Dr Mariette Jansen explains how meditation can help reduce stress

A couple of weeks ago I attended a meditation workshop run by stress management consultant, Dr Mariette Jansen.  It was a very profound yet practical experience where I and I experienced very deep relaxation and calmness.  Mariette runs approximately two of these excellent workshops every month.  I would urge anyone who is experiencing stress or anxiety to attend a workshop.  They are held in Weybridge, Surrey and you will find the schedule for the upcoming events here :

I have recently interviewed Mariette and in the interview she shares some tips on what is meditation and how anyone can incorporate mediation into their life.

Have a listen, I think you’ll agree that Mariette with her beautiful Dutch accent has the most relaxing voice ever.

Mariette is an active blogger writing informative articles on managing stress, have a read of her blog

Sue Bown

Works with businesses and individuals to get better results, more efficiency, less stress AND more success. I play golf too, especially in the sun!

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It’s an exciting week, Friday 7th October sees the first ever Ladies at 11 Business Awards ceremony at Sandown Park and I am delighted to have been nominated for the Outstanding Contribution Award.

The awards event sponsored by Natwest range from Entreprenuer of the Year, Inspirational Woman Award, New Business Award.  You can see a full list of awards and nominees here.  I am delighted to be in the company of Camilla Campbell, Laura Hart, Lynne Hardy, Lindsey Collumbell, Zoe Brown and so many more.

Ladies at 11 is a networking company for women who are serious about growing their businesses.  It’s a networking group with a difference because it’s focused, supportive and works.  It’s a subject very close to my heart and I love what it does and what it stands for.  I am so happy just to be nominated and of course if I win it will be a terrific achievement.

We even got a mention is this week’s Surrey Advertiser:

Item from Surrey Advertiser 30 Sep 2011

So it’s fingers crossed, I may even write a brief acceptance speech…..just in case.  Wish good luck to everyone else who is nominated.  And let the party begin…..

Sue Bown

Works with businesses and individuals to get better results, more efficiency, less stress AND more success. I play golf too, especially in the sun!

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Find a way to live your life stress-free. Photo courtesy of tvftdo.com

It makes shocking reading but the report by Chartered Institute of Personal Development (CIPD) featured in many of the nationals today says exactly that.  Stress is so common-place it’s the top cause of workplace sickness and it’s so widespread it’s been called the Black Death of the 21st century.

Stress has overtaken stroke, heart attack, cancer and back problems as the commonest cause of absence from work.

Common causes of stress are an excessive workload, the boss’ management style, problems at home, anxiety regarding restructuring in the workplace.

What is stress?
Symptoms of stress are lack of focus, losing your temper more quickly than normal, losing your sense of humour.  Left untreated these can lead to more serious illnesses such as heart disease, stomach and bowel conditions and depression.

I believe that by living in a fast-paced world of fast answers, instant access, iPhones, Blackberrys and social media, whilst they all offer benefits to our lives, they can if misused by detrimental to our health.

My top tips for de-stressing:

1.  Give yourself time everyday.  Find some time even if it’s just 5 minutes where you can just be alone with your thoughts.  We all need thinking time

2.  Focus on your breathing, inhale fully, and exhale fully, using every part of your lungs.

3. Turn off social media, give yourself a break.

4. Take up meditation or yoga.  Both of these are so very beneficial to health and wellbeing.

5. Be your own best friend.  Think about some advice you’d give to a friend in the same situation and take that advice yourself.  You’ll be surprised what you know.

6. Sign up for my free email coaching programme, top left of this page.

Sue Bown

Works with businesses and individuals to get better results, more efficiency, less stress AND more success. I play golf too, especially in the sun!

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Ladies at 11 Conference 2011, speakers, back row l-r Tiffany St James, Dylis Guyan, Sue Bown, Carole Ann Rice, Laura Hart. Front row Sarah Martin. Picture courtesy http://samjhanamoon.com/

Is it possible to experience inspiration overload?  Because that’s how I felt when I left the 2011 Ladies at 11 Back to Business conference.  My head felt fit to burst with all of those highly charged particles and dollops of motivation that were ladled on us throughout the day.   The only way for me to sort myself out after this was to go for a run and if you know me, you’ll know that running is not a usual pastime.

