How to Process Old ‘Stuff’

Posted on May 15, 2018 Posted in Gay Landeta, Personal Development Leave a comment

Here we are at another powerful New Moon – have you noticed old stuff coming up? Hidden fears and almost forgotten painful experiences that you thought you had processed? Maybe they are coming up in your dreams – or perhaps you are finding yourself triggered by a book you are reading or in a conversation you are having…

There is no doubt we are created as ‘works in progress’, our learning and growth will never be complete – and that is how it should be – so when old stuff comes up it offers us the opportunity to gather new wisdom.

But what about old trauma and difficult times – when do we stop processing and start moving on? When it no longer holds us. When we learn enough from an experience to know that we are no longer defined by it. And when we learn so well from the experience that it will NEVER happen again. That is what our in-built safety system needs to know to release us from the past.

A Full Moon is a time to let go – but a New Moon is a perfect time to welcome in the new, gathered from the wisdom that has been gained from the past. Instead of avoiding that old painful stuff, leave it in the past by deciding to focus on the positive things you have learnt from it.

Grab a pen and paper and ask yourself :

- - What changes have I made or can I make that will help me know that it will never happen again? (These might be appraching things differently or thinking about things differently. They may be about knowing that you are older now and just know better. They may be about knowing you simply make better decisions for a myriad of reasons.)

- - What new insights do I need to deeply connect to and absolutely believe about myself or about the world? (These may be that you are good enough as you are, or that you deserve respect and consideration. They may be that the majority of people are good or that life is challenging at times but those times to pass. Dig into to see what makes you feel safe.)

- - What re-frames do I need to make? (How can you change your perspective to see it in a different light?)

- - How can I grow from that old experience? (Is there any other learnings or wisdom to be gained from hanging on to it?)

Then work with these to make them your truths.

Call me if are having trouble identifying or integrating these – sometimes an outside perspective is needed to see things differently – or some kinesiology to help let them go. Call me on 0418 795 135 or book in a session in my on-line calendar

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More on Finding Meaning

Posted on May 2, 2018 Posted in Gay Landeta, Personal Development, Relationships & Self Growth Leave a comment

Meaning is something we all crave in our life. But finding it in our everyday lives can be difficult. A beautiful way to connect with what is meaningful is to create a photo journal. This process takes us out of our everyday and helps us to connect with and remember what really matters to us.

For 30 days take a picture every day of something that means something to you. It might be your child, a leaf, a building, anything. Print it out – this step is important as our phones and social media are stuffed full of photos we forget almost immediately. Then put it in a beautiful journal and write a few (or lots) of words about why this photo is meaningful to you.

You will end up with a snapshot of a month of your life. The significant and insignificant moments and the ups and possibly downs of this moment in time. This is a beautiful item to keep and reflect on, share with your children or hand down in your family.

As a bonus, by the end of the month you will find you will be looking at things differently. The process of looking at your surrounds with the intention to find meaning will change how you see things. You will start seeing the quiet moments of meaning in the everyday. Life will feel more meaningful simply by doing this process. So if you are searching for a little more meaning in your life try devoting the next 30 days to playing with this process. everyday meaning

Remember, as Jean-Paul Sartre said “We are our choices.” Make yours to create the life you want to live!

Finding Meaning In The Everyday

Posted on April 24, 2018 Posted in Create your Business!, Gay Landeta, Hints & Tips for Creating & Goal Setting, Personal Development Leave a comment

Aside from the beauty of this time of year; the seasonal change and Mercury retrograde is ushering in a time to rethink who we are and where we are going. This always brings up the concept of meaning in our life. meaning

As with many of you, my sweet spot is the balance between being and doing. Too much doing and I get caught up in the world of achievements. I start adding more and more onto my plate. Too much being and I loose motivation and get bored. As balance can never be static that fine line is the one I work with walking each day.

One of the things I find works to help keep me on track and maintaining my balance is working with 3 (only) achievable goals each month. This keeps my focus but stops me from getting into overwhelm. Choosing only 3 means that I must prioritise those that relate most directly to my bigger vision for my life. One, at least, will be personal and they all will have meaning to me.

