kerik_admin | Keri Krieger

March 22, 2015March 22, 2015 by kerik_admin

Is it just me, or has it all gone to sh*t lately?

Today I went up to Springbrook National Park.

Its a short drive from where I live on the Gold Coast. Its been very wet and very warm for this time of year. I say that but to be honest I’m not really sure how wet or warm its meant to be. All I know is that its been summer for at least 6 months here, and I’m pretty happy with that.

One of the walks up on the Springbrook Plateau is called Purling Brook Falls. Its a stunning 4 km circuit trail down to the base of the water fall then back up.

Over 10 years ago now I lived up on Springbrook in the street that Purlingbrook Falls is on.

I walked literally 200 mtrs out my front door every morning and walked that 4 kms to start my day, I would come home meditate and journal then have my breakfast… always a giant mug of home perculated coffee and then start my day.

The year was 2002 there was no Facebook, there was certainly no instagram and the internet was dial up… Do you remember? .. ….weeeawww weeeawwww brrrrrrrr dip dip dip …… thats the sound the interwebs made literally as it was dialing up.

You knew your connection was going to be shit if after those first few dip dip dips, you went back to the weeeaws.

Back then I was an under 30 married hippy chick practicing acupuncture walking in pristine world heritage national forest, meditating, journalling and getting fits for fucks sake… and no one. knew. about it.

No-one. Cared. (and I mean that in a good way)

Not even my husband.

“How was your morning babe?” “Great, walked the Falls, chilled out went to work, it was great .. yours?”

There were no selfies, no proclamations of my feats of spiritual and physical greatness. Just me being me. This was the first time I started writing for real too.

I got the very first article I ever wrote and sent in published in Living Now magazine. I still have it. Somehow it felt too easy. Write an article. Get published. They even wanted to pay me?? Seriously???

I’ve been thinking about this a-lot lately, so I went back up there today to walk it out, feel it out and have a chat to my younger self (there’s another blog post in that one soon)

You see I’ve been asking a bunch of annoying questions of the people in my life recently. Lots of “whats the point?” I’m sure I’ve been like an annoying 4 year old on the cusp of working out their world.

What does this do? How does that work? Why would I want one of those? Specifically, what is the value of the work I do? What is the value of relationships I have and what kind of relationships do I want?

Do I want to seek out another long term partnership? What does that mean to me at this point in my life anyway?

Yup! Just another day in the over thoughtful life of Keri!! But, you know if you don’t ask the questions and live those questions, I don’t think the answers are ever going to present themselves. So I quest, and I live my splendid life and I wonder.

This wondering has taken a little while, a good 6 or 7 months have passed since I was blogging regularly. Lots has changed. There is so much I have to share with you. So much amazing work that I am now getting to do. I have this gorgeous new site, and I really want to do it justice. I want to fill it up with light and hope and have meaningful and fun conversations here.

I want to know that even though now I take selfies, and share my beach walks and invite effectively the whole bloody world in on my personal journey that there IS a point. That its helpful, that it adds value to someone somewhere. Even just one person. I want to make sure that I’m keeping true to my personal values and not falling prey to the technology we now have available.

Would I still be doing all that I am even if no-one knew anything about it. Like in the olden days? And after all this crazy deep thinking the answer is easy and hilarious.

Well YES… Der!

The changes though have not only been internal ones. I’m sure I’m not the only health practitioner/entrepreneur/ blogger to notice that the climate we’re operating in has gone to shit, lets be honest. And no I”m not talking about global warming.

I’m talking about the fear mongering, slander, and heartache that is going on within our industry online.

My heart is sore with it all. Very sore, and its making me question how I want to move forward with my work.

It’s sore for Jess Ainscough and the slander that has been perpetuated about her since her death. Its sore for my dear friends that knew her personally. In the 1500s powerful women with a voice were burnt at the stake as witches, excuse my melodrama but it feels like not much has changed.

My heart is sore for Belle Gibson. Dear God Girl what have you gone and done? We all will pay the price for this.

I was at an event last week listening to Clare Bowditch speak. Wowee what a flame of a women she is. She was talking about the artists ‘right of reply’ which exists now with the advent of social media. She was quite eloquent and heart felt in her desire for Belle to exercise her right of reply. Clare quite rightly spoke for many of us when she said ‘we want to know you care’ ‘we want to know what happened’.

All of us qualified, recognised registered or not are at risk of being tarnished with your brush.

And my heart is sore because I dearly wish to meet someone to share my splendid mad life with.

But you know, the desire to shine bright, to speak my truth and create work that is meaningful has felt awfully at odds with a lovely first date.

When I duck to the loo 20 mins in, my date is capable of googling me, reading about my divorce, abusive relationship, therapy, business goals and my last freakin holiday in Bali.

While. I’m. in. the. loo!

Pee quickly Keri he’s probably got distracted with your Face Book profile!

Hilarious really, and probably just a teeny bit OTT but honestly I know I’m not alone here?

Please don’t think I’m overrun with visions of fame and grandeur but you know what I’m talking about surely. This kind of vulnerability really makes it hard to press publish some days!

Its a funny ol time for a Gen X-er to be single……. and don’t even get me started on all these mega beards.

So for all my dear gorgeous friends who are really feeling it at the moment. Who are much more on the fore front of defending our way of life and our apparently alternative lifestyle choices.

I dedicate this post to you.

