Quote of the week!

“I find that the harder I work, the more luck I seem to have.”  Thomas Jefferson

Losing sleep over our use of gadgets

As I was enjoying reading the Metro this morning on the train, an article by Tariq Tahir stood out, 'We are losing sleep over our use of gadgets'. It was interesting to read that just under half of us spend up to 90 minutes on laptops, tablets and smart-phones in bed, catching up on TV or logging onto Facebook or Twitter.  The scary realisation is that lights go out at midnight now compared to 10.30pm ten years ago, research shows.

Maybe a great new year's resolution will be to give ourselves the rest we need and leave the gadgets out of the bedroom.

Helen Harding

Designing Your Future

What does your posture say about you?

We all know that bad posture and wrongly positioned equipment leads to all kinds health problems but what are the other implications?

Posture gives off all sorts of messages which you might not even realise.  For instance, being slumped over your desk can make you look tired, bored, disinterested or unapproachable.  These things could make the difference when it comes to a promotion or a salary increase.

Posture also has a direct effect on how you feel.  Successful and happy people demonstrate this by the way they sit, stand and walk, their energy and positivity.

Here at P4 we recognise the importance of posture and it’s effect on you and your success, and it is one of the things which we address on the course.

Quote of the week!

“Once we know we are in charge of choosing our states, life becomes so much simpler." 

Phil Parker

Work/Life Balance Improves

A study published by Regus shows that employees across the UK believe the balance between their work life and personal life has improved since 2010:
http://www.hrmagazine.co.uk/hro/news/1073156/employees-improvement-worl-life-balance-regus

“Despite the average worker putting in longer hours than ever before, the Index shows 60% of people are enjoying their jobs more, and 58% feel that they have enough time to spend at home or on personal pursuits.”

This is great news for companies and employees alike as we all know that good work life balance leads to happiness and increased productivity. If you want to improve the balance in your life, contact us to find out how P4 can help you.

Chunk down your workload

Many people get overwhelmed by their workload which in turns means that they don’t use their time effectively.  Use these tips to chunk down your workload and use your time better:

1. Write down jobs that need to be done - by writing them down it means you won’t keep thinking about them, especially at unhelpful times like when you are about to go to sleep or just as you are leaving the office!
2. If a job on the list is a large job, break it down into manageable chunks
3. Pick 5 things from the list to achieve each day, these could be simple individual tasks or part of a bigger task.
4. At the end of the day review your list and see what you’ve achieved.  Don’t beat yourself up if you didn’t achieve everything, just assess if it’s a priority for tomorrow - if so add it to the list of 5 things for the next day, if not decide if it needs to be done or can be taken off the list completely.
5. By breaking up you workload in this way, you will recognise what you are achieving each day and start to get through the jobs on your list! 

Quote of the week!

"If you think you can do a thing or think you can’t do a thing, you’re right." 

Henry Ford

Fear of Failure or Success?

Fear is hugely influential in stopping people from achieving their potential and in some cases causing them to be stuck for years in jobs and situations that aren't good for them.  Not only does this cause a huge amount of stress in their lives but they are also not enjoying themselves and fulfilling their dreams and ambitions.

If you are scared of failure, you will avoid any risk that will enable you achieve your goals.  It could be as simple as making a phone call or applying for a promotion but the fear of the consequences stops you from moving forwards.  Instead of accepting failure in the future, how about recognising it as feedback?  This view will allow you to understand and learn from experiences while continuing on your journey to reaching your goals.

Another crippling fear is that of succeeding.  What if you achieve your goals and they aren't what you were expecting?  What if you aren't happy?  Being scared of what might happen if you achieve is another brilliant way of sabotaging any success in order to avoid disappointment.  Instead, decide to enjoy the present time remembering to focus on the good things that are happening now and allow yourself to plan the future in the way you want it to be where you can fulfil your ambitions and be happy.

"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."  Winston Churchill (1874-1965)

Helen Harding

What are the skills and mind-set of a great Leader?

