May 11, 2013 by Maggie Currie

Is it time for you to take action?

As a very busy coach I am lucky enough to be in a position where, on a daily basis, the fascinating people I work with tell me all about their big dreams, grand plans and compelling goals. Dreams, plans and goals that they have possibly never shared with another living soul. There are some amazing potential futures out there for these people!

What will be the deciding factors in whether these big dreams remain as dreams or become wonderful and vibrant realities? The factors are – clarity, vision, belief, motivation, support – and they all play a part. But the deciding factor in each and every case is – will this person take action? Will they act upon what they want and work towards making it happen?

Frequently people don’t realise their ambitions and make their dreams a reality because their aspirations remain as something that they think about, rather than something that they do or create. Having put all that effort into the thinking, dreaming and planning they find all sorts of reasons not to do anything to make things happen for them.

Interestingly, the most common reason that I hear for inaction is ‘no time’. How often do you hear people say “If only I had the time”?

This time-poor mentality is very common, so much so that we often appear to believe we have run out of time, or that there is literally none to spare because it’s already been spent on the other stuff in our lives. Time is ‘taken up’ by so many things that when it comes to the big goals and ambitions that require action, we don’t feel we have any left.

Added to that, the nature of some of these wonderful dreams that people have ( retraining for a new career perhaps) mean that they can take a certain amount of time to come to fruition, and there can be a sense of, “but it would just take so long!”.

The thing is though, time is passing anyway. Regardless of whether or not we take action, whether or not we use it constructively and make it count, it is going by at the same rate. The real key to success is to decide to use it in the best way possible for what is most important to us.

We allow so many less important things to drain our time when we could choose at any moment to use it in a much better way, in such a way that we make progress and start heading towards where we want to be. So that in a year or two years time, we’ll be in a different place to the place we are in now. Well on our way to one of those compelling potential futures. Or perhaps by that time it will be our reality.

Is it time for you to take action? Do you have a dream or an ambition in which you’ve invested lots of thinking and planning time, but just haven’t taken any action to achieve it?

Ask yourself:

What needs to happen for me to achieve this? What are all the steps?
What is stopping me from taking action? How long will I allow these things to stop me?
What is the one thing I could do in the next 24 hours to know that I have started taking action?
Will you do it?

It is time now for you to take action and to really begin to change your life. I will help you to do that. Get in touch today.

I have some availability for coaching clients, we just need to fix some dates if and when you want to get started. Get in touch today.

Maggie Currie

Creedence – Confidence for You

International Confidence Coach, Motivational Speaker, Author

Website

Facebook

Twitter

May 6, 2013 by Maggie Currie

What makes a very good relationship last?

I believe a good relationship is based on trust, love, respect, listening, learning, giving and taking. Communication of course is essential. If you don’t communicate effectively with each other, then the relationship will fail. Whether the relationship is a marriage or a friendship, those bases have to be covered or the relationship will not flourish.

I have been married to my husband for 29 years and we love each deeply. We also trust each other implicitly. I always listen to what my husband has to say, and mostly he listens to what I have to say. We don’t always agree, but we respect each other’s opinion. There is also the factor of knowing that we are there for each other to support and encourage in low times and to praise and celebrate with each other in the high times. We each know that we can depend upon each other no matter what. Our communication works, we are honest with each other and there are no secrets (with the exception of birthday and Christmas presents of course).

I have very few good friends who I would trust with my life. But those I do have know that equally they can trust me with their lives. I have one friend in particular who I have known since I was 9 years old. We are good friends. We live hundreds of miles apart, but we manage to get together at least once a year and to keep in touch via email and social media. We love each other as friends, trust and respect each other, learn from each other even now after all these years.

I have a good relationship with my mother, this has not always been the case, but I have learned that we do love each other, respect each other’s opinions and although we live about two hours away from each other, we communicate via phone every so often and I visit her many times a year. She is going to be 90 this year, still lives in her own home, and is surprisingly spritely for her age.

Here are some tips to help make your relationship last:

Be honest with each other. If you have made a mistake then admit it, apologise. Don’t let your ego get in the way.

If your partner makes a mistake and apologises, is it always their fault? Did they know what you expected of them? Was your communication clear? If not, can you take responsibility and admit that?

Say I love you to your partner or friend and mean it. They will be feeling on top of the world because they feel loved and wanted. This will reflect back on you and make you feel the same.

Say thank you. That has a similar effect to saying I love you. Being appreciated means so much in a relationship.

Don’t forget that you are still your own person and your partner or friend is still their own person. Have your own set of friends that you can go out with now and again, without your partner. Being together all the time can be very suffocating and can cause damage to a relationship.

Share your secrets. Know the trivial things about your partner that nobody else knows.

If you don’t have a good relationship with someone, is there something missing? Do you trust each other, respect each other, listen to each other, learn from each other and love each other?

The best part I find of being in a relationship is that I am not in it alone. I have someone to love, to work with and work things out with.

No relationship is perfect, it would be terribly boring if it were. But you are in the relationship with someone you love and who loves you. Cuddle your partner when you go to sleep at night – there is nothing more comforting than having a loving pair of arms around you when you go to sleep and when you wake in the morning.

All of these things will help to make a good relationship last.

I am helping people to become the very best version of themselves, and I have some availability for coaching clients, we just need to fix some dates when you want to get started. Get in touch today.