Coaching Articles

Coaching Covers A Variety Of Areas And It Helps To Be Aware Of Them All

(category: Coaching, Word count: 749)
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Coaching can cover many different areas from sport to business and it is essential that you make yourself aware of coaching in general before you get involved in a single area. If you joined a sport in grade school you had a coach explain to you the rules and the best strategy to use to help win the game. In high school you had this same advantage, but once you reach the grown up world you may think you don't have this advantage anymore. This is not always true, there are coaches out there to help you be the best you possibly and this also applies to the business world as well.

Over the years companies have realized that using coaches in the business world can make a big difference in their corporation. Coaches in the business world can really help, for example if you are an employee trying to get a head it can give you an advantage over other employees. If you are a supervisor who hires a coach for the employee you may be giving your company an advantage over other companies. Whichever way fits your needs it is a fact coaching can make an impact in the world of industry.

Just because an offer from a coach sounds good, in reality it may not be the right one for you; therefore you need to be sure and check out all the information given to you before accepting an offer. Don?t accept the first offer that come to you, check out several choices, compare, and then choose. You are searching for a coach that can offer you the most help in the areas of business that you are concerned with, along with someone with a good reputation of proving themselves as an excellent coach.

Accessing the web to look for a coach that would be right for you is probably the best way to find one. You are looking for a coach that makes you feel comfortable and relaxed; after all you do have to pay for their services. You cannot find a coach that will be perfect in every area, but you can come real close by searching online. Keep in mind that hiring a coach that comes as close to what you need, will benefit you the most.

When you have chosen a coach and they have started to work for you, they will be able to see things that you may have overlooked. Because of this you may have to make some changes that you don?t feel comfortable with or don?t really understand. This is why it is important for you to trust the coach and let them make some changes to improve your business. A great coach will show you what can be accomplished in the future, by making changes now; you may have choices you never knew existed before.

After you have gotten rid of some old habits and found newer better ones to use, you may find that you can accomplish anything you set out to do. Having a good coach will definitely help you to achieve this, even though it may seem hard at first letting another person tell you how to run your business.

Many employees seem to accomplish more if they have a coach assisting them along the way; this is one good reason for an employer to hire a coach. Sometimes the employer may want to hire a coach to help them advance their skills of management even further than they already have. Whatever the reason for hiring a coach, either for the employer or the employee, the company will benefit from the added contribution. If you are employed at a company that does not provide a coach, you can always hire your own to help you improve and advance your career.

After researching and finding the coach you feel is best for your company, you may want to use that same coach for yourself. This is why it may be a good idea to find one that is also qualified in the area of management. You can review a first hand evaluation of the coach?s ability, and know if he can improve your skills, helping you to accomplish your goals. Now that you are aware of the basics of coaching you can now proceed with ease into the are that most interests you.

Empowerment For Women The Power Is Within You

(category: Coaching, Word count: 1390)
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Has anyone heard of Emmeline Pankhurst?

Emmeline was born in Manchester, UK in 1858. She was the daughter of very forward thinking parents for their time, Robert and Sophia Goulden.

You can read more about Emmeline, often referred to as Emily, by visiting this link,http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/WpankhurstE.htmBriefly, Emmeline was highly instrumental in forming the UK's Suffragette Movement and in doing so she eventually brought about the right for women to vote.

Now OK, both our male and female readers could be forgiven for thinking, 'hey hang on a minute, this is an attempt to promote feminist views'.

However I can assure you it is not because I am not out to promote any kind of political agenda so please bear with me, especially our male readers. You're not about to come under fire here.

The point I am trying to highlight is the sheer belief that Emmeline held deep within herself.

This was that she could make change happen in a society that had always shaped and dominated the view that women had a far lesser role to play than their male counterparts and that their worth as a human being was also far less.

This was evident by the fact that at that time, women could not enter many professions in particular the medical and law profession. Even by today's standards, in the UK especially, female barristers still have a hard time reaching the Bar Council and as far as I am aware, in all of British history right up to the current date, there is not a single female judge sitting in the House of Lords, Britains highest law court.

