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MEET YOUR INNER MENTOR – FAQs
Please email me: deana@breakfastpeople.co
Oh yes: great minds… That is one of the key use cases for the meeting. Please mark it in your calendar as “Meeting With Deana” and say you are unavailable. By the way, you can do that any time if you need space for yourself, not just on Tuesdays at 2pm.
Yes – please ask them to register by clicking here.
As a solopreneur and/or working from home, it can be very isolating sometimes. I really miss the days I had a team – knowing other people are working alongside me is very motivating. Having deadlines to others as well as their company means I show up for my own big work. I also love to hear I’m supporting other people to focus on their big work – win/win.
If someone was persistently interrupting or behaving inappropriately then obvs I would use my right click of rejection. But (a) that would be pretty exciting and dramatic, so worth being on the call to see it, yes? and (b) it’s very very very unlikely to happen!!!
One attendee said that before she joined, her inner rebel started saying “oh you don’t need to bother with that Activation Hour thing!”. Isn’t it GREAT that she noticed that? I feel like that every week too! Which is exactly why I need the commitment of being there. Talk about a great opportunity to practice overcoming that voice, which will be showing up in lots of other places too. I use “I am going to join even if I don’t feel like it” and then I’m so happy and grateful afterwards that I did show up.
Neither. If we get so big my internet starts getting boggy then I will set a limit. We are very far away from that!
And I am there every week no matter what.
So far people haven’t! I give a quick intro then it’s followed by quiet working. I give people a 15m reminder, and a 5m reminder before the end. Then people often just say “thanks, gotta go, bye!”.
No, whatever you want to use the hour for is fine. Some people use it for one big thing, others have a list and churn through it, or use it to catch up on email. You could even be doing some yoga! Whatever you want to use the time for is perfect, and you can do it knowing you are in good company.
No. Any recording would only appeal to very niche tastes. There’s nothing that happens apart from people thinking or typing in silence. All the action is happening inside our massive brains.
No, it’s just virtual co-working. I say hello and welcome, then we get started. There’s not a lot of talking, believe me!
I’m hosting Activation Hour in the hope that other people will join me while I focus on writing and creating.
In the spirit of full disclosure: people who register for Activation Hour are automatically signed up in the system to receive my weekly email Flow on Fridays. It’s a short article, designed to help you get your big work done. You can unsubscribe any time of course, heartbreaking as that is for me.
We post what we’re working on and then get on with it. Sometimes people post updates – my favourite so far has been, “I have done the first thing on my list so now I’m going to get a doughnut as a reward”. That’s it as far as chat goes.
During the Hour of Activation we stay on mute as part of creating a focussed environment.
However, if you’re a real chatter bunny and/or find it helpful to talk through your work, I do stay on the call until 3.30pm in case anyone wants to hang out or talk about their big work (my favourite topic!)
It is compulsory for you to be there for the whole session once you have joined. JUST KIDDING! Of course, you can leave the call any time.
Yes! I will give you a wave but then we’ll keep on going.
By the way, congratulations on activating yourself onto Activation Hour even though your day went boom. You’re truly modelling resilience and commitment to your big work there, well done.
If you’ve changed your mind or you can’t come for any reason, you don’t need to let me know. I’m on the call come rain or shine, whether anyone comes or not, because I’m working on developing consistency in my activation….
Yes! If it helps to have all of them in your calendar and then decide on the day whether to join, that’s fine. There’s no obligation to come along. The idea is that it’s a support there if you need it.
No. You sign up once and I send you the Zoom link. I use the same link every week to make it easy, so you can just save that in your calendar. You can then join as many or as few sessions as you like.
It helps if you can signal that you can hear us at the start of the call – either via your mic or the chat box. Then, we mute while we work.
No, please come as you are and be seen or unseen as you prefer!
Great question. Well, I don’t know about you but I generally don’t need help with motivation in the morning. But by early afternoon, I’ve run out of steam and it can be soooo hard to keep being productive. I need some structure mid afternoon to help me keep the momentum going.
No, Activation Hour is totally free of charge.
It’s a Zoom call, and I’m on there from just before 2pm. We take about 5 minutes to let people join, say hello and get settled.
I invite you to share on the chat what you’re working on during Activation Hour.
Then we’re off! Everyone goes on mute and/or turns off camera and gets cracking. BLISS.
I give you a reminder when there’s 15 minutes to go, and again when it’s 5 minutes.
Then we say goodbye! Simple and effective, like all the best things in life.
I also stay on the call for another 30 minutes in case anyone wants to have a chat or talk about their big work, as an optional extra.
When we are tackling our big work, sometimes we don’t want to get started so we keep putting it off. We often call this procrastination, which is avoiding something we don’t want to do. The antidote to procrastination is ACTIVATION! Meaning, we get started on something we do want to do! A key ingredient of Activation is knowing other people care about what we are working on, and will notice if it doesn’t get done. I have set up Activation Hour to help me start consistently on my big work, by knowing at Tuesday 2pm each week, other people are going to show up for their big work too. It could also be called Deep Work Hour or Focus Hour, or even, Quiet Time.
Yes, you will need a Zoom online account in order to access the online session.
You will need to be in a quiet space, away from distractions.
You will be sent joining instructions after you’ve signed up.
Brilliant women like you
Leaners-in: looking for a promotion or a new role
Leaners-out: rebels, questioners & women cutting their own path
Anyone with an idea to explore
Working mums doing the juggle
People working through a life change
Creators, artists & entrepreneurs
It’s a 3 hour session with a short break. The time includes learning about your Inner Mentor, exercises to connect with her 1:1, and some group discussion. There will also be journaling materials provided.
Yes. We need a letter of sponsorship from your employer, and then Breakfast People will issue an invoice which needs to be paid 7 days before the workshop date.
Just you! This is one of the key take-aways from the workshop: you already have everything you need to move forward.
You’ll need to read ‘Playing Big’ by Tara Mohr before the session, and there are recommendations for follow-up to deepen your experience of the workshop, although none of it is compulsory.
If after the workshop, you did not find the session helpful, I will set up a 1:1 feedback meeting, so I can understand more about your experience, and will refund your course entry fee following that meeting.
Yes! The tools we use in the workshop can be used by anyone.
We intend to keep the workshops to a max of 6-8 people so all participants have a chance to contribute as much as they would like to.
There are no religious or supernatural elements to the workshop. It’s a practical workshop designed to help participants learn about themselves. There is time dedicated for you to reflect inwards and for some (but not all) participants, connecting with their inner mentor can be an emotional experience. For everyone, it is a useful mental process that brings out an alternative and often surprising viewpoint.
The workshop is not therapy or counselling, and participants will sign a short form confirming they understand this in advance. If you are working through a highly emotive or stressful experience, please seek professional support. You can find a therapist here.
If you’ve got this far, then something about this topic has caught your attention. Your inner mentor may be letting you know she has something to say! If you have a sense of wanting to create something or follow a particular direction, and yet follow a pattern of being nudged away from this path – for any number of really well-intentioned reasons, probably! – then this session will help you.
You could also read Tara Mohr’s Playing Big. If the book resonates with you, you will love the workshop