Spring Cleaning!

It is that time of year when we yearn to ferret out the dirt lurking in the normally unseen and/or awkward places of our homes. Perhaps we could extend this to our lives and work; here are four ideas.

Use of time - we are all blessed with 24 hours a day. Frequently our time is high jacked by other people; they will not mean to disrupt our day but will just have to talk to us about something that is bothering them, often at great length. We need to take control. Give them a clear space for them and stick to the arrangement, giving total attention at the right time.

File management - there are mysteries lurking within our filing cabinet drawers and computer folders. The golden rule of filing: it is not where we put something that is important, but how we find it. How many times have we tidied up our folders and discovered documents and material that would have been really useful: if only we had known. There is no shame in keeping a piece of information because we think it will be useful; we just need to remap our system of files and computer folders to reflect our life.

Clearing mess – there is an ancient art called Feng Shui, which positively channels energy flows by using rules of Chinese philosophy that govern spatial arrangement and orientation – so there you are! We often experience Feng Shui in a negative sense: looking around our work place we feel overwhelmed by the clutter. So buy some cupboards, get a skip, be ruthless – it will feel like losing 5kgs of excess weight!

Relationships - some people energise and inspire us, others exhaust us – we know where we would love to spend more time! The trouble is our great friends and relatives do not berate us for our neglect so they often lose out and so do we. It is time to make that call and fill up the diary with people who we love to be with so we are genuinely too busy for the moaners.

So a bit of Spring Cleaning to support the way we want to be, the person we are and the quality of life we desire.

Jane Kustner
Trainer

www.London.dalecarnegie.com

Direct Engagement

Confirmation at last. The General Election will be held on 6th May.

Have you already decided how to vote? Have you always known which party you support? Or are you going to wait for the TV debates. Or perhaps you want to find out what is promised in the manifestos.

Regardless of whether you've made your mind up, one effective way politicians always gain followers is through face to face canvassing. In these times where technology has paved a way to effortless communication, why do they decide to promote themselves directly? Well because it works. The level of engagement you have with a person face to face can not compare with an email or a flyer.

So why not adopt this with your business! Contact your clients and meet them face to face! I am sure it will positively impact the outcomes of any business transaction.

Corina Balaneanu
Sales Consultant

www.london.dalecarnegie.com

Humph!! - so I might as well be positive

On returning to work this week after a wonderful visit to Ireland it was clearly perceptible how positive people are becoming. Whether it is the prospect of a change in Government or better economics, personally and in society in general or perhaps just because the sun is shining - well almost.

Ireland is a beautiful country and life passes at about 1/10th of the frenetic pace we follow in London. Surrounded by so much natural beauty one would think it is hard to get depressed.
One evening I was chatting with some locals over a couple of pints of the black stuff and we were comparing the two countries from a number of perspectives. They were interested to know how bad things were over here and I felt like they were seeking re-assurance that we were all in the same boat. As a result I have to say that my heart goes out to Walter in Dublin.
Well the craic ended up with a whimsical view from Sean "as long as we have our health and a pint in our hand it cannot be all bad".
And, you know, I think that is how we must view life and to engage with it in a way that provides for the reality or the metaphor of what Sean said.
Sláinte

David Pickering
Consultant

www.london.dalecarnegie.com

The power of team work!

It’s true that as individuals we can achieve a lot both in life and in business and when one looks towards the realm of personal development we’re often asking the question how can I achieve more. An experience over the past few months that culminated in a lot of running this past Sunday has reminded me of the importance of team work as well as individual achievement.

Towards the end of last summer we at Dale Carnegie committed ourselves to run in a Half Marathon in honour of our colleague Clive Thompson who was diagnosed with a blood cancer last year and therefore we chose to run in aid of Leukaemia & Lymphoma Research. I’m delighted to say that as a team we’ve raised so far over £1300 towards that cause. This past Sunday the team competed in both the Fleet and Reading Half Marathons .... some people running the whole way and others as part of a relay. Fun was had and medals and a few blisters were earned!

My advice to you is twofold:

Firstly when looking to tackle something in business and life look to the people around you and draw on the strengths of your team. It’s amazing how much more you can achieve by focusing energy on recruiting a team to solve a problem, than it is focusing on worrying about how you’re going to do it on your own.

Secondly It’s great for team moral in a work environment to have a goal outside the business that does good for the community at large and continues to pull you together as a team. We’ve decided to make Leukaemia & Lymphoma Research our charity of the year and will be looking for another team event in the autumn.

