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Vinay Parmar - Speaker, Coach, Author

Fantatstic Tips on Career, Life and Business Development

Fantatstic Tips on Career, Life and Business Development

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Remember….You’re Great

7th April 2015 by VParmar Leave a Comment

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In 2013, having helped London based football club Crystal Palace secure promotion to the English Premier League, Wilfred Zaha was set to start the next chapter of his career with a dream move to one of the biggest football clubs in the world  – Manchester United.

It should have been the stuff of fairytales but it turned out to be anything but that. He struggled to make it into the first team and the dream quickly became a nightmare.

He doubted his ability and felt worthless.

2 years on and back at Crystal Palace he has managed to revitalise his career and is back in some of the best form of his life.

So what changed? What was the secret?

In a recent interview, Zaha was asked about his remarkable turn around and he pointed to one key moment.

[Read more…] about Remember….You’re Great

Filed Under: Business, Performance Improvement, Personal Development Tagged With: Business Coaching Birmingham, Business Success, coaching, coaching to success, Greatness, improving results, inspirational business ideas, inspirational business speaker, inspirational speaker, life and business coaching, life coach birmingham, Life coaching birmingham, life coaching uk, motivational coaching, personal development coach, Personal growth, self development, success coach birmingham, vinay parmar, Wilfred Zaha

The 5am Club

10th November 2014 by VParmar 4 Comments

For the past two months I’ve been a member of the 5am club and it’s made a massive difference in my life.

It was inspired by author Robin Sharma and a few of friends who have adopted the practice into their lives.

I thought I’ d share my version with you as I think it could be a useful thing to add into your life.

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Each morning I am up at 5am and here is what I do.

Practice #1 – Water.

Before I do anything else I hydrate my body with a litre of water. It’s a traditional Ayurvedic practice which is said to have multiple health benefits from flushing out toxins and impurities to improving concentration levels.

I do it to kick start my body’s engine as it will have been without it for at least 6 hours. Besides our brain cells are about 85% water and muscles contain 75% of H2O so it makes sense that you should feed it more of what it needs.

I can tell from my own experience that my body functions so much better as a result. I can really feel a difference in my energy levels on the days when I haven’t done this properly.

Practice #2 – Gratitude.

I spend the next 15 minutes in the practice of gratitude. Simply I have a conversation with God and give thanks for what I have in my life physically and spiritually. What I mean by that is not only giving thanks for the material things in my life but also for the person that I am at my soul level.

I give thanks to the good times and also to the challenges that my life that have shaped me into who I am and what I am able to do.

You may not believe in God or any ‘higher power’ but that doesn’t mean you can’t practice gratitude. You can simply go through a process of thanking all the key people in your life for contributions that have made to where you are now.

I can tell you that I have been far more on ‘message’, driven and motivated as a result of this short process.

Practice #3 – Fitness.

It’s workout time. Contrary to what you may be picturing in your mind this doesn’t mean you have to be in a gym.

A workout can be a brisk walk, a run through your local park or body weight circuit you can do in your living room (if you need help with this let me know I have some great ideas!) Whatever constitutes exercise for you, do it for 30 mins.

I chose to go to a gym because it fits my goals. I usually spend about 60-75 minutes on a planned routine which I have tailored to fit what I want to achieve with my body but this time isn’t just about physical exercise. It’s “me” time.

In my work I am with people all day and I also have a wife and young daughter, so this hour of “me” time is one of the few periods of the day that I can lock myself away from the world.

I plug into audiobooks, motivational speeches and sometimes I even watch a sitcom while I am on a bike. It fires my brain up in different ways and I feel more creative, energised and focused as result.

The Golden Rule. 

During this whole time I avoid checking my email and social media. I will read articles from specific magazines.

The only times I will do something on social media is if I suddenly have an idea or thought that I think will have value to the people I am connected with.

Do it your way but do it.

You might think I am crazy and tell yourself that there is no way on earth you would get up at 5am.

You don’t have to be up at 5am.

