Monthly Archives: March 2020

Yesterday we heard Jenny Harries; the UK Deputy Chief Medical Officer suggest that we could be in 'lockdown' for 6-months. I am sure this prospect gave you a very negative feeling. It certainly did for me, and my first thoughts were how can we cope with this.

Like many small businesses in the world this would be a significant impact on our business, and I know in many ways, we are lucky, so I know there will be many people out there worrying and wondering how they will cope.

I am often accused of being a very positive person. People will often say to me in training sessions "I wish I could be as positive as you" or sometimes "Why are you always positive?" The fact is and like everyone in life, I have just as many challenges to face and like everyone, I have a choice. I can either be positive or negative, and I decide to choose the former.  In times of crisis, positive thinking is vital.

Please don't go thinking I mean we must walk around saying "Everything's fantastic." In the current

What an appropriate title for these unprecedented times. What is adversity? What does it mean to all of us individually? There is a cycle that people do fall into the trap off. That is when faced with a tough situation (the adversity) we create a belief (usually negative), then the consequence is negative. You can change that cycle if you choose to do so, face the adversity, create a positive belief then the result is positive.

The problem sometimes is that when you think it, then you believe it, and sadly you then start to act it. It is this cycle that if we are not careful, we fall into a self-fulfilling prophecy. I think as a starter you can start to think about your life and what you would like to change. Then I think a good thing to do is how have you dealt with adversity before, and how resilient are you already, how strong are you.

A fantastic thing to do is to look at yourself and reflect on areas from the past, why you are the person you are. Think about times in your life that

As we enter a new phase of the crisis we are starting to have limitations placed on our freedom particularly on things that we take for granted and that are a habit in that we don't think about what we are doing; it's a habit.

We're being told to limit our gathering in groups and to keep a minimum distance from others. The last weekend, in many places, looked like a bank holiday weekend with people congregating together and although our pubs and cafes are now closed, some were mixing closer than what they may do in a pub.

We are also seeing shops packed with shoppers in such close proximity and members of our incredible health and social care sector unable to buy essential items because everything has been bought up. If you haven't seen the video made by the critical health nurse crying because she couldn't get her shopping, I urge you to watch it.

I understand where people are coming from, like me, they want to enjoy the outside, and they also wish to ensure they have enough of things.

We are facing challenging times, and this requires people to step up to the plate. The people that work in our incredible Health and Social Care are going to be facing their Battle of Britain, our country needs the NHS, and we want to help where we can.

Therefore with immediate effect and until further notice, all our training webinars and 1:1 coaching sessions will be offered FREE of charge to anyone working in the NHS and Health and Social Care.

Our webinars are growing daily, and 1:1 coaching offers the ability for guided support in these difficult times.

We want to thank you for your incredible service. Individuals wishing to take up our offer of webinars email Ralph at ralph.moody@targettrg.co.uk and tell him the course. For coaching sessions, email Claire at claire.moody@targettrg.co.uk. Alternatively, call us on 0800 302 9344.

All sessions will be delivered online using live virtual courses, and 1:1 coaching will be conducted remotely using Skype or Zoom.

The last few weeks have changed the way we live our lives, looking around I see people in shock really from denial (it's only a cold) to being afraid where you see people panicking (buying things they don't need). Of course, this is perfectly normal, and there is nothing wrong with you, it's just not very useful.

Schools are closing, workers are off sick, individuals are working from home and businesses are on the edge of destruction. Added to this, and of course, more importantly, we are worrying about our families, particularly the elderly. We are all feeling this, it affects everyone, and there is no escape!

Remember, in all of this we have a choice, we can get frustrated, angry, blame, emotional and depressed, and all of these emotions are normal. They are just not very useful.

We have to do things differently, we have to look for new ways of working, new ways of learning, new ways of socialising and new ways of thinking.

How can we do this? We ask questions, "How can I do this differently?"

We are in unprecedented times and no doubt the next few months are going to be a massive strain for us, from a health point of view and an economic standpoint, our world is about to change.  We have decided to change our format for today's blog, over the coming weeks we will have some changes going on, including some changes in how we deliver our training courses.

Yesterday, I met a lady in a store who was panicking because she couldn't get hand gel. Usually, I wouldn't say anything, I would probably ignore her, but I explained to her that hand soap (which there were plenty) was more effective against the virus and why it was in the fact it breaks down the grease which enables dirt and germs to stick to us.  Soap is better for us if we wash our hands properly.  I wanted her to be aware of this.

Remember though, we all can make a difference in these times, in these situations the best thing we can do is have an understanding for other people and to be kind.

1. Being kind can take a number

Confidence is an essential part of life, and if we don't feel confident about undertaking something or indeed optimistic in our abilities, it can cause serious issues. 

What is Self Confidence? The three drivers of Self Confidence are 1) Confidence in others, 2) Confidence in one’s own capabilities, and 3) Confidence in life. This is where it all starts; Self Confidence is central to our existence, we don’t study it, we observe it and then watch it grow. But we must nurture it and grow it wisely.

We all have confidence, but it’s things in life that take control of it. The negative thoughts we carry can hurt it and of course, our self-esteem too. This then gives us problems when dealing with adversity, and before long, we tell ourselves we are not good enough. We say it, we then believe it but sadly, we then act on it.

To have confidence in ourselves is to know how you can handle the unexpected, not to mistakenly believe that life is foreseeable. There are times when there are situations

I really love delivering training on time management.  It is a subject I know many people have problems with, it is an easy trap to fall into.  Remember we all have the same amount of time it is how we deal with the time we have that matters.

Ok, five steps for really effective time management:

Identify Time Bandits – Time bandits steal our time, this could be anything from constant phone calls to visitors.  Some bandits may be self-induced such as constantly checking emails or social media.  In essence, if it steals our time when we could be doing something more productive or stops us doing things, it is a time bandit.

Deal with Time Bandits – Really important that we deal with our bandits, they are not going to go away if we just put our head in the sand.  I believe the best way of dealing with is to first identify and then prepare an action plan identifying what we are going to do.

Develop Personal Goals – Personal goals are really important for self-motivation and self-actualisation.

There is a massive difference between training and presenting.  I see many blogs and videos that talk about improving presentations and then speak of training and train the trainer courses.  This is not correct and sends the wrong message regarding their use.

When we are presenting, we are delivering a message; it is one-way traffic.  We may use presentations within a training role, switching from training to presenting in a heartbeat, but the skills required to train are different.

Presenting – Although similar in structure, effective presentations are about getting the message across.  We focus heavily on content and engage using useful body language and tone.  We utilise rhetorical questioning, where we pose a question and then answer the question ourselves.  Advanced presenters use anchoring techniques and embedded commands to get their message across.

Training – Many skills from presenting are used but in training, focus on active engagement is imperative to get to our

Stuck in life, that routine you do every day, those words "still here, Monday morning feeling" I often hear words like that in my clients. What about your personal life, stuck there, same house, same walks, same shops? Sometimes you must ask yourself "Why do I continue to do the same things when I would like to change them?"

I find it interesting that lots of people fall back into their habits and routines after they use words like, "I have had a great holiday or a great break". Then they fall back into their stuck lives? back to the same routine. Guess what, it does not have to be that way, being stuck is choice. Sometimes people don't realise they are stuck they just moan, others know they are stuck but choose not to do anything about it.

You can change your life if you choose to, break the routine and stuckness. Bring your holidays and great weekend breaks to work. Change the routine, even plan to change the routine, planning is better than doing nothing.  Life is so short, and there