What made it such a phenomenal event?   Given that last year there were only fifteen of us there; this year saw in excess of 80 delegates listening to an impressive line-up of high-profile speakers such as Penny Power, Rachel Elnaugh, Cara Sayer, Tiffany St James, Emma Wimhurst, Dylis Guyan, Carole Ann Rice and er… ME!

Carole Ann Rice, one of the UK’s leading life coaches and myself opened the day with a call to action.  Our message was simple:

1. You’re here, well done.  For many multi-tasking busy women just getting there was an achievement.
2. Pack away everything else and give yourself the time to enjoy the day with purpose.
3. Write down one goal that’s a BIG stretch, one that makes your toes curl!
4. Take ACTION!  Make it HAPPEN!

We were followed by Dylis Guyan from IncreaseYourSalesIn30Days.com  Dylis is a high-hitting Sales and Sales Management Coach.  With an impressive CV of sales successes Dylis shared top tips on how to increase your sales in a recession.  She dished out sensible, valuable advice and strategy that we all need. One fact stuck firmly in my head is 80% of sales are made in between the fifth to the 12^th contact.

Penny Power

After a quick networking coffee, Penny Power, founder of Ecademy took to the stage.  Penny captivated the audience with her passion for social media.  She told her story of success and how ‘through the keyboard’ we can all connect, share and turn contacts from stranger to friend to follower. Her story is indeed inspiring.  I loved her analogy about serendipitous moments that appear during your life that she called ‘random dots’ and how we should be looking out for them.  The standing ovation she received for her speech was well-deserved.

A relaxed Cara Sayer followed.  Cara, inventor of Snooze Shadeis a natural

Cara Sayer

speaker who spoke to our large group with such ease it was like she was chatting to us all as a friends.  She inspired us with wise words of advice and of how by focus, determination and making measured choices for her family, she has invented Snooze Shade. An award winning product to help babies sleep on the go.

Lunch was then served, Sandown Park, our conference venue provided a variety of delicious buffet choices.  Including some rather interesting desserts, which I’ve only just remembered and forgot to go back for!  There was networking to be done, lots of people to meet and catch up with.

Rachel Elnaugh

Ex-star of Dragon’s Den, Rachel Elnaugh opened the afternoon session.  Rachel, who founded Red Letter Days, shared her experiences of how a business can go from dream to nightmare.  Learning from her nightmare, Rachel has inspired countless business owners to create Business Magic.  Rachel told us we should each have a ‘seven second sizzle statement’.  To be able communicate the value of our business in just 7 seconds.

The arrival of Tiffany St Jamesto the stage piled on more inspiration, this time in

Tiffany St James

the fast-growing arena of social media.  Tiffany, former Head of Public Participation for the UK Government advised us how to using a digital strategy can impact and grow your business.  Did you know that London is the Twitter capital of the world?

Emma Wimhurst

Time for a welcome cuppa, and of course some much enjoyed networking.  After tea we were introduced to Emma Wimhurst, who became a self-made millionaire from the success of Diva Cosmetics.  Emma author of BOOM! a practical, no-nonsense business book inspired us with her story.  She talked us through her 7 Business Disciplines, a straightforward method to grow your business.  We also learned that 85% of business women don’t have a business plan, interestingly 95% of men don’t have one either.

Last, but of course, by no means least, Voice Coach, Laura Hart came to the stage.  Laura cleverly used examples from the day’s events to highlight how we can get the best from our presentations.  Laura, who works with blue chip organisations dished out tip after tip of how to make the best of your voice, your presentation and to communicate your business message best.

Do you see what I mean by inspiration overload?  My mind was brimming with ideas, thoughts, plans and more.  What I needed was time, time to get my thoughts together and start putting all this good stuff into action.

That’s exactly what I’ve done and I hope you have too.  And those toes are not curling quite as much as they were.