Can you also believe that it was only in 1991, that the House of Lords finally overturned a legal ruling that had stood for centuries? This was that it was accepted in law that it was legal for a man to rape his wife in marriage.

Only in 1991 was this barbaric law finally thrown out and replaced with new legislation that it is indeed now illegal for a husband to assault his wife.

Imagine then, back in the early 1900's when the Edwardian society were still feeling embarrassed by their gaudy Victorian parents, the incredible struggle that Emmeline must have endured despite being arrested and thrown in prison many times over because she believed women should have more rights, especially the simple, most precious right of all, the right to vote.

So here is the question that springs to mind.

What kept Emmeline going? What kept this amazing woman strong in the face of such adversity during a time where society had been trained to view women in an extremely poor light? Where did her incredible strength and durability come from?

The simple answer was the belief in her own power.

The Power of One.

Now, the whole point of writing about this most incredible British woman is to demonstrate to both men and women, that no matter what you face, how much you feel trapped, how much you want change or how much you are facing the disapproval of others, you too have that same power within you. If Emmeline could create such change back then at that point in history, you can do the same today.

Emmeline was fortunate because she had parents who were radical and fully in control of what they believed. They owned their own personal right to make the choices and decisions that they felt were right for them and they passed their passionate beliefs and attitudes onto their daughter who as a result turned society up on it's head.

Although she was such a free thinking spirit considering the time in which she lived,a period which had just emerged from a stiff, highly reserved Victorian era, ironically Emmeline cast aside her inspired thinking, which had so victoriously set her apart from the restrictions of the then society, when she refused to speak to her daughter Sylvia for the crime of having an illegitimate child.

Refusing to have anything to do with Sylvia or her grandson, Emmeline died in 1928.

How odd that she had set so many women free, orchestrated a complete change of attitude towards women in society, achieved far improved standards of working and living conditions for women, and brought about their equal right to vote. Yet, she was bound up in a belief that it was wrong to have a child out of wedlock to such an extent that she disowned her own daughter and grandchild.

How sad that this gallant, free spirited woman passed from this life on earth without forgiving her own flesh and blood. Even more sad was that she could not see that Sylvia was now a product of a much freer society that Emmeline herself had created.

This was clearly a limiting belief that Emmeline held as a boundary to what she found unacceptable and in some ways, it backfired as limiting beliefs so often do mostly because they lead to bad judgements and intolerance.

These two points are inextricably linked. Power and acceptance, power and acceptance, power and acceptance.If we say them over and over, they begin to chime harmoniously together.

Emmeline Pankhurst was an incredible woman living in a brief space of time where she made the impossible happen because of her own power (what she chose to believe was right for her) and what she chose to accept (what she believed was either unacceptable or acceptable to her on a personal level.) When she chose to adopt the limiting belief that her daughter was wrong to have a child out of wedlock, her choice cost both her and her daughter great pain so having set so many women free, Emmeline actually trapped herself by believing it was right to ignore her daughter and grandchild.

We can as individuals draw on many helpful lessons from learning about inspiring people like Emmeline Pankhurst.

For example, we can ask ourselves:

Do I feel powerful enough to change my life?

What is acceptable to me?

What do I feel unable to accept that I am currently accepting?

What limiting beliefs am I holding onto?

One further point about Emmeline that positively shines out a mile, is that she knew who she was and what she was here to do.

How many of us know the same about ourselves today?

I know from the many clients I see that when I ask them to tell me who they actually are, they look at me with a blank expression and they struggle to answer the question.

This tells me that they've become so bogged down in the details of life, that they know their friends better than themselves and that over time, they have become a complete stranger to who they really are.

I chose to write about Emily Pankhurst for this particular article because when I was 12 and studying history at school, I'd been dozing through the lesson when my history teacher threw a book in my direction and yelled at me in front of the whole class,

'Listen you stupid girl! Because of Emmeline Pankhurst, you are a free woman today! You could at the very least be grateful'!

I wasn't stupid and I wasn't deliberately ignoring the lesson, I was tired from being up at 4.30am to help at home. But my incredibly irate history teacher, rightly or wrongly in the way she approached it, got my attention and I have admired and been inspired ever since by women like Emmeline Pankhurst. I found a lot of my own strength and power in viewing her as my own role model for standing up for my beliefs and achievements today.

