One more belief knocked on the head

At Life Clubs this week we talked about all those annoying voices in our heads that tell us we're no good at things - or even no good at anything.

Or, as one of my clubbers called them, mind viruses.

One of my perennial mind viruses is that I'm no good at working with corporates. It pops up every time I'm about to meet a new corporate. I've written books all my life, so (go the viruses) what good am I going to be at helping them with their leadership and engagement issues?

Having been through the virus takes control (I'm no good at working with corporates) loop in my head over and over again, this week I went through the 'I can do anything - I'm great at working with corporates' loop and saw that one of the 'to dos' I'd set myself was to talk to someone who does know about corporates and leadership.

This morning I had my first tutorial. It was brilliant. I now know everything about the issues facing the leaders of today, where they've come from historically and how Life Clubs is the ideal tool to help staff become engaged and anyone to become the leader he or she wants to be.

My mind virus has just been erased.

Where's the next company?

See you at Life Clubs
Hope you have a great weekend,
All best,
Nina
Founder Life Clubs and author of The Big Book of Me
PS If you haven't seen our new website, click on the tabs above. Check out 'wow' for all our new offers

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Focus first, then aim

Someone at my Life Club this week said her goal was to have 'a more enjoyable life'. Now, which of us can honestly hold up our hand and say we haven't felt the same thing at one time or another? I can't.

I knew exactly what she meant - and it's a great goal to have - but it's just too big. What is enjoyable? And, come to that, what will an enjoyable life be like? There are so many variations. By the end of the club she'd decided to focus on one element of her life first and improve that and (I'm prepared to bet on it) the rest will follow on.

I know a lot about goals and focusing in theory, but can find the practice of them difficult. I can visualise the 'enjoyable life' and I can break things down into tiny, achievable parts, like 'phone a friend tonight' but it's that middle bit that always seems so daunting. I mean, how can I move home and get a new job and find a new group of friends (or whatever will make my life more enjoyable)???

This week I'm going to practice what I preach. I'm going to focus first on what I really want, then break it down into achievable steps and then I'm going to aim.

Just watch out. Enjoyable life... here we come.

See you next week,
Nina
Founder Life Clubs, author of The Life Book

Do check out our new website - click on labels above to get you in to it. One goal down... several more to go.

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It's my party!!!

Oh gosh... I love my birthday.

Tomorrow I'm going to be some enormous age and because I love my birthday so much I got married on my birthday, which means it's also our wedding anniversary and yes, why not throw in a book launch too. So it's a party to celebrate three lovely things and...

What does that mean in terms of the rest of my life?

Yes, you guessed. I'm tired, a little stressed that everything will be 'right' on the day and totally focused on my party rather than on anything else.

It means that I've stopped planning for anything except tomorrow. We have no food in our house that isn't for the party - nothing to eat for tonight or Sunday. We have no furniture in our house either as that's all been taken away so we can dance. And I have four unhappy children and a disgruntled husband.

Our club this week was on planning ahead. It's a great workshop and something I'm usually very good at, but right now...

As I write I'm trying to imagine Monday. On Monday I'll have no 'birthday party' goal any more. We've just launched our new website, all our materials have been rebranded - as you'll see when you come to a club (and look gorgeous) and everything has been thrown out or tidied away (for the party).

How is Monday going to work?

I suppose one thing is clear. I can only go forwards.
That must be what birthdays are all about.

I hope you enjoy yours too,
All best,
Nina
Founder Life Clubs, author The Life Book

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Gosh, time flies when you're having fun...

I'm not sure my husband and I are as old or as beautiful as the couple in this picture I've chosen. What we do have in common is that we're still happy together.

Where I'm going with this is that this week we've been together for exactly half my life. I find this totally extraordinary. To me, when I look back, the time I was on my own seems to be in vivid technicolour. So much happened, so many countries, people, romances. It seems a long period of time.

In contrast, the time I've spent with him, has mellowed into a pastel-coloured blur of warmth and contentedness. It seems but a short moment since the first time we met and no memories are as vivid as those of me on my own.

So, why am I mentioning this?