If you missed it, you missed a treat, looking forward to seeing you next year

Thanks to Samjhana Moon for taking pictures on the day and for supplying the picture for this article.

Sue Bown

Works with businesses and individuals to get better results, more efficiency, less stress AND more success. I play golf too, especially in the sun!

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Career change? Thought you were comfortable? Picture courtesy of www.tvftdo.com

A client of mine has been working on making changes to her career for a while now. During this time she has managed to alter the conditions of her current job and she has improved relationships and communication with her colleagues. She has a better work/life balance, clearly, she feels better about herself overall.

All the while we have worked I can hear that deep down she really wishes to change direction or change jobs and start something new. I have tried to push and encourage her to make the move yet each time she pushes back or is opting out of a decision.   Also, family circumstances and events have occurred that have diverted her focus. The important thing is she does what is right for her.  She has got to the point now where she is completely fed up with herself for not making a change and is prepared to do something. It’s a kind of tipping point.

In a coaching session last week, she realised that whilst her perception of her current job is she’s staying put because it’s comfortable, she’s actually really very uncomfortable.   Also, that she’s putting a huge amount of effort and energy into making it OK and trying to make it comfortable. In fact she’s putting so much effort into making it comfortable it could be easier to just go for it and find something new.  The comfort zone she believes she has is uncomfortable.

Even when we got to this point she was still talking herself out if it, her mind was rushing ahead; ‘What if this?’, ‘What if that?’ ‘What happens when I get to this stage?’ I reassured her that if she takes a step by step approach, she can deal with these challenges if they happen and this will make the transition easier.

Now I am not going to push her to move into something new until she is ready, the decision has to be hers, however the realisation has hit home.  Last week’s session was a big breakthrough.

Like the picture?  See more at www.theviewfromthedartmouthoffice.com

Sue Bown

Works with businesses and individuals to get better results, more efficiency, less stress AND more success. I play golf too, especially in the sun!

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Love this video, very thought provoking.

Sue Bown

Works with businesses and individuals to get better results, more efficiency, less stress AND more success. I play golf too, especially in the sun!

Website - Twitter - Facebook - More Posts

Charles Dickens 1812 – 1870

If Charles Dickens wanted to come and speak at your Book Club would you say ‘No thanks, you’re too old?   Would Emmeline Pankhurst or Adam Smith get the same reaction at your networking group?   Or, how about if Sir Winston Churchill wanted to speak at your Speakers Club would you say ‘Sorry pal you’re just a bit over the hill and we’d rather hear from someone younger’?  Of course you wouldn’t!  So why do you tell yourself ‘I can’t do that because I am too old to?’

This is a common theme I hear, people limiting themselves because of their thoughts.  They won’t start their own business, they won’t apply for a new job, they won’t look for a new relationship, they won’t learn something new.  All this because they believe that they are too old, too young, too tall, too short, too fair, too dark, too anything-they-want-to-focus-on!

What other people think of you is their opinion and to be quite frank about it, it’s none of your business!  It’s a waste of your energy even trying to think about what they think because I guarantee you’ll be wrong!

If there’s something you want to do – then do it!

Sue Bown

Works with businesses and individuals to get better results, more efficiency, less stress AND more success. I play golf too, especially in the sun!

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LK Bennett website

I am loving LK Bennett’s latest advertising campaign with it’s clever strapline ‘Life is the occasion’.  How often do you keep your best clothes, best attitude, or dare I say, best behaviour for special occasions only? 

Life IS the occasion.

Sue Bown

Works with businesses and individuals to get better results, more efficiency, less stress AND more success. I play golf too, especially in the sun!

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Top questions - picture courtesy of www.tvftdo.com

As a coach I ask a lot of questions, coaching is all about asking people questions that helps them think things through to enable them to progress, grow and reach their goals.  Sometimes the less I know about a client or their lives is better because then I ask the questions, that probably sound dumb, but makes a client fully think through what is going on in their life or business.

