Tapping Into Your Creativity

I'm really enjoying the warmer days of spring - aren't you? I'm sure that readers, like myself, who live in northern climates, are just as excited to see the first plants start to peek out of the earth, after many many months of snow.

Spring is always a really creative time for me -- it really is a time of renewal and new beginnings. I have a number of exciting announcements which I will be putting forth in the next couple of weeks related to new programs and offerings from my business, Potentials Realized. Please stay tuned!

Spring unleashes the creative side for many of us. I came across a great blog post from Tasra Dawson over at Lessons from the Scrapbook Page called "Time to Fill Your Creative Tank". If you are looking to unearth your creativity from the winter snow, pop on over!

I also wanted to include a few of my own questions to get your creative juices flowing. Ask yourself:

* What is one thing you have always wanted to create and put out into the world?
* What would tapping into your creativity mean to you? Look like for you?
* What would it take to unearth your creative side?

Also answer the following questions:
* Creativity for me lives in ..... (fill in the blank)
* Tapping into my creativity is like ....(fill in the blank)
* One thing I can do this week to connect with my creative side is.....

I would love to hear your thoughts on these questions -- what are you going to create this spring? Please feel free to comment below.

Cheers to a creative week,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized
Email: jennifer[at]potentialsrealized[dot]com
Toll Free: 1-866-217-1960

If anyone is looking to develop their own group programs this spring - whether it is a workshop, retreat, group coaching program, or even a scrapbooking session - I would invite you to join me on Friday April 20th for a one day Creativity Virtual Retreat (10am - 4 pm EST). We will spend the day focused on retreating and breathing creative life into our program ideas from our own homes or offices. Run by phone, the program is limited to 12 participants. We will be meeting every hour at the top of the hour by phone before returning to our own personal retreat space. The retreat package also includes a 30 minute coaching session. More information can be found at my Group Coaching Essentials website. From past experience, this day provides structured space and focus to breathe life into your program ideas. As a result of the day, most former participants have completed or made significant headway into their program development and are ready to take it out into the world. What do you want to launch this spring? I hope that you will consider joining me! Registration forms can be found at the GCE website or give me a call toll free 1-866-217-1960. An early bird pricing of $79 US is in effect to April 10th.

Work Life Balance Tip - Do something spontaneous

Work Life Balance Tip - Do something spontaneous
Copyright 2007 - Jennifer Britton

Prehaps it's the longer evenings we are having, signalling the end of winter, but lately I've been reflecting a lot on some of the routines I created for myself during the winter months. What ruts have you been in lately? What routines are you holding onto, no matter what, whether they are serving you or not?

This week's work life balance tip is on doing something spontaneous. I'm not advocating something necessarily extreme, but something small and spontaneous you can do to make a change to your routine.

One of my newer routines for spring is to make it to the Y on Saturday morning for a quick morning workout in the pool. I'm usually an early riser, conditionned from waking with the sun every morning for more than 10 years when I lived in the Caribbean. I love the feel of getting a head start on the day, and getting some exercise in at the start of my weekend gives me an extra burst, as well as permission to take it easier and unwind for the rest of the weekend.

I found an interesting chemistry definition for the word "spontaneous" the other day that I wanted to share with you in closing:

"Spontaneous processes do not require work to be done in order to occur. A reaction is said to be spontaneous if it is possible." ibchem.com/root_htm/defn/gloss.htm

What can you do today that is spontaneous? What's possible for you?

Have a balanced week,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton, CPCC, CHRP
Potentials Realized
Your Balanced Life! 90 Day Group Coaching Program

What does career have to do with balance?

The Simmons School of Management in collaboration with HP has released a recent study involving 400 professional women (middle and senior-level professional women with over 20 years work experience). The study looked at to what extent women were leaving the workforce, why they make careeer decisions and how they manage work-life balance.

