WOWNOW

Hi Everyone

Ok, I know it has been a while since I posted a blog, l hope that during the period of silence you have been achieving great things.

I thought I would make this post an update on what’s been happening with me over the past few weeks.

Firstly let me extend my thanks to my Mother, Father and Grandmother for their unwavering support and encouragement throughout my life.

Secondly let me extend my thanks to my friends and colleagues that have shaped, supported and encouraged me throughout my life. In part that thanks should also go to those people who don’t fit into any of those categories but who have challenged me to think outside my comfort zone and consider alternate perspectives.

If you follow me on twitter @jasonsbradshaw or on facebook you will know that recently I was successful in my application and was appointed as Director, Transformation Management Office within the NSW Department of Services, Technology and Administration.

Myself and my new office will be responsible for implementing significant reform to State Procurement in partnership with my colleagues and the wider team. I am confident that we will deliver on the plan. A plan that will deliver increased savings and value to the NSW Pubic Sector which results in improved outcomes for the people of NSW.

You may recall that last year I posted a blog regarding my desire to achieve a certain level by the time I was 30, so becoming Director at 30 fulfills that goal and reinforces my belief that setting clear goals and passionately working towards them will result in better outcomes.

I also believe that my success, in life and career, is always best achieved through helping others be successful in their endeavors and that is a reason I always try to support my friends and why I donate my time to a number of mentoring programs.
To add to this exciting news I was also elected to the Board of Oz Showbiz Cares / Equity fights AIDS and is dedicated to mobilising the unique talents within the media, entertainment and arts industries to mitigate the suffering of individuals affected by HIV/AIDS. I am excited by this Board appointment as it allows me to continue to expand my contribution to the community.

I now sit on the Board of two organizations, ACON Health Limited, Australia’s largest Gay, Lesbian, Bi-Sexual and Transgender Health Promotion and HIV Services company and OzShow Biz Cares an Incorporated community organization. I am honored to be involved in both organizations and encourage you to get involved in supporting the community in some way, volunteering your time, donating money or simply attending events, it helps make a difference to the lives of so many. I also learn so much through my involvement in these organizations that no matter how much I give of myself to these organizations I am rewarded through the learning and experiences – get involved it’s great!

So apart from that news I also share with you that 11 July 2010 marked the first year anniversary of my fathers death. My Dad was to me a remarkable man who above all else was never afraid to show his love for Mum and I. He taught me so many things but of all the lessons, I know I will live every day, the lesson of unconditional love and to not to be afraid to show it.

Dad would always tell me to lead by example and he demonstrated daily that applied to love, friendships and career – I hope that everyday I lead more by example than the day before. I hope that by doing so I make my Mother, Father, Grandmother and friends proud of being in my life.

No matter what you do, do it with passion and if you ever want to vent, bounce an idea off me or ask a question, whatever – just send me a note and I will help where I can.

Take care – enjoy life.

JB

Hi Everyone

Recently I was watching a movie and their was a line in it where the actress said “I know you’re successful because …” The actress went on to list off a number of things, houses, cars, etc and it got me thinking about success and the expectations of what society place on us, or should I say that we let society place on us.

I feel success is a very individual concept, that is to say what I believe is successful is likely to be different to what you may define success as.  I also believe that success can be situational, for example a successful life can be void of a successful career and vice versa.

While writing this blog I decided to do a picture search and found this one.

Of course google returned heaps of results but I liked the simple message of this photo – Success is a journey not a destination.

If you’ve been following my blog for a while you will know I believe in having a bias for action. By its sheer nature, this means that at times not everything will work out perfectly. In fact many leading business consultants such as Tom Peters and Peter Drucker believe that it is through this bias of action that we will learn quicker and progress on the journey of success faster.

So how do I define success – to me success is the movement towards achieving individual personal and professional goals. I feel that this definition compliments my view that success is something for the individual to define and not for society to dictate.

But how does your personal definition of success influence your behaviour? If for example you think success means someone that has the 6 figure salary, nice car, etc does this stop you from socialising with someone because of your assumptions about their success?

My Mum and Dad, from a very early age, would tell me not to judge a person by the clothes on their back or the car that they drive, but rather by the person that they are. The message was simple, don’t judge a book by its cover, for me this applies to success as well.

I personally believe that interacting with people from diverse backgrounds enriches my life and I encourage you to do the same.

So I am wondering how do you define success?

Take care

JB

A good friend of mine posted a blog called Four Things today and as you may assume it was a sharing of four things in various categories about her. I’ve decided that I would adapt the questions to suit this blog and here are my responses.