Inspirational Trainer and Coach Anthony Robbins has studied successful people, identifying the behaviours and strategies that we can all learn in order to improve the quality of our lives. In this short video, he talks about the qualities and hallmarks of Leadership: 

http://www.tonyrobbins.com/leadership2012/

Simon Pimenta

Failure is a Friend to Success

Has Claire gone crazy - how can she say such things, i hear you ask?! The truth is if you think you're going to perform perfectly every time without a mistake here and there then you're setting yourself up for disappointment. Ditch your fear of failure and learn to accept mistakes as part and parcel of success.

Too many people avoid failure and do not step out of there comfort zone which ultimately stops them from achieving the success they desire.

"I've missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I have lost almost 300 games. On 26 occasions, I have been entrusted to take the game-winning shot...and missed. I have failed over and over and over again in my life, and that is why...I succeed." Michael Jordan

Learn from your mistakes without dwelling on them to move forwards and achieve great things.

Claire Brooker

It's Never Too Late - Start Now!

Recently, I have been inspired by a quote that I just had to share with you:

"It is never too late to be what you might have been..."
George Elliot

What marks a successful person out from the rest? It's that they "get on an do it" rather than just talking about things. Have you spent too much time talking about what you want, but then have not followed it through? You CAN change that today. What small step will you take today to move you forwards?

I'd love to hear how you get on!

Claire Brooker

Even low levels of stress put you more at risk of dying from a heart attack or stroke

People often dismiss low levels of stress especially in the work environment. But why should they when it doesn’t have to be difficult to change?

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2181921/Even-low-levels-stress-puts-risk-dying-heart-attack-stroke.html#ixzz22He7pX7q <http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2181921/Even-low-levels-stress-puts-risk-dying-heart-attack-stroke.html#ixzz22He7pX7q

Kate Gare

How Damaging Is a Bad Boss, exactly?

In an article for Harvard Business Review, Jack Zenger and Joseph Folkman ask the question:

What's the one factor that most affects how satisfied, engaged, and committed you are at work? All of our research over the years points to one answer - and that's the answer to the question: "Who is your immediate supervisor?"

You can read the full article here

http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2012/07/how_damaging_is_a_bad_boss_exa.html

Simon Pimenta

Do you have a Clear Vision?

This is an essential component of peak performance. The question to ask yourself is: 
"What is it that you really want?" 

This is your opportunity to THINK BIG! Use your imagination constructively to get really clear on what a fulfilling work life would look like. Write it down or if you're particularly visual, cut out images from magazines that represent the life you love. Getting clear about what you want will keep your efforts focused and moving in the right direction.

Claire Brooker

Finding Happiness

It has been interesting over the last few days to read the articles published following the results from the Prime Minister David Cameron's 'Happiness Index'.  The Evening Standard (24/07/12) indentified Londoners as the most stressed and least satisfied people in England whereas the Metro (25/07/12) recommended finding a job, home and partner to improve your chances of happiness.  Whatever your levels of happiness, we at P4 believe that everyone can benefit from learning how to calm their stress and anxiety levels which in turn will result in better sleep and increased energy, improved focus, productivity and creativity and ultimately you will be happier.  

For more information visit: www.p4training.com or call us on: 020 7374 0233

Helen Harding

Loving the Olympics

Like many of you, I’m loving the Olympics and feel totally inspired by Team GB’s level of dedication and commitment. It’s widely accepted that to perform at their peak Team GB need to not only train hard and eat healthily but that they are also provided with support to address their mental health.  If Team GB value their healthy brains and minds so much, why doesn’t everyone who wants to perform at their peak.  At Phil Parker Peak Performance (P4) we believe a healthy mind is just as important as what you eat and physical exercise to ensure you are working at your best as a whole.


Kate Gare

Building High Performance Teams (Part 3)

In my blog posts at the end of June, I stated that when running sessions on team building, as well as doing a number of exercises, I ask four questions that help create a strong team environment. In Building High Performance Teams Part 1 and 2, I explored the first two questions:

Step 1: What sort of team would you like to work in?

Step 2: What do you have to do in order to make this happen?

These two questions help people identify the kind of team that they want to work in and help them to understand that they need to treat people the way they wanted to be treated.