This week's Life Clubs workshop was about doing what you want - call it being selfish if you like, although I would personally call it essential. I'm possibly one of the most selfish people I know - I have it down to a fine art. I know what I love and I build it into my life without fail.

Where this is going is how could anyone have put up with me for so long or how could I have stuck with the same person for so long? I think the answer is independence. He allows me to be selfish and at the same time does what he wants to do. We've co-existed so happily because we allow each other to be ourselves.

So, think about what you want to do and just go for it. That way you too will be as soppy as the couple in the picture.

See you this week,
Nina
Author of The Life Book, founder of Life Clubs
Read this lovely post about my new book.

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Happy New Year

I don't know about you, but I hate New Year's Eve.

It's one of those times when you're meant to be happy and I don't do compulsory happiness. I like spending New Year's Eve as a time of reflection, thinking back over everything I've done in the last year (or even things I haven't done) and working out what I'd like the next year to be like. Then I like going to bed early so I can wake up feeling fully refreshed for the New Year.

I'm in for a treat this year. I'm in Sri Lanka and due to the full moon it's a Buddhist ceremony and no alcohol is allowed to be served on the island. Of course, everyone has found a way around this, but I like the idea of a full moon starting the New Year and I like the idea of not getting drunk but taking time for reflection.

I spent 2009 writing two books and I've just been sent these photos of one of them (The Life Book) in Waterstone's Piccadilly sitting side by side some of my favourite books, so I'm feeling that maybe some of my year has been worthwhile. My reflections have started.

Do let me know what your 2010 holds in store.

This year I'm going to focus more on Life Clubs and less on writing. I can't wait.

Happy New Year to you all.
Nina,
Author of The Life Book (just released and ready for consumption)! Allow it to help you with 2010.

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Mary Portas at my club...

Well... not quite, but almost. That was wishful thinking. I think Mary Portas is great.

We had a creativity workshop last week and, at the end of it, one of my clubbers sat there grinning from ear to ear. She's having a two month sabbatical in South Africa (her hometown) and wants to earn some money at the same time. Her lightbulb moment (and it was a big one) was that she could buy clothes in the UK and sell them in South Africa for a profit. Her goal for this week is to ask her daughters if they want to get involved.

Creativity is amazing and yet sometimes, without help, we don't feel creative. If we don't feel creative then we don't allow ourselves to get all silly and laugh and have creative thoughts and then we feel we're not creative and so don't even try to be creative and on and on the cycle goes.

At Life Clubs we brainstormed and got silly and, hey, businesses were conceived.

See you in the New Year.
I wish you all the very best for 2010.
Thanks for all your support.
Nina
If you're interested on coming on a weekend with me, check this out.
If you'd like to buy my new book, click here

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Way to go!

Change was last week's Life Clubs topic and it's a huge one. We change every second of every day - whether we want to or not - and we can make changes too.

An obvious change is when you travel. These photos are of the first lovely Canadian Life Clubs Hosts in Toronto. You can see them all working hard learning what it takes to run a club. In a way being around that table in Toronto could have been being around my table in London and yet I'd changed time zone, changed temperature, changed language (up to a point) and changed families (swapping mine for Eva Marie's for the week).

At Life Clubs this week, we were talking about what can help one with change. One of my clubbers had as her Lightbulb Moment that her reaction to change was what was key. How right she was.

We can take change very badly and we can enjoy it. Often all it depends on is the frame of mind we're in when the change happens. If we're feeling good about ourselves and our lives, it can help us react positively. Conversely if everything is going wrong around us and we're feeling overwhelmed we can react negatively to yet another change. The question is how to keep your frame of mind positive so you can be open to change.

In order to enjoy Canada I spent some time on my own, showered twice a day and kept in touch with home. I also determined to stay open to my new experiences and the people I met.

What can I tell you - I loved every minute of it.

Eva-Marie, Monica, Sue, Debbie and Sonia... all I can say is 'Way to go!'

See you all for my last week of Life Clubs in 2009.
Nina
Founder Life Clubs
PS If you feel you'd like hints around change (or any of our other 50 topics), sign up to my bulletin via our website www.lifeclubs.com.

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