True confidence feels very different from the inside.

It is not something you put on. It is something you return to.

Grounded confidence is embodied. It shows up as steadiness in the body, clarity in speech, and an ease with not knowing everything. It does not need to dominate a room or rush to be heard.

Many capable professionals struggle with confidence not because they lack skill or experience, but because their system is under constant pressure. Expectations, responsibility, and self-standards accumulate. Over time, the body tightens.

When the system tightens, confidence contracts.

This is not a flaw. It is a natural response to sustained demand.

What is often described as a lack of confidence is more accurately a loss of internal stability. The body senses threat, social, reputational, or emotional, and shifts into protection. Thinking harder rarely resolves this. Control rarely restores ease.

This is why confidence cannot be built through mindset alone. It must be supported at the level of the body and nervous system.

Grounded confidence feels like contact. Feet on the floor. Breath moving freely. A sense of support beneath you. When these conditions are present, clarity returns and choice expands.

One of the simplest ways to restore confidence is to slow down. This sounds almost too simple, yet it is profound. Slowing speech. Slowing movement. Allowing a pause before responding. These cues signal safety internally and stability externally.

Another important shift is redefining confidence itself. Rather than seeing it as a fragile state you must maintain, view it as a capacity you can return to. This removes the fear of losing it and replaces it with trust.

Confidence is also closely connected to self-permission. Permission to not know. Permission to be human. Permission to take up space without over-explaining or apologising.

In my experience, the most confident people are not those who always feel certain. They are those who trust themselves to meet whatever arises. They are not braced against experience. They are present with it.

This presence is felt by others. It creates credibility without effort. Authority without force.

If confidence feels elusive right now, do not try to manufacture it. Do not push or perform. Create the conditions for stability to return.

Come back into your body. Slow the pace. Widen your awareness. Let the system settle.

From there, confidence will do what it naturally does.

It will rise.

By Neil Seligman

Neil Seligman is a pioneer in the field of conscious leadership and a passionate advocate for mindfulness, presence, and spiritual growth at work and in life. He is the author of Conscious Leadership and 100 Mindfulness Meditations, and the Founder of The Conscious Professional.

Ready to go deeper? Here are three ways to connect:

1. Try our 10-day online mindfulness course: Zen in Ten

2. Explore 1:1 Coaching or Energy Work: Schedule Here

3. Explore Keynotes and Team Trainings: Let’s Talk

The post Confidence Is Not Loud, It Is Grounded appeared first on The Conscious Professional.

The clarity or optimism of January begins to soften. Intentions that felt strong a few weeks ago may already feel distant, unrealistic, or oddly irrelevant. This is not failure. It is information.

January invites aspiration. February invites honesty.

If you have lost track of your early year intentions, or feel less connected to them than you expected, it may be an invitation to drop a little deeper into the real potential of the year ahead.

Many professionals approach direction as something to be decided once and then enforced. Goals are set, plans are made, and momentum is expected to follow. When reality does not cooperate, self-judgement often steps in.

There is another way to relate to direction.

True direction does not come from tightening our grip. It comes from listening more closely to what is actually alive now.

In my work with high-functioning professionals, I often see clarity confused with control. People try to force certainty before they have checked in with their energy, capacity, or changing context. The plan may look sound, but internally it feels brittle.

Direction that lasts is responsive, not rigid.

Rather than asking, “What should I achieve this year?”, a more useful question is, “What wants to move through me this year?” This shifts the focus from pressure to potential.

There is also a useful perspective worth holding here. Human beings tend to overestimate what they can achieve in one year and underestimate what they can achieve in three.

When we compress everything into a twelve-month window, we create urgency that distorts judgment. We push too hard, too fast, and then lose heart when progress feels slower than expected.

When we widen the horizon, something relaxes. We can work with seasons rather than sprints. Foundations matter again. Depth becomes possible.

This longer view allows direction to breathe.

One simple practice is to notice where energy is naturally gathering. What themes keep returning? What conversations you cannot quite let go of? What feels quietly compelling rather than loudly urgent. These are signals worth respecting.

Forcing outcomes is often driven by fear. Fear of falling behind. Fear of not maximising potential. Fear of being judged. When fear is in the driving seat, direction becomes narrow and effortful.

When presence leads, direction becomes steadier.

This is particularly important in complex professional environments where certainty is rare. Leaders who can hold direction lightly, without collapsing into indecision or hardening into control, tend to navigate change with more ease and effectiveness.

Another helpful distinction is between direction and timeline. Something can be deeply important without needing immediate expression. Allowing an intention to mature, rather than rushing to execute it, often leads to wiser decisions.

Direction is also refined through action. You do not need the full map. You need the next honest step. From there, feedback arrives and course correction becomes natural.

Seen this way, direction is a relationship, not a declaration.

As the year unfolds, you will change. Circumstances will shift. New information will arrive. Direction that can adapt without losing integrity is far more powerful than plans that look impressive but cannot bend.

So if February finds you questioning your January intentions, pause. Breathe. Drop beneath expectation into listening. Ask what is genuinely asking for your attention now.

The year is not asking to be forced. It is asking to be met.

By Neil Seligman

Neil Seligman is a pioneer in the field of conscious leadership and a passionate advocate for mindfulness, presence, and spiritual growth at work and in life. He is the author of Conscious Leadership and 100 Mindfulness Meditations, and the Founder of The Conscious Professional.