Whether you're male or female, if you want to bring positive change to your current life or circumstances, the first line of action you need to take is to begin questioning and often change your perception of the way in which you see your own world. This means taking a shrewd and honest view of what you currently believe about yourself, the environment you live in and the role others play in shaping your life.

It's all about the questions you ask inwardly and the dialogue you have with yourself then taking a leap of faith in making choices and decisions that are right for you.

Addiction To Thinking

(category: Coaching, Word count: 792)
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Randall sought my help because he was stuck being miserable and had no idea how to get out of his misery. In his life he had experienced moments of great joy and sense of oneness with all of life, but those moments were infrequent. He wanted more of those moments but had no idea how to bring them about.

Randall is an extremely intelligent man, but in some ways he was using his own intelligence against himself. The problem was that when Randall did have those brief moments of true connection, he immediately went into his mind to try to figure out how it happened. The moment he went into his mind, he lost the connection that he so desperately desired.

The reason Randall went into his mind was that, as much as he wanted the joy of deep spiritual connection, he wanted something even more than that - control over that connection. Randall's ego wounded self believed that he could control the connection with Spirit with his intellect - if only he could figure it out then he could control it. The last thing Randall wanted to do, which is what is necessary to connect with Spirit, is to surrender his thinking. Randall was deeply addicted to thinking as a way to not feel his inner experience. Thinking was his way of controlling his painful feelings, such as his aloneness, loneliness, and helplessness over others and over his spiritual connection.

Many us of are addicted to thinking. We believe if we can just figure things out we can control others and the outcome of things. We want to control how people feel about us and treat us by saying just the right thing - so we have to think about it over and over to discover the right thing to say. This is called "ruminating." Ruminating is obsessively thinking about something over and over in the hopes of finally coming up with the "right" answer, the right thing to say, the right way to be to have control over others and the outcome of things. Ruminating is also a way to have control over our own painful feelings, which is what addictions are all about.

In my work with Randall, he would immediately go into his head and analyze what was happening in the session the minute feelings came up. Over and over I would bring him out of his head and into his body, into his feelings. His feelings were so terrifying to him that he could only stay with his feelings for a few moments before he was back into his head - explaining, figuring out, intellectualizing. He was so terrified of the soul loneliness and aloneness he felt that he had learned to avoid these feelings with his mind. Yet until Randall was willing to feel his painful feelings, which had been there since childhood, he couldn't stay out of his head. As long as his intent was to control his pain rather than learn from it, he would not be able to move into the spiritual connection he so desired.

The purpose of all of our addictions are to avoid pain, especially the deep soul loneliness that we all feel in this society. The problem is that our disconnection from our feelings - which is our Inner Child - creates aloneness as well. Our feeling self, our Inner Child, is left alone inside with no one to attend to the painful feelings. It is only when our desire is to learn about how we may be causing our own painful feelings that we open to our inner experience. Our desire to learn also opens the door to our spiritual connection, which we cannot feel when our intent is to avoid pain with our various addictions.

It took Randall many months to be willing to feel his painful feelings, but he discovered that when he finally had the courage to feel them, it was not as bad as he thought. In fact, when he was no longer abandoning his Inner Child by going into his addictive thinking, he no longer felt alone within. Connecting with himself allowed him to connect with Spirit more and more of the time. Rather than getting there through thinking and trying to control it, he was getting there by being present in the moment with his inner experience - surrendering to the moment. Randall found that while he could not control others and the outcome of things, he actually did have control over his misery - by choosing the intent to learn rather than protecting against pain. While he couldn't control Spirit, he did have control his own intent, which eventually led to his being able to connect with Spirit.

Hold On To Hope Humour And Optimism

(category: Coaching, Word count: 845)
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HOPE can open your mind up to considering a wide range of possibilities. Consider how people feel when they have been given the diagnosis of something such as cancer. A friend of mine had this type of devastating news some years ago. She died a number of years later whilst in her early forties. For the purposes of this article, I will refer to her as Anne.

