photo credit: Sarah G…

This blog is still alive.  Welcome back any previous readers, thank you for coming back and hello to any new readers.

So why haven’t I been here for a while? 

I abandoned Forever Change temporarily while I was pursuing other priorities in my life.

I have just recently completed a part time course (whilst working full time), and this course took a much higher priority in my life than this blog.

I have now finished the course and I am proud to announce that I am a qualified personal trainer with a certificate 3, certificate 4 in personal training and master trainer qualification.   Writing here will be spasmodic but please keep me on your feedreader or drop in occasionally as I have more meaty posts in the pipeline.

Anyhow on with todays post………………

Communication with yourself or your internal dialogue can have a significant influence on your thinking, beliefs and therefore your behaviour.  

Say you want to change something in your life eg lose weight, start a new career.  What do you do?

Do you procrastinate and take ages before you start taking action, or do you jump straight into the deep end with activities that you believe will get the desired results?  Perhaps your approach is somewhere in between the two extremes.

Whatever approach you take, ask yourself the following questions:

Do I get the results I desire in a reasonable timeframe?

Are the changes I make lasting changes?

If you answered no to either of those questions, then I believe the root of the problem lies with your internal dialogue being out of sync with your actions. 

In other words the external changes are not aligned with internal changes, or your internal dialogue.

I want to explore this further with a typical example of a failed weight loss attempt, and provide you with a simple strategy that will help align your internal dialogue with your actions. The step by step strategy is applicable not only to weight loss but for just about any area of change you may want to make in your life.

Weight loss attempt

Michael is overweight, and is sick of feeling fat and lethargic, so on January 1st 2009 he started an intensive diet and rigorous exercise program to shed those unwanted kilos.

Michael made huge changes to his diet and cut out all unhealthy foods and started going to the gym 6 days per week. For the first 4 weeks or so Michael made some good progress but 3 months later he was back to where he started from.

What went wrong?

Quite simply, Michael did not spend any time or effort working on the internal dialogue that is so crucial for long term change.

Just Do It?

Whilst the saying “Just do it” is bandied about ad nauseam as well meaning advice, in my opinion it is not very good advice. Michael launched into full scale action to lose weight however he was not mentally ready for such high level full on action.

Eventually what happens is that Michael’s thoughts or internal dialogue drag his actions back down to a level where his behaviour is more in sync with his internal dialogue.

Michael did what he thought he needed to do, he went on a diet and did a lot of exercise. The problem with this approach though is that Michael’s internal dialogue was way out of sync with his actions. You see Michael felt he should lose weight and was hopeful that he might lose weight but didn’t really believe he would lose weight.

I am not saying that Michael was not ready to take action but what I am saying is that he needed to commence with an appropriate level of action that was in sync with his internal dialogue. Michael then need to work at his internal dialogue in a step by step approach and mirror the changes he was making internally with appropriate actions and behaviours.

Create Forever Change

To help create lasting change (forever change) Michael needed to work on progressing his internal dialogue and then making sure his actions were from feeling it was something he should do through to truly wanting and then believing it could be done.

Michael also needed something more concrete as an aim. Rather than just weight loss as an aim, Michael needed a specific goal to aim for and an action plan that set out how he was going to get there.

Aligning internal dialogue with actions

How could Michael have worked on aligning his internal dialogue and his actions?  A little further below, I have summarised the overarching thought processes that would be typically involved in a weight loss journey, into a roughly hierarchical order.

By using this as a guide at any time in his weight loss journey, Michael can take stock and work out what stage best represents where his internal dialogue is at, and then start by taking action in line with that level.  So instead of Michael implementing drastic dietry changes and a commencing a full on gym and exercise program, it would have been better if he made more gradual changes that were alinged with where his thinking was at the time.

Michael then looks at the next level down and work on reshaping his internal dialogue and implements action and behaviours that are in line with the next level.  By doing this, Michael is still taking action that will assist his weight loss but more importantly his thinking and internal dialogue are more in sync.  Michael can gradually progress step by step to get to where he needs to be.

