PoPP – Chapter 15 – Continuous Improvement

You hear many movies, articles, speakers and media make life references to “circles”. Circles have no beginning or end.

I like to think life as more like a series of continuous joined spirals. You finish one level of a spiral’s ring and you move up to the next, often learning things you have tackled before but at a higher level.

Sometimes the next level is harder, sometimes it is easier.

Our lives are really a series of continuous improvements.

For instance, on Level 1 of the spiral, if I tell a lie, it comes back and causes me grief. I learn next round that it is hard to remember a lie, next round I learn that if I am honest I do not have to have a good memory and life is a lot less stressed.

We have many of these lessons spiralling around at any one time.  Sometimes it can make your head spin.  If that happens, remember to take a deep breath and stay calm. Reach out to a coach or friend if you need some help getting clarity.  Most important, remember that all lessons will eventually spiral away.

PoPP – Chapter 14 – Monkey see, monkey do

In my travels I find myself emulating people I admire and respect, who are well spoken and seem confident.

To learn and grow, I might read a blog or article or book,  I might listen to a course, participate in on line learning. These could lead to new behaviours.  Ultimately I pick up new behaviours faster by seeing the behaviours in action.

I hear myself change as I assimilate the mannerisms of those I surround myself with.

Lessons Learned:

1- Set an example to those around you through your actions, words and deeds.

2- Surround yourself by positive, supportive, good people who can help you with positive growth.

3- Release people around you who are negative and could drag you down.  People who have “potty”mouth (i.e. use a lot of profanity), people who are mean, stingy

4- Take some time to be a positive mentor along the way – be it for a short time over over an extended relationship.  What you give out comes back to you at least 10 fold.

5- Watch what you think.  Try and replace the negative with the positive.  Be mindful of this.

6- Think about what you watch.  TV, radio, Social media can all have influence.

7- Take time to go within, meditate, contemplate.

8- Be kind to yourself and others.  We all evolve as we travel along.  Give yourself space to do so and leave room for others to do the same. Compassion paves the way to help yourself and others.

9- Check in with your mentor when you need honest feedback. Monitor your own thoughts and behaviours. Adjust your behaviours as required and repeat!  Also look at people around you who might annoy, irritate or “rub you the wrong way” they too have something to teach you.

10-   Be open and receptive. Watch for clues around you to see how you are coming across to others and  make the positive changes you need to project who you would like to be seen as. Continually strive to improve yourself and others. Changing yourself changes the world around you.

Enjoy your journey!

follow the leader

PoPP – Chapter 13 – Alone but not Lonely

I have found during my journey that the times I am alone, I do not feel lonely.  In fact, I like my own company.

If I feel the need for contact, I can always reach out.

I have learned that I need quiet time.  It is time for me to meditate more, contemplate more, create more, play more and overall re-charge my batteries.  I allow the universal energies to flow though me and around me, unencumbered.  I am at my most creative yet focused and productive.

Rounding everyone up into one place and trying to get  them to function in the same way is not the most effective.  This is similar in concept to trying to get everyone  to  learn in the same way.  Some are visual, some are auditory, some are tactile, some are very scent influenced, some are social an some are not, some are hands on… most of us are a combination with a dominant style.

If we learned to respect and accept each others differences we would be in a better position to allow each to be at their best. We would thereby get the most out of each individual while also meeting their social, physical and creative needs.

True work-Life Balance does not need to mean a separation of the two but a gentle blending by using the best environment for each individual in each circumstance.

We all have our own styles, our own “colour”.

PoPP – Chapter 12 – Friends

I realized that some friends are with you for a long time, some friends are with you for a short time, but you always have the perfect person in your life at the perfect time. The universe works this way.  You do not need to ever be alone, unless you choose to be.

you are not alone

In this wonderful space I was in where I had many of my own kind, it was interesting who hung around with whom and when.

On a really breezy day, I found myself hanging with others of strength and resilience.  Learning from them how to hang on when required.  They would offer tips, tools and lead by example.

Depending on the circumstances, surroundings and who was participating in this lesson with me,  I would be taught a new lesson, reminded of a lesson or value, totally shifted the way I looked at something, discovered something totally new.  It was a whole world of lessons. Every lesson, whether I judge them as good or bad, is valuable.

