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Welcome to all the new subscribers since last month.
Contents
Part 1 - Welcome! [Back to Top] Part 1 - Welcome!Dear Recovering Workaholic, Hi there. Another May Bank Holiday has come and gone in what felt like the twinkling of an eye. Where did May go? How was your long weekend? Did you have a great time with family and friends or was the Bank holiday just an opportunity to catch up on much needed sleep or work? As the media constantly bombard us with stories of economic gloom and news of organizations being taken over or closing it is easy to feel that the only way forward is to work even harder. In the very short term it may appear to work but there is always a cost to working to the exclusion of everything else. The cost is likely to be to your health and well being, to the health of your relationships, to your enthusiasm, creativity and love of life. Many workaholics discover the true cost of their work habits when it is too late to prevent a significant problem. This months article looks at the characteristics of a workaholic and offers ten ways to creating a balanced and fulfilled life. The article this month offers you some strategic questions which can help you to discover the true cost of being a workaholic. Whether you choose to face this or not is up to you. What ever you choose to do the answer lies in your hands. If you would like some help in dealing with any of the issues raised in this Newsletter and would like a free 30 minute coaching session please
phone me on 01708 703959 or Take control of your future! Recovering Workaholics is a growing concern. We offer 1:1 coaching, and training to facilitate those who want a truly satisfying life. Understanding what drives you to work to the point where love, happiness and fulfilment have become the poor relation is the first step to creating a life you truly love. We can help you work towards achieving your "dream" life. We provide support for those facing retirement or who have recently retired, ideal for those who want to embrace a new stage in their lives. Redundancy can be a very stressful time, let us help you make the most of the opportunity it offers. Call today and take the first step to work- life passion on (0)1708 703 959. If you know of anyone who would be interested in working with us please let us know by contacting us on info@recoveringworkaholics.com or phone on (0)1708 703 959. Make 2009 the year when you took consistent action to make a positive difference to the quality of your own life and for those who live or work with you. Call today to sign up for a free no obligation coaching session and take the first step to the future you deserve! With best wishes,
Gina
Gardiner Recovering
Workaholics [Back to Top] Part 2 - Recommended Read
If you find yourself being frustrated and stressed by the little things in life then this is a book which can be incredibly helpful. Richard Carlson offers lots of useful strategies to help you put life into perspective and to find inner calm in your turbulent and busy work day. It's a really useful read.
This book offers lots of practical strategies for managers to help get the very best of their staff as individuals and as a team. Everything in the book has been tried and tested in a variety of organizations; it is a distillation of over 30 years experience of developing leadership at every level. The book does not attempt to teach grandmothers or grandfathers to suck eggs, but offers tried and tested principles, strategies and ideas which have been proven to work. Time, energy and money are all very precious resources and all three seem to be in short supply for most busy managers. How YOU Can Manage Your Staff More Effectively (And Pave The Way To Your Next Promotion) can help! Dip into it if you are facing specific issues or use the comprehensive approach to underpin ongoing and sustained individual and team development. It has relevance for experienced managers who want to share good practice as well as for aspiring leaders who want to develop and deepen their leadership skills. The book covers a wide range of issues including
How YOU Can Manage Your Staff More Effectively (And Pave The Way To Your Next Promotion) will stand alone but you will find it useful to use it in conjunction with the companion book Kick Start Your Career.
This book is designed for new initiates into the business world and graduates who are ambitious and want to create a successful career for themselves. It is a no nonsense, jargon free manual, full of practical ideas and strategies to support the development of leadership from day one. These books can be ordered via our web site at www.recoveringworkaholics.com/booksandcds.php. [Back to Top] Part 3 - Products and Special Offers!We have produced three CDs designed especially for you to tackle the most common problems that seem to affect many of our members. They are available now to buy as CDs or as downloadable MP3 files from www.recoveringworkaholics.com/booksandcds.php.
Relaxation CD 1 - A Spanish ThemeTake time out of your busy and stressful day to relax. True relaxation is known to reduce stress levels, lower blood pressure, clear the mind and leave you feeling alert, refreshed and ready to tackle the rest of your day with renewed energy and vigour. "A Spanish Theme" uses a mixture of guided imagery and deep breathing exercises to take you on an intensely relaxing journey. Stress is sited as the cause of over 500,000 days of absence a year in the UK alone. It represents a huge cost in both economic and personal terms. In order to deal with it we must first understand what it is and what causes it. Where stress is detrimental people are often in situations where they feel they have little control. Sustained exposure to such negative situations can have serious implications for the health and well being of the individual and ultimately for the organization as a whole Relaxation is a powerful tool to combat stress. Learning to take time out, to truly relax has been proven to lower blood pressure, improve mental acuity and reduce stress. Our Relaxation Tape with a Spanish theme is the first in a series of relaxation tapes created by Gina Gardiner associates. Using
visualization, guided imagery and deep breathing
exercises take time out of your hectic day
to unwind, de-stress and relax!
Beat Insomnia CD - Retrain Your Sleep Pattern Without DrugsSleep is vital to our health and sense of wellbeing. We need it as much as we need food and water and the air we breathe. It is during sleep that the body rests and repairs itself. Good quality sleep leaves us feeling refreshed, re-energized and ready to face the new day. Insomnia affects most people at some time during their lives. For many it is a passing phase caused because of a stressful event in their lives. For chronic sufferers it becomes a way of life. Although it is not life-threatening it can and does threaten the quality of life for many sufferers leaving them frustrated, exhausted and feeling low. "Beat Insomnia" uses deep trance techniques to help you retrain your sleep pattern without drugs. Use "Beat Insomnia" to get a great nights sleep and make Insomnia a thing of the past.
