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Copyright Sukhy Bains: December 2010. All rights reserved
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Inspiring Asian Women everywhere to lead Empowered, PASSIONATE and fuLfilled lives |
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December 2010 ISSUE 8 |
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focus |
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Asian Woman |
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Newsletter packed with ideas, latest research, tools & techniques specially geared to supporting Asian women excel in their career, relationships, family and in celebrating their own individuality. |
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In this issue: |
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¨ Editor’s message ¨ Feature article: The power of quality reflection |
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Please forward this newsletter to anyone you think may find it valuable. |
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Whilst a lot of us may reflect at the end of our day, it’s not usually the type of reflection that is hard-nosed around achieving success, it may just be replaying certain conversations and situations in the day. |
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The power of quality reflection |
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Focus On… What is important to you?
What areas or things are not getting as much priority as they deserve?
What are the urgent things you keep getting pulled in to do? Start to say NO!
Control what you think about.
Make more conscious choices about what you think about—choices that are informed and geared towards your success. |
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I was coaching a senior executive who, as you can imagine, was always extremely busy. When we finished our coaching and I asked her how she had benefitted, she said one of the most valuable things she got from our coaching, was the fact that I encouraged her to sit down in a peaceful, quiet place for 20 minutes each day to reflect on the important things. The things that she may not have paid so much attention to whilst she was busy putting out fires.
We are so busy in our lives addressing the urgent things and the ‘noise’ that the important things don’t get the attention they need. As Stephen Covey (author of Seven Habits of Highly Effective People) says, put the important things first. When someone rings the phone while we are having dinner with the family, we immediately get up to answer it. However, unless it’s a phone call you’ve been keenly waiting for, it’s not really that important. Having dinner with the family is!
How much of your day do you fill with doing things that are urgent but not really that important?
How much of your day is filled with people making demands and requests of you that they claim to be urgent?
How much time do you spend responding to urgent emails that aren’t really that important or relevant to your long term success? |
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I caught myself, the other day, thinking about an event that had happened that day that I had felt slightly annoyed by. Before I had realised it, on my journey home, I had spent another 20 minutes in deep contemplation just thinking about it without necessarily getting anywhere other than feeling annoyed again – ever found yourself in that situation?
We can spend so much of our time in mindless thought and one of the keys to success is to train our mind to think about things that are important and not waste precious energy on the ‘noise’. |
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I was talking to my mentor about some of the things I had done this year when she said, “Gosh, you’ve done a lot!”. This made me sit up in my chair because, until then, I really hadn’t thought that this year had been my best.
I know, personally, I’ve got a habit of looking at what I haven’t achieved yet and what still needs doing. This can be dangerous because if you don’t give yourself credit for what you have already achieved, you can end up feeling as though you’re on a never ending treadmill.
Look back at the year and focus on some of the things that you are really proud of having achieved? |
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For reflection to be effective, you need to be asking questions of quality. Not all questions are good questions, you need to ask questions that are going to invoke learning and project you forward. Questions like: What did I personally do today that had the biggest positive impact/result? What did I learn about myself today? What’s holding me back? What do I need more of? Where do I need more clarity/ focus/ motivation? In hindsight, what might I do differently next time? What’s important to me? |
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The end of the year is a perfect time to do some quality reflection…. |
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So get out a notebook and pen and reflect on the year.
What are you most proud of having achieved? What has been the biggest thing you’ve learned this year? How will you use this learning? What are your priorities for the coming year?
The end of the year is a perfect time to reflect so give it the time it deserves. |