I teach this process to my business mentoring clients and inside my Life Mastery Process but there are also other tools that I recommend – and I am always on the look out for new ideas. Last year I watched ‘Best Self Journal’ move from kickstarter to one million in sales in only a few months. It looked an amazing planning system. However I already have a system that includes a gratitude and reflection planning diary, Trello (online) for my Master To Do’s and reminders and notes for stuff so I really didn’t want to add something else. But I did mention it to several clients who I thought might gel with it.

One client recently came back saying that she had a wonderful period using it – and gifted me with one. Wow! Perfect timing to try it out this quarter! I am using it and am really impressed. The psychological processes it uses to induce positivity, motivation and habit change are magic.

The ‘Best Self” process of identifying 3 quarterly projects that are part of your big picture obviously fits with my own process. In the BSJ process you next break these down into 3 actions or steps that need to be achieved this quarter. This is great as you reallly have to start thinking how you are going to make that happen. And then each action into 3 tasks, which may be an action or a habit change. In the end you have identified 9 items to focus on over over 13 weeks. Everything must be achievable and measurable, ie you know when they are done, kind of tasks (rather than an overall intention).

Next you write a commitment to doing them – double checking that they can be done in the time frame no matter what! And your why – for motivation. You then plan a celebration for when you do it. We are often not very good about celebrating our successes unless they are a major achievement. In this process you are celebrating the milestones along the way which is a good sound psychological process.

Weekly you track your tasks and changing habits and reflect on your progress. Daily you spend a few minutes in the morning (really only a few minutes) setting yourself up to ‘win the day’ (BestSelf’s big call to action!) In the evening you spend a few more minutes reflecting on your wins and lessons learnt with a bit more gratitude for balance.

I really enjoy the regular positive reflection and the tiny steps to a big goal. Mine lives on my bedside table as a journal rather than with me as a diary and I find new insights each day. Some of them are ,glaringly obvious but until I had not seen them. Using this minimalist morning and evening reflection process means they became obvious. I really like this as a process of positive personal growth and can see it is infinitely adjustable no matter if you are a super high powered exec or someone who just likes experimenting with finding your own best self and finding meaning in the everyday.

Martin Seligmen (a guru in the positive psychology area) considers that our meaning comes from belonging to and serving something beyond ourself and from developing the best from within ourself. Choosing this type of reflective journalling as a daily practice will really help align yourself with this concept, bringing in more meaning to your everyday and a sense of accomplishment even with day to day tasks.

… love to hear how you go …..

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Change and all that …

Posted on February 15, 2018 Posted in Gay Landeta, Personal Development, Relationships & Self Growth Leave a comment

An eclipse is a time to reset … as the full moon (which signifies our past and all we need to let go) is obscured we get the chance to reset. Then, once the moon reappears, we need to do the work to make that reset concrete.

While magic happens and things can change in an instant, keeping it real involves putting energy into the new positive patterns. As we sit in the ‘Eclipse Season’ these next few months offer a huge opportunity for growth as we redefine our lives in alignment with our insights of who we are and where we need to be. I thought I would share my experience of the eclipse as the next stage of the season, the Solar Eclipse is upon us – which may offer us just a bit more challenge.

As the eclipse last month neared, I was waiting to see how the moon would affect me. I find I am one of those affected quite strongly by the moon cycles. I was feeling wakeful and wild (an old pattern of non-sleeping / non-balance) in the night or so before the eclipse and then I returned to my (now) normal sleeping pattern as the moon progressed into the eclipse. I felt very at peace during the eclipse.

The evening after the eclipse was the Q&A for my Confident Practitioner Program. I look forward to it every week and I was especially excited as we had some new members. And then the technology challenges hit, time, internet, computer…. you name it. I was a frazzled little bee.

Of course I know I ‘should’ just accept it, it was a bit of residual full moon craziness and certainly not a reflection of a usual week or the work I do. But as enlightenment is still eons away I went home caught in a negative spiral of frustration and annoyance aimed directly at myself.

However this year my guiding word is ‘contentment’. I reflect on that seed thought regularly and use the concept as an intention in my yoga and meditation practices. As a result I notice quite quickly when I have forgotten and instead am sitting in a little puddle of discontent.

