personal development

Commitment ‘the quality of being dedicated to an activity’

People often set themselves goals based on things they feel they ‘should’ do, for example losing weight, giving up smoking, or not consuming alcohol for a month.

There are many reasons why these kinds of goals are doomed to failure, and there are two in particular for you to consider. Firstly, they’re all set in the negative. Our brains work best when focused on a positive statement – on doing something, rather than not doing it. So restate goals in the positive for more success.

Secondly, when we feel we ‘should’ do something, we’re basing that feeling on external pressures rather than internal motivation. As a result, we’re far less driven to make it happen and are less committed to the goal.

An alternative approach is to choose a value that is important to you and make it your goal to enhance that value in your life. For example, if you choose the value of Wellbeing, think of an action each day that would enhance your wellbeing and resolve to do that. You will be feeling better in no time, without the guilt and pressure of unsuccessful ‘should’ type goals.

Think about ways to show commitment to achieving your goal: perhaps a daily diary note, a daily reminder on your phone, a non-food based reward for doing the activity every day for a week.

Values are our natural motivators and so if we are focused on enhancing a value we will be more committed to making it happen.

To find out more about values click to download a Free Values Guide

I recently delivered a career coaching workshop and one of the things I talked about that people found most useful was understanding how first impressions are made and therefore how important they are, so I wanted to share this with you.

Did you know that on average a first impression is created in as little as 3 seconds?

1…2…3…decision made

Why does that matter?

Think about how many times we meet someone new in the space of a week or a month. The impression we make on them in those first few seconds will colour how they think about us forever.

Think about the judgements we make about people we meet based on the way they look, what they are wearing even how they shake our hand.

Whether it’s in a job interview, a business meeting, a social event or on a date, the preparation you put into creating that first impression is very likely to be time well spent.

How are first impressions made?

A huge 55% of the first impression we make is based on our physiology that is non-verbal signals such as our posture, gestures, facial expressions, dress, grooming, handshake, spatial behaviour and breathing.

Then 38% is based on the tone of our voice including, volume, pitch and tempo.

Only 7% of that first impression is based on the content of what we say; the key words and phrases used.

How much more successful could you be, if you improved that first impression?