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Wow, where did the year go? If you're in Auckland, over a third of it went while we were looking after each other by staying home and minimising the spread of Covid. And even for those outside Auckland, you had your turn doing the same.
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A moment of gratitude
In between and during lockdowns, I have been fortunate to work with some fantastic individuals and teams, supporting them on their leadership development and strengths journeys. It's inspiring to see people seizing their opportunities and unleashing their potential - I really do feel like the luckiest person in the world to be doing the work that I do.
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As you know, I'm passionate about people identifying and using their strengths to create more energy, engagement, and achievement. I'm excited to see my diary for next year starting to fill up with people who are keen to unleash their strengths. And it got me thinking 'what better way to acknowledge the silly season than by creating a strengths-based guide to Christmas'?
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🤶🏻🎄🎅🏻 Tis the season to be.....? 🎅🏻🎄🤶🏻
There's been a huge amount in the media about all the negatives associated with an ongoing pandemic, and the social and governmental responses to it. And it's really easy to get caught up in negativity and spiralling thoughts of dread. Our brains are designed to pay more attention to the negative than the positive.
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We have a secret weapon at our disposal, and I want everyone in the world to know how to use it. The secret is this:
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Our beliefs and the words we use literally change what we see and how we experience the world.
For example, one of my favourite pieces of research shows that if we believe we are lucky, we have more "luck" - right down to being more likely to win money! I love the research so much that I've written an article about how to make it work for you.
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The key takeaway is that if we believe ourselves to be lucky or unlucky, we'll be right. We are more likely to notice evidence that supports our beliefs, and ignore evidence that they're wrong. And you can use this insight to your advantage this silly season.
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How do you want to experience Christmas this year?
Christmas isn't always the season of joy and togetherness that advertisers and cheesy holiday movies portray. It can be awkward if not painful, and the negative effects can start weeks out, when we start dreading all the things we'll have to do and people we'll have to interact with. And remember, what we believe and expect will dictate what we see and experience.
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So I encourage you to spend some time thinking about how you want to approach the silly season. To help you on your way, I wrote an article that offers five ways to choose your approach to the year-end festivities. And another that suggests 75 ways to use strengths this Christmas & New Year.
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And if you're a professional woman based in or near Auckland, I warmly invite you to come along to the Auckland Executive Club's Christmas meeting on Tuesday 14th December at the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron. We're excited to be able to meet up face-to-face for the first time in several months, and to hear from the wonderful Julia Grace! Get your ticket here (and as is our tradition, this meeting is open to the men in your life too). Early-bird pricing closes 2nd December, and tickets are on-sale until 8th December.
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Recent articles
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I regularly write posts and articles to give you tools, tips, and strategies to make the "human stuff" a bit easier. They range from ways to increase your self-awareness and self-compassion through to ideas about how to make work "work" better for everyone.
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Check out some of my latest articles below, or head over to my blog to look through the back-catalogue.
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One of the most common questions I hear when talking to people about their strengths is whether it is possible to overuse a strength. After all, it's something that you're great at, and that lights you up. What could possibly go wrong? Remember "Occupational Overuse Syndrome"? When I first learned how to type, it was on typewriters (yes, I'm THAT …
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As we move into the festive season, it's a perfect time to look for new ways to use your strengths to support your wellbeing, create enjoyable celebrations, and help your favourite people in the world use their strengths too.I've created a playbook of ideas for how you can use each of the 75 strengths in The Strengths Deck. Of course, …
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As Christmas and the New Year draw near, it's a great time to choose your approach for the silly season. You don't have to sit back and wait for things to happen to you - you can front-foot the challenges and opportunities of the festive season, to make it your best one yet. In this article, I'm going to cover …
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Do you believe that it's possible to become more lucky? Most people tend to think that they, and others, are either lucky, or unlucky - but even if you think you've been the unluckiest person ever to have lived, it's possible to change your stars. How the lucky people got all the breaks One of my favourite pieces of social …
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As I wrote in a recent article, one of the best ways to boost your energy, engagement and achievement is use your unrealised strengths more often. That's because they are like hidden treasure - things you are already great at, and that light you up. But the reason they are "unrealised" is because you aren't using them frequently. (The other kind …
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Imagine that you are facing a problem that is preventing you from moving forward, and you don't know how to solve. You try one thing after another. Something that has always worked for you in the past. Something that you've always been praised for. Something that everyone always assumes is the "right" way to solve a problem.Nothing is working. You're …
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reader, join me for a virtual coffee ☕
I enjoy getting to know people and learning about their life, work, and thoughts about the world. And I'd love to do that with you - so let's meet for a virtual coffee!
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It's easy to set up a time with me - just click the button below, find a time that suits, and my booking system will lock it into our diaries.
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I look forward to talking to you soon!
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Quote:
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Human beings, by changing the inner attitudes of their minds, can change the outer aspects of their lives.
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William James
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Did you enjoy reading this newsletter? If so, I'd love for you to share it with someone else who might like it. If not, I'd love to hear how you think it can be improved. Drop me a line at daria@dariawilliamson.com
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© 2021 Daria Williamson Limited
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