Four Things I Achieved Today

1. A hair cut – it was very overdue and a score it was only $22, my cheapest hair cut in probably ten years.
2. I commenced discussions with the Australian Financial Review about being a panellist (speaker) at a future technology event.
3. Finalised a sensitive government briefing.
4. Developed a story board to progress a major project.

Four Things I Was Reminded of Today

1. That sometimes the simple questions can reveal the most information.
2. Taking time out to chill, is just as important as achieving the to-do list.
3. The importance of 30 minutes of exercise a day.
4. A smile will return a smile.

Four Goals I Want To Achieve This Year

1. Triple the number of corporate event, key note speeches I deliver in 2010
2. Obtain a new position that challenges me, leverages my strengths and rewards me appropriately.
3. Grow as a person – in areas such as intellect, fitness, experiences and emotional intelligence.
4. Be a positive influence in the communities that I am fortunate enough to be involved with.

Finally Four Things That Made Me Smile Today

1. A random chat with a member of our facilities team.
2. A business meeting that included time just to be in relation with each other.
3. A waiter’s personal approach to service at dinner.
4. The thought of someone special to me.

In our busy lives I feel it is easy to become underwhelmed and feel that we are running but getting no where. Why not take some time out and acknowledge that in a day it is full of great achievements, growth, movement towards goals and importantly smiles.

I hope you find the time to give this a go and that it helps you realise that you have amazing things happening every day.

Take care

JB

Hey how are you?

As always I hope that you have been well since my last post.

In my last blog I spoke about some tips to having a power week, it has been for me but has it been a power week for you? It doesn’t matter if it wasn’t, don’t beat yourself up, just learn from it and build on it.

I feel the most important thing to remember is that your week is yours entirely measuring it against other people is only letting them define your success; why not define what success means for you?

This brings me to the subject of this post,  why not instead of looking for obstacles why not look for magic?

I believe that this question applies in both our professional lives and our personal ones. How often do you find that you are saying, “this can’t work because of x, y or z?”

How would your life change if you simply said, “how can I make this magical?” Perhaps even if you change the question to, “how can I make this work?”

Now I am not that naïve to think that a simple change in question will mean everything in life becomes amazing, but I do feel that it will lead to more positive moments in life.

Why do I feel this, well it’s simple really, I’ve experienced it first hand. When I find myself swimming in thoughts I know that the minute I change the question that my mood starts to change.

To share a recent example with you, my apartment was broken in to last week and a number of things were stolen. Not only was my home invaded and ransacked but also jewelry and things that had deep meaning for me were taken. Yes I was shaken, yes I was annoyed and also upset but when I asked myself the next day what’s the good (or magic) in this, I quickly found some positives in the experience.

I now know extra security measures to take to protect my home, I now have added clarity around the emotional attachment I had to some items and that in itself created great freedom. Perhaps the greatest magical insight, to all of this, was a reminder that despite how bad our troubles may seem at the time there will always be true friends ready and willing to help if only you give them a chance.

If you are finding yourself constantly thinking this can’t work and want to talk about it, please drop me a note. I hope that in some way I can help.

Take care and remember there is much more joy in magic.

JB

Hi Everyone

Well what an interesting week it has been, I will not go in to details in this blog but I may blog about it later, regardless I hope you have had a great week of adventures, experiences and smiles.

Many people in the western world will have heard of this proverb, “He who fails to plan, plans to fail.” Personally I have always thought that this proverb was a bit too dramatic but also with a level of truth.

I raise this topic today because despite the past few days, or maybe because of it, I have had a mind busy with thoughts, ideas for new projects, strategies for existing ones and so on.

I believe that a good plan today is better than a great one tomorrow and to continue the clichés planning is bringing the future into the present so that you can do something about it today.

So if you believe, at least in part with these proverbs, as I do I can only draw the conclusion that you must have a plan. Am I right, do you have a plan for success?

So please indulge me and let me ask you these questions,

• 1- Do you have a plan for the year, month or week?
• 2- What is stopping you from having a plan?

Ok so if you have read my other blogs on this topic you would know that above all else I believe in having a bias for action but I also believe in the importance of having a clear vision of where it is you are going.

So instead of encouraging you to build some bold life plan I simply ask you to think about the next week ahead. What are the three (3) things you would like to achieve over the next seven (7) days? What can you do to achieve one of these items every two (2) days?

Ok so here is what I do each week to set myself up for a power week, each Sunday night,

1. 1- I review my calendar for the next seven days and decline meetings that no longer are relevant (10 mins)
2. 2- I make some quick notes about key meetings on Monday – this helps start the week off ahead of the game and keeps the week on track (10 mins)
3. 3- I make some quick notes about what I can do each day to achieve my weeks top three (3) goals (10 mins)

Just 30 minutes of my time and I am set for a  power week and to work on my mini-goals.