The study found more than 90% of the women surveyed had used some sort of flexible benefits work arrangements during their careers. These flexible benefits could involve telecommuting, flexible hours and limitations on travel or evening work.

Professor Mary Shapiro speaks about the study's results at NECN on this 12 minute video clip -- it's very interesting and is certainly in line with many of the current business topics I speak on regularly and advise corporations on as an HR Consultant. You can visit some of my additional comments on flexible workforce arrangements and current business trends at my sister blog: The Biz Toolkit.

The study points to the very interesting changes that are taking place in the workforce which are being driven by changing demographics, demographics and generational priorities. Looking at the Canadian context flex hours and a wider use of parental leave are much more commonplace than a few years ago, even though they are still not widely adopted.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on this issue - does your company support flex arrangements? If you are a professional woman, how does career impact your balance?

Looking forward to hearing from you,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton, CHRP, CPCC, CPT
Potentials Realized
The 90 Day Your Balanced Life! Program starts on March 20th (Tuesdays 7-8 pm EST). I hope that you can join me -- space still remains!
Email: jennifer[at]potentialsrealized[dot]com

Do Something Worthy

A wonderfully talented colleague of mine, Sharon Snow, and her business partner, Lisa, have put together an amazing 100 day coaching program called Do Something Worthy! It starts on March 15th and is an excitingly rich program combining group coaching, individual coaching and guest speakers, including Ward Powers, the Creator of ONE, the Movie (www.onetheproject.com), and Ryan Hreljac of Ryan’s Well Foundation (www.ryanswell.ca).

For those who are ready to jump into World-Changing Work, this is a very exciting program and I hope that you will consider checking it out. Sharon and Lisa are holding the intention to facilitate the launching of 100 initiatives focused on making the world a happier, healthier, more abundant place for all.

They held a call about their work last week, and if you missed it, you can still access the recording.

As a former United Nations staff member myself, having been heavily involved in world-changing work around the world for more than a decade, this is a gem of a program.

Ask yourself, what is one thing I could do today to make the world a happier, healthier and more abundant place? Remember, large impact starts with one small step.

Jennifer
Potentials Realized
Email: jennifer[at]potentialsrealized[dot]com

Work-Life Balance Tip - The Power of Teams

Work Life Balance Tip -

The Power of Teams

Collaboration and teamwork has been a theme for me this year. As a solopreneur I value the impact of strategic alliance and joint ventures, recognizing that these can expand my reach much greater than ever I could do alone.

This week's work life balance tips is on the power of teams. What does your "team" look like? Prehaps it is family members, co-workers, friends, children. How can your team support you in moving more fully into balance?

A significant amount of my coaching work is moving into team and relationship coaching, whether it is coaching an intact team, a business partnership or a romantic relationship. Ask yourself, "What is my team? How does my team support me?".

How can you leverage your team over the next month to enable you to achieve the goals you have set forth for yourself?

When collaborating/working with others, what is possible?

Teams bring into reality the premise of the sum being greater than its' parts. How has your team enabled you to create things greater than yourself?

I'd love to hear your comments. Please feel free to post a comment below.

Jennifer

Jennifer Britton, CPCC, CHRP, CPT

Potentials Realized

Toll Free: 1-866-217-1960

I'm more than half-way through my goal of coaching over 50 partnerships and relationships during the first quarter of 2007. If you would like to take part in a free, no-obligation coaching session for you and your partner (whether they are a business or life partner), email me to set up a free 45 minute coaching session. Some partnerhsips that have taken me up on this offer have described the experience as "extraordinary", "you created the space for us to focus on possibilities", "outstanding". Partners who have taken advantage of this offer have included: corporate teams, new business partnerships, couples expecting a new baby, couples soon facing the early nest scenario, and new strategic alliances. As a Certified Professional Co-Active Coach I am continuing to deepen my coaching skills in the area of Organization and Relationship Systems coaching work, created by the Centre for Right Relatiosnship. I'd love to hear from you!