Joanna Denton - Executive and Public Speaking Coach

We all have within us the innate intelligence and answers needed to face whatever life throws at us.

Sometimes we just forget.

My role as your coach is to help quiet the noise so you can hear what you need to hear.

Leadership is not a job title, it's a frame of mind ...

I love how much can change when we give ourselves permission to put ourselves first.

"You either walk inside your story and own it, or stand outside and hustle for your worthiness"

The first time I read this quote from Brene Brown, I don't know if I really got what it meant. But then of course at that time I was still trying mighty hard to be a square peg in a round hole ... I was thinking "of course, I am owning being who I am" but now looking back, not sure that I was - not sure I even knew who that was.

How quickly do we jump in with our assumptions and beliefs that we think are true? Sometimes taking the time to step back and look at those beliefs can change everything because only then can we see the true steps forward.

Just showing up when we have no idea what is going to happen can be scary.

Time to put on the big girl pants and the big boy pants and give it your best shot

It's all about breaking the cycle - stepping outside and seeing that most of what we do is a habit. If we can identify the trigger, and identify the pattern, then we can start to break the cycle and change the habit.

When you start to do things differently - like take time to look after yourself rather than put everyone else first - that can bring up a lot of guilt if you are used to putting everyone else first. But lean in to the discomfort - your long term health depends on it.

“Through this programme, Joanna helped me to change my thought process and my behaviour. I have learned to put my managerial skills to work on my personal life. I now find that I have time for things that I never did before. I am now a priority too!”

Find out how I can help you do this too https://ed.gr/dx0k3

You can easily judge the character of a man by how he treats someone that can do nothing for him.

So very true.

Are you living your life according to the expectations of others?

Are you making decisions based on what you think they want?

Maybe it's time to take back control of your own decisions, and decide how you want to move forward.

It's hard to get back in the driving seat of our own lives and destiny - but if we don't, we will simply go through life with someone else making decisions for us along the way.

Do you want to let go of perfectionism and start to enjoy what you do?

Let's talk.

The courage to stand up and be seen even if you have no control over the outcome ....

Terrifying ...

But so worth it ....

One of the biggest things standing in the way of my clients ... is themselves.

Let's face it, we all do it.

And the work we do is to unpack some of those thoughts and beliefs and turn them around.

If you want to get out of your own way - give me a call.

DO YOU NEED TO JACK IT ALL IN IF YOU WANT TO HAVE REAL BALANCE IN YOUR LIFE??

How do you go from a daily grind of eat, sleep, work, repeat – to daily greatness of more fun, focus and freedom in your life?

Are we talking about jacking in the 9 to 5 and heading off to an ashram, living off grid?

Oh, hell no.

Well, maybe that is what you want, and if it is, I say, god speed.
But more than likely that is not on the cards – you have bills to pay, responsibilities, expectations to meet.

So, how do you go about changing your life?

That might sound like a very big question – and yet I feel it has a very small answer.

You know where you want to start. This is not about changing everything from one day to another – it’s about taking one small step in one small area of your life, and intentionally bringing into it something different that allows you to breathe.

And you are the best placed person to know where that needs to be. You are the expert in you.

And I bet that if I asked you – what’s one area where you would like more balance, more fun, freedom and focus – I bet you would know right away.

So what is stopping you from just doing it:

• Maybe its to take a five minute break and go outside to walk around the building;
• To meet a friend for lunch rather than rush a sandwich down you;
• To turn off the phone when you walk through the door, and be present with your family over dinner rather than be distracted waiting for the ping of another email…

Or maybe it’s something completely different.

So, I would love to know - what is one small area in your life that you would like to have more balance, more fun, freedom and focus in.

Let me know in the comments.

Remember - you will be no good to anyone if you are running on empty and ready to collapse in a heap. So, before you automatically put everyone's well being first - maybe its time to look after yourself.

"... As if we have divided the world into "those who offer help" and "those who need help" - when in fact we are both"

It is not a mutually exclusive state - to be someone available to offer help, and also to be someone who from time to time needs help.

