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Verbal Fluency and 3 Ways to Motivate You to Take Action

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The Importance of Verbal Fluency

I have had the opportunity to work with educated and technically brilliant individuals and the most hardworking and verbally fluent entrepreneurs who have excelled in their field.

The individuals who stand out to me have verbal fluency, can communicate their point, develop and build relationships, and have increased levels of influence and persuasion skills through their communication ability. Being verbally fluent enables you to speak comfortably and confidently to anyone, and this is a skill that I cannot emphasize enough is essential to success.

Being verbally fluent does not mean that you have to have the most extensive vocabulary. Instead, you know how to communicate and what works best to be easily understood by the receiver.

When you are initially connecting with someone finding common ground is crucial. By that, I do not mean peppering someone with question after question, but being genuinely interested, listening more than you speak and sometimes even showing vulnerability, especially when you are discussing complex topics. It is not often that I connect with someone whereby I cannot find something we have in common. When you look for similarities rather than differences, you will find them everywhere, and they are often around family, travel, food, interests or concerns.

Once you find something in common, there is no such thing as breaking the ice – you have already done it. I often find myself saying ‘tell me more’ when meeting individuals and learning their stories. Asking an individual to ‘tell me more’ is not a technique but a genuine interest I have in learning more about an individual. Listening more than speaking, being fully present genuine and warm, comes naturally when you are enjoying making a connection.

 

“The individuals who stand out to me have verbal fluency, can communicate their point, develop and build relationships…” ~ Jenny Reilly

 

Analysis Paralysis | 3 Easy Steps to Motivate Your to Take Action 

When we are at the crux of making a significant decision or involved in a critical or complex project, we may go through a period whereby we experience analysis paralysis. When you feel dumbfounded by the number of options or information that needs to be processed, you may procrastinate on the action that should be taken.

Follow these three steps to help you get to the other side, and focus on what matters to enable you to be productive and attain greater results:

 

3 Easy Steps to Motivate you To Take Action (1)

 

If you need help developing your verbal fluency or getting motivated again. Get in touch with us today.  We can help you with your professional development or provide tailored executive coaching that can help support your leadership or your leadership team, please reach out to askme@jennyreilly.com to schedule a convenient time for a complimentary strategy session.

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Financial Review - Quarter 2 - Understand Your Numbers

Quarter Two | Understanding Your Numbers

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As we commence Q2 this week, an item to prioritize in your schedule is your Q1 budget review. As an entrepreneur, business owner, or leader, you need to have a good handle on your business and financials, both critical for success. Understanding your numbers will help you make better business decisions and enable you to have a greater understanding of your revenue, expenses, and profitability margins.

We often become absorbed in our business’s day-to-day operations and allocating time in our schedule to ensure sound financial management is a challenge. Even if you have an accountant and bookkeeper, you still need to understand your financial management practices and controls to scale and grow your business.

own your numbers

 

What is Your Quarterly Scheduled Financial Management Process?

Cash flow issues can be a challenge. Understanding your cash conversion cycle will help you improve your cash flow and ensure you have sufficient resources to pay your employees and suppliers.

Questions to consider during your quarterly review:

  • What financial Key Performance Indicators are you using?
  • How long are clients taking to pay their bills?
  • How is this affecting your cash flow cycle?
  • How can you reduce payment times?
  • Are there any overhead costs that can be trimmed?
  • Are there any unproductive activities that you are spending money on but not seeing a true return on investment that can be eliminated?

Your Quarterly Financial Review will:

  • Promote forward-thinking
  • Identify short term problems
  • Motivate managers to better business performance, and
  • Provide a financial control process

 

Quarter Financial Review - 4 Steps for Success

Quarter Financial Review – 4 Steps for Success

 

If you need help with your finances, we are ready for you! Let’s get you the financial results you deserve. Learning about how professional development or executive coaching can help support your leadership or your leadership team, please reach out to askme@jennyreilly.com to schedule a convenient time for a complimentary strategy session.

Get your leadership strategies and tactics in my monthly newsletter, sign up here to subscribe.

 

Focus on getting the right things done

Leadership and Coaching | Focus on Getting the Right Things Done

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How do I focus on getting the right things done?

Do any of these statements sound familiar to you?

  • Everyone else’s needs hijack my time
  • I am so busy but feel like I am not getting anything important done
  • I am finding myself stretched thin and the only way to get ahead is to spend more hours working daily

I am all about incorporating time management and productivity techniques into your schedule. The first step is to determine what is essential to focus your time on, and the second to eliminate all else to maximise the bottom-line results. 

