I’ve tried for days to remember my username to log into WordPress.  I’ve tried everything I can think of, to no avail.  I’ve trawled through past emails from WordPress, I’ve emailed them, I’ve filled in contact forms, I’ve been locked out of the site.  In desperation I’ve gone back over the emails I’ve looked at a thousand times and there, right in front of me, glaringly obvious, an email from WordPress saying: Username: xxx  Seriously?  Why do I constantly miss, omit from my vision, the very thing I’m looking for?  Is my brain just having a laugh or trying to wind me up?

So, the question is, am I the only one that this happens to?  I’m doubting it, but maybe I’m the only one stupid enough to admit it.  I also wonder, will I actually, finally, learn from this?  Will I take the time to read things properly, to ‘do detail’, to save myself time and frustration and a hell of a lot of aggravation getting accounts reset?  The answer in all honestly is: I very much doubt it!  Ho hum, and so it goes on.  Until the next frustrating lock-out, all is well.

Today Jo gave loads and loads of very valid reasons WHY you should blog, at least weekly.  It made so much sense that I thought I’d dig out the long lost log-in details and remind myself of what I have to do to get a new blog post posted.

It wasn’t nearly as difficult as I thought.  I even learned from Paul Andrews that you can upload videos, pics and all sorts of stuff.  I’ll save that for next time.

OK, so now I’ve created a post, I need to work out how to get people to actually read it and even better, comment on it.  One step at a time though.  It’s been a long day, I’m knackered and I promised myself I’d go to bed 40 mins ago – so I’m off.  Job done

Who has the time or the energy to cook a ‘proper’ meal these days?  It becomes a vicious cycle.  Too knackered to cook.  Eat nuked crap that saps our energy.  Wake up feeling tired because we’ve not slept well due to pre-packaged foods being packed with sugar and the caffeine from our 3 daily lattes is still giving us a buzz when it comes to bedtime.  Drag ourselves to work, more sugar to boost our energy and so the cycle goes on.

The plus side to this lifestyle is convenience and it’s cheap!  The downside is that it starts to effect more than just our physical energy.  We put on more weight eating convenience foods.  We do less exercise because it doesn’t provide us with the energy we need to exercise.  But even more worrying, is the long-term damage we’re doing internally.  By living the sugar roller-coaster, we kid ourselves that we’re eating properly, when what we’re actually doing is creating high levels of insulin in the bloody stream (which is also a fat storing hormone!!!) and increasing the risk of Type II Diabetes.

It’s a trade off.  You’ve got to weigh up the pros and cons of cheap, convenient food to the long-term detrimental health effects.  So how do we get over our apathy and mindset of ‘can’t be bothered’?  Start by taking a long hard look at your lifestyle.  Note the effects its having in all areas of your life

• family
• friends
• health
• social life
• hobbies

If there are areas that you’re seriously not happy with, look at where you need to make some changes.  It might be small incremental steps, or it might be a huge transformation.  You decide.  The main thing is that, once you’ve recognised you’re not happy, take action!  The key to physical energy is effective eating, so look at where you can get smarter when it comes to your food.

Remember the food groups from yesterday?  Protein, Fats, Carbs, Vitamins & Minerals – make sure you have a mix of all of these at every meal.  PORTION CONTROL is essential.  Don’t over-eat.  Plan your meals, so that when you go shopping you’re clear about what to buy.  Plan your snacks – eat healthy snacks, still with a mix of the major food groups (around 150 cals is great).  Try to eat something every 3 hours, then you won’t be craving sugar when it comes to meals.  Ensure you eat BREAKFAST!  Don’t start the day empty.  Your body needs energy to get going, so if you don’t feed it effectively (ie, no sugary cereals; go for a mix of food groups) then it will need the energy to be released by adrenalin and sugars being released from your liver.  Adrenalin is a stress hormone, so don’t have just a coffee for breakfast.  It will put you in a fractious mood, as well as giving you foul breath – pew!

More tips tomorrow folks.  Stay tuned.

