Work as Play

Work as Play – The Heart and Spirit of Business

work as play christine miller It seems that increasing numbers of us are looking for different ways to live in a more balanced and fulfilling way, so that we feel connected with our work.

At the heart of this is the growing desire to have a sense of purpose and a yearning for meaning in how we spend our time and make our living. We want to feel the spirit of what we do – to be inspired.


People who have been working in organisations for many years are now being asked to re-apply for their jobs, unable to take them for granted any more and having to market themselves as the best candidates. This means they are in effect becoming more entrepreneurial in their approach to their positions. And those entering or rejoining the job market need to be very clear and precise about what they offer and how they fit with prospective employers, both for their own sake in finding satisfying work, and in order to attract a suitable opportunity. (See:
The ReSourceful Candidate)

Entrepreneurs, the self-employed, creatives and small business owners already know the importance of  this, but sometimes, running a business or being a freelance feels more like a job that ties you down than an uplifting experience of creativity, wealth and fulfillment. And the dream you started out with becomes a drudgery that leaves you working longer and longer hours just to stand still.
 
I had my most recent experience as an employee in the corporate world over 11 years ago now, and friends and colleagues who’ve known me for years (and even some who haven’t known me for long!) comment on the way I’ve crafted what is essentially the perfect job for me – meeting people and asking them about their current thinking and passions, guiding, coaching and mentoring executives, leaders and business people into the best options for them so that they LOVE what they do, writing, being creative, being playful – and having lots of fun.
 
Most of the time, I can’t distinguish whether I’m working or playing, so that my work becomes play for me…that’s a great joy. It didn’t happen by accident – I did actually deliberately create and craft the ‘playground’ (otherwise known as workspaces!)  in which I operate, and it is a highly productive space. And it evolves all the time, as I develop and learn and share with clients in workshops and individual sessions.
 
Find out more about loving work at www.loveworks.co 

Christine Miller – The Resourceful Entrepreneur’s Guide

‘Resourceful Entrepreneurs Guide’: some great reviews

“We’re All Entrepreneurs Now”
says
Marshall Goldsmith, Top 15 Leading Thinkers of the World,
Multi-million bestselling author


The world needs resourceful entrepreneurs. Global leaders from Presidents to Prime Ministers like the UK’s David Cameron tell us so. They are depending on vibrant business to revive the economy.


That’s why this practical, comprehensive book has been created especially for entrepreneurs and all those interested in success at work.

With a Foreword by the UK’s business guru René Carayol, it offers insights from a wide range of leaders including Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus, creator of the globally renowned Grameen Bank, and Lord Andrew Mawson, one of the UK’s most successful social entrepreneurs.

There is invaluable information from top sales, marketing, financial and personal development experts, helping you to define your goals, manage the business lifecycle, get confident with selling, and understand your money and Financial IQ.

You’ll discover how to write books to establish your reputation, learn more effective time management, and be guided in entrepreneurial thinking and being authentic.

FIND OUT MORE HERE

“Let this book be part of YOUR journey; a perfect accompaniment for any entrepreneur – and one that sparks ideas and generates momentum.”
René Carayol, MBE, Britain’s Business Guru, Inspired Leaders Network

“It looks really fantastic – great job. I love it – short, sweet and densely packed with no fluff and the essence of what entrepreneurs needs.
Success in business is not necessarily having the right product or service at the right time and knowing how to get people to buy it.

There is something much more fundamental than that and it’s about having the right mind set. This intelligent and formative book starts out by explaining how key priming your mind for success is. 

What then follows is a wealth of information from some incredible business minds. It is also typical of the generosity of the author Christine Miller not to have attempted to paraphrase the wisdom of the contributors but to have designed the meta-concept behind the book and woven together contributions in such a seamless manner.

This book is easy to read and the ideas it contains easy to implement. If you are serious about business and want to discover a fresh approach, it is invaluable reading.”

Tom Evans, Author of Blocks, Flavours of Thought and The Art and Science of Lightbulb Moments

“Christine has an extraordinary way with words. They reach deep inside of you and touch those thoughts you know are there but have been fearful of acknowledging.