1. I can’t lose weight
2. I wish I could lose weight
3. I know I should lose weight
4. I need to lose weight
5. Maybe I could lose weight
6. I intend to lose weight
7. I want to lose weight
8. I choose to lose weight
9. I believe I can lose weight
10. I am willing to get out of my comfort zone to lose weight
11. I accept that I need a specific goal to strive for to lose weight
12. I believe that a realistic goal is to lose 12kg in 12 weeks from today
13. I believe I can achieve this goal
14. I am confident I can achieve this goal
15. I will achieve this goal
16. I can visualize how I will feel when my goal is achieved
17. I can visualize myself already there
18. I am willing to take action to achieve this goal
19. The specific steps I need to take to achieve this goal are
20. I am ready to take action to achieve my goal
21. I will start my journey today towards my goal by taking the following action (insert action) TODAY
22. I am starting my journey today towards my goal by taking the following action (insert action) NOW
23. I have now taken positive action towards my goal today and will continue to do so each day
24. Each morning I will remind myself of my goal and make sure I complete at least one action that day that will bring me closer to my goal.

……..and so on

Step by Step at your own speed

Like any step by step process you may find that you can whizz through some steps and some steps you may need to spend quite a deal of time on before moving to the next level.  It is important that you don’t rush from one step to the next if you are not yet ready to move forward. 

Although having said that, if you get stuck on one level too long though you need to be brave take the plunge and move on, even if it feels a bit scary.

Use my step by step guide as a template that you can customise to suit your particular situation and journey towards change.  The steps that I have included above represent the typical steps that someone would move through in any major change journey.

Sometimes you take a few steps backwards - thats OK too

You may even find yourself cruising along towards your goal and then suddenly something will happen and you find yourself tumbling many steps backwards, perhaps even questioning whether you believe you can do it.  

Sometimes, for no apparent reason, you could find yourself slipping back a level or two occasionally.  Don’t worry this is a completely normal part of the change process, your conscious and subconcious dialogue are a little out of sync.  Keep working on a conscious level and provided you take it step by step, your subconcious will catch up.

Don’t let any set back stop you in your tracks.  Just focus on where you are, work on bringing your internal dialogue down to the next level and implement an action that this consistent with your level of thinking.   

The main thing is that you are aware of where you are at in your journey and you keep working on your internal dialogue and your actions so that you bring them into sync and continue moving step by step towards achieving your goal. 

What about other major life changes?

Lets use another example. 

Lets say you are contemplating a life of self employment rather than your current unfulfilling employment?

Everywhere you see the words lose weight, in the step by step template above substitue the words be self employed.  

Can you see how the step by template can work for this scenario?  It just seems to make sense, and it should work for just about any major change process in your life.

Your best life

Always take action towards want you to achieve, no matter how small that action may be.  At the same time  think about trying to align your internal dialogue with your actions and make an effort to keep moving forward, pushing the boundaries of your comfort zone.

Your best life is out there for you.  So get out there and work on your internal dialogue and then propell yourself forward with action in line with the next step on your journey.  Have faith you will get to where you want to be step by step.  Never ever give up!

photo credit: Katie@!

Late last year, I made a decision to take my passion for exercise, nutrition and helping others with weight loss a step further. 

I decided to enrol in a Certificate 3 and 4 in Personal Training and Master Trainer course, so that I could become a fully qualified personal trainer.   The course started two weeks ago.

The course is part time with contact hours that suit people working full time.  (I work full time in an office job at present).  The contact hours are Tuesdays 6-9pm, Thursdays 6-9pm and Saturdays 9.30am to 4.30pm over about 18 weeks.

Two weeks ago on Tuesday night I attended my first session of the course.  I was out of my comfort zone the whole night and yet I loved it.  I was on a natural high when I got home, I was and still am so excited about what lies ahead. 

