So we need a strategy for our lives too, just like the golfers. You and I need to play to our strengths and develop a game plan according to those strengths.

Have you ever thought about identifying what your core strengths are? Most of us never do. The thing is it’s not as difficult as you think.

Just ponder on these questions for a moment…

1. What are the things you can do easily and have a passion for?
2. What are the things that your friends often ask you personally to help them out with?
3. What is the thing that when you do it, you can easily drift into a world of your own?

The answer to these questions could be a clue to your core strengths.

When you feel most successful you are combining your unique talents with your intelligence and applying them to what you really care about.

Let’s all play to our strengths today!

From my heart to yours

Donovan

What’s your thoughts about focusing on your core strengths? Have you been told to work on your weaknesses? Let us know what you think by leaving a comment below – sharing is caring!!

Donovan Grant is a coach, mentor, blogger, speaker and IT professional who brings his wisdom of parenting for the last 21 years and coaching clients through the stages of raising youth and empowering leaders with life lessons that are changing generations.  He is a passionate and committed leader who believes that we all have the ability to help to change someone else’s life. Actively doing so as a catalyst for many years he teaches how to live a life of success, balance, integrity and fun, whether at work or at play.www.donovangrant.com

Worried about job loss: How to sharpen the saw during mid-life

By Donovan Grant

A survey of 1,500 UK employees reveals less than half of them feel motivated at work!

I guess this is no real shock in the current economic climate but this is what surprised me: 45% of the group who happen to be middle aged feel that if their company celebrated success more often this would boost the feel good factor.

Would that work for you?

Now just before you start jumping up and down shouting “celebrating success doesn’t motivate me, show me the money baby!”  I will add that although lack of pay rise is one of the usual culprits, the survey commissioned by the company Lane4 shared some other interesting info. . .

Many of the people approaching or in mid-life were more worried about their wasted skills, feeling ‘trapped’ at work and a lack of harmony team mates.

Have you ever felt trapped in a job? Yes, me too.

But here’s the thing- isn’t it interesting that the important motivating factors seem to be the softer emotional things rather than just cash, promotions and cars. What’s that all about? Are we just a bunch of old softies?

Well in some ways “yes” we do become softies when we reach mid-life (especially the men). Some of us even get that secret fear that you might become sidelined like a footballer who gets substituted because he wasn’t performing up to the required standard. We all want to stay involved; we all want to be connected and we all want to feel as though with still add value.

Let’s be honest though… we can no longer guarantee anyone will have a job for life anymore. This is a different day. So as the times changes, we have to change too. Mentally, physically, spiritually and emotionally.

Now you might be thinking what has my mental, physical, spiritual and emotional shape got to do with feeling under-valued. The honest answer is: A lot.

One of the biggest learnings in my own life is knowing where to look first when I have problems. I look within. Rather than looking outside, blaming someone or something, I start with the where am I out of sync in life right now. The answer never comes right away, but if I keep asking, the answer will eventually come.

I remember a couple of years back, we were on an IT project that demanded we work out of town four days out of five. There were long hours, a ton of work to do and my colleagues and I were not getting on at all. It was stress from all angles.

This went on for over 6-months until eventually the work completed and I returned back to our London office. It wasn’t long before I started to settle down back to my happy self again. What was the difference, I got back in sync. What this meant was getting back to my daily fundamentals.

When I was on the road, I skipped the fundamentals. My excuse was that I had no time. The truth was it’s when I’m doing the fundamentals that I am at my best!

So what about you?

Are you feeling a bit out of sync?

If you are, let me be the one to let you know that you are not alone. This is just a part of the changes and challenges that we go through in mid-life.

The question is are you willing to look within and find your own solution? You do have the power.

But, sometimes you just need a friend to bring a new perspective to your current situation and give you a helping hand. If I may be that friend, I’d like to say go back to your fundamentals. And if you don’t have any fundamentals, then create some.

It doesn’t need to be a major change in your life. Just some simple healthy and rewarding practices you can do every day until they become a habit.

My highest recommendation for daily fundamentals is to include exercise, a healthy breakfast and finding some quiet time for meditation or prayer.