Step 3 is to ask them ‘Are you committed to treat people the way you want to be treated?’ This is an important question, as it is necessary to get people to ‘buy in’; for employees to state their commitment to treating others the way they want to be treated. This is crucial in order for them to agree to the next step, which is:

Step 4: Are you open to being challenged if someone believes that you are not honouring your commitment? In order to create a strong team environment, there needs to be:

·      A willingness to communicate

·      An openness to being challenged

·      A willingness to admit mistakes

Simon  Pimenta

What are the skills and mind-set of a great Leader?

Inspirational Trainer and Coach Anthony Robbins has studied successful people, identifying the behaviours and strategies that we can all learn in order to improve the quality of our lives.

In this short video, he talks about the qualities and hallmarks of Leadership.

http://www.tonyrobbins.com/leadership2012/

Simon Pimenta

Positive action = positive change?

There was a really interesting article recently in The Guardian about how action is important for people to make positive changes in their lives.  Certainly our experience of supporting hundreds of clients to make changes would corroborate this.  How we use our bodies can start to tell us how to feel, so think about your posture today, and start to use the brilliant body you have to influence positive change.  
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2012/jun/30/self-help-positive-thinking?CMP=twt_gu

Kate Gare

Managers and Peak Performance

In his book Coaching for Performance, John Whitmore discusses the mindset needed of the manager in the workplace.  He states that the manager needs to think of people in terms of their potential, not their performance. In order to get the best out of people, we need to believe that people do have the capacity to perform at high levels, and that their best can be drawn out of them. Whitmore’s belief that this is the case is based on personal experience of discovering inner resources that he did not know he had, and seeing other people do the same.

He points out the evidence that belief in the capability of others influences their performance. In one experiment, teachers were told that a group of average students were either scholarship candidates or had learning difficulties. When tested, the pupils’ results reflected the teachers’ belief about their ability. This is an extraordinary finding, demonstrating how the attitude of the teacher (or a manager) can influence the performance of those in their charge.

Simon Pimenta

A challenge for today!

A quick blog today and it’s a challenge.  Listen to the voice inside your head today and make sure that you only praise yourself.  See if you can do it for 24 hours!

Kate Gare

Change your Perspective

Have you ever had a conversation with someone or been in a meeting where you have felt angry, upset, frustrated?  Every time you replay the scenario in your mind, you can feel the emotions rising within you again, taking you back to the unhappy place that you were in.

Try this to give yourself a new perspective on what happened so you can think about it without the emotional attachment:
Remember the situation but instead of imagining that it is going on around you as you look out from your own eyes, move yourself to the corner of the room or to one side so you are viewing yourself and the other(s). You will find that this will give you a new angle on what occurred and allow you to think about it without the emotions flaring up and getting in your way.


Helen Harding

Top tips for staying healthy and happy at work

The Chartered Institute of Personnel Development (CIPD) published a poster by the Chartered Society of Physiotherapists (CSP) last week about how to be healthy and happy at work.  It’s a great visual reminder to print out and place near your desk. http://www.cipd.co.uk/binaries/csp_underpressue_poster_2012.pdf

Kate Gare

Mastering a Skill

We all have skills that we can just do without even thinking about it, they are so well practiced, they are what we call automatic.  This is due to neuroplasticity which is your brains amazing ability to learn and create new pathways, enabling you to do things without having to think about them.  

Consider the time when you first learnt to drive; how complicated it seemed with all the different controls that needed to be operated whilst having to monitor your speed, consider your surroundings and navigate streets.  Now you can get in a car and just drive, you don't need to consciously think about how to drive, you just do it - that is a great example of your brains ability to learn and create automatic behaviours.

This is great news because you can take a new skill and with practice, your brain will create new pathways allowing you to master it. The speed of the mastering differs from person to person and from skill to skill but what we do know is that consistent practice is the foundation of mastering the skill.

Helen Harding

Building High Performance Teams (Part 2)

The second question is:
What do you have to do in order to make this happen?

This often draws a blank response.  Finally someone realises that the answer is that they have to treat people the way they wanted to be treated. This is often a light-bulb moment for many people! People often have the revelation that they are clear about what they want from others, but it hadn’t occurred to them that they have a part to play. Some people look a bit sheepish at this point, perhaps embarrassed that they hadn’t considered that their behaviour can influence the cohesiveness of the team, so it is important to point out this was a common way of thinking, and move onto Steps 3 and 4 in order to move things forward. These steps are important to making building a strong team a reality. Any guesses what these steps are? 

