‘Good is the enemy of Great’…

 'Good is the enemy of Great'.......

…is a well known Jim Collins quote From Good to Great - he states that:

 

‘Get rid of the good to make room for the great in your life’. 

I’ve noticed an ongoing theme this week:

Holidays are useful changes in energy which either cause a spate of activity before the deadline of leaving, or an injection of inspiration and enthusiasm after which a spot of spring cleaning is often initiated.

• My trusty swimming costume got left on holiday - it saved me finding a plastic bag to carry it in after using it during the day and flying home in the evening!  But this wasn’t the real reason, the Lycra was starting to go (Chlorine is the enemy of Lycra!) and I realised that I bought it when I was about ½ stone heavier, maybe not a lot, but on a 9½ stone frame, that’s 5%.  It didn’t make me feel great.
• As I started to unpack and return everything to their rightful homes, I recognised that at least 8 of my tops, trusty stalwarts, were no longer in regular use - past their best.  They didn’t make me feel great.
• I moved along to my dresses and realised a couple, while fine, never really worked. Each time I would overlook them in favour of another.  While I thought I liked them, they didn’t make me feel great.
• I’ve never quite bought into the handbag graveyard, preferring to have 5-6 covering the main colour/purpose points in my spectrum rather than one in every style or colour possible.  One, well loved and used, was past its best, another too floppy, unstructured, I could never find anything because it either fell to the bottom of the ‘bucket’ style, or the bag flopped over when I put it down and everything fell out.    They didn’t make me feel great.
• And so to shoes.  There comes a time in every shoe’s life when it has earned its retirement but at what point? Sometimes they’re looking past their best before date, other times, past the fashion trend, even though I like the colour or style and they still fit - 2 pairs gone.  They don’t make me feel great.

Are you noticing a theme here?

Working through accessories and jewellery, I removed 20+ items, resulting in a gentle feeling of relief at  the extra ‘breathing space’ in my wardrobe. 

 

By removing a small percentage of energy drainers I’ve freed up myself and the space in my wardrobe.  Even without any more clothes I immediately feel better because the ones left are the ones which make me feel great!

The mantra I’ve passed on to many friends and clients over the years is ‘if you don’t use it or love it, pass it on’.  Regardless of your feelings for 'it', if ‘it’ doesn’t love you, it won’t make you feel great and you deserve more than that! 

Why settle for ‘good’ when ‘great’ is available?

Personal Branding in a domestic world

‘Brand’, a term used to distinguish a product, service or concept in terms of a ‘personality’, is assumed to refer to business, so what place does this have for me if I’m a homemaker? I can hear it now….

 

‘I clean the house, manage schedules, play ‘taxi’ driver, make sure the ‘machine’ of ‘home’ works to support everyone’  but too often people lose their sense of self in serving others in this way. 
 

Enter stage left the ‘young person’ who honestly believes and declares that 'it doesn’t matter what you wear these days, people don’t judge you on  appearance.  It begs the question, do you dress for yourself or dress for others?  Maybe in the past we dressed more for others but the younger people of today dress more for themselves. 

 

 

The heightened focus on the Duchess of Cambridge’s attire, in her many roles, tells us that it’s still important to dress for your audience but more leeway’s given to dressing for comfort and style.  Ultimately, when you dress to flatter yourself, people notice YOU, the person. 

 

 

We need labels and categories to help us make sense of the world but, as individuals, we frequently resist labels (boxes, categories, structure) in favour of the ‘freedom of self expression’ -  it’s the conflict between belonging and needing to express our uniqueness.

  

Early in my career, I distinguished 2 main motivators for people searching out my services:

- Emotional: recognising the connection between how we look and how we feel enables us to take control of the ‘looking’ element to empower and strengthen the ‘feeling’ element, thereby enabling us to improve and enhance our feelings, increasing inner confidence  and self-belief, leading to a sense of inner peace and frequently, greater success in work, social and business life.

 

- Practical/Financial: the dawn of realisation in this group of clients was making the connection between how they look and money.  Whether it was sales attracted through being self-employed or in a sales role, promotions, pay rises or additional sales and, in the case of the self-employed or management, an increase in confidence.  As a result of ‘looking the part’, business increases.

 

Often client gender could predict the motivator but not always.  As a graduate, it was important to make the most of my limited budget so that clothes I bought for work were going to work hard and earn their keep in my wardrobe.   A very practical reason which led to me experiencing an increase in confidence and self-belief.  Within a year I’d experienced a pay rise, new job role, improved training opportunities - one thing led to another in a positive way.

 

 

 

A trigger at the ‘emotional’ stage, caused by a life change, relationship, job, status, moving from full- time employee to full-time mother is a culture shock for many and with plenty to keep yourself occupied, appearance is often the last thing on people’s minds!  Reverse that shift, as the children grow older, and try to return to the workplace with a different figure, body shape, lifestyle, budget and time constraints plus a need to reclaim your sense of identity, the offer of a consultation with House of Colour appears at the right time.