Remember this- you might be middle aged but you’ve still got plenty to give. Rather than worrying about the economy, your company or even your pay rise take some time to get yourself in sync every day.

Life is full of ups and downs, so let’s use the downs as an action signal to keep moving forward!

From my heart to yours

Donovan

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Have you got any questions about daily fundamentals? What are yours? What’s your thoughts on being middle aged? Leave a comment below, we’d love to hear from you.

Donovan Grant is a coach, mentor, blogger, speaker and IT professional who brings his wisdom of parenting for the last 21 years and coaching clients through the stages of raising youth and empowering leaders with life lessons that are changing generations.  He is a passionate and committed leader who believes that we all have the ability to help to change someone else’s life. Actively doing so as a catalyst for many years he teaches how to live a life of success, balance, integrity and fun, whether at work or at play.www.donovangrant.com

Can a stuffed salmon help you to improve your goals?

By Donovan Grant

What does your favourite recipe book look like?

My guess would that it has lots of beautiful colour pictures, lists of ingredients and step by step instructions of how to cook the meals. This is exactly the type of book I like too.

The reason I mention this is that on Sunday’s I get to put on my chef’s hat and cook dinner for the family. There is no greater virtue than to be of service to others and I just love cooking!

So today’s main dish was stuffed salmon. Have you cooked this dish before?

Having never cooked stuffed salmon before, I hopped on to Google in search of a recipe. I came across one that matched most of the ingredients in the fridge. The only thing that worried me was that it didn’t have a picture of what the finished dish would look like.

Without making excuses, the lack of picture was the reason that dish was “messed up” in the words of my 10 year old son. The step that said to ‘read roll up the stuffed fillets’ couldn’t work because instead of cutting the salmon into fillets, they were cut into steaks!

Whoops!

But here’s the thing that became apparent- I didn’t have a clear vision of what the finished recipe would look like. Sure I had eaten salmon many times before but I had never cooked this dish.

Isn’t this the same issue that many of us have in life? We don’t have a vision of what we really want!

Just ponder on this question for a moment…

How often do you start working towards your goals without knowing what the end result looks like?

As I found out today, there are downsides for sure. What can happen if you don’t have vision?-+-+

Just for starters:

• You can end up with something totally different than what you wanted
• You can lose the power of focus
• An unclear goal remains just like a day dream
• It’s easy to lose faith in what you are working towards

So, have you got a vision of what your goal is?

We don’t always need to have a total idea of how we are going to get there; but we do need to know where there is.

I love the way Marianne Williamson summed your vision up:

“Like a great athlete, we must have a very clear vision of what we want to accomplish before we make a move. Vision, in preparation for an action, is as important as the action itself.”

So think about one of the goals you are working on as the moment as if you were cooking your favourite meal. Ensure you have a beautiful colour picture, list all resources that you need and put together a step by step plan of how you are going to achieve it. All that will be left is to take action and stay focused every day!

The pictures you create in your mind are like a secret weapon in your goal achieving armoury. When you use this power you are able to bring goals and dreams to life even before you have created them! Your imagination is your road-map to anything that you want to achieve today, tomorrow and in the future. So, let’s get started.

From the chef's kitchen!

Donovan

Have you got a clear vision of your top goal that you are working towards? What hot tip would you give to someone about ‘having a vision?’ Leave us a comment below, we love hearing from you every day?

Donovan Grant is a coach, mentor, blogger, speaker and IT professional who brings his wisdom of parenting for the last 21 years and coaching clients through the stages of raising youth and empowering leaders with life lessons that are changing generations.  He is a passionate and committed leader who believes that we all have the ability to help to change someone else’s life. Actively doing so as a catalyst for many years he teaches how to live a life of success, balance, integrity and fun, whether at work or at play.www.donovangrant.com

Could this little known secret be the key to your self-motivation

By Donovan Grant

If you were a walking, talking self-motivation machine what would your life look like? Just imagine, that anything and I mean anything was possible as long as you showed up and did the work!

Wouldn't that feel great! Well, what stops you from having it right now?

