Pick Me

Philippa Ravn

Description

'This book is not refined, I am not a writer. But I wrote this book for you.'

Whether you are navigating your way through studies, taking your steps in the work place, carving out a career, or analysing what you have started and where you want to go, this book will inspire you to see how you can make good choices for yourself, work, and in relationships. Having done my twenties, these are the tips I give you to empower you to choose well and be chosen in work and life.

Philippa works in Organisational Learning and Development as a Soft Skills Trainer and Career Coach. This is her journey - the highs and the lows and a few tips she picked up over the decade, for likeminded, high achieving, urban living, made for purpose people, wishing to make their life work better. Narrated through her own journey, she shares her excitement, fun, the expectations and the real life challenges. This book gives opportunity for reflection - to enable you to choose how you live, and what you can do to be the person you want to be. This is her story on how to get picked for work and life.

Sujets

• Santé et bien-être
• Développement personnel
• Vie de famille
• Relations familiales
• développement personnel
• Personal Growth
• Self-help
• Success
• Famille

Informations

• Publié par: eBookIt.com
• Date de parution: 10 octobre 2014
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781456623234
• Langue: English

Extrait

Pick Me
 
 
Empowering you to choose well and be chosen in work and life
 
 
Philippa Ravn

 
 
Copyright 2014 Philippa Ravn,
All rights reserved.
 
 
Published in eBook format by eBookIt.com
http://www.eBookIt.com
 
 
ISBN-13: 978-1-4566-2323-4
 
 
All rights reserved. This publication may not be
reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or
transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic
mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise,
without the prior permission of the publisher.

 
For Jonny my brother, friend and inspiration, may your dreams continue to be realised.
Mum, Dad, Lisa, Mel and my God, without your love, support and encouragement in going beyond what I thought was possible, I would not be doing it!
And for Ellie Grace, my darling,
as you have it all to come...
 
 
With thanks to:
Photography by Leonidas overlooking
London Eye and Houses of Parliament,
with special thanks to Royal Festival Hall and
Southbank Centre, London
Artwork by Clemens Hackl Design
Editing support by Lisa Walsh, Christine Ravn,
Helena Langford, Simon Gibson, Rosie Walter,
Kylie Gerrard and Janetta Hayden
Without any of you this would not be.
pick me
It’s cold and I am 14, standing on the grass hockey pitch waiting to be chosen for a team. Standing there. It is a popularity contest. Who would have thought that is what it came down to? It didn’t seem to matter that I was good at sports. I still had to stand there waiting to be chosen, sometimes last.
Choice is a funny thing. These days we have so much opportunity but so much choice can be overwhelming; what to watch, to listen to, where to live, what to wear, (even what hair colour). We can choose friends, nights in or out, how to behave, respond, and we have choice in what we do. But within the mix of our own choices our lives are impacted by other people’s choices too. How we handle these choices can define who we are and how we navigate life.
I thought once I’d left the playground of school it would get easier. It doesn’t always. Every day being picked (or not) affects us. Jobs; rounds and rounds of interviews and rejections, the ‘she was fantastic, perfect, wonderful – it’s just that we went with a candidate who had just a bit more relevant experience’. Friendships and relationships; even when you are picked, how long for? What happens when you are chosen and then it does not work out?
I’ve lived and worked in London, England for a decade. Sitting on the tube (the London Underground), looking at the hands of my fellow female commuters, the many girls who are ring finger bare. What does it mean? Are we not special enough to be chosen? A while back (in a serious relationship myself) I looked at these girls feeling sadness for them, I felt I was one of the lucky ones. Picked, chosen, life moving in the ‘right’ direction. What a crash when it ended, feeling like I was back on that cold hockey pitch.
Life is a series of experiences; some good, some bad. When it is bad how do we pick ourselves up off the ground? We need support to dust ourselves down, and when we are ready, boldness to do it all over again.
We all have choices, and thankfully over time I’ve made some good ones in my activities, locations, career and friends and feel blessed for it. You can support how you are chosen by putting yourself in the right places and making good choices yourself.
As much as we are picked, we pick. I hope to inspire you to consider your choices, to consider how you choose, and to encourage you develop your skills to do life well so you can navigated the challenges, create opportunity and enjoy being all you want to be.
1 Self
can
I am a dyslexic who doesn’t really write. This is my book. OK, well as you can see I can write but it does not come easily. This book is not about dyslexia or being a dyslexic per se, but about knowing we all have challenges and barriers which can get in the way of us following our dreams and going for it, but we have to go for it anyway. This book is about many things, little nuggets to inspire you to live your life, career, and relationships well. To encourage you to go beyond what people may think, and be who you want to be, or even who you thought you couldn’t be.
This (rather long) writing journey, for me is about stepping out and having a go, getting great people around to encourage, tweak and add value to what I’ve got. I hope it inspires you to do the same.
As a child, the traditional school system was a challenge and a bore, I tried hard but my grades never quite matched my effort. My memory and written skills did not match my quick thought processes. I had loads of ideas and enthusiasm but only occasionally did it amount to A-grades, generally I was good enough at most things but excelled in nothing academic. At fifteen, I had to make decisions on subjects which impacted what degree I was to take at university. I wanted to get into media and film production but teachers said it was ‘too competitive’ and ‘I would fail’. This ‘reality’ disheartened me and embedded further thoughts that I wasn’t good enough to do something life changing. I opted for Marketing, 'the creative side of business'; I was dedicated (both to study and in gaining work experience) and passed solidly, I did not get a First Class Honours degree, but I did it. Fifteen years on (and many roles later) I work in Organisational Learning and Development as a Consultant working with leading global firms. I am self employed; I have my own business as a soft skills trainer (predominately delivering a wide range of management and communication workshops). I love facilitation; it brings out the best in people and as a career progression coach I have seen many people realise their dreams and start to make them happen.
Who would have thought? It turned out great. I have purpose and I love what I do (but just for the record, now that I have some life experience I think that if I had done film production, I bet it would have worked out well too). So as we begin I want you to consider. What do you think you can’t do that you actually really want to, and how can you take the first step to having a go?