That night was a perfect opportunity to work with reinforcing the positive pattern of contentment instead of the internal misery delivered by the demon of self judgement. I also knew that I had to resolve it otherwise, as with any guilt and blame process, it would eventually turn outwards and I would end up feeling even worse.

As a bonus I know that every time we shift perspective from anger or judgmental or any type of negative thought to a kinder place we build a stronger self worth and a stronger connection to the best part of ourself, so the motivation for letting it go was was strong. But was it possible to just stop thinking like that? Of course not. Like the elephant in the room our internal demons demand attention. They are powerful beings who know how to bring us down. Difficult thoughts need to be externalised to diminish their power and often there is a wisdom buried within them, simply pushing them away means we miss an opportunity to grow. They will return until we ‘get it’.

I used a process to externalise the demons and help reset and banish those unwanted thoughts. I was able to find the wisdom within them, This is the process I thought I would share with you that may help you deal with any old demons you are in the process of banishing.

When those old demons take over most of us get pretty annoyed at ourselves. Then we are annoyed that we are annoyed and can end up feeling pretty hopeless – it even starts to feel that no matter how much work we do we will never get anywhere. So on top of berating ourself for the original transgression, we berate ourself for berating ourself for berating ourself. What a cycle!

To stop it I took myself to task. But in a caring parent way. In a kind teacher way. In a good managerial way. Using a gestalt type process I asked “So Gay, what happened there?” “Well, I thought I was really prepared but I wasn’t, this went wrong and then I did that wrong and then blah blah blah.” Excuses, guilt and embarrassment all came up. Like a little kid – but but but.

Once I had got that out (and it felt good to get it out without the internal judge and jury pronouncing sentence!), I then asked myself “So Gay, obviously this can’t happen again, what are we going to do about it?” And I came up with a set of processes that will take care of most of what went wrong and the rest, well, those will be things outside my control! I felt better and slept well, instead of the old pattern of being awake all night stressing about the situation.

You can try this process anytime you are berating yourself about something that you felt you should have known better about. Externalising your thoughts with kindness, rather than listening to your demons or shutting them down with distractions will help you develop the skill of observing and guiding your life instead of getting caught in the emotional sea. It doesn’t mean you won’t have emotions, it just means you don’t get as lost in the sea unable to sort things out.

This strategy means you step up into a meta position and can look at a situation from a higher perspective and can be used in any aspect of your life. It can be a written or verbal process and can produce profound results. Start by choosing your observer / facilitator roles, for example if it was a business thing – be the best kind of manager. If it was a personal thing – be your own loving and caring parent and teacher.

In this role don’t berate yourself. Ask thoughtful questions, allow venting (excuses, anger, sadness, etc ) and then be interested in finding workable positive solutions. Just like an excellent manager or loving parent. Once you figure them out do your best to put them into place and move on. Spend less time agonising and stressing and just accept that perfection is impossible! <Sigh>

You can do it in a gestalt way – out loud – even moving from chair to chair or you can write it out. Naming each role and taking each side, responding in turn until a solution is found. And then put it into action.

You want to continue until you come to peace with yourself about the situation and (if possible) have a positive workable solution.

The reality is you will probably forget to do this when you are caught in a wild emotional sea. If it sounds interesting, play with it when you do something you are a little bit annoyed about. “Oh I forgot to take my lunch again!”

Instead of being annoyed, calling your self names or moving straight to yet another solution that won’t work explore it. “So what happened here” “I forgot the food, I am such an idiot, it’s such a waste and anyway if the kids just were more organised it would be fine … “ whatever comes up allow it to be and then, once the excuses and guilt and blame are done “What can we try that might work better” and see what comes up. You might well receive a really useful insight about what you can do differently once the emotional charge has been recognised and resolved.

NOTE, this article is intended to provide information and does not replace or substitute for any professional or medical advice. Please seek external help if your thoughts are impacting you on a day to day basis. Learning to manage them is not impossible but your best results will come with expert help, your GP or local mental health hotline can guide you. If you have thoughts of harm towards yourself or others please seek immediate help.

