Work Life Balance

confidence

Which part, a brave face or a brave heart?

Hi Olivia, just a quick note to say the second interview went really well. I can’t say I wasn’t nervous but I wasn’t blushing like a bride and after a minute I was actually enjoying it. Thanks for your great encouragement and support, especially when all I wanted was to disappear!     Sue Cors, UK, 2008.

Confidence and experience don't necessarily walk hand in hand. How do you replace the irrepressible confidence of youth with the quiet confidence of experience?

Petra is angry and upset with her boss for not putting her forward for a promotion. However, Petra is 42 and has been feeling for some time now that she is not cutting the mustard at work – she has lost interest, is making careless mistakes, is missing important appointments and finds herself angry with some of her colleagues for no apparent reason – yet still expects to be promoted…

Through coaching Petra realises that she no longers fits the profile of a computer saleswoman. She doesn’t enjoy the travel, the long hours, the last minute spec changes. She is only happy when she is taking photographs and she only does this on occasional week-ends as she has a family to look after. She can’t see herself as a saleswoman for much longer, she says sales is a young person's job. However she can’t see herself taking photographs for a living but has realised she is happiest in her darkroom….I am looking forward to working on a change of career for Petra and will let you know what direction she takes, so watch this space!

Difficulty motivating others? Or yourself?

I can’t thank you enough Olivia, you’ve made a huge difference to my life at work. Confidence in my abilities has grown so much over the last twelve weeks that my boss has placed me in a new liaison role for our international partners. It is so different from what I was doing, I’m still pinching myself...     Janet Mercer, UK, 2008.

Motivation. How do you do that? Where is life's balance in today's tough climate?

Catherine is 38 and is a respected and highly paid Recruitment Consultant. She has four major accounts to look after, including 2 lucrative telecom accounts. To keep her clients happy Catherine has been putting in a 12 hour day for the past 18 months. Some days it’s longer than that. Catherine hasn’t had a full fortnight’s holiday in all that time – a week is all she has managed and even with that she had to take a number of urgent calls on her mobile.

Some evenings Catherine has had to do with toast and cheese with the mouldy bits cut off because she hasn’t had time to go to Tesco at lunch time. On these occasions she treats herself to a half bottle of wine…on these occasions she goes to bed with her make-up on and she really hates that. Lately she feels like crying a lot of the time, even at work sometimes and she said she feels exhausted all the time, so much so that she is beginning to resent the time she spends at work. She feels life is just passing her by….

motivation

Difficulty motivating others? Or yourself?

I can’t thank you enough Olivia, you’ve made a huge difference to my life at work. Confidence in my abilities has grown so much over the last twelve weeks that my boss has placed me in a new liaison role for our international partners. It is so different from what I was doing, I’m still pinching myself...     Janet Mercer, UK, 2008.

Motivation. How do you do that? Where is life's balance in today's tough climate?

Catherine is 38 and is a respected and highly paid Recruitment Consultant. She has four major accounts to look after, including 2 lucrative telecom accounts. To keep her clients happy Catherine has been putting in a 12 hour day for the past 18 months. Some days it’s longer than that. Catherine hasn’t had a full fortnight’s holiday in all that time – a week is all she has managed and even with that she had to take a number of urgent calls on her mobile.

Some evenings Catherine has had to do with toast and cheese with the mouldy bits cut off because she hasn’t had time to go to Tesco at lunch time. On these occasions she treats herself to a half bottle of wine…on these occasions she goes to bed with her make-up on and she really hates that. Lately she feels like crying a lot of the time, even at work sometimes and she said she feels exhausted all the time, so much so that she is beginning to resent the time she spends at work. She feels life is just passing her by….