Your life

When I first started as a NLP practitioner in 2012, I expected to have a whole range of clients. I thought there would be some amazing clients that I really liked working with. There would be some I found a bit ‘run of the mill’. I braced myself for the possibility that I would even find a few that were downright annoying!

It even seemed likely that I might occasionally have to have some very frank conversations and refer some people on to another practitioner.

To be fair, that has happened, once.

But what I actually found, was what I should have known from the start. Every single one of the people I have worked with over the years has been amazing.

Like the mother of three who runs a successful design business from home and wants to write a book.

Or the father of two teenage girls, who lost his life partner. He pours his energy and soul into his daughters.

There have been pop musicians, business owners, CEOs and politicians at one end of the scale. At the other end there have been people coping with disabilities or learning difficulties, shy people, lonely people, the scared, the tearful and the incredibly angry.

Some I’ve helped a lot. Some have only touched the surface of what is possible for them, but each person has inspired in me more of my passion and curiosity for why people do the things they do.

Everybody has the resources they need inside them

The reason they are amazing clients is because I know, from my training and my experience, that every single one of them had inside them the resources they needed to make all the changes necessary. Exploring what those resources are, and how to access them is just part of the story.

Some even simply learned that they are okay just as they are!

Every story has been different, and I look forward to the stories yet to come.

What’s your story?

In this video in the Inspiring Success series, I talk to Neil Tomlinson. He is the founder of the drinking water business – Aquapax, rs. Aquapax is the first drinking water company to distribute its product in paper cartons, rather than the ubiquitous plastic bottle. Neil’s story is very much a personal one. Neil cares for environmental issues, and particularly due to his experience of seeing beaches that were once pristine, now covered in ugly plastic waste.

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When Sue Palmer attended a risque party in the 60s the seed of her mission to change children’s education in the United Kingdom was sown. Sue’s passion for learning, inspired by the writing of Sybil Marshall, has led her to be a successful author on education and childhood. Her commitment to a play-centred, Kindergarten style education for young children has become a full-blown campaign, particularly in Scotland.

In this ‘Inspiring Success’ interview we learn about her mission. We get a better understanding of the background of the educational tradition in this country. It’s quite an eye-opener.

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Gary Sutton, media analyst, screen-writer and journalist, writes about a defining moment in his education.

My Catholic primary school had a deserved reputation for success at the 11+ examination. What we did – and what other schools in the area failed to do – was hold mock 11+ exams in the weeks approaching the real thing, so on the day of the proper test, we were seasoned, and unsurprised. Passing the 11+ secured a place at the local grammar school and a path to a successful middle-class future. Failure led to the local secondary modern, skewing one’s opportunities towards a blue-collar job.

I was particularly adept at the kind of thinking required by IQ tests like the 11+. There was little doubt that I would pass. My best friend Pascal was a prodigiously gifted artist and seemed no less intelligent than me. But the nature of the 11+ meant that his chances of passing it were slim.

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In this latest episode of my ‘Inspiring Success’ video series, I talk to Lesley Thomson, best selling writer of the ‘Detective’s Daughter’ series. Lelsley’s new book ‘Distant Dead‘ was published on 13 May 2021. It is the 8th in the series. Naturally we spend some time talking about the book. We cover the challenges of doing research during lockdown and also some of the parallels between the 1940s and today.

As always, we also discuss what motivates Lesley to write, her daily routines and how she overcomes procrastination.

Lesley lives in Sussex and has published several stand-alone crime novels. Her books regularly appear in the best seller lists.

Find out more about Lesley at https://lesleythomson.co.uk/

The murder of Sarah Everard, is still a raw and painful memory as I write this. Rightfully, the subject of women’s safety and male behaviour is an incredibly touchy one. I’ve joined in a few discussions on social media and quickly seen how emotive people naturally are on this subject. I know it might be safer to keep my head below the parapet, but one woman in just such a group pointed out that it is men who need to sort the problem out. So keeping quiet is not really an option.

At the same time, I’m not going to be able to change the world in a blog. This blog is aimed directly at men only. I would like to suggest a few small shifts of thinking and attitude that, if every man were to make them, might help improve the situation.

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I have published this interview on International Women’s Day 2021 because it has particular relevance to the theme of the event, which is #choosetochallenge.

In our ‘Inspiring Success’ interview, Sian Edwards talks about the lack of women at the highest level of orchestral conducting and why that may be. She also tells of the work she and others are doing to redress the balance.

In addition, Sian tells us how she achieved her own success and talks about her passions and pet projects, as well as talking about how to conduct an orchestra in a pandemic.

Shopping in a supermarket is one of those apparently simple things that can take the most energy and cause us the most stress. Life is full of big problems, and sometimes part of solving those is to make a bit more space for them by making the small problems easier.

Having to sometimes shop for multiple people has caused me to try to hack the process. I can’t say I love shopping, so there is an imperative for me to get the job done as efficiently and thoroughly as possible in one go.

That principle conveniently co-incides with the latest government advice too, so I thought I’d share of my tips for an efficient shop.

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In this, the first ‘Inspiring Success’ video I interview Professor Alyssa Westring, Vincent de Paul Associate Professor of Management and Entrpeneurship at DePaul University’s Driehaus College of Business. We talk about how to create more successful lives as parents.

Juggling work, home, well-being and community life can make life incredibly challenging – even more so during Covid-19. Alyssa’s book ‘Parents Who Lead’ gives a practical framework for creating greater synergy within our lives.  She talks about her focus on Values and the Four-Way view used in her work with families and she explains her research into the impact of Coronavirus.

In this ‘Inspiring Success’ video interview, I talk to actress, performance coach and author, Sarah Thurstan. We discuss story-telling, authenticity and disclosure as the keys to effective presentation. Sarah shares a range of techniques and approaches to speaking out, whether on a platform, via video or within meetings. We also explore some of the changes that are being brought about by the current pandemic.

Sarah Thurstan is author of ‘Personal Presence – How Speakers Authentically Engage”, published by Novaro Publishing.