Here’s a run down of what events led me to be pushed way out of my comfort zone that fateful Tuesday night……

The grand entrance
Firstly I made a grand entrance.  That is always so important and helps you stand out from the crowd.  Sneaking into a course looking like everyone else does not get you out of your comfort zone.  How do you make an grand entrance to the first night of a personal trainers course? 

Well firstly I need to show you what you should wear if you don’t want to stand out.  Something like this is appropriate:

Yep that seems pretty sensible. 

For my grand entrance I chose a floral dark blue strappy dress accessorized with shiny metallic sandals.  Are you kidding you are asking?  No I’m not, that is what I wore that night.

When the choice is between bad and worse
You see I got confused.  I thought I was turning up to a dressmaking class so that was why I was wearing a dress.  Well that’s not quite right.  What actually what happened was that I went straight from work (long story don’t ask) and did not have time to go home and change. 

Therefore the choices were what I wore to work that day or my well used gym attire that got a very good sweaty work out that morning.  (it was a whopping 42 degrees celsius that day) The choice was a classic no brainer.  Of course the strappy dark blue floral number won hands down. 

An early win for miss smug pants
Early on in the class the instructor said we would be out of our comfort zone a lot during the course.  I smiled smugly to myself – how clever was I?  I had a head start on the rest of the class because I was already out of my comfort zone. 

Surely nothing else during the rest of the first night would faze me?  Well as it happened, little miss smug pants (or dress as it was on that night) was in for a few surprises.

photo credit: Stylva

What colour are my undies?
Of course we had the all too predictable public speaking segment (saw that a mile away).  Each course participant took their turn to stand up in front of the class and give the following information - their name, why they were there and what colour underwear they where wearing. 

In terms of my comfort zone, public speaking is way off the scale for me.  I did OK though but did get a bit flustered and in all the confusion, I forgot what colour underwear I was wearing.  I said I was wearing red ones when I was actually wearing black.  Oh the shame and embarrassment – I got the colour wrong! (mental note to self – must remember what colour my undies are when about to do next public speaking appearance) 

Once I sat down I breathed a sigh of relief.  The hard stuff was over for the night.  WRONG!  

The squats and push ups demo and trial
Later on in the evening, our class was herded out into the courtyard area (resplendent in fake grass), where the instructor demonstrated squats and push ups. 

The push ups started with the “normal” everyday push ups with arms and elbows out, then the triceps push up with arms and elbows close to the body through out the push up, then the diamond push up where the hands are close together in line with the chest with the thumbs and forefingers forming a “diamond” and finally the one armed push up. 

The demonstration was impressive, the instructor made it look so easy.  

Now it was our turn.  I didn’t quite nail the one armed push ups that night.  Truth be known I wasn’t able to crank out much at all in the push up department, even the “normal” ones where eluding me, but I gave it a go just like everyone else in the class. 

Then I heard these words:

“You will be expected to be able to do these (one armed push ups) by the end of the course. ”

The one armed push up challenge
He was joking wasn’t he?  Yes he was joking, but regardless of whether he was joking or not, my first thought was that’s impossible.  I mentally listed all of the reasons why I couldn’t do it.  I am 47 years old - double the age of just about everyone else in the class –I’m too old to do something like that.  Push ups have always been one of the hardest exercises for me.  I am not strong in that area.  I can only just (emphasis on just) do one normal push up.  And so on - I won’t bore you with the rest of my long list.

Then something clicked in my head.  I was thinking to myself hey maybe I could do this.  Then my thoughts turned to….How on earth am I going to be able to do a one armed push up?

I realised I just needed to let go of the how for now.  Don’t worry about the how, just focus what I need to do to get there.  So right there and then I decided to give it my best shot.  I have set myself the challenge and I reckon I am up for it. 

So what is the take home message?
The take home message for this post is very simple.  When ever you are out of your comfort zone whether it is intentionally or unintentionally – just do your best and enjoy the moment. 

