Being passionate about your business is a good thing – right?

I know lots of people who are passionate about their business. It’s a good thing and no more than I would expect from the people I mix with, given that most of them have chosen to do what they do.

However, I am constantly puzzled by the need that many folk have to “tell”  me they are passionate about their business. Maybe you are one of them.

Telling me you’re passionate doesn’t do a thing for me.

Would you tell me you are funny in order to make me laugh or say that you’re sexy in the hope I might introduce you to a friend looking for a fling? Would you start a business conversation by telling me you’re honest?

No? I thought not. So why tell me you’re passionate about what you do?

Do you think by declaring your passion that I’m more likely to buy from you?

Here’s a newsflash. I’m not – and neither is anyone else.

I don’t care how you feel about your business

Actually I don’t care how you feel about your business. You could be bored to death by it but if you supply what I want at the right price I’ll buy it.

I understand the whole thing about buying decisions being emotional ones but if I’m the buyer, its my emotions that are in the equation not yours. How you or your product make me feel is important but will your declaration for being passionate about supplying me affect my emotions?

No – and here’s why:

I’ve been asking this question for a while and this is one of the best answers I’ve had so far. Its from Jeremy Marchant  http://www.emotionalintelligenceatwork.com I’ve edited his words slightly for context.

Jeremy says: “I think it is tendentious, at best, to suggest that (potential customers) will be convinced that you can supply what they need just because you have told them how passionate you are about supplying it.

Yes, the decision to buy is an emotional one, not a rational one. That’s because all decisions are made emotionally, not rationally.

But it is a mistake to believe that, if you tell me how you are feeling, that is a conversation at a feelings level, at the level of emotions. It’s not. It is a rational, “thinking” conversation.

A description of how passionate you are about what you do is not an emotional experience for the listener. It is a factual monologue, which will have the inevitable consequence of keeping them in their thinking mode, NOT getting them into their feelings – in other words it precisely does what you don’t want it to do!

The way out of this impasse is … to convey your passion by HOW you talk. How you are. “

In other words, its better to let people see and feel how passionate you are than to tell them!

Getting people to connect with you on an emotional level is the key to any transaction but simply telling them how you feel doesn’t work.

Don’t tell me – show me

If you want me to buy from you, stop telling me you are passionate and start demonstrating your conviction that you have the solution to my needs.

Getting more done with less stress, effort and frustration is what many business owners wish for.

At a recent presentation, Steve Hoare (Management by Reflection), explained why, if we want to grow a business, have a home life and enjoy what we do with the minimum of stress, it is important to spend our time doing the things we are good and learn to appreciate the contributions made by people who have different strengths to us.

To illustrate the point, members of the group were asked to put themselves into one of three groups that they most identified with while acknowledging that there may be some crossover.

The Blue Group identified most with the words:

Thinking, creative, problem solving, strategic, discerning, self starting, single minded.

The Yellow Group with:

Inclusive, mature, communicator, diplomatic, co-operative, enthusiastic

The Red Group with:

Challenging, dynamic, action, perfectionist, reliable, efficient, conscientious

Each group was given the same task and assigned an observer.

The idea was to show what happens when people with the same strengths work on a task, compared to when people with a whole range of strengths work together.

The result is that people adapt to fill the gaps but usually feel uncomfortable in these roles. This is OK for a short while (our experiment only lasted for ten minutes) but the longer it continues, the more the cracks begin to show.

The ensuing discussion focused on the importance of not seeing the absence of a particular type of behaviour as a weakness but on playing to people’s strengths.

It is equally important not to let the ‘weakness’ become a crutch or an excuse, e.g. “What do you expect? I’m this type of person not that type.”

In terms of identifying the people most likely to produce the best results we often look for skills first followed by personality but profiling the behaviours needed to complement a team can often improve the way everyone works and reduce the stress, frustration and effort while getting much more done in less time.

There is a huge amount of research that shows that we are really poor judges of others and relying on ‘gut instinct’ is the worst possible way to select people to work with.

When employing people, Steve recommends the Belbin Team Role profiling tool be used along with a suite of other tools for assessing personality and aptitude. Many tools on the market have no scientific validity so it is best to check this out and use an accredited practitioner to analyse the results.

Any double about the value / cost ratio will be quickly dispelled by a calculation of what it costs to make the wrong decision!

A MasterMind Group is sometimes known as a peer group mentoring forum or a Boardroom forum.

These groups simulate the many different roles that it takes to run a successful business and giving a business owner independent advice from people with no hidden agenda.

I often get asked, “Why would anyone want to join a mentoring group with people who know nothing about each other’s businesses?”

There are three excellent answers to this:

1) The product or service a business delivers may be different but the process of running and growing a business has many generic activities. Almost everyone who starts a business has had experience of other businesses and brings many skills and lots of expertise to a group.

2) The process used in the most successful MasterMind Groups produces a situation where solutions are created from the combined efforts of the group members and do not rely on one person’s pre-existing knowledge.

and

3) One of the major benefits of a well run MasterMind Group is accountability. The members commit to certain actions and keep each other on track.

If people have heard of MasterMind Groups its usually in relation to Napoleon Hill’s book “Think and Grow Rich”.

Hill established that many of the successful people he interviewed in the 1930s attributed part of their success to meeting with a peer group on a regular basis to discuss ideas and create new solutions to problems.  He describes the process as  ” When two people come together to discuss ideas it is a s though a third person appears with ideas that the others would not have thought of on their own.”

What do a potter, a metalworker, a doctor an engineer and a preacher have in common?

There are many wonderful examples of MasterMind Groups working to create success for their members but for me, one of the most powerful examples occurred long before Napoleon Hill wrote his famous book.

When the potter is Josiah Wedgewood, the metalworker is Matthew Boulton, the doctor is Erasmus Darwin, the engineer is James Watt and the preacher is Joseph Priestly the ideas produced quite literally changed the world.

Steam trains, electricity, canals, mass manufacturing, the discovery of new gases, processes and materials accompanied dramatic social and educational reforms in the middle of the 18th Century that brought about the Industrial Revolution and great wealth but for the original group of friends the support they gave each other was crucial.

Known as the Lunar Society because they met when the moon was full to aid their journeys, these men worked together to break down physical, social and educational barriers.

The internet has brought down even more of these barriers and made it easy to collaborate, to produce great ideas and to take the idea of MasterMinds to new levels.

When Napoleon Hill wrote “Think and Grow Rich” he meant think as in develop the ability to think, to process ideas and solve problems. By rich he meant not just monetary wealth but knowledge, discipline and fulfilment of potential.

All of this is achieved by mastery of the mind.

A Master Mind Group is exactly that: an opportunity for you to develop mastery of your mind, to think and grow rich with the support of a peer group.

If you would like to join us or have questions about how to get involved, just give me a call on 07711 705038.

Today’s “Don’t talk tosh” award goes to Talk Talk.

The findings of a new survey by Talk Talk Business *apparently* show that absolutely no SMEs in Cambridge are using social media.

I say *apparently* shows because I don’t have access to the data and only to the quote from the Cambridge News.

This declaration is astonishing on two counts:

1) because it is staggeringly, obviously untrue to anyone with half an eye and a squint

and

2) because anyone with the slightest inkling of how to use Social Media wouldn’t need a survey to find this out.

The search tools on Twitter and LinkedIn are valued for their ability to pinpoint pretty much anything you want to know about the participants in these platforms and even a cursory search for “Cambridge UK” will bring up thousands of entries for businesses with lively accounts.

I’m not sure of the motivation behind Talk Talk’s survey and would be interested to know why and how they did it but the result is that the reported findings mean they thoroughly deserve today’s award.

I’ve just returned from a seminar on Social Media – the Next Generation and was flattered to be asked to field the question,

“What does it take to be successful in Social Media?”

implying that

a) I am

and

b) that I knew.

My first reaction was that if anyone sets out ‘just’ to be successful on SoMe, that’s probably a bit sad. Does it mean you have a big network, a big klout score, that lots of people know who you are?

