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Be a Hero in 2011

I just watched Derren Brown's recording of a show that was broadcasted on Channel 4 on 8th September. It was titled: Hero at 30,000 feet and I imagined Derren doing one of his outlandish acts from up high. What the programme turned out to be was the story of a young man who had a head full of dreams but who was going nowhere with them... fast! He spoke of the career he wanted, the kind of life he desired but got up each day and let life happen to him. Step in Derren Brown...

For 30 days Derren used his psychological prowess to change this young man's life into the one he talked about. Now whether you are a fan of Derren's or not what he managed to do for this individual purely by helping him to identify opportunities every day was remarkable. It wasn't magic, it wasn't other worldly, it was opening up the mind, realising that the only thing that stops you moving forward into your bigger life is you.

I don't want to give the story away if you haven't seen it. Check it out on 4OD online TV. If this doesn't wake the giant within you, you are just not ready to take the leap yet... but the time will come when you are ready to be a hero (or heroine) and your life will never be the same again!

Are You A Role Model?

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What is a role model? A role model is a person who inspires you and who you deem to be a good example in terms of how they have chosen to live their life. Role models can be members of your family, friends, TV or sports personalities and come from any walk of life. Their story impacts you...

As I go through my list of role models (Jim Rohn ,Les Brown, Anthony Robbins, Ali Brown, Chris Howard, my mum, my dad and siblings to name but a few) I see a need for society to develop more female role models and, more importantly, raise up the ones we already have! Why? Because the young girls and women following behind, those looking for someone's shoulders to stand on, need to see there is a space to shine for anyone willing to 'walk the talk' regardless of gender, age or background.

There are everyday women doing extraordinary things but who is acknowledging them? Where are their stories in the daily news? Sadly their platform is often lost to daily politics and bad news.

Positive female role models can inspire other women, their children and their communities. They can make the impossible seem possible and lead others to take leaps of faith. A child watches you pull through life's adversities to achieve your dream...  Friends and family see you set a goal and nail it... Might these things inspire them to search out and live their dream? Perhaps... It will at the very least open the mind's door.

A few questions to ask yourself:

How can you influence others lives?  
How can you be a positive role model?
Who are your role models? 

YvonneB

The Confident Speaker

I attended the Millionaire's Bootcamp for Women on 26th and 27th of November held in Charing Cross, London. There were some 500+ women there looking for inspiration and motivation to live their biggest life in 2011! Being there provided an opportunity to talk with some of the most confident women on the planet!

I attended for a number of reasons:

• Learning capacity - what did these women do to rise to the top of their game
• To network with like-minded women
• To watch the presenters on stage - body language, voice tonality, dress code, the amount of confidence they oozed as they delivered their topic
• Have fun of course!

As someone who enjoys speaking and presenting it is vital to watch and learn. These individuals are global speakers with years of experience behind them - great role models in the arena. What I learnt was the need to be totally authentic, be up there and be yourself. No two speakers sounded the same or had the same delivery style and that made it far more engaging for the attendees.

So my simple message to you is this: build your empire, be a role model, learn from those ahead of you in the field but always, ALWAYS, remain the authentic YOU! You are unique...

YvonneB Limited

BraveHeart Women TV: http://ow.ly/3fr0h - A good inspiring find!

S.Media Fest! New Fan Page http://ow.ly/3f78m, new Twitter page & You Tube http://ow.ly/3f7c2 Now I just have to work out how to use it all!

Words of encouragement...

Soft whisperings, words of encouragement from within

As you go about your daily life

Do not ignore them, embrace them

For they lift you in your hour of need

They are in fact your inner voice

The 'you' waiting to step out

And the moment you listen and believe the words shared

You will begin to change forever...

Who's Behind GEW? | Global Entrepreneurship Week http://ow.ly/39tNG - Celebrating Entrepreneurship!

Getting to know you...

How well do you know yourself and how well do others know you? Have you any idea what other people see as your strengths or weaknesses?

Well here is a good way to find out!

The Johari Window was invented by Joseph Luft and Harrington Ingham in the 1950s as a model for mapping personality awareness. By describing yourself from a fixed list of adjectives, then asking your friends and colleagues to describe you from the same list, a grid of overlap and difference can be built up.

To get started you pick the five or six words that you feel best describe you from the list provided and then you can email a link to the window for others to contribute. Give it a go here

11-11-2010 - Rev your Engines on OIVAC Speedway http://ow.ly/39cv8 - Speakers Required!

Reinvent Yourself in Times of Crisis http://ow.ly/35vGr

Re-invent Yourself in times of crisis

Check out this post: Re-inventing Yourself

What Are Your Dreams?

What are your dreams? What are the things you want to do and achieve that you have shut off?

We all have dreams and far too often they go unfulfilled, unclaimed. And yet we have the chance to make them real.

Blissful living is the desire that burns within you to create or accomplish something. But when you examine the dream you question your ability to achieve it, your right to be bigger than you are in this moment. Let’s face it, some dreams just seem so way out there that the only tag you can put on them is impossible.

