Blog
Can you be too Assertive?
Hands up who thinks you can be too assertive? If I asked this in one of my communications skills workshops I can be sure at least half of the group will agree. So what does too assertive look and sound like? Muffled responses, murmurs about shouting and pointing,...
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Confidence and Age part 2 – Creating Confidence
In my last blog I explored the idea that at different times in our lives, our levels of confidence can vary. Creating confidence is all about harnessing the best parts of you, so that no matter what age you are you are able to convey a confident and limitless...
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Confidence and Age – Are they linked?
People will often ask me about confidence and age. Does confidence develop with time, is there a point that our confidence starts to decline? Confidence may vary with age but growth certainly isn’t a straight line. There are some well publicised and quite worrying...
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Building Confidence- Everyone has a role to play
Watching the new last night I was shocked that in the space of 5 minutes, two separate news stories highlighted to me how important it is to value others, building confidence in those around us. In a story about mistakes being made in breast screening, a woman in her...
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The Confidence to Say “I Like Myself”
Do you like yourself? A strange question for some people I have no doubt, but an important one! Why .... because I don't know that many people who would answer "Yes of course!". From the beautiful teenager who simply cant see how amazing she is to the retired friends...
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Joke telling – lessons for confident communicators
I was driving to work today, pining for the comedy course I have just completed. It was fun, the group were amazing and it was great to have a reason to laugh on a daily basis. But what I realised this morning was how much I had learned from writing jokes that could...
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The 6 stages of stepping out of your comfort zone
Over the last 3 months I have been on a stand up comedy course every Monday evening at the Midlands Arts Centre. Why on earth I hear you ask? Because the idea of doing a stand up routine in front of a group of people terrified me. To be "Limitless" I know I have to...
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International Women’s Day – Finding Your Role Model
100 years from when (some) women in the UK got the vote, and in the week of International Womens Day it seems only appropriate to think about the importance of role models. A role model is someone who inspires you and exhibits the behaviours, values and abilities you...
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Laugh your way to greater confidence
Do you laugh enough? As I am doing a comedy course at the moment, I laugh a lot. At myself, with the other people in the group and at the many comedians that I am watching and admiring on youtube and live locally. Laughter therapy is just that - it makes you feel...
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Confident Communication – lessons from the Wizard of Oz
When it comes to talking about confident communication my favorite behavioural model is one which talks about balancing two things. Consideration for the wants and needs of others and the Courage to express your own wants and needs. Courage seems to be a very apt word...
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A Valentines Week Challenge – Share the love
This week its Valentines day, the shops are full of things to overspend on, newspapers full of offers for "the one you love" and the price of flowers will go up! Sorry to be a cynic but is that really what Love is all about? I was going to write a blog about loving...
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Finding confidence to speak in public
When it comes to finding confidence, speaking in public seems to be an area that people ask me about a lot! As a trainer you would think this is something I am comfortable doing. But working with groups of participants in a training room and speaking to large...
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