I used to think that if I asked for help it mean that I was weak.

Don't think that any more

SOMETIMES YOU GOTTA START UGLY

It’s Monday morning which means …IT’S TIME TO START!

Come on, what are you waiting for - you’ve got the ideas, you’ve done the planning - but the pressure of actually starting something … anything ... new can be overwhelming.

So you're stuck.

This might be an idea for your business, a new project for a client, and it might equally be an idea about how you can get more balance in your life and get more time back for yourself.

It can be easy to think that everything is riding on this one idea and we have to get everything perfect the first time. That you need to change your whole life overnight, for example.

As women, in particular, society tells us that we have to have it all worked out - that failure (and particularly social failure) is just not an option. And as business owners, with bills to pay, salaries to find, and customers to keep happy, everyone looks to us to be strong and have our Sh*t together.

I think that the challenge comes when our desire to be perfect and give the impression that we know what the heck we are doing means that we don’t even start. Instead, we spend months finessing and tweaking and talking about the thing, but we don’t actually ever get on and do it.

So, sometimes it’s better to start ugly, than not at all.

Well, that's all well and good jo, but where do you actually start?

Start with the first next step. That's all you need to do - what is the first next step you need to take to move this along? Then when you've done that, do the next first next step.

You don’t have to be all singing and dancing from day one, you don't need to have every single step laid out - you can grow into it. Consider it a ‘soft launch’.

The real learning is in taking action, not sitting behind the computer filling in a spreadsheet and staying in your head. Make mistakes and learn from them. Sure, there might be setbacks, but if you don’t take action, you’ll never get the chance to grow.

Trust that you will be able to handle it, even if there are setbacks.

And, be brave, take that first tiny step …do it. And remember, you got this!

WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO START TODAY? Let me know in the comments what your first next step is going to be

Wise up here - the long hours and exhaustion might seem like a badge of honour to display with pride, but it you are knackered and wiped out, what good will you be to anyone??

Sometimes I hear my clients say the most horrendous things.

Not about other people, but about themselves.

"I look like s**t"; "I'm such a du***ss"; "I'm a disaster with money"; "How could I have been so stupid"

If your best friend was going through a tough time, would you really give them hell, tell them they are useless, that they are stupid.

Surely you would give them a hug, tell them its ok, that it will all work out.

So why would we not be as nice to ourselves as we are to someone else?

"What's the greater risk - letting go of what people think, or letting go of how I feel, what I believe, and who I am?" Brene Brown

This is a very powerful quote from Brene Brown, and makes a whole bunch of sense - particularly when you think about the impact it has on our self-esteem when we hide who we are, or what we believe in.

However, what I also know to be true is that it can be incredibly difficult to do this - to let go of what other people think of us.

I know this used to be the case for me, and I also know that it's the case for many of my clients - the desire to please everyone else, and be what they think we should be, rather than tap into who we really are.

There's got to be more to life than just keeping everyone else happy. What if we were also able to keep ourselves happy?

Yes

"It's better to disappoint someone with the truth than appease them with a lie"

What do you think? Do you agree?

On the face of it, perhaps it makes for an easy life to appease rather than disappoint. However, if we keep appeasing and never actually own our truth (even if that goes against what is expected) then that can have a big impact on our self-confidence and self-esteem. It is also exhausting to be second-guessing what to say all the time as you try to work out what the "right answer" is ....

I am curious - do you agree with this quote?

After all, I think that something you are passionate about can also be quite stressful - maybe you don't notice it because you are enjoying it, but when you are up against it, deadlines looming, working the hours needed to get things out the door - the simple fact that you are passionate about the subject doesn't make the stress hormones any less rampant ...

Or does it ?

I used to wear perfectionism as a badge of honour - something to be super proud of ...

And then I read Brene Browns work, and understood more about perfectionism, and specifically how that is different to excellence.

I think we all need to strive for excellence in what we do - it helps us stand out from the crowd, and delivers top service.

But when we strive to be perfect because we think that's the only way that people will accept us, there is something seriously wrong.