I remember how I felt when I first went to visit Anne at home after she had got the news. I felt sad, angry, disappointed, and anxious. I could not imagine how I would have managed to cope with what I saw as overwhelming and ultimately out of my CONTROL, had I been in her position.

I am aware that what I saw was only snapshots of how she was coping, and that family may have been presented at times with a very different picture .Anne put me at my ease. One of the first comments she made was that she saw this as an OPPORTUNITY for her to take a look at how she was living her life and make CHANGES.

Anne took PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY for finding out as much as she could about her cancer and treatment options and implications of particular choices. She knew at that stage what would be acceptable to her and knew at what time she would resist fighting things further.-A very personal decision. She had thought about how her job fitted in with her PERSONAL VALUES and how it affected her stress levels and family life and had spoken with her husband about what changes could be made here and on what timescale. Methods of cooking, nutritional value of food, cooking styles and best types of pots to use. Anne said that she had been given a chance to do things differently and there was therefore a POSITIVE aspect to her diagnosis

She continued to have a PURPOSE. That was to live as long as possible, with as much quality as she could and to OPTIMISE the length of time she could be around for her children. She continued to have GOALS and therefore it was necessary to PLAN ahead to increase chances of ACHIEVEMENT.

HOPE motivated her to keep on living for as long as possible.Anne experienced an increased value from what she had in life and for what most of us take for granted on a daily basis. Small things became more significant to her. At the same time, she had down spells when small things caused distress which she would normally have been able to shrug off. She gained more from all of her close relationships and made the most of each day. Simple things gave her pleasure.

When she had "blown up" because of a course of steroids, it felt right for her not to see friends as she didn't want to be seen like this. This was the correct decision at that time for her and she was strong enough to ASSERT herself and see it as her right to say "no, I don't want to see anyone just now." She was true to herself.

With HOPE comes a POSITIVE attitude.

OPTIMISM makes people more likely to SUCCEED.

OPTIMISM makes you feel that you are in CONTROL.

OPTIMISM boosts the IMMUNE system.

OPTIMISTS tend to be more structured.

OPTIMISTS stick to regimes, programmes more frequently so therefore act upon advice of eg doctors.

When things go wrong, OPTIMISTS are less likely to give up.

OPTIMISTS look for the lessons to be learnt from situations.

OPTIMISTS are more RESILIENT and PERSISTANT.

OPTIMISTS see CHALLENGES as opposed to problems.

OPTIMISTS surround themselves with other people, reduce personal stress and boost their immune systems.

OPTIMISTS put themselves in a better position to get good social support, encouragement and feedback. They are also more likely to become aware at an earlier stage if things are going wrong.

OPTIMISTIC people settle for REALISTIC OPTIONS and strive for what they want to achieve.

REMEMBER, OPTIMISTS need to not just feel OPTIMISTIC, but also take RESPONSIBILITY for applying this to their lives, in terms of THOUGHTS, ATTITUDES, and ACTION!

HUMOUR can help to diffuse situations. Anne used this strategy a lot to cope with her hair loss when on chemotherapy and when a psychologist at the hospital had been foolish enough to ask her if she was concerned about her sexuality and her relationship with her husband following major surgery. Her recounting of this still makes me laugh now! (Unfortunately it is not something I could consider putting down on paper.)

HUMOUR makes you LAUGH and helps to get things into perspective.

HUMOUR can be HEALING.

HUMOUR is more likely to get you SUPPORT from others than moaning.

Try LAUGHING and being anxious at the same time, IT'S IMPOSSIBLE!

HUMOUR encourages people to want to be around you.

Try and look for the AMUSING aspects in situations.

MUSIC, LIGHT HEARTED reading, COMEDY can all help to raise your spirits.

LEARN to LET SOME THINGS GO!

Stuttering Speech Therapy

(category: Coaching, Word count: 303)
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In this article, I write about the various types of stuttering therapies that are available. My background, I started stuttering at the age of four, it continued until I was twenty-two, basically ruining the eighteen years in between. I then fought very hard and eventually overcame the stutter.

