Rasheed Ogunlaru's Blog, page 22

Catch the Coach! |Video Newsletter June 2016 |

Check out the latest issue of Catch the Coach! Just click on the video above. This month the theme is “Courage”.

In the issue / in the video:

News: New charity + the passing of “the greatest” Muhammad Ali
Free webinar: Courage – 4.30-7.30pm 21 June 2016 tune in here
Events: Networking for Success – 4-7.30pm on 16 June, 14 July + 17 Aug  BOOK NOW
Half way through 2016 – top tips for part 2
Tip of the Month: Courage  ….tip and challenge.


The British Library Business & IP Centre
The Healthy Life Foundation

With best wishes, Rasheed

 

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…And still the undisputed Champion of the World

In a year of losing so many greats today we lost “The Greatest”. Mohammed Ali was more than a boxer, more a sportsman, more than a campaigner, more than an entertainer, more than a legend, more than a civil rights activists, more than a humanitarian, more than an icon and a legend.

As I consumed the wall-to-wall coverage it struck me that I cannot think of anyone during my entire lifetime who is as universally loved, respected and inspired….in any field. How remarkable is that. Nobody in sport, entertainment, politics, business – nobody. No surprise that he became the most famous man in the world.

So I could not but record my short, simple tribute above. Personally, like so many – as a young kid – I’d go around the playground aged 6 or 7 quoting his ‘floats like a butterfly and stings like a bee’ quote. Though he was no longer the champion – to all of us he was. But this guy was not just a champion in the ring. The was a champion of his sport, for sport and a champion of civil, black and human rights. He stood up for his belief and what he believed in. He challenged what he was led to believe by society.

Perhaps the most remarkable of all is how, as his physical body became more fail his powers of compassion, humanity and connectivity increased. This is the power of the heart. So this man moved from mastering the mind and body to the realm of the spirit. This is the power of the heart.

As a coach and speaker this guy’s power to inspire, motivate, touch the heart and to reach so many people is remarkably rare.

Thank you for raising the bar, awakening so many minds and touching many millions of hearts and lives.

 

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Get Rasheed’s FREE Soul-Trader.biz Membership

Are you your own boss – or thinking about it? If so Soul-Trader.biz my resource for sole traders, entrepreneurs, freelancers, creatives and small business is for you. It’s packed full of free resources – including videos, webinars, podcasts and interviews –  to help you on your journey ….and now I’ve made free membership quick and easy.

Check out the video above which will give you a quick overview then simply:

1) Visit http://www.soul-trader.biz

2) Click on Free Content – on the top right of the screen

3) Simply add your email address for our newsletter

4) You’ll receive an link with all the free content

5) Enjoy free tools, resources , videos, podcasts and discounts – including £20 off the Soul Trader Coach Yourself Video programme and £5 off the Soul Trader; your life, your business event.

Soul-Trader.biz is based on my internationally acclaimed book Soul Trader.

You can also enjoy free content including free Soul Trader podcast and monthly webinar by simply visiting the site – no sign up needed. You can also download the first chapter of the book FREE here.

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Catch the Coach! | Video Newsletter | May 2016 “Impact & Influence”

Sit back, relax and enjoy my May 2016 Catch the Coach! video newsletter. The theme is “Impact & Influence” without you’ll be stuck and unable to move up personally, professionally, in business – and emotionally.

To book onto any or all of the events mentioned here including Networking for Success or Soul Trader; your life, your business – and my free monthly webinar check out my events page.

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Catch the Coach! (video) newsletter Apr 2016

For the last 10 years plus I’ve produced ‘Catch the Coach!’ my newsletter for clients, contacts and subscribers. As this has been a busy month with coaching and speaking I decided to record a video version for my new April issue which you can view here above on my website www.rasaru.com and on my YouTube channel.

What do you think of the idea of video vs written newsletters? Like it? Loathe it? Find it more easy and engaging? Or find it lazy, less meaty and less energising?  I’d love to know.

As a coach I know differing people like / learn different thing /differently. This is an experiment any it will be interesting what my ‘regular readers’ think. I suspect there will be a real mix of views.

Overall – as many of you know – I use a range of ways to connect : YouTube videos, blogs, my newsletter, my Soul Trader podcast, Twitter and Facebook (both my own and for my Soul Trader book) plus Linked In and most recently Instagram. It would be interesting to learn which format you like, dislike, prefer and use yourself personally, or at work / business. By the way there are links to all these pages  right at the top of my website and here on my useful links/ resources page.

I like these differing platforms for differing things. Amazing that few were around when I started. Amazing too how much the mediums and platforms change; from all the rage to tired and staid within a few years and perhaps even forgotten within a decade in some cases.