I have been blessed with some wonderful companions along the way.

PoPP – Chapter 11 – Revolution

I was confused and disoriented after tumbling around in a revolving drum full of water and then air.  I saw many of my species revolving around as well.  At least I now know there are many of my kind.  There were many colours, styles and patterns.  I wonder why I am purple?

One good thing is we were not socks.  The poor sock species,  sometimes a pair of two went in but only one sock came out. What happens to the other sock?  I guess that is a mystery for another time.

Another side note that I have been wondering about a pair of panties versus a panty.  What does a panty look like?

Now, clean, dry and tidy, my new family and I were tucked into a cozy dark space.  Every day it seemed that one of us was pulled from the pack by our human charge.  It seems that part of our role was to be under cover and to protect our human from exposures.

I wondered about what reasoning was behind the human’s choice of colour and style?

It turns out that our human hosts were sensitive to  the energies the colours represented.  Humans are a giant network of connecting vibrations and energies.

On the simplest level, there are 7 main chakras (body energy discs that spin clock wise or counter clockwise).  Each of these disks is best augmented by a certain color (also scents, shapes, tastes etc., but for today we will talk about color).

Here is a quick guide:

ColouredChakraswithDescriptions

Root Chakra – Connection and Grounding – Red

Sacral Chakra – Center of Creativity – Orange

Solar Plexus Chakra – Power Center – Yellow

Heart Chakra – Love, Self and Others – Green  (Some include pink for the soul)

Throat Chakra – Communication, Speaking your own Truth. – Blue

Third Eye – Intuition – Indigo or Lavender

Crown Chakra – Connection to Higher Self – Purple

By choosing a certain colour of panty the human was knowingly or instinctively choosing a colour that could potentially augment and support  a certain power centre that day.

Panties are a great way to add colour to the clothes as by our nature of being undercover, we do not have to match up with the rest of the wardrobe.  Another in-site to my purpose –  to bring supportive energy around self actualization when asked!!

PoPP – Chapter 10 – My mom told me to “Be Good”

momandchild

My Mother holds a near and dear place in my heart.  This Chapter is to honour all Mothers.  Without our mothers we would not be here nor would we be who we are or where we are on our journey,

My mom has passed.  We had our moments but loved each other dearly. When I moved out of the family home and moved onwards in my journey we continued to talk almost every day and visited often.

My mom helped create certain foundational principles that I carry with me to this day.  Everyday, on the way out the door to go here or there, she would hug me and kiss me and let me know she loved me and would tell me to “Be Good”.

I have always tried to be good.  My truth about good and bad may shift over time but I have always tried to live my life, to the best of my ability as good.  This is a value founding stone for me.

Thank-you Mom.  I am still missing you.  Happy Mothers’s day!

PoPP – Chapter 9 – Here and Now

here and now

In my purple peril, somewhere along the way, I decided not to worry about the past or future but to stay in the present.

The past is finished. Hind sight is 20-20. Terms like could have, should have, would have are just ways to hang on to things that are not there.  They emphasize judgements around failure and success. In reality my past has taught me many lessons and helped make me who I am today.  The past is peppered with some good and some bad, but seasoned perfectly for me!

The future is not here yet.  Why worry or anticipate things that are not real?  I am preparing myself for the future but I am open to the possibility of what may manifest.

In the here and now I can live my life fully.  When I stay present, there are no fears or worries.  I live in full appreciation of all the wonders offered – sounds of the birds, rustle of the breeze through the trees bringing refreshing coolness and carrying spring aromas, scents of hyacinths by the door, feel of the beautiful crystals I am working with, taste of a smooth sip of water, rubbing the silky ears of a dogs, the companionship and conversation with a good friend, and all of the other moment by moment blessings.  In this moment is when I can hear my muses.  I am open to receive any inspirations that come to me and in the moment share these inspirations with others.  I appreciate every breath and with my mind, body, spirit centred and calm I can enjoy this state of living meditation.

Building Strong Business Relationships

Here are some tips to help you build strong Business Relationships-  Team, Customer, Peer, Management

1- Strong Relationships go a long way.

How do you build those?  Make some effort to get to know your customers, teams, managers, peers personally.  This will take time but will definitely pay off in the end.  Always be truthful. If you become known gets as truthful and caring, when you need to deliver bad news it will be more accepted. When you are asking for a bit more, people will be more willing to give.

