Standard operating procedure for people going places

I watched the news last Thursday. It was grim - credit crunch the impending recession and shocking stories of death, destruction and disaster.

Several years ago, a multi-millionaire told me, never listen to the news. He said, "It's negative. Avoid it, but trust if things get bad enough, someone will tell you!" And that's pretty much how I've been doing things ever since.

I generally only read the back page of a newspaper and I do it in a shop without buying it. I hardly watch the news on TV though occasionally I do get caught by a story when I'm on the internet.

What I've noticed about the media is that it can hook us and when it does it's usually fear based: the fear of bad things happening to children in a street, going out after dark, the affects of war, debt and killer viruses to name a few.

While we have half a mind on these things, we've got the other half running on survival. So there's little room to think about developing life beyond the current struggles.

The foundation for developing life - give space

We have to know where we're heading and in order to get a clear view of that the first thing we may have to do is lighten the load we're carrying i.e. let go of the things that hold us back.

This could mean blacking out the media. It could be removing anything that doesn't work for you, so you can create the space to do things that help you develop and connect with the people important to you.

Recently a farmer cut through an electric cable and 27 homes were not just without power for several days, but all their electrical items blew. I asked one of the residents what it was like...

He said, "It was amazing. We lit candles and we sat in front of the log fire and talked. We don't usually do that."

So the foundation I'm talking about is giving yourself the space.

Where will it all take you

To develop our life and create something better we need to know what we want at the end. As Stephen Covey says, "Start with the end in mind."

When you make a little space, you can create the strategy that will keep you on track. It's this type of space that coaching creates - a space to step back and be objective.

But it all begins, by making a little space and knowing what you want.

Neil

Web design and content © 2007 CommunitySoul Limited. All worldwide rights reserved.