Happy New Year...

I want to wish you all a Happy New Year. I hope this year is healthy for you and brings you a wonderful, balanced life.

I don't know what New Year resolutions, goals, decisions etc you made for yourself, but last week's Life Club workshop (our first of the New Year) was all about you and what's important to you. What relaxes you? What sustains you? What gives you pleasure?

This picture used to be me (only with grey hair)! I love my work and you could often (well, slight exaggeration, occasionally) find me slumped over my desk in exhaustion. Last week I decided to change all that and go to bed as early as I could every night without my laptop but with a good book or even (serious treat) a film. Sleep before midnight is, I've been told, the best.

The week has been wonderful. I've been in bed most nights before 10.30 and, most of them, I've even been asleep by then. I watched 'Toast' one night (thoroughly enjoyable)'Bleak House' another (riveting), read an old diary another night and the others I just dropped off nice and early. I feel great.

I'm not a great believer in resolutions, but this week's workshop brought home to me how important it is to treat yourself well. I make sure my children get enough sleep, so what about me? Why don't I look after myself as well as I do them?

What would you do differently if you were looking after yourself as well as you look after others?

Next week's Life Club is all about finding out what you want in your life over the next two years. It's about discovering what's important to you from the past and present and weaving those things into the future - just by drawing circles. I've already done my circles and am feeling inspired.

See you there.

Hope you're having a great weekend,
Nina
Founder Life Clubs
Author: The Big Book of Me, The Life Book, How To Get What You Want

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Getting creative...

This morning both my husband and I woke up at 5.30 (well, I probably woke him if I'm really honest). We had a lovely chat and he decided he'd get up and start the day and I decided I'd stay in bed and think about what I was going to write about creativity (last week's workshop) in this, my blog.

What happened... I dropped off to sleep. Not that I got bored thinking about creativity or anything like that - it's my pet subject - but I was tired and, although my mind was engaged in an interesting 'does it have to be original?' internal discussion, my body had other ideas.

I woke up with my alarm a few hours later and have had the most creative of mornings.

My number one hint about creativity is sleep. Although it's romantic thinking of great ideas in the early hours of the morning it really only works if you can have a lie-in the next day. Creativity comes easiest with an awake mind.

My number two hint is stop worrying about whether or not you're being or feeling creative. The moment you start relaxing and taking care of yourself the creativity will come.

My number three hint is forget being original. Even Marie Antoinette noted that there weren't many original thoughts still to be had. Just be yourself.

It's Friday and the postman has just delivered all the photos I ordered last weekend - now for a creative treat...

Next week's Life Clubs workshop is all about stress and worries. We explore how to solve them so you can leave the workshop feeling lighter. See you there - come burdened!

Hope you have a great weekend,
Nina

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I'm definitely not deep enough

This week's Life Club was all about the kind of questions we ask. I wish I could say that we debated whether god exists and the meaning of religion in 21st century society, but we didn't.

Instead we thought about the difference between open and closed questions.

The first questions we came up with were those 'How are you?' and 'What's up?' questions that we ask all the time without often meaning anything and usually expecting a grunt for an answer. Then a clubber came up with the question: 'What could you do to get better?'.

Now, 'What could you do to get better?' is a pretty good example of an open question. It immediately has me thinking of wonderfully self-improving things, like 'I could go to sleep earlier'... 'I could floss more often'... 'I could go for an hour walk every morning...' and on and on. It feels forward moving and exciting and challenging.

But, as another clubber pointed out, it feels negative. It implies criticism. It implies that you need to get better.

Isn't it interesting how we all look at questions differently?

So, after all that, let's get a bit more intellectual with our questions.

Does god exist? And, if he does, as my son once asked me, why did he create stinging nettles?

Keep me posted with your thoughts.
See you next week at Life Clubs.
All best wishes,
Nina
Founder Life Clubs and author The Life Book (Prentice Hall Life)

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Could I get to sleep...?

Normally I'm like this sleeping baby. I can drop off to sleep anywhere and at any time.

My children are used to finding me on the floor asleep, on sofas asleep and, of course, in my bed asleep.

This week has been different. On Wednesday our Life Club was on stress and the two people I was working with were both insomniacs. They either couldn't get to sleep in the first place or they woke in the early morning and couldn't drop off again. Of course, with all this talk of insomnia it's been on my mind and I've had two of the worst nights I've had for a long time... wild and crazy dreams, waking up every two hours, restless at light-turning-out time.

Of course, you get what you focus on. Silly me.

So, I've gone back to that workshop and have taken my learning from it. This is a temporary worry and won't last, so I can cross it off my 'things that are causing me stress' list. I've done just that.

Let's hope tonight I sleep again as soundly as that baby.

Sweet dreams.
What do you do when you can't get to sleep? Do let me know.

All best,
Nina
Founder Life Clubs

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A fresh perspective

This week Anna has arrived at our headquarters. We've already got quite a team, but Anna is here as Head of Sales and Marketing.

As she sat analysing our way of working and coming up with strategies to streamline us I felt almost jealous. I wished I could arrive at Life Clubs with the hat of a stranger on and move it on to the next level. As it is I feel so steeped in the product, I can't see anything objectively. I'd like a little more of her perspective and less of my feelings of maternal pride.

I can't wait until Anna starts really moving things along. She's promised that when she does I can sit and be creative 24 hours a day. I've even been promised my own zone - well away from all the craziness that's in the main room.

I think I've inherited a love of delegating from my father who practically invented multi-tasking. He used to enjoy sleeping best on planes because he said he was then doing two things at the same time - getting some rest and going somewhere. I love having a team because I'm then doing lots of things at the same time - and being allowed to do what I like best - be creative.

More about next week's club in a few days.
Nina
Founder Life Clubs

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