The intention behind this practice is all about setting you up for a successful productive day, so whether you do it at 5.30, 6 or even 7 am- the point is you take an hour to spend some time on ‘you’ before you get to ‘working on/with/for them’

Let me know how you get on, I’d love to hear about your results.

Filed Under: Performance Improvement, Personal Development Tagged With: Business Performance Improvement, coaching for business, coaching in business, improving results, inspirational business ideas, leadership motivational, life and business coaching, life coaching uk, personal development coach, vinay parmar

What makes a strong leader?

6th October 2014 by VParmar Leave a Comment

Last week I was invited to share my thoughts with Danny Kelly on BBC Radio WM about leadership following a YouGov survey which revealed that 59% of respondents felt that Ed Miliband appeared ‘weak.’

I shared 3 key attributes which I feel are key attributes of great leaders : 1) The ability to engage, 2) having a commanding physiology and 3) being prepared to be vulnerable.

You can listen to the whole interview (8 mins) below.

There are other traits which I believe make a strong leader and add to what I said in the interview.

I’m taken back to a book I read many years ago that had a profound effect on me and shaped the way I developed as a leader.

Leadership

Steven R. Covey’s 7 Habits of Highly Effective People has been a permanent fixture in my book collection for many years. Below I have outlined my adaptation of five of his key principles that I believe translate into practical behaviours for strong leaders.

#1. Be Proactive. 

The strong leader is always on the front foot understanding that they cannot control everything around them. They know that they are not defined by their circumstances or conditions but rather they are defined by how they respond in situations.

The weak leader is caught on the back foot. They believe that they are helpless, a victim of circumstance and that the solution to the problem always lies with someone or something else.

For example,  imagine the performance of a team is suffering.  The strong leader will look at themselves first and ask “what is it that I could do differently to help improve the situation?”  They will step forward, accept responsibility and become part of the solution.

The weak leader will see the problem elsewhere and seek to apportion blame, declaring that it is others that need to change in order to improve things. They will step back, absolve themselves from any responsibility and believe that the solution exists outside of themselves.

#2. Begin with the end in mind. 

The strong leader has a clear vision and makes daily decisions consistent with travelling in that direction.

The weak leader’s decision making is moment to moment. They are a random collection of choices that may or may not help achieve what they want.

The strong leader knows that establishing the end game first is critical to overall success. They understand that if they know where they want to be, then they can make better choices day to day moving towards what they want rather than away from it.

For example, imagine you are leading within an organisation and are asked to identify cost savings. It would be easy to look down your departmental budget and pick out the big numbers to slash. This might win you some ground in the short term but what if those things that were cut are crucial to the long term success of your business? What if the very things that win you points now are the cause of your demise later?

#3. Put first things first. 

Strong leaders focus on the ‘must’ do tasks whereas weak leaders focus on the ‘nice to do’ things.

Where as begin with the end in mind was about the mental preparation and creation, putting first things first is about the physical creation.

In a constantly ‘on’ world you can easily find yourself being busy doing things all day, but are they the right things? Are they the most urgent or important? Or are you doing them because you like to do them?

Take email as an example. Do you respond to every message pretty much as soon as it  comes in? Does the ‘ding’ of email arriving suddenly jolt you into action?

Of course there are urgent emails and messages which need an instant reply and I bet if you really think about it there are very few that actually need that level of immediate response in reality.

What are big important things you should be doing instead? The things which will move you closer to your objective?

If you don’t have a clear end game then how can you know what is and what isn’t urgent?

 #4. Seek fist to understand and then to be understood. 

The strong leader listens…really listens, the weak leader simply hears what is being said.

Most people think they are good listeners but in reality they can still be much better.

In words of William Stringfellow –

“Listening is a rare happening among human beings. You cannot listen to the word another is speaking if you are preoccupied with your own appearance or impressing another, or trying to decide what you are going to say when the other person stops speaking” 

When weak leaders listen, they cannot wait for their turn to speak. They are eager to get their views across and say things like “I understand where you are coming from but…” or “I agree with that but…”

Strong Leaders hold the intention to fully understand before they respond. They are totally present in the conversation and have no compulsion to jump in a share their view. Their purpose is not to agree or disagree, but understand fully the other point of view before deciding how they respond.

