Great Self Confidence

...to live the life you want

Lessons from the Olympics

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Beijing Olympics: Usain Bolt Breaks The World ...Image by rich115 via Flickr So thats it for another four years. Boris has got the flag, the flame is out in Beijing and television schedules will return to normality. The 204 competing nations will go home – 81 with at least one medal.

Was it all worth it? Fortunes have been spent getting athletes into finals and for some a gold medal. National pride, the “feel good” factor is said to permeate through those watching. Its interesting that China, the worlds most populated country with 1.3 billion people, topped the medals table. But India, second most populated with 1.1 billion, celebrated their first ever gold medal at the games and finished with a total of three medals.

“You are role models for the youth of the world”

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Randy Pausch – stories on how to live

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Eeyore as depicted by DisneyImage via Wikipedia Professor Randy Pausch died last month. Until I read this in my favourite ezine Kickstart Today I had never heard of him. As his lecture from 2007 now has over 6 million views, some of you may already have heard of him, seen the video (or one of the subsequent TV programmes about him), or read the book he wrote based on this lecture.

I had some doubts about suggesting you watch a video – 75 minutes long – when neither confidence nor self esteem are discussed. Especially on a weekend when Team Great Britain have managed to win as many gold medals as Michael Phelps! But watch it if you can, otherwise jump to my summary…

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Gaining self confidence

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self confidence at azureDoes taking risks build confidence became too long to add a reflection on my family holiday(vacation) to Gozo. Although I was being critical of the risk taking (see Comments below), I’m not advocating remaining within our comfort zone. In the case of our holiday, the comfort zone was swimming, sun bathing, reading, walking around the local area, eating in the many restaurants. All very pleasant.

But my lasting memory of the holiday is when [Read more…]

Does taking risks build confidence?

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improve self esteemBack to work and usual routines after our vacation, although as I write the house is quite. My eldest daughter flew back up north to Yorkshire on Friday to attend a wedding and our 17 year old twins have invaded Cornwall, south west England, to stay in a caravan with friends.

Holidays give you plenty of time to reflect. I know when I was the age of my children I certainly lacked the confidence to do the things they are currently doing (and planning!). Yet we constantly hear stories on the media about how over protected children are in modern society. They get driven to school and we don’t let them out of our site to play with friends for fear of abduction.

Schools and local governments become more risk minimizing and ban many activities for fear of being sued if accidents happen. Councils cut low branches off trees to prevent children climbing them, schools put bubble wrap on sharp corners of tables to prevent injury!

Despite all this my children seem to be emerging into adulthood far more confident than I did. I’d agree that in many ways they have been more sheltered than I was, but I don’t think that paints a true picture.

Do we have to put ourselves at risk to gain confidence?

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10 Top Tips for Relaxation

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relaxationAs I write this I’m ending a frantic week trying to get everything together before we go on holiday (vacation) to Gozo. As you read this (if its around 27th July) I should be totally chilled (but also very hot!) as I relax on holiday. So with that in mind I thought I’d write a quick checklist of things you can do if to keep stress at bay and feel more relaxed.

Stress is a bit of a fashionable buzz word. There are similarities and links between stress and anxiety – both can lead to unpleasant, disabling symptoms. When we feel stressed we often feel out of control of the situation – which undermines our self confidence. So try these ten easy relaxation tips to feel more relaxed and in control.

1. Take a short break and leave a stressful situation. If you are at work, offer to run an errand or go for a short walk. A few minutes away can help you think clearly and the walk will get rid of some of the tension in your body. [Read more…]