Resilience and moaners, whingers and gossipers The following ads and corrections appeared in a newspaper over the course of four days. I’ve changed the names to protect the frustrated. MONDAY (Original ad) For Sale: A. J. Smith has one sewing machine for sale. Phone xxxxx xxxxxx after 7 pm and ask for Mrs. Jones who lives with him cheap. TUESDAY Notice: We regret having erred in A. J. Smith’s ad yesterday. It should have read, ‘One sewing machine for sale cheap. Phone xxxxx xxxxxx and ask for Mrs. Jones who lives with him after 7 pm.’ WEDNESDAY Notice: A. J. Smith has informed us that he h ..read more

Resilience – How to control your nerves before doing something scary There I was feeling like a Turkey on Christmas Day morning sitting in a baking tray surrounded by Paxo. My heart was pounding so hard I thought it was going to burst from my chest. Why did I agree to do this? My name is announced, I walk centre stage… it’s now time to deliver the opening keynote address at a conference I’ve agreed to speak at. Ok, I usually am a little nervous before I’m due to speak but on this occasion I was about to address nearly 100… PROFESSIONAL SPEAKERS. My brief, to entertain, educate and inspire ..read more

How being childish pays dividends I love children, I find them particularly entertaining when they’re aged between about 4 and 7. Have you noticed how they’re just beginning to get a good idea of how the world works and yet they haven’t quite got a grasp of it. Here are a few of the little darlings’ interpretations of how they see the world around them: “Helicopters are cleverer than planes. Not only can they fly through the air they can also HOOVER.” “If you marry two people you are a PIGAMIST, but MORONS are allowed to do this.” And my all-time favourite: “Sir Walter Raleigh CIRCUMCISED ..read more

Overcoming instant gratification to achieve bigger long term rewards I don’t know about you but I’m not a lover of marshmallows and yet… it’s been proven by using marshmallows it can determine just how successful you’ll be in life. In the late 1960’s Stanford (USA) psychologist Walter Mischel carried out an experiment on young pre-school children that demonstrated the significance of delayed gratification and it was known as ‘The Marshmallow Experiment’. Search for ‘Marshmallow Experiment’ on You Tube, you’ll find the videos very entertaining. These children were offered a marshmallow and ..read more

The key to happiness revealed Questions, questions, questions, so many questions: Why is it called ‘after dark’ when it’s really ‘after light’? Why is it that people who tell you to have an open mind always want you to agree with them? If you had x-ray vision and could see through anything, wouldn’t you see through everything and see nothing? And here’s the BIG question… ‘What’s the key to happiness?’ Actually the big question is, ‘What’s the meaning of life and everything?’ But we’ll start small with, ‘what is happiness?’ first and work our way up. Our happiness certainly has an impact on ..read more

Christmas Spirit is the same as a dog? I’ve been, as most of us do near the end of the festive period, reflecting. I didn’t reflect on the number of mince pies I’ve eaten, nor did I reflect on the fact that I ate almost my own body weight in cheese in the space of two days. No! I did the, ‘What went well and what could have gone better this year?’ reflecting thing. A traditional phrase you’ll find in the carols and Christmas cards is “Peace on earth, goodwill to all.” Why just at Christmas? Why not all year round? Granted, it can be an effort at times, as there are times when we can be dis ..read more

Self-motivation, the Progress Principal and sliced bread Otto Frederick Rohwedder of Davenport, Iowa, USA has a lot to answer for. Why? Because it was he who, in 1912, built the first loaf-at-a-time bread-slicing machine. That’s right, if it wasn’t for our Otto we wouldn’t have the popular expression, ‘greatest thing since sliced bread’. How the phrase came about I’ll let you do the research. The ‘greatest thing since sliced bread’ is used to describe something that’s very good, something that’s likely to improve people’s lives. And that usually means progress on a big scale. But what abou ..read more

Resilience and forgiveness – The surprising story of the zoo keeper befriending a crocodile Have you heard the surprising story of the zoo keeper and the crocodile? No? In that case… Are you sitting comfortably? Then I’ll begin ? Once upon a thrice there was a zoo keeper expecting delivery of a badly wounded crocodile that had been in a fight while in the jungle. When it finally arrived at the zoo the keeper could see the poor thing was soooooooo ill and weak. It could barely move for the pain. This poor croc was in dock, suffering from shock, having had a right old knock on its block. The ..read more

The assumptions you make are they really helping you? The pain was excruciating, so much so I was close to tears. Being in agony, I was unable to move and yet if I didn’t there was a good chance of being run over. How did I get in to this sorry state? Last winter I was speaking after dinner in a hotel in Manchester city centre. Because of the snow I thought I wasn’t going to make it to the event; thankfully I did, it was a full house and all went well. At about 11.00 pm I decide it was time to wend my way home across the Pennines. Out I walk from the hotel reception and as I cross the main ..read more

Resilience and the surprising health benefits of laughter One of my core values, is… having fun, having a good old laugh. I’m amazed how many people think work and life should ALWAYS be serious. They are the ones who underestimate the power of humour as a tool for increased productivity and health. Stanford Medical School in the USA compared laughter to a physical exercise. The physical exercise happened to be rowing (as in rowing a boat, not having an argument). They found laughter: lowers stress (ever tried worrying an laughing at the same time? Can’t be done) lowers blood pressure impr ..read more