I have a sticky on my computer to continually remind me of ‘what is the most important thing I need to work on next .’ This helps me commit to working on what is essential in my business, focusing on work quality, not quantity.

What will mean more to you at the end of the day, getting more done or getting the right things done?

I work with busy professionals who often are working at maximum capacity and being pulled in one hundred different directions. Initially, we focus on analyzing what is being worked on and determine the most important things to prioritize for the most significant results. When you are feeling overwhelmed, have too much on your plate, and are struggling with meeting priorities, try these three steps:

  • Determine if what you are working on is the most essential task to make the most significant contribution towards your goal. You do have a choice in how you spend your time and energy, so take control of your schedule.
  • Eliminate activities that are ‘time sucks’ or not essential. I refer to the minutia that individuals spend a lot of time on as ‘noise’ in our schedules. Free up your schedule, cut out what is unnecessary, work on essential things, and be diligent about doing so daily.
  • Focus on execution and implement systems to help you focus daily on executing the required actions to move your goal forward.

WORDS OF WISDOM

I am very fortunate to have the opportunity to connect with brilliant leaders across industries and sectors. This month I asked Yin Lau to share one tip on how she manages multiple projects and remains organized.

Yin Lau - Yin Executive Services - YES

 

‘Make a to do list and prioritize! You are only human and there is only so much time in the day. Be kind to yourself and believe that anything worth completing will happen at exactly the time it was meant to.’

~ Yin Lau ~

YES – Virtual Executive Assistance

 

 

 

 

We are ready for you! Let’s get you the results you deserve. Learning about how professional development or executive coaching can help support your leadership or your leadership team, please reach out to askme@jennyreilly.com to schedule a convenient time for a complimentary strategy session.

Get your leadership strategies and tactics in my monthly newsletter, sign up here to subscribe.

Positive Intelligence

Positive Intelligence | Are you Achieving Your Full Potential?

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The term Positive Intelligence or PQ refers to one’s ability to conquer mental saboteurs.

Saboteurs are mind patterns that we tend to have habitually. When reading the definitions below, take note of those that particularly resonate with you.

Judge – you find fault always with yourself, others, and the situations you find yourself in

Avoider – you focus on the positive and avoid difficult situations or conflict at all costs

Controller – you need to take charge and control of all situations

Hyper-Achiever – you are a consistent and constant high performer

Hyper-Rational – you focus on rationalizing everything

Hyper Vigilant – you are anxious about surrounding dangers and the potential of what could go wrong

Pleaser – you try to gain acceptance by pleasing, helping, and flattering others

Restless – you are in constant search of greater excitement or need to be always busy

Stickler – you need perfection, order, and organization

Victim – you focus on negative feelings and painful situations

Saboteur Solutions

Our saboteurs are exhausting; however, the good news is that you can train yourself to pick up on them as they are occurring. To look at situations differently and with more positivity, to diminish your saboteurs, try:

  • Having an open mind and explore a situation with curiosity
  • Empathizing and focus on bringing compassion and understanding to any situation
  • Being innovative, bring new perspectives and out-of-the-box solutions to solve a problem
  • Choosing a path that is aligned with your values and personal mission
  • Take decisive action without getting caught up in your saboteurs’ idiosyncrasies

When you recognize that your saboteurs are in play, to make the shift, you can simply try one of the three methods below for 10 seconds to help you regain focus:

  • Take three focused breathes, a little more deeply than the other
  • Listen to the sounds around you and focus on the noise that is the furthest away, and then that of which is the closest to you
  • Feel each of your fingertips by rubbing them against one another

Challenge 1

I encourage you to monitor your thoughts for three hours and categorize them into how they make you feel, whether it be neutral, useful, or negative. When you can identify your thoughts and their impact on your performance, you can then implement specific strategies to shift your behaviour.

Challenge 2

Step 1. Think of one recent or current business challenge that is causing you distress.

Step 2. Come up with three scenarios as to how you could turn this situation into a ‘gift’ or opportunity for the company.

*If you are stuck with this challenge and can’t manage to see the situation as a gift, focus on letting it go and putting it behind you.

 

If you are interested in learning about how professional development or executive coaching can help support your leadership or your leadership team, please reach out to askme@jennyreilly.com to schedule a convenient time for a complimentary strategy session.

Get your leadership strategies and tactics in my monthly newsletter, sign up here to subscribe.