Newsletter January 2009 - 3 ideas to help you achieve your goals for 2009

Barely three weeks into January - plenty enough time for mostNew Years Resolutions to have been broken and forgotten. But what's a constructive way to deal with the"Three Weeks into New Year Irresoluteness phenomenon"?

Today I'm going to suggest three useful ideas that can help a lot more than New Year's Resolution.First, individual Life Coaching. Even if it does nothing more, one-to-one life coaching provides a regular boost to your motivation and some objective feedback to your progressin achieving your important goals. Good Life Coaching will offer much more than this, and the ideasthat I use most with clients come from practical philosophy (what would a wise person advise about this?),,positive psychology (what does research tell us will help me become happier?) and cognitive therapy(how can I change the way I think to change the way I feel?). I've just opened up some extra slotsfor life coaching in Central London on Friday afternoon/early evening. If you are interested in findingout more about how this can help you, drop me an e-mail at tim@timlebon.com

A second acitivity that can be very useful and enjoyable is to attend an adult education class. London mayhave many faults, but lack of good adult education is not amongst them. Adult Education classes at centralLondon locations like the City Lit near Covent Garden and City University in Islington are a great way of getting the brain stimulated instead of vegging out in front of the TV.I'm running three courses that might be of interest in the next week.There's a one-off workshop on Philosophical Life Coaching next Saturdayat the City Lit - no previous experience of philosophy or coaching required - and two ten-week courses at City University, on Personal Development ThroughPhilosophy (Tuesday evenings) and Positive Psychology (Thursday evenings) respectively.None of these courses require previous experience of philosophy or psychology, and allthat is needed from you is an interest in the subject and a desire for it to help you in practice.

A third practice that may help you achieve your goals this year is to read some good personal development books.
Regular readers will know that I am not one of those people who disparage all personal development or "self-help" books.
Sure, Aristotle, Sartre, Marx and Darwin were more original and profound thinkers than those that feature in the self-help section
of your local book shop - but how readable and practical are their great works?
The best self-help books distill this wisdom into understandable and practical advice -making it as simple as it can be, but no simpler.
This year you will see that whilst the top few classics remain much the same as last year, there are some new entries lower down the chart.
The new entries cover mindfulness, relationships, and changing habits - all very important topics. The recommended books on them provide
accessible and well-researched introductions. Hope that some of these books are of use for you.
1. The Seven Habits of Highly effective People Stephen Covey (1)
2. Man's Search for Meaning Viktor Frankl (2)
3. The Feeling Good Handbook David Burns (3)
4. Overcoming Low Self-Esteem Melanie Fennell (4)
5. The Conquest of Happiness Bertrand Russell (5)
6. The Mindful Way Through Depression Mark Williams, John Teasdale et al (-)
7. Don't Sweat the Small Stuff -and it's all small stuff Richard Carlson (6)
8. The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work John M. Gottman& Nan Silver (-)9. Changing for Good James Prochaska et al(-)10. How to Win Friends and Influence People Dale Carnegie (9)
Bubbling Under
Emotional Intelligence Daniel Goleman (7)
The Consolations of Philosophy Alain de Botton (10)
The Art of Happiness Howard Cutler and the Dalai Lama (8)
Happiness - Mathieu Ricard (-)
The How of Happiness Sonja Lyubomirsky (-)
Of course this list just reflects my personal opinion - I wonder what books we'll find helpful in 2009 ...

Whichever of these three roads you choose, or if you choose your own path, I wish youevery success with all your dreams and objectives for 2009

Tim LeBon

http://www.timlebon.com

Newsletter 6 - New Years Rules for Happiness and January courses

Regular readers may recall that in general I am not in favour of New Years Resolutions
(See last year's article New Years Resolutions? You must be nuts ...)
However, today's Times features a really interesting piece by none other than the Chief Rabbi,
Jonathan Sacks, entitled Count your blessings and begin to change your life
The apparent contradiction is resolved because Sacks isnt so much recommending unrealistic
resolutions as pretty wise-looking rules for living well. You can read Sacks's whole article online, but here's a list of his 10 recommendations.(the bits in brackets are my gloss on what he says)


Read more of this article .... including 5 more tips for living happily suggested by Tim LeBon

(The above article is the most recent article on Tim LeBon's Socrates Satisfied blog).

One of Sachs's tips is to engage in livelong learning - here are details of 4 courses that may be just the ticket ..

4 courses in practical philosophy and psychology starting in early January

If learning, personal development or well-being are amongst your new year's goals, then you might like to sign up for one of 4 courses I'm running in the next couple of weeks.
They are:
Frankl and the Search for Meaning
Friday 18th Jan 2008 1030-1730 Location: City Lit, Central London
Viktor Frankl's ideas can inspire everyone aiming to find more meaning and purpose in their life.
This lively and highly-rated workshop will help you start the New Year focusing on this important issue.
Call 020 7831 7831 to enrol or visit the City Lit website

Philosophical Life Coaching
Saturday 19th Jan 2008 1030-1630 Location: City Lit, Central London
" “Move over Carole Caplin. The new gurus of self-help are philosophical counsellors from beyond the grave” proclaimed the Independent recently.
Lead a more satisfying and meaningful life by using insights and methods from the great thinkers. This introduction will show you some of the most interesting ways it can be of help.
No previous experience required
Call 020 7831 7831 to enrol or visit the City Lit website


Personal Development through Philosophy

This 10 week course will show how studying philosophy can help you discover how they can be true to themselves, make wiser decisions and develop more enlightened values.

Course Information

Course Code:	CE1944
Course Fee:	£100
Start date:	Tuesday 15 January 2008
Class Time:	6.30pm – 8.30pm
Number of Classes:	10 weekly classes
Accreditation:	10 credits at level 1

To enrol call 020 7040 8268 between 9.30am and 5.00pm.or visit the City Uni website

Positive Psychology

Positive psychology is the growing branch of psychology that focuses on the positive, including strengths, positive states and well-being. This course will have a particular emphasis on how positive psychology can make you more effective in your working life in terms of your strengths, emotional intelligence, creativity, decision making, meaning and purpose.

Course Code:	CE1941
Course Fee:	£180
Start date:	Thursday 17 January 2008
Class Time:	6.30pm – 8.30pm
Number of Classes:	10 weekly classes
Accreditation:	10 credits at level 1

Call 020 7831 7831 to enrol or visit the City Lit website