Author: joyheartstoo

Nature rocks!

Posted on Categories Blog, Impact, Perspective

I love a good model. And when it’s inspired by nature it’s an added bonus. Half a year ago I used the Create-Maintain-Destruct model with all my clients, and it’s overdue to be dusted off again. Lots of reactions from business owners and individuals are telling me that the dust is settling from the last half-year. A business audit and a mental spring clean could be timely and make good business sense. The Create-Maintain-Destruct model creates the framework for your audit. Take your business offer and processes through it – as well as your staff, clients, suppliers and your own leadership. How? Create a matrix with Create, Maintain and Destruct as the column headings and the categories mentioned above as the rows (clients, staff, offer etc). Now for each row, list what and who is worth Maintaining (or restoring), what it is time to Destruct, stop doing or challenge – and which new things you would like to Create, be it through new staff members, new clients or new ideas that are jumping at the bid to add value. Align it with the long-term vision of your business – and make it clear to yourself who YOU need to be … More Nature rocks! »

Let go of everything you knew worked

Posted on Categories Blog, Impact, Perspective

This may sound scary. It definitely scared me. But I did it anyway, and great clarity and focus came from it. I thought it may inspire some of you, too. “What if I let go of everything I knew used to work??” So many of us are getting to a point right now where we are realising that parts of our businesses or lives never will get back to exactly how it was. We may have been patient, accepting, lucky, or whatever the last half-year, but now you can’t keep pretending that “all will be back to normal” anymore. “New normal” may not be as attractive to you, your business, or your deeper, inner knowing as “old normal” was. If this is resonating, it may be a good idea to ask yourself the question I put at the start. Letting go. Fully. To allow yourself to start fresh. With a new piece of paper. A new canvas. A new business plan. A new road map. Based on what IS, not on what could have been. This won’t be easy, there may be even levels of grief as you do this work. But it will be worth it, giving you a … More Let go of everything you knew worked »

The beauty of repetition

Posted on Categories Blog, Impact, Perspective

Have you recently thought of the quality of the things we repeat? “How we do one thing is how we do everything”. “It all adds up”….. and I could keep going. What are your examples of routines or people that are recurring in your business and life? Because we both work from home, I realised how we spend more time in the vicinity of our fortnightly cleaner than with some of our friends. This week I took the decision to change cleaner. Not easy after 6 years, but it was time. Having looked after our oldest daughter’s 3-legged bunny since she moved back to Denmark, I yesterday realised how feeding Twix and chatting to her every second day would have added up to over 300 encounters while I’ve been ‘on duty’. That’s more times than I’ve been in the shops connecting with my local community – as I try keeping that to 1-2 times a week. Do you kiss your partner every day? Even if you’re not young and madly in teenager-love anymore? Depending on your answer that’s 365 kisses or maybe none the last year. If it’s a no, I’ve had more kinaesthetic connection with our 3-legged bunny the … More The beauty of repetition »

Smooth sailing

Posted on Categories Blog, Leadership, Perspective

Beautiful weather today. Taking the time to enjoy it. Allowing smooth sailing. How often do we miss that opportunity? The better educated, the smarter you are, the bigger the risk that you can ALWAYS find something that could be done better. Something that could be improved. Something that you or others are not doing to the optimal level yet. It’s great to have a drive and in most instances, a laser-sharp perception that notices everything, is a gift to have. Then the only thing we need to teach ourselves or remind ourselves is to let go now and then. Smell the roses, enjoy what it. Take a day out, not ticking things off lists, not improving anything. Just being. We could have considerably more smoother sailing in our lives and businesses than we allow ourselves. Basic mindset techniques are brilliant to learn and apply, and one of the core ones is that what you focus on, you get more of. And because we’re so ABLE to fix problems, we focus on them and get a kick out of solving them. While simultaneously, a lot of smooth sailing was available to us in that same moment. But we didn’t look that … More Smooth sailing »

Mud on your shoes

Posted on Categories Blog, Life skills, Perspective

Do your feet feel stuck in the mud? Wanting to get traction but it’s not really happening? Or you’re actually good to go, but everyone around you seems stuck in the mud? If you’re happy as a pig in mud, all good. But if you’re ready for change, allow yourself to reach for a new thought. New inspiration. A new person to talk to. A new type of book to read. A new kind of music to listen to. Our brains are really simple –  they can’t have two thoughts at one time. So, if you want to get out of the mud, reach for ANY new thought that takes you somewhere new. Mud baths are great and it’s healthy to allow ourselves to sit with our thoughts and accept we are as we are, and that things are as they are. If you get to a point where you want to get out of the mud, change your thought. Reach for the most positive thought available to you at that moment. That’s a great start. Then when you’re ready, hose down those muddy shoes – leave them to dry and try with some good, nourishing shoe polish. Your steps … More Mud on your shoes »

Didn’t you like the flowers??!!

