A mystery Careers Adviser has made another random appearance on the London to Norwich train from Liverpool Street Station.  The woman characterised by her striking red shoes and cheery nature, gave a copy of a ‘magic’ book to one of the commuters. 

Tom Tindall-Heart - Reinsurance Executive who works in London boarded the train home from Platform 18 at Liverpool St Station, after a night out with a few friends.  “I was a little worse for wear after a few drinks and I sat next to a very striking looking girl wearing the most amazing shoes!  I got talking to her about my job and how much I hated it, and ended up more or less telling her my life story.  She was so nice.  My heart just isn’t in my job any more.  I’ve been meaning to sort something out but just coulnd’t see the wood for the trees.  I’ve in a bit of a rut to be honest. 

I don’t quite know where she blew in from but she hopped off the train at Chelmsford - but not before she handed me a copy of a book “Discover Yourself On the Yellow Brick Road” and told me to read it straight away.  I took her advice and it’s definitely galvanised me into action!”

Other reports have come in describing similar brief encounters with the Mystery Careers Adviser.  One such person received help after her boss began to bully her at work.

Louisa Lyons - Graduate Accountant was on the London Underground talking to her sister about her bullying boss.  Louisa explains…”Yes my sister knows The Mystery Careers Adviser who told her about this book.  I was fed up with my boss pouring cold water over my ideas, and had frankly had enough of it.  My boss  ’The Witch’ has been ruining my life, so my sister suggested I get hold of a copy of this book.   My confidence was at an all time low, but I didn’t feel brave enough to stand up to her.  Yes, I know you can’t just wave a magic wand and hope it will all go away, but since ”Discover” I’ve had a bit of a breakthrough.    The Mystery Careers Adviser carries a little black dog around with her in a basket and is a real people person apparently”

Another sighting we’ve received came from Dan “Scarecrow” Burnside who lives somewhere in the South East.  He heard about her through his Doctor.

Dan - Successful Entrepreneur, visited his GP suffering with chronic stress.  “The penny dropped when my Doctor said I had to come off all the pills he’d prescribed to me.  All he did was hand me a copy of a book - which had mysteriously found it’s way into his hands.  I can only think that the Mystery Careers Adviser had something to do with it.  It was hard to admit that I have been the engineer of my own downfall.  Being so stressed, I just wasn’t thinking straight.  And  frankly it had knocked the stuffing out of me. But after reading the book and putting into action some of the strategies, I’m back on track and on fire!”

So, be on the look out for the Mystery Careers Adviser.  She’s in her twenties, attractive with dark hair and wears red sparkly shoes.  We don’t know what her name is.  She’s been known to engage in random acts of kindness by giving away a book which contains all her secrets.  We think there’s a bigger organisation behind her.

Further information on the ‘magic’ book can be found here…

Has a good night’s sleep turned into a myth, is it a thing of the past or something that ‘other people’ have, but not you?   When WAS the last time you slept right through? And is this affecting your ability to be really effective in your job, your ability to make decisions and handle stressful situations…? 

 Well, if you’re struggling to find the answer I’ve been given some top Tips from Top Coach June Whittle.  Read on…

 You’d be surprised if I told you the most common method of dealing with sleeplessness. Most people who struggle to sleep have NO sleeping strategy. They do NOTHING about it and suffer daily. Let me share with you 5 top sleeping tips which will change your life forever.

 5 Top Sleep Tips

•  Be open-minded. Some of these tips might seem simple - even obvious. Have you tried them though? … Consistently? … Really?
• Remember ‘doing nothing’ is the most common attitude to sleepless nights! Do something - notice the difference!

1 . How do you ’signal’ to yourself that it’s time for sleep? Cultivate a consistent, calming bedtime routine. Give yourself time for reflection.  Focus on the good things in your life. Think of at least 3 good things that happened during the day - however small.

 2. How often do you exercise?  If you’re tired and haven’t been sleeping, I know that the last thing you want to hear about is exercise!! Studies show that sufferers of persistent fatigue benefit from low-intensity exercise like an easy walk.