A question, do you run your practice like a business? If not why not?

Posted on October 29, 2017 Posted in Create your Business!, Gay Landeta 2 Comments

By Gay Landeta

Did you know staying in hobby mode after you are ready to make something you love your livelihood is one of the ways practitioners and other heart centred entrepreneurs sabotage their work getting out there?

Here are a 4 keys to stop having a hobby and start creating a business:

1.Schedule time for your business. Don’t just fit it in. Create the space for it, even if you don’t have any clients to see. By space I mean the physical, mental and emotional space as well as a defined time in your schedule. And then, in that space, work on your business. Create plans, develop intentions, think about marketing, design brochures, write materials, do anything that is related to your business to officially claim that space as your time to connect to your clients. Then, once your preparations are working you will easily transition into filling that time with clients.

2.Look at your business as a business, what is not working? Don’t get caught up in your emotions at this point, feeling bad or inadequate. It is as it is. Your work may be your love but if you really want to make a living out of it, getting it out there is simply business. Business you can do with love and care and ethics, but business all the same.

3.Check into any mindsets that you may have around business or money and do work on them. Everyday if you need to. This is the personal growth that is required to step up anywhere in our life! You can do it, don’t let what others are doing intimidate you, do the work and become more of who you truly are and step into your power.

4.Once you know what is not working make the plan to fix it. Then do it. Action is the only key to this. If you don’t know how then find someone who does. This is not the time to ask friends or others who are struggling, they don’t know the answers either. You want someone who knows what you don’t to short cut your journey to success. Be brave and claim what is yours. Don’t try for perfection – that will NEVER happen except in your dreams. Just give it a go.

If you are a therapist, practitoner or other heart centred consultant and are looking for more tips on how to create a business you love click here and register for my on-line class to learn how to get more clients and make more money in your practice while remaining true to yourself. You owe it to yourself! ; )

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Mindfulness In A Busy Life

Posted on April 4, 2017 Posted in Gay Landeta, Hints & Tips for Creating & Goal Setting, Holistic Health, Personal Development, Relationships & Self Growth Leave a comment

In these busy times it certainly seems we have to make a decision to not be busy all the time and to become actively mindful and create space in our lives – otherwise the madness continues. This slowing down is much more difficult that it sounds though.

For me this concept is always a problem, I get bored quite easily and excited by new ideas (as anyone who knows me knows!) So this year I am practicing mindfulness by making choices with even more care for the consequences than ever before. I have long had to accept that, as the eternal optimist, I expect I can get twice as much done than I actually can – which leads to that overwhelming situation of having way too much to do and no time to do it. Which I hate.

To maintain a balance I need to be aware that when I choose to take on something new I must accept that, as I am already quite busy, other things will go by the wayside no matter how much I wish they didn’t. While this seems obvious, how many of us put our hands up or accept more to do without taking time out to consider the reality of what we are being asked, or asking of, ourself.

It is true – busy people get more done. And I know I stay focused and get more done when I have a bit on the go. But I know when I have too much on my plate my sense of synchronicity and flow disappears and I start feeling stressed and rushed – and if I keep up the craziness it eventually aggravates old injuries and gives me an awful pain in the neck. How fitting.

For someone with an auto-immune condition it may mean a flare up of their physical condition, for others it may be a susceptibility to anything that is going around, digestive issues or a lack of libido. All sorts of 21st century challenges such as road rage or even just general irritability can be a product of too much going on. Stress will always show up in our chink to let us know it is time to slow down.

By being more accountable for how much I can actually do and recognising the impact it will have on me, my work, my loved ones and my life is a way to learn from these challenges and create more balanced and a happier life – instead of just adding more things to an impossible list! In the end the chink will very often fix itself once we accept the learning it offers. <hear that neck lol!>

Of course listening creates its own problems! Firstly we have to accept the challenge of being mindful and creating the space to listen. We often have so much banked up that it seems impossible to stop, let alone listen to an idea that we are doing too much. How many times two we say, “I’ll just get this done and then I will stop” …. but the reality is, if we needed to, just about anything would be dropped in an emergency. So the first step is decluttering our life (not just our homes).

