Dare you learn from others?

Do you dare to let others learn from you?

As a mentor, you are a role model. Whether you like it or not.

Want to be a role model?

As a child we learn that a ‘copycat’ is not something to aspire to. Who wants to be a copycat?

One of the things I am talking about regarding menthe and mentor relationship is «to teach people to learn from each other». I don´t talk about «look at me – and copy it»… But with a finer word, we can call it knowledge.
And that’s something to strive for.

Maybe you have a colleague or some neighbor, look what they do and ‘copy’ it.
That simple. But something that many still often forget. Both at work and at home.

One of the biggest obstacles we people have is that we often think that all the others are much smarter, better, more fun and more successful than ourselves.
The truth is, in fact – to be little in the children’s perspective – «what you are saying is you yourself…»

Living your life with some ground rules

I got very inspired when I got newsletter from Brendon Burchard, talking about his fathers rules of life. I sat down and started the process of my own rules of life.

Brendon Burchard is «One of the top motivation and marketing trainers in the world.» — says Larry King
Mr. Burchard is #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Millionaire Messenger and The Charge
And he is one of the Top 100 Most Followed Public Figures on Facebook

Her is Brendon Burchard telling about his own rules of life in this podcast.

Do you have life rules? I think it is a good way of telling your kids (the next generation)about life and how to live it. I will post Mr. Mel Burchard`s rules of life, to inspire you to write your own.

 

Good luck!

10 Body Language Tips Every Speaker Must Know

A lot of my time I use teaching, giving lectures, doing workshops or giving speeches. Maybe as much as 20-25 hours every week I spend on ”the stage”.

And I, as Kristin Piombino (author of the article in www.entrepreneur.com from december 2013) knows that when giving a presentation or speak in front of a group, not only are our words important, but the body language that accompanies them. In the academic world they are speaking about “class management”.

Your words may give the audience one message while your body sends quite another.

As if getting the words out wasn’t hard enough, right?

This infographic from SOAP Presentations lists 10 body language tips to employ during your next presentation. These tips range from how to get the audience to like you, to how to make sure the audience remembers your key points.

 

For example:

1. To get the audience to like you, make eye contact. People tend to pay more attention to and like those who look them in the eye.

2. To boost your confidence, open your chest and arms, and keep your back straight.

3. To demonstrate authority, be calm and use small, stiff gestures.

4. To draw the audience’s attention to something, point directly at it and look at it yourself. The audience will follow your lead.

5. To convince the audience of something, use positive gestures — smiling, nodding, open movements, etc. — throughout the presentation.

 

Is mentoring for 2014?

Yes indeed, we live in a fast-changing world, with, at times, chaotic and unexpected events. For example the long-term financial repercussions for companies and individuals in the global financial crisis. In that times wisdom from experienced people both on individual and organization level is crucial. And through life experience you gain wisdom…

Organizations recruit graduates hoping they will be the leaders of tomorrow, but studies show there is a gap that needs adressing. And this is why we need mentoring in organizations today. Mentoring is a powerful process for making sustainable progress based on the positive partnership of two people.

I have being coordinating mentoring programs for over 10 years and most of the programs has been between academia and business life, between students and leaders. And it is a great pleasure to see the students starting the program, the one year process and what they have developed to in the end of a program. Itś a remarkable journey for the participants and wonderful to be a part of.

I see mentoring as an effective way to develop people both on personal and professionel level. And so also for the future.

This «Money tree» is designer Morgaine Ford-Workman and was used as a logo for a 3-week series focusing on business mentors for students. 

What to do before you got a mentor

People who had used a mentor says that it was difficult to exact know what they want out of a mentor. One way is to try to find out what kind of experience and what you want to learn, once itś over. And during the first meeting things use to get clearer.

One of my own tip is to try to put together a plan for the next 3 month and for the next year, a sort of life plan. You can f.ex. read and listen to Michael Hyatt and what he means about the subject: Michael Hyatt

«With Creating Your Personal Life Plan, Michael Hyatt has fired A LASER BEAM OF FOCUS into a world of uncertainty. Finally, a brightly lit, well-marked pathway for the person who desires true and lasting success!”

– ANDY ANDREWS
New York Times Bestselling Author
The Traveler’s Gift, The Noticer, and The Final Summit

Using Newsletter

To find out whats new and doś and don’t`s I use newsletters, I subscribe to a lot of newsletters. I like to share some of them with you here in this article.

 

Michael Hyatt
He is the author of Platform: Get Noticed in a Noisy World (Thomas Nelson). It is a New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today bestseller. Recently, Forbes magazine named he one of the Top 50 Social Media Influencers of 2013.

This is his personal blog. It is focused on “intentional leadership.” And his mission is to help leaders leverage their influence. As a result, he writes on personal development, leadership, productivity, platform, and publishing. On occasion, he also write about stuff that doesn’t fit neatly into one of these categories.

His goal is to create insightful, relevant content that you can put to work in your personal and professional life. If you are in a position of leadership—or aspire to be—then this blog is for you.

He typically post three times a week.