Having turned the key she opens the door and gives you the courage and tools to move forward into becoming a truly resourceful entrepreneur fit for the challenging times we are facing at the beginning of this amazing 21st century. Christine shows us how we can put our special gifts and talents out into this world making it a better place for everyone.  

Whatever Christine writes is worth reading – she has a way of getting to the core of her subject making it readable, practical and usable, and her poetry is sublime. She has a rare gift, check out her books and poetry now.”

Lindsay Hart, Consultant, Fundraiser, Strategist

“The Resourceful Entrepreneur’s Guide  – there’s a lot of excellent material in there – well done.”
Chris West, Marketer & Professional Writer

I am currently reading Resourceful Entrepreneur’s Guide to Business in the 21st Century …..very informative and very well written, I am finding it most useful in my ongoing pursuit of success.”
David Ross, David Ross Acting Academy

“It is certainly a book of inspiration, energy and proven skills for the aspiring and seasoned Entrepreneur.
Well done on your initiative.” 

Carole Spiers, International Motivational Speaker, Entrepreneur and Awards Host

How to achieve better social media presence

How to Manage Your Social Media Presence for Better Business Results

Solving your digital identity crisis….

 

The speed with which new social networks and media keep popping up is enough to make your head spin and your thoughts reel, and if you’re anything like me, as a passionate people person, you join these new entities out of curiosity and the wish to stay ahead and be connected.

Fill in the profile, have a look around and then … well, most of them languish unattended, and even remembering where you have a presence let alone the passwords and user names for all these sites is a real challenge.

I know I should neatly and carefully record all my digital identities in one place – and some I do, but sometimes, well, real life gets in the way and I find myself scrabbling through emails to find the login and membership details when something brings that site back into my awareness.

Just How Many Networks and Sites?

An audit showed me that I am on close to 50 different social media, networking or activity measurement sites, and I am sure there are more than a few long-forgotten ones lurking somewhere in my net history! Some have likely faded or disappeared, or been reborn in another form, and will remain in the hinterlands of my web-connected life – unless they don’t…

Different types of networks, with different people with diverse interests, from business to spirituality, art to quantum physics and much more. Confusing, and awkward, sometimes,  to know how to best connect with the rich array before me.

The Web of Life

A few months ago, I joined XeeMe. I added my social presences, just the obvious ones like Linked In, Facebook, GooglePlus, Twitter, Ecademy, my blogs and websites…then I left it untouched. Late last week, something triggered my interest – I think it was a mention of how powerful XeeMe was in propelling his social media profile forwards and upwards by Michael Q. Todd, which I picked up in my Facebook stream. I went to have a look and found myself enthused by the possibilities and the power of what XeeMe had to offer. I began to ‘get’ the purpose that drives the platform.  I quote: “XeeMe is NOT “yet another network”, we are all overwhelmed with networks. XeeMe is actually a tool helping to organize overwhelming presences.” It’s true.

Bringing It All Together

I knuckled down and gave some thought to where else I had memberships, prompted by the very helpful ‘Social Presence’ facility on the XeeMe site, which reminded me of plenty more places I had profiles. I spent a fruitful couple of hours adding and linking, uploaded some contacts, and connected with some of XeeMe’s top performers to see how they have managed to expand their presence.

I then joined a very supportive XeeMe power networker group on Facebook, where advice and co-operation are excellent, and found myself being tweeted and re-tweeted, followed, liked and all those things that demonstrate social media at its best.

Your Entire Social Presence

My social presence on XeeMe was tiny at the beginning of April, as you can see from the graph below.

Christine Miller XeeMe score graph

Since I have spent just a little time making connections, adding sites where I have a presence, now up to 37 listings, and have added my ‘XeeMe’ link –  http://xeeme.com/ChristineMiller – to my email signatures, my Facebook ‘About’ section, and various other places, my score has rocketed from 23 on April 23rd,  to 630 today May 3rd.   I am now expanding my ‘Entire Social Presence’ link to other contact areas, something I am gradually working through to make it consistent, enabling people to find me more easily and decide where they want to interact with me.

