Month: February 2021

Key to the success of any endeavour is critical thinking Open a dictionary and search for the word ‘critical’ – the first definition offered will be something on the lines of ‘containing or making severe negative judgements’.  And the doer of such a deed, the critic, is defined in equally negative terms; and not least of whom is our inner critic, that voice which has a right go at us when we prioritise our enjoyment over our chores. Not looking good so far is it?  In medicine, we know the phrase ‘critically ill’ is not good, it means there is

What is it about the bathroom and creativity? Archimedes was famously sat in his bathtub when he had his eureka moment.  My guess is that he had taken to his tub for a good old soak and not to indulge ponderings of the day job.  Yet, that was the moment that his muse struck.  Hello creativity! I suspect that many of us have had a similar experience in the bath or shower, but why is it in such odd places that inspiration strikes?  It is because our conscious mind is focused on a very mundane, very safe, auto-pilot style task,

“Not all those who wander are lost” I came across the quote from JR Tolkien whilst searching online for some post-covid-19 holiday ideas. My search was random at best, so the irony of his words struck me.  Then I paused and considered whether it was indeed ironic? I asked myself how ‘wandering’ appealed to me so much?  The answer was swift, my search strategy had changed because I am planning on going somewhere completely new to me; I love the uncertainty of it, it has an energy that I thrive on.  As the saying goes, I was getting ‘lost in

In an article about the new normal, Natalie Turner used the phrase ‘a new extraordinary’ – now that sparked something; it invited me to question the concept of ‘normal’. As a Master Practitioner and trainer of neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) I spend a lot of time examining the language people use and what it belies; after all, “words speak us more than we speak them” said Hercule Poirot, one of the greatest detectives of all time. Why do people choose certain words & what do they think they mean? Why have they made it mean that? And what else could it