If organisations can grasp the principles of effective energy management, then why can’t individuals?  Why are we still seeing such rapid rises in childhood obesity and Type II Diabetes?  If any of you are avid viewers of programmes such as ‘Young Dumb & Living with Mum’ then you’ll see first hand the effects of low personal energy.  Not being able to get up in the morning, dull and listless responses, apathetic towards just about everything and definitely lacking in motivation and drive.  As one of the zookeepers said, if this is typical of the youth today, then we’re in trouble!  How many of you know friends with teenagers who spend all of their time sulking in their rooms, devoid of fresh air, fresh food and fresh conversation?  The only time they come out of their room is to answer the door with a grunt to the pizza delivery man and then lurk furtively whilst a haggard parent dips their hand into their pocket once again to pay for such junk, because said youth refuses to eat food that hasn’t been chemically produced, loaded with sugar and dripping in oil.

So where do we start?  I commend the Jamie Olivers of the world who endeavour to change eating habits of the young.  And yet should all responsibility lie with schools?  Certainly not!  How many parents do you hear bleating on that ‘she’s so fussy, she won’t eat anything other than chocolate buttons and crisps’?  Have we spoiled and pampered our little darlings to the point where they can demand their parents to pander to their every whim?  It would appear so.  Years ago, if you didn’t eat what was prepared for the whole family, you went hungry.  Now, parents are faced with preparing 3 or 4 different meals, or on the opposite end of the spectrum, opening 3 or 4 packets of biscuits.

We all know that in order to gain physical energy, we need a balance at each meal of protein, fat, carbs and vitamins & minerals.  We know that if we balance these major food groups at each meal, we’ll feel fuller for longer and we’ll be eating all of the essential food groups that our bodies and minds need for physical and emotional energy.

So why don’t we do it?  Find out tomorrow!

We talked through various actions and I heard myself giving some sound advice on ideas that I really felt would work. Then I thought . . . why am I not taking my own advice? I do this time and again. People often ask me what’s my secret. What do I do in order to get the clients that I have and the work that I do. The answer is, I don’t know. When I sit and think about it, I don’t do that cold calling stuff, because I hate it. I don’t advertise, because it’s a waste of money. I don’t do the networking thing, because I find it a waste of time (although I have just joined a networking group that seems different to the rest – not your usual crack of dawn start, elevator pitch and swapping business cards. That said, the first meeting is next week, so the jury’s out until then).

So I guess it all boils down to building effective relationships where I’m able to prove myself so that people recommend me on. All well and good, assuming you have the initial opportunity to do that. When I think back to how I got started, I can remember offering to give a day of time time free. A win-win situation. I get in front of people and strut my stuff. The organisation gets something for nothing. The individuals benefit personally. I also had to be very clear about what I was offering for free. In this case it was a day’s free coaching.

It’s funny how things work out. A few years on from that freebie, my workload has increased massively and one of the people I coached that day wrote to me yesterday. He was thanking me for the session way back then, saying it had a major impact on his life and how much better things are for him since he made changes that were inspired from our one and only coaching session! Amazing.

As I sit and reflect on the advice I dished out today, I wonder how much more successful I could be if I took my own advice. Or perhaps my own lack of strategy and planning works just fine for me. Maybe there’s a middle ground, allowing my free spirit to run wild in a semi-structured and planned way.

Time to take some action me thinks!

I know this through personal experience; both as an individual who wants instant results and as a professional working with such people.  Being an Organisation and People Development specialist, as well as a Psychotherapist and NLP Trainer, I’m privy to the inner workings of the human psyche.  I’ve seen first hand the desire for instant results and instant change.  Is it possible?

For the full (free) article, please email your contact details to: info@Inspirational-Life-Solutions.com

If you’re interested in self development, self awareness, personal transformation or organisation development, then read on . . .

This blog is dedicated to helping people help themselves. If you’re a bit stuck, a bit fed-up, lost direction or don’t know how to energise your people at work, this site is for you. We’ll be posting useful hints and tips to help both individuals and organisations put the spring back into their step – not an easy thing in this climate, right?

It’s a matter of choice. You can choose how to live your life and how to run your organisation. It may not seem that you have choices right now, but over the coming months, we’ll post enlightening articles to help you develop more choice, both personally and in your organisations.

Keep following – our articles are on their way!