By the way you can check out / book onto / log onto any or all the events that I mention here on my events page.

Oh I almost forgot if you’re seeing Catch the Coach! for the first time and if you’re keen to get the usual electronic copy free each month right here (assuming I don’t switch to video in which case it will be video)

#rasheedogunlaru #lifecoach #newsletter #video #socialmedia #instagram #youtube #catchthecoach #motivationalspeaker #insiringtalks #news #events #businesscoach #selfdevelopment

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The sun knows the sky is not the limit…

“Just as the sun knows; even the sky is not the limit.” – Rasheed Ogunlaru

As amazing as our minds are we often find ourselves confined by what we believe to be possible. This quote was inspired by a career development course I ran on Friday at Barts NHS Trust. To kick of this first session on self confidence we asked a lady who had been on the last cohort to share a few words.

She came along and spoke with heart, power, passion and wisdom. She shared how the course had helped her. She’s shifted her mindset, found a mentor and had her head set on sights that she had not considered previously. She is ready to spread her wings and soar. I especially loved when she shared that she was now I afraid to talk and engage with anybody at any level in the organisation.

It is these moments – not the money – that make me happy and humbled to do the work I do. The remarkable thing is that I look is that my job is to remind people of their magic. I invite them to pick up and craft the baton of their own purpose, potential and possibility – but I have no idea of how far they will run with it.

As the sun will tell you even the sky is not the limit…

For me the heart is more important than the head. To the head so many things will seem impossible. If you have a large dream then once your mind has pictured it then hand it over to your heart. The heart has a way of bypassing ego and employing compassion. It is not concerned with goals but it is with growth. Trust your heart and watch how vivid and fulfilling your life and contribution can be. When that lady, Helen, spoke to the next cohort she invited them to craft and run with their own batons.

Even the sky is not the limit..

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Soul Trader; your life, your business

I am delighted to announce the return of my popular  Soul Trader; your life, your business event to the British Library’s Business & IP Centre starting from Wed 18 May 2016.

Soul Trader; your life, your business takes place quarterly and is for you if you are thinking about, starting out or looking to flourish as your own boss. See dates and details.

The event helps your cut the financial and emotional cost of starting and growing a business and helps you build a business that you love based on you passion, purpose, values and talents.

The workshop, based on my acclaimed book Soul Trader – Putting the Heart Back into Your Business, takes you on a journey of the 7 essential Soul Trader principles and will help you use then to grow:

1.     Clarity: Know your mission, skills, values & brand -let them propel you.

2.     Customers: See life through their eyes to win custom, profit loyalty.

3.     Courage: Unleash your inspiration and adopt the attitude of an athlete

4.     Co-operation: Punch above your weight; collaborate – utilise your network.

5.     Conversations: Learn to deeply connect in person and online.

6.     Creativity: Know when to work, rest and perform at your best

7.     Compassion: Connect at heart – be transformational not transactional

+ Change: You, your customers, business, economy and technology will change. Explore how to anticipate, shape and embrace change.

It is both practical and motivational. It’s a great opportunity to get inspired, organised, make connections and meet other link minds on the same path.

Dates: 10am-1pm on Wed 18 May 2016, Fri 23 Sept, Mon 12 Dec 2016 & Wed 8 Feb 2017. BOOK NOW.

Hear what delegates say:

 

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Waiting for some special day?

“In life we have two choices: to wait for some special day – or to celebrate each special day” – Rasheed Ogunlaru, Coach – Speaker – Author

Today is a special day. It is February 29. It’s a day that only comes around every four years. So it is a special day within a very special year  a leap year. But the question is are you waiting around for some special day; a birthday, a wedding day, a holiday – a good day? You see if you are you can find that your life can very quickly slip away if you live it that way.

It’s very easy to slip into the mindset of waiting for the weekend or dreading Monday – or looking forward to this party or the summer or this special moment in your career. It is both projection and postponement. It is procrastination and putting too many eggs in one basket. It is overlooking the magic, the potential and the possibility of the most important day in your life – today. Today is the day. Tomorrow is a wish, a hope, it is a bonus.

Likewise perhaps you are dreading tomorrow – this event, that event, this moment, that moment. That too is projection. And it is between projection and postponement that life is lost.

There is another way. To live in a space of deep gratitude and appreciation for the fact that you are here today and have been gifted with another day. Another moment. Another opportunity …and within this, yes one can enjoy reflecting and one can enjoy what might be on the horizon but from a space of being rooted and present.

I wish you a wonderful, joyful and fulfilling day.

