06 Jul 2009 10:23 Lightbulb moment - Is it really what you want?
Posted by: nina
The week of Monday 22nd June is our Is It Really What You Want? workshop in which we think about what we're overdoing and how to cope with it.
I promised to write two books this year and am feeling that I'm really doing too much work. In an ideal world I could stop work at the end of the day, but I'm now bashing away at the keys in order to meet deadlines. I have to say that I love writing, so in many ways it's ideal, but the deadlines make me worry, so I'm doing too much of that too.
Overdoing things is easy. We can focus too much on money (especially at the moment), too much on alcohol and too much on food. We can get our Balance Chart all topsy-turvy on any one of a number of subjects - and that's not the way to live.
On the Life Clubs blog you can read more about my food overdoing and how, as I'm eating, I'm always reminded of Russell Hoban's wonderful children's book, Bread and Jam for Frances. It does not help me stop!
Watford news : Last night was Watford Life Club's second birthday party. There were 27 people there and it was a blast. Juliette knows how to throw a good party. The photos are on the blog too.
Where is the excess in your life?
We've been trialling Life Clubs for the NHS for young people and I wanted to tell you about a romance in one of the West London clubs. A lovely 19-year old girl had been talking in the club about a male friend of hers who clearly (we all thought) liked her, but as she wasn't sure if she liked him, the relationship had stayed platonic. She brought him along to a few Life Clubs and that was the turning point. Thinking about themselves and life together made them realise they were both in love and have been dating ever since.
See you next week - I can never get too much of that,
Nina
Founder Life Clubs
Author of The Big Book of Me and The Big Book of Us
I promised to write two books this year and am feeling that I'm really doing too much work. In an ideal world I could stop work at the end of the day, but I'm now bashing away at the keys in order to meet deadlines. I have to say that I love writing, so in many ways it's ideal, but the deadlines make me worry, so I'm doing too much of that too.
Overdoing things is easy. We can focus too much on money (especially at the moment), too much on alcohol and too much on food. We can get our Balance Chart all topsy-turvy on any one of a number of subjects - and that's not the way to live.
On the Life Clubs blog you can read more about my food overdoing and how, as I'm eating, I'm always reminded of Russell Hoban's wonderful children's book, Bread and Jam for Frances. It does not help me stop!
Watford news : Last night was Watford Life Club's second birthday party. There were 27 people there and it was a blast. Juliette knows how to throw a good party. The photos are on the blog too.
Where is the excess in your life?
We've been trialling Life Clubs for the NHS for young people and I wanted to tell you about a romance in one of the West London clubs. A lovely 19-year old girl had been talking in the club about a male friend of hers who clearly (we all thought) liked her, but as she wasn't sure if she liked him, the relationship had stayed platonic. She brought him along to a few Life Clubs and that was the turning point. Thinking about themselves and life together made them realise they were both in love and have been dating ever since.
See you next week - I can never get too much of that,
Nina
Founder Life Clubs
Author of The Big Book of Me and The Big Book of Us
06 Jul 2009 10:23 Lightbulb moment - You look great today ... giving feedback
Posted by: nina
Imagine a blank sheet of paper, on which you can write anything and everything you want to say to anyone - you choose.
Do you want to say 'thank you' to that person who was so kind to you? Or 'I know you're a brilliant driver, but please pay more attention to zebra crossings' to that person who almost ran you over the other day? Or 'I'm sorry' to your mum? And on and on.
We so rarely say what we want to say to other people because we're afraid to. We might get over-emotional and start crying. We might get angry or we might get embarrassed. For whatever reason, we hide away from saying lovely things to people and we hide away from giving constructive feedback.
Last time we ran this club, the following week everyone returned with a smile on their face. During the week they'd opened up and actually said some really nice things they'd been wanting to say to others for ages. A few had had some difficult situations resolved too.
Go on, say it... I know you want to... You LOVE Life Clubs!
I love you too.
What feedback do you shy away from giving - positive or negative?
Publicity
This week, Brighton Life Clubs was in the brilliant Wave Magazine.
Our feedback workshop runs every day of the week from Monday 6th July.