Posted on Categories Blog, Leadership, Power of Language

When we pick a flower from our garden and put it in a vase, it seems like a great idea at the time, but it may be short-lived compared to leaving it growing in its habitat: with roots and stems and its foundation intact, it can blossom for weeks or months in some cases. This reminded me of how we give feedback. Ideally, it should be more feedforward than feedback. Sharing an observation that brings value to the receiver going forward. In their habitat. Just like giving flowers should be choosing the bouquet that the receiver likes. But just like the flower taken from its habitat, our well-intended feedback can be given out of context. We may think it’s giving a rose, a flower, a gift of insight from us to them. But, that short-lived, picked flower from us needs to make sense and fit into the receiver’s habitat, their roots, their stems, their foundation. Do you recognise how we sometimes throw a comment or “feedback” to someone else as we race into the next meeting? As it leaves our mind and mouth, we’re normally done, then “that’s out of the way”, maybe it even felt good and powerful to … More Didn’t you like the flowers??!! »

Leading with noise-reduction-headphones??

Posted on Categories Blog, Impact, Leadership, Sales

Months ago, in (yet another) thunderstorm we lost our electricity (again!) – and the electrical curtains we have up high started beeping, telling us they had lost connection. Well, that noise would stop a normal night’s good sleep, so we pulled out our noise-reduction headphones. They worked a treat for a good night’s sleep – just like they help with their main purpose of easing long-haul-double-flights to Denmark. Having been totally cut off from the surroundings (audibly), made me fascinated the next morning: try noticing what we actually HEAR versus what is a reaction to impact. For example, if you tip-toe up the stairs, I wouldn’t hear it through my blocking-out-sound-equipment. But if you stomped with power and thumping heels, even I still couldn’t HEAR you, I would sense the vibration in the floor and the possible agitation. It made me wonder: what else are we actually only HEARING – vs taking it in via a combination of our senses and emotions? And how does this relate to your business, sales, and leadership?? We’re all cogs in a wheel – it’s all connected. Even if one department put on their mental noise-reduction-headphones and get on with things, their actions and … More Leading with noise-reduction-headphones?? »

Jeg kan selv!!

Posted on Categories Blog, Leadership, Life skills

Spoken like a 3-year-old. Not wanting help. I can do this on my own. I WANT to do it on my own. I don’t need anybody to help me. Isn’t it fascinating how that’s still our behaviour decades later, as leaders, parents, friends and human beings? Some of us want to prove we can do it ourselves. Others feel embarrassed to ask for help. No matter what, here’s the thing: we CAN do it all ourselves. But letting go of that old pattern and allowing others to add their part might just be worth a try. Personally, I’ll give myself the challenge: to swap “jeg kan selv” with “let’s do it together”. Do you want to join?

I’m so over it

Posted on Categories Blog, Perspective

Watching myself on a screen. Not since my teen years have I been looking that much at myself. Any of you out there who’ve “had enough of yourself”?? The activities that used to include face-to-face contact – choir, business meetings and networking, soccer matches and team training – were mainly me looking at other people. And not even watching as such, more being present while being aware of others around you. Aware of my physical presence but the focus was on the others! Can you image a soccer match or a choir rehearsal where you sat looking someone in the eye for the whole time? And simultaneously kept staring at your own reflection? Not really. Yet, our reality the last months has meant gallery view reality. Looking at boxes of people, observing them present or tuned out, glancing across gallery windows acknowledging all, making all feel included, being aware of everyone including constantly keeping an eye on my own presence and presentation. One day I realised that I was over it. Done looking at myself, being so aware of my gallery box. As a teenager, the mirror was the constant confidant, checking out my nose, my legs, everything. And before … More I’m so over it »

Stacking stones

Posted on Categories Blog, Impact, Leadership, Life skills

Do you know this game? Where you create stone stacks of a minimum of 7 stones. I did a few on my bush jog last weekend and it reminded me of how we can become too daring, try stacking too much. Now link it to today being Mother’s Day. Where we give and expect to receive gifts and attention. How is this related, you ask? Well, as I turned to find stones for the third stack, the first one tumbled. Sometimes the stone stacks tumble because of wind. Sometimes because a bird lands on them. It’s very seldom because we push them over ourselves. And here is the thing: you were the one that stacked it. The one that chose the stones to be used. Went back a few steps if you weren’t sure you had made the right decision. And gave full throttle when you were on a roll and it was moving easily and effortlessly. What you’re experiencing right now, whether you’re the observing or receiving part, be it Mother’s Day or your business results: you are the one who stacked the stones to what it looks like right now. Enjoy and accept the choices you’ve made. Be … More Stacking stones »