With the right attitude you can truly learn a lot about yourself by participating.  If you don’t let the comfort zone scare you off, you open yourself up to new challenges and who knows what you can achieve if you give it your best shot?

For regular readers, you will notice I have not been very active on my blog lately.  I have been super busy, plus on top of that had a computer breakdown and then just when things were back to “normal” I started my course.  Now I have got a little more used to the study and work routine I should be back to blogging about once a week.  Thank you for sticking around.  “See” you again soon.

photo credit: urbanlegend

A quick one from me  - just to let you know I am still around. 

Today where I live (in Adelaide South Australia) it was an insane 45.7 degrees celcius (or 114 farenheit).

Have you ever heard the saying it is hot enough to fry an egg?  Well, on the news tonight they showed a fry pan placed outside in the sun with an egg being fried by the heat of the sun alone. It took only seconds to fry the egg.  

Yep it is literally hot enough to fry an egg.  We also heard of melting train tracks among other things. 

Yesterday was 44 degrees (111) and the forecast for tomorrow is 44.  Temperatures of 38 plus (over 100 farenheit) are forecast for another 6 days after that. 

Does anyone over the other side of the big pond want to share their stories about how cold it is over there?

When it comes to music and cover versions, opinions tend to be polarized.  The cover is either better or not as good as the original. 

I used to have a fairly black and white view about cover versions of well known songs.  They were NEVER EVER as good as the original as far as I was concerned.  

In fact I had already made my mind up before hand that a cover could not be as good as the original. 

When listening to a cover version of a song I liked, rather than just listening to the music and enjoying it for what it had to offer, I found myself trying to find all of the reasons why it was not as good. 

I was essentially focusing on finding evidence to support my rather closed point of view.  I did not even allow myself to think that the copy or cover version could be as good. 

Now a days my attitude has softened a little.  I can appreciate cover versions for offering something different and sometimes have even enjoyed the cover version perhaps a little more than the original.

I can still understand though when people vehemently stick to liking the original version and do not like any cover versions.

Your turn to be music critic

The other day I was pottering around on youtube and found some covers of the Rolling Stones classic Gimme Shelter.

Check out the original and 2 cover versions below. I have deliberately chosen 2 cover versions that are quite different to the original.

The first is the original version by the Rolling Stones (live version)

The second is by Angelique Kidjo featuring Joss Stone, and

The third is by sSquire - an Australian group (I am an Aussie) I had never heard of before.

Take a few moments to chill out and listen to each version (you need to listen to at least half way through each version to get a proper feel for each version)

Gimme Shelter original (live version) by the Rolling Stones:

Gimme Shelter cover version by Angelique Kidjo featuring Joss Stone:

Gimme Shelter cover version by an Australian band sSquire:

Which version/versions do you prefer and why?  Do you have any other thoughts you want to share about cover versions in general?

photo credit: sizumaru

Only two things are infinite,

the universe and human stupidity,

and I’m not sure about the former.      

- Albert Einstein.

Humans are smart – right?  We must be because we are the only creature to have blogs.

My observations of human activities around this time of the year put us only marginally ahead of amoebas in the intelligence stakes.  Please excuse me while I get on my soap box – I promise I will be quick.   

I feel like I have been bombarded with commercialism and materialism gone mad in the lead up to Christmas.  Quite frankly I am getting sick of it. 

As far as I am concerned the over the top crap that surrounds me where ever I go (in Adelaide, Australia) has reached a crescendo of grossness.  Each year seems to be worse than the last.

Here in Australia, in the lead up to Christmas there is a buying frenzy on presents that are often not wanted.  What is happening in our world?  He(she) who dies with the most toys wins?

The world at large is caught up in the stupidity of war, and the stupidity of power hungry people corrupt beyond belief in charge of nations.  When greed and corruption are combined, surely this is stupidity of the highest order.  

While millions of people around the world are currently in a spending frenzy there are millions around the world struggling with the most basic human needs ie shelter, water and food.

