Andrew Griffiths
Andrew Griffiths Blog
Business Building Advice from Australia's Most Successful Small Business Author
Archive for the ‘Having a business & a life’ Category
NETT MAGAZINE - Fifth edition hits the streets
Friday, April 25th, 2008Nurture the mind, the body and the soul.
Monday, February 25th, 2008At conferences and seminars I often get asked by people what is the one single best thing they can do to build their business and to make it more successful? My advice is very simple – have a holiday. In fact I give this advice so often I am thinking about opening up a travel agency! From my experience and my observation, to have a truly successful business, you need to work more on yourself and less on the business.
If you are stressed out, exhausted, unwell, worried and totally out of control, how can you possibly build a successful and dynamic business and if by some chance you do, what price will you have paid for it?
I did a major turn around in my life. I got active, I lost 50kgs, I took better care of myself by eating better, doing yoga, working sensible hours and generally put my health and wellbeing ahead of my business. The end results? I became a much happier person, my business became much more successful and I started to get a lot more enjoyment out of life. All I needed was the right motivation to make the necessary changes.
TO CHOOSE TIME IS TO SAVE TIME
Monday, January 21st, 2008You always have enough time, if you will but use it wisely.
Your dilemma goes deeper than having a shortage of time,
it’s basically a problem of priorities.
Most people leave undone those things that should be done,
while they do things that they shouldn’t be doing.
Set priorities for your goals.
A major part of successful living lies in your ability to put first things first.
Most major goals are not achieved because people put second things first.
Is what your doing getting you closer to your objectives?
Anything that is wasted effort represents wasted time.
Don’t serve time, make time serve you.
When you start to lose control stop, breath and regain focus.
Monday, December 3rd, 2007Being overwhelmed and feeling out of control in your business is a terrible feeling. Sometimes I just don’t know where to turn. There are hundreds of emails that need answering, a pile of telephone messages to return, correspondence to read, meetings to be had, deadlines of every kind, staff needing direction and then you get the call saying there is a problem with your biggest customer and it is a doozy.
If all of this sounds like your normal kind of day and its only 9am – no wonder you are feeling a little out of control and in need of some balance and harmony in your life. I can relate completely. But when you are in the midst of an “Overwhelm Attack”, it’s easy to slide even lower but taking a moment to regroup is the best thing you can possibly do.
A friend of mine who is a pilot said that this is one of the key training techniques used in flight school. When things are starting to go pear shape,
take a moment to simply stop everything you are doing, take a big, deep breath and think about what you are doing logically. Sounds simple doesn’t it, but we rarely do it.
A good friend of mine who has had the pleasure of watching me over the years going from periods of Zen Monk calmness to sheer madness gave me a sticker that simply said “JUST BREATHE”. And it is advice I will take to grave.
Years ago I had problems with anxiety attacks. I was a commercial diver at the time so as you can imagine, its not good to experience a panic attack 50 metres below the surface of the ocean. The psychologist said a similar thing at the time – “you have to learn to breathe”. I was very impressed by these words of wisdom, thinking I had clearly just wasted hundred of dollars by seeing a crazy woman, but as the years went by, and I did learn to breathe, I realised just how right she was.
When we are stressed and freaked out, we breathe very shallowly. This makes up feel more stressed and short of breath, which of course stresses us out even more. It’s a nasty cycle.
If you can learn to stop, take a few very deep breaths and then do what you need to do the results will be far better and your feelings of overwhelm and out of control will be greatly reduced in intensity. It is simply a matter of reprogramming your normal response mechanism, which is to dive in and try and fix everything.
What can you do today? Learn to breath. Put a big sign on the wall – “JUST BREATHE”. And the very next time you are feeling the pangs of “out of control” starting to surface, stop, take a few deep breathes and then act. It will take a while to reprogramme yourself but when you do, life will become much easier.
101 Ways to Have a Business and a Life, Milana Leshinsky
Tuesday, October 30th, 2007Feedback from - Milana Leshinsky “www.milana.com <http://www.milana.com> ” (York , PA USA)
This weekend I picked up three books on time management at Borders…Two of them I’ve heard of before, written by quite well known authors and business experts. The third one I grabbed at the last moment before I headed to the check-out, and I am so glad I did!
Andrew Griffith’s “101 Ways to Have a Business and a Life” is an amazing read! It’s not just a time management book. It should’ve been called “Every Entrepeneur’s Bible!” It covers everything from managing your time and money to managing your relationships, health, employees, vendors, customers, family, kids, and much much more…I swallowed it in about 3 hours (ok, I skipped some section, but that’s how I always read anyway).
The other two books were great, but this one stood out for one big reason: it was based on the author’s true story of how his business life took a toll on his relationships and his health, and how he made a decision to “wake up” and realize that his business is “slowly killing” him.
Personal story - that’s what’s unique about this book, and makes his message so much more compelling. Andrew is also being very candid - he shares the things that most people are embarrased to admit even to themselves, and offers simple solutions.
The book is very easy to read, split into 1-2 page segments, just right for busy entrepreneurs. I think the book cover doesn’t do it justice…I’d love to see Andrew’s photo on the front cover!
Go to your local book store and get it today!
P.S. If you’re a life coach working with business owners, this is a great book to create your own coaching program around….You can even partner with the author to coach people based on his ideas!
P.P.S. Ok, I am off for a 2nd walk today…Andrew’s words are magically inspiring!
