Malcolm Gladwell on spaghetti sauce | Video on TED.com

An insightful, fun talk about choice and what makes us happy. Most of us do not know what we really want. And the only way to find out is by asking the right questions and presenting choices that we may not have thought of.

That's the lesson I have learned and that I apply in coaching people ....Malcolm says it his way. Take look

Malcolm Gladwell on spaghetti sauce | Video on TED.com

Commitment is the key to Success

Today is the tipping point, August 16^th in Greece is the beginning of moving towards the autumn, even if it is 37 degrees hot. Everyone knows…soon we’ll be back at work.

However, lets not go there yet we say, let our minds return to the Beach, the sun and easy living. And we will…but deep down we know. With that knowledge in mind I started to make a detailed plan of what I want to complete and by when.

Planning and putting deadlines, a key time management coaching tool; you won’t be able to effectively manage your time without it, believe me. It’s somewhat easy to write the plan, make the list – the challenge lies in really committing to the out comes.

Take an oath of commitment for the things you want to achieve. This is vital. Commitment will keep you on track when the going becomes tough!

Where do you want to see a difference? What are you willing to commit?

My commitment: I will invest time in communicating ‘No Butts on Beaches’ every day. I will speak to strangers and ask them to stop littering. I will speak to organizations. I will speak to cigarette producing companies to produce the pocket ashtray and join the campaign. I will motivate thousands of people to participate and start a nationwide awareness campaign. I will succeed in reducing butts on beaches and other littering.

With my best wishes,

Christiane

364 days to go in my "No Butts on Beaches" Initiative

I did it, I created a 'Clean Greece - No butts on Beaches' Initiative -

The countdown is running and I am committed to succeed. To find out more and stay tuned check out the blog I created cleangreece-nobuttsonbeaches.blogspot.com

I invite you to join me. Stop throwing cigarette butts into the streets, the forests, the beaches. Everyone can do it, it costs nothing, nor time or money.

with my best wishes .....

Having Fun to get it Done

It is that time of year when we open the windows and open the doors on those sunny days...and here on the Island they are plenty. Makes it challenging to get some work done. I have 5 projects in the oven and cook each of them a little every day.

I am a bit behind on creating my "No butts on beaches" blog - however it will be done.

I have kept a few coaching clients throughout August and the common theme seems to be about:

• How to focus
• How to manage time and
• How to keep things light and have fun doing so

One of the ways we came up with is to create a Training Camp for Yourself. You set it up: what time you start in the morning, how many hours you spend on each task, what time you finish, how much time you spend exercising or having fun with friends. Set it up for yourself and then ENROLL!

Have fun with it...and if anyone tries to throw you off balance just tell them that you are in training. What training they will ask. In training myself to focus, manage my time better and have fun doing it.

Try it out and if you need any more tips then let me know.

Clean Greece - No Butts on Beaches!

It's Monday and that means action is required. Sunday is the "I don't have to do a thing" day for me but Monday calls for focus, decision making, scripting the day, the week, the future. Writing down a few lines of what I want to do helps me to stay on track. I keep my script on my computer and update it each day - leaves me with a sense of achievement.

Back to my 'Clean Greece' project. I decided to create a separate block for this one (tomorrow) and to start with one challenge at the time. 365 days to get all Greek citizens to participate in

'No Cigarette Butts on our Beaches'!!

First step: checking which Cigarette Companies have offices here in Greece and approaching them with my idea. As I already have the prototype of the Butt holder I should generate some interest in my project. Lets see. I'll keep you updated.

my best wishes for a great week!

Julie & Julia ...an inspiration

Last night I watched the movie Julie & Julia and an idea started to buzz around my head during my morning "I am getting even fitter" walk. "What about committing to a goal and then sharing my progress daily on my blog?" Once announced to the world (the world that reads my blog) I would really be fired up to keep on track and get creative with achieving my task.

A great coaching tool. Announce what you intend to do to a group of people, the more public the better and then get going. Yes, You can! Commit to just one thing for the following 6 months.

My goal: To Clean Up Greece. Starting with getting the Cigarette producing companies to also produce a pocket ashtray that will prevent people throwing the cigarette butts all over the place, especially from leaving them on the beaches.

That's it. Big goal. - the journey of a 1000 miles starts with the first step - this is mine, step No 1