I've set myself a goal to read one self-development book per month. To make sure I really reflect on what I'm reading I'm going to extract the wisdom from the best business and personal development books and share it with you.

This month I’ve been reading Sleight of Mouth: The Magic of Conversational Belief Change by Robert Dilts

Have you ever got caught up in someone else’s drama and found yourself thinking “How on earth did I get sucked into this?”. If you have then chances are that you have been drawn into a drama triangle.

I got geekily excited when I saw this being used to describe the conflict between characters in the BBC drama The Cry recently, although it occurred to me that many viewers might not understand why the main character Joanna was being asked about a triangle by a psychologist. Here I explain what that triangle is all about.

It took less than 5 minutes for my tweet to be rubbished by a male associate of mine. My idea wasn’t perfect but it obviously had merit, so why point out small and irrelevant downsides when the overall suggestion was helpful? Why had this guy been so mean about it?  A few days later I listened to a fantastic podcast about the linguistic rituals men and women use in the workplace. It made me think. Perhaps my Twitter friend hadn't been so mean after all!

I've never been one to admit "I'm struggling". I don't like to bother people or bring them down with my woes and no one likes a moaner. I've never had much time for Jeremy Kyle 'guests' who air their dirty laundry in public either. In fact, I admit I've been quite judgemental about them. However, I have come to learn that both professionally and personally, talking about your problems with people is actually a bloody good idea.  

I pay people to make me uncomfortable –and I love it. 

No it's not a wierd sex thing.

Ever found yourself slowly slipping into bad habits?

Here are 5 warning signs that you are veering off course and how to spot them.

Ever done this? You've set out to achieve something, you take action and slowly you start to see some progress unfold but then you get stuck and you can't seem to break through and finally crack it? 

When you find yourself in this situation it might be time to pause and reflect. Here are five questions to ask yourself when you get stuck. 

Ever wished you had an owners manual for your mind? In this blog I give an overview of the 'prime directives of the unconscious mind'. Any material on behavioural change will feature frequent references to the unconscious mind. There's a good reason for that. All change, learning and behaviour is performed in the Unconscious Mind. But what does the unconscious mind actually do and why does it cause us to think and do all sorts of random and seemingly self-defeating stuff?