Carol Dweck has completed some very interesting research into how to motivate and support individuals and children in particular.
Startlingly, she concludes that tell children they are smart and clever can be damaging to them. This is because if a child believes they are smart they are less likely to push themselves as they don't want to fail and lose their "smart" label.
Better to reward children for being determined, willing to attempt challenging tasks and showing grit. These should motivate kids to keep going even if they fail at first.
Cheers
Sunday, 19 February 2017
Thursday, 9 February 2017
The point of this blog
The point of this bog is to help others (and myself) become more confident. I am fortunate that I have managed to build my confidence, slowly, over many years.
Daniel Coyle's blog is one of the many really useful resources I use. It can be found here http://thetalentcode.com/
One of the lessons I have learned is that we can all reach a high level of compentence in any skill we chose. We just have to apply ourselves to engage in purposeful practice over a sustained period of time. The videos on the improvements that can be made in table tennis and playing the violin are amazing.
I think, however, we need to be kind to ourselves. Learning and progress is messy and certainly does not move in a straight line. I think when learning a new skill we can be easily put off initially as we don't feel we are making enough immediate progress. If we view it as a process with peaks and plateaus we can become a little more relaxed about it and not expect massive improvements every day. We should only judge our progress after a sustained period.
The good news is that we can also apply this logic to the skill of building our confidence. Don't anticipate overnight success or even large improvements in a short space of time, just incremental improvements on a weekly basis.
Cheers
Daniel Coyle's blog is one of the many really useful resources I use. It can be found here http://thetalentcode.com/
One of the lessons I have learned is that we can all reach a high level of compentence in any skill we chose. We just have to apply ourselves to engage in purposeful practice over a sustained period of time. The videos on the improvements that can be made in table tennis and playing the violin are amazing.
I think, however, we need to be kind to ourselves. Learning and progress is messy and certainly does not move in a straight line. I think when learning a new skill we can be easily put off initially as we don't feel we are making enough immediate progress. If we view it as a process with peaks and plateaus we can become a little more relaxed about it and not expect massive improvements every day. We should only judge our progress after a sustained period.
The good news is that we can also apply this logic to the skill of building our confidence. Don't anticipate overnight success or even large improvements in a short space of time, just incremental improvements on a weekly basis.
Cheers
Wednesday, 18 January 2017
Pilates
As I may have mentioned before I have found exercising really beneficial to improve physical and mental well being and can be slightly addictive.
I have been running regularly for the last 10 years or so and cycling for about 5. I also try to do a bit of amateur yoga as I am not the most flexible.
However, I pilates recently and what a difference, it improves posture, composure as well as conditioning and strength I hope. I remember the recently retired Manchester United player Ryan Giggs stating that he felt his career had been prolonged by regularly taking pilates classes.
I'm still a complete novice and have only tried beginners videos on Youtube but it is well worth a try.
Cheers
I have been running regularly for the last 10 years or so and cycling for about 5. I also try to do a bit of amateur yoga as I am not the most flexible.
However, I pilates recently and what a difference, it improves posture, composure as well as conditioning and strength I hope. I remember the recently retired Manchester United player Ryan Giggs stating that he felt his career had been prolonged by regularly taking pilates classes.
I'm still a complete novice and have only tried beginners videos on Youtube but it is well worth a try.
Cheers
Wednesday, 11 January 2017
Self Esteem and Dopamine - Simon Sinek
I really enjoyed Simon Sinek's youtube interview about the generation known as millenials. He talks about many of the subjects we have covered here; self esteem as a result of failed parenting strategies and dopamine hits as a result of getting positive feedback on social media. These factors have affected younger people more than others.
He goes on to say prolonged periods on social media result in people feeling worse rather than better about life. Younger people are becoming reliant on devices rather than friends resulting in superficial friendships. It all sounds like a recipe for a lack of confidence and increased likelihoods of depression.
Instant gratification is another expectation younger people have; however, we only become fulfilled where we put the work in over the long term. Really interesting viewing.
What it here at
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hER0Qp6QJNU
Cheers
He goes on to say prolonged periods on social media result in people feeling worse rather than better about life. Younger people are becoming reliant on devices rather than friends resulting in superficial friendships. It all sounds like a recipe for a lack of confidence and increased likelihoods of depression.
Instant gratification is another expectation younger people have; however, we only become fulfilled where we put the work in over the long term. Really interesting viewing.