Maybe, but what’s the point?

Having pondered this weighty question I clicked on my Twitter stream to find one of my contacts (who runs a very successful business) looking forward to watching a particular popular teen vampire TV programme and drawing all sorts of other folk out of their closets to admire the (in my opinion) rather drippy hero. A riotous exchange of tweets followed with me extolling the virtues of ‘real’ men who smelled of whisky and tobacco and thought personal grooming was a close shave while the, admittedly, much younger faction swooned over waifs with gelled hair.

No contest

There were several laugh out loud incidents and then we all went back to work. I suppose this is what the SoMe experts call a ‘water cooler moment’.

What does it have to do with being successful on Social Media?

Quite a lot.

a) we were all being our authentic selves

b) it was fun

c) we all learned a bit about each others values and what makes us tick

d) nobody was trying to sell anything but we found out a bit about what we do

e) it was probably amusing to the several thousand potential observers (Twitter being a public forum) and revealed a lot – none of it bad – about all of us.

At the start of the excellent seminar mentioned above, the opening question was “What’s the most important thing in any business?” and the answer is, of course, people.

People (whether owners, employees, suppliers or customers) want to be noticed, to be valued, to be acknowledged as people with different values and ideas because that is how we all relate to each other. The roles we play may be important but its who we really are that enables us to form relationships that work.

Some big brands have spotted how important this is in SoMe and use it to their advantage, getting individual members of staff to engage with people on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn Groups while maintaining the brand presence. Some get it spectacularly wrong and simply spit out sales messages, expecting the ‘brand’ to speak for itself.  It doesn’t.

Owners of smaller businesses have the biggest advantage on SoMe

People who can BE their brand either have to truly live all the qualities they talk about or be extremely good actors because being bland doesn’t work. Trying to appeal to everyone doesn’t work. At some point your sense of humour, your values and beliefs will reveal the real you and just like in real life, some people will like you and some won’t.  However, that’s OK because its better to find out before you do business with someone than after.

There are all sorts of tools and analytical devices you can use to see if your messages and links get clicked, liked, plus oned, forwarded, favourited or re-tweeted. There are tools that tell you who to ditch and who to follow and when your followers are on-line and if they are real or robots. You can track your numbers in every combination and format and there are people who use all these devices very successfully.

Can the numbers be used to measure ROI?

These numbers are sometimes used in an effort to prove return on investment (ROI) but some of the algorithms are less than effective. No-one can say that 100 followers, fans, contacts or clicks will produce x% return because no-one can assess the quality of these connections, many of whom are there because of the ‘social’ aspect of the media rather than for business and many of whom will effortlessly pass on interesting details to their own connections. It is impossible to measure ‘influence’ by numbers so at best, these tools are guides and at worst, downright misleading.

No-one can measure the effect of me praising the work of a  New York artist or the effect of him telling his contacts about my work on business development. It is too random, in some ways too bizarre and unexpected and the threads that are created are too tangled to prove any real return. The only certain thing is that it is possible to make contacts through social media that would otherwise have been impossible and that once the contact is made it is the quality of your content that will keep them and help them to grow.

The strategy that delights one person will dismay another. Most people have to try it for themselves and find their own style of doing things.

So, my answer to “What does it take to be successful on Social Media?” is, you need to understand people. You need to know who you want to attract and what will attract them. You need to understand yourself and what you stand for. Most of all you need to know how to communicate.

Good content, whether in a 140 character tweet or a 500 word blog post will carry more weight than anything else. It builds trust in your expertise, your skill and your knowledge but above all, in you as a real person with values that others can relate to.

Before you can write good content you need to know not only who you are writing it for but who YOU are to those people.

It was 1937 when Dale Carnegie wrote his wonderful book, “How to win friends and influence people”.

The medium may be different but the message is the same.

What do you think?

Why do we need to know how to be happy?

Why is happiness so important? Are we born happy and then lose it? What has happiness to do with business success?

I recently became aware of a number of business owners who work such long hours that they neglect all the things that make them happy, except their work.

Because I believe that most of our best ideas come to us in the downtime when we are playing or relaxing, and because I believe that we are all so much more than our businesses, this bothered me a bit so I decided to conduct an experiment.

I asked people to list ten things that they DO that make them happy and then to schedule into their diaries every day something they looked forward to doing and then actually DO them.

Over 130 people shared their lists with each other on-line and about 30 turned up for a meeting to discuss their ideas on happiness, led by philosopher John Turner (www.metathink.co.uk)

These are some of the ideas the people in the group expressed:

To be happy we need to focus our minds, not drift along without being aware.

To be happy we need to be in the flow with an absence of distractions

To be happy we need to be creating and doing

To be happy we need to feel valued – by ourselves as well as others

Happiness is our life’s purpose and nurturing friendships is a major part of this

We need a verb: “to happy” (apparently, in ancient Greek, there is/was)

On one thing everyone was agreed: If there was a machine that could make everyone happy all of the time, we wouldn’t want to turn it on. There are times when we need sadness, and happiness is something to be worked towards.

The second part of the experiment is still ongoing but these are my own thoughts on happiness:

“Happiness depends on ourselves.”

2500 years ago, Aristotle enshrined happiness as a central purpose of human life and a goal in itself.

2500 years later neuroscientists came to pretty much the same conclusion.

The Nature of Happiness 

Despite the fact that many human beings live their lives believing that they will be happy if they get everything they want, both ancient and modern wisdom shows that this is far from true. Tests show that we are notoriously bad at predicting what will make us happy (or unhappy) and we prove ourselves wrong time and again. Rich people are not happier than poor people and yet much of our society is geared to the pursuit of material possessions and fleeting pleasures.

There is a school of thought that says that happiness cannot be pursued or sought and we just need to be open and wait for it to alight in our lives  but this too is disputed by both philosophy and science. This is because happiness is not something that can be gained or lost in a few moments, like pleasurable sensations. It is about the ultimate value of a life, measuring how well we have lived up to our full potential as human beings.

Aristotle tells us that the most important factor in the effort to achieve happiness is to have a good moral character — what he calls “complete virtue.” He argues that virtue is achieved by maintaining the balance between two excesses – reminiscent of Buddha’s Middle Path.

Neoroscience shows that happiness is inextricably linked to the faculty of attention.

Attention systems that lack focus or have become habitually trained on feelings of poor self worth or criticism lead to emotional states that are out of control and lead to anxiety, depression and other distressing states. Studies show that contemplative practices such as meditation are wonderful ways to train the brain into new habits of paying attention to subjects or feelings that enhance self-worth and strengthen new neural pathways.

The language is different but the message is the same.

Happiness takes effort.

Aristotle advocates the education of the whole person, including one’s moral character, rather than merely learning a set of skills. He taught that developing a good character requires a strong effort of will to do the right thing, make difficult decisions, not give in to immediate gratification and that through training and practice we can achieve our full potential and the enrichment of human life.

Neuroscience shows that we can change our brains, not by intervention with medication or stimulants but by practicing new thought patterns. The basic structure of our mental life is habit and, just as we strengthen muscles in our bodies by practice, so we do the same with our brains.

Qualities we admire in others, e.g., kindness, generosity, humour, patience, compassion are not innate qualities but are skills that we can learn with practice until they become new habits. If we admire these qualities in others we can aquire them for ourselves by paying attention, repeating behaviours and becoming the kind of person we most want to be.

So, happiness is about human flourishing and thriving not about feelings of pleasure and it is an activity rather than a state.

What does this have to do with business?

Building a successful business, especially when you are working alone, requires great discipline. Doing the right things at the right time, even when we don’t feel like it, making difficult decisions, turning away from the quick fix in order to stick to a long term plan, staying focused on a task, being mindful, keeping the promises we make to ourselves are all important.

If the pursuit of happiness is about human flourishing and thriving, applying the same principles to business can only be a good thing. Happiness is not something we take time off to do and then feel guilty about, it becomes both the reason and the way in which we do everything.

