“Landing a Man on the Moon” Our inspiring team training workshop!

Coastal VAs are always searching for opportunities for our own team training and what better way than to partake in a workshop facilitated by our new client, the inspirational Kate Buchan from Wessex Team Training.

We pride ourselves here at Coastal VAs at setting goals and action plans for ourselves in our business but we are all too aware that sometimes procrastination can creep in especially with our home life, for example that bit of house decorating we keep putting off or that fitness regime that there never seems to be time for. So last Friday we all got a much needed motivational boost.

“I really enjoyed Kate’s session, the training was interesting and provided me with lots of tips and methods to help me achieve my goals and get past my usual procrastination. I have already started using the techniques she suggested with more achievable steps to obtaining my goals. The training has been useful in both my work and home life.

I was really impressed by Kate’s style of training; we were all engaged in the session, she also made it easy for us to contribute and share ideas.

Kate is an excellent trainer, she is very knowledgeable in her field and provided a really enjoyable session. Thanks!” ~ Maz, Coastal VAs

“Kate provided an excellent workshop at our recent team training day. The guidance on goal setting and overcoming mental barriers was particularly helpful. As the whole team now has a common approach to use for goal setting and for review, we can work much more efficiently and progress more quickly towards our goals. A shared understanding of the failure cycle is also helpful as it will allow us to avoid that and instead take meaningful steps towards our preferred reality. We’re really looking forward to having Kate back for more training to enhance and improve our team and consequently improve our outcomes.” ~ Marianne, Coastal VAs

So here are some of the top tips Kate shared with us to help curb procrastination:

1.       Set the right goal. Whether it’s a business goal or a personal goal it needs to be smart, don’t set yourself up for failure with an unrealistic goal. It needs to be achievable, dynamic, and timely.

2.       Focus. All activity needs to be focused on the goal, if it’s not part of the goal it’s avoidance.

3.       Make an Action Plan. List the “doable components”. We love a list but make sure you tick those actions off the list. Break it down to its smallest components and revisit the goal if necessary.

4.       Change your mind set. Practice mind mastery. Break down those mental barriers. We all suffer from doubts that are often created from comments made in our past and these can lead to repeatable habits. Concentrate on looking forward, practice visualisations.

5.       Create that Vision. What do we want to do in life, what do we feel passionate about. To make it work often our vision can be “other person centred”. Working flexibly to have more time with our children or earning more money so we can make charitable donations.

Remember this checklist for successful goal setting!

  • Celebrate successes
  • Recognise fears
  • Share goals with others to keep motivated
  • Make sure what we say to ourselves reinforces positivity
  • Don’t have more than 5 goals – one is often enough.
  • Don’t let negativity take over. You are not having a bad day it might just be a bad 5 minutes.

And as a great reminder of what a shared vision can achieve, Kate told us the story of the NASA janitor who upon being asked by a reporter what his job was in the organization replied “I’m helping to put a man on the Moon” highlighted the ethos of all those involved in the moon landings project. Regardless of how large each employee’s contribution was, by each taking care of the day to day tasks, enabled others to focus on the longer term objectives. The janitor’s vision allowed him to see how his own contribution helped the organization’s goals of “landing a man on the moon!”

Right I’m off to tick a task off my list!