Next, once we have the space we need to learn to relax in it. A busy person often craves space but when it is created just schedules in a pile of outstanding todo’s from the ‘should’ pile. Or creates a new project. And so they are busy-busy once again. Learning to relax and follow the flow is a great way to get your mojo back and re-discover what is important to you.

Did you know that once you take enough time really doing nothing you will reconnect with the deeper part of yourself. That will include the motivation to do some of those items that have been on the list for some time. And as for some of the other items – well you realise you really don’t care and can delete them.

This actually works for everyone, the challenge is stepping through the beliefs that keep us feeling that busy = productive = successful. We often believe that if we aren’t busy we aren’t worthwhile or that un-finished projects reflect a flawed personality. We may have to accept that our super power is in fact in learning to relax and stretch into time without anxiety instead of squeezing time into an impossible schedule.

So enjoy some quiet time – Easter is nearly upon us and what better space than that to stop. Allow those busy demons to tell you to get a move on and listen to the madness they are preaching – often the quieter you get the more things they think of to get you to do! But not reacting means they will eventually quiet down and you can take satisfaction from telling them to chill!

Happy Easter!

Gay Landeta is a busy coach, counsellor and kinesiologist in Brisbane, Australia who has chosen a part time tree change to learn all about slowing down, growing veggies and making art.

Create A Successful Business Part 3

Posted on March 14, 2017 Posted in Create your Business!, Gay Landeta Leave a comment

This is part 3 in the series Create a Successful Business which explores the 5 foundations we dig deeply into with the Marketing with Heart Program, either On-line or in person.

This article focuses on your marketing language, getting this right is essential to getting more clients. So grab your pen and paper and read on….

Moving onto your second foundation, Your Offer, is the heart of what you do and Your Branding which is how others perceive you. You may not have reflected too deeply on this in the past, especially if your business has evolved from a passion. You may simply be offering your services the way you think you should. However by brainstorming this topic you might be surprised by how it helps both your clients and your business – you can follow this link to find out more.

Next it is time to think about your niche – who you serve and how you can speak directly to them. This is where you need to learn the game of marketing – how to share what you do in a way that your perfect clients can understand. You have already identified your perfect clients, you know how they think – so have a look at your exisiting materials from their perspective and see if your materials actually speak to them.

Usually we just talk at our potential clients – not engage them in a conversation that they care about. You know, “I do this and this and I can achieve all of this and this for you.” That may be all very well but are they actually looking for ALL of that? Or are they simply looking for someone who can solve their problem? Even if they are looking for the modality or service that you offer, you will still need to educate them about why you are actually the perfect person for them through your USP.

Your USP (Unique Selling Point) clearly shows who you are and why you are perfect for your perfect clients. These are your unique qualities, usually 2 or 3, that ensure you stand out from the crowd.

This is something to take the time to get clear about, but even if you are a new practitioner there will still be 2 or 3 qualities that define the way you work. This may include things like education, interest, experience, wisdom, even the area you work in or the hours you are available. Ask people you know or existing happy clients and find out why they like working with you. And then don’t be shy about sharing it. Discerning your USP is the golden nugget you need to share in all your marketing.

Always speak to your potential perfect client about their problem, let them know how you can help them with that. Stay focused on the solutions you offer rather than educating them about what you do. Practitioners, especially, get carried away with educating their potential clients about what their modality can achieve for their clients. This is because many practitioners have had amazing results with their modality and want to convince everyone that it is the answer. Don’t fall into that trap! They are not yet ready to be sold on your skills.

In reality we need to wait until our potential client is interested in who we are and the solutions we offer BEFORE educating them about how we get those results. They may not actually even be looking for what we do, but if we have the solution they are looking for they may well give us a try. Telling them too much too early about the details of your work may put them off coming to see you. Focus on them.

Finally, when you share about yourself, share the person they will be working with, rather than just a listing all your credentials. Don’t get me wrong, excellent training and experience is essential (and may form the crux of your USP) but listing it in the expectation that it is enough can just feel too clinical and impersonal.