 
Simon Pimenta

Building High Performance Teams (Part 1)

When running sessions on team building, as well as doing a number of exercises, I ask two simple questions that often prove to be very thought provoking. These questions form 2 of 4 steps to create a strong team environment.

The first question is:

What sort of team would you like to work in?

When first answering this question people often identify what they don’t want, for instance bitchiness, gossip, talking behind people’s backs. 

Part of my job is helping people to translate these statements: what they don’t want (for instance bitchiness) into what they do want instead (for instance tolerance).

When answering what they actually do want, answers can include:

Respect

Openness

Honesty

Trust

Transparency

Humour

Tolerance

Patience

Read on later in the week for the second question...

Simon Pimenta

More on the Mind-body connection

Another great video which shows the mind body connection at work:

What examples do you have of how we use the mind body connection?

Phil Parker

Action For Happiness

I’ve recently become involved in the new charity ‘Action for Happiness’ which really does take creating a happier, more contented society seriously. The charity recognises that happiness and work are related in the following key ways: 

Research suggests that there are three fundamental human needs that must be satisfied for us to function well and be healthy psychologically. These are: autonomy (the need to have choice over our behaviour and actions), mastery (the need to feel competent) and relatedness (the need to feel connected to and cared about by others).  The satisfaction of these needs has been shown to predict psychological well-being in a wide range of countries and different types of cultures.  As human beings we are all driven to ensure these needs are met. Indeed Deci and Ryan the psychologists that are best known for this research, liken these needs to "innate psychological nutriments" - things that nourish and sustain us.

For more information see www.actionforhappiness.org or contact us.

Kate Gare

Over Commitment

Growing job lists and increasing pressure are leading people to over commit themselves in all areas of their life.  Not only is this putting additional stress on individuals which in turn will affect their health and wellbeing, they are not achieving anything because they are trying to do too much.  Focus is the name of the game, chose one or two priorities and focus on them, when they are done allow yourself to recognise what you have achieved before moving onto the next item.  This will allow you operate in a much more balanced way, cross items off your job list and gain a sense of achievement.

Helen Harding

How to stall up-skilling

The CIPD’s latest Learning and Talent Development Survey 2012 reveals that ‘traditional learning methods are considered amongst the least effective ways to up-skill employees – but they still dominate many L&D programmes.’  
http://www.cipd.co.uk/hr-resources/survey-reports/learning-talent-development-2012.aspx


Kate Gare

Laughter

When was the last time you laughed and laughed until your stomach hurt and happy tears were streaming down your face? For me it was yesterday, it was the most ordinary, simple thing that set myself and my friend into fits of laughter and it felt gooooood!

So why is laughter so important?

• Laughter relaxes the whole body. A good, hearty laugh relieves physical tension and stress, leaving your muscles relaxed for up to 45 minutes after.
• Laughter boosts the immune system. Laughter decreases stress hormones and increases immune cells and infection-fighting antibodies, thus improving your resistance to disease.
• Laughter triggers the release of endorphins, the body’s natural feel-good chemicals. Endorphins promote an overall sense of wellbeing and can even temporarily relieve pain.
• Laughter protects the heart. Laughter improves the function of blood vessels and increases blood flow, which can help protect you against a heart attack and other cardiovascular problems.
  

           (source: helpguide.org)

Laughter and a sense of humour are crucial when dealing with life and it's ups and downs. Once you inject humour into a problem you immediately relax and change your state of mind and body.

So surround yourself with your funniest friends, your favourite comedy sketches and book a trip to the cinema to see the latest must see comedy film - your health requires it!

To get you in the mood, here is one of my favourite funny YouTube clips- only 15 seconds long!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHjFxJVeCQs&feature=player_embedded


Claire Brooker

Mind-Body Connection

Interesting column by Oliver Burkeman in The Guardian a few weeks ago looks at research findings about the mind-body connection and how seeing them as one contributes to healthier lifestyles:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2012/apr/27/mind-body-connection-oliver-burkeman


Kate Gare

The Power of Posture!

