I love the piece on Mental Toughness but mostly the thought about choosing to see your confidence as valuing the difference you can make to people. I have never chosen to think about my confidence in this way, I think I've always chosen to shy away from the view of…

In my last post I reflected on the change in context of my role and identity at work and how this impacted on my performance and emotions. I took a decision there and then to look at my situation differently and to choose to feel something else more useful. Of…

You might be interested to read Lawrence Dallaglio's recent words in a great article in the Times.This paragraph jumped out for me as being majorly relevant to the current challenges..."We had great players in specialist areas and leadership was clearly an integral part of our success in 2003. We had…

In some research we were involved in a few years ago, we found a couple of interesting things out about people who were voted as very mentally tough by folks who understood their world. First thing was that mentally tough people had confidence that didn't break down easily - it…

Looking for a previous article from HBR on resilience I came across the attached old favourite which seems as pertinent now as it did in Jan 2001 (when the market was bouyant). The Making of a Corporate Athlete

"It's subtle this performance coaching stuff, but it works. This time last year if circumstances had been the same I'd have been sh*!ing myself and unhealthily pessimistic. This year I'm still pessimistic, but understand that this pessimism is actually useful. If I use it appropriately, it helps me to perform…

Reading The Times this week, Ben Mcintyre reminded me of something that Miss McIntosh taught me in 1971. 2+2 = 4. The maths is true and is the same this year as it was last, but something has changed - what we have lost is not the ability to add…

My performance has, more than ever before, been at the forefront of my mind recently. I have just started a new role...same company...new role though. When first approached about the job, I thought "Wow, what a great opportunity; a new challenge without the usual upheaval and culture refamiliarisation required with…

...while all others around you are doing a good impression of something without a head, requires a lot of mental toughness. Like anything that's difficult, the more you prepare for the challenge, the more of a fighting chance of success you have when the key moments actually arrive. So, given…