I believe that dreams are made to come true. They are created within you with possibilities. However you hold the key because somewhere along the line you have to believe that you can make things happen.

To get to that place of belief you need to unpick the small thinking that has been installed and reinstalled by parents, school, friends, work and yourself.

And what is small thinking? It is the belief that just going through the motions of daily living, the zombie state as I call it, is all there is to life. Bearing in mind how many people do it, it’s easy to see why you might feel the same. I did too until I made a conscious decision not to.

So choose to be fearless, not fearful

Be bold not timid

Believe in your greatness, don't dismiss it

You are unique and gifted

You are here for a purpose... live it!

What's new on the blog: http://ow.ly/2XMg6

Gamu Nhengu’s stunning solo - Loving the talent! http://ow.ly/2UHcC You go girl...

Wonderful working week and now looking forward to the weekend! Hope you are too... http://ow.ly/2UeYo. God bless...

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How Low Self Esteem Can Damage Your Lifeline

I've never been a fan of scare mongering, it usually causes unnecessary panic. But I have been reading a lot of reports lately on the subject of self esteem and confidence (as you would expect!) I came across this piece that I found very interesting:

Sir Michael Marmot, of the International Centre for Health and Society in London, stated that low self-esteem may shorten a person's life. It was also claimed those with low self esteem are more likely to get ill. He said efforts to improve poor health should also focus on improving people's self worth. Sir Michael looked at a number of studies carried out in recent years examining the relationship between people's mental health and physical illness. He found evidence to suggest that low self esteem can affect people's behaviour. Read the full article here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/3100272.stm


The point is low self esteem can be managed as can so many other things that affect our health. And while it may require support the will or desire must come from within...

Russell Brunson Free Coaching Call, UK http://ow.ly/2OQjj

Living A Blissful Life... http://ow.ly/2LG7U

Can everyone have a blissful life?

Good question! Well, can everyone create the life they desire? I believe so. The bottom line is what are you willing to do to bring about the changes you desire so that you can begin a new day everyday in a place of gratitude and blissfulness? 

You see, lots of people want to be happy and fulfilled but have no idea what it is that will provide that, some can conjure up an image of what their ideal life would be like but haven't been able to figure out the steps to get it and others have given up all hope and have opted for the zombie state... that's the place where you don't have to take responsibility, you don't have to fail because you don't take risks and you don't have to be disappointed because you don't dream of being your biggest self. Tough but true.

To get to blissfulness you have to be ready to wake up; wake up to the life you are currently living and the one you have been suppressing or hiding from. If you want bliss get ready to take action! If you want joyfulness get ready to take responsibility and if you want results start living like you mean it!

Is it easy? Not always but once you make the decision to get there, to fulfil your dream(s) there is no going back. When you wake up to the possibilities going back to zombie-land is far more difficult than pressing on.

Just one great role model after another comes to mind but if anyone represents the true opportunities that lie  waiting for us then Chris Gardner is probably near the top of my list. Yes, he of 'In The Pursuit of Happyness fame' starring Will Smith as Chris. We only get to see one year of his life unravel into something huge during that film but go back and see the life he had, see how many times he could have chosen to be a different kind of person, a not very nice person. And who would have blamed him? No one... Yet against all that was grim, against everything that he had come to know as his normal, he rose up... he made his choice!

Are you willing to rise up? Are you willing to put your past where it firmly belongs... in the past, and move forward knowing that YOU can live a blissful life if only you choose to? I dare you!

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I Believe In Your Greatness...

I believe in your greatness

I believe that your talent knows no limits

I believe that you can turn your dreams into reality

All that is required is your belief in yourself...

YouTube - Chris Gardner UC Berkeley keynote 2009 (HQ) http://ow.ly/2BH6d- What a man... And what a story in the Pursuit of Happyness...

Robbins-Madanes Coach Training http://ow.ly/2AXr9 - If you love Anthony Robbins work you'll love this...

When I Catch Myself Thinking Small

When I catch myself thinking small

I stop what I am doing to take stock

And simply ask what fear is lurking in me

Perhaps it is a challenge I am facing

Or a person I don't understand

It could simply be the fear of success

Whatever it is I acknowledge it then let it go

Replacing the thought or feeling with my value driven dreams

And in that moment I realign myself & I am where I am meant to be...

Happy, confident, blissful

Confidence through Modelling

Building self confidence is not an overnight experience but by taking a small step each day you can move towards being your full self.

A great way to do this is to find a role model. Here are some steps to go through:

• Who do you watch or see and believe them to be confident? Identify one person initially
• How does their confidence show - what are they doing, saying, wearing? 
• Look at their body language - gestures, appearance, facial expressions, tone of voice, vocabulary 

Now imagine them being the person in the situations where you feel least confident:

• How would they handle them?
• What kind of conversatyions do they strike up?
• How do they interact with other people?
• What reaction do they get from other people?

Write down your answers for each of the above questions. This provides you with a 'model' of what confidence looks like to you. Add any other descriptions that come to mind and keep referring to the list.