According to latest figures, around one percent of people in the UK have a stutter. Most of these people will have seeked help at some stage of their life, and will have looked into stuttering treatments and the different forms of stuttering therapy. This is what they may have found:

Traditional speech therapy

Speech therapy is where the majority of people who stutter will start when trying to improve their speech. I myself, attended speech therapy from the age of five, I continued attending until the age of eighteen. Thirteen years and I still had the stutter, that was successful!

The advice I had been given at speech therapy was basically:

speak slowly

take a deep breath before you speak

accept your stutter

I am sorry but that advice is just not good enough.

Group stuttering speech courses

There are now a number of private speech courses that are run on a group basis. In my opinion these are of more value than traditional speech therapy as at least the aim of the course is to eradicate the stutter. Speech therapy is more of controlling and accepting the stutter.

One to one speech courses

There are also one to one speech courses available. I personally believe that this is the best form of stuttering therapy as each person will have their own individual stutter and needs.

Stuttering self help dvd and ebook

For people who would prefer a self help form of stuttering therapy, there are now stuttering dvds and ebooks available.

Learn From The Mistakes You Make

(category: Coaching, Word count: 516)
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This article is about learning from the mistakes we make. It goes without saying that we all make errors in life however the most successful people do not let it get them down and try to treat these mistakes as a learning curve. I hope you find the article interesting and beneficial.

My parents taught me a lot of things about life and I clearly remember my father sitting me down when I was around fourteen years of age and speaking to me about this subject. He stated that he thought I was a decent person who knew right from wrong, he was however aware that I would make some mistakes.

He continued that he would not ask me to come home by a certain point at night and that he would let me make my own choices. If at any point he heard or learnt that I had done something that he thought was wrong or stupid, he would not tell me off but instead he would ask me if I agreed that I had been stupid etc. If I agreed, that would be the end of the matter, the problem would only occur if I then made the same mistake again as that would mean I had not learnt from the experience. He would then in his words, come down on me like a ton of bricks.

I agreed that this seemed fair and carried on living my life. I wondered what he had meant by the ton of bricks statement. I did make many mistakes and we had to have our chat on many occasions, I am happy to say that I did learn from my errors and never had to find out what he had meant.

I myself now have two children, both of which are fairly young at five and twelve years of age. I have tried to install a similar approach, however have changed it slightly. I have said to them that in life all I expect of them is to try their best. It does not really matter what grades they obtain as long as they put in one hundred percent of effort. They are also aware that I accept that they will be naughty at times and as long as they except what ever punishment is given, then there will be no problem. I am not a harsh parent, a bit of a wimp really and this punishment will normally be them having to tidy their room.

I am somebody who loves playing sport. I am very competitive and do not like losing. I have had to accept that at times I will lose, however when I do I always ask myself a question, what could I have done differently today? What could I do differently next time I play to ensure the result is a positive one?

I am very grateful to this lesson my parents taught me and hope that in the future my children will be thankful at the way I and their mother have raised them.

Coaching May Be For You

(category: Coaching, Word count: 712)
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Are you looking for someone who will hold you accountable to achieving your goals? Career coaching and mentoring may be what you need to accomplish what you really want in your career. Your friends and family certainly love you and want the best for you, but they can't always make the time to devote the necessary hours you may need to achieve your objectives and goals. Your friends and family have objectives and goals that they are looking to achieve as well.

Coaching is one of the best investments that I have made. Although there are many coaching packages that you can choose with becoming a coaching client, generally speaking, the coach and client usually have a weekly call, which lasts from about 45 to 55 minutes. Email communication is usually included between each coaching call.

I have worked with many terrific people who were extremely talented and were over qualified in the position in which they were working. I could only imagine how much happier and productive they would be if they had hired a career coach to work with them.

Why should you consider hiring a career coach?

1. You have someone who is focused on your objectives and goals.

Your coaching calls are all about you. Your coach will hold you accountable for your actions to achieve your goals. Many career coaches have graduated from CoachU (www.coachu.com) and have been educated and trained on holding clients accountable to achieving their goals.