Rather than say “I’ll be happy when ….” (I’ve got to x turnover / this job is finished / that client is satisfied / I have some reliable staff), and recognising that these things are not what makes us happy and that we don’t have to wait for them to happen, creates the freedom to make the pursuit of happiness an habitual activity that leads to real fulfilment of our potential as human beings.

Take part in the experiment

If you would like to take part in the happiness experiment simply schedule into your daily activities things that you DO that will make you happy and then DO them and share your ideas with the rest of the group either by leaving a comment below or on the LinkedIn discussion here:  http://lnkd.in/4MM6ca

I invited people to take part in an experiment about The Pursuit of Happiness

The first part was to list ten things that they DO that makes them happy.

The second part will be explained in another post.

Lisa Garwood • I’m just waiting for KHRS’s Katherine to finish my list – as she seems to know me better than I know myself – does that count?

Katherine Connolly HR Consultant • Ok, well.. challenge duly accepted!

The ones I’d suggested for you before were:drinking wine
eating good food
enjoying the company of friends
working with your other half
perusing interior design magazines
taking pride in your surroundings (cushion fluffing!)
working with clients who know what they want and respect your time, knowledge and expertise
having your parents close and spending time with them
looking after guests/visitors (the hostess with the mostess)
feeling understood and appreciated

Liz Weston •

Things that I do for me personally, to make me happy, in no particular order:
1.sitting in the bath, looking out over the fields…
2.eating chocolate frozen yoghurt straight from the tub on a weekend night when our boys are asleep
3. arriving somewhere early, with children asleep in the back and having a cat nap
4. a massage / facial / eye brow tidy up
5. gossiping with my friend Dr AKT

Things I do that make me happy in my work:
6. Selling advertising to a big brand or client for the rate card and then discounting for a small business
7. Securing contracts for social media work as this is my favourite bit of work
8. Connecting people when I can honestly say it’s just to “Pay It Forward”
9. Winning awards for myself and my clients
10. …… Buying a business (this is a very new thing, but it’s something I’ve done and it’s made me VERY HAPPY!!!)

Look forward to seeing what this translates into at our next meet up

Liz Weston aka @cambridgemummy
www.westoncommunications.org.uk

Martyn Sibley • 1) drinking vodka
2 travelling the world
3) laying on sunny beaches
4) chatting up beautiful girls
5) lazy Sundays
6) driving my car
7) going to music festivals
watching tottenham play
9) running my own business
10) changing the world for disabled people

Www.martynsibley.com, www.disabilityhorizons.com, martyn@martynsibley.com

Iris von Brandstatter • * spend me-time daily

* making crafts

* pay-it-forward often

* nature (my sanctuary)

* eat organic and fair trade where possible

* spread some positivity daily

* be mindful

* try to improve peoples lives with my business

* work with animals

* spend time doing creative journaling

David Smallman • OK here goes!!
1 happy grandchildren – nothing beats the innocent laughter of grandchildren
2 my wifes smile – it never fails to light up my day
3 fast cars – an early summers day on a sweeping road and that feeling of being part of the machine
4 good company – hard to come by but always worth the effort
5 great service – in any place from any source and at anytime; most welcome
6 good food – that’s simply prepared from the best ingredients
7 better wine – neither over priced nor dirt cheap but drunk with those in number 4
8 biting fish – on as sunny lake side or out at sea no matter the relaxation does wonders
9 Chelsea wins – a 47 year old passion I have followed the games and results from around the world
oh! and
10 And playing good golf in the company of firm friends on a great course in the late evening sunshine; the perfect end to a day on which I will have heard, seen or done all of the above.

Jenny Wilton • Ok…here goes.

1. Eating with friends and/or family
2. My lovely, low maintenance man
3. Meeting new people
4. Travelling the world
5. Travelling by train
6. Yoga
7. Watch machines running (especially CNC machines or pick and place machines)
8. Learning new things
9. Drinking wine
10. Strawberries!
List is not exhaustive and in no particular order!!

Lucy Snell • lots of things make me happy.

1. Spending time with my perfect little boy
2. Being with my husband
3. Breathing in sea air, living by the sea
4. Travelling to new places
5. Bikram yoga
6. Drinking wine
7. eating nice food
8. Seeing my baby boy develop and grow, seeing him laugh and smile
9.Working with great clients – delivering top results for them
10. Losing weight! although putting it back on makes me unhappy!

Adam Maltpress • No particular order:

1. Sex, kissing etc.
2. Cake.
3. Having run or exercised (although not the actual running/exercising)
4. Waking up on a Saturday morning
5. Reading – anything, really, but the better the book the more the happy.
6. Making people laugh.
7. Solving problems.
8. Wine (red).
9. Being wet – i.e. having a shower, swimming, having a bath.
10. Hugs etc (i.e. the non-sexy bits of being with someone)

Lots more, too. Music. Tea. Games. Social contact. Stickers. Lego. Driving. Motorbikes. Pictures. Films. Country walks and all the personal ad cliches

Martyn Peters • I like this discussion, there are lots of things that make me happy. In no particular they are:

1. Earning money
2. Driving long distances to earn money & seeing the countryside whilst doing it.
3. Helping others with advice, the feeling afterwards is great.
4. Red Wine, not the morning after though
5. Spending Quality time with my family, especially watching them laugh and being happy.
6. Clothes shopping especially for jeans.
7. Music, preferably as loud as possible.
8. My Dogs
9. The buzz after a good workout
10. Tattoo’s, although not the pain while they are being done.

Holly Heslop • It’s interesting what pops into your head when thinking what makes me happy…. then all the things I will think of later and perhaps make me feel a little guilty!

Things that make me happy :

1. Making others happy
2. Giving advice to those in need…. and sometimes to those who dont…
3. Travelling
4. Sleeping
5. Helping and encouraging companies to reach their potential and making them realise it.
6. Waking up everyday healthy
7. Giving
8. Being social – glad I’m not shy
9. Knowing how many people love me and how much they help me and would do anything (in reason) to help, encourage and give me valuable advice
10. Being Blonde!

Thanks Ann I feel like I got some happiness off my chest

Moira Upton • Here’s mine.

1. l try to be kind
2. Hug & kiss my husband
3. Enjoy my food
4. Try to keep fit & healthy
5. Appreciate my surroundings
6. Practice mindfulness
7. Be self-supportive financially
8. Be thankful forAppreciate the support & love of family and friends
9. Give time to those who need it
10. Love my children.

Really powerful reading what others have written. Thank you for sharing, especially anyone new to this.

Steve Hoare • Sharing experiences with my wife
seeing my kids having fun
lazing in the hammock
being appreciated for my contribution
seeing others reach their potential (and knowing I helped along the way)
in the saddle on the hills with the whole day ahead of me
quiet country lanes with no car in front of me
Belgian fruit beers
financial stability
a late night on the patio with friends and the above mentioned beers

David Smallman • fruit beers??!!

Ann Hawkins • Any further comments on other people’s lists will get a slapped wrist (even if they ARE funny).

Steve Hoare • David, you haven’t lived if you haven’t had a belgian cherry, strawberry or raspberry beer. Perfectly refreshing on a warm summer’s evening after slaving away on the BBQ. There’s a pub in Norwich that has it on tap too!

David Smallman • Sorry!!