See you next week - it's great to have you at Life Clubs,
Nina
Founder Life Clubs
Author of The Big Book of Me and The Big Book of Us
Do you want to say 'thank you' to that person who was so kind to you? Or 'I know you're a brilliant driver, but please pay more attention to zebra crossings' to that person who almost ran you over the other day? Or 'I'm sorry' to your mum? And on and on.
We so rarely say what we want to say to other people because we're afraid to. We might get over-emotional and start crying. We might get angry or we might get embarrassed. For whatever reason, we hide away from saying lovely things to people and we hide away from giving constructive feedback.
Last time we ran this club, the following week everyone returned with a smile on their face. During the week they'd opened up and actually said some really nice things they'd been wanting to say to others for ages. A few had had some difficult situations resolved too.
Go on, say it... I know you want to... You LOVE Life Clubs!
I love you too.
What feedback do you shy away from giving - positive or negative?
Publicity
This week, Brighton Life Clubs was in the brilliant Wave Magazine.
Our feedback workshop runs every day of the week from Monday 6th July.
See you next week - it's great to have you at Life Clubs,
Nina
Founder Life Clubs
Author of The Big Book of Me and The Big Book of Us
06 Jul 2009 10:22 Lightbulb moment - Sometimes it's easier to work backwards
Posted by: nina
Sometimes it feels a little in your face when people ask you 'What's your goal for the future?' Put like that I often haven't a clue what to say. I'm the rabbit frozen in the headlights. But if they were to ask me 'What don't you want to do again?' I've got a list as long as my arm and they range from the small(ish) 'I don't want to go food shopping again' to the massive 'I don't want to be jealous ever again'. They may not instantly appear fulfillable, but you can then play with those thoughts a little until you get your positive goals. Like walking up a hill backwards, it can be much easier to find out what you want without thinking about it and that's our workshop for next week, Never Again. I can guarantee you'll leave feeling focused - maybe even walking up the hill forwards.
I'm running another workshop (Living A Creative Life) for Alternatives on Sunday September 27th (rather a long time ahead, but never mind, book now, it'll be great) and Steve Nobel, who runs Alternatives, has made a podcast out of a chat we had. I felt a little intimidated before talking to him, and, thinking 'never again', decided to prepare a little for our chat so I wouldn't fall flat on my face. I hope you enjoy it and instantly book for the workshop - as well as giving me a high score on the other page of the Alternatives website.
My blog is all about how to make up your mind what you want to eat at a late-night service station (using this week's workshop), so do check it out. And, this week, decide that never again will you put off coming to Life Clubs.
What would your list of things you never wanted to do again have at the top of it?
This week's star clubber is Hayden.
Before going to Life Clubs, Hayden always held himself back waiting to see what others wanted. 'I was always wanting to please everybody else without focusing on my own wants and needs. I always had too many possibilities rushing around in my head and didn't know what to do, so I just used to let things happen to me instead of taking control of and planning my future.' Hayden went to Life Clubs to 'prioritise and realise who I am, to identify and understand what I want and need and to get focused and go after my dreams'.
The first thing Hayden did as a result of going to Life Clubs was to go to Miami (his first time abroad) to 'spread his wings' and take time for himself. He came back re-energised and started to pursue his own business dreams. Using his accounts qualification, he decided to work on a music-based business with some rapper friends of his and has also begun to learn to play the piano - something he's wanted to do for ages. Hayden's new goal is to find a good business studies course.
See you this week - looking forward to you discovering how to think backwards,
Nina
Founder Life Clubs
Author of The Big Book of Me and The Big Book of Us
I'm running another workshop (Living A Creative Life) for Alternatives on Sunday September 27th (rather a long time ahead, but never mind, book now, it'll be great) and Steve Nobel, who runs Alternatives, has made a podcast out of a chat we had. I felt a little intimidated before talking to him, and, thinking 'never again', decided to prepare a little for our chat so I wouldn't fall flat on my face. I hope you enjoy it and instantly book for the workshop - as well as giving me a high score on the other page of the Alternatives website.
My blog is all about how to make up your mind what you want to eat at a late-night service station (using this week's workshop), so do check it out. And, this week, decide that never again will you put off coming to Life Clubs.
What would your list of things you never wanted to do again have at the top of it?
This week's star clubber is Hayden.