And speaking of food, what about the ridiculous amounts of food that will be shoveled into the mouths of a population in Australia growing fatter by the minute? 

Given that Australia is the most obese nation in the world, and childhood obesity in Australia is rising at an alarming rate, the eating and drinking to excess in the Christmas season doesn’t seem terribly smart to me.

Perhaps we could eat less and donate the money we save by doing this to organizations like Oxfam etc.  Lots of small contributions could add up to something that may possibly make a difference.  Just a thought.  And with that here endeth my soap box rant.

Well Mr Einstein, perhaps you are right - our stupidity may be infinite. 

There is one saving grace for the human race though.  I believe our capacity for compassion is infinite too.

photo credit: mike_is_scrumptious

At the end of my recent post Chocolate, Pizza, Icecream, Wine and the Comfort Zone I discussed how negative emotions come flooding to the surface as soon as you step out of your comfort zone.  The negative feelings can be quite powerful and can feel overwhelming.   For some people even the thought of stepping out of their comfort zone is enough to elicit these negative feelings.

Do you want more energy?
In that post I also introduced the notion that even negative emotions have energy, and that energy can be used as a tool.  The one thing that you really wish you could have more of when stepping out of the comfort zone is more energy. 

Stepping out of your comfort zone can be hard work, so being able to tap into extra energy can be just what you need to help you push through the inertia that keeps you in the comfort zone.  The first thing we need when entering a new situation is more energy.  Moving out of your comfort zone generally means doing something different and extra energy can be useful when meeting challenges along the way.

Don’t you wish you could have some more energy?  Well today is your lucky day.  The Forever Change fairy has decided to grant your wish for more energy. 

Quick wave of my Forever Change magic wand and…… TA DA there it is - more energy.  Just one little detail I forgot to mention.  The energy is disguised as something else - FEAR.  (cue scary background music, unknown creepy feeling on your skin, sweaty palms, raised heart rate, shallower breathing etc). 

Fear comes in many forms.  You may not recognise or label it as fear but more than likely it is there.  Sometimes fear is masked by other emotions, so it may not be something you identify immediately.  It has many other names too like apprehension, dread, foreboding, uneasiness, panic, and so on.  It could be lurking under the surface.  If you are resistant to a new idea, defensive about holding on to your old ways, or you feel excited and anxious at the same time – these are pretty reliable signs that there’s some fear under there.

What do we fear?  We fear looking silly/making a fool of ourselves, or not being good enough (perfectionism) fear of failing, fear of rejection, fear of success, fear of the unknown, fear of other emotions, fear of fear and so on. 

Our attitude to fear
OK so have you have got this energy packaged up as fear.  What next?  How can this energy be harnessed?  Whether you use this energy is largely determined by your attitude towards fear, so before we get into harnessing the energy of fear, we need to understand our attitude to fear. 

Our attitude towards fear is primarily programmed from childhood.  A lot of our fear has been learnt from our parents.  It is one thing to feel fear but what does fear mean to us in childhood.  What atittude do we form about fear?  I believe for the most part we learn the attitude towards fear from our parents. 

Children are natural risk takers
As children we are natural born risk takers and for the most part we are fearless.  Prior to intervention from parents, a child doesn’t know the difference between running across a road and running across a playground, picking up a spoon to play with or alternatively picking up a sharp knife.   A young child will happily play with the cute little family kitten, pulling it’s tail and ears and perhaps even see how many fingers can be put in the kitten’s mouth.  Replace the cute kitten with the neighbour’s fully grown pit bull dog and the same child is likely to behave in exactly the same way. 

Most of the new stuff that children could do is quite safe, however a very small percentage is very dangerous.  In order to let children out of their sight, parents teach their children not to do things that may cause physical harm.  The parent’s tool is fear. 
  
Children also learn by example as much as anything else.  Children see their parents and other adults react fearfully in lots of different situations.  Only a small number of these situations are truly dangerous.  The consistent message children get from these observations is to connect fear with something that is new or different. 