Help people feel connected to you through your marketing materials. If you have put part 1 and 2 of this series into place they will already see you as a professional. Share the outcomes you get for your clients – this is the person they will be working with – in your materials and then just add the list of credentials at the end of your bio to reinforce all you have already put into place.

Next time we will look more about reaching your perfect clients, in the meantime if you want to find out more about my program or working with me register for my free on-line class . Marketing ourselves is a difficult thing to do and a successful approach is often a very strange process. I can help you not only learn how to do it but how to do it effortlessly so you can reach more of your perfect clients and create more abundance in your life.

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Create a Successful Business pt 2

Posted on December 23, 2016 Posted in Create your Business!, Gay Landeta Leave a comment

Create a Successful Business pt 2

This is part 2 in the series Create a Successful Business which explores the 5 foundations we dig deeply into with the Marketing with Heart Program, either On-line or in person.

Once you have developed your Guiding Star, which is the first of the 5 foundations you need for a long term successful business you will begin to have the clarity you need to define your branding and refine your offer. I say begin because this will always be a WIP (work in progress), the joy of having your own business is that it can shift and change as you do, but that needs to happen within clear boundaries otherwise things can get messy. (You can follow this link to part 1 if you need some help developing your vision.)

Moving onto your second foundation, Your Offer, this is the heart of what you do. You may not have reflected too deeply on this especially if your business has evolved from a passion. You may simply be offering your services the way you think you should. However by grabbing a pen and paper and brainstorming this topic you might be surprised by how it helps both your clients and your business.

Start by thinking about who exactly are your perfect clients? Describe them in detail, really get to know them, what they desire and what keeps them up at night. This is the only way you can make sure that what you offer them will work for them. Think about what the benefits of your work is for them, how your work will help them. We often get caught up in all the features or the cleverness of what we do, but it is the outcome that matters.

Once you are clear about how you can serve those beautiful people or businesses you want to serve you can start to figure out how they can find you. To stand out in crowd and look professional you need to consider the third foundation, Your Brand.

Branding is one of those areas that many people focus on first. Name, logo, colours, design … The fun arty stuff. It often feels like the first step in starting a business but can instead become a frustrating project, taking up time and resulting in something that doesn’t really authentically reflect your business. (Interesting aside, this may vary from your own, personal authenticity).

Taking time to reflect first on Your Guiding Start and Your Offer will inform the creation of your branding and will mean that you end up with something that authentically reflects you and your work, avoiding an expensive do-over down the track. Important when you consider this will be reflecting who you are for years to come!

What is Branding really? Your professional face. The way people can identify you and how you can stand out from the crowd to your perfect client. Once you create your professional face it should feel congruent all the way from the name and logo to your website and stationary and into your office and even the way you dress and work with people. Imagine wanting a massage, perhaps you have a sports injury and want a remedial massage but you also want it to be relaxing so you google and find someone who seems to offer a spa sort of environment and seems well qualified in remedial massage as well. Score!

You arrive and it is bit tatty on the outside but you don’t worry too much, that is just the outside. You go inside, expecting candles and quiet spa music and instead there is row of chairs with several well thumbed ’Who Weekly’s to read. You might start to feel a little concerned but you hurt and you want that massage and the therapists credentials looked pretty good so you sit down to wait.

Then out comes someone who doesn’t look much like the inviting picture you saw on the net, dressed in a pair of board-shorts and a t-shirt, hair still crusty from a morning surf …. Maybe the website said they had excellent qualifications and you love the beach yourself however you may well be starting to feel a little uncomfortable….

By this time some of you will already have left the building, but many will stay and give it a go, you hurt and are already here. If the massage is brilliant or you live in a place with few options you may well be sold, however if anything is much less than perfect you probably won’t go back.

If instead everything had been congruent from the spa logo and language on the website to the signage and frontage, to the waiting room and therapists appearance you would be more open to the experience, more forgiving of anything less that 110% perfect (who’s perfect anyway – really!) and more likely to go back. Maybe for years.

There is nothing wrong with being a surfer massage therapist or a clinical remedial therapist. Working in a quiet luxury spa or in a funky shack or anything at all, as long as you can identify your perfect clients and that when they find you, they can see that you are exactly what they are looking for!

