Category: Summer time

The 6 Key Questions YOU need to review!

Post author By Support Elf
Post date December 17, 2019
No Comments on The 6 Key Questions YOU need to review!

As John Lennon so beautifully sang, “And so this is Christmas….and what have you done?”

Here are some thought starters for you to ponder (perhaps with a journal and a cold beer in hand) over the summer to bring this past year to a considered close and set yourself up for the best of all things in the New Year.

Farewell

What would you like to farewell and leave behind this year? What have you outgrown? Perhaps it’s a relationship or a social situation or an obligation. Maybe you feel ready for a new career or a new location. What would you like to farewell and gently close the door on?

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Gratitude

What are you most grateful for this past year? What worked out well for you, better perhaps than you anticipated? Who came into your life or stepped up in your life in a way that enhanced it? To what and to whom do you feel appreciative for their contribution to your life this year? Have you told them?

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Accomplishment

What are your proudest achievements this year? Where did you give the most of yourself? When did you push yourself our of your comfort zone? Where and how did you grow? What are your finest accomplishments of the year?

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Lessons

What have you learned this year? About yourself? About others or the world? What do you want to repeat? Do more of? Less of? What worked? What didn’t? Why? What lessons do you wish to take from this past year?

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Giving and Balance

Where did you give the most of yourself this year? Are you happy with where you put the share of your time, energy and attention? Are there areas where you wish you had invested more? Where do you wish you had given less? Where do you wish you had given more support? Where do you, on reflection, think you could have got more support? What are three ways you would like to balance your time or energy distribution differently in the New Year?

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Highlights

What were the best feeling moments this year? What are the highlights you will remember for life? Who and what made them special and why? What three words sum up this year for you personally?

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Taking time out of the hamster wheel frenzy of doing, to pause and reflect is so important.

Effective change and growth comes from awareness of what’s working for us and what is not.

If we wish for a better tomorrow it is best built on the foundations of the lessons of today.

I hope you can take a little time to just be this holiday season, and reflect on a good year well-lived and to build some anticipation for the brand shiny new one that is about to open up!

Tags 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, achievement, being present, New Years Resolutions, summer, Take Responsibility

Energy Boosters Happiness Live Happy Inspiration Reduce Stress Summer Summer time

Make A Summer Wish List With This Magic Ingredient

Post author By Support Elf
Post date December 10, 2019
No Comments on Make A Summer Wish List With This Magic Ingredient

There is little more annoying than seeing your Facebook feed jammed with loads of smiling faces at an event you so tooooootally would have gone to, had you only known it was on and got your shizzle together to get tickets!

We are spoiled for choice with events and entertainment at this time of year stretching right through to March and April.

So for your Best Summer take half an hour out of your week now to do your prep, gather your ingredients for your your best summer and head FOMO off at the pass.

You spend half an hour prepping dinner each night; you can find half an hour to prep your best summer!

Think Memory Making. At it’s very essence that is what will create our best summer. Experiences, both shared and individual.

What would make you look back and smile?

Who is integral to that?

Where is special to you?

What or who do you wish you make time for every year but don’t?

I do this with World Of Wearable Arts every damn year: I forget just how much I want to go until I actually see it all unfolding live and I’ve missed the boat…again!

Not this year: I am getting my booking in now and heading off the FOMO at the pass for 2020.

If all this talk of planning is bringing you out in hives, remember that there is a strange irony to the fact that when we invest a little time and energy upfront in planning the highlights, we ironically seem to have more time, not less, to be spontaneous and grab the opportunities that just come our way in the moment.

Structure magically creates space.

So make a Summer 2019/20 wish list this week.

Share it with the people that matter.

A little planning now not only sets you up for the best summer of shared experiences, but also allows you to luxuriate in one of the most delicious emotional states there is: anticipation.

Anticipation is an instant emotional wellbeing booster. It allows you to feel good not just doing the thing but for weeks or months ahead you get a little rosy glow as well as some pre-match feel-good chat.

Putting more anticipation into life is an easy way to up your happiness quotient very quickly.

Best summer and feeling good now: what’s not to like about that?!

Tags 2019, 2020, achievement, being present, Happiness, positive thinking, priorities

4 Dimensional Wellness Energy Boosters Love Your Work Positive Thought Strategy Reduce Stress Summer time

5 smart tips to avoid the cray-cray Christmas Work CRUSH!

Post author By Support Elf
Post date November 18, 2019
No Comments on 5 smart tips to avoid the cray-cray Christmas Work CRUSH!

Now, there is a kiwi specific cultural phenomenon that happens for those in the workforce in December.

What happens is that every project you have ever touched or been associated with during the previous 11 months (and indeed some that you haven’t) suddenly has to ABSOLUTELY be finished by Christmas Eve, OR THE WORLD WILL END. End, I tell you.

All joking aside, it’s actually super stressful. Due to the fabulously extended January holidays we all enjoy this creates a real pressure cooker environment which can lead to a) massive overwhelm before Christmas b) utterly unrealistic expectations that can never be met c) not enough time for Chrimbo shopping or drinking egg nog with colleagues whilst wearing festive antlers.

Northern Hemisphere peeps will be back at work as usual on the 3rd of January, whilst most Kiwi’s will be drinking cold ones for another 4 weeks, so clearly – we win! No one would want to give up their January. BUT – can we reach it without descending into Xmas Madness?

Here are a few tips you can put into place today:

1. Get really clear, really really clear, that the working world will not in fact end at midday on the 24th December. Do not buy into the madness.

