Life lessons Archives - INSPIRING MAX

Never Helpless

August 19, 2015 inspiringmax

Helplessness: that dull, sick feeling of not being the one at the reins. When did you last feel like that –- and what did you do about it?

I don’t ever feel helpless. If I feel something needs to change in a situation I think outside the square to find an answer to the problem. Sometimes the leader may require help, I may need more explanation of what is really going on or life may have suddenly taken a tragic turn that needs managing. Whatever the reason feeling helpless just takes away my power. I hope you enjoy the following acrostic poem of how I turn HELPLESS into HOPE.

Hopeful an alternative could be found

Eager and encouraged to look for a solution

Liberated to have an idea

Pleased to put it forward

Liking the response I received

Empathetic to our leader

Safe in the knowing

Self-doubt didn’t stop me finding hope

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_prompt/helpless/

Empowerment

August 5, 2015 inspiringmax

Describe your personal style, however you’d like to interpret that — your clothing style, your communication style, your hair style, your eating style, anything.

Empowering others is the basis of my communication and managing styles. My theme is “I teach people to fish, I don’t feed them fish.”

By teaching people to do things for themselves, they develop an understanding that their choices change their outcomes. They learn to set goals and realise they can achieve them by breaking the goal down into doable pieces. They have the power.

Sometimes the type of fishing or skills someone needs to learn can be difficult or slow to learn. But I don’t give up. I empower them to persevere and reap their rewards, however long it takes. By believing the other person can learn the skill and spending time to guide them on their personal journey I see them blossom and achieve things they initially never thought possible.

I love the fact that often as their confidence increases people choose to teach the skills I have taught them to others—keeping the chain of empowerment moving forward.

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_prompt/style-icon/

Keep Calm And Plan

July 19, 2015 inspiringmax

Do you thrive under pressure or crumble at the thought of it? Does your best stuff surface as the deadline approaches or do you need to iterate, day after day to achieve something you’re proud of?

When I have a deadline “keep calm and plan is my motto.” I plan my timetable to make sure the job gets done on time and I allow enough extra time for life to get in the way as it invariably does. I cannot work all through the night to get the job done as my head doesn’t work when I am tired—I need a plan. I break my task down into small achievable chunks that I can join together to succeed.

For me the secret is working out a way that I can look after myself by doing everything I want to and still meet the deadline. Recently I have been given a weekly deadline at work for one of my managers reports each week. As this was initially thrown upon me I struggled the first week but got the job done. Moving forward I plan my week around long and short days depending on what night I am attending Toastmasters. Each week the task is getting easier and I feel myself getting more organised as a result.

Another secret I have for dealing with deadlines is to complete the most difficult task first. I find this takes up the most time and once the difficult task is completed I am usually on the home stretch which motivates me to keep going.

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_prompt/the-heat-is-on/

Help Me Please

June 12, 2015 inspiringmax

Is it easy for you to ask for help when you need it, or do you prefer to rely only on yourself? Why?

I am an independent, goal setting person who understands the power of being able to ask for help when I need it. This doesn’t mean I am weak. It means I am strong enough to say I need help and that I know how to get it. I understand the power of delegation—asking someone to do something for me. In most cases my asking for help may teach the other person a skill along the way. I find as a leader that my team recognise that importance of asking for help when they see me doing it naturally.

When I wanted to learn to blog I asked everyone I knew that blogged how to go about it. Piecing together all the information I set up my blog. It took a lot of asking to finally get it running well however I am proud of my achievement. Something I would never have been able to do without help.

For me asking for help is about connecting with my needs. If I am too exhausted from a busy day at work and someone asks me whats for dinner I will say “whatever you get.” This triggers a chain of events from which dinner is sorted.

The other person recognises that I am tired and not getting dinner.
They decide if they have the energy and if so start preparing.
We collectively decide how hungry we are and whether cheese on toast will fill the hole or if we want to order takeaway or go out to eat.

Either way for me the simple task of asking for help with dinner usually recharges me enough to pick up where I left off.

If I don’t understand something I ask rather than wasting time attempting to figure it out myself and getting nowhere. Let others help lessens your load, gets the job done quicker and brings you closer together. Asking for help also assists with setting boundaries with people as you decide who is the best person to help you with the task at hand rather than accepting someone not suitable because they offered.

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_prompt/i-am-a-rock/

Time Out

June 10, 2015 inspiringmax

We all have things we need to do to keep an even keel — blogging, exercising, reading, cooking. What’s yours?

My mental health is important to me, so when things become too much I take time out. Depending on the situation I may take 5 minutes or a whole day. Sometimes the situation will need me to take 5 minutes in the middle to recollect my thoughts and a day as soon as possible when it is over. During this time I do whatever I feel like to top up my tank and prepare for the next wave.

My time out options – for short and long time periods can be found in the following acrostic poem.

