The Ancient Egyptians believed that a pharaoh could die twice, once when his body died and again if his name ceased to be mentioned. In modern times, the top performing business leaders I admire seem to have a similar desire for legacy..

It's time to stop settling for good and uncover your unique set of skills and experience. You'll feel empowered and confident in your next career move if you know you'll be leveraging what you're GREAT at.

Comparison-itis is typically enabled by specific members of the family (you know the ones), with comments like: "Do you think you'll apply for a promotion next year?" Here’s 5 tips to help you manage this Christmas…

As a child you didn't attempt to walk once, then think, hmmm I'm not sure that's for me, and give up. We'd do well to remember the persistence these acts took and apply it now.

Mentoring relationships can seemingly go on forever if there isn't a discipline of checking in against some objectives. They can fizzle out or become more like chats and that's not the lasting impression either of you would want to leave. 

If you’ve volunteered for a mentorship programme and been matched with someone, your first meeting will be a 'get to know you' session. This is key because, like any relationship, you need to find some mutual ground early on. 

I've noticed that I sometimes censor myself, which means I don't say what I'm really thinking. And I expect I'm not the only one doing this. What are you not saying? At work, home or with friends?
It’s pretty tiring being radar-on all the time. Why not let some of the real you out? 

Is it just me, or has 'nice' somehow become a negative word? The Oxford dictionary describes nice as meaning 'good-natured and kind'. That sounds great, so why in modern parlance has the word nice become a bit bland?

I've said it before, but it's worth repeating - I think 'happy' is the whole point. So we need to learn to adapt our environment at work, or move to a new one, if we're not feeling happy there.

We can often be guilty of stubbornly repeating the same thing again and again or trying harder and harder to get what we want, as if brute strength and determination will do it.

Everyone has an opinion on your career. Some are more vociferous than others. So it makes sense to learn when to look for guidance and when to tune out the dissenting voices.

A lot of people are feeling stuck and uncertain which direction to take. That's something I went through a couple of years ago and I expect you can relate too. So why are people feeling stuck? Typically it's because they've stopped listening to themselves.

We're often told failure is a good thing. It helps us learn, it helps us grow. It's best to fail quickly so that you can find success more quickly etc etc. Whilst I understand the logic, I still struggle with the idea of failure. Ideally I'd rather not fail at all

Why are appraisals important? Because they’re an opportunity to celebrate success, re-set and GET WHAT YOU WANT.

In my experience, a lot of people are terrible at giving feedback. They either 1) don't give feedback at all, 2) give vague feedback or generic praise or 3) overreact in the moment and give destructive feedback. 

Have you ever been asked to do something at work where you’ve felt ‘No way! I can’t do that!’. 
This feeling of doubt is called imposter syndrome. Personally I prefer the term imposter experience - it’s unlikely that you have a ‘syndrome’ if you’ve experienced any of these feelings. In my experience we’re all prone to doubt ourselves every now and again.

I expect you've heard before that most of our communication is via body language and tone of voice, with words only accounting for c7% of our impact. I have seen this from a new perspective this week. I've been on an NLP course (neuro linguistic programming)and qualified as a practitioner to add to my coaching tool kit to support my clients. 

We often take other people's opinions about us to heart. It's hard not to. What isn't good, is linking your sense of self-worth to what other people think of you. It's dangerous.

I saw a great Bruce Lee quote this week that I want to share with you. "Adapt what is useful, reject what is useless, and add specifically what is your own," love it.