Career Development
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Uncovering your strengths
Review of StrengthsFinder 2.0: Discover Your CliftonStrengths by Gallup (2021, Gallup Press, 172 pages) Think of a positive outcome that you have achieved recently. How did you achieve it? What skills or qualities did you use? As we go about our busy lives, jumping from one task to the next, and wading through our never-ending ‘To Do’ lists, it can be all too easy to overlook the many qualities and skills that we possess and rely upon to help us to achieve our goals. It is good to bring our strengths to mind so that we can give ourselves some credit where it is due, recognise the strategies and approaches…
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Using coaching skills in everyday conversations
Think about some of the best conversations you have ever had. What was happening between you and the other person (or people) in the conversation? What were the most inspiring conversations you have ever had? What stands out to you about those conversations? When have you felt like someone has really understood you? What did that person do to show their understanding? I immediately recall a conversation that I had with my lecturer as I was nearing the end of my degree. After giving me some helpful feedback on my assignment she asked me about my plans after graduation. As I started telling her about some of options I was…
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Make your day work for you!
Sometimes it seems like we are at the mercy of the day’s events! We might start off with the best of intentions, that we are going to have a highly productive day, breeze through our tasks and bask in that wonderful feeling of satisfaction and accomplishment by the end of it…. Yet we find ourselves having to sort out an array of issues that pop out of nowhere and just seem to get sidetracked and distracted throughout the day. By the time we manage to put our feet up, we realise that we have done very little of what we actually needed (or wanted) to do! While we are not…
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Managing Work and Study Successfully
Have you been mulling over the prospect of undertaking some further study to develop your knowledge and skills and make the next move in your career? Before you start searching and applying for suitable courses, you may be wondering how on earth you will balance your existing workload with study and all your other personal commitments?! Perhaps you have already enrolled on a course and have been intending to complete it but life just seems to keep getting in the way? Well, I have been there…many times! I have always had a strong passion for learning therefore work and study have often gone hand in hand during my career. I…
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Help! I don’t love my job anymore!
Do you catch yourself watching the clock at work? Are you tired of the same daily tasks and feeling utterly bored? Got that Sunday evening feeling of dread lurking in the pit of your stomach? We all have our ups and downs at work, but when this happens week after week it soon takes its toll, and can leave us feeling frustrated, irritable and completely unfulfilled. The job that you thought would be interesting and stimulating may not be living up to its initial promise, you may feel that you have outgrown your role, or maybe something significant has changed in your life or at work. Your job may be…
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How can thinking like a monk improve your life and career?
Review of Think Like a Monk: Train your mind for peace and purpose every day by Jay Shetty (2020, Thorsons, 352 pages) As I have been aiming to create more ‘zen’ in my life through daily meditation and mindfulness, I have become increasingly curious about the underlying philosophy behind such practices. This is why I was initially drawn to Jay Shetty’s book, Think Like a Monk*, which promises to teach us how to move away from the preoccupied, fearful and ego-driven ‘monkey mind’ and to step into the monk mindset which, in contrast, is calm, focused, purposeful and service-driven. *Disclosure: If you buy books linked to my site, I may…
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Getting back to business after the school holidays
The beginning of the autumn term has always had me raring to go, with renewed enthusiasm to tackle whatever the rest of the year has in store. I put this down to the many years that I have spent studying and working in education (a new academic year = a new start) and fond memories of moving onto the next stage of my life, catching up with friends again, brand new stationery, and the textbooks that were brimming with information that I had not yet explored. Plus I’m an absolute sucker for crispy golden leaves, brisk walks in the cold, cosy jumpers and a huge steaming mug of hot chocolate…
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Discover what you really want from your career
Review of The Squiggly Career by Helen Tupper and Sarah Ellis and How to Find Fulfilling Work by Roman Krznaric and The School of Life Losing my job when the first lockdown hit not only made me feel like I had said goodbye to a part of my identity, as an employee of an organisation that I had worked at for just over a decade, it also left me with this lingering feeling of being seriously stuck. Sure, I had home schooling to keep me well and truly occupied but I knew that wouldn’t last forever (thank goodness…) and so my thoughts kept on returning to what I was going…
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Exploring Your Career Timeline
Now that my role as home school teacher is surplus to requirements, and I am edging ever closer to the end of my postgraduate coaching course, I have been contemplating the next step in my career. I like to review and reflect upon my career every now and then, especially when I am at some kind of transition in my life. Looking back over the ups and downs in my career provides me with a clearer idea of what I do and do not want in my next role. Reminding myself of the strengths and skills I have developed, my key achievements and proudest moments, my core values, my personality…
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Life after coach training…
Business planning, credentialing and exploring creative approaches to coaching! I can happily announce that I have completed the taught element of my Postgraduate Certificate in Business and Personal Coaching after months of attending tutorials that have kept me well and truly enthused about entering the coaching profession and having spent many hours practising my coaching with willing volunteers. So, as this part of my journey comes to an end, what is next? Well…the work continues! I am currently spending most of my days flitting between the roles of mum/home school teacher, blogger, coach and student. In between teaching, keeping two energetic boys entertained all day, and dishing out snack after…