Bob Brotchie • Deliberately spontaneous – Lets see…

1. Helping others (being of value to)
2. Being helped
3. Having creative moments (Innovative) Solving an issue
4. Learning (anything)
5. Relationships (Careful!)
6. Wife’s cooking
7. Humour
8. Sport
9. Music
10. Being with family(In no order of preference)

Katherine Connolly HR Consultant • I feel like I’ve done this exercise already but since that was for Lisa and not me (see previous comments), here goes with mine:

1. Working with my husband to build our future together
2. The endless possibilities our business brings us
3. Company of good friends
4. Spending time with family
5. Finding things laugh out loud funny
6. Curling up with a good book
7. My favourite foods
8. A nice glass of Pimms on a summer’s evening
9. Being accepted exactly as I am
10. Speaking SpanishAgain, not in order of preference

philip murray • 1. Living in a free society

2. Gazing up at a blue sky (preferably somewhere exotic!)
3. Spending quality time with family and friends
4. Listening to music (pop/classical/motown – you name it!)
5. Showing SBO’s how they can promote & protect their business (and save money too!)
6. Watching a funny or inspirational movie
7. Performing sing out’s to an appreciative audiance with my local barbershop/acapella chorus
8. Being my own boss
9. Focusing on what I already have to be grateful for
10. Eating a large slice of “happiness cake” everyday

The recipe for happiness cake:

6 tablespoons of love
A little bit of spice
A cup full of laughter
Lots of tenderness mixed with understanding and a pinch of patience
Bake and share a slice!

Tim Meadows-Smith • A house full of people having fun

Hugging Claire (my wife)
Achieving a tough objective
Helping others realise their dreams
Cooking for friends
Teaching & coaching
Winning
Driving on the edge (not on a public road)
Helping others avoid their worst fears
Having money left over after paying the bills

Richard Wishart • Things that make me happy:

1. Walking along the deserted Beach at Thornhan in Norfolk with my lovely wife Vanessa and Pippa my Jack Russell terrier. Two days are best – no mobile phone coverage. Empty beaches as far as you can see.2. Taking my 2 year old Grandson out for the day – last time was Hommerton Zoo. Looking forward to Duxford when he is a little bit older.3. Working in my Home office with the doors open out onto the Garden – with the sun streaming in – I do this a lot !! and I am doing it today.

4. Playing with the latest technology – QR codes, RFID and Google+ , really understanding in detail how they work and sharing this knowledge with my networking buddies.

5. Doing business around the world – on my own account. The thrill of doing deals with people of different cultures and traditions.

6. Creating and delivering International conferences in my field of expertise and chairing them. Stuttgart and maybe Berne this Autumn.

7. Working and networking with exceptional and inspiring people.

8. Having an unbroken track record of delivering complex and innovative IT and Technology projects.

9. Being recognised by my peers as a world class expert in the areas in which I specialise.

David Winch • Ten things I do that make me happy? Like others, the order is random

1. Watching skilled sports men and women perform at the highest levels
2. Participating in sport myself (at a much lower level!)
3. Putting myself through a training session and beating my target
4. Being entertained by articulate, knowledgeable, witty people
5. Seeing my garden produce marvellous fresh vegetables
6. Cooking great food
7. Sharing it with others and enjoying each other’s company as we do so
8. Quaffing a dram (or three) of a top class single malt whisky. Ditto great beer and great wine.
9. Listening to my favourite music
10. Spending time with my children

David Barnes • Before the list – thanks to Richard, whose post here drew me to this group, and with whom I’ve shared at least the first thing…

* Arriving in a new place – the most unfamiliar the better – and soaking in the differentness of it. The first early morning walk is perfect.
* Being outdoors in a beautiful place, green and quiet, early on a sunny morning.
* Conversations with my daughter, particularly those where her character shines through – her joy and wisdom and groundedness and love.
* Time with people I love and who love me.
* Discovering new music I know I’m going to love – that moment where it HITS me. And going back to music I’ve loved for decades, with all the memories attached to it.
* When conversations turn from the usual to the extraordinary.
* Time with young people – catching up, playing, watching them grow… Encouraging them and being encouraged in return.
* Worshipping – be that at home with my guitar, or all together, in whole-hearted praise of our God.
* Making up a joke that makes me laugh… chewing it over to get it just right… at least good enough to post on Facebook.
* Playing some daft rubbish on my guitar, something I’ve made up and wouldn’t really pass as music in polite circles, but which makes me laugh at myself for liking it.

Pat Duckworth • Chocolate

Developing myself
Helping other people develop
Holidays
Swimming
Being with friends
Sharing a laugh with my husband and son
The garden – as long as it’s not too strenuous
A good book
lazing in the sun

Bob Tulloch • I find almost all of the things mentioned in the previous comments are also on my list of happiness makers but there are two other things which trigger a rush of seratonin. Firstly, the ‘Ah Ha’ moment when I discover something new and interesting. Secondly, the secret pleasure of doing a kindness totally anonymously. For example, I regularly give blood. The experience is just about tolerable but It costs nothing but my time. I have no idea who benefits from my small donation, they have no idea who I am.

Gary Dickenson • OK here goes mine, in no particular order:

Intimacy with wife (be it sex, hugs, pampering, just chilling watching a film together)
Humour & laughter
Eureka moments
Drinking & eating
Watching or being part of a live music event
Receiving praise
Seeing wildlife where I live & enjoying the beauty of my surroundings.
Winning new business
Intellectual/stimulating face to face conversation (various groups/subjects: foodies, church, arts, techy, marketing)
Cold beer on a hot day (because it’s hot as I write this)+ others I’m sure

Chris Delahunty • Sounds interesting. Here are my ten enjoyable things:

1. Having proper conversations with my kids
2. Watching my kids try something new for the first time
3. Playing computer games
4. A good alcoholic drink
5. Ginger beer
6. Discovering something new on the internet
7. Flying
8. Long walks in rugged countryside and forests
9. Watching a good film
10. New shoes

Diana Probst • I did consider an alternate answer:

1) First hour of sleep each night
2) Second hour of sleep each night
…
10) I think you know what goes here.

But it would not be everything I do. So here they are, in the order I thought of them. If they are a noun and not a verb, then please add the verb yourself. It is probably ‘devour’:

1) Sleep enough.
2) Eat sushi sometimes (but try to avoid those things with a huge bycatch).
3) Packet of smarties
4) Good tea
5) Socialising with friends (mostly, Role-playing games and escapism) including hubby
6) Cuddling of and interaction with Small People
7) Handing Small People back to other people and not having responsibility. This does not make me a bad mother. It makes me a better mother, later.
Thinking about how much awesome stuff I have; my Warren Ellis-designed T-shirts, my nice warm house, lots of opportunities, my ability to move about freely and without pain. Maybe the last bits are contentment, not happiness, but I’m not going to hit that one here.
9) Painting, including the down time. Being an artist.
10) Moar Sleep. Also, if not allowed that, then communication with other artists about what I do and what they do, and how much interaction if any there will be.

11) Sleep again.

Vicky Holland • 10 things that make me happy:

1) Go for a walk with the family on a warm summer’s evening (did that last night)
2) See my kids play nicely together (witnessed that today!)
3) Drinking either a G&T or Pimms & Lemonade in the garden.
4) I love swimming, skiing or tennis.
5) Read a good book
6) Enjoying the great outdoors.
7) Holidays in the sun
See a (good) live band
9) Exploring new countries (I used to do a lot of that – maybe some time soon!)
10) Touching down in Sydney (my home town).

Amanda Douglas-McCaig • Things that make me happy:

Spending time with my family
Building our family business
Hillwalking in places where there’s peace & quiet (no off-roaders) & no rubbish
Visiting friends and family in France and New Zealand
Good food (as long as I don’t have to cook it!)
Good wine
Gardening
Learning new stuff
Really good icecream – none of that mass-produced Walls rubbish
Sitting in the sunshine on our deck with cold drink and a good book

Robert Ashton • 1. make people smile;

2. make myself smile;
3. watch white fluffy clouds cross a bright blue sky;
4. run for miles in the sun without a shirt;
5. watch our kids succeed;
6. days out with my wife;
7. write on a train (books not graffiti!)
8. plough an autumn field with a cabless tractor;
9. chainsaw logs and stack them neatly;
10.listen to people enthusiastically tell me how they want to change the world

Philippa Bell • Here’s mine

1 Knowing my family is healthy
2 A happy marriage
3 Being able to keep on top of my bills
4 A good night out with friends
5 Sunshine
6 A good nights sleep
7 Gavin and Stacey
8 Bacardi and Coke
9 Accepting ageing gracefully
10 Chocolate

Sure to think of others later but these are just about right.