That's why many coaches offer a free initial consultation. This initial consultation will better determine if you and your potential coach are compatible. There's nothing wrong if a particular coach and you are not compatible. The same principle applies with other professional services. You may not be compatible with every accountant, lawyer, contractor, plumber, hairdresser, mechanic or web-designer.

2. You have someone who is objective toward you.

As mentioned before, you have family and friends that love you and they may think that any work you do is awesome, but you are generally getting a subjective opinion. A coach would be able to objectively prepare you for such events as a job interview, calls from clients, querying an editor, writing a resume and getting better organized.

3. Someday leads to a town of Nowhere

How many of us have always said that we wanted to do things such as write a book, start our own business and switch careers? When did you want to start doing those wonderful things? I have done all three by working with a coach! From what I know of myself, I would not have done these things had I not been working with a coach. I might have looked back and thought shoulda, coulda, woulda. I didn't want to look back years from now and have those regrets.

4. Coaching Can Be A Great Investment

Coaching can cost a lot less than many seminars. What is the total amount of money that you have you spent on self-help items, such as books, audiocassettes, CD's, Videos, DVD's and seminars? Did you spend hundreds - maybe thousands of dollars? What kind of rate of return did you get on your investment? Did you achieve your objectives after you read that book, listened to that CD, watched that DVD or went to that seminar? The aforementioned items most likely contained great information on how to achieve your goals. But did any of those items personally hold you accountable and ensured that you achieved your goals?

Like any other professional service, coaching costs money. Coaches are educated and trained professionals who provide valuable services. If your sink needed fixing and you had no idea how to fix it, would you hire a plumber to fix your sink? Hopefully! A plumber is paid to do something with specific measurable results: fix your sink. If your career needs fixing, what would you do? Coaching goes beyond specific measurable results. Can you put a price on having a career that you love?

I have always wanted to become a writer. My coach taught me how to write more effectively to express my point, get the attention of editors, and get my articles published. I cannot put a price on what I have learned by coaching!

Why Advice Giving Is Not Advisable

(category: Coaching, Word count: 713)
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Often in our interactions with family and friends, problems being encountered would inevitably be brought up. Inevitably too, in trying to be helpful, we often react by giving advice on how to solve the problem.

However, this is generally not recommended, for the following reasons:

We assume we know what the problem is and forget to be a listener, to find out enough details about the problem and the other person's point of view.

We forget to extend empathy to the woes of the other person.

We get 'credit' for being the one to give the advice since the advice is likely to be something that the adviser has done or others have done that was successful. So if the listener does not succeed or had done it before but it was not successful, the implication is that it is not because the advice was not good, but the listener has not applied it well. This tends to make the advisee feel stupid and incompetent.

When we give advice, we're talking 'down' to the other person as we become the 'expert'. We're so eager to talk and show our knowledge and 'wisdom' that we do not interact at an 'equal' level with the other person. We take on the position of 'expert' and might tend to forget that the other person also has knowledge to share with us.

We are giving the message that we think the person cannot work out the solution himself. This is disempowering for the other person.

We belittle the efforts that have been taken by the person. We become the evaluator of what the person has done rather than helping him/her to self-evaluate.

Example of Advice Giving:

A: Jolyn and I are having problems. We have been having more quarrels lately.

B:Hmm... I'm always thought both of you were not suitable for each other. (B is getting credit for his prediction. B is not asking questions to find out more about A's problems)

A:Well, we were getting along pretty well. But I've been very busy with work recently and haven't had time to go out with her. She feels I'm spending too much time on work.

B:It shows she does not understand you (B is assuming he knows what the problem is). Maybe you should break up with her (advice giving, implying A cannot work out a solution). It could be a blessing in disguise.

A:I'd be miserable. Don't know what I'd do without her.

B:You'll get over it (B is not extending empathy to A). I did too when I broke up with Doris 2 years ago. (B is giving himself credit)

A:I sent her roses to make up but it doesn't seem to work.

B:I don't think that will work with her (evaluating what A has done). Since she wants time with you, just put aside your work and make time for her.

A:I have deadlines to meet.

B:Well, you have to decide what you want (this is not likely to be helpful to A's dilemma and might make him feel stupid and incompetent instead.)