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Inspiring and empowering NHS staff

Last week on Friday I resumed a programme of Career Development workshops I’ve been running for female and Black Asian & Minority Ethnic (BAME) staff at Barts Hospital Trust – which is the largest NHS Trust in the UK.  The programme – following similar programmes I’ve run at other Trusts including Brighton & Sussex – has had a very powerful impact on attendees… probably far beyond that I realised when we began last summer.

On Friday it was the start of sessions for Cohorts 6 & 7 and follows on from a celebration event for the first 5 cohorts at the end of the year. So far we’ve seen over 80 people through the programme funded by NHS England.

I actually have to thank Dr Vivienne Lyfar-Cisse at Brighton for the whole journey as it was Vivienne who first asked me to speak at her Trust following us both speaking at another NHS event. From there I also ran a programme for the National NHS BME Network at which Alexandra Hussain was one of the attendees. Alexandra mentioned my event and work to Banji Adewumi the Associate Director of Inclusion at Barts. And in turn Banji and the Trusts HR Director worked with NHS England to fund the programme.

If I think way back to when I first put together the workshop series when they were first delivered in Brighton I was clearing that the starting point had to be self confidence, self awareness and self belief. Because before we can actually get into the career development skill and strategies one has to really have a strong sense of self in order to really further one’s career.

Of course the background to all these programmes is the underrepresentation of BAME staff in senior roles across the NHS  – and indeed many other sectors. Likewise in many areas these staff are overly represented at things such as grievance procedures – and you don’t have to look to far to see that link.

What’s been the magical thing at Barts is  – despite the change and challenges – the Trust has been and is faced with – there has been a real commitment to the programme across the board. It wasn’t all rosy to start with. Initially getting people there – and in some cases staff being actually feeling or finding that managers were on board the attending was an issue in some cases. That has changed a lot. Likewise for this set of 3 additional Cohorts the programme has been over subscribed.

Those of you who know me and know my work will know that working with leaders, teachers and healers is really important to me – so having the opportunity to help those who work in one of the most important profession / environments has been something I feel grateful and privileged to have had the opportunity to have been involved in and shaped.

I’ve been touched by how many attendees have really run with self and career development content. From those who’ve boosted their confidence, enrolled on courses, gone out and gained mentors, gone for jobs they never would have, stepped into new jobs, made changes at home and in relationships, empowered their staff….

It’s been quite something and the first workshop on self confidence and self awareness – which is really also about self realisation – in particular has been really powerful. I’ll never forget when a wonderful delegate attending the first ever workshop commented “So you’re really asking us ‘who am I?’.. ” or words to that effect. Spot on yes I am.

When one goes on the journey of embracing themselves, their magic and their purpose then magic happens.

The work that remains – and to a degree the work that remains for me – is to increasingly work with those who lead our institutions and hold key roles in society to affect and raise consciousness, compassion, empathy, mindfulness and wellbeing for the benefit of one and all.

I just want to conclude by thanking everyone who has been involved in all the work in all the Trusts and organisations that I have mentioned and those others that I have not. I want to thank everyone who has supported, sponsored and signposted also as this has been key. It’s been quite a journey and we resume with Cohort 8 this coming week.

 

 

 

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Dream…dream by all means

“Sometimes it’s important to dare to dream – small or big – like Mandela, Gandhi, Winfrey, Obama, Malala and Dr King. From Einstein to Hawking – the sky’s no limit. From Ali to the Williams sisters – through trials and talent find the champions within. Like my mother did to raise great kids. Like the one or many who run with this. Like the unsung heroes in every city and village. Like the kind of heart and selfless healers. Like every act of kindness you ever did and received. Like the human spirit beyond class, colour and creed. Like every soul who has raised our consciousness. From one to all – love IS all we have and need.” – Rasheed Ogunlaru, Coach – Speaker – Author

The quote above was inspired by me thinking about the word Vision which is the theme of my regular life coach slot on Colourful Radio’s Self Central show (11.25am-12noon Sundays). It’s an apt theme as at this time of the year so many people are thinking of their goals, dreams and plans.

As I thought about the topic I thought about my own vision for my life and my work from here on – partly as I like to practice what I preach and put these things to the test. I rejected on what having a ‘vision’ had done for me in the past. One of the things my mind turned straight to was that my first real dream as a kid was to be an author. So it’s quite fascinating how these things turn out.

A dream / vision is an important part of the journey. It sparks and kick starts it. But it is not enough. Just as my book Soul Trader starts with courage it moves on to themes such as courage, co-operation and creativity which are all required. But the power of the dream – as the quote above and all the real stories that reside therein – should not be underestimated.

If this topic appeals tune into my Hopes, Goals and Dreams in 2016 FREE web event.

Trust and follow your heart.

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