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Mentoring Works
This is Ann Rolfe, Australia’s most published author on mentoring, Ann Rolfe has thirty years experience in learning and development. For the last sixteen years, she has specialised in helping organisations and individuals enjoy the benefits of mentoring. Widely respected as a consultant and presenter, her training programs and resources are used internationally to develop and support mentoring. In 2011, a program she helped design and deliver within the NSW Department of Community and Family Services won the LearnX Asia Pacific Platinum Award for Best Coach/Mentoring Training Program.

She is also the winner of «Best Mentoring Blog» 2011 and 2012, futured at this site.

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Radical Mentoring
Radical Mentoring is produced by the Next Generation Mentoring Foundation. After years of mentoring younger men individually, Regi Campbell heard a speaker say “More time, with fewer people, equals greater kingdom impact”, and he set off to mentor a group of men for the first time. Since 2001, he’s mentored nearly 100 men personally in what he calls “Radical Mentoring Groups” and his model for mentoring has been embraced by many other Christian leaders.

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Bryan Tracy
Brian’s goal is to help you achieve your personal and business goals faster and easier than you ever imagined. Brian Tracy has consulted for more than 1,000 companies and addressed more than 5,000,000 people in 5,000 talks and seminars throughout the US, Canada and 55 other countries worldwide. As a Keynote speaker and seminar leader, he addresses more than 250,000 people each year. He has studied, researched, written and spoken for 30 years in the fields of economics, history, business, philosophy and psychology. He is the top selling author of over 45 books that have been translated into dozens of languages.

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John Maxwell

He has written over 70 books and speak to millions of people who, like us, value what it takes to become a great leader. As you browse this site he trust we will find the resources you need to make your leadership experience not only memorable but influential. His leadership philosophy is simple: “Everything rises and falls on leadership.”

With so much hinging upon this philosophy his made it my his passion to develop leaders at all levels. He believe in us and the power of your influence to create a legacy within your sphere of influence that will leave behind an army of leaders who get the importance of strong leadership.

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Solution Box
David Wood is a personal and business coach, and a founder of the International Coach Academy – now training coaches globally. He is a Professional Certified Coach with the International Coach Federation (ICF).  David has now coached clients in 13 countries, and has personally mentored over 60 coaches.»

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A life in balance

Every year I put together my own life plan for that year, and maybe the most important thing is to also have balance. I can´t just put up there all I want in one specific area, but I have to use the whole “wheel of Life”.

“Wheel of Life” is a tool used in coaching and mentoring and is just to help you find balance in your life.

 Balance is many things, but first and foremost its to generate profits in our lives and enable us to handle everything that comes our way. If I were in balance, I could be completely sure I immediately could feel it in myself and in my surroundings. 

But what is balance?

-You are coming from a long workday, and sit in the armchair, perfectly flat and very tired – and when someone asks you a question, you snap back because you simply cannot relate to more now?

If so, I can tell you a secret: You are NOT in balance!

Balance is, very simply said to be present right where you are and know that you are exactly where you should be.

If you ask yourself this question: “If you had only one more year to live, what would you do”?

No one says they want to spend more time at the office or with the to-do list.

Most people say they want to spend more time with family and friends or travel more.

I try to prioritize “ME” first, to take charge in my own life. Only then can I be present for my family and friends.

My belief is that when I prioritize myself first, I am also more present for all those I love. What do you think for example that your loved ones would choose? To have a happy and balanced father, mother, girlfriend, boyfriend, husband, wife or friend, son, daughter etc. that are present and attentive and have chosen to be there! Or one that runs around confused like a hamster in a wheel, trying to satisfy everyone else and be ‘perfect’?

Here are two example of «Wheel of life» you can use for planning your life in balance.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

5 Things I’ve learned from writing my two first books

Research says that 81% of us wants to write a book someday; I am one of them. I can cross this goal off of my bucket list in, my first was published in 2007 and I renew the design in 2009, my second book got first out in 2010 and was renewed in 2012.

I started with mentoring in 1999 and I saw very quickly that a kind of book was missing, well maybe not the book itself. But something to put down ideas and thoughts from meetings with the mentor or maybe in trainings.

In the beginning I used a binder but wanted it to be smaller, to fit in a bag or maybe a (a bit big) pocket. And in the end the book is 5.83 wide x 8.26 tall, the perfect size.

But on to what I have learned.

1. Know why the book is needed. Know the reason why you want to write and why the book is necessary. And, knowing ‘why’ will help you stay with it when it gets hard —and it will.

2. Self-publish or traditional publisher. No doubt that traditional publisher can help you with a lot of things, but they also have opinions on the book. In my experience my traditional publisher wanted to change a very important thing in the book, and I refused to do it. So therefore I decided to self-publish the book.

3. Research. Don´t get stuck in research, because it’s very easy to do so. I read over 30 books and ended up in circle, and nothing was new. There were 3-4 “truths” about mentoring and all the books was about one of them.

4. Writing process. I pictured myself sitting in a cozy coffee shop finding the perfect words, but find myself having glory days and not so glory 

days. And especially because I self-publish no-one was hanging over me with a deadline.

5. Sales process. As an self-publisher you are on your own when it comes to sales, logistics and others. I found www.lulu.com very helpful and getting me to www.amazone.com and http://www.barnesandnoble.com And also they have different marketing pack so you can buy the advice you need to sell the book.

If you want to start with something a bit smaller project than a book, why don´t you start with a blog.

I use WordPress and I find it easy to use.

Good luck with your writing…