What it here at
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hER0Qp6QJNU
Cheers
Monday, 2 January 2017
Happy New Year?
There is a view that 2016 was not a great year; a stream of very popular celebrities many for here in the UK passed away at a depressingly speedy rate throughout the year.
Combine this with the puzzling Brexit vote and the election of Donald Trump across the Atlantic many would have you believe that last year was the worst ever.
But was it really?
The UK team enjoyed unprecedented success at the Rio games, Andy Murray won Wimbledon and my own football team enjoyed a very successful time.
So what can we conclude from this?
All the events I mentioned are objective, there are plenty who have a completely opposing view. Also I had no direct influence over them. We can be hostages to fortune if we look to external events to ensure we feel happy.
Happiness and confidence are an inside job, for every time your team or sports star overachieves they will also fail to meet expectations. So how to we ensure we are happy; meditation, eating healthily, plenty of exercise and treating others as we would like to be treated ourselves. That's what I'll be doing as well as having my fingers crossed Donald Trump isn't re-elected in 202, hopefully there will only be four years of damage done!
Cheers
Combine this with the puzzling Brexit vote and the election of Donald Trump across the Atlantic many would have you believe that last year was the worst ever.
But was it really?
The UK team enjoyed unprecedented success at the Rio games, Andy Murray won Wimbledon and my own football team enjoyed a very successful time.
So what can we conclude from this?
All the events I mentioned are objective, there are plenty who have a completely opposing view. Also I had no direct influence over them. We can be hostages to fortune if we look to external events to ensure we feel happy.
Happiness and confidence are an inside job, for every time your team or sports star overachieves they will also fail to meet expectations. So how to we ensure we are happy; meditation, eating healthily, plenty of exercise and treating others as we would like to be treated ourselves. That's what I'll be doing as well as having my fingers crossed Donald Trump isn't re-elected in 202, hopefully there will only be four years of damage done!
Cheers
Monday, 5 December 2016
Daniel Coyle
I always enjoy reading Dan Coyle's blog and his recent article on leadership and how strong leaders are often willing to undertake mundane and seemingly trivial tasks like sweeping up or collecting litter.
It ensures that the rest of the team don't believe that they are superior and that the success of the team is more important than anyone individual.
You can read more at http://thetalentcode.com/
It must take a huge amount of humility and inner, quiet confidence to be able, as a leader, to tidy up and sweep floors as some of the leaders like John Wooden or Ray Kroc do as described by Coyle.
On the same subject there is a great book on the ethos of the All Blacks rugby team called Legacy by James Kerr which I strongly recommend. Kerr discusses one of the All Black's core rules to be part of the team and ensure continued success. "No Dickheads." is the protocol stands out and it says it all really
Cheers
It ensures that the rest of the team don't believe that they are superior and that the success of the team is more important than anyone individual.
You can read more at http://thetalentcode.com/
It must take a huge amount of humility and inner, quiet confidence to be able, as a leader, to tidy up and sweep floors as some of the leaders like John Wooden or Ray Kroc do as described by Coyle.
On the same subject there is a great book on the ethos of the All Blacks rugby team called Legacy by James Kerr which I strongly recommend. Kerr discusses one of the All Black's core rules to be part of the team and ensure continued success. "No Dickheads." is the protocol stands out and it says it all really
Cheers
Sunday, 20 November 2016
What have I learned so far?
When I started this project back in July my somewhat ambitious objective was to blog about confidence every day for a year to see if this would have an impact on my own confidence levels. This is an idea I had stolen from a book called the Happiness Project which had the same aim except with happiness obviously.
I managed to keep the daily posts going for the first few months but it became increasingly ore difficult to find the time and subject matter to blog every day.
However, I am keeping going and still posting as often as possible when I have the time and something to say.
What is the most important lesson I have learned so far?
Confidence is partly a skill we can develop and improve upon although individuals begin with differing levels of self belief initially.
However, it is in our own hands and if we implement some of the tools and techniques available we can build our self belief regardless of what life may throw at us.
Cheers
I managed to keep the daily posts going for the first few months but it became increasingly ore difficult to find the time and subject matter to blog every day.
However, I am keeping going and still posting as often as possible when I have the time and something to say.
What is the most important lesson I have learned so far?
Confidence is partly a skill we can develop and improve upon although individuals begin with differing levels of self belief initially.
However, it is in our own hands and if we implement some of the tools and techniques available we can build our self belief regardless of what life may throw at us.
Cheers
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