In your typical office environment you’ll meet lots of different people and can probably guess just by looking as to who is motivated at work and who isn't. The truth of course is that everyone is motivated in some way and each can show it in different ways.

Some people will tell you they are motivated by ‘external’ things like money, getting promoted and other rewards. Other people are energised by ‘internal’ things like having an interesting job, feeling useful or just working with nice people. The really are tons reasons why we do what we do.
What is it that gets you motivated to do your work?

If you look at most successful people around the world, you will see that they have a cause, a strong will to succeed and they have the belief that they will rise above and overcome any obstacles they come across. What this tells us is that you’ve got to be able to persuade yourself to keep moving forward.
So there is power in talking to yourself. Are you using this valuable power source to get motivated?

I hope you were nodding or saying yes because we all need reminding that within us we have the power be self-motivated to do any worthy challenge. But the first step of course is to sincerely believe that you can. The belief that you can, may be a major stumbling block, but once past it there will be no stopping you.

So how can you turn on your self-motivation switch?

You may have heard of or even use affirmations before, well this is not what we’re talking about here. 

A few professors have completed some research that will be very useful to you and me too. They conducted several experiments on hundreds of people and have shown that those who ask themselves to follow through on a task generally do better than those who tell themselves that they will.

University Professors Dolores Albarracin, Ibrahim Senay and Kenji Noguchi suggested that telling yourself "I Will" is less motivating than asking yourself "Will I".

Now I’m no scientist, but I do wonder if this is because the subconscious minds keeps working on a question until you come up with the answer; whereas when you just say something it doesn’t tend to linger around for as long or as deep. Maybe or maybe not. But I tell you what, this could this the type of breakthroughs that most of us need to crack the code to our goals.

Professor Abarracin explains this idea “by asking yourself a question, you are more likely to build your own motivation.”

Just imagine being able to work on your goal even while you are sleeping just because you asked yourself the right question. Are you ready for a breakthrough?

You’re only powerless, if you think you are. To build your motivation, improve your results and success rates you can start by asking yourself better questions. If you’ve tried affirmations like “I Will get back in shape”, “I will learn a new skill” and “I will go after that new job”  and found them not to work for you, maybe it’s time to ask yourself “Will I…”and let your secret power source work for you.

It’s time to claim your power now because your dreams, hopes and desires are worth it. The question is “will you?”

Let’s get motivated to become the leaders that we were born to be!

From my heart to yours

Donovan

What do you think? Do you ask yourself if you can do something or do you tell yourself? Have you got a secret self-motivation tip? Share your comment below, we look forward to reading it.

The trio of Professors, Dolores Albarracin, Ibrahim Senay and Kenji Noguchi published its research, supported by the National Institutes of Health, in the April 2010 edition of the journal Psychological Science.

Donovan Grant is a coach, mentor, blogger, speaker and IT professional who brings his wisdom of parenting for the last 21 years and coaching clients through the stages of raising youth and empowering leaders with life lessons that are changing generations.  He is a passionate and committed leader who believes that we all have the ability to help to change someone else’s life. Actively doing so as a catalyst for many years he teaches how to live a life of success, balance, integrity and fun, whether at work or at play.www.donovangrant.com

Odd one out: Why you need to jump out of the box today

By Donovan Grant

What is it like when you are the odd one out? It could be the way you look, the way you talk the way you think or even the way that you do things.

You’re just different from the average person.

Many people think that it’s weird to be different and they shy away from it. But what if they’ve got it all wrong. What if different is actually a cool thing to be?

A few odd people that you may not consider being cool are Thai Ngoc, a man who has apparently had more than 11,700 consecutive sleepless nights in a row after he caught a flu in 1973; Yoshiro Nakamatsu, he has been taking pictures and analysing every meal he has consumed during a period of 34 years with the aim of living to be 140 years old. And then there is the French entertainer, Michel Lotito who eats anything – including metal, glass, rubber and other weird stuff.

Now I would be the first to hold my hand up and say count me out, if I had to follow the lead of any of these guys. But, what if being the odd one out simply meant doing the things that the average people don’t do.