Posture is important and can have marked effects on the hormones that our body produces.

Researchers at Columbia and Harvard¹ found that people who adopted ‘power postures’ produced higher levels of testosterone and decreased levels of cortisol (the stress hormone, which can cause health problems long term). Power postures include putting your feet up on your desk, hands behind head with fingers interlaced and elbows out.

Conversely, sitting slumped in your chair led to a drop in testosterone levels.

When we’re stressed, we tend to adopt ‘low power’ postures. These postures can create stress and tension in our bodies. When stressed, one client would sit in a hunched position, with her head to one side. She was experiencing headaches and muscle pain, which disappeared when she learnt a set of techniques designed to break patterns of stress.

So think about your posture, and if it’s a low power posture, change it!

¹ Power Posing: Brief Nonverbal Displays Affect Neuroendocrine Levels and Risk Tolerance

Dana R. Carney², Amy J.C. Cuddy³, and Andy J. Yap²

²Columbia University and ³Harvard University

Simon Pimenta

Phobias

A person with any type of phobia is usually a well balanced and highly functional individual. Interestingly a phobia can be seen as a great and skillful example of our brains ability to learn rapidly from just a single experience. If only we could apply this learning ability to other things like exams or learning to drive?!

So have you got a pitch or presentation coming up during which you would love to feel comfortable and confident? Perhaps it's a meeting with your boss? The good news is your fear of public speaking can be fixed.

Phobias are mental programs that run in a predictable way. There is always a trigger that stimulates some kind of external sequence, producing a familiar and predictable response. To stop a phobia response you change this internal sequence, replacing it with a new strategy that creates better choices of response to that particular stimulas.

Are you interested in resolving this once and for all? If the answers 'yes', please feel free to drop me an email: claire@philparker.org

Have a great week :)

Claire Brooker

Amazing Mind Body Connection Video

This is my favourite video and is a perfect demonstration of the mind body connection:

Phil Parker

Always checking your emails?

Giving yourself an email holiday could be good for your health – why don’t you try just checking your emails once an hour for a week and see what difference it makes?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2148754/Why-ignoring-emails-good-heart.html


Kate Gare

Are you a Stress Junkie?

Answer the following questions to find out:

1. Are you one of those people who say 'I thrive on stress'?
2. Do you strive for perfection?
3. Do you get by on less than 7 hours sleep?
4. Do you rely on coffee and/or cigarettes to keep going?
5. Do you find it hard to switch off/relax?
6. Are you always too busy for a holiday?
7. Do you feel anxious when you’re not busy?
8. Do you often eat on the go?
9. Do you worry a lot?
10. Are you always leaving things to the last minute? (See Time Management blog).

Please note this is not a scientifically designed questionnaire.

If you find yourself answering yes to:

2-3 of the above questions, you may be a stress junkie.

4-6 of the above questions, you are probably a stress junkie.

7-10 of the above questions, you are definitely a stress junkie!

Whilst we know that a bit of stress can improve performance, being constantly in a state of stress can cause problems.

The Stress Response, also known as the Fight or Flight mechanism or the Physical Emergency Response, is designed to keep us safe. So if our ancestors were faced with a tiger, this response would be triggered to enable us to either fight the tiger or run away, by releasing hormones that primed the body for action. However, if we are constantly activating this mechanism, it can suppress our immune system, interrupt our sleep patterns, and these hormones can cause a whole host of conditions, including heart problems.

Help is at hand. You can learn to break the patterns that result in stress junkie behaviour and learn how to calm the stress response. P4 is designed to teach people how they can perform at their best even in high pressure situations, without being a stress junkie!

Simon Pimenta

Choose to be Calm

Paul Wilson in his "Calm for Life" book says,

"When it comes to being calm, and feeling good about your work, your relationships and your life in general, you have choices. It may be difficult to accept this while you feel trapped in any particular work or lifestyle routine, but these choices do exist. It's not always easy to see this, but you have the power to be happy or unhappy, to be tense or relaxed, to be contented or depressed, to be rich or poor, to be well."

The idea of you being more influential in your life and in your health is something we firmly believe and teach on our Lightning Process and P4 Training Courses

Why choose calm?

