Do you know why you're here?

As this week's workshop is about success and on 21st May we're holding Work & YOU, our one-day workshop all about work and how to make your work life as successful (fulfilling, enjoyable, lucrative etc) as you want it to be, I wanted to let you read the story of someone who came on this workshop the last time we ran it. It's heart-warming and I hope will inspire you to come along to the workshop too.

"In 2001, by the age of 22 I had got my MBA in India and was working as a management consultant in the Health Sector. I’d also been writing poems and short stories and won some prizes so I enrolled myself on a one-year ‘Writing for Performance and Publication’ course in Leeds - I wanted to see the world. It was wonderful. I met my partner, Robin, in March 2009 and decided to stay in the UK with him.

I didn’t have a job to go to and found it was tough to get work. I ended up going back to India for a short consultancy job which used my skills. When I arrived back in the UK in April 2010, again I found it very difficult to get work. I tried temporary work, but even in shops no-one wanted to give me a job. I think employers were hesitant to give work to an unknown, plus I was over-qualified in some ways and under qualified in others - I knew nothing about retail.

In April I went to a Life Club Work workshop. I was nervous about going, but Robin was keen I should attend. I clearly remember an exercise in which I was asked to think about how a tiger would find a job. Lynne (one of the Hosts) asked me what a tiger does. I replied ‘It hunts’. She then asked me ‘What does it do before it hunts?’ and I replied ‘It goes to the waterhole and finds its prey’. By the end of the day I was thinking about how the tiger conserves energy, collects information and then goes for the kill and knew that’s what I had to do if I wanted to find a job.

The workshop gave me lots of ideas and left me full of enthusiasm. Eight months later I’ve got some consultancy work and am also working in retail. I feel much more confident and the effect of the workshop has lasted a long time – it’s stayed with me.

I’ve even been looking at jobs in PR agencies so I can use my writing skills. I’m not giving up. The tiger is watching out, waiting to pounce."

I feel inspired just reading it. Come and be successful too!
Best wishes,
Nina

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Best Life Ever

It's been a tragic few weeks and it seems decadent to be thinking of what could make our lives even better when so many have been, and are, suffering. But who know what will happen in our lives and so it's important, not decadent, to take the time to make them as good as we want them to be.

You've probably all read Steve Jobs excellent Stanford University speech in which he talks about how he uses death to think about what he wants from his life: 'I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?"'

That's a great way to think about each day, but to my mind life doesn't have to be that passionate every day. It's fine to have 'OK' days as well as 'great' days. What's important is to know what you want to fill those days with.

Someone came to my club last week talking, almost embarrassedly, about having the problem of too much time to fill. Some came up with the contrary 'Lucky you, I've got too much to do', but I think we all know that feeling of the day stretching out ahead and no idea what to fill it with.

This week's workshop is about finding out what makes you unique. What it is you love, what it is you'd do on the last day of your life and what keeps you going on those empty days. We look forward to seeing you.

And, referring to another part of Jobs's speech in which he says: 'I'm convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You've got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don't settle.'

Have you bought tickets yet for our Work & YOU workshop on 21st May? It's from 10-5 and is taking place all around the country. If you want to feel like Jobs, I'd suggest coming along. Find your nearest venue and book now. Tickets are moving fast...

Best wishes,
Nina

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A little help from my friends

I love taking pictures of feet. I'm not sure if it's the shoes - though I did used to be obsessed with shoes - I think it's the gorgeous bits of green or brown or grey that they're standing on.

This week’s workshop is about friends (hence the multiple feet) and what you appreciate about them. I’ve not been able to spend very much time with my friends recently because of the two books I'm writing. But my friends have still been supportive and egging me on wonderfully when I'm not sure if I can create what I want to and I'm not sure if I've got the energy to do it.

What it makes me wonder - and that's one of the things the workshop is about - is what kind of friend I am to them. If I had a friend who was like me - working too hard, obsessed with talking about work, unable to think about plays or films or books or anything else of interest, would I want to be friends with them? I don't think so.

I'd probably find a bit of grass to stand on on my own.
See you at Life Clubs next week - in order to celebrate thinking about friends, you can bring a friend who hasn't been to Life Clubs before for free.
Nina
Founder Life Clubs

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