Bob Bones • Dear Steve Hoare… Important stuff.. Which Pub in Norwich sells Belgian Fruit Beer on Draft?????

Marc Bond • 1. Sleeping with the next door neighbour

2. Steak.
3. Exercise
4. Waking up without a hangover
5. Reading
6. Being controversial
7. Those slap on the forehead moments
8. Vodka!
9. Bubble bath
10.Mocha

Rosalind Bubb • 1. Ceroc (modern jive,) ceroc and more ceroc

2. dancing generally
3. being with my husband
4. my lovely whippet (watching him run; stroking him; playing etc)
5. being at the heart of an orchestra and playing my oboe and especially my cor anglais
6. Harry Potter
7. Laughter with my friends
8. You’ve been Framed
9. Listening to Paul McKenna’s cds, especially “Calm” and “I can make you Happy”
10. and under-pinning it all, lots of “tapping”! (EFT – Emotional Freedomn Techniques)

22 hours ago

BobStop Following

Bob Bones • In no particular order, and I haven’t even mentioned cake! or chocolate, or Italian Ice Cream, smarties – the texture!

1. Intimacy with my beautiful partner, a hug, a cuddle, a kiss, sex or a knowing smile.
2. Success: The pleasure it brings and Seeing others succeed, particularly when you know you have had some input.
3. A cool breeze on a hot sunny day.
4. Laughing for no reason
5. Eating a beautiful meal..’ fruits de la mer’, fresh salad, a wonderful wine.
6. Sharing the meal with good companions.
7. The Norfolk Broads – Fishing, boating, walking, falling in.
8. People watching at a pavement café.
9. Live Music, from the Levellers to John Williams, Beethoven to the Foo Fighters. Depends on my mood and the company.
10. Getting involved and making a difference.

GailStop Following

Gail Bull • Ok here goes. Did this very much freefall – stuff that stood out over the last few weeks. I think I could do a much longer list. And that made me happy

In no particular order

1
The smell of laundry fresh from the line.

2
An empty inbox!

3
Smiles from my sons and granddaughter ))

4
The reflection of the sky in my pond.

5
Meeting a frog while weeding.

6
The smell of really good coffee.

7
The taste of a *good* red wine.

8
Listening to almost anything by Philip Glass.

9
Clients accepting quotes.

10
Watching the cat trot up the garden.

22 hours ago

Desiree Ashton • Hi, Ann – good question. The things I am happiest doing are:

Sitting on a deserted beach
Feeling the evening sunshine and a warm breeze
Holding a strong and gentle husband and feeling the world slip away
Cuddling 2 children – all sleepy and still at bedtime
Catching up with a special girl-friend
Shopping for a special occasion
Cooking and sharing dinner with friends
Working on a shared project and learning from others
Seeing my business change and grow
Finding balanceGot quite into this… keep thinking of more. Lots of reason

John Guinn • 1. Spend time with my wife

2. Spend time with my pets
3. Listen to music
4. Run my own business
5. Researching travel
6. Goalkeeping
7. Contacting clients on their return for feedback
8. Socialising
9. Travelling
10. Studying
11. Ignoring rules

Lee Jackson • Hanging out with …

1. My God
2. My wife
3. My kids
4. My family
5. My friends

Then
6. Seeing peoples “ding” moments when i speak
7. Great comedy
8. When tech works
9. Good music
10. Not watching the apprentice
11. Breaking the rules

Tricia McBride • my family

my husband
holidays
getting a great result with hypnotherapy clients
feeling I’ve helped others
a training day going really well
chocolate
sitting in chic cafes in hot climates
a good book
Johnny Depp

22 hours ago

Jackie Cameron • What a wonderful question. I realise that I have much in common with others and the differences are to be celebrated!

Being with my husband – just being in his space
Spending time with my grown up children no matter what we are doing
Sharing memories with my parents
Unexpected conversations with strangers ( who are then no longer strangers)
Being on an island – whether Orkney or Barbados
Creating something from raw materials
Painting a picture that I like when it’s done
Finding the perfect shoes
Eating coffee and walnut cake with a cup of tea
Feeling that what I have done has made a difference

22 hours ago

Quality time with the family
> Holidays in Spain
> Drinking wine
> Friends
> Eating ice cream
> Seeing Il Divo live
> Strawberries and champagne
> My garden
> David my lovely husband
> My gorgeous grandaughter Katie

And there is so much more………………..” data-li-editable=”false” data-li-edit-sec-left=”900″ data-li-time=”" />Eileen Isted • Things that make me happy…………………..

> Quality time with the family
> Holidays in Spain
> Drinking wine
> Friends
> Eating ice cream
> Seeing Il Divo live
> Strawberries and champagne
> My garden
> David my lovely husband
> My gorgeous grandaughter Katie

And there is so much more………………..

Paula Hall • OK my tuppenceworth….

TEA – I am a serious tea junkie and can’t go more than about an hour without a cuppa
A little bit of red wine of an evening
A little bit of dark chocolate to go with the red wine
My family – can’t spend too much time with them (adding Skype here)
Social media – love it
Real life socialising with real life friends too
Love gadgets and a bit of an Apple fan, and yes they really do make me happy
Problem solving, helping people and finding work arounds
Being appreciated is nice
Realising how lucky I am (& most of us here are)

LisaStop Following

Lisa Blackler • 1 Laughing uncontrollably with my children over nonsense
2 Laughing uncontrollably with my friends over nonsense
3 Baking cakes or bread
4 Dancing – especially ballroom and latin
5 creating – painting, sewing etc
6 singing really loud
7 thinking about and debating marketing theory and practice (what a geek!)
8 as previously mentioned – sex
9 Go to a coffee house to enjoy good coffee and newpapers
10 Clean the house

Francine Rouanet-Démocrate • - Coming up with a new idea

- Meeting new people
- Inspiring and helping people to learn a new language
- Seeing the change I can make in people’s life
- Sharing France / Paris / England with friends
- Laughing / talking
- Eating, drinking with family and friends
- Sharing time with loved ones
- Creating (writing / photos / gardening / cooking)
- Getting up early in a beautiful place

Sue Prytherch • Loads of things make me happy!

1)Walking the dog. All weathers. Longer the walk the better2)A hot bubble bath topped up with my toes at regular intervals3)A new magazine and a cup of tea

4)Reading reading and reading.All sorts of books

5)Cuddling up with the kids

6)Holding my partners hand in bed at night

7)Being with my brother and sisters

8)A meal out with good company

9)Learning new things- feeling stretched and challenged.

10) Pottering around at home at the weekend in my scruffs.

Chris Thomas • My own family

Choosing a delicious ice-cream and eating it
Making someone smile
Succeeding in completing a difficult new challenge
Bringing two diverse individuals together and finding synergies
Finishing a good book
Unexpected encounters and conversations
Learning something new
A successful meeting
Rock pooling or a walk amongst trees

Jo Evans | Emerald Frog Marketing • 1. Spontaneous kisses from my young daughter

2. Laughing and larking about with my best friend, my husband
3. Walking the dog in the evening
4. The flexibility of running my own business
5. Lying on the grass and watching the clouds in the sky
6. Walking through the woods at Holkham
7. Sleeping like a log
8. Having a good, belly aching laugh down the pub with my friends
9. Autumn’s combinations of leaves, bonfires, sloe berries and making crumbles
10. A cup of tea first thing in the morning in my moose mug

Nick Athorne • 1. Enjoy being myself and feeling comfortable inside my own skin, because I can then:

2. Enjoy my family and friends more, and they can enjoy me.
3. Enjoy helping others more.
4. Appreciate more the world around me.
5. Hearing about the successes of my children.
6. Having a sense of achievement as I pass various stages of my stroke rehabilitation.
7. Realising how lucky I have been.
8. Having no regrets.
9. Having a bloody good laugh to the point that my stomach muscles hurt and I cannot see for the tears!
10.Listening to an appreciative audience, because then I know that I have made a difference to other people! Things you need, a GSOH and a half full glass of something!!!