2- Use Good Will Deposits.

There are times when opportunities will arise to under promise and over deliver.  There are times when there you will be able to help your client behind the scenes or open doors that a peer may need.  Whenever you do something like this , you are making a “good will deposit”.  You can also make withdrawals.  As long as you have a credit, when you have to make a withdrawal, it is a lot more successful  (and vice versa).

3- Be fair

Make sure you understand both sides of the story.  You can demonstrate this through active listening. taking accurate minutes to you meetings, taking the time for a one on one call or meeting.  People have different preferred styles of communication.  As you get to know your teams, match your communications up to their style so that they can “hear, see, feel” your message.  As the conveyor of the message, it is up to you to ensure the message is heard.

4- Be clear

Be clear about what it is that is required or needed.  If composing a message in an email, ask for what you need up front.  Keep communications short. Stay away from acronyms,sayings, technical terms or corporate culture terms that are used as norms, unless you define them.

5- Be transparent

If you are having issues delivering what you said you would, be honest.  Things happen and not everything goes according to plan.  Your customer, teams, peers, managers will be better able to relate if they know what is going on behind the scenes.  There are times you may not want to choose to air items that might embarrass your company or cannot share some inner corporate challenges, but share as much as you can.

6- Be empathetic/ compassionate

Try and understand what is driving your teams.  They have goals they have to meet and bosses they need to please. As a service provider, we are here to help each team member, customer, peer, manager  be successful.

7- Remember people have things going on in their personal lives as well.

Make notes on your clients, refer to those notes.  Pay attention to the personal information and cues teams give you.  Some people will openly share, others will be more guarded.  When your customer/ peer/ team member or manager  shifts gears, that may have a personal issue that contributes to how they react.  Do not take their reactions  personally.

8- Be humble

Make sure you take the time to acknowledge the contribution of others.  Do not take all the credit for success for yourself. I have found it also is appreciated when you take the share  praise for a key contributor with their managers.

9- Get back to your customer  when you say you will.

Whether or not you have a complete answer for them,   even if it is not what they want to hear from you  or even if you need to defer again for a complete response, respond when you say you will.

10- Apologize when you have missed the mark

If you personally miss a deadline, apologize.  When your team misses a deadline, apologize. Pointing fingers, blaming others is not what anyone wants to hear when something is off course. As professional managers we just need to get things back on track as fast as possible.

Remember , as a project manager or customer service manager you take the blame and the team gets the glory!

 

PoPP – Chapter 8 – If at First you Don’t Succeed…

Many of the great and successful entrepreneurs have said that just as they were considering giving up, they succeeded.  If they had turned from their path a bit sooner, they would not be the success they are today.

In my journey I have kept this in mind.  What is worth pursuing and what is not? How was I to tell the difference?

My experience along my life’s path has found that if you are pursuing something that puts a spring in your step, a smile on your face and makes it worth getting up every morning,  put that in the category of “continue to pursue”.

When I have found myself pursuing what I perceive as chores and drudgery, I needed to let that go.

Also keep in mind that the way you feel about things may change along the way.  That is OK. Possibility can come in strange packages.

Over the course of my journey, I have found that it is more important to me to spend time doing things that make me happy and to find ways to make those successful.  To those things I will apply, “If at first you do not succeed, try, try, again.”

PoPP – Chapter 7 – Do unto Others

In my travels I have found that the universe works on reciprocity.  What you hand out, you get back.

If you take the time to help others, coach, mentor, practice random acts of kindness,  that positive energy will find its way back to you.  It may not be from whom you expect or in a form you expect just leave  yourself open to possibility over the course of  your journey. I have found myself to be more often than not, pleasantly surprised.

I have found that what I think about the most, tends to show up.  It is important to surround your self with positive supportive energy.  I found that when I was around energy based on fear and lack,  that is what I thought about, and that is was I attracted.

In my journey I slowly shifted to surrounding myself with a more positive flow. That is what I thought about and that is what I attracted. My journey is much more enjoyable now!

When you change what you read, what you watch, what you talk about, what you listen to, what you participate in – essentially the overall energy and environment that you immerse yourself in,  your life will head in that direction.