Be all you can be and more

We all have the opportunity to start over if we need to, says Carolyne McCourtie, if we are really willing to take responsibility for ourselves and our own mindset.

It is all about attitude. “Like attracts like,” she says. “If you focus on what isn’t right in your life you are likely to create more of the same because we all look for validation. Every day truly is a new beginning and an opportunity to change.”

Too many people are stuck doing what they don’t want to do, says McCourtie, because they haven’t acknowledged their own power.

“I borrow from Ghandi when I say be the change that you want to see in the world. The only person you have power over is yourself — if you change, the outcome will change.”

If you go along to McCourtie’s session on Wednesday afternoon, expect to enjoy yourself. “My style is based on having fun,” she says. “My session will be very interactive because I believe that you don’t learn anything if you don’t experience it for yourself.”

Rather than remedy those things we are not good at, McCourtie believes we should focus on the things we are good at.

“When people say you need to strengthen a particular area, my response is that that person (you) is not usually interested in that area. We are good at the things we are interested in and we are not good at the things we are not interested in.”

Results are driven from having real power, and real power, according to McCourtie, is internal, not external.

However, she says her workshops and coaching sessions are not about healing the hurt people have suffered.

“I don’t like focusing on the negative,” she says.

Instead, her focus is drawing on what needs to be done now and how to take that forward.

“My approach is hands-on and practical,” she says, “I share my philosophy and illustrate it with real life examples and then offer tools people can implement themselves to get the results they want.”

Those tools are, she says, accessible and easy tools.

“They are about taking responsibility for yourself and making that a conscious choice. Deciding what it is you want and how others can help you to get it.”

These can be intangible — such as focusing on what it is you want to do and helping you to realise that you deserve to have what you want; to tangible — sitting down and physically writing out what it is you want, formulating your goals and writing them up in an action plan.

McCourtie uses some simple techniques.

“If someone is in a negative state of mind, I might ask them to focus on what went right in their day. Then I might take them through thinking about what actions they need to do and what conversations they might have to have to make them happen — and then I hold them accountable for that.”

Accountability, says McCourtie, is very important. “It is not about me telling people they’re great — it’s about assisting people to move forward.”

McCourtie says that people often block themselves, which limits the choices they have.

“You may limit yourself, and your experiences by not being more conscious to and thorough with what you decide for yourself,” she says.

“You have to cross check with yourself to see whether your choices are in fact in line with what you want.”

McCourtie admits it is sometimes difficult for some people to accept her modus operandi.

“A lot of the things I say, if you’ve been educated a certain way, are challenging. But I spent 14 years in the marketing, communication and advertising industries, and I found that I was surrounded by highly educated and successful people and while they had made significant achievements, they faced challenges because they hadn’t really tapped into their own power.”

McCourtie’s philosophy is spelt out in her bookThe Power of You,which has at its core 32 beliefs.