Now I am starting to use engagement and true connection, with conversations and exchanges with people with whom I share interests, being more people focused than network focused, offering value and making it easy for people to truly ‘See me’. It’s fun and productive, and has seen subscriptions to my Business and Personal growth portal, Resource shoot up – I recommend XeeMe wholeheartedly, why not come and join the fun?

Please share your experiences of social networking and media, leave your comments below and tell me your thoughts and ideas.

Join me here

 

Change, Evolution and Transformation

 

Preference or difference?

The recent post about ‘the robin who thinks he’s a humming bird’ talks about the rate of evolution speeding up, and the need to be highly adaptable in a fast paced world.

In conversation last week with a friend about personal growth and development, he mentioned that he prefers the word ‘evolution’ to that of ‘change’. His rationale is that ‘change’ creates fear in people. As creatures of habit, most people prefer things to stay the same and worry that change must mean something uncomfortable. It prompted me to think about the terms we use and to ask if change and evolution are the same thing, and when and where the words are best applied.

Changing a Light Bulb?

There are some things that definitely require to be changed not evolved. For example, I definitely change my light bulbs, they do not evolve. (The type of bulbs I use may have evolved over the years, from tungsten to energy saving, but the act of replacing them when spent is a definite change). Neither do I evolve my bed linen, my vacuum cleaner bags nor the filters in my water jug. These, though are all inanimate objects. And people are, of course, different….

Taller, More Upright, Rounder…..

The way I perform these tasks may well have changed over time – or even evolved – so perhaps the differentiation comes from here. Behaviours, skills, strategies, beliefs, opinions, systems can evolve. The human body can and does evolve – with better nutrition in the developed world, we’re now  much taller, and with the advent of the contraceptive pill, women’s body shapes have changed – or evolved. To say nothing of the way the human brain has evolved over thousand of years into its current tripartite embodiment. According to neuroscience, it’s also apparently evolving in response to the amount of time we spend online especially with regard to gaming and social media. Human thinking can also evolve, we can learn to use our inner resources more effectively, we gain by education, and our way of life has changed dramatically since the beginning of life on earth – discoveries, experiments and inventions have brought radical changes and alterations to how we conduct the daily business of living as human beings on our planet.

Now, if we are encouraging people to change – can we more easily ask them to evolve, can we evolve by volition and action, or does evolution take place naturally, almost unconsciously, in response to outside conditions but with no deliberate intervention?

I’d like to believe we can choose to evolve ourselves voluntarily, courageously, at the growing edge of experience, thought and living.

evolution

Changing or Transforming

Is transformation perhaps the more encouraging word to use? Transformation has a certain magic about it, a positive sense of something happening which offers a better, happier outcome. Or is that simply my interpretation? Does transformation contain an inbuilt element of wisdom and improvement, which change does not? There can be subtle changes, but somehow a subtle transformation does not sit well, meaning-wise, for me. Change can be for better or worse, but in my neurology, transformation is equated with betterment.

Frogs into Princes, or Vice Versa

For example, I would say ‘the witch changed the prince into a frog’ – and ‘the fairy godmother transformed the pumpkin into a splendid carriage’. Then, I suppose, if the prince wanted to become a frog for some reason, he’d consider it an improvement….And now the ‘Shrek’ movie comes to mind when the princess chooses life as an ogre because of her love for Shrek.

The Pygmalion Effect

Now I’m onto Pygmalion, whose dedicated thought and intention transformed a marble statue into a living woman for him to love…..maybe he changed his thoughts, evolved his way of being… and thus transformed and even transmuted a substance which then transformed his life….a process to realise and manifest what he wanted most?

pygmalion

I could get really deep into the linguistics here – so many nuances and shades of meaning, but I will stop for now.

Change, evolve, transform – all have their place, and it’s fascinating to continue exploring their meaning in our lives.

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