 3. Do you listen to anything that will gently guide you to sleep? Buy, beg or borrow a relaxation or sleep CD for quick results - if you listen to it!! It helps you to ’switch off’ and drift into a soothing sleep. If your mind is buzzing and you can’t let go of all the thoughts whizzing around in your head, listen to it! Replace those thoughts! If you wake in the night and can’t get back to sleep - listen to the CD. My Sleep CD has a track to gently guide you to sleep when you go to bed AND a track to guide you back to sleep when you wake in the night. www.sleepless.zite.me

 4. What time do you close the kitchen? Avoid food and drink for at least 2 hours before you go to bed.

 5. Can you do this? Turn off the television and your mobile phone! Do it at 30 minutes before you go to bed. Exposure to the ‘talk’ mode signal of a phone has been found to delay the onset of sleep.

 Now, enjoy a good night’s sleep and notice the positive changes it brings to your life.    

June Whittle’s sleep CD will support you in your desire for a deep and beneficial night’s sleep.

Available from www.sleepless.zite.me

 Advice For Workaholic Adrenaline Junkies…

If your workload or career is pushing your stress levels through the roof, then what follows is a simple guide to how your brain works. I know because, being a borderline adrenaline junkie, I’ve had to learn some of
these strategies myself to stay balanced. Believe me,  beating stress is more about being a big kid…here’s why.

Do you remember when you were a child and the summer holidays seemed to last forever? You invented games to play from the most innocuous and mundane objects, which became holy shrines or magic keys. Drinks turned
you into a superhero. Up until the age of 10, that is.
That’s because before the age of 10, children primarily use the right hemisphere of their brain - the creative side. The creative right side of the brain produces Alpha waves, and when you meditate, your brain produces more Alpha waves. In Alpha we naturally have a better command of life, our health and our moods. We are able to think more clearly, can consider responses and perhaps make more creative decisions, with better longterm results. Alpha thought waves help us to access that part of the brain responsible for more enlightened, sophisticated thinking.

John Levine composes Alpha Music to help people relax and is used by Complementary Therapists to help their clients easily produce Alpha waves and therefore enter a deep state of relaxation very quickly. I was introduced to this music by a therapist friend, and regularly listen to
this when I am brainstorming, writing when relaxing or meditating. It’s extraordinarily serene. According to Levine research shows that when we’re in Alpha through to Theta (as we prepare to go to sleep), the brain also produces a number of chemical hormones which affect our mood, productivity and general health. Delta waves then take over as we fall into slow wave (deep sleep). However, after the age of 10 different brain waves take over - Beta waves. Beta waves vibrate at a higher frequency and are linked with the left logical side of the brain. Coincidentally this is when children move on to secondary school, where everything gets really ‘serious’. Gone are the lazy days spent fishing for newts and making mud pies (by the way if you didn’t made mud pies when you were a kid – you haven’t lived!). Now it’s all homework, course modules, mock exams, routines and remembering loads of facts – fun, eh? Leaving  precious little time for imaginative thinking, talking or creative pastimes, which could lead to stress.

Levine also discovered that although Beta waves are important, if this is the dominant thought wave, we remain hyped-up and stressed. So being in this state is not good long term. We are less likely to make rational choices and our responses are more primitive as higher thinking begins to shut down. However, some people appear to be born with a gift for increased Alpha wave production. Scientists have established that creative people operate in Alpha and Theta states far more frequently than the rest of us.

Eventually we leave school to start a career, with the accompanying train timetables, spreadsheets, passwords e-mails and compliance, etc. All logical left brain stuff and yet more Beta brain activity. In fact bringing your creative streak out in a work environment (in some organisations) is positively frowned upon and discouraged. Until, that is, you wake
up one morning and wonder why you haven’t a single scrap of innovation left in you. You can’t switch off because you’re so stressed-out having to reach all your ‘targets’. As Daniel Goleman in his book “Emotional
Intelligence” puts it “Stress Makes You Stupid”. With all that Beta brain activity going on, there’s just no inspiration or fun in your life any more. Using ‘Beta’ thought waves too often is like driving your car everywhere in first gear. Being grown up and serious has  actually become really stressful. All the routine, discipline and targets haven’t actually made you anymore effective or indeed any happier. Need I say more?

