New Site and New Blog!

I am absolutely thrilled to announce I have established a totally new website - still at www.workleisure.com but with a whole new image, layout and passion. It includes a blog so this one will be closing down.

So it's not goodbye but HELLO from a totally new location. Come and join me at http://www.workleisure.com/enjoy-being-you-blog.html

What Do You Need?

Perhaps you can sense that something is missing in your life, that you are experiencing a sense of unease about the direction your life is taking you. It could be you need to
* cope better with prolonged excessive stress, at work or in your personal life
* harmonize your work/life with an energizing mix of enjoyable interests at work, home and play
* ease a fear of your impending need to start making the transition from full-time work to whatever your next stage of life might prove to be
* come out of the fog that has been shrouding your life energy since the loss of a loved one.

If you feel the time is right to start following passions that you have ignored, put off, or forgotten, I can help you. Start by enjoying a stress-easing browse of the mass of helpful information in my various articles on my website at http://www.workleisure.com/resources/articles.html You won't be interrupted and I'm only an email or a phone call away if you need any help.

Revolutionising People Management Investment Programs

"People Management Investment" instead of human resource management; "emotional energy management" instead of work life balance; "expanding life potential" instead of staff development program. Whether or not any of those terms do it for you as a leader and/or manager, if you really want to attract, retain and develop the best people for your line of business, you cannot help but agree its time to change our whole thinking about workplace culture.

Such changes need to regard work and everything else people do in their lives as something of a seamless blending. You cannot get the best out of people if you don't see them as whole human beings.

I've just been watching some commentary on what may well be a "hung parliament" for Australian national government. I was excited at suggestions that this provided a fabulous opportunity to start changing the whole spectrum of national politics from one of what I call party protection (parties come first and the needs of Australia second) to one in which all Members of Parliament debate issues along non-party lines. A huge hope perhaps but something's gotta change!

It got me excited to sit down at my computer and hammer out a similar line of thinking I have had about managing people in business.

The whole concept of work in the 21st century pressure cooker lifestyle has changed forever. It is time to throw out the traditional 20th - no 19th! - century way in which workers are managed in business today. To my mind, for any business to be truly successful over the next decade, they almost have to see work as the means by which people can blossom to their full potential, rather than the other way around. The world and its economy revolves around people - first, last and foremost. Get the people right and you get the business right.

Crazy thinking? Maybe but business needs to totally upend the way it invests in its people.

Writing this blogpost has got me fired up!!! What about you? :-)

C'mon let's have your comments.

Mining the Gold of Silence

My Lifestyle Review workshop participants were doing some writing exercises last Thursday. There was almost deathly silence as each person pondered on what the exercises meant for their own lives. Eventually one person sat back, staring into space. I asked if he had finished. Quickly he demurred, “no, just deep in thought”.

I had fallen into the trap of treating silence as a vacuum to be abhorred, of being out of place in our fast lifestyle, an unproductive and wasteful use of limited time. I had been reminded that silence is essential for liberating our best thoughts and emotions. It’s when we allow our higher self to direct our life journey.

Workshops are a wonderful opportunity for intensive discussion. But the purest gold is mined during the times of silence.

Are You Special?

An apple tree is the only plant that can grow apples. That alone doesn’t make it special. What makes it special is when it does what it was uniquely created to do - grow apples. As a human being, you are unique in so many ways. But to be special you need to be doing what you are uniquely created to do. What are you uniquely created to do?


You were born with unique potential. Your resources are your natural skills, abilities and talents. But the spark that ignites your potential is lit by your passions. Everything you are passionate about at work, home and play helps to maximize your potential.


You can stick with the crowd and be inconspicuous. Or you can follow your passions and be special.

This is my latest "Making Life Work" Thought. I distribute these Thoughts to subscribers free of charge. All you need to do is to email me at peter@workleisure.com and ask to be added to the list of subscribers. For examples of other Thoughts, go to http://www.workleisure.com/products/MLWTProducts.html

Leisure is As Important As Work

I have been asked a number of times over the years, "Do you have a big hairy audacious goal(BHAG), a goal so big that others might think it is totally outrageous?

Having professionally observed human behaviour in leisure for almost 40 years, my BHAG has long been:

As many people in the world as possible to realize and apply the fact that leisure is as important as work in maximizing one's personal growth, development and potential.

I sense it isn't as outrageous a goal as it was when I first established Work Leisure International in 2003.

What is 'leisure'? First, it is not simply 'free time'. Leisure is a positive state of mind, produced from enjoying any freely-chosen interest - physical, mental, or spiritual - pursued purely for its intrinsic benefits, that makes you feel good about yourself.

For those who say their work is their leisure, no matter how much you enjoy your work it is driven by economic demands. While I love my work, my main leisure interest is singing (see http://www.workleisure.com/resources/ChoirArticle.html). The benefits that singing has given to my total wellbeing, work productivity, stress management, work/life harmony and self esteem are positively incalculable.