Because from a state of calm solutions and clarity can be found and from these states of mind success is soon to follow! Calmness is the key to success.

Claire Brooker

5 Tips for Building Rapport and Trust

1. Be yourself - value and accept the person that you are and recognise your strengths.

2. Be professional - make sure you both look and act the part, and make the right impression.

3. Be curious about others - if you are genuinely interested in people and what they have to say, they will be drawn to you.

4. Have a conversation - avoid just pitching to people especially if you are meeting them for the first time.

5. Tell stories - have stories and anecdotes that are relevant to keep people interested and entertained.


Helen Harding

1 minute to… Present Powerfully

Public speaking made easy
I've worked with thousands of people, including myself, who had a paralysing fear of public speaking. Very often they would be people who were incredibly confident in many other situations including chatting with strangers, but somehow when the idea if speaking public came up, they just collapsed.

The secret to becoming confident at public speaking lies in your neurology. You have actually learnt this skill, as a child you would have been very confident making yourself heard and screaming in public! However through practice, both during presentations and by running over a future presentation in your head, and seeing it going disastrously wrong, we unwittingly wire our brains to prepare to be scared.

To resolve this all we need to do is rewire our brains using a process called neuroplasticity (see video in one of my previous posts) to get different, better, more confident brain pathways firing instead.

Follow the steps below to rewire your brain and so you can start to imagine any forthcoming presentations in a new and powerfully confident way:

Step One
Remember a time when you felt confident, ideally it will be a time when you were speaking with someone, but if it's confidence in another situation then that's fine too.

Step Two
Takes those feelings and imagine you are a bird flying over the presentation. See yourself from a distance being calm, confident and in charge.

Step Three
Beam those feelings down from the bird into that you that is getting ready to speak. Notice how confident they look, how easy it is for them to speak.

Step Four
Float down into the audience and see how it feels to watch you being confident. Listen to the voices inside their heads of the people watching saying 'wow I wish I could do that'.

Step Five
Float into the future 10 years from now when you have already become brilliant this simply through practice. Step into the you that you are in 10 years time, and feeling how that feels beam those feelings all the way back to the you who is standing presenting at the forthcoming event.

Step Six
Step into that new calm you on the stage and feel how that naturally feels to be confident, calm, powerful and excited about letting people know what you have to offer.

That's it job done!

Let me know how brilliantly you do in your next presentation.

Phil Parker

The Importance of Employee Engagement

Director at Employee Engagement and Wellbeing Specialists, Professor Ivan Robertson's, recent piece in The Guardian talks about the importance of employee engagement during these difficult economic times. Robertson says that there are many ways to engage employees including organisations commitment, job satisfaction and organisational citizenship.  May research studies show that there is a link between higher levels of engagement with better performance and productivity, more customer satisfaction and lower rates of absence through sickness.  

Sadly, in my experience, in testing times the very engagement that can have such a measurable impact is often one of the first budgets to be cut.

Kate Gare

How are your Time Management skills? Part 2

Meetings:

Plan to get there early. Work out what train you would need to get in order to get there on time, and get an earlier train. Then if a train is delayed, it is still possible to get there on time. Someone I met used to get to appointments 2/3 hours before the allotted time. Personally I find that unnecessary, but taking reasonable steps to allow for delays is sensible.

Plan:

If you have a project deadline, consider how long you think the project might take. People often underestimate how long a task will take, so add 50-100% more time. Schedule when you are going to do the work.

Leaving the House:

If you have to leave the house at a certain time, let’s say 10am, plan to be ready before the allotted time. If you are ready at 9.30am, and start doing a task, for instance writing a letter on your computer, decide when you need to stop this task and allow time for turning off the computer.

Holidays:

I have borrowed a strategy from someone who has good time management skills. He gets his suitcase out a week before departure, and starts putting things in the case as he thinks of them. 2 nights before departure, he will look at a packing list, to see if there is anything else he needs to buy, or to put in the case. The night before departure, he will go through his list and pack everything properly.

Planning is the key to good time management!

