"We really should meet up!" I said, for the third or fourth time.

"I know" said Vinay, "we have tried a few times haven't we?  "Something always seems to come up and we don't make it."

So we set another date and the morning came - some 8 months after we had first met and discussed meeting up.  After a networking meeting we sat down to chat with no fixed agenda - just to see where the similarities in our businesses existed and if we could help each other.

I went first, telling Vinay about my vision for Real Success and how it is bringing personal and business coaching together in a new, more natural and intuitive way than traditional business coaching.

Vinay agreed with everything I said and it became clear that he had a vision to bring a more natural and intuitive approach to leadership and getting the best out of your people.  I agreed with everything he said too.

Then we talked more and realised that our two businesses could compliment each other completely, and that in the future, the approach taken by each of our businesses could form a seamless support structure for business owners and leaders in all sizes of business.

We talked more and discovered that we had a very similar educational background, possessed similar self limiting beliefs, and shared a common view of the future in business and in life.

Then the big idea came.

We agreed to set up a conference of people who share a common view of how business should be conducted in the future.  We set a date.  We agreed I'd send out an invitation (watch this space). We didn't decide all the details there and then as we knew the structure would take its own form over the coming weeks.

So what's the point of this article?

Sometimes we reach for opportunities to meet with people. We ask at networking meetings for particular names of contacts and we get frustrated when progress is slow.  We can get angry when people cancel appointments and our seemingly planned diary gets messed about.

But go with the flow...

Vinay and I agreed that if we HAD met earlier, we would not have been able to have the conversation that we then had when we did meet.  Our businesses were very different 8 months ago.  In fact, we were both very different 8 months ago. Our vision of the future at that time was unclear - now it was crystal clear.  We met just at the right time.

So if you are finding that appointments are cancelled, people aren't available when you want them to be or perhaps you are uncertain of the future for your business or life - relax....   Your life and your business is unfolding just as it should.  And you'll look back at some stage in the future and understand why a meeting didn't happen when you thought it should, or why you never did meet up with the person you thought was essential for your progress.

This is synchronicity in motion.  You can choose to accept the power of synchronicity or ignore it.  You can choose to believe that synchronicity is a truth that is evident in your life and those that you meet, or you can dismiss it as mumbo jumbo new age thinking.

So is synchronicity in business a truth or a myth for you?

Allow your life to flow and you'll find out.

This article was inspired by a meeting with Vinay Palmer from Open Blue - check out his website by clicking here

Watching the 2010 Wimbledon championship, it struck me how much tennis was like life.

Sport is often a metaphor for life but certain aspects of tennis, illustrate the trials and successes that we often experience in business and life. Let me explain...

Firstly, you need to train and practice.  Even though you may have some skills and abilities that have been with you since birth, these skills need to be honed, your abilities need to be maximised and often you need a coach to help you bring these to a point that you can perform at your best.

And in business and life, we can learn and watch others perform, but we must discover our unique skills and abilities and work hard, perhaps with the help of a coach or mentor, to maximise our potential.

Then, when the game begins we need to be prepared to lose a few points and hold our nerve.  There will be games when the ball simply goes backwards and forwards and it is hard to make progress.  But as long as we win more points than we lose - we win the game.  We have to pick ourselves up when the game is not going our way.  When we lose some games, we have to remember that we can play and that one defeat does not spell the end of our dream to win.

And in business and life, we have to learn to lose from time to time.  We have to be able to pick ourselves up when things are not going our way. And just because there are obstacles in our path, we have to keep trying to succeed. 

During the game, we have to use all of our senses and our entire being to make sure we perform at our best.  This means that physically - we need to be fit and in good health.  Our mind needs to be sharp and focussed on our goal to win the game.  And we need to believe that we are destined to win. Without the belief that we can win the game, we are weakened beyond measure.

And in business and life we need to use our entire being too.  We have to be ready to be physically able to take on the demands of the stress of working for ourselves - with demands that were not previously placed upon us when we were employed.  We must set goals and remain focussed on their accomplishment.  And we must believe that we can succeed.  Without this belief, we are weakened beyond measure. 

So is tennis like business and life?

Take a shot and see...

This is a breathtaking collection of reflections from one of the world's best loved storytellers, Paulo Coelho. In this riveting collection of thoughts and stories, Paulo Coelho, the author of "The Alchemist", offers his personal reflections on a wide range of subjects from archery and music to elegance, travelling and the nature of good and evil. "Like the Flowing River" also includes jewel-like fables, packed with meaning and retold in Coelho's inimitable style. Sharing his thoughts on spirituality, life and ethics, Paulo touches you with his philosophy and invites you to go on a journey of your own.

Click on the image above to go to Amazon.

Thanks to Emmy Yeadon again for this suggestion. 

Let me know of your favourite book so that we can share it with others.

 
A true story from Solihull.

Kelly was broke.  Money was a major issue in her life and she wan't sure how she was going to get through the next month.

At work, the company she worked for had grown money plants on their own private estate and had decided to make cuttings and send them to each of their stores.

At Kelly's store, they asked someone to have a photograph taken with the money plant.  Kelly took two of her own £20 notes and placed them within the money plant and the photograph was taken.  Everyone hoped that the money plant would bring some luck to everyone at the store.  Kelly hoped too.

24 hours later, Kelly won £3500 on the Irish lottery.

Miracle or Mystical?

You decide.