Using Questions in conversations is generally more helpful as it helps the other person think through the issues that they have. Example is this conversation below:

A: Jolyn and I are having problems. We have been having more quarrels lately.

B:I'm sorry to hear that (extending empathy). Would you like to tell me more about it? (being a listener, to find out details of problem)

A:I've been really busy with my work and haven't had time to go out with her. She feels I'm spending too much time on work.

B:Has it always been this way with your work?

A:No, it's these recent two months because of a big project. Deadlines to meet and other work pressures....

B:Must be tough on you.... (extending empathy to A and indirectly giving credit to A for holding up)

A:Yah... but I do need to make time for Jolyn... I have been working too hard. I should ease up a bit (self evaluation). I think I'll send her some flowers afterward and then call her for a dinner date tomorrow. (coming up with his own solutions)

B:All the best ...

References:

www.succezz.com/StresstheSilentKiller.html

www.succezz.com/How2BHappy.html

www.succezz.com/S2/7WaystoLiveLiftotheMax2.html

Joining Clubs Do They Work For You

(category: Coaching, Word count: 712)
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Back home I was always a member of the local badminton club and at a time I was a member of the Weight Watcher's Club. Both were very effective in my life. I not only got to play my sport, but it served as a large part of my social life. I met some special lifelong friends there. Weight Watchers also served me very well in that it helped me change my perspective on what a healthy diet and exercise lifestyle meant to me and like the many badminton clubs I supported over the years, Weight Watchers was a place where I met many supporting and like-minded people.

I chose to use my positive experiences with clubs when I relocated overseas and got involved with different clubs that suited my interests such as the dance club, the "Learn Korean" club, the singles club, the fitness club and of course last but not least, the badminton club.

I have, however found that too often when expats relocate, they tend to shy away from joining clubs. There may be various reasons namely: being overwhelmed by everything that is happening; being fearful of walking into a new club for the first time; not knowing the language; laziness etc.

But time and time again in the different countries I have been fortunate enough to work and live, I have found joining clubs to be an excellent way to quickly meet diverse groups of people. Clubs offer so many different facilities ranging from playing fields and organised sporting teams, to squash courts and swimming pools. But as already mentioned, joining clubs are not limited to the sports arena. There are book clubs, expat support clubs, cooking clubs, and chess or scrabble clubs, AA clubs, monthly travel clubs, the Rotary club, Toastmasters, the local Lions club and the list goes on.

Many clubs provide food and beverages at good rates and often prepare for special functions such as Halloween, Thanksgiving, Guy Fawkes, birthdays or other special days that are celebrated in your home country. Organising a function yourself at a club is also an easy and cheap option.

You could organize a variety of leisure opportunities such as dinners, wine tastings, trivia nights, costume parties, potluck dinners, movie nights, and cultural activities. For couples with children I have found that the majority of clubs are very accommodating and have groups for mothers and their children. They often provide a range of classes and activities starting with ballet or karate classes going all the way through to finger painting afternoons.

And then, please do not forget about your local library! No matter the size, the library is very often the very hub of the community. I am so thankful for all those afternoons when I sat at the library emailing family and friends for hours at a time and for free. Libraries are also more often than not, a great source for all kinds of local information.

If you look close to home, the companies you work for usually offer a wide range of club activities. Make it your business to find out what is available right at your fingertips. Special rates are always made available to staff members.

Joining clubs can be very helpful in making your expat living experience a success.

If you think about it, club hopping may be just the thing you need.

Action Plan for The Week

* Decide which club you want to join.

* Find out all the information and details you need to know.

* Determine a date by which you will commit to signing up.

* Join.

* Have fun!

Quote For The Week

"You can't wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club." Jack London.

Three Club Trivia Questions (true or false)

* Toastmasters was founded in America.

* The motto for the Lions club is "Unity and Strength"

* Rotary clubs are presented in over 100 countries in the world.

Answers:

* True: It was founded in Oct 1924 at the YMCA in Santa Ana, California.

* False: "We serve"

* True: 167 countries to be specific.

All 3 clubs originated in the USA

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