Please look to those around you and focus energy on building the right team and see what results are possible.

By David Anderson
Managing Director

www.London.dalecarnegie.com

I challenge you to a duel!

Laying down a challenge is a concept that has been around for years and years and is something that we still do today, we may not challenge each other to a duel but we lay down challenges for ourselves and others that we set out to tackle all the time. If we didn’t take on these challenges life would be very boring!

By setting ourselves challenges we push ourselves out of our comfort zone and force ourselves to try new things. This helps us to flourish and grow instead of always staying in the same spot and going round in circles. As Dale Carnegie said ‘Take a chance! All life is a chance, the man who goes furthest is generally the one who is willing to do and dare.’

Here at Dale Carnegie we have set ourselves the challenge of running a half marathon to raise money for Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research. After training for three months and going through the highs and the lows, the big day is almost upon us - Sunday 21st March. We are all very excited and looking forward to taking part in this challenge and feeling the sense of achievement (and glory!) as we cross the finish line. Who knows what our next challenge will be once we have completed this one, the london marathon perhaps or maybe a triathlon...I’ll leave this thought with my team mates!

By setting ourselves challenges we achieve things we never thought we could and with each challenge we complete we feel we have progessed in an area of our life and feel proud of what we have acheived, this is what life is about.

So today I challenge you to set yourself a challenge!

• The challenge may seem daunting so set yourself mini goals that will help you reach the end result.


• Put enthusiasm into what you are doing.


• Do the very best you can.


• Push yourself out of your comfort zone.


• Enjoy what you are doing.

Good luck with whatever you set out to achieve.
For more advice and help with your challenges and goals, please visit our Knowledge Centre.

Sophie Whittall
Marketing & Admin Co-ordinator

www.london.dalecarnegie.com

Masters of Our Fate, Captains of Our Soul!

When the English Poet William Ernest Henley (1849-1903) wrote the lines: 'I am the Master of my fate; I am the captain of my soul', he could have told us the reason for this is because we have the power to control our own thoughts. He could have also told us that our brains become magnetised with the dominating thoughts we hold in our minds!

So as Session 1 of the Dale Carnegie Course: Effective Communications and Human Relations Skills kicked off on Tuesday the 9th of March with a room full of up to 40 amazing people, one of the elements of the evening involved awakening and creating a vision for ourselves in our professional and personal lives that is somewhat outside of where and who we are right now.

Whether you are one of the delegates on the current programme, a graduate, a potential delegate, a surfer through our website or like us all, a human being interested in simply living a fulfilled, successful and peaceful life for ourselves and for all those around us at work and at home, here are some tips for when you embark upon creating your own compelling vision:

1. Write down your own vision and be definite - let your heart and inner desires flow freely.

2. Imagine you are already in possession of what you want or who you are, whether it's material or emotional.

3. Establish a definite date by when you intend to achieve it.

4. Share your vision with as many people as possible!

5. Read it aloud every morning when you first awake and last thing at night before you fall asleep.

6. Be alert, awake and alive and live each moment - focused on your vision - yet DETACHED from the outcome.

7. Be grateful and smile :)

Lizzie Thomas
Trainer

www.london@dalecarnegie.com

To app or not to app?

More and more people these days have an iPhone, myself included. They are cool and funky and have some cool, funky and ingenious applications too.

You can download the apps for free or for a small cost and they can help you manage your finances, find local restaurants, keep in contact via email and play games. But they can also be a good source of knowledge on the go.

Dale Carnegie has been around some 98 years and realise that the market and technology changes constantly....so they have developed an application for the iPhone called The Secrets of Success. This application is amazing, even if I do say so myself.

The Secrets of Success provides valuable tips on dealing with tough people issues, how to deal with conflict and how to deal with stressful situations, to name a few.

It features 90 video clips to show you how to behave in every situation which are demonstrated by Dale Carnegie Coaches, one of which happens to be Stephen Holgate who worked with us in the London office for 4 years.

If you have an iPhone it really is worth checking out and downloading. The app has already reached number 1 in the states and so far reached no 7 in the UK.

To find the application click here
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/secrets-of-success/id353989685?ign-mpt=uo%3D2

Go on....carry a Carnegie Coach in your pocket!

Helen Mills
Financial Controller
www.london.dalecarnegie.com