alive
If your time came to an end, what would the angels say about your life? Were you happy? Did you consider what you wanted? Did you do these things? Did you look for the answers when you didn’t know? Did you work out what was important and follow the dreams in your heart? Did you take time to ask questions and find out what you feel you are really meant to do?
As I sit here writing this I know it is so poignant in my life today. Years ago I wrote a list of goals. Things I wanted to do. Setting up my business (tick), having a close group of caring friends (tick), making a difference on projects I care about (tick). Some done, some still to do, for sure!
One of my ‘still to be realised dreams’ is to live on the beach somewhere warm (no tick… yet). I know many people have that dream or see it as a pipedream, but for me I find a huge amount of peace and joy being by the sea, whether the sun is shining or the storms are raging (wow what an exciting experience, I think the sea is awesome and so inspiring). I have been living in London for the last ten years, I love the excitement, diversity and immense opportunities here, but for some reason I have never felt 100% at home. I guess my explorer (for more information see the work of Dr Helen Fisher) spirit wants me to keep journeying, keep life exciting and leave London. But the reality is it is just not practical to leave (just because I want to), so I have worked to make a living here as fulfilling for this season as possible.
Over the last number of years I seriously looked into opportunities abroad. But the reality was I could not make them work. The ‘doors’, no matter how hard I pushed, would not open. I tried but I could not just ‘up sticks’ and live a life in the sun, not if I wanted to fulfil the core parts of who I am as well. Not really.
I am here, and I have things to do here. So what do I do? I keep doing life. I look to enjoy my situation for now, being thankful for what I have. I set up my business and I keep exploring international options. But whilst I work it out I keep getting up and doing what I have to do, finding the sunshine in my day to day.
I refuse to be dead whilst I am alive. I refuse to do the grind just because I have to. I do it because I actually want to. We choose most things we do. I choose to stay here whilst exploring other things. I will fulfil my dream. Who knows, if I can make this a success, a few months in the sun will come easily, it won’t happen right now, but it will happen. I will make decisions and do the things I want to do, because I only live once. And just so you know it seems that after all my waiting, the sunshine door maybe ajar for me after all. What’s your dream? What do you need to do? How will you start to take the first step towards it? What attitude change might you need to make, if you can’t realise your dream right now?

want
Do you should, or do you want? How many times do you do things because you feel you should, rather than because you want to? OK, now there does need to be a balance, and no, you can’t spend your whole life doing everything you want (a single life is very different from the responsibilities of marriage and children). But it is important that we make choices to do the things we want to do, the things that ultimately make us happy, however we define that. How do you define happiness? Do you know what you value, the things that are important to you?
For years, I would go to the right parties, hosted the right parties, and do things most nights of the week to make other people (particularly boyfriends) happy. But inside I just wanted to be doing different things. I was being motivated by what I thought I should be doing, rather than by what I wanted and by what excited me. I was looking to please o