Simon Pimenta

How are your Time Management skills? Part 1

1. If you have a meeting do you arrive:
a)   Early
b)   On time
c)   Late

2.   If you have a project deadline, do you:
a)   Work on it steadily during the time frame
b)   Stay up the night before, working through the night if necessary
c)   Fail to meet the deadline and have to ask for an extension

3.   If you have to leave the house at 10am to catch the train, are you:
a)   Ready to leave in advance of 10am
b)   Starting something at 9.30am, then having to rush to get out of the house on time
c)   Leaving the house after 10am, rushing to get to the station in order not to miss your train

4.   If you are packing to go on holiday, do you finish packing:
a)   At least the day before travelling
b)   In the wee small hours
c)   Moments before you have to leave to get to the station/airport?

If you answered:
a)   You have good time management skills
b)   There is room for improvement in this area
c)   You have time management issues and are probably creating a lot of unnecessary stress!

If you mainly answered b or c read Wednesday's blog post for simple strategies to help!

Simon Pimenta

Should people accept that pressure is a fact of life?

Matthew Syed, author of ‘Bounce: The Myth of Talent and the Power of Practice’ has teamed up with the BBC to look at the psychology of pressure – why some people are particularly prone to pressure, while others cope well.  Interesting stuff.  To take part in the test (and maybe learn something about yourself along the way) see here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-17874450

Kate Gare

There's never enough time in the day!

"There's never enough time in the day!" Sound familiar? Read on for some solutions...

Break projects into bitesize chunks
Apparently the optimal amount of time to spend on a task is 40-90 minutes. After that take a break and recharge before you move on to the next job.

Do a bit of what you're avoiding
If you even do 5mins of this task, you'll realise how much of the anxiety was created in your head.

Relax
Not only will you feel better, you'll also be more effective.

Let me know how much time you've saved. The more time you make for yourself the happier and healthier you'll be!

Claire Brooker

Tips on using LinkedIn

I recently attended a LinkedIn event organised by the brilliant Brighton & Hove Chamber of Commerce http://www.businessinbrighton.org.uk/.  The four excellent speakers identified these key ways to make LinkedIn work for you:

• LinkedIn can be used to develop and enhance your reputation as an expert in your field. To do this, join groups, ask questions and contribute to discussions.
• Use good English and only link to quality content/sources/blogs etc.
• Use LinkedIn as more than a place to get a job and to passively connect with as many people as possible.
• Don't try and promote or sell something directly.
• LinkedIn can be used to source good deals from local suppliers (just use the search function).
• Set up a company page.
• Raporrtive was recommended as an easy way to get social media details from an email address. 
• And finally, if a company as big as Microsoft takes LinkedIn seriously then so should everyone.

Thanks to those of you who shared your expertise and insights:  Al Tredinnick of Digicave, Kate Bacon of Kate Bacon: Communication Genius and Caroline White of White Write along with sponsor Guy Anderson from zero G media

Kate Gare

Happiness and Work

This is an excellent video on the positive psychology and happiness which is very much in alignment with my work...

Phil Parker

Survival of the Fittest

"In the struggle for survival, the fittest win out at the expense of their rivals because they succeed in adapting themselves best to their environment." Charles Darwin

This quote is so relevant in today's economic climate as it is those who are most flexible that thrive despite the challenges that present themselves.  P4 will teach you the skills to bulletproof yourself against your stressors and influence your mindset allowing you to succeed.


Helen Harding 

Alive Inside – The Healing Power of Music

Author and neurologist Oliver Sacks has been doing some amazing work looking at the impact listening to music has on the human brain.

The Guardian recently linked to a You Tube video http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/us-news-blog/2012/apr/12/alive-inside-documentary-healing-music?CMP=twt_gu showing Henry Dyer, 92 seemingly wake up a in a way that cannot fail to move the viewer.  We know that listening to music can release dopamine and this new documentary adds another dimension to the power of the brain and the power of music.  Great stuff!

Kate Gare

When Champions need help

Below is a link to my new video:

http://present.me/view/8555-when-champions-need-help-phil-parker-peak-performance

Hope you enjoy watching!

Phil Parker

Laughter makes for a Happy Workplace

I am lucky to work with a group of people where we take time to have some fun within our working day - it can be as simple as sharing a story or a funny video but it makes for a great environment to work in and encourages a great team atmosphere as well as creativity.  Laughter sets off a reaction in our brains which releases endorphins that improve our mood and reduces the levels of stress hormones in our body.  It is estimated as adults we only laugh 14 times a day whereas children can laugh up to 400 times a day. So give it a go in your office and see how much happier your working life becomes.