2. Set some expectations NOW. Get ahead of the game whether by a team meeting, or email or whatever. Set some expectations NOW on what you can deliver by when. Communicate with staff / customers / clients / suppliers / colleagues and so on expectation and timelines. Be confident and set your boundaries on what is realistic.

3. Beware the hospital pass. Veeeery common at this time of year is the colleague whistling in a project and making it your problem, when in fact they have sat on it procrastinating since June. Boundaries are required here, people. Don’t let your December get pulled into the madness because someone else has been fluffing about for the last 6 months. Use your “no” judiciously but firmly.

4. Accept some stuff will just not get done before Christmas. This is okay because a) the world will not end (see point 1), and b) it means you have a job to come back to.

5. Make time for some fun. The seriousness of the Xmas Madness can suck the joy out of a normally happy workplace as everyone feels so under the gun with this end of year deadline. Remember that this is the season of goodwill unto all men, and make sure you allow enough space for laughs and thank you’s and celebrations too.

We are still far enough away that you can do some really effective (read: ruthless!) scheduling and expectation management now.

Head off the Xmas Madness at the pass, don’t make it an inevitable part of your working December.

After all you’ve got eggnog and festive antlers to attend to.

Tags 2019, Life work balance, Reduce Stress, stress relief, Take Responsibility

Live Happy Inspiration Love the Skin You're In Love your body Positive Thought Strategy Self Care and Self Love Summer time

Refresh Your Health Goals

Post author By Support Elf
Post date November 6, 2019
No Comments on Refresh Your Health Goals

Last week we looked at adding a generous dollop of planning along with the sunscreen to make for an optimum summer.

This week your mission is to use this summer on ramp time to refresh your health goals.

In winter we hibernate and hunker down, it’s a natural process both biologically and psychologically driven by the season. We tend to withdraw a bit socially, eat a bit too much comfort food and wear waaaaay too much black.

Feeling the sun’s rays on our skin once again brings a natural inclination to look at our body and how we are treating it.

It’s an inspiration beneficial to harness and so this week dedicate a little time to refreshing your health goals for summer.

What’s great about your health and wellbeing right now? What’s going well?

2. What healthy habits do you have already on lock, that you are committed to continuing even when it’s the crazy busy few weeks before Christmas and the weather is amazing and you have been invited to 4 BBQ’s? What’s non-negotiable for you?

3. Which aspects of your health are not where you want them to be right now?

4. Which one or two of these bother you enough that you are committed to taking action about them? (If it’s a long list, that’s fine, just pick the one/two that bothers you MOST and address that with focus and commitment, don’t try and do everything).

5. What are you going to do differently to address them?

6. What do you need to decide about your time and resources to make the change you desire happen?

7. Do you need to ask right now for any additional support or resources to make that happen? (Babysitter? New trainers? Meditation Course?)

Summer is a time where it is happily SO much easier to get up earlier, exercise outdoors, eat lighter foods and so on.

We have such an amazing tailwind with health and wellbeing in summer – an effortless push from Mother Nature to be our healthiest best.

All we need to do is get on board with our own summer health reset, starting today.

Tags 2019, 2020, healthy habits, positive thinking, summer

Energy Boosters Happiness Live Happy Inspiration Love the Skin You're In Summer time

7 Questions to create your BEST summer yet

Post author By Support Elf
Post date October 29, 2019
No Comments on 7 Questions to create your BEST summer yet

Ah, the smell of summer time in the air! Don’t you just love feeling the mornings getting lighter and the breeze getting warmer.

We all love summer and it’s definitely true that you can feel the collective mood of the nation rising as the sun starts to rise a little earlier each morning.

I have a new series for you today to inspire you to make Summer 2019/20 your best yet.

We all know summer’s going to be good…because…summer!!!…but I have 8 top tips for you over the next 8 weeks to amp it up to the max with your wellbeing in mind.

A little extra planning and reflection now go a really long way to making this your best summer to date.

So – today’s first tip

#1. Summer by design, not by default

If Summer 2019/20 is to be your most fun, most connected, most energising yet, then that’s unlikely to happen by accident.

We are far enough out on the run-up now that you can make some great decisions that will affect your level of ease and enjoyment the whole summer long.

So, spend a little time planning by using these 7 questions:

What was great about previous summers that you absolutely want to do again this year?
What would be the three things that would THRILL you to have happen this summer?
What three new activities or occasions do you absolutely want to include this summer?
What did you feel you might have missed out on last year? What could have been better?
What, be honest now, is getting kinda boring doing summer after summer? What are you ready to stop or switch up?
Where are you getting pulled into other people’s summer agendas in a way that really doesn’t work for you?
What are your favourite summer traditions? Is there anyone additional you want to include, or a way you want to put a twist on or expand your summer tradition?

Making the most of our precious months of glorious weather and squeezing the maximum juice out of the summer means investing in a generous sprinkle of planning.

A little planning might not sound summer-sexy – but the results sure are.

When you get the summer you want and deserve by design – not by default.

Tags challenging beliefs, Happiness, positive thinking, Reduce Stress, reflection, summer time

What was great about previous summers that you absolutely want to do again this year?

What would be the three things that would THRILL you to have happen this summer?

What three new activities or occasions do you absolutely want to include this summer?

What did you feel you might have missed out on last year? What could have been better?

What, be honest now, is getting kinda boring doing summer after summer? What are you ready to stop or switch up?

Where are you getting pulled into other people’s summer agendas in a way that really doesn’t work for you?

What are your favourite summer traditions? Is there anyone additional you want to include, or a way you want to put a twist on or expand your summer tradition?

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