Personal Brand may not appear to sit in this ‘domestic’ world in the same way, but our need to have a clear sense of identity, who we are, our values, strengths and weaknesses, balanced against the need to be unique and that of fitting in, enables us to confidently negotiate the path between dressing how we are ‘supposed’ to look and dressing for ‘ourselves’. 

There’s no ‘best before’ date on style

The lady wore black……. almost unrelieved black.

An electric blue fairy danced gaily on her hat and a scatter of white polka dots, like a starling’s wing, graced the gauzy silk of her scarf. But, apart from that, she was in black; black hat, wide black belt nipping in a slender waist in a black winter coat, black gloves, black riding boots.

And she looked great!

We bonded over a stray shopping trolley which required escorting ‘home’, when she expressed admiration for my sartorial style (I, needless to say as a Spring, was not in black).

Well, right back atcha, sister!

The curls escaping from her hat may have been silver, the mischievous eyes set in a sea of fine wrinkles but this lady clearly showed that you don’t have to give up on looking spectacular just because a certain birthday has passed.

When I told her how fantastic she looked she giggled unashamedly and told me it was all done on a shoestring. The belt had come from Primark, the scarf from a charity shop, the hat from Claire’s Accessories. The dancing fairy had been made for her by her great grand-daughter. The coat and boots she laughed, well they had been in her wardrobe for ever!

Despite obviously being in her eighties, this lovely lady was subtly but exquisitely made up, with a vibrant raspberry coloured lipstick enhancing her bright blue eyes. Black was so obviously right for her, the neat but slightly dramatic style complementing her naughty personality.

I didn’t get her name but she was an inspiration. I think I want to be just like her when I grow up - only not in black - Chocolate or Geranium Red, maybe……..?

The Business of Life!

The business of life is a fascinating subject.  Whether we’re educators, homemakers, charity workers, carers, entrepreneurs, business owners, creative, service or armed forces personnel; employed or self-employed, it’s all business!

 

Leadership and personal development courses, coaches and training resources are plentiful; I’ve attended and benefited from many, without even touching on and enjoying the literary resource from books and audio books.
As a child, it never crossed my mind that ‘normal people’ won Olympic medals, never mind knew that they wanted to.  When my local Rotary Club sponsored me to attend their Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA) programme in my 20s, rather than following and trying to make the best of the journey I thought I was on, I realised it was MY journey to plan, direct and steer.

In the early days books like Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway, The E-Myth Revisited  and Rich Dad Poor Dad illustrated entrepreneurship and new ways of looking at the business of life.  Audio/visual learners can now also enjoy the experience of watching TED talks. For anyone interested in education of any kind, making time to watch Sir Ken Robinson will be time well spent.  This animated one on changing education paradigms was my introduction to his work and I still love it. 

Recently I had the privilege of meeting Lis Protherough who is passionate about ‘…students everywhere to aim high, be all that they can be and keep on climbing.’  She has established her business around this, writing The Book on Successful Teens and is leading by example with her own sons. 

So, with everything pointing me towards entrepreneurship, it was interesting to come across this article  highlighting some of the pitfalls. 

Robert Kiyosaki laid out a strategic plan for developing his key business skills, leadership, sales, marketing and finance.  Ken Robinson talks about why education is changing and needs to change and Lis talks about the 3 pillars of success in her YSC Training Programme:

1. Personal effectiveness,
2. Practical finance and 
3. Modern entrepreneurship. 

I’m an advocate of collaboration and sharing.  Learning from others to further my goals, sharing my knowledge to support others in achieving theirs and working together to achieve a greater result than would be possible by working alone as well as creating opportunities for young people to start fulfilling their dreams.  I believe this is consistent with seeing the return of apprenticeships in the UK as an alternative segue from education to work.  

Recently I heard a teenager quoted as saying 'but it really doesn't matter how you look Mum, people really don't care anymore!'  While it may not be AS important as it might have been in the past, being empowered, authentic and visible (as your true self) is key to supporting you in achieving your goals.  If you don’t look the part, it will take you a lot longer and you’ll have to work harder to convince people that you know what you’re talking about.  Nothing works alone in this life and while your own expertise is paramount, communication is becoming increasingly more visual (YouTube) and all communication needs to support who you are, whether it’s a still photo, a filmed presentation/conversation or a face to face meeting, the messages need to converge not diverge or worse, conflict. 

As a young graduate, investing in myself with a Colour and Style consultation was one of the best things I did, further developing this to gain clarity on my personal brand has been a key enabler for me in focusing on pursuing what’s important to me while progressing my career.  While it's never one thing alone, I'm clear this is one of my investments that has delivered the greatest ROI (return on Investment).

What were some of your best investments or resources that empowered you to move forward in your life?