Your Own Worst Enemy - How Not To Be! Top secrets to staying motivated and on track with your goals Have you ever set yourself a goal or committed to stopping or staring something (a diet, an exercise plan) and not managed to follow through?  If you are like every other person in the world then I am guessing the answer is yes, at least once! Just because you set yourself a goal it does not mean that you will achieve the outcome you want. Do you sometimes have a that little voice inside your head that says “I am finding it really hard to stay motivated to stick to this goal or “I wish I was more motivated to do the things I know need doing” For all of us at one time or another we have found it difficult to find the motivation and keep it. Unfortunately motivation won’t just fall into your lap – you have to take steps to create it. Wanting to do something and then actually doing it can be really hard.  We often mistake sheer will power with motivation. Will power is no go...

[Read entire post...]

Women With Purpose   Are you a women who is time poor but committment rich? Then you belong to a NOT SO exclusive club! I really, really dislike it when I see an advert asking me if I would like more time in the day – of course I would -  are these people idiots?   For me it has never been about more time. I knew that if I had more time then I would simply do more things and try to fit more in. If this sounds familiar then you might want to read on.....?   My name is Louise Carter and I help women to set goals for themself and more importantly STICK  to them.    I am lucky enough to meet many wonderful women every day and they all have oodles of talent and potential.   They are all successful in their own right as mothers, partners, lovers, career women, friends etc and every one of them has a goal, which is why they come to me. It is   The goals are things they are passionate about that they know will make a difference...

[Read entire post...]

It is important to understand that there are seasons in our life and that each of these seasons are helpful to us. Winter Winter is the season where we experience challenges and difficulties in our life. It can feel like a cold and lonely time. Our life may appear bleak. We may be dealing with storms in our life which creates fear and anxiety for us. However, we need periods of winter in our lives. These winter times provide us with important learning and understanding. It is through the challenges and difficulties in life that we learn our most valuable lessons. Winter also helps us to appreciate and be grateful for what we have. Without periods of winter in our lives we can take for granted all of the goodness that we experience. Autumn Autumn is the season of our life where change occurs and we need to let go of the old. During this period of our life we recognise and feel the need for change in our lives. In order for us to change we need to let go of things like the leaves fa...

[Read entire post...]

You wonder sometimes if we had ‘user manuals’ when we were born that things would turn out different, and there would be more ‘common sense’ in the world. Just reading the paper I was completed shocked to read about a mother  who left her son in the car whilst it was scorching hot outside. The mother claims that ‘she forgot he was in the car’ as she got carried away doing the Christmas shopping! I know I shouldn’t judge however this behaviour is so wrong, how can you forget your own child whilst you do the shopping? Thank goodness a passerby heard the screams and broke a window and got him out. How hysterical would that little toddler be? And the psychological damage created in that traumatic event, it could really impact him. If we had user manuals the mother would know better. It would be stated, that under no circumstances to leave children alone in the car. Yet I guess we are all so different and follow different sets of values and beliefs that to create a user manual for al...

[Read entire post...]

This is the time to reflect and to take stock of what we have in our lives. Many people simply just go shopping and spend money on gifts to show love. Remember the love languages? Well some people show love through gifts and others require words of affirmation, acts of service, physical touch and quality time. If gifts hit your button then this time of the year is perfect for you and you will feel loved all over. Just remember your loved ones may need one of the other love languages to feel loved and wanted so remember that nothing beats quality time with someone you really care for. Sharing is part of this time of the year too, celebrating your successes and milestones. Acknowledge this and know that you are attracting more good things into your life. On a personal level, 2009 has been a wonderful year, one of my best, what can I say it marked the year of being a parent and well I am still on a high. Professionally I can be doing more, I guess that is my expectation, yet being a car...

[Read entire post...]

The ability to be courageous is a very important attribute to have in life. To be victorious and successful in life we need courage. It allows us to go beyond our fears and take necessary action. Courage is the act of doing what is necessary despite the presence of negative mental obstacles i.e. fear, doubt, worry etc. Without courage we remain stuck in our lives. We can’t see a way past the ‘brick walls’. Progress in life is built on the back of courage. By being courageous we: break through our comfort zones and experience personal growth; persist when confronted with challenges; ask for help; remain true to ourselves and others; and achieve our goals and dreams. We are often confronted with circumstances that require us to do things that we prefer not to do because they may be difficult, scary, uncomfortable, awkward etc. We have all been in those situations. The critical choice that we have to make during these situations is whether ...

[Read entire post...]

Do you ever feel like you start a million projects at once and then end up overwhelmed at the enormity of the task you have set up for yourself? Yes I can, I am living this at the present moment, my to do list seems to stretch out for miles and all I can manage are the basics, domestics, taking care of our 9 month old and then sporadic emails between her nap time or whilst she plays at my feet. I want to do more much more in my day; I want to balance this out with creativity, writing contributing to others and focusing on my online business. Yet this is not meant to be, well not in the last few weeks. I pride myself in completing tasks; this gives me so much satisfaction and a sense of completion. So when I find myself with some precious time, I start 5 things instead of one and then run myself ragged at trying to finish them all, what a chaotic way of being. Totally counter-productive. I know I can do so much more and I need to feel the flow, yet somehow the flow is lost, buried de...

[Read entire post...]

During my usual Thursday night yoga class I was inspired. Paul the teacher gives a great class and often has many words of wisdom, this night he spoke about the spaces between words, which:  gives the meaning as otherwise words would just ramble one after the other without pause. How can the space have meaning? I thought. Well for me this has more than a literal meaning as with anything that touches me these days I see a deeper perspective. When we pause we are, we are still in that moment and we learn. If we do not take that pause/break/space then we just do and what is the meaning or purpose for doing that? Surely the space gives us reflection Perspective Time to absorb To ask WHY? To reason and ponder To collect our thoughts and appreciate the now So for me the space is vital in everyday living, to really be in that moment whatever that is and to engage 100 percent in that activity. The space also allows us to feel liberated as we are not cluttered in our thoughts and i...

[Read entire post...]

I was reading the Sunday paper, it’s our ritual on a lazy Sunday morning, and I came across an article that really highlighted some areas that many of my clients have issues with and to be completely honest with you we too to some degree.  People who horde stuff everywhere in their home and in some chronic cases they have surrounded themselves with stuff that they only see the passage to the kitchen, bathroom and bedroom. Amazing to even phantom such a state! Well we are not alone, according to a report by the Australian Institute entitled Stuff Happens: Unused Things Cluttering Up our Homes, 88 per cent of Australian homes have at least one room full of trash-slash-treasure. And also interesting is that four out of ten Australians find themselves feeling anxious, guilty or depressed about the amount of disorder in their homes sometimes going to extraordinary lengths to deal with it. Like moving house, adding rooms, even purchasing more stuff like storage containers to accommodate...

[Read entire post...]

How you respond to undesirable events and situations in your life will greatly influence the direction that it takes. The Oxford Dictionary defines response as a ‘feeling, movement or change caused by a stimulus or influence’. So, how is your life feeling, moving or being changed by stimulus or influences?  What direction are your responses taking you? Your responses to events in your life are critical in shaping your future. Many times in life we encounter situations that we have little or no control over. However, one thing that we do have total control over is our response to these situations. It is important to realise that you do have a choice as to how you respond. How you choose to respond is totally up to you. You can choose to respond in a way that serves you or hurts you. The fact that you can choose your response allows you to take charge and stay in control. Isn’t that great to know? No longer do you have to feel that you have no control. You do!! When you ...

[Read entire post...]