It also demonstrates why I believe in work life harmony rather than work life balance. It's not a matter of how much time you give to leisure but the effects of a passionate leisure interest. A short time each week of experiencing this sort of interest can drive the rest of the week.

For generations now, the traditional work ethic has driven human development. Managers saw leisure as a waste of good productive effort and even a competitor to work. Five major factors have altered that attitude:
1) the social revolution of recent decades,
2) the new workforce generated by that revolution, who work to live rather than live for work,
3) rising burnout as a result of prolonged excessive business stress and pressure,
4) the change from centralized knowledge in the hands of top management to decentralized knowledge and expertise across the organisation/the globe, and
5) the disappearance of the principle of the employer providing "a job for life".

People now make their own minds up about the nature of work and leisure. Leisure is again back in vogue as a valued feature of life.

I call it the new Life Ethic, accentuating the fact that work and leisure are both important in maximizing personal growth and potential.

Everything I do in my business is geared to pursuing my Big Hairy Audacious Goal.

If you think this is a great Goal, you can help by sharing this message with others in your network.

Invest In Your Most Valuable Asset - You

It's important to make money to live and maximise your financial worth. It's equally important to maximise your self worth by investing in being your true self, not in being someone you think others expect you to be. Make the most of your unique potential, by investing your personal energies in your natural-born talents, skills and passions. Only then will you achieve the sort of life success reserved solely for you.

I have over 20 000 testimonials to my integrity

I am delighted to report that readership of my online articles on the Best Management Articles site alone has this week passed 20 000 visits and the number continues to grow daily. Seven of the articles have each so far attracted in excess of 1000 readers. The most read article - "Why Work Life Harmony is Better Than Work Life Balance" is in the list of Most Read Articles of All Time on that site, with 2080 visitors to that page as of today. Go to http://www.bestmanagementarticles.com/DisplayAuthor.aspx?Peter_Nicholls=&id=554

Those statistics do not of course include visits to the various articles on my own website at http://www.workleisure.com/resources/articles.html the statistics of which are not so clear to me. Nor do they include statistics on various other article directories at which my articles appear, or numerous general business sites who have seen fit to pick up and publish various of my articles.

The reason I tell you these statistics is only partly to feel good about myself (and I do! :) ).

More importantly it's to make you aware that there can be no better testimonial than the fact of having well over 20 000 readers of my numerous articles to date - only a handful of whom I would know and fewer still who would know me. Integrity is very hard to win on the internet and I believe I can claim to have achieved online integrity.

One final point. The articles present not so much new information as they do insight. If I can help you in any way - no matter where you are in the world - send me a message at peter@workleisure.com

From the mouths of babes

"I am not a hero.I am simply an ordinary person who had a dream and with hard work I achieved it". Nelson Mandella? Gandhi? No...16 year-old Jessica Watson of Australia, who today arrived safely in Sydney having become the youngest person to circumnavigate the world solo by yacht.

What an inspiration to us all...including this 70 year old guy (me). Jessica has given me renewed inspiration and hope to achieve my own dreams.

A Wealthy Life

You invest your money carefully to maximize your financial wealth. Are you investing just as carefully in your natural talents to maximize your potential? Spend a little time this week enjoying a freely-chosen interest you love doing just for the hell of it. You may be surprised at the extent to which you develop your natural talents - known, unknown, latent, or forgotten - for work, home and play.

Unlearn your Limits

Follow a passion and unlearn your limits

The Value of a Park

A park is an outside area providing inner peace.

A Thought for Thought Leaders

The seemingly infinite growth of Information technology is creating a need for entrepreneurs to go beyond being infopreneurs (providers of information) and become what I call insightpreneurs (providers of insight).

In trying to define insight, I was reminded of a time I saw a person being taught to karate-chop a piece of timber bare-handed. The secret was in focusing her mind on an impact point beyond the piece of timber. She split the timber as though it were paper.

Insight is much like karate – focusing the mind intuitively beyond the issue to the bigger picture of causes and effects within which the issue finds its being. The changed perception of the issue opens up a whole new dimension of unexplored options for its resolution.

The world desperately needs insightpreneurs. Thought leaders who can perceptively comprehend and discern issues in new, unexplored ways. Without them our thought processes are likely to be crushed under the exponentially-increasing weight of information overload.

Is your life glass half full or half empty?

Do you see your life so far like a glass half full or a glass half empty? I prefer to see it as half empty. Why? Because so far I have been enjoying life to the full and I intend to ensure it is filled to overflowing by the time I "drop off the perch".

The Invisible Me

I have come to love writing poetry from time to time. I find it therapeutic and a very personal way of publicly expressing the real Peter Nicholls, the person I love to be. The message of course applies equally to you and to everyone you meet. As you read it, let the real you free and enjoy being your true authentic self.