I have oversimplified how our attitude to fear is formed in childhood, but I think you
get the picture.  In a nutshell, as children we learn that fear means stop - don’t do it. 

We allow fear to limit us
Most fears are illusions we create in our own head, based on past conditioning and not based on what is possible.  Most fears are not real it is just our mind imagining something awful that has not yet happened.
 
This comfort zone barrier—the fear of looking foolish, the fear of criticism, the fear of being successful and the fear of failure are quite simply attitudes. They are the negative mindsets you allow yourself to have.  Fear is probably the most limiting emotion of our comfort zone. 
 
We actually have very few limits except the ones that we set on ourselves. And those are mostly out of how we have perceive experiences from the past.  Learn from your past but don’t let your past control your present thinking.

Now back to how we can harness the energy from fear.
Firstly you need to change your attitude from fear meaning “don’t” to fear meaning “all systems go.”  The fear you have been using as a reason not to do things is really part of the energy to get things done.

When we feel fear, our body releases adrenaline, glucose and other energy producing chemicals into the blood stream.  You are given a boost of physical energy, and this energy can also support our thought and actions.  In a new situation we want all the information we can get.  This is when sharpened senses, sensitivity, and heightened awareness associated with fear are useful.

photo credit: abras47

Fear helps to keep us focussed

Another aspect of fear is letting go of irrelevancies, fear has a way of ensuring you are focused on what is important. 

If I am at the beach swimming for the first time this summer in my new bikini and I see what appears to be a shark fin coming towards me in the water I am hardly going to be worrying about whether or not my bum looks big in my new bikini.  I will however be rather keen on moving to shallower water -pronto (perhaps even establishing a new world record for the 20 metre freestyle).

When in a new situation, we want to focus on what is in front of us, what’s central and what is significant.  You want clarity of mind about what is important and fear can help you do that.

Can you see that by trying to get rid of fear, you are also saying I want to get rid of some energy.  Why would you want to throw away something that you need?  It doesn’t make much sense does it?

I will leave you with some wise words from Henry Miller:

Life moves on, whether we act as cowards or heroes.
Life has no other discipline to impose, if we would but realise it, than to accept life unquestioningly.
Everything we shut our eyes to, everything we run away from, everything we deny, denigrate or despise, serves to defeat us in the end.

What seems nasty, painful, evil, can become a source of beauty, joy and strength, if faced with an open mind.
Every moment is a golden one for him who has the vision to recognize it as such.

photo credit: Evgeni Dinev

Hi all of you fun loving, groovy and wonderful blog munching funsters. 

I am back after a short absence - my last post was 3 weeks ago.  Did you miss me? 

I missed me.  I missed the real me.  The real me exercises at least 4 times a week, enjoys getting up in the morning to go to the gym and likes to spend time reading blogs and researching on the internet, spending time with friends and is pretty happy in general. 

The real me has hardly surfaced for the last few months.  I have been unwell since mid September and I have only just started feeling better since last week. 

My Exotic Illness
So what debilitating illness did I have that led to this slump? Don’t laugh – well OK you can laugh but only if you promise to read the rest of my post, and come back again in a few days time for the follow up to the last post Chocolate, Pizza, Ice Cream, Wine and the Comfort Zone.  

In mid September had a head cold for about 2 weeks. The rest of the time it has been hay fever.  Yes plain old hay fever.  I have had the flu twice in my life ( I am not talking about the woosy common cold here but actual full blown flu) and can honestly say that at times my recent bout of hay fever was almost as bad. 

I am feeling so much better now and I am back exercising again and once I catch up on a thousand and one things, I will be getting out and about in the blogosphere and the internet in general again.  So watch out because I have got my energy back, and with that comes my weird sense of humour so who knows what could happen.  You can run but you can’t hide!

Change to post frequency
I had originally started this blog with the intention of 3 posts per week.  I have now decided to post about once per week.  I have other projects I am working on such as my weight loss site Forever Change Weight Loss, plus I have a full time job, plus in early 2009 I will be commencing a part time course to gain Certificate 3 and Certificate 4 in Personal Training.   I am going to be a busy girl.      

