Last time we spoke I talked about why you might want to make a plan for the day, in advance of the day. And I recommended to you that you do it the night before. Now I don't know whether you've been doing that or not, but one of the things people often say to me when they first start making a plan for the day is that actually they find it quite frustrating. Typically people say things like: "Well I made my plan and I went into work at 8.30. And by about half past 9 I'd strayed away from the plan because somebody wanted something that wasn't in my plan… So what's the point in planning if I can't actually stick to the plan?" It's a good question isn't it?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Have you ever wondered how to get the perfect work/life balance? And not just the right balance between working life and family life, but also giving the right amount of time to your hobbies and other interests or commitments?

I used to belong to a voluntary organisation where experienced members would advise the newer ones, ‘your family comes first, your work comes second and this voluntary activity comes third.’ Fine in theory, but I can remember more than one occasion when the local President missed a meeting at short notice because of family circumstances – and it wasn’t well received!

However, it highlighted some things for me about the whole issue of priorities. If you always give your time to your top priority, nothing else ever gets any time. There have to be times when you put the lower priority activities first, otherwise you’d never actually do them.

So the real skill is in planning your time and activities so that you never have to choose between your priorities in the moment. It means balancing your commitments so that over time, the important things get more of your time and attention and the less important things get less of your time.

In effect, that means you might have a priority for today that isn’t a priority for the week. Or a priority for the month that isn’t a priority for today. It sounds paradoxical, but actually it’s perfectly logical. If you had the same priorities all the time, you’d do the same things every day!

Ultimately, priorities are contextual. To avoid causing yourself stress, your priorities need to be aligned with your values and goals and you need to spend time on planning to get the right balance.

Do you ever feel like you've got so much going on that somehow it's all getting out of control? I get like that sometimes. And even though I've got a really good team who help me manage (well actually they manage me), quite often I find that there are so many things that I need to get done that I've lost track of some of them. And when I get like that and I feel a bit out of control, then I decide I need to go back to basics. One of the basics I always go back to is making a daily plan…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Since I mentioned in the last newsletter that I’m going to be offering NLP Practitioner and Master Practitioner training again in 2013, several people have asked me what I mean when I refer to a ‘proper Practitioner training’.

As NLP is still an unregulated field in the UK – and much of the rest of the world – different training institutes have a different interpretation of what the label 'NLP Practitioner' means and also how to train people to that level.

I’ve often been asked, 'Why does your Practitioner programme take 20 days when other trainers are offering Practitioner in 7 or 10 or 15 days?' (Or even 2 or 3 days!) This is a great question: most of the people who come to Brilliant Minds are managers or directors in business and are very busy. Time is a significant consideration.

The answer is simple:

The 7-day 'accelerated' programmes offered by many NLP Training Institutes include around 50 hours of home study before the programme. The reason I don’t offer this is because I’m concerned that busy people don't always find time to do the home study. That means they don’t get the full benefit of the ‘live’ part of the programme and may impact the quality of the experience for other people too.

With a full 20-day programme all you have to do is clear the space in your schedule and turn up. Also, since the 20 days are spread over 4 months, there are lots of opportunities to review real-life experiences and learn from each other’s experiments. This really helps the learning to stick.

NLP is a set of practical skills and, as with any other skills, you only get to the level of 'unconscious competence' with practice. Doing the practice in the training room means you get high quality feedback. It also ensures that the practice actually happens. How often have you been on a training programme and not got around to using what you learnt?

In this Olympic year, I’ve been reminded that there isn’t a fast-track to everything.  Some things can only be achieved through commitment, focus and the dedication of time. 

Two programmes may both be called 'NLP Practitioner' but it's obvious to any intelligent person that you will learn more and get more benefits the longer you spend training. To put it another way, you get what you pay for. And I've never been interested in being the cheapest or the quickest – I just want to provide the best training possible for my clients.

Some institutes work on the assumption that if you do Practitioner training, you’ll automatically do Master Practitioner training, so they can fill in any gaps in a later training.

I want to be sure that if this is the only NLP training you ever do, it’s been worthwhile. When I sign a NLP Practitioner Certificate for you at the end of a 20-day training programme, you can be sure it means that you really can practise NLP successfully in your everyday life.

Here's the link for full details of the Brilliant Minds 'proper Practitioner training' 2013