My Pioneering Life
I'm loving '09! I have been working hard on my website relaunch and already got some speaking bookings without even trying. Don't you just love life in flow? New website and keynotes speeches available very, very soon.
The radio show is going from strength to strength and there are some really interesting guests coming on. Do let me know of any topics or guests you would like to hear.
I've been salsa dancing at a fab new venue in Leeds called Floridita - wonderful dance floor and a live band every Friday night. Had a wonderful dinner there too this weekend for one of my best friend's birthday. Oh yes indeed, yummy!
You'll have the chance to see my new coaching tip video (and vote on it) as part of the Britain's Next Top Coach competition. The voting starts from 9 February and you'll be able to access it from then at: http://www.britainsnexttopcoach.tv/competition/unadoyle
I had such fun doing the filming for it. Now that I know so much more about my strengths I can quite happily say yes to more speaking, TV, radio and not feel like perhaps I'm an egomaniac for wanting to do them. I'm simply applying some of my strengths in my business. Cool, eh?
For some of the group filming was an ordeal. Something they had to do to get their message across or promote their business. It's difficult to do tasks that weaken you because they are not one of your strengths or perhaps that trigger your emotional baggage. I'd like to say well done to them as they did well.
As I mentioned in my note before the holiday season, I'm getting more organised and have now got some administrative support in place and am growing a business support team. I anticipate it may well take a few months to catch up on backlog and put systems in place. It feels good to commit myself to this kind of support, like the final cobwebs of self-sabotage have blown away...
I think for probably the first time in my life I'm really looking forward to Valentine's Day this year. I've kept it reasonably quiet until now as it's still very early days. However, I've been wondering how I can write about my life without mentioning that I'm in a new relationship?
All I'll say for now is, so far so good! It would appear that I have learned lots of lessons from the last couple of years in particular, as this relationship is loving, romantic, I'm being treated wonderfully and I'm constantly getting lovely surprises. I have learned from the past that a few months is not long enough to really be able to judge true compatibility so I'm making no predictions at this time. You'll just have to be patient and wait and see what happens - just like me.
By the way, if you're looking for help in your relationship, or in getting into one, see the Una Recommends section for a fantastic book.
Apologies if this is a bit long as a newsletter. Perhaps now I have this in my schedule to do at least once a month it will get shorter!
Pioneering Business
I was asked as part of filming the coaching tip for Britain's Next Top Coach to define what success is and this is what I came up with:
(Una Doyle)
Let me share with you an example from my own business of how this could apply.
I've been working a lot in my business on distilling what I mean by being pioneering and how people can profit from that, into something simple to say. The result - so far - is three key questions that I feel are both simple and significant for business owners and people managers.
Of course it's one thing me thinking that, it's another knowing that because I've checked it with you. So I've put together a brief survey to see how do they work for you? (The survey is at http://tinyurl.com/d8p8x2 and three lucky winners will receive free coaching!)
Here is how I see this working...
I'm applying (taking action) a strategy (market research) that works for my strengths (communicating with a number of people) and having the character and pioneering spirit to overcome the internal (to lay myself wide open to your feedback) and external challenges (lack of knowledge) that I'm facing on this journey of relaunching my business.
What are you working on (or perhaps procrastinating on!) that would benefit from this thinking right now? Ask yourself the following questions:
- What strategies could I apply?
- What decisions and/or actions would that require me to take?
- What internal challenges could that bring up for me?
- What external challenges might I face as a result of these strategies and/or actions
- growth would I achieve as a result of going ahead and doing this?
- Will I do this? If so, when?
- How committed am I to doing this on a scale of 1-10?
Hint, if your commitment level is less than a 7 out of 10 then you probably won't do it. If that is the case, look again at the internal and external challenges to see where the sticking point is. What could you do about that?
Remember whatever you decide to do - do something. It will massively increase your chances of success.
Pioneering Recommendations
In each issue of this newsletter I like to share with you some resources that me and/or my clients have found useful.
Book as above Are You the One for Me?
Barbara DeAngelis has got an amazing talent for drawing out the underlying patterns in romantic relationships that just hit the button. I believe that a lot of this book could also apply to work relationships too, when we have patterns they tend to show up all over the place if we could only recognise them... Very simply written so that even those who don't like reading will find it easy to read. Yet also chocca full of information. Very insightful.
