John’s Self-Confidence Blog
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Self Esteem in Children (Part 2)
Continuing the theme from my previous post… Children and teenagers with low self esteem will display a variety of traits, including: Being easily influenced by advertising or others. Avoiding new challenges for fear of failure. Becoming frustrated easily by setbacks. Blaming others when activities are unsuccessful. Disbelieving that (s)he has any talents or special abilities. Feeling unloved. Promoting self esteem among children and teenagers is an incredibly important, and very easy, habit for parents to fall into. Staying...
read moreSelf Esteem in Children
For the next couple of posts on my blog I thought I’d cover a topic that may not be particularly relevant to all of us just now. However, for those among us that are perhaps raising our own children at the moment, or perhaps have young relatives in their lives, this may be helpful to you. Giving a youngster the best possible start in life is such an important thing that I feel that it is a very worthwhile topic. It will be especially pertinent to those who have had confidence and self-esteem issues themselves and would, no doubt, be...
read moreMake sure you transplant the Sapling – not the Tree
A friend of mine had had a long and successful career in a major UK multinational. He had progressed from team leader in marketing and through a number of vertical and sideways (of his own choice!) moves, became Regional Operations Director. His final position was CEO of one of their subsidiaries. In what I’ve heard described as ‘de-layering’, ‘rationalisation’ and ‘shake-out; he volunteered to take a redundancy payment. He didn’t have to leave – he chose to. The reason was to fulfil a long held ambition; to set up on his own...
read moreBuilding Rapport Without Patronising
I was recently looking over some course material for a two day workshop on ‘Leadership’. Under the ‘what you will learn’ section they had, amongst other things, the following items listed: You will learn How to evaluate workplace relationships for maximum productivity How to lead with integrity and earn the respect of your co-workers while getting the job done How to influence the most persuasive person in your organisation How to align a team towards a common direction How to motivate the unmotivated The 5 steps that successful...
read moreBoosting Self Belief
Self belief in much the same way as self confidence isn’t something we either have or have not got. It moves between two extremes. At the low end, where you feel depressed, worthless; everything is difficult or too much trouble; the world looks as if it’s closing in on you and is full of people who ignore, abuse or bully you – and you are powerless to do anything about it. At the high end, you feel elated; life is full of pleasure and opportunity; people respond positively to you; you have that power to make a difference and you feel...
read moreBusiness Confidence, some have it and some don’t – or is it as simple as that?
Is there some kind of secret about business confidence and how you go about getting it? I don’t think so. Of course you need to be able to stand back from time to time, be honest with yourself about your success criteria then change course if you need to. I call it plan-do-review. I know it’s been said so often that business owners and CEOs get so immersed in the business, they have little time to work on it. They can also lose sight of what it’s about. It’s no good having a real passion for producing black widgets if the market has...
read morePersistence – in breaking down your own resistance
Persistence is often defined as “the refusal to give up, especially when faced with opposition”. Within these pages are numerous tips and techniques for bringing about change and becoming more confident as a result. We can only make progress by giving up old habits in favour of the new ones; by changing old beliefs. It demands a different kind of persistence. The opposition we face here comes from within. We can be our own worst enemy. We become expert at finding ‘evidence’ to support our current beliefs and talking...
read more7 Tips for a Confident Handshake
This is just a short article, but on a subject that can leave a significant impression, good or bad, on a potential relationship, whether business or personal. Your handshake will immediately tell people a lot about you. A person who is confident gives a firm handshake (palms pointing downwards in most cases). Someone who is nervous, or shy gives a wilted handshake (palms pointing upwards in most cases). Smile while shaking hands, but don’t smile for too long because it might give the perception that you’re gullible or not too...
read moreRole Models – a slightly different approach
The Purpose: To help you to identify and rehearse undeveloped ability and explore your potential and build self-confidence. The Process: Do you have a role model? If not, then think of someone. They may be celebrities, or fictional characters; they need not even be alive. However they must be someone who has characteristics that you admire or wish you had. What are these qualities that you wish you had? Imagine how your role model might behave on a fundamental level, for example how might they walk, stand or sit down. Try and emulate...
read moreThe Most Effective Use of Silence I’ve Ever Come Across!
In the selling situation, salespeople often think they should fill any silence with the sound of their own voices. To feel truly listened to, however, prospects need to know that what they say merits consideration by the sales person or indeed any listener. In fact one tip I often give is to ‘sum up what the prospect has said using their own words’ – and they’ll feel truly listened to. This application of silence is even more effective in the coaching situation (although I would argue that to be effective in a sales meeting, the...
read moreAbout John
John Sproson is a confidence coach and family business mentor of over 20 years standing. In the field of confidence building and performance improvement...
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