I was inspired by a conversation during a course to remind people to resist bad managers that insist that you look busy all the time. If you never sharpen your axe, you're not having your best ideas, and you're not producing as much as you could be.

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Have you ever wondered how a course or coaching could help you get more out of life? Here's a simple explanation of a complicated reality. Your brain works to stabilize experience by noticing information that confirms what you already think. You have blindspots and edges and you aren't aware of them, because your auto-pilot is to notice only the things within the edges. To make new choices, you need to notice your edges and explore ways to stretch them. 

Systematic thinking brings to mind things you have noticed but would not automatically generate as thoughts. Good training offers a system that makes you aware of edges so that you can make choices about where you want to push them back so you can grow new choices and new opportunities.

Achievement is a big word. It scares people because they think it's hard to live up to. But an achievement is just something that you do that is both difficult and worth doing. There's something in your mind now that you want to do, but you're not sure you can get it done. If you're sure that it will be worthwhile, then take a few minutes to walk through this guided visualization and find the motivation and congruence to do the the difficult thing that you want to do.

Wouldn't you like to be a little more persuasive when you need to get other people to take action? One of our most popular one day courses at NLP Canada Training is called Grow Your Impact. This podcast will give you an overview of the three components we practice in that course: listening with full attention; knowing what you want; and using irresistible language to suggest action.

When you're stuck, it can feel like the walls are closing in on you. There's not enough room to move and no good options. You want to think outside the box, but all you can see or feel is the box.

Let Linda guide you through an experience that will change the way you experience the box and it's place in the world. Thinking inside the box is more fun - and more productive - than you might expect.

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Take a few moments to think about how you get distracted from what you know you want. Then think about the coaching, training or connections who can help you stay on course when the going gets bumpy or something distracts you from doing what you need to do to make what you want happen.

Take 10 minutes and think about this simple pattern that can become the way you change your life for the better. It doesn't happen all at once, but as you practice this pattern of responses, you will own more of your experience. This is the best way I know to reduce anxiety and conflict and bounce back when the world knocks you over.

Take about 20 minutes to walk through the basics of strategic communication. Learn how communication works automatically and how wanting something specific changes that. Explore why communication is always a part of how make positive change happen. Discover the three keys to being more strategic: 1) know what you want; 2) know what you have in common; 3) know what you don't know. And then walk through the core strategy for involving other people in making the change you want to see happen.

Is there a conversation you need to have or a presentation you need to make so that you can influence change? The only reason for communicating is so that someone can take an action they might not have taken without your words. Use this recording to mentally rehearse so that you prime yourself for the state, the connection, and the effect you want to have.

For many people, this time of year is especially hard because so many other people seem to be clear about what they want. From the kids giving their Christmas lists to Santa Claus to the ambitious co-worker with plans for 2018, other people seem to know what you want. But maybe you don't know. Maybe you don't feel great about yourself or your options, and the more other people make plans, the more it all seems impossible for you.

You're not alone. It's hard to commit to wanting something when you've hit a roadblock or been knocked down once too often or simply become so comfortably stuck that you can't imagine moving. In these 5 minutes, consider some very small steps that might help you shape a goal, however small, that you can commit to so that you begin to move again.