Confidence Building CD - Creating the Confident YouWe all feel less confident in certain situations. This CD is designed to help you feel confident in any situation. It uses tried and tested NLP techniques to help you develop the confidence you need to tackle new social situations or when giving an important presentation or interview.
Developing confidence is about much more than learning to do an activity better. It is about changing how we feel about ourselves and dealing with our thoughts and beliefs. It is about facing the things we fear and being curious about why we fear them. Use "Creating the Confident You" to learn to push through the fear and create a world of limitless possibilities, where you are in control of your own destiny. We expect the following titles to be available later in the year.
For
any further information or advice about CDs contact [Back to Top] Part 4 - Feature Article - You Work Long HoursYou work long hours; work fills your waking day. Solving problems, supporting clients and colleagues and it takes all of your conscious thought, your energy and your time. At the end of the day you fall into bed. You slip into unconsciousness or your brain is on hyper drive. You spend the night wrestling with problems or that voice in your head which goes over and over the things you should or shouldnt have done like a scratched record. You may sleep for a while but wake in the early hours and toss and turn unable to get back to sleep. Alcohol becomes an integral part of your day. You socialise with clients and colleagues. You feel you have to administer bon home to be part of the crowd. Drink becomes your preferred wind down tool after all you deserve it after all, you have worked very hard. Your diet relies on business lunches or hurried snacks grabbed on the run as you rush to the next meeting. Some days you simply go without as you didn't have the time or the energy to get something more nutritious organised. You have noticed your waist line is expanding and you feel sluggish in the mornings. Fresh fruit and veg are thin on the ground. No time for exercise; there simply isnt the space in your frenetic timetable. Never mind - the occasional game of golf as you discuss business will suffice. If you have a relationship it takes second place to your work. Oh you might protest that you are doing it all for your loved ones, but your drive to work and to succeed is paramount. You find yourself defending the hours you work. You only listen with half an ear as your partner or children witter on about their day. You find it easier to debate the important stuff with clients or colleagues none of that emotional stuff. You can always justify you need to spend time with clients as they pay the bills. The recession doesnt help. You fear loosing your job. The firm might go under and you need to be seen to be working hard. Younger more energetic members of staff are constantly nibbling at your heels. You have an ongoing sense of anxiety; its faceless and hard to get a handle on it. You feel unsettled and threatened or trapped by your sense that you should be grateful for having a job. You cant afford to tell the management what they can do with their job, no matter how much you want to. Those who are partners or owners have an even greater load of all the families who rely on the wages paid by your organisation. It is a lonely place to be. You are driven, hard working and have an insistent need to succeed and be valued. You are a workaholic. Deep inside your body struggles, trying to keep its sense of equilibrium. Your body is constantly producing stress hormones. These are released at any sign of threat real or perceived. They are designed to trigger the fright and flight mechanism- to out run predators or assailants. No problem if you burn the hormone off it is all in the run or the flight element. They raise your blood pressure, to help get vital oxygen and energy to the cells quickly and efficiently so you can run like hell. In the short term it causes no problems. The trouble is modern day living means that the stress hormones simply stay in your system. Your blood pressure stays raised, you get head aches, a churning in your gut which upsets your digestive system. In the long term stress compromises the immune system and the circulatory system. It is pernicious and dangerous threatening health and a sense of well being. It contributes to burn out and should never be taken lightly. If you recognise yourself in the article above it is time to take action. NOW! Stress can kill and you should take medical advice if you recognise ongoing symptoms. Do you have to put up with the negative effects of stress? Well the answer is entirely in your hands. Are you truly fulfilled by the life you lead? Even on Sundays or at Christmas? If the answer is no then it is time to take action and to change the aspects of your life which are unfulfilling. Here are ten steps to creating a fulfilled and balanced life: 1) Be absolutely honest with yourself 2) Do a thorough audit of your life. Use the life wheel on the www.recoveringworkaholics.com website. Think about what makes you feel excited how much time do you spend time actually doing it? 3) Consider whether you are still working on patters which used to be successful but are no longer working. We often create a pattern of behaving which helps us to solve a difficulty. We then use it and use it until its very success begins to be a straight jacket. 4) Create a blue print for your perfect life. List all the elements you would like to include. We often have more idea of what we dont want rather than being specific about what we do. 5) Match the audit of your current life and the plan you have created of your perfect life. Notice where you have already have a match and with others where there is a mismatch. 6) You are an expert in planning in your working life context. Translate those same skills into planning how to achieve your perfect life. 7) You get what you focus on so you need to put as much time and energy into creating your perfect life as you do creating your perfect project. 8) Create a list of what you would consider to be the perfect attributes of the perfect best friend. How would they treat you? How honest would they be? 9) Start to treat yourself as that perfect best friend would. 10) Get some help. You would call in an expert to repair your boiler so why not get some help in redesigning your life. Living your life to the full and making every day count is important to each and every one of us. Work is an important element of our lives but it doesnt need to define us. Having a full and balanced life will not only enrich your time away from work but will bring even greater energy, creativity and breadth to your world of work. If you want your life to be different it is entirely possible to change things for the better. You dont have to wait you can take the first step today, and every journey however long begins with the first step. If
you need help,
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