#5. Sharpen the saw.

Strong leaders are consistent practitioners, weak leaders are dabblers in what is flavour of the month.

If you took an inventory of all of the things you know, all the knowledge you’ve gained from courses and books how long would the list be? If you were then asked exactly how much of it you consistently practice, how much shorter would your list be?

The strong leader knows that practice is a constant discipline which enables your skills to remain sharp and effective. If Tiger Woods, Roger Federer or Michael Jordan only practised their skills during game time, they wouldn’t have been half as good as they were. The investment in constant practice is what helped them to step up their performance in live situations.

Similarly, if you only practice listening in a conflict situation are you really going to be an effective listener? If you only put first things first on occasion how can you expect you plans to work?

The full 7 habits are a great simple set of principles of life and business but the biggest lesson I learned about strong leadership is this….

Strong leaders do not wait for permission, need titles or require followers. Strong leaders lead themselves first knowing that it is their actions which will inspire others to follow them.

What do you think makes a strong leader? Please leave comments below.

If you need help with becoming a stronger leader or developing the leadership skills of your people then check out Vinspired Coaching or give me a call.

Filed Under: Change, Leadership Tagged With: careers coaching, coaching for business, coaching in business, coaching to success, inspirational business ideas, inspirational business speaker, inspiring business people, leadership motivational, leadership of a company, life and business coaching, life coaching uk, life success coaching, motivational coaching, motivational leadership speakers, motivational professional speaker, motivational speaking companies, personal development coach, personal life coaching, professional motivational speaker, professional motivational speakers, small business coaching

You can’t see the whole picture when you are inside the frame!

26th September 2014 by VParmar 1 Comment

No matter how intelligent, resourceful or confident you are, there will come a point in your life, business or career when you are simply stumped by a problem.

The harder you try the more frustrated you get and the further away you seem from a solution.

The thing is often we focus so much on the problem,  that we fail to see the solution.

I saw a great quote from Les Brown which I think sums up this conundrum well  – “You can’t see the whole picture when you inside the frame!”

Here is a quick video of me explaining how that all hangs together.

If you’ve enjoyed this video blog please leave your comments or share with others!

I love answering questions and providing coaching for business and life success.

So if you have something you would like my view on then drop line or comment with your question below.

Filed Under: Change, Personal Development Tagged With: careers coaching, coaching for business, coaching in business, coaching to success, inspirational business ideas, inspirational business speaker, inspiring business people, leadership motivational, leadership of a company, life and business coaching, life coaching uk, life success coaching, motivational coaching, motivational leadership speakers, motivational professional speaker, motivational speaking companies, personal development coach, personal life coaching, professional motivational speaker, professional motivational speakers, small business coaching

This one is personal.

4th September 2014 by VParmar 2 Comments

When was the last time you stepped outside your comfort zone?

When you really decided to push your boundaries?

How did it feel?

My 4 year old started school today after 3 years in familiar surroundings, people and routines to step into a totally new environment.

Most adults I know would struggle with that kind of change.

Whenever we face a change in life or business most often it fills our heads with fears and reasons not to step over that threshold.

In stark contrast my daughter was full of beans. She was excited at the prospect of a new adventure and then it reminded me of that child like curiosity that makes them so adaptable.

Watch the video above for the full breakdown.

Filed Under: Change, Personal Development Tagged With: Business Coaching Birmingham, Business Consultancy Birmingham, Business Performance Improvement, Business Success, careers coaching, Change, coaching, coaching for business, coaching in business, coaching to success, Good to great, improving results, inspirational business ideas, inspirational business speaker, inspired, inspiring business people, leadership motivational, leadership of a company, life and business coaching, life coach birmingham, life coaching uk, life success coaching, motivational coaching, motivational leadership speakers, motivational professional speaker, motivational speaking companies, personal development coach, Personal growth, personal life coaching, professional motivational speaker, professional motivational speakers, small business coaching, vinay parmar

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