November’s Newsletter – lots of tips to reduce stress and motivate you
workshops, courses and 121 services I can provide to help individuals and businesses / organisations
Confidence and Well Being, being able to cope with anxiety and stress – is essential – a priority for you and for staff
Mental Health in the Workplace
This Wednesday 10th October 2018 is WORLD Mental Health Day
I will be in Maidstone Kent at County Hall, Kent with the FSB for MENTAL HEALTH in the Workplace
It is sure to be a very informative event to help all employers and staff – to encourage a healthier happier workplace – which has a massive impact and helps people to feel so much happier.
What is good Mental Health?
“Mental health is defined as a state of well-being in which every individual realizes his or her own potential, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to her or his community”
The Mental Foundation reiterate this “Good mental health is not simply the absence of diagnosable mental health problems”
When a person’s Mental Health is compromised it can affect their work, their family life and friendships, and their physical health too.
Latest figures from the Health and Safety Executive is:
2016/2017 12.5 million working days lost due to Stress, Depression and Anxiety
Which is now 40% of all work absence, compared to the previous 2015/2016 of 37%
This equates to an average of 23.8 days a year lost per person
My personal argument is, there is also the days prior to absence – loss of focus and productivity when a person is feeling stressed, overwhelmed, tired, depressed or anxious. Prevention is always preferable, and it is in the interest of all of us, regardless of size of business – to look after our own Mental Health, to take responsibility. If you are the Boss, yours really matters, and is a great example for any employees you have, but also, if you feel good, the knock-on effect is -so will they.
To create the best working environment we can, offer and maintain a good Life/work balance and to let people know they are Valued.
No-one can run on empty, family and social life is important to our mental well being and happiness, making us more productive. One thing above all things, to get the best from an employee, to have great productivity and Loyalty – is to let them know they are Valued, that their role is important, to make sure they understand what their role is, and how it fits in with everyone else’s, and to spend time on their development – so you have happy loyal productive employees.
A few tips:
- Take lunch away from your desk or work station and have a proper break, go for a walk, even 10 minutes helps – most people do not do this!
- Have regular team meetings
- Prioritise workloads – to avoid duplication, and overwhelm and allow for –
- Good time management
- Leave work at a time that allows valuable time at home with your family, or friends
- Exercise – in whatever form you love – the mental health benefits are huge, as well as gaining great physical health too
- Take on a team challenge!
- Practice Mindfulness – it works! as does learning Stress management
- Train in Mental Health at work to help take the stigma away – we all have times we need help and support, you can also enlist dedicated companies for your staff to talk to
- Have numbers for supportive organisations clearly visible – there are so many wonderful ones from MIND, to CALM (Campaign Against living miserably) aimed at men, ANXIETY UK, Heads Together, The Samaritans, Re-think Mental illness, Time to Change… there are so many
Just a few things, there is so much more. The work I do is to work on Confidence, and self-esteem to really help people recognise their skills and reach their full potential.
Andrea
6 week course ‘Confidence to be your Best You’
I am delighted to be running a 6 week course
The results I have had so far from other courses is amazing and I am so passionate about helping you develop Confidence and feel happier about being YOU and to go forward with what you want to do.
I have published the courses on social media and already had such amazing support and feedback
‘Liz Bylett – This is such an awesome course, I had the pleasure of attending a class that Andre ran which was very similar, yes I am very confident in many areas of my life but I believe we can all learn something new and Andrea’s extensive knowledge in this area inspires and embeds tools and resilience to deal with life’s challenges.
Yes it was brilliant wasn’t it?? Thoroughly recommended! – Julie Quick
I am working with Andrea now and she is amazing . X – Julie B
Sarah Hawes – This course will be amazing if you’re looking to be more confident and happy.
I can highly recommend Andrea – she has changed my life with her hypnotherapy and is such a lovely person – just right for a course like this!’
I hope to see You
Andrea
Have Confidence in yourself and your abilities, to take you forward after exams.
Confidence really is from the inside. It is ‘intangible’ and different for all of us, in different situations. When it comes to exam results, regardless of what they are – excellent, or not as good as hoped for – confidence in yourself and your abilities will help you to move forward. If you did not get what you hoped for, all is not lost at all – school is not the end of learning, or the dream of what you want to achieve. There are always options open to you, to either improve on grades, or to look at alternative ways of getting to where you would like to be. Ask any seasoned adult, and they will tell you ‘please do not worry, you will look back and realise that you didn’t need to’.
Do get support if needed and talk about the way you feel, you will be surprised, and how much of a mixture of thoughts and feelings you may have about the next step, whether University, College, Sixth Form, an Apprenticeship or a Job, from excitement – to feeling anxious, or doubting yourself.