Then allow yourself to take charge of creating your future, so that you blossom into the mature human being you were born to be. It's never too late.

The Invisible Me

There is a me you cannot see,

A me that even I can’t see,

The person I was born to be,

The soul that lives inside of me.

Sometimes I see a fantasy,

The younger me I used to be,

A Peter Pan, forever free

To stay the person I love to be.

You would see me differently,

Perhaps someone you want to see,

A portrait that you paint of me,

The person you presume I’d be.

Please accept the reality

Of an inner me I long to free,

To be the person I was meant to be,

And to love the person I know as me.

Our common responsibility

Is not to assume who others might be,

Don’t put them in boxes, nor steal the key

That allows their talents to set them free.

We all are different, you must agree,

Unique in our talent and ability,

We yearn to allow the world to see

What we can do and give and be.

My message for the world to agree

Is for you to be you and me to be me,

To follow our passions and set them free,

To enjoy being you and enjoy being me.

Retirement Planning isn't just about the money

Google Alert on my computer gives me a weekly report on anything written online to do with retirement planning. I kid you not that everything I see on retirement planning is about the money. That's of course very important, or there wouldn't be so many articles written about it. But I seem to be the only person on the planet who takes a professional interest and provides professional help about what you are going to DO in retirement. It's a very scary subject for most working people and perhaps they want to avoid discussing it.

That's a real pity. It is potentially the most stimulating stage of one's life (and I am now 70!) - having the chance to plan life on your terms rather than on the terms of others. That includes any decision to keep on working - only now you make all the decisions on your own terms - what sort of work, how many hours, what goals you want to achieve, and so on.

You can get a taste of what I mean by reading my article "I Wanna Be a Kid Again", at http://www.workleisure.com/resources/Iwannabeakid.html . As a client of mine once defined retirement " hey, what's for dessert?? I've just finished the main course and I'm still hungry!"

Connecting With Others

I’m presently reading “Anywhere” a book probing the fact that soon anybody and anything,anywhere in the world, can be connected through a variety of wire-less media. The potential is beyond our comprehension.

It’s exciting, challenging, and not a little scary, just thinking about it. We all crave connection with others. While we may be an island unto ourselves, that island can be a very lonely place.

But systems are just that – systems. It’s all a matter of staying in control. Only you can decide what you enjoy and what makes you feel good about yourself. Sharing mutual interests with others can deepen that sense of enjoyment. Systems give you choice options to help you find the right people.

But the right to choose remains your most powerful weapon, one you should never surrender, least of all to a system.

The work ethic has a lot to answer for

The work ethic has a lot to answer for, not because work is so important, but because it has for generations demeaned the value of interests outside of work. We were taught to believe that business solutions can only be found in the workplace. We are now beginning to recognize that life outside of work has a major impact on work productivity, job satisfaction and workforce stability.

I have developed a structured approach that facilitates business managers and their teams doing a review of their lifestyle at work, home and play. Various business people who have done my workshop say it not only helped them establish adjustments they want to make to their lifestyle, they also got important workplace benefits from the process.

The business benefits they mention are summarised at http://www.workleisure.com/BusinessBenefits.html . Their points are practical and potentially extremely beneficial for any manager who wants to attract, keep and more closely engage with team members and staff generally.

It's worth a read. And if you are interested in what I do, my next workshop is in Adelaide on 14 April. For full details, go to http://www.workleisure.com/Workshop.html

Your Emotional Energy is Your Responsibility

The only person who can manage your emotional and mental energy is you.
Only you can manage your stress (most stress is self-imposed anyway).
Only you can manage your resilience.
Only you can manage your mix of work and personal life energies.
Others may influence your thinking but you are totally in charge of how you respond.

These core principles underly my forthcoming Lifestyle Review workshop, Thursday 4th March 2010, 9 30 am – 1.30 pm Norths Rugby Leagues Club, 12 Abbott Street Cammeray NSW
And also in Adelaide: Wednesday 14 April, 9am- 1pm at the Education Development Centre Milner Street Hindmarsh

Go to www.workleisure.com/Workshop.html for full details and a registration form.

I provide a positive, thought-provoking small-group environment in which you focus entirely on your strengths, talents and potential and come to your own unique personal decisions.

When you lose yourself in an interest you love, you find yourself.Only you know how to enjoy yourself. My expertise is in helping you re/discover the Enjoyment Factors that drive your life’s energy.

I can’t give you the energy you need right now, but I can teach you how to find your own energy anytime you need it.

Acknowledge you are responsible for all of your life choices. Choose this workshop to re-evaluate your natural-born talents, skills and the passions that drive and sustain your long-term potential for true life success.

But you must act now! Max 12 places and there’s only a few places left!

I look forward to having you share in what is always a supportive, friendly session.
(A frequent compliment I get is “Peter is a really good listener”!)