Cruising out of your comfort zone

I’m lucky enough to be able to go on many cruises. If you follow realchimeracomms on Instagram, you’ll be able to see a selection of photos from our working adventures around the world.

Recently it struck me that there is some correlation between being on the high seas and our working lives ...

Stepping out of your comfort zone

I’m claustrophobic. I never wanted to go on a cruise. I couldn’t bear the thought of being encased in a large metal box on the high seas. Being over thousands of feet of potentially treacherous water, miles from anywhere, also frightened me. I’d always said I’d never do it.

Something life-altering happened, after which I decided to live for the moment. I decided to try a cruise. I started with a short one. And the miraculous thing was ... as soon as I stepped on the ship, I felt at home. I’ve since done plenty of cruises as it’s part work, part holiday. It’s a marvellous life and I love it.

I’ve been on many ships now including one where we were in the middle of a ‘weather phenomenon’ and another with Force 10 gales. Of course, it’s challenging and the sea can be kind to you or very brutal. Being at the heart of Mother Nature is incredibly invigorating and you just have to put your faith in fate.

If I hadn’t been determined to try it the first time, I would never have known that I would come to love going on cruises, travelling the world while working with clients, and seeing places I never thought I would.

This has shown me how to take unchartered waters when it comes to work situations. Just because it looks frightening, it doesn’t need to be so. It’s amazing how good you feel after doing something you really didn’t think you could.

The many benefits of being reticent but doing it anyway

Business survival depends sometimes on taking that risk. Being nimble, flexible and agile, and diversifying if necessary. If I’d carried on doing exactly what I’d always done, I wouldn’t have discovered a whole world of delight and wonder.

If you’re stuck in a rut, the courageous thing to do is ‘something different’. If you’re scared of speaking in public, for example, the more you practise and the more prepared you are, you really can step of your comfort zone and do it anyway.

Take your blinkers away and upskill. Challenge yourself to learn something new to benefit yourself and your business. Keep up-to-date with new technology (which can be very scary) and open up new horizons.

Having a great crew around you

Every efficient ship needs a great crew, working together as a team. Seeing how every crew member on cruise ships is part of the whole, believing in the very best customer service to look after their guests, as well as how intricately the organisation of each ship works, is truly inspiring.

Getting the very best people around you for the benefit of your business (team members, suppliers, contractors etc) goes a very long way to ensuring you will be ship-shape and sea-worthy.

Happy sailing!

Work-Life Balance Olympian Style...

7 Work-Life Balance Secrets of Elite Champions... and You

Guest blog by Nick Le Clere, strategic change consultant and facilitator, executive leadership coach, trainer, innovator and speaker, running online webinars and learning events for conscious business leaders of the future www.nextlevelconsulting.co

Hooray for our Team GB Olympians! What truly outstanding performances from so many, to win 67 medals in all. 27 Gold, 23 Silver and 17 Bronze - wow, truly amazing.

Wonderful timing for putting the heart and self-respect back into Great Britain, after Brexit as well.

How did that happen?

What did it take to create that level of success, both individually and as a team? What did it take, to peak at the precise time, for the maximum Olympic effect?

Well for sure, the athletes didn't just roll up to Rio and get lucky. They did not drive themselves to the edge of insanity, just before the Games and hope to pull off a coup. They did not pray for miracles. They knew they could do it, deep down inside themselves. They were ready.

Many of the athletes talk about planning for this event for many years beforehand. Some deliberately missed other competitions like the Commonwealth Games to be able to retain absolute focus on Olympic Gold in Rio 2016.

All the while, training relentlessly and building their mental commitment, emotional resilience and self-belief levels to astounding levels of positivity and self-assuredness.

Also receiving the help and support of coaches, mentors, physios, trainers, families, friends and of course Lottery Funding.

The support these athletes have received has been planned and organised since the Lottery Fund was first started in the 1990s. That’s the kind of long-term planning, organising and consistent investment in the environment and infrastructure that has been going on behind the scenes for years. Not to mention the ongoing benefits of the London Olympic infrastructure created previously.

What can you do for you, to nurture your high performance?

What can we take and apply from this amazing Olympic lesson in discipline, commitment and resolve, to be the best you can be, on your particular stage?

 1. Pick your battles and commitments

Beware of over-commitment. Be fully aware of what you say yes to. Don’t try to do everything and wear yourself out.

Make time for urgent and important activities and delegate as much stuff that you don't like doing as possible. Keep your edge sharp, not blunted on trivia.