Special cheerio to a dear friend
Anyhow enough about me.  I want to turn the focus to my special friend Ginette in Queensland.  Ginette and I met in the first year of high school and have stayed in touch with each other over the years.  We have shared some great times together and I hold a special place in my heart for my dear friend.

Ginette has recently has a spinal fusion operation.  Scary stuff, but something that had to be done for the opportunity to live a better quality life.

I am sending lots of love your way Gin (John sends his love too).  Wishing you a speedy recovery and the best possible outcome.  I look forward to hearing about your progress on the road back to health and vitality. Love from Lean.

photo credit: gingerpig2000

Today’s post is the final episode of A Story About a Major Business Restructure. 

At the end of the last episode M had to choose between V and D.

V was very positive about the restructure and felt that it should go ahead without delay. 

D on the other hand wanted to postpone any restructure activity, and to help convince M, D produced trump card Nancy who provided a report detailing the reasons why the restructure would fail.

So who does M choose?

Before revealing who M chooses, it is time to reveal the “characters” in this story.  So in order of appearance they are:
  
YPL                      You (Pty Ltd)
T Department        Thought Department (your thoughts)
M                          Your Mind
V                          Thoughts in line with Victory  -aka success, amazing, positive
D                          Thoughts in line with Defeat   - aka failure, mediocrity, negative
C Department      Creative Department (your creative self)
A Department       Action Department (what you do)
Nancy                  A negative person who generally wants to see you fail

So now we know that the characters are a part of us, the story takes on a different meaning.  With that in mind, you can re-read the story here.  Alternatively, read on for a “Reader’s Digest” condensed version.

Part 1 – You are considering a major change in your life
You have many parts that contribute to your overall operation, and your mind controls the most important part, your thoughts. 

Your mind is like a thought factory, busy making lots of thoughts.  Your mind can effectively determine whether the predominant thoughts are going to be positive or negative.

You are considering a major restructure.  This could be any major change you want to make in your life.  For example, it could be taking a new direction in relation to your career, getting fit and losing weight, reorganising your work life balance and so on.

Part 3 (Part 2 was an intermission) - You procrastinate because you are faced with stepping out of your comfort zone. 
You know that the change will be a great benefit to you in the long run, and you make up your mind that you want to go ahead with the change.  It is now or never!

You then start to feel very uncomfortable about going ahead with the change.  You decide to postpone – otherwise known as procrastinating.  You justify the procrastination on the grounds that you need more information.

There is a sense of déjà vu as this is not the first time you have procrastinated.  Each time you procrastinate, your creative side (C Department) is stifled and the action (A Department) of you is ready to go but your mind holds you back.   
 
You need more time to think things over, and this is where your mind starts producing thoughts in abundance.  Some thoughts are positive and some are negative.  Part of you wants to stay put in your comfort zone, so you start producing thoughts at a conscious and subconscious level that will help keep you there.

The other part of knows that you are taking a risk, however the potential positive outcomes from taking this risk far out weigh the negatives.  You know you have achieved great things in the past and here is another opportunity for you to do it again.

Part 4 – Your thoughts determine the direction you take
Your victory mindset is creative and prepared to take calculated risks.  When considering making big changes in your life you may be able to envisage some hurdles that you will have to overcome.  With a victory mindset you can reflect and draw upon other times in your life when you have successfully overcome obstacles.   A victory mindset approaches life changes with passion and enthusiasm. 

Your defeat mindset always comes up with reasons why you shouldn’t go ahead.  In fact if you think about it, there is never an ideal time to go ahead.  Your defeat mindset focuses on past failures.  The defeat mindset wants to anchor you to the past rather than moving forward. 

What about Nancy?
Nancy could be a friend, partner, family member, work colleague etc who feels they have your best interests at heart, however, the Nancy’s of the world are generally protecting their own interests. 