Kate Rose • Riding. Way out in front of the rest, I’m rubbish at it but rarely get off a horse without jabbering excitedly for the next hour.

Being around cats, dogs or newborn babies. All have the same amazing simplicity.Anticipating a special mealSigning up a new client

Waking up somewhere I’ve never been before

The sun on a turquoise sea

Watching my partner sleeping

Meeting someone who can out-argue me

Anything that reminds me how insignificant my choices are in a massive universe – standing by the sea, being baffled by physics / astronomy documentaries

Creating images – taking and editing photographs

Mary Patrick • I enjoy

Taking Photographs
Having a glass of wine in the garden on a warm summers evening
Walking along the beach on a stormy winters day
Listening to music-lots of it and a wide variety
Having quiet times with my OH
Being hugged
Hearing about “deeds of daring do” from my grown up children
Helping someone to find something new about themselves
Being able to “eat drink and be merry” with good friends
Being with my pets

Jan Farndale • family, friends, pets, gardens, chocolate, babies (of any species), studying (almost anything), new experiences, achievement, sunsets

Nick Stockdale • Hmm, only ten?

Ok here goes…1. An unprompted hug from my wife or daughter
2. Disappearing into my man shed and fixing the unfixable
3. Finding a forgotten fiver in a trouser pocket
4. Spending the fiver on this months Motorsport magazine
5. A late night walk around my garden, watching the bats wheeling through the trees
6. Being transported by a great film
7. Being able to say, that’s done!
8. Riding my bike like I was 12 again, hopping curbs and pulling wheelies
9. Being able to work with interesting people
10. Helping somebody do something new

Mike Briercliffe • Family

Skiing
Home
Pets
Good Ginger Beer
Young Entrepreneurs
Great Food
Photography
Occasional Golf
Driving

19 hours ago

Helen Coppen • sharing time with my family
doing a good deed for others which is appreciated
bike riding
horse riding
cooking a sponge cake that rises
getting a thank you letter from a customer
going to Salcombe
revisitng burrough green school new build- now its eventaully built
going shopping when I know I can afford the purchase
drivng down the hill into my home village after being away

Duncan Hume • Watching my kids grow up

Laughing with my wife
Playing my music loud wearing headphones
Landing in my home airport
Eating a really good curry with friends
Watching a big thunderstorm from my porch
Taking a long ride on a train
Making someone stop and think
Starting something difficult
Finishing something difficult
Following our family plan and making it a reality

18 hours ago

AndrewStop Following

Andrew Watts • Solving problems to which others can’t see a solution
Achieving things and surprising myself
Making things
Being appreciated
Family – my partner, my children and her children (we don’t have any ‘our’ children
A happy client
Having an invoice paid and knowing that it’s for work that I did
Being touched
Music – particularly singing, particularly sacred choral music
Being scared – and doing it anyway

Dan Wagner, B.S., CISSP, CISA, CRISC • 1. Being understood,

2. Learning something new and unpredictable
3. Loving and being loved
4. Achieving something new
5. Driving my motorcycle really fast on a open road
6. Being in the ocean – any mode: ship, sail boat, surf board, by myself, with others
7. Solving problems: personal, professional, etc
8. Meeting new and diverse types of people
9. Creating something or making something, that has not existed before
10. Playing games with my family

Lin-Lee Aspin • Things that I do that make me happy…

Life -
1/. Drinking a hot cup of PG tips & eating some Cadbury’s milk chocolate, in silence.2/. Cooking for lots of family & friends & spending time together, eating & drinking & enjoying eachothers company & chatter.3/. Watching & listening to our 2 sons playing & giggling together.

4/. Imagining that my husbands first book is finished…

5/. Having adventures with my husband & 2 boys. Exploring new places far & wide.

6/. Having a good giggle.

7/. Playing music, singing, & dancing, alone & with friends & family.

8/. Having so many choices in life – so fortunate & so grateful for so many things.

9/. Business – working with incredibly talented, creative, passionate, and honest, souls.

10/. Business – working with customers where there’s a real connection & being able to give the best possible service.

10 is just too few.

Thanks for asking Ann.
x

Elizabeth Miles • Spending time with my children & grandchildren

Moseying round a new city with my husband
Narrow boating
Knowing the state of the tides
Singing in a choral society
Eating with friends
A walk on a hilltop
The dawn chorus
Seeing young people discover their potential
Laughing at funny things

Bruce Grimley • 1) watching, and being a part of my “kids” growing up (21 and 23)

2)Being healthy
3)Going to the cinema,
4) Sitting in the Garden with a beer.
5) Eating nice meals.
6) working as a psychologist
7) Day dreaming
Going on holiday……and driving my car.
9) Being Married
10) watching and participating in sport……and taking the dog for a walk.

ToRonicia Woods ,CPC • *Meditate 2x daily morning & night*

*Spend time organizing priorities.*
*1hr Exercise,,Yoga,& Pilaties.*
*Follow-up with clients*
*Check Children Clothes & school work*
*Create guidline and worksheet for clients*
*Cook & Serve dinner*
*Show appreciation*
*Encourage Others*
*Read my bible for at least 30min*

Richard Savage • I am not sure how deep we are supposed to get here, so I won’t get too heavy. To preface my top ten, I would just like to say, I am a professional artist and writer and a bit of a work-o-holic. I love what I do and consider myself very fortunate to make a living form something that makes me so happy.

1 Sitting in my studio on a day when the work flows easily.
2 At the computer when the writing flows equally easily.
3 Coming up with a new idea.
4 Hitting that deadline.
5 Relaxing with my wife after work with a nice meal glass of nice red wine.
6 Time with the grandkids (with a tinge of guilt that they aren’t higher on the list)
7 Making someone laugh
8 Walking around my garden tending my Bonsai trees
9 Chatting to a new client about a prospective new piece of art
10 Seeing the look on their face when the work is doneHope this didn’t bore you silly
Cheers
Ric

Kirie Hansen • Hi Ann,

Okay, here goes (honestly);
1. Making my son laugh, and hearing his laughter
2. Music and dancing to music
3. Sex and affection
4. Achieving my goals and watching others achieve theirs (with my help or not)
5. Swimming in the sea/ocean, being at one with nature (cheesy I know, but true)
6. Having enough money to do and spend what I want
7. Wine and Champagne – yum
8. My dogs; they’re my babies
9. Being successful in everything that I do, from work to sports to health (recovery) to fashion. (I was seriously ill from a car accident)
10. Being in love and being loved backInteresting to read others lists, mmmm. Think I may of forgotten something…

Tracy Saunders • My teenage daughters love for life

My husbands sense of humour
Drinking wine (lots) with close friends
A happy and satisfied customer
Lazy Sunday mornings
Chocolate
Organising fun events for my youth group
Walking on a North Norfolk beach
Working in a family business
Setting and beating sales targets

Ellie Louis • Seeing my family happy

Gardening
Reading a really good book
Having a good chat
Doing an excellent job
Having a cup of tea when I really need it!
Eating a roast dinner when I’m hungry
Having parties
Beating my personal best swimming
Being able to travel wherever and whenever I want

Elizabeth Hughes • In no particular order:

a good cup of strong coffee
cycling
observing nature from bees to birds
reading whether for pleasure or studies
helping others
scottish country dancing
helping people to move better and pain-free
dark chocolate
exploring body connections
family and friends

Jeanette Wood • Interesting exercise!