Treat myself

Isolate—block out the world

Meditate

Exit the situation

Outdoors—connect with nature

Useful—be creative in some way

Talk—online or in person

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_prompt/on-the-edge/

It Takes Two

June 6, 2015 inspiringmax

“And they lived happily ever after.” Think about this line for a few minutes. Are you living happily ever after? If not, what will it take for you to get there?

Unlike in the fairy tales where happily ever after just happens — in the real world, it needs to be worked on. There is no magic formula. Relationships take two people sharing, working and dreaming together to create a happily ever after. If one person is planning in one direction and the other in a totally different direction, unless there is a compromise or connection drawing both plans together — their happily ever after is at risk.

My husband and I are living in the happily ever after the best way we can. Nearing retirement we are getting excited about how closer to our dreamed happily ever after we can get when we no longer have to work.The following acrostic poem describes what we blend into our happily ever after plan as we adjust it.

Harmony

Attitude

Positivity

Purpose

Insight

Life

Yearning

Express emotions

Vitality

Enjoyment

Respect

Adaptability

Freedom

Tolerenace

Empathy

Responsibility

My earlier post on secrets of a happy marriage can be found at https://www.inspiringmax.com/loving-advice/

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_prompt/happily-ever-after/

Changing plans

June 1, 2015 inspiringmax

Tell us about a time you did a 180 — changed your views on something, reversed a decision, or acted in a way you ordinarily don’t.

My latest 180 degree change in a decision happened by accident earlier this year. I was complaining of always being tired and working late several days a week meant I got home very late as my commute is 1 1/2 hours if I am lucky. Out of frustration I decided to drive to work on my late day and see what happened. Suddenly I was home in half the time and I had still included a 15 minute walk to the car.

Much better.

I surprised my self also be driving to work in peak hour traffic and it taking only about a 45 minute drive. Now I have time to exercise or blog before coming to work and still sleep in until 6am.

Much easier to get my 8 hours beauty sleep in.

Driving most days of the week now has made me a more confident driver again. Although through trial and experimentation I consider what time I want to leave work on any day before deciding how I will get there. If I need to leave before 6pm I will catch the train as the journey will take 1 1/2 either way but on the train is more relaxing.

Being a solutions based person I am always flexible and look for things that may need changing. How I get to work is one change I am happy I have made. I have also chosen to support my staff by working longer hours earlier in the week and as an extra bonus I work all my hours in a 9 day fortnight. Win—win all around.

Do you need to change any plans to get a better outcome? A little review and system change is sometimes what is needed to have a big impact.

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_prompt/180-degrees/

Juggling Act

May 20, 2015 inspiringmax

How is this year shaping up so far? Write a post about your biggest challenges and achievements thus far.

For me, this year seems to be constantly giving me one theme—anything can happen. It is about learning to juggle even more balls in the air and see how much higher I can get them. Just when I think that I can’t juggle anymore someone comes along and says “I believe you can do this.”

Suddenly I decide let’s give it a chance anyway and I am taken to a new level and learnt a new skill. Sometimes its a bit surreal how it all comes together. Many years ago I learnt to juggle. Initially I used scarves to give me more time to learn the mechanics and then I was using balls. Once learnt juggling is a skill I haven’t forgotten but it definitely gets better the more I do it.

For me this is the same with my challenges. The more I choose to say—why not instead of why—the more I see my world open in different directions. This year I have changed my role at work and completed the A-Z April Challenge writing every day on a new letter of the alphabet whilst at the same time keeping up my usual blogging schedule. I have also learnt how to download my book as an e-book to help with the final stages of editing. Who knew I had the ability and only five months in. Certainly not me but I have kept pushing myself, learning new things and here I am reminding myself that I am not nearly as breakable as I thought and getting stronger by the day.

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_prompt/state-of-your-year/

Everyone Is Welcome

May 17, 2015 inspiringmax

If you could have a guarantee that one, specific person was reading your blog, who would you want that person to be? Why? What do you want to say to them?

Inspiring Max is not written for any one person. It’s “goal is to inspire you—developing a spark of hope into a fire that warms you and lights your path.” This is an open invitation to all who through their life journey have stumbled upon my blog. Whatever your reason for visiting — you are welcome. I hope you find inspiration to look on the positive side of life through the contents of Inspiring Max.

I find inspiration to do many things through my adventures on the blogosphere and I hope Inspiring Max does the same for others. I chose the double rainbow to represent my blog as it also reminds us of that life is not always dark and gloomy and there is hope ahead.

Inspiring Max

Looks at life through positive

Ways and means

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_prompt/singular-sensation-2/

School Lessons

May 14, 2015 inspiringmax

Which subject in school did you find impossible to master? Did math give you hives? Did English make you scream? Do tell!

The subject at school I found the most difficult taught me many skills. The subject was physics which in the end I passed. But the real value was in the life lessons, which were more useful than any science equation.