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

This time, I've been reading The Squiggly Career by Helen Tupper and Sarah Ellis.

Whether 2020 saw your business booming or if you heard nothing but tumbleweed, it's fair to say it was uncertain, changeable and hard to predict. In this blog, I’ll share why you should reflect on this year (even if you don't feel like it), how to extract some good from it and how to use it to prepare for an equally uncertain 2021

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 Quiet Leadership by David Rock

I've I've set myself a goal to read one self-development book per month and blog it. This month I’ve been reading Your Brain at Work by David Rock. Here are some of the insights I gained into how to make the most of your brain power.

Do you really know your strengths? In the past, my work has shaped which skills I focus on and recently I've been wondering which are the things I've become skilled in because I've had to be and which are the ones I've focused on because they truly energise me. To help me find out, I completed a profiling tool called Strengthscope, and put time in for some coaching. I was really hoping it might give me some clues. Here I share what I discovered and a copy of the report I received.

A man came to see me recently because he's not happy with his body.

He's so desperate he wants to do whatever will get the weight off quickly. When someone is in this state I know they aren't very open to taking a long term view. They make a choice which relieves the 'eurghhh' feeling but this is rarely a choice that feels good or is right for them in the medium or long term. My prediction is that unless he sees weight come off and can get into a state where he is thinking more clearly, he will give up before he even gets going. Most people do this. 

Relationships, public speaking, performing a song for Simon Cowell. All things you should put as much of yourself as you can into. A lion's den, a pair of hotpants 2 sizes too small and difficult conversations-all things you absolutely take yourself out of. I don’t mean don’t have difficult conversations but, as far as possible, we should take ourselves out of them.

I want to share something with you I came across a couple of years ago but I wish I’d discovered sooner.  It’s an idea that comes from economics but one that also applies to the investment of emotional and mental resources too.

Have you ever noticed that when you are doing something you love, no matter how physically demanding it is, you often feel like you could keep it up all day? Yet, when you are doing something mind-numbingly dull you find it tiring to the point where you could very easily fall asleep?

Why is this and how can we find ways to get more of that energised feeling?

Have you set some goals for the new year?  80% of New Years Resolutions fail by the second week of February. Here's 5 things you can do to increase your success rate in 2018.

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.

Fitspo' quotes. Do you love them or hate them? 

I love seeing quotes and memes on social media. Mostly on weight loss or fitness pages. I'm intrigued to see if I can tell what a person's motivations are. I think a lot of people post these quotes and memes to show how positive they are but they probably aren't aware that they are revealing more negativity than they realise. 

I've been doing a lot of research into procrastination recently for an online course I've written on productivity.  I uncovered loads of loads of great tips and 'hacks' for overcoming procrastination. Lots of cunning methods of tricking yourself into greater productivity but none of the dozens and dozens them of the articles or books I read addressed the cause of procrastination. 

It's the question we rarely ask, what if it all goes right? Following my last blog on presupposing failure I thought it would be good to follow up one on presupposing success. We seem to live in a society that encourages us to imagine the worst. And while forewarned is forearmed, it can cause us to become really unstuck when things go surprisingly well. 

Last week England limped out of the Euro 2016 with an abysmal performance, prompting Roy Hodgson to deliver his resignation speech to the waiting press conference. Not a surprise. But what did surprise many commentators was the speed at which his resignation speech was put together. Did he have his resignation in mind before the match even kicked off? What difference would it make if he did?