In our 21st century western societies, we have been conditioned to ‘think positively at all times’. Tons of self-help books have been written about the magical powers of positive thinking, ‘mind-over-matter’ and the dangers of not getting what we want, because of our ‘negative’ thoughts or vibrations. Our total devotion to positive thinking leads usContinue reading “Avoiding Pain Leads to Disease”
Category Archives: success mindset
How I Turned Disaster Into a Win
Last Saturday I performed a solo gig at a local annual festival. That festival is a quite big affair in my town, with a number of performances of various artists spread over several venues. The events celebrated the versatility and talent of local artists who have made of this town a cultural powerhouse over theContinue reading “How I Turned Disaster Into a Win”
Stick to the Plan
I have to confess that I am a bit of a football fan (soccer for my American readers). I find the complexity of a fast-paced game where 11 players compete against another 11, following well-defined, but often ‘loosely’ interpreted rules, an interesting miniature experiment of life itself. What casual observers who are not remotely interestedContinue reading “Stick to the Plan”
About Switching Yourself Off
One of the most remarkable things I often hear people say in the midst of their stress and overwhelm, is ‘I wish I could switch myself off’. When you prompt someone in that position to explain this further, they will say something along the lines of ‘I wish I could take a holiday from myselfContinue reading “About Switching Yourself Off”
It’s Personal, Not Business
Recently, I sat on a training course delivered by a business coach. He expressed the interesting (and quite divisive) view that you can only be a proper coach when you work on people’s businesses. He mocked the concept of a ‘life coach’ as someone who isn’t measuring any real goals. They instead waffle on aboutContinue reading “It’s Personal, Not Business”
There Is No Work-Life Balance
Multi-entrepreneur Elon Musk has famously claimed to have regularly worked 120+ work weeks. He recommends that business founders work 80+ workweeks in order to achieve success. American lifestyle guru Tim Ferriss on the other side, has advocated the 4-hour work week in order to free yourself from the shackles of corporate work and live theContinue reading “There Is No Work-Life Balance”
Responsibility Versus Blame
For all of us operating in the disciplines of therapy, coaching or mentoring, facilitating change is at the core of what we do. However, every type of change requires an element of responsibility. Responsibility is about having the choice of responding to what is happening to us. As Sartre eloquently put it: freedom is whatContinue reading “Responsibility Versus Blame”
What Are You Running Away From?
In a podcast interview I did last year, I shared my opinion that motivation is overrated. In the modern western world we live in, we overemphasize the importance of willpower and feeling ‘motivated’ in order to achieve our goals. In truth, as I wrote in a recent blog, we constantly do things without feeling motivatedContinue reading “What Are You Running Away From?”
7 Lessons from Self-Releasing My Music
I am an amateur musician. I love creating and performing original music, but I have never found the nomadic lifestyle of the touring musician attractive and therefore I have never pursued a professional career as an artist. Having said that, I have been taking the business side of music more and more seriously in recentContinue reading “7 Lessons from Self-Releasing My Music”
Don’t Let Semantics Get in the Way of Action
I used to have a client who hated the word ‘goals’. In every conversation we had, we were going into painstaking efforts to avoid it, using terms such as ‘flow’ and ‘process’ instead, which suggested a more organic and fluid approach to goal setting. Other people I have worked with recently, got stressed by theContinue reading “Don’t Let Semantics Get in the Way of Action”
KostasTheCoach-The Freedom Composer 