Now you have a template to work from to grow your own self confidence. It is not about 'copying' or trying to be like someone else. It is about you identifying and making real your interpretation of confidence in a visual form and that gives you a start on your journey!

Be Confident

Let's

Communicate our thoughts

Openly and not be put off when we hear

No. It is but a 2 letter word that too often we allow to hurt our

Feelings and yet if our

Intentions and

Desires are to be realised we must press forward with 

Enthusiasm and our self Esteem in tact. Then our

Natural authentic selves will become

Confident and our 

Excellence will shine on through...

Exude the CONFIDENCE that is within you...

At the Start of a Journey...

Whatever the journey, whatever the need, we must start from where we are now - in this moment.

Assessing ourselves, our life and the relationships we have allows us to gain clarity about what is working versus what is not, what can stay versus what can go and inevitably the gaps between the here & now and where we want to be.

A little thing called life/work balance...

The expression was first used in the late 1970s to describe the balance between an individual's work and personal life (Wikipedia)

It is a subject often talked about and there are plenty of 'how to get it' thoughts and tips available for reading. The truth remains that one persons idea of work life balance is another persons nightmare!

Certainly for me the balance is not about having equal time for both work and personal, it is about making time for all the areas of my life that are important to me.

And that's why I have found the Wheel of Life to be such a powerful tool to use with clients and with myself. By selecting the areas of our life that we wish to focus on 'balancing', the wheel provides us with a visual of where we are now. By duplicating the line drawing process based on where we would like to be the gaps become evident and we end up with a true representation of how we are managing our lives.

There is a great Wheel of Life exercise you can use here. The wheel will take you 5-10 minutes to complete and if you go on to finish the whole workshop (takes you deeper into analyzing the areas of your life) expect to spend 30-45 minutes.. And may I suggest time well spent at the beginning of a journey...

FEAR

Fear is the one thing that can stop us from achieving, from believing, from aspiring... this one 4 letter word. 

And yet it is:

False

Expectations

Appearing

Real

In a few of my recent training sessions I have spoken with a number of women who 'stay within their comfort zone', quite often because they have preconceived ideas about how other people will react if they should suddenly do things differently. This is just one area of 'fear' - other peoples expectations.

This 'passive' inclination to even consider living by standards others expect is worrying. We are all unique, we are all gifted individuals and we all have rights. Without stretching the boundaries of our comfort zones how can we truly know who we are and what we are capable of?

So to all you wonderful women out there, stand up and be counted, let your voice be heard and when you feel fearful... just do it anyway! Four letters versus you = no competition!

Signs of Self Confidence versus Low Self Confidence

General signs of self confidence  

• Being willing to take risks and stretch beyond your comfort zone         
• Standing up for your rights without stamping on the rights of others (being assertive)
• Admitting your mistakes and ensuring you have learnt lessons from them
• Doing things your way when you believe it to be right even if others disagree or criticize 
• Accepting compliments graciously   

General signs of low self confidence

• Confining yourself to your comfort zone for fear of failure   
• Allowing other people to ‘lead’ your thinking instead of expressing your thoughts    
• Covering up mistakes in the hope that you can fix the issue and no one notices    
• Consistently doing what others expect or ask without voicing your own opinions    
• Dismissing compliments as if they were not necessary    

Whilst these may appear to be generalisations having worked with many different personality types quite often I have observed a mix of the two categories even in the most confident of individuals. It is, however, worthwhile knowing these signs and watching yourself. It helps to identify the feelings, thoughts and self doubt that are triggered based on environment, people and/or conversations.

Go Confidently, from the Confidence Coalition

Go Confidently! from Confidence Coalition on Vimeo.

An Inspirational Thought...

Close your eyes

Welcome the dark canvas before you

Then begin to picture your biggest dream

Don't let it scare you, just enjoy the moment

Freeze frame on your favourite image

Then breathe life into it with three deep breaths

Giving the image energy and life potential

Smile and say 'yes I can'

Open your eyes, take in your surroundings

Then rise up in action, ready to bring the dream to life

You see, no matter who you are or what you desire the same steps apply. YOU have the power to generate your life changes, YOU have the power to produce the thoughts that make it possible and YOU have the power to take action.

Confidence is the act of putting faith in your power to do great things...

What is confidence?

Confidence is generally described as a state of being certain that a chosen course of action is the best or most effective. Self-confidence is having confidence in oneself.

Confidence can be a self-fulfilling prophecy as those without it may fail or not try because they lack it and those with it may succeed because they have it rather than because of an innate ability.

So says Wikipedia... Is it true that success comes only to those with confidence?

I believe it has a major part to play and yet so many people believe that if they haven't got it 'naturally' they'll never have it.

Good news: it is not elusive! We can ALL tap into it and achieve the level of success we desire at the same time. Yes, it takes some work on the inner voices and our belief systems but with guidance, support and real desire it is yours for the taking...

This blog is dedicated to confidence building, communication skills, personal effectiveness and assertiveness - look forward to chatting with you!