Being outdoors regardless of the weather
Having something to do and somewhere to go
Travelling somewhere new
Horses and all that their world entails
Taking the young Labrador out for a long walk – just the 2 of us, a bottle of water, an apple and a treat for him
Spending time with my family and very special friends
Having an evening at home – just me or with people whose company I value
Having a lavender bath and reading a book
Turning the radio/CD up and enjoying a brilliant song
Worrying – can’t beat a good worry

John Kendall • Hi Ann,

I get pleasure ( & frustration ) from my work, helping people. e.g, getting more for their pension funds.
Good company
Family especially wife & first grandchild being happy
England success in cricket & Portsmouth (held the FA cup for most years) in football
Seeing new places
Growing fruit & vegetables.
A good science fiction story – book, film , TV
Disc world fanatasy series.
Turkish delight.
I need someone to share my pleasurable times – I could never be a sole birdwatcher.
A birdwatching holiday overseas meets a combination of these.
Helping others to develop.
Being appreciated.

Jean Fisher • My husband who I love and makes me laugh

My grandson – the light of my life
Seeing my daughters evolve into beautiful, confident women
My work, following my passion
Big family gatherings
Cooking and baking
Reading and learning new concepts
Chocolate
Sitting in the Grand Hotel at St Pancras with a glass of bubbly
Girlie nights that make me laugh till I cry

Richard Coombs • Hi Ann, my list would be as follows;

Spending time with my family
Having a great meal at a restaurant with my wife, sharing a good bottle of wine!
Being out in the mountains and walking in nature
Playing golf with friends
Going to see LIVE music
Going on holiday to relax
Scuba diving and seeing the wonder of the world beneath the waves
Winning business from my competitors
Being told by a client that we have done a good job
Being up in the sky in a glider or microlight

Rosemarie Gant • Wow – what inspiring things – really enjoyed reading those. Here are mine, in no particular order and by no means limited to these:

1. Hearing my little boy giggle
2. Hugs with hubby
3. Seeing my ponies racing round the field enjoying themselves
4. A really good book
5. Listening to beautiful music – all sorts and preferably live
6. Seeing people take up something I have taught them and really fly with it (www.rosemariegant.com)
7. Completing a website for someone – and getting paid which hopefully usually go together! (www.freshapproachweb.co.uk)
8. A lovely meal
9. Yoga
10. Quiet time in the countryside such as the lovely quiet walk I had with one of my ponies last night.

Michele Judd • Ok here goes:

Catching up with my older boys who live 100 miles away
Spending quality time with my younger ones
Walking the dog along the beach
Spending time with my sister and her little boy
Working out
Watching my youth football team win
Teaching First Aid and getting positive feed back from the candidates
Curling up on the sofa with a glass of wine and my kindle
Gardening
Male company

joanna holding • My 10 best things are:

1. My husband & son.
2. Weeks of long hot sunny days.
3. Business Success.
4. Mooching around Cape Town (as in 2.)
5. Mooching around California (as in 2.)
6. Fresh fruit and salads from my garden.
7. Families enjoying staying at my holiday cottage in Mundesley.
8. Fine food & wine.
9. Chilling out with my twin sister & a bottle of wine
10. Music esp. Live

Andy Wright • Mine would be, in no particular order:

Eating out
Cooking
Red wine
Watching my kids at judo competitions
Cycling around the local hills
Coaching rugby and cricket players and seeing them develop
Seeing people that I’ve coached/managed achieve their goals
The odd ‘thank-you’ at work!
Thursday nights at the Paget Arms – steak night!
Finding a creative solution to a problem

Pity we’re only allowed 10 Ann…I have more!!!

Joanne Bass • It made me smile whilst writing the list!!

1. Seeing my sons smile first thing in the morning
2. Chatting until late with my husband
3. Spending quality time with my family
4. Baking and then obviously eating my endeavours
5. Eating out in good restaurants with good wine and good company
6. A good funny film, with chocolate and a glass (or 2) of wine
7. Working for myself and setting my own schedules
8. Solving customer problems and exceeding their expectations
9. Sourcing new and exciting products
10. Meeting new people and learning new skills

Bridget Tring • Not feeling all that happy at this very moment so a good exercise! Again, in no particular order:

1. Being with my lovely husband and girls (especially on a beach – doesn’t even have to be hot!)
2. Watching those lovely girls growing up
3. My girls making me laugh (happens a lot, I’m glad to say)
4. Watching my old, old cat stretching in the sun
5. The tiny little peppers that I’m growing (also tomatoes and potatoes the size of peas…)
6. The satisfaction of a job well done
7. Those few moments immediately after exercise – phew!
8. Good food (especially cake!) and cocktails!
9. Ipod shuffle (other mp3 players are available)
10. Reminding myself what makes me happy

Claire Warburton • 10 things that make me happy:

Being in a relationship with my lovely boyfriend
Swimming in the sea
Singing (especially Gospel music)
A really good comedy show
Having great friends and family who know me very well
Making other people laugh/smile
Making a difference in someone’s life
Cheese and Wine…well Food and booze in general
Travelling
Yoga

Its difficult to keep it down to 10, but good to think about the positive things that we have and why we are lucky!

Thanks Ann, great idea!

Nina Morton-Brook • * a leisurely bubble bath

* surprises
* having a great idea
*sharing – a joke, a kiss, a hug, a special moment
* making a delicious meal for a hungry friend
* having a huge cup of coffee watching the world go by
* journalling all the things that have made me smile today
* having a good hair day
* wearing bright colours and kick-ass shoes
* reading something that makes me go “wow”

Georgette Louis • 1.Being with my Mr Special & everything that entails

2.feeling valued
3. my family
4.Working and doing a great job
5.developing & nurturing people to do exeptional things
6.laughing lots
7.travelling,being in ‘sunny climes’, and leanring about new cultures
8.lovely home and making it welcoming to all
9.Socialising
10.nature/the world

Jill McCulloch • Things that make me happy I generally separate into Fun Things and Feel Good Things, but the best of both lists I guess are:
Laughing … comedy, witty friends, books, making people laugh …
Sunshine
Husband … just about everything about him
Coaching … “find a job you love and you’ll never go to work again”
Clients excelling and fulfilling their dreams
Real friends
Bare feet … being outside … fewer clothes
Mealtime conversations and debates with my children
Dancing and Singing
New … ideas, people, gadgets, concepts, books, clothes, films …

Michelle French • Before I clicked over to this page, I thought how my list would seem trivial, and now I see it is much the same as everyone else’s. After a year of unfathomable loss and grief, I have found moments of pure bliss.

1. my dog
2. spending time with the greatest friends in the world who are very much the family I made
3. great food, wine, chocolate, and exquisite beers shared with above.
4. Creating art and design and the excitement of having that one greatest idea of my life and wanting to share with everyone—after they sign the NDA
5. Lavender bubble baths…
6. …after a day digging in the garden
7. art museums with someone who “gets” the jokes
8. the love of my nephews
9. Sharing what I have with others
10. Most of all, FINALLY having a wonderful physical relationship with a man who is my friend and lover. For now.We are only guaranteed now. Lean into it.

Cath Boughton • What makes me happy… I am adding to this with ‘top of my head’ responses.. perhaps not the wisest choice for social media…

friends
family
relaxation
sunshine and summer
the great outdoors
my home and knowing that i’ve created it
love
my business – and the knowledge that i’ve created it from nothing
a job well done – fulfillment and satisfaction from being the best I can be
freedom

I have read this back, I have missed out good food and wine, interesting to see they’re not as important to me as I thought

Antony Hurden • Ann – thanks for the reminder that happiness is not illusory, but all around us. 10 things from today (like others, in no particular order);

1. Quality time with my wife
2. Early morning and late night walks with the dog – or long walks with dog and wife
3. Good English pub with decent beer and food (nothing against Welsh, Irish, Scottish pubs, though …). Can be combined with 2 above.
4. Untangling complex issues for clients and seeing their satisfaction at a job well done
5. Winning a contract (fanfare!!)
6. Reliable technology (computer and mobile phone)
7. Money in the bank today, and invoices sent out to clients (for tomorrow’s money)
8. Family – most of them, most of the time
9. Managing to solve more than 5 clues in a Times crossword
10. Completing a task (e.g. this list)

Keith Brown • 1) Being needed

2) Giving Love
3) Recieving Love
4) When respected for being me warts and all
5) Inspiring someone to greater things
6) Living my faith
7) Living for a reason and purpsose that is greater than myself
Enjoying my money (not that there is a lot of it)
9) Sharing my life through my speaking
10) A nice glass of red.