Right now, you may have a plan that you are working on to change jobs, get fitter, learn a new skill or maybe just spend more time with the family. But, somehow you don’t quite get round to it. What stops you?

On average, most people say they don’t follow their plans and achieve their goals because they don’t have enough time. I reckon that if you were to dig a little deeper, you’d find that time management was not the issue. The issue is often that they were not willing to keep the main thing, the main thing.

Now I have been there myself and I know how easy it is to get distracted from your goals. One thing for sure is that it takes effort, commitment and patience to follow through especially when things seem to go against you. That is why, the average person quits before the game is over!

This may sound harsh, but it’s true.

So here’s the question… how can being the odd one out help you to keep moving forward?

Answer: Do the opposite of what the average person would do.

It’s as simple as that. If the average person takes lots of coffee and water breaks during the day, skip the breaks and keep working.

If the average person reads the free newspaper on the train on the way to work, read a book that is related to your goal.

If the average person keeps up with the latest soap opera gossip over lunchtime, find a new lunch slot or pop down to the gym.

It made seem odd to just switch, but let me be the one to tell you that your goal is at stake. If you are really going to play full out and achieve your goal this year, you’re going to have to be different from last year.

I’ll leave you with the wise words of the great Jim Rohn, “If you are not willing to risk the unusual, you will have to settle for the ordinary."

Let’s embrace being different as one of the building blocks for success!

From my heart to yours

Donovan

What do you think about being different from the crowd? What's your top tip for maintaining your own integrity? Are you still on track with your goals? Leave a comment in the box below – we love to read every one!

Donovan Grant is a coach, mentor, blogger, speaker and IT professional who brings his wisdom of parenting for the last 21 years and coaching clients through the stages of raising youth and empowering leaders with life lessons that are changing generations.  He is a passionate and committed leader who believes that we all have the ability to help to change someone else’s life. Actively doing so as a catalyst for many years he teaches how to live a life of success, balance, integrity and fun, whether at work or at play.www.donovangrant.com

Has this happened to you before?

By Donovan Grant

Are you someone who remembers your dreams? From time to time I've been able to but to be honest a lot of my dreams seem to drift away as easily as they came. In fact when I awake in the morning it can be just a big blur.

The thing is- this is not the case for everyone.

Today I met a colleague at work who I shall call Mike (to save his blushes). Mike was visibly buzzing and he asked me "has this ever happened to you before?" And before I even had a chance to say "what Mike?" He continued…

"I was asleep and having a dream last night and then I heard a sound that suddenly woke me up. But when I woke, I had the vision of a stream of words passing in front of me like watching a TV screen. The words didn't really make sense, so I thought I's quickly jumped up, grabbed a pen and wrote them down anyway."

"As it was 3am, I was struggling to get back to sleep, so I just laid awake asking myself the question 'what could these words mean" - Mike says after a while an answer came to him. The words seemed to form the basis of a slogan that he needed for his new business venture that is in the early stages of creation.

It turns out that he had a couple of intense business meetings during the evening and he had been discussing themes, ideal clients and the value that his business idea will add.

Now some would call this the subconscious, some would call it a vision and others would say that its God's way of staying anonymous. Whatever it is, Mike is one happy chap and he has ticked off another one of his things to do towards his number one goal already for this year.

How weird is that? Has that ever happened to you, where you awake with an idea that solves a problem that you've been struggling with.

I don't know about you but I'm always open to learn new things and listen to different ideas. Maybe even our biggest challenge could be resolved by asking your self the right question.

Are you up for trying? Here's a great question for you to think over with any challenge that you are having…

"If I was to totally believe that anything was possible for me this year, what is one goal that I would go for 100%, no holding back?"

Dreams do come true, so let's make it happen!

With gratitude

Donovan

Donovan Grant is a coach, mentor, blogger, speaker and IT professional who brings his wisdom of parenting for the last 21 years and coaching clients through the stages of raising youth and empowering leaders with life lessons that are changing generations.  He is a passionate and committed leader who believes that we all have the ability to help to change someone else’s life. Actively doing so as a catalyst for many years he teaches how to live a life of success, balance, integrity and fun, whether at work or at play.www.donovangrant.com