I’m back in the trenches and I’m going to all I can to be seen and shine and be the love I want to feel in the world. Thank for keeping my seat warm.

I’m back!

I’d love to hear how your doing. How do you cope in such situations? Are you doing ok?

With love

K x

January 23, 2015October 1, 2020 by kerik_admin

Over scheduled + Underproductive.

* So I first posted this in 2014 after an almost May to August work bender… I absolutely do not recommend anyone doing anything so bonkers but here’s how I mostly pulled it off and tips that now really do work to keep things sane with it gets crazy!

If you ask someone you bump into in the coffee shop or at the school drop off how their day is you’ll be quite used to hearing people say. Busy. Like busy covers everything somehow.

I caught myself saying it as I rushed from one thing to the next from one appointment to the next, even from fun enjoyable things like dinner with friends I was racing.

Now its likely that if this sounds like you, your what Dr Libby Weaver has coined a ‘rushing woman’ in her book Rushing Womens Syndrome. If you’ve had a treatment with me its at this point I would be talking to you about your Kidney energy and running on your adrenals.

What I did notice is that for me at this particular time I caught myself a good bit of the stress and the rush wasn’t just from the feeling that I had ‘so many things to do’ but from the feeling that I wasn’t actually getting the things I needed done…. and thats because I wasn’t.

I was over-scheduled and underproductive. So if this sounds like you I have a few tips that have really helped.

1. Step away from the coffee pot! I’m serious. Now I’m not going to tell you to stop drinking coffee…. although I may be suggesting that your relationship with it needs re-evaluation. Coffee is as Elmo says a ‘sometimes food’ and if you cant imagine your day being successful with out it (as I have been guilty of) then you may need some relationship counseling!

At the very least please don’t inhale that early morning cup on an empty stomach as its almost impossible to come back from the adrenalin blood sugar roller-coaster if you do. Hint …..its also almost impossible to think clearly and rationally if your brain is not getting an even stream of glucose.

2. If your were a triage nurse in a hospital how would you rate your to do list? The triage nurse is the person in charge of rating all the bleeding moaning and wounded that walk in the door so the most life threatening ailments get dealt with first. Apply this to your daily planner and the jobs that are at the bottom of this list that aren’t really that important you…

3. Delegate them Date them (for another day and time that is more spacious) or you Ditch them… seriously I have found old lists, usually in the bottom of a handbag somewhere with random stuff on the end of a list that has NEVER been done I often cant even remember why it would have warranted being put on the list in the first place. And for those times when you are truly very tightly scheduled and its just the way it is and you chose it that way (oh boy really!) Here’s three things that will get you through.

Mindfulness. You can only be where you are right now. So be there. Your breath will help with this.

So for example when your replying to emails thats all your doing. And breathing slow and steady into your belly to remind your body that there is no need to switch on adrenaline. You aren’t being chased by a saber tooth tiger your doing emails, or getting on board a plane, or treating clients. Thats it. (that thing that you do when your at you computer and you forget to breath, it has a name now, its called screen apnea, breath please people!)

And how do you stay so calm and mindful in that moment, without freaking out thinking fuck! I forgot to call xxxx.

Heres how: As far ahead as is possible and sensible set a day or a couple of days in a week depending on what sort work bender your going into and be Extremely Crazy Efficient. You sit yourself down look at the time frame of the work ahead and you brain storm every single last thing that you are going to need over that time frame for you to be organised on time well fed loved and happy. Everything. Are you going to need new warm socks, yes? well put them on the list right next to the flights and the hotel.

Heading these lists with dates or locations so you do them in order is a great way to start. So on my 30 day non-stop bender I had lists Headed Mudgee, Sydney, Melbourne, Sarah’s Party etc in order of when they were happening and on those list heart shaped post it notes with what I needed to do (I am rather visual!) I eventually sat each of these lists on top of piles of clothing or equipment that was needed for each event so as I got to it I could cross reference anything else I needed to grab as it happened. It’s much easier to sit down and do just the one type of thing and get it all done.

So go through and order everything that needs to be ordered, sourcing gifts booking hotels and flights. Then you know its all done and your not trying to multitask which we know that really doesn’t work. You might choose to have this all digitally organised (I am deeply attached to my post it notes) however you do it, having it all laid out really helps so when your tired and not possibly at your best you know its all waiting there for you. I’m a pretty small operation but this works even better in a bigger set up so you can send it out to your assistants to pick things up without having to hunt around.

Last but almost most importantly is Boundaries. Serious rock your socks boundaries. For this one we kinda need to bring back that triage nurse, where the triage nurse is now in charge of incoming phone calls and email requests for your time and energy. For a relatively short term work bender the answer will quite simply be no. Fullstop. No I’m completely fully booked ( or whatever your preferred term is) until the end of the month. Now the really important thing here is to NOT book yourself up the second your get back from the Bender (as I am affectionately calling it ) ……because then the bender isn’t really over, and truly you need to stop at some point. A good triage nurse will know if its really important eg that amazing meeting with that really fabulous contact you’ve been chasing and then a few other things might need to shuffle. Having said that timing really is everything and sometimes actually, quite often people will be prepared for you not to be available at the drop of a hat and it truly helps to cultivate this in your personal and business relationships. Next week I talk about how you recuperate from your little bender burn out. xx

in Biz magic / Coaching 0 comments