Sometimes things can seem really bleak and hopeless. Maybe you’ve suffered a big disappointment at work or you feel rejected by a friend or loved one. Or perhaps it is world events that make you feel that things are gloomy.

If you’re feeling down and want to feel more confident about life again, here are 3 actions that psychologists often suggest to clients:

1. Buoy your spirits
Don’t allow yourself … Read more

When life’s hassles and problems keep piling up, it can be really easy to feel overwhelmed. Here are three quick tips for taking the edge off of how you’re feeling and to feel more centred.

1. Breathe mindfully

The idea of mindfulness has grown over the last decade or so from being an unconventional idea to something proven by science. In experiments, practising mindfulness for only 8 to 10 … Read more

Are you job hunting?  Going for interviews?  Need to come across as more articulate, persuasive or perhaps confident?

A few years ago, the BBC asked me to present a TV show helping job hunters to boost their confidence, improve their interpersonal skills and get the jobs they wanted.  I filmed two seasons of the show.  The first season was titled Who Would Hire You? while the second was retitled … Read more

When I’m coaching clients who wish they could speak up more, they sometimes say things like:

• “I don’t want to sound stupid.”
• “I don’t want to be the negative person in the room.”
• “But I don’t want to go against what the rest of the team wants.”

The thing is: there are often times when you need to speak up.  Yes, there may be a voice at the back of … Read more

I was invited onto the Talk Radio Europe breakfast show to speak about the inspiration for and content of my book How To Stand Out: Proven Tactics For Getting Noticed.

Our conversation covered lots of topics spanning lack of confidence, arrogance, childhood experiences, dating and even bringing up confident children. Some of the points that I think worth summarising:

• Remember that you can change at any age. Your

Do you ever feel that just about everyone else must be more confident than you?

A research study by Alexander Jordan at Tuck School of Business found that most of us tend to think that other people are 20 per cent happier and more confident than they actually are.  That’s because of something that I call The Confidence Con: the fact that we are conned by the surface appearance … Read more

Not long ago, a friend kept saying that she didn’t like her job and wanted to find a new one. But every time we met up, she said she was too busy (with work and also moving home) to look for a new job.  For months, she talked about how frustrated she was with work but she didn’t actually do anything about it.

Sneakily, I applied a psychological technique to … Read more

In my coaching work, I often help people who wish they could feel less panicky, less anxious and more confident.

I read a piece in the Sunday Times a few weeks ago by columnist Caitlin Moran. She had an excellent observation: “Panic and anxiety will lie to you – they are gonzo, malign commentators on the events of your life. Their counsel is wrong. You are as high, wired and … Read more