Consider your logo as the face of all that you do. If you have designed it yourself get a professional graphic designer to have a look or tidy it up to make sure it will translate into all mediums. (Just Google logo bloopers to see some great blunders!).

Think about what it is you want it to reflect, decide on your colours and how you want things to look and keep that congruent over every medium you do. Don’t swap and change to be more creative on every brochure, it makes it hard to recognise you. A professional can also help you get templates in place so that your congruency is across all your stationary as well. The investment is worth it!

Next time we will explore the language you need to master to get great results in your marketing. If you want more info in the meantime have a look at my on-line program or feel free to contact me about how I might be able to support you to grow your business.

Happy Holiday Relationships

Posted on December 23, 2016 Posted in Gay Landeta, Personal Development, Relationships & Self Growth Leave a comment

Holiday times … lots of fun for many, but oh so difficult for others, often because of complicated celebration arrangements or a breakdown of communication with friends or family.

In these busy times it is hard to have the space to deal with difficult emotions so instead we often just put them out of our mind. Then along comes a holiday with the invitations and expectations and everything comes up, the intensity often taking us by surprise. Often there is a particular relationship at the core of our pain and we wonder if it is really worth it? Do we really want to bother? This calls to mind a dear friend of mine’s re-jig of a quote by Patti Smith about literature ‘magnifying your spirit’.

My friends re-jig was about ‘relationships expanding your spirit’ and her question is “Does this relationship expand your spirit?”. I though it was a wonderful one to ask ourselves about the tricky people in our lives. Expanding our spirit is about growing, becoming a better person, feeling light and free.

Perhaps someone challenges you. Perhaps you have to learn new ways to communicate to build a relationship with them, expand your compassionate heart to accept them for who they are and to accept parts of yourself that are less than attractive. You may not feel light and free but the gifts they are teaching you will help you connect more deeply with who you truly are which will, in turn help you become lighter and more free. These are truly our Zen Masters, helping us to enlightenment.

Other times those that challenge us just make us smaller. Perhaps if we were ‘a better person’ we could grow but we can’t and so we beat ourselves up. Therein lies the problem! These people are perhaps not expanding our soul. Maybe we just need to bless them and let them go, at least for the moment, giving ourself the opportunity to regroup, to lighten up and expand again.

Perhaps we can re-enter a relationship with them in the future but we need to, at the very least, develop better tools to maintain ourself in our centre while we engage in that relationship. If we can’t, and if we and the other person just cannot come together perhaps it is time to learn the art of letting go with love.

If we can do that there is forgiveness in even the most difficult of
relationships. And in that forgiveness expansion.

I wish you a holiday experience that brings you peace and joy and love. And a beautiful and amazing 2017.

Gay Landeta Kinesiologist

Create Your Business – leadership and management for any size business

Posted on November 2, 2016 Posted in Create your Business!, Gay Landeta Leave a comment

A successful, sustainable business, regardless of its size, requires clear direction, good management, solid systems for administration, good marketing and *great service.

As a working business owner you need to ensure all these are in place – whether you are a solopreneur or have multiple staff.

And as an employer, you will have the additional challenge of creating a culture of happy empowered employees who are interested in the success of your business. This interest depends on solid management and clear leadership.

Management and leadership are actually two distinct skill sets. Spending the time to understand each of these roles will help you to achieve your business outcomes and create the foundations for future growth regardless of the size of your business.

Firstly – Leadership.

As the leader you are responsible for innovation, you need to have a clear picture of the vision, mission and goals for your business. Writing (or drawing) it out helps to clarify what you know and what you need to explore further.

(Often we think we are clear and don’t need to write things down; that writing things down might somehow damage the creativity or the beautiful big picture. This feels true because until it is written down it is still a daydream, the process of writing down the details of your vision will take it from a daydream fantasy into a potential reality that you can create.)

It is important to clarify and explore the missing details but, even more importantly, you need to find out what you don’t know that you don’t know! These are the missing links that you cannot see yourself. This is not the ‘how’s’, at this stage you are still staying with the big picture. However, to make sure you have considered everything find someone you trust who can ask the hard questions related to your vision. Make sure you choose someone who has some relevant expertise, this is the time you need a critiquing eye not a raving fan!