Helen Harding

Catch People Doing Something Right!

If you really want to demotivate your team, here are some great strategies:

1. Constantly pick faults with what they do.
2. Tell them what you want doing, but don’t give them enough information so that they can do it as you would like. This means that when they complete the task, you can tell them what’s wrong with their work.
3. When staff complete a job, also tell them that you wouldn’t have done it like that.
4. Impose tasks on them and set deadlines without agreeing the deadlines with them. This will put them under pressure and is a great demotivator!

However, if you want to motivate your team, do the opposite to all the above:

1. Catch staff doing something right!
2. Be clear about the guidelines for the work, and be reasonable in your expectations.
3. Acknowledge good work. Coach them on how it could be improved.(This requires having good coaching skills.)
4. Negotiate deadlines with staff wherever possible.

Demotivated staff results in lower performance, which is not good for your business!

Simon Pimenta

Your mind's a beach

Today is the perfect day to cut loose from work and go to the beach. If you're lucky enough to do that, then enjoy your day off; if like most of us you can't just take a day off then research suggests just 10 or 15 min of your lunch break can give you exactly the same feelings.

Harvard neuroscientist Pascual Leone conducted an experiment in which one group of volunteers were asked to practice a simple five finger exercise on the piano everyday two hours for five days. The second group was asked to just imagine playing the same exercise for the same period of time.  When they asked both groups to perform on the piano at the end of the experiment they found that performance was almost identical, and neuro imaging techniques of their brain showed very similar levels of activation and development of the motor cortex in both groups.


This has stunning consequences for those who would prefer to get the benefits of exercise without actually having to go to the gym. It also should make us aware that negative preparation, worrying, anxiety and catastrophisation will equally prepare the brain effectively for stress; so we need to make sure we don't exercise our brains in this way

So this lunchbreak, spend 15 minutes imagining you're at the beach; your brain and body will get a similar degree of benefit as if you had just popped on your swimwear and gone down to the ocean for a quick break. Enjoy!


Phil Parker


Ref: Pascual-Leone, A. Nguyet, D.,Cohen, L., Brasil-Neto, J.,Cammarota, A.; & Hallett. M. (1995). Modulation of muscle responses evoked by transcranial magnetic stimulation during the acquisition of new fine motor skills. Journal of Neurophysiology, 74, 1037-1045 

Meet YOUR Brain

This is a great two minute video that starts to explain how your brain works. Did you know that in your brain ‘there are 40 quadrillion possible ways for neurons to connect, so there will always be room for new knowledge and ideas’

http://www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/brainsmart/brain/

Kate Gare

The 11th Question - The Spotlight Question

Just after writing 'The 10 Questions To Ask For Success' book I was privileged to have a conversation with an amazing woman who worked in a very prominent position for a very well known media corporation.

She told me a story about how she had been at cocktail party and noticed an eminent playwright. This was a man who she had been wanting to talk to about a project involving underprivileged kids and the arts for a long time. She was about to go and talk to him when she was suddenly struck by the thought, 'what would people think of me, for cornering this man and talking about my project? They might think that I was being pushy or showing off that I knew him, and what if he didn't want to speak to me? and so on.

This stopped her in her tracks. She headed away from where the playwright was chatting, but felt in conflict with herself, part of her wanted to talk to to him and part of her didn't.

Rather wisely she started to use what I now call the 11th question; she asked herself 'what really matters here?' 

The answer was simple; the most important thing was the welfare of these underprivileged kids. Nothing else, other people's opinions or what the playwright thought of her, was as important as that in this moment.

As soon as she realised this she turned once again to speak to the man, but to her dismay found he had just left. She resolved to make sure she always asked herself this question so she could really seize the moment and use every opportunity to make the things that were important to her more likely to happen.

If you pause for a moment and ask yourself right now 'what really matters here and now in my life?' You may find that you're spending too much time doing things that aren't important, and instead refocus on what you really need to put your energy into...

Phil Parker