Funnily enough there are a great deal of questions I get asked too.  Here are the top 3 most popular questions right now:

How do I effectively manage my time?
This is a great question, because I have phases of being a bad manager of time.  I really enjoy having flexibility around my time, I like the feeling that I can choose to do what I want to do when I want to do it.  That’s great of course, up to a point.  There are many occasions where time has to be managed correctly, it helps with all sorts of things, getting things done for example .  Another  extremely vital reason is maintaining a good work/life balance.  Effective time management is something you can give to yourself.  Start by making some small changes, if you like flexibility give yourself some managed time and some unmanaged time.  Break tasks down into small steps, give yourself some deadlines.  Notice what works best for you and keep doing it.

How can I make sure I change my life?
Many people considering coaching are nervous about whether they can change or not.  They disbelieve that they’ve got what it takes to make the changes they want in their life to reach their goals.  My advice is to get started, we all learned to do things and to create patterns in our lives, the knowledge that we did learn is the proof that we can un-learn it too.  Human beings are creatures of habit, start gradually changing those habits and beliefs and you’ll get there.

My partner needs coaching how can I convince them?
This question comes up a great deal.  First thing to consider is how would you feel if the boot was on the other foot and your partner was suggesting you did something.  What would it be and how would you react?  Lose weight, give up smoking, take more exercise, get a new job.  It’s easy to find reasons why others should do something and not always easy to do something for yourself.  I believe the need for coaching has to come from within.  If it doesn’t then any reluctance will cause the coaching to not be as effective.  Step one is to see what changes you could make for yourself, maybe you could change your reaction to your partner, maybe just stopping the nagging could help.   By starting to do something for yourself could be the catalyst to help your partner get started themselves.

I hope you’ve found these questions useful, if you have any comments please use the comments section on this page, I’d love to hear from you.

Sue Bown

Works with businesses and individuals to get better results, more efficiency, less stress AND more success. I play golf too, especially in the sun!

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A new leaf? Picture courtesy of www.tvftdo.com

Having seen all the recent activity on my blog, one of my lovely clients asked if she could submit a blog giving an account of her personal coaching journey.  I know she has come such a long way and got a great deal from her coaching.  She has done this with focus and very impressive determination.  I am flattered by what she says and I am delighted she wants to share her story.

“I started my coaching with Sue in April 2008.  Initially, I was seeking help with my work life balance.  Once I began my sessions I could see how closely connected all areas of life are and how it’s hard therefore to discuss them independently – hence the title “Life Coaching”!

Life coaching with Sue has made a real difference to me. I have been able to look at my responses and  reactions to situations and take greater responsibility for my actions and decisions. This has enabled me to feel calmer and more in control of my life.  Coaching is powerful because through careful questioning it leads to finding solutions from within yourself.  Coaching is all about finding clarity and moving forward.

Sue has walked alongside me through a range of issues –  from time management, issues at work to more personal issues of communication within relationships and even enabling me to face a real fear and anxiety about driving.

Throughout, Sue has challenged and supported me.  It has been an incredible journey (quite literally with the driving!). I have learnt alot about myself and made valuable life changes.  Life Coaching is a real personal investment..  I have learnt the importance of making and taking time to look at my life.  It is not indulgent, it is a necessity if we wish to give and be our best not only to ourselves, but to those we live and work with.

Of course, the real success lies in finding and working with the right coach. I count myself very fortunate to have met Sue and to have had the opportunity to work with her. Sue offers more than just the ability and skills needed to be a coach.  Sue is compassionate and has a real commitment to her role as well as great intuition.    I met Sue at a time when I really needed help and guidance.  I can really see the difference between how I handled things before coaching and now.  With Sue I have found clarity, contentment and a feeling that whatever happens I “can handle it”.

This is priceless.  Life Coaching with Sue is a present to myself – and what a gift it is.”

Find out more about how life coaching can help you.
Free your mind – Live your life, free email coaching programme

Sue Bown

Works with businesses and individuals to get better results, more efficiency, less stress AND more success. I play golf too, especially in the sun!

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