Blog Archive
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Daring Greatly: How the courage to be vulnerable transforms the way we live, love, parent and lead
Brené Brown quashes the myth that vulnerability is weakness and argues the opposite – that it is, in fact, a display of courage. She talks about how vulnerability is at the core of all human emotions, and how much we need to embrace it in order to live meaningful lives.
How to be better: asking for feedback
I’ve previously talked about focusing on strengths when making decisions or struggling with confidence, but there is a place for looking at the ‘not so good at’ list and that’s when we want to be better. When being better at something could make a real difference to how we perform at work and in life. The problem is, we don’t always know what we’re not good at. As humans, we are very good at deceiving ourselves thanks to our blind spots and eternal quest for fitting in.
Reframing negative thoughts
Setbacks and slumps are inevitable when we’re trying to build a creative life. Whether it’s a rejection letter, negative feedback, no feedback at all (tumbleweed…) or a prolonged period of self-doubt, we can feel devastated, hopeless, uninspired and on the verge of giving up. It’s tough when you’ve put all your energy into your journey and there’s yet another impenetrable brick wall in your way.
Write it out to figure it out (and don’t forget to swear it out)
I love to bring writing into my coaching when I think it might be useful for my clients. You don’t have to be a brilliant speller or storyteller, or even good with grammar to get something out of writing; the only thing you need is an open mind and a maybe a little bit of direction.
Coaching success: Ben’s story
Coaching can seem like a bit of a mystery if you’ve never experienced it before and I get a lot of questions about who I work with and what happens during coaching. To help answer these questions I’ve been asking my clients to share their stories. First up is Ben. When we started working together, he had been through multiple cycles of job hunting and soul searching to find the right job but kept getting stuck.
Podcast recommendations: parenting during a pandemic
I’ve been finding solace in listening to podcasts that focus on how we as parents can look after ourselves when we have even less time than before. Here are a few recommendations.
Book recommendations: women and leadership
In honour of World Book Day and International Women’s Day back in March, I did a series of posts on my personal social media platforms highlighting books written by women and/or about women that have inspired me, and I thought I’d share the more work-related ones here too.
Making the leap: from project manager to actor and voice artist
My guest today is Rick who started his career transition five years ago when an opportunity for voluntary redundancy became the catalyst for significant changes. He left his corporate role as a Configurations Services Field Project Manager (Rick tells me this is basically IT project management…) and made a commitment to achieving his life-long goal of being a rock star… or at least a successful actor, voice artist and music producer.
Podcast recommendations: daring dreams, negative self-talk, imposter syndrome and success
Award-winning author and broadcaster Emma Gannon chats to experts, thought-leaders, writers and creative individuals about the internet, their careers, and everything in between. I’ve never listened to an episode that I haven’t enjoyed but here are a couple of recent favourite episodes.
Self-care isn’t (only) bubble baths
Self-care is not about bubble baths, drinking wine or binging on Netflix… (although sometimes it is – the point being it’s not just about these things). Self-care is mostly about self-awareness – and that’s why it’s sometimes quite hard! We THINK we know ourselves well. We don’t. Or maybe we do but because we’re much better at putting others first, we don’t pay attention to what we actually need.
Book recommendations: finding work that works for you
Whether you love your job or not, chances are you’ll be looking for a new one at some point. Maybe you’re bored or feeling stuck. Maybe you’ve realised you don’t actually enjoy what you do. Or perhaps you’ve done everything you can in your current role and are looking for new challenges. Here are three books that might help you figure out what’s next and lead you a job that feels fulfilling… and pays the bills.
Making the leap: from in-house commissioning editor to freelance content creator
My guest today is Sophie who made the leap almost two years ago when she left her role as a full-time in-house commissioning editor to set herself up as a freelance digital content creator and editor so she could focus on the parts of the job she was most passionate about and be more available for her children.
Working out your true values
Our values are the things that are most important to us in life and work and include things like honesty, kindness, family, wealth, equality, growth, etc. We can all probably reel off a list of the things that are important to us without too much thought, but therein lies the problem: society and our culture has a clever way of making us think that we should value certain things, and that there is a right way to be living our lives, especially when it comes to finances and careers.
What is coaching?
Like most industries, coaching has its own set of slightly annoying jargon which can be difficult to cut through. So, I thought I’d write a post to describe, in a nutshell, what coaching is and how it can help you.