2. Manage your down-time as well as up-time

Sporting legends look after themselves and know how to relax and switch off. Plan and organise your time with your own rest and recovery cycles in mind.

Burn out = no medals at all. Give yourself priority among the ever-increasing workload.

3. Build high quality support systems

None of the Olympic athletes could have achieved what they did without full-on help and support over an extended period.

Ask for help. It’s a sign of strength not weakness, if you want to win the big stuff.

Balance your work, rest and play time, and actively schedule these things in your calendar, if necessary. Look at your eating and drinking habits and make more healthy choices.

4. Get a coach and/or mentor

Get yourself a coach and/or mentor with whom you really connect and bounce new ideas around to raise your game.

Most athletes have more than one coach - areas covered include winning mindsets, self-belief, various capability sets, energetics, optimising emotional content, and work-life balance.

Coaches help you see what you can’t yet see or what’s staring you in the face while you look around everywhere for answers. They help you create new pathways for high performance and wellbeing.

5. Stay grounded and centred

It’s far too easy to lose your centre and sense of self under intense pressure. Sustained exposure to pressure and stress creates fatigue and leads to deteriorating performance.

With both stress overload and fatigue, simple things start to become difficult to achieve consistently and self-mastery goes out of the window.

Finding ways to relax and come back to your centre, say through visualisation, meditation or taking regular time in nature to soften your focus and create harmony within, is time well spent in the pursuit of high performance.

6. Stay positive and focused

While easier said than done, when under pressure, if you feel overwhelm approaching, the best thing you can do is stop and breathe and take a time out.

Stepping back helps to refocus your attention on the bigger picture and create an opportunity for positivity to be reclaimed.

This can be hard when in the thick of challenging situations, but at the first chance you can, create, pull back and evaluate as an observer and notice new ways of doing things entering your perceptions...

You can do this and still keep your eyes on the prize!

7. Manage expectations

Rome was not built in a day. Olympic medals are not won through short-term effort cycles.

Be honest with yourself, and others around you, about just what is possible. Get used to saying no, if things feel wrong.

By saying this, you may be able to create new ways of approaching things that you feel more able to say yes to. Practice discernment and be aware of how much pressure you put on yourself and its effect - positive or limiting.

Too much pressure over extended periods is madness and no medals come from that choice or habit whatsoever. Unless cultural insanity is the prize.

And finally…

Be kind to yourself, especially if no-one else is being kind to you.

If this is your normal working environment, and work-life balance is not possible in your team or business - then it’s time for a change.

If you don't put your work-life balance first, no one else will.

So it’s up to you - how badly do you want the end prize?

What is your Gold medal event, at your own lifetime Olympic Games?

No-one ever went to their grave wishing they’d spent more time at the office

By the time you read this, I will have completed Phase One of my summer break – a long weekend last month! This will be followed up with Phase Two – another long weekend – this month. Rarely one for lengthy holidays, this is more or less as much as I can expect till the Christmas shutdown because thankfully we’re as busy as ever in this, our 10^th birthday year.

I’m sure I feel like many small business owners when it comes to a work/life balance: sounds fantastic but this is reality. While it’s essential to be mentally and physically fit to carry out my work to the level my clients expect and deserve, I have to make sure there’s a snug fit between this and taking time away from the business to regroup, relax and revitalise. After all, a worn-out and exhausted PR and marketing consultant is no use to anyone!

I’m lucky, of course, because I have some truly delightful clients with whom I work closely and effectively. And I have a team of exceptionally talented associate consultants working with my company. I have no problem delegating projects or tasks although ultimately I’m responsible and have to be on top of what’s going on.

I’m not an avid sun-worshipper and I don’t like hot climates, so I don’t crave weeks away on end in idyllic locations, although as I’m writing this, I may be having a change of heart! Fairly recently I’ve started working with a personal trainer who has revolutionised my approach to health and fitness. You’ll be able to see this for yourselves when I update my photo in the weeks to come!

One great result of the healthy diet and daily exercise regimen has meant I’m brighter, sharper and much more energetic. The first month’s detox wasn’t as hard as I’d imagined and I’m enjoying doing different exercises and gym routines. My business benefits from me having even more capacity for ideas and outputs, and now I really differentiate the working week from the weekends, when I value every ‘down-time’ moment. I try not to be computer-obsessed at weekends now, only respond to emergencies and rarely now work unless it’s absolutely necessary.

So what have I learned about having a good work/life balance? There’s no magic formula, just whatever works for you.

Remember no-one ever went to their grave wishing they’d spent more time at the office!

First published in The Argus on 25 June 2013