I hope that the week ahead is packed full of achievement, smiles and experiences for you.

Thank you for reading my blog.

JB

Hi everyone

It’s been a little while since I last blogged, not through a lack of ideas but because I haven’t been satisfied with how the ideas have progressed. They have all in some way contributed to today’s blog though.

Since the last blog I have started three post graduate degrees at university, been on an amazing date, met at least 3 people I have been speaking to on twitter, lost my voice thanks to volunteering in Sydney’s Mardi Gras with ACON, attended 4 events over 2 days, was kissed by various random people and ran into international friends I haven’t seen in months.

You could say it’s been a busy seven or so days, but what it highlights to me is just how fulfilling life can be if you put yourself out there and get involved.

If you read my blogs regularly you will know I am all about “experiences” and that is what getting out there and getting involved gives you – life experience.

When was the last time you stayed home, watched TV and actually experienced something? Ok sure you could argue you experienced an emotion that TV or a book gave you but what about the experience of real interactions with another person?

Are experiences always positive? No of course not, but I believe they are always worthwhile. If I look at the last two weeks there’s been great moments of happiness and moments of deep sadness, would I change any of it – probably not!

Without wanting to ramble on, I encourage you to ask these questions of yourself;

1 – What is stopping you from getting gout there and engaging with people, experiencing life?

2 – What is the worst thing that could happen by getting out there; really is that FEAR, so bad?

3 – How can your friends help manage that fear?

By asking these questions I believe you will unlock the joy of getting out their and experience new things.

I would love to hear how getting out their and getting involved with the community has positively impacted your week.

Speak soon

JB

Hi Everyone

It’s been a busy time since my last blog, train travel not quite being the same as bungee jumping, did you read it? I hope so and that you got something out of it.

So over the past week, for various reasons, I’ve been speaking to people about life in general. Specifically about my belief that life is a journey of discovery and experiences which by its sheer nature means there are going to be times when you make mistakes, times when you feel great senses of accomplishment as well as every range of emotion there is.

If we fundamentally agree that life is a journey of discovery and experiences, why do we give ourselves such a hard time when we slip on a goal or personal commitment?

For example when I decided I was going to give up chocolate for a month and then only days later had a chocolate bar I could have been really hard on myself but instead I focused on the positive, which was going x number of days  without chocolate.

The above example may appear trivial but if only we applied the same level of positivity to any situation, how would your self talk change, motivation and self-confidence improve?

The next time you find yourself being hard on yourself I challenge you to ask yourself the following questions;

1. What is the positive in this situation?
2. What did you learn from this experience?
3. How can I use this to help me move forward?

Three simple questions to help you realise that it’s life and that there is always something positive from the situation.

Have a great week, can’t wait to hear your thoughts.

JB

Last week you hopefully took the challenge to write out your goal(s) for this year and just 12 steps to achieving them.  It’s quite common for people around this time of the year to decide this is the year for a new job, more pay or some other career related item.

STOP – take a deep breath and ask why yourself why you want a new job, a new whatever. If the answer is simply because your boss pisses you off, then I unfortunately have some bad news for you – every organisation, small and big has great and bad leaders. If this is your reason for wanting a new job ask yourself what you can do to make working with your boss (or peer) more enjoyable, fix the problem don’t run away.

If your desire to change jobs is motivated by a desire for change, challenge or career momentum or some other positive reason, fantastic, welcome to the club. I am assuming that you already have a crystal clear picture of what your next job will be, or perhaps the job you want in ten years time, so let’s jump to the action stage.

It is important to remember setting the goal is only step one in the process of achieving it. The second step is to establish the plan to achieve it, closely followed by putting the plan into action. It may seem obvious but a visit to your local bookshop will quickly find 100’s of books on this vary topic of people failing to act on their goals.

When building your plan to get the new job, I recommend asking these questions;

1. Does my resume captures the reader’s attention and articulates clearly what I deliver;
2. What skills do I need to get the new job;
3. Who can help me achieve this goal?

Of these questions the last is in many ways the most important, this could be a formal (or informal) mentor, a trusted friend or colleague. Whoever it is and it can be more than one person, their role is to help challenge your assumptions, provide guidance based on their experience and simply provide an alternate perspective to your own. Why is this so important, well if you look at any successful person they don’t do it alone, they surround themselves with other successful people, ask for and consider their views.

For over 10 years I have had a mentor and this has proven invaluable resource for my professional and social growth. Why because I develop a relationship of trust and respect with my mentor so when they say “pull your head-in”, I know I need to and when they show their belief in my ability to achieve a stretch goal it gives me the boost I need to get out of the thinking stage and in to action.

No matter your goals you can achieve them, have a bias for action!