Nigel Cook • In no particular order:

* relaxing in the sun
* drinking beer
* being with friends
* successfully completing a project
* winning a new client
* enjoying the success of others
* traveling
* cooking
* ending the month ‘in the black’
* laughing

Joy Haughton • What a fantastic idea! Here’s mine – looking forward to the next ten days

1. Evening walk in the sunshine with my partner
2. Learning new things and ideas
3. Helping my patients get out of pain
4. Painting pictures
5. Loose leaf tea made in a real tea pot
6. Family dinner
7. Cooking for friends
8. Rooftop gardens
9. Finishing a piece of knitting
10. Freewheeling downhill on my bike

Catherine Munro • Smiling, it’s free, give one-get one back

Beachcombing
Splashing in puddles
Kicking leaves
Doing a really hard days work and feeling…
Being efficient & effective with resources
Exceeding customers/clients expectations
Having a deep bath that completely covers me
Sharing

Add your list below …….

If you don’t understand people you don’t understand business

In the 1920′s and 30′s,  a young journalist  called Napoleon Hill, interviewed 500 of the most successful people in America. He found that people who create success have many things in common. These are some of them as described in his best-selling book, “Think and Grow Rich”

1. Decide what you want. Desire is the starting point of all achievement. Desire is a crazy mad emotion that you absolutely have to satisfy, not a rational reasoned argument for doing something.

2. Believe that you can get what you want. Self doubt will prevent you from taking action. No-one is born with a sense of what they can’t do. Limiting beliefs are learned and they can and must be unlearned. It is usually easier to overcome other people’s judgements than our own.

3. You don’t have to do it all yourself. As Mother Teresa famously told Bob Geldof, “I can’t do what you do and you can’t do what I do but together we can change the world.” Surround yourself with people who can do what you can’t and who respect you for what you can do. Start or join a  MasterMind Group with like minded people.

4. Make practical use your imagination. Work out how to turn your dreams into reality. Everything, everything, starts out as an idea. Ideas are the beginning point of all achievement but they need to be harnessed into practical action.

5. Create a plan, organise your ideas and take continuous action. Most people put more effort into planning a holiday than planning their life. Successful people don’t just react to things that happen to them, they question whether something will take them closer to their goal before acting on it or rejecting it.

6. Avoid procrastination and make decisions. The ability to make decisions comes back to understanding exactly what it is that you want, to the burning desire and definite purpose that underpins all achievement. Successful people in all walks of life decide quickly and firmly and the world has a habit of making room for the person who knows where they are going and why.

7. Persist. Things will go wrong, people will let you down. If your desire is strong enough you will find a way through all difficulties to achieve your desire. Don’t keep doing the same things and expecting different results. Find different ways to achieve your goals. Paulo Coelho was committed to a mental asylum by his parents three times and subjected to electro-convulsive therapy because they thought he must be mad to want to become a writer instead of a lawyer. He persisted and his book, The Alchemist, sold over 40 million copies.

8. Aquire power and learn how to use it. The ability to lead others in a spirit of harmony to achieve a definite objective is a major source of success but successful people say that personal power and self mastery are most important.

9. Understand that sex is the most powerful of human desires. When this desire is harnessed into a creative process it can be the source of genius. It can also be a huge temptation and has destroyed many great people.  Successful people say that they are able to transmute its power into a creative force that helps them to produce and action ideas that in many instances makes their fortunes.

10. Learn to use the power of the subconscious mind. Everything we have ever experienced is kept in the vast storehouse of our sub-conscious. It can work for or against us but when we learn how to harness this power it makes us unstoppable. What we think of the world and ourselves makes us not only who we are but who we can be.

11. Develop and learn to trust the ‘sixth sense’. Intuition can help us to avoid dangers and grasp opportunities. Intuition is part of our nature and many successful people admit that intuition is a big part of their success including Donald Trump, Oprah, Richard Branson and even Bill Gates. Einstein and Edison described their creative process as having original ideas that didn’t come from the rational foundation of the mind. Jonas Salk, the inventor of the polio vaccine, says, ‘The intuitive mind tells the logical mind where to look next.’

12. Deal with fear, the major obstacle to achievement. Almost every feeling of fear we experience is as the result of an IMAGINED situation, not a real one. In almost every case, the imagined situation that we most fear never happens. When a situation that we had feared actually materialised, most of us deal with it without any real consequences. The only thing holding most people back is their own imagination!

Is it ever too late to do the things you once dreamed of doing?

Mary Wesley, best-selling author, took up writing at 70

Charles Darwin’s first book wasn’t published until he was in his 50’s

Colonel Sanders was in this 60’s when he franchised Kentucky Fried Chicken

Ray Kroc was in his 50’s when he launched McDonalds

Agatha Christie was 62 when she wrote The Mousetrap

Julia Child was 50 before she took up cooking professionally

Benjamin Franklin was 78 when he invented bifocals.

Life expectancy has doubled in the last 100 years. There is no longer an official retirement age. If you go to college at 40 and qualify at 45 you could still have half your life left to work at what you love. It’s never too late to become an achiever instead of a dreamer!

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When Richard Burton, (RIP) was a young actor and was cast in the role of spear carrier in crowd scenes, his presence was so compelling that he stole the limelight from the actor playing the king.

How do you make this kind of impact in a crowd?

More importantly, in business, when you meet people for the first time, how do you get make sure  they take notice of you, trust you, want to know you and recommend you to their friends?

There are all sorts of techniques that help people change their self-beliefs in order to become more confident, there are voice coaches, body language specialists, NLP trainers, hypnotherapists and more.

However,

People don’t see your beliefs.

They don’t know what you’re thinking.

They’re not aware of your emotions.

The only thing they notice is your BEHAVIOUR

For thousands of years, actors have been making us believe in them by displaying the BEHAVIOUR of the kind of person they want to portray.

What happens in their personal lives doesn’t affect their performance.

They are often insecure as individuals but still deliver great, believable performances.

They often do it eight times a week for hundreds of weeks with great consistency.

They can portray characters that are totally unlike themselves with enormous conviction.

How does this help an ordinary person who wishes to create an impact?

Easy! We can copy what the best actors do.

Five Easy Steps on How to Make an Impact

1. Define the role you want to play, e.g. charismatic leader, honest salesperson, trustworthy consultant, creative designer, useful team player

2. Define the qualities a person in this role displays, e.g. charm, authority, consideration, tact, etc.

3. Take each quality and work out what you need DO with your body to show those qualities, e.g to display consideration you may need to show that you are actively listening. What does a person who is actively listening DO? They make eye contact, lean forward and nod.
   Repeat this process for each quality until you know exactly how to DO what a person in your chosen role would DO.

4. Practice. Practice until you become your behaviour, until its stops being an act and becomes authentically you. (Physical actions trigger emotions and create beliefs)

5. Be the best version of yourself that you want to be – consistently.

Do – Be – Have

DO the things you need to do to BE the person you want to be and the things you want to HAVE will  follow.

Burton played 136 performances of Hamlet over 18 weeks. The production grossed $1,250,000. It was the highest-grossing and almost certainly the most profitable presentation of the play in the USA, if not the world.

He was born the 12th child in a family of 13 children in a mining village in Wales. His mother died when he was 2 years old.

“I find it ludicrous, learning some idiot’s lines in the small hours of the night so I can stay a millionaire”. Burton, 1972

This post is inspired by a training session with Mark Doyle of Fecund

Fecund provides measurable bespoke training for businesses as well as open Leadership and Personal Development Programmes.  For more information contact Mark Doyle at mark@fecund.co.uk