They feel threatened by the whole concept of you changing and moving forward in your life, and they think you will leave them behind.  They will come across as the “voice of reason” and will be armed with a myriad of reasons why you shouldn’t go ahead.  Some Nancys even go further than this and try to sabotage your efforts to change.

Where have I seen Nancy Before?
In this story, Nancy is a familiar character.  Have a look the head shot of Nancy in Part 4 (towards the bottom of the post). 

Now compare that with the photo at the start of the story about the triplets in Positive Thinking vs Positive Focusing.  Yes that is Nancy on the right of the photo.

Surprise, surprise negative Nancy is the wicked step sister of the positive triplets.  And don’t think you have seen the last of negative Nancy either.  The wicked step sister will be returning to this blog sometime in the future.   

And now what we have all been waiting for. Who does M choose – V or D?

I can’t tell you that because the choice is yours.  You have control over your mind and therefore your choices.  You choose what M does. 

Are you going to choose a victory mindset or a defeat mind set? 

Are your predominant thoughts positive or negative?

Are your thoughts going to set you up for success or failure? 

Are you going to let the Nancy(s) in your life hold you back?

Are you going to choose to live an amazing life or a life of mediocrity?  

You choose the direction your life takes.  Do you choose Victory or Defeat?

photo credit: Torley

Today’s post is Part 4 of A Story About a Major Business Restructure. 

This post will be difficult to follow if you have not read the earlier posts. 

The links to the earlier posts are here  Part one,  Part 2, Part 3 (note you can skip Part 2 if you like as this was an ad break/intermission from the story).  

To refresh your memory, in Part 3, M was about to talk to V and D separately.  M will decide between the advice and ideas given by V and D.  The outcome of these discussions will determine the future direction of YPL, and whoever is not chosen out of V and D will be asked to leave YPL. 

V is positive about the restructure
M talks to V first.  V states that restructure at YPL should be viewed as essential as YPL clearly needs to grow and not stagnate as it currently is.  V outlines a comprehensive and ambitious plan that will provide enormous short term and long term benefits to YPL.  V emphasizes the need to move forward now rather than waiting. 

V acknowledges that there could be some hurdles along the way, and then states that no matter what happens, YPL has a committed workforce of highly skilled workers who are capable of overcoming any challenge.  V reminds M of several changes made at YPL in the past where significant obstacles were overcome and YPL emerged stronger after meeting and getting through the various challenges.

V’s passion, positivity and enthusiasm are contagious and by the end of the time with V M is feeling revved up and pretty excited about the prospect of following V’s plan.

D feels that now is not a good time
Now it is D’s turn.  D states that there are too many internal issues to be sorted out and that combined with external issues such as the current global economic climate, clearly indicate that now is not a good time to commence a restructure.  D highlights some previous occasions where YPL went ahead with a change prematurely and the difficulties that YPL went through as a consequence. 

D produces a trump card
D asks to be excused for a moment and brings in his trump card, Nancy (yay - finally there is a real name being provided in the story).  D introduces Nancy to M as an experienced business analyst who has witnessed many restructures similar to what is currently being proposed at YPL. 

Nancy wastes no time advising M that the restructure at YPL is doomed to fail.  Nancy points out that she personally knows of more than 5 companies similar to YPL that went ahead with similar plans and all of them failed. 

Nancy produces a report that details every aspect of the restructure and against each she has listed the issues that will make it near impossible for each part of the plan to succeed. 

M has a lot to think about
M thanks D and Nancy for their time, and alone in the office begins the onerous task of weighing up all of the information provided by V and D, as well as Nancy.  M wants to make sure the right decision is made.

Will M choose V and go ahead with the restructure or will M choose D and postpone the restructure?  All will be revealed in the next post, which will be the final post in the series A Story About a Major Business Restructure.

Who do you think M will choose?  Do you think M will be influenced by D’s “trump card” Nancy?

Do you have any final advice for M?