As a leader you don’t need to get into the how’s. Leadership is not about figuring out how to make things happen, leadership is about getting clear about the big picture and then being able to sell the ticket, to your staff and, even more importantly, to yourself! Once everyone involved has ‘bought into’ your big picture any decision making will stay in alignment with your vision, goals and mission.

Management.

The manager is responsible for taking the vision and making it happen. A manager’s job is to ensure that what must be done today is done in a timely, effective and profitable way. The manager takes care of the ‘how’s’.

If you hold both roles then take the time to switch hats between when you are leading and when you are managing. As a leader you will want your big picture, idealistic and optimistic hat on. You will want to see the distant shore and trust that you can make it.

As a manager you will need your realist hat on, you will need to see how rough the seas are, what debris there is in the water that you may need to negotiate around and whether your sails are big enough to get you there or what help you will need.

By seeing these two roles as separate you will gain the benefit of becoming the observer, an emotionally resilient position to hold in your business. You will also start to identify if you are by nature a leader or a manager. Which of these roles feels more comfortable? Holding the helm or looking out for potential challenges? If you are by nature a leader one of the first steps you may take, once your business is sustainable, is to employ a manager.

Once you employ a manager you must decide what their level of accountability is. As a small business owner it is common to have difficulty letting go of control, however your managing staff must have the level of responsibility they need and be empowered to make the decisions required to bring your vision into reality.

At the same time, as the owner / leader, you must identify and clearly request the reporting you need, for accountability, peace of mind and to supply the information you need to continue to lead the way.

Management accountability can include (but is not limited to): financial management, marketing, administration, human resources / staff management, etc. Clarify what are the decisions that need to be made in each area and who holds that responsibility. At what point do decisions need to be moved up the ladder?

– Financial concerns: To effectively manage you need to know what turnover, gross and net profit is required to achieve the vision. There needs to be a cash flow budget, contingency plans and actual progress to date. Who is responsible for what? What sales or client acquisition targets are required? What turnover? How much expenditure is expected?

While these concepts may not feel relevant to a someone just starting out on their own, exploring these ideas with your managers hat on will help your business become more quickly sustainable and more fun to own. By being accountable you set the bar, and by setting the bar you set your energy and intentions which, in turn, will help you create your ideal business.

– Marketing: Every business markets itself, even if it is just by word of mouth. Whatever your strategies are in this area you need to be clear about how it will help you to achieve your vision. You will also need to consider how much time, money and energy you need to devote to this to ensure your success and what outside support you need. Who makes what $value decision and who has the final say will be some of those considerations.

– Administration: Your administration department is best run with very clear systems in place for data management, record keeping, customer service, etc. It is the manager’s job to make sure these are working efficiently. If you have staff in these areas they may be able to suggest better ways of doing things.

If you are leader, manager and staff all in one, creating these systems is the first step in being able to outsource them, well worth the time it takes to document.

– Staff Management or Human Resources: How can you keep your staff happy and motivated? Communication is essential here. Often little things, like more autonomy and more thanks go a long way. Ownership of outcome is often a great incentive so consider tangible targets and reward systems. And, again if you are a one person band what will keep you loving working for you?

To be honest, many small businesses and self employed people don’t bother to do this. Some people enjoy the chaos of not knowing what is happening next and prioritising by emergency. Some people don’t know how to do it or don’t think it is important. But successful businesses all consider these concepts no matter how big they are.

If you are looking for a more peaceful way of operating that allows the space for growth then start working from the big picture down. It will help you to keep stepping forward with confidence, open to innovation and new opportunities.

To find out more about this tip feel free to email me at create@gaylandeta.com.au

Create a Successful Business pt 2

A successful, sustainable business, regardless of its size, requires *clear direction, *good management, *solid systems for administration, *good marketing and *great service.

Firstly – Leadership.

Management.

A successful, sustainable business, regardless of its size, requires clear direction, good management, solid systems for administration, good marketing and *great service.