Before going to Life Clubs, Hayden always held himself back waiting to see what others wanted. 'I was always wanting to please everybody else without focusing on my own wants and needs. I always had too many possibilities rushing around in my head and didn't know what to do, so I just used to let things happen to me instead of taking control of and planning my future.' Hayden went to Life Clubs to 'prioritise and realise who I am, to identify and understand what I want and need and to get focused and go after my dreams'.
The first thing Hayden did as a result of going to Life Clubs was to go to Miami (his first time abroad) to 'spread his wings' and take time for himself. He came back re-energised and started to pursue his own business dreams. Using his accounts qualification, he decided to work on a music-based business with some rapper friends of his and has also begun to learn to play the piano - something he's wanted to do for ages. Hayden's new goal is to find a good business studies course.
See you this week - looking forward to you discovering how to think backwards,
Nina
Founder Life Clubs
Author of The Big Book of Me and The Big Book of Us
06 Jul 2009 10:21 Lightbulb moment - Do you want to stop feeling scared?
Posted by: nina
I know how scary the idea of coming to a Life Club can feel. Not because I've directly experienced it (though in a way I have when I visit the different clubs), but because so many of you have told me.
All of us who run a club have been putting our thinking hats on and, last weekend, came up with a plan which, hopefully, will make it easier for you. Instead of coming earlier than others, we've decided that at the end of each club anyone whose first week it is can stay afterwards if they want to and have a brief chat. This week six brave people came for the first time to my club and declared that the meeting at the end made it so much less awkward. I enjoyed it too. It was a time for them to ask their questions of me and for me to be able to focus on them.
This week's workshop, I Dare You, is all about overcoming your fears. We're not going to dare you, you're going to dare yourself.
Quite a few of us ran workshops in corporates last week as part of the LAW (Learning At Work) week. You can see a picture of one of the clubs on my blog (and read more about my lack of confidence). It's been great to see how much the workshop impacted. Someone from Addleshaw Goddard turned up in the Hammersmith club and someone else from British Airways came to my club. At Life Clubs we love bravery (especially when we're feeling it) and we love new clubbers.
How could you recreate the bravery you feel when someone else dares you?
Another decision all of us made this weekend was that we would 'show off' our star clubbers a little more, so let me introduce you to Penny.
In the nine months Penny came to Life Clubs she gave up smoking, took up jogging regularly and decorated her sitting room (a task she had been putting off for 3 years). But, most importantly, although Penny was already fully qualified as a Feng Shui consultant, at Life Clubs she was inspired to put together a wonderful brochure for her Feng Shui company which got her new business going. Fantastic stuff.
See you this week - looking forward,
Nina
Founder Life Clubs
Author of The Big Book of Me and The Big Book of Us
All of us who run a club have been putting our thinking hats on and, last weekend, came up with a plan which, hopefully, will make it easier for you. Instead of coming earlier than others, we've decided that at the end of each club anyone whose first week it is can stay afterwards if they want to and have a brief chat. This week six brave people came for the first time to my club and declared that the meeting at the end made it so much less awkward. I enjoyed it too. It was a time for them to ask their questions of me and for me to be able to focus on them.
This week's workshop, I Dare You, is all about overcoming your fears. We're not going to dare you, you're going to dare yourself.
Quite a few of us ran workshops in corporates last week as part of the LAW (Learning At Work) week. You can see a picture of one of the clubs on my blog (and read more about my lack of confidence). It's been great to see how much the workshop impacted. Someone from Addleshaw Goddard turned up in the Hammersmith club and someone else from British Airways came to my club. At Life Clubs we love bravery (especially when we're feeling it) and we love new clubbers.
How could you recreate the bravery you feel when someone else dares you?
Another decision all of us made this weekend was that we would 'show off' our star clubbers a little more, so let me introduce you to Penny.
In the nine months Penny came to Life Clubs she gave up smoking, took up jogging regularly and decorated her sitting room (a task she had been putting off for 3 years). But, most importantly, although Penny was already fully qualified as a Feng Shui consultant, at Life Clubs she was inspired to put together a wonderful brochure for her Feng Shui company which got her new business going. Fantastic stuff.
See you this week - looking forward,
Nina
Founder Life Clubs
Author of The Big Book of Me and The Big Book of Us