This is where you may become even less effective, shut off from the ‘source’ – the source being the pipeline leading directly to all new ideas and innovation: your creative right brain. Although it is important to point out that you need a good balance between the left and right sides.

“Experiments show that most children rank highly creative (right brain) before entering school. Because our educational systems place a higher value on left brain skills such as mathematics, logic and language than it does on drawing or using our imagination, only ten percent of these same children will rank highly creative by age 7. By the time we are adults,
high creativity remains in only 2 percent of the population.”
Dan Eden, Editor, Viewzone.com

Early signs of stress include being a bit tetchy, food cravings, mood swings, feeling extremely tired or hypedup leading to sleep problems caused by too much Beta brainwave activity and stress hormones racing around your bloodstream.

Long-term stress will have disastrous consequences for your health. As you get older, your body will find it harder and harder to cope and could be the reason why some people are struck down with chronic conditions
such as arthritis, chronic fatigue, IBS, High Pressure, and raised levels of cholesterol. The short-term solution is treatment with conventional drugs, when in fact the long term and ultimately the best solution is to
give your lifestyle a complete overhaul.

Not paying attention to your stress levels and lifestyle, affects your body, your energy levels, and your resistance to stress. Ultimately, your ability to rationalise and memorise, and your performance at work will suffer.

In this week’s Podcast Suzanne Bolwell-Davies from Flexible Hr Ltd and I are discussing  the real meaning of “The Jewel In the Nile“.    If  a coach ( i.e. a ‘Diamond polisher’) could walk into your life with the skill and the wisdom to guide you in the right direction, would that become a priceless opportunity?

I have put together a list of 50 reasons why coaching can help individuals who are finding their career too stressful, who have aspirations to aim higher but haven’t so far taken action, or who would love to discover just what they are destined to become.  As the character played by Danny Di Vito Discovered in this film, sometimes what you’re looking for isn’t necessarily the end of the story …

 Click Here To Listen (12.42 mins)

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Running a business hasn’t all been plain sailing for Suzanne Bolwell-Davies of Flexible HR Ltd as she discovered recently.   Everything was going really well until she ruptured her achilles tendon whilst playing tennis. She’s now in plaster up to her knee and is in a wheel chair or has to get about with the aid of crutches.  Suzanne can’t drive, she can’t even leave her house!  Plus she has a daughter at school, and a business to run.  Hear how she’s been coping …

Click here to listen to our first Pod Cast

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Here’s a sample Chapter of my new Book “Discover Yourself On the Yellow Brick Road - 7 Core Principles of Success”
http://www.myebook.com/index.php?option=ebook&id=7008. This has already been read over 4,000 times so it’s pretty popular!!

Just had an update from one of my clients today on the progress he has made since he started coaching with me only one month ago. Here is what has changed for him since we started:-

1. He is less stressed and more relaxed
2. He has made some adjustments to his office space and is therefore more organised
3. He has started to delegate work to his staff, instead of taking it all on himself, and found someone to look after his diary and make all his appointments
4. He is thinking more proactively and less reactively
5. He is more confident in meetings and has a stronger belief in himself, and that decisions will go his way
6. He is handling the difficult people in his life more confidently
7. Because he has emptied some space in his head previously occupied by his overloaded schedule, he is now beginning to think about the future of his business and how to get there
8. He is making more executive decisions, rather than waiting for answers
9. His spouse has noticed a change in him and he is more communicative and therefore easier to be around
10. He is making things happen now that his mind isn’t cluttered with trivial annoyances

For the person who is currently stressed, going round in circles and feeling tired and tetchy - there is another way.

More strategies can be found in my new book “Discover Yourself On the Yellow Brick Road - 7 Core Principles of Success” published on Amazon on the 8th June.

Click here to read a sample chapter

http://www.myebook.com/index.php?option=ebook&id=7008

Visit my website at http://www.resolutioncoaching.co.uk