The other day I received an email from a trainer that said although they loved being a trainer, the job they were in meant they ended up training on topics that they found boring...so they found it hard to get themselves motivated, let alone their students!
Well, if you have been receiving my emails for a while you will know I am PASSIONATE about training and what I do.
So I have decided to reveal how I started training, how I can now share my love of training and Icebreakers with tens of thousands of people and more importantly...
...the secret to doing what YOU love!
Well..... It all started in a hotel toilet.......
“What?!?” I hear you say, yes that is right it all started in a hotel toilet!
I was 16 years old. I didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life but it was time to make a decision.
All I knew was that I loved to be around people.
So I decided to go and get a job in a hotel and see if that was any fun.
Well you know what, I actually enjoyed scrubbing toilets, making beds and cleaning bathrooms! Not sure why, because I don’t get very excited about cleaning my bathroom at home nowadays!
Looking back, I am pretty sure it was the running around, the camaraderie, the teamwork with the others in the hotel that used to excite me.
Well, pretty soon I got promoted to a waitress, where I learnt to silver serve...I wasn't very good at it and would often end up throwing peas over my customers. However, the hotel owners seemed to think I was doing OK and moved me onto reception...
...sometimes, when the owners were out, I even got to look after the hotel!
I loved it! I had found my career!!
So a year or two later I headed off to University where I studied Hotel Management.
And then the world beckoned!
I travelled around Australia and worked in Hotels.
I ran Hotels in the Ski Resorts in France.
I ran Chalets in Spain.
It was incredibly hard work, but I loved it!
Eventually I had to return to the UK and by chance ended up in catering recruitment and this is when I first took on a proper training role.
I trained the staff on the skills they needed to get the job.
I taught them all sorts of tricks with their spoon and forks for silver serving...especially the one that stopped them throwing peas at customers!
And I discovered that I really loved standing up in front of a group of people, giving them a skill and having fun at the same time.
A year later, it was time to move on again and this time I landed my dream job as Training Manager in a 4 Star Hotel in the centre of London....
...at least, I thought it was my dream job.
Every 6 months, I had to train:
Fire Safety
Food Hygiene
Health & Safety
Disability Discrimination
Training courses on subjects as dry as this over and over again can become a very tedious.
For those attendees who had worked in the hotel for 20 years it was even MORE tedious!
So that was my challenge!
I HAD to make it fun!
I HAD to make the staff really want to come along!
I HAD to get my creative juices flowing!
Finally I created the best sessions ever and ended up having to turn people away...
...EVEN for the "Fire Safety" course!
This was simply unheard of!!
After 3 long years working extremely hard for the hotel chain I had worked my way up the corporate ladder to become the "Area Human Resources and Training Manager".
But it eventually got to the point where I was getting caught up in a life of commuting, long hours and working hard for someone else.
This was NOT what I wanted.
There HAD to be a way to focus more of my time doing what I loved!
There HAD to be a way to reach more people!
There HAD to be a way to make more impact with my training!
And so it finally came to the crunch...
...it was time to go solo.
I would do this for myself.
I would really focus on what I loved doing
I would spend my time developing and using my core skills.
And so Gold Star Training was born....and my journey as Gold Star Training is a story in itself.
But here's the secret...
...no matter what I was doing I would ALWAYS look for just ONE thing that I loved in that job.
I'd then focus on it and put my heart and soul into it.
Do you think "Fire Safety" was my PASSION?
Do you think handling cutlery was my PASSION?
No!
But I found one thing I could LOVE about the job and become PASSIONATE about.
So what about YOU?
Do you spend your time doing what you love?
Is there something that you could focus on that will get you back in touch with what you are passionate about?
Take a moment and think of what you really love doing....
...is it something in your work that really gets you fired up?
...or is it a hobby that you love?
...or maybe it is a place you go to that you really enjoy?
Take a pen and paper now and write a list of all the different things that you love to do when you are at work and when you are not at work.
Now take a good look at that list and ask yourself this question:
"What one thing can I do today that is going to give me more of the things that I love doing?"
Share your list here..... Click on "Comments" below...
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