Exam results are indeed an indicator of how well you have done in a certain subject, but there is more to it than that, which is where you can take heart, as there are other things that are very important too, and that more and more employers particularly, are looking at:
Your communication skills; with people face to face, on the phone, via email or any other medium, and how you interact with others. (customers and work colleagues of all levels)
Whether you have initiative – meaning that if you see something needs doing you do it, or help colleagues or customers if you can see they need assistance, even if it isn’t ‘your job’ – one employer put it like this:- ‘don’t come and tell me there is an item in the way that could be a trip hazard, move the item, and then let me know you have moved the item out of the way and secured it, because it could have been a trip hazard.’
Being Self Motivated and able to Plan and Organise your work and see the task through within the time allocated to the task – Time Management
Reliability
Punctuality
Flexibility, in terms of being able to adapt to changing situations and environments
Awareness of how your role fits into the bigger scheme of things for the company, how it relates to those around you and Teamwork
Confidence to either ask for help rather than make a mistake, or admit to having made a mistake, rather than try to cover it up
If you are young, one way to develop these skills is to do volunteering, join a sports group or organisation you are interested in, maybe travel and experience different environments, where you have to organise yourself and learn to budget.
Working on all of these skills, as an enhancement to your exam results, helps put you ahead and gives you the Confidence to be You and enjoy your new experiences – whether Uni, college or work, which then increases your Confidence – and Competence – in your abilities and helps you feel happier and be a happy positive person to be around.
I hope this helps – I can also help with interviews, see a previous post on interview skills
Andrea – Your Confidence Coach
My top 3 Confidence tips
My summer newsletter 2018
If you would like to read my current newsletter please do click the link below:
https://mailchi.mp/219a9af4a63c/summer-newsletter-2018?e=d494a5ac84
Feedback from the 10 week course ‘Confidence to be your best You’
Stress and Anxiety
A lot of people who come to see me are suffering with what they think is Anxiety, when in fact it is Stress and overwhelm.
Mindfulness practice can help, even just taking a deep slow breath, and giving yourself a ‘PAUSE’ to then choose and decide how you would like to proceed – even if it is to take some time out from a situation, even for 10 minutes.
Do you need to be saying ‘NO’ to taking on more than you can cope with? If you want to do a great job for someone – which is also taking on their expectations and standards too, coupled with your own – do you really have the time to do a great job for them?
A great way to say ‘No’ is ‘Let me check I have the time, to do a good job for you‘ – then really think about whether you do have the time, or that you even want to do what is being asked of you. you can say ‘No’ but add,’ it’s only No for now, as I’m so busy and can’t take anything else on‘ or is it maybe time that someone took their own responsibility – maybe you could offer to do part of what is being asked – if they also do their bit!
You can question why you may always be saying ‘Yes’
Questions to ask yourself – which can help you with Stress and Anxiety
‘What’s the worst that could happen – really?’ Think about this question – what is the worst really? in some scenarios it could be that someone is unhappy, even angry, that you are not doing what they want. Can you deal with that? probably you can.
‘is how I feel right now helpful to me and the situation?’ then ask yourself ‘what would serve me and the situation better?’ It takes a bit of practice, but if you forget to ask yourself – you will then reflect – which is all a process of learning – do cut yourself some slack – you’re a human, with emotions, and if you are stressed or anxious, your emotions are heightened.
For Anxiety – a great question is ‘where is my evidence that what I am worried about IS going to happen?’ Anxiety is worrying and projecting that worry into the future ‘what if…’ – something that happened in the past, is not evidence for what has not happened yet! If you are able to think instead of the best possible outcome (you can if you can think of the worst!) then your ‘mindset’ changes – into one of possibility – this then means you approach the situation differently, more positively – so the ‘odds’ of things going better than expected are raised.
So, ‘what if…it goes better than expected? that I meet someone interesting, or have fun, or make a valuable connection, or I am able to make someone smile, help them and make their day better?’
YOU CAN 🙂
please contact me if you want to know more
wonderful feedback from A2B course Confidence to be your best You
I thoroughly enjoyed running my A2B 10 week course ‘Confidence to be your best You’
Seeing the confidence grow in the attendees, week on week is amazing.
Here is the feedback received:
‘My Confidence levels have changed, I feel happier in myself’
I’ve learnt ‘it’s OK to be ME’ ‘My anxiety has reduced and I now sleep!’
‘I have thoroughly enjoyed this course, a great experience and beautifully put together’
‘I am more confident saying No, and have learnt new skills, and understanding and valuing myself’
‘My confidence has improved, and the course was presented in a kind and understanding way’
‘My confidence has changed a lot – there should be more courses like this one’
I also scored a 10, from everyone on how likely they would be to recommend my course 🙂
If you would like to know more, please do get in-touch
Andrea