Ready to go deeper? Here are three ways to connect:

1. Try our 10-day online mindfulness course: Zen in Ten

2. Explore 1:1 Coaching or Energy Work: Schedule Here

3. Explore Keynotes and Team Trainings: Let’s Talk

The post How to Set Direction Without Forcing Outcomes appeared first on The Conscious Professional.

Being a Conscious Leader means taking care of your instrument: your body, your mind, your energy, your state of being.

When I began studying with my current meditation teacher in 2008 I was somewhat surprised that for the first three years, our focus kept returning to Self-Maintenance, which at the time seemed self-indulgent to me, and a little selfish. One of the first suggestions that she offered was that I start weight training in order to become more grounded and embodied. This wasn’t what I expected, but I went along with it, and she then led me through a process that helped me discover the finer details of what my body, mind and being needed to thrive.

As the years went on, and I became stronger, healthier and more centred, I noticed that my capacity to sit in stillness with awareness was also growing. My ability to navigate the complexities of my life increased, and I started to get a sense of what many teachers point to when they describe the capacity to demonstrate equanimity throughout the course of events. I learned that my own wellbeing was foundational to both excellence and the quality of anything I wished to contribute at home and at work.

The truth is that being a human being is a high-maintenance occupation. Whether studying meditation is for you or not, the lesson here is about the benefits of recognizing and actively drawing on your own resources. If you want to know your best health, strength, resilience and happiness, it is important to accept that it takes planning, commitment and consistency.

While we draw on others for support and care, we take individual responsibility for leading our own wellbeing journey. The aim of the Conscious Leader is to look after themselves so completely, that when they walk in the room, they are fully resourced, energized and creative. Others feel their vitality and dynamism, and they inspire outcomes previously out of reach.

To get a sense of this, imagine that later today you were to walk in to a meeting feeling great, only to find a serious argument in full flow. How skilled do you think you would be at leading the energy in the room from conflict to calm? Alternatively, how quickly might you lose your sense of positivity and instead resonate with the conflict. In other words, how well can you retain your own shape, and how often do you bend to the shape of others?

Conscious Leadership takes you through the skills and habits that are central to the work of Self-Maintenance:

• Is your support team in place?
• If not, who do you need to recruit?
• How skilled are you when relating to your mind, thoughts, and self-talk?
• Are you adept at managing your energy?
• What are your practices of wellbeing & embodiment?

Excerpt from Conscious Leadership – Self Mastery At Work by Neil Seligman ( Conscious House, 2024)

Buy on Amazon UK: https://amzn.to/4coyTYN
Buy on Amazon USA: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0995523231

The post Self-Maintenance is Conscious Leadership appeared first on The Conscious Professional.

Anyone can deliver a public speech. But no matter how well the speech is written, delivery is the thing that makes or breaks it. It requires practice, confidence and personality. True, some people have a real knack for it, but any speaker can be improved, no matter what base you are starting from.

Public speaking also comes in many forms. When I refer to public speech, I am not just talking about the big ones. The ones with optics and high stakes attached, so, conferences, presentations, commemorations, ceremonies and after-dinner speeches. Public speaking skills are also useful when addressing a room of colleagues or employees, running meetings, or even telling an anecdote over an important dinner.

If you are looking to improve your public speech skills, both in content and delivery, here are a few things that are useful to focus on.

1.     Remember Who You’re Talking To

With public speaking, one size does not fit all. Ensure that your content is appropriate to the age, the gender, the sector and the interests of your audience. For example, it’s no good having a light-hearted speech full of 70’s references, when speaking to a room full of serious businesspeople in their 20s. Sure, this is a bit of an exaggeration, but the point is, you must be conscious of who will be listening to you. Put yourself in their shoes and consider what they would like to hear. Connect with them by going to them. Don’t make them come to you.

2.     Humour

There is always a place for humour. Even when in a serious situation, or something of a sombre occasion (funerals, for example), humour always works. It warms an audience to you. It relaxed them. It helps them to feel ‘safe’ in your hands.

Of course, you must be conscious of the humour being appropriate. Warming quips are great for a eulogy (I have used this myself on multiple occasions) … but slapstick with rubber chickens are not (generally speaking)!

3.     Story

Having a sense of story, of a journey, is a really good idea with a speech. You could go in with a bunch of disconnected anecdotes, or wing it with a few nice paragraphs, but story, themes, and connectedness in a speech can transform a mediocre offering into a fantastic one. Audiences love momentum and to be taken on a wave, and having a clear structure is the way to do this.

4.     Bold Start, Strong Finish

This ties into the story point. A soft opening is no good at all. Start strong. Make a statement of intent. Be conscious that, if you don’t grab an audience right away, they are much harder to get on your side. Audiences will generally decide, collectively, within a matter of seconds whether a speaker is worth connecting with or not. And as for your ending, well… think of a speech a bit like an essay. Whatever point you set out at the beginning must be returned to or resolved at the end. Conclude your journey with the incredible answer to your initial interesting question.

5.     Personal Connection

Throwing personal stories or declaring a personal connection to the subject matter offers the public speech richness. Anyone can talk about anything given enough time and research, but pointing to a personal interest or experience with the subject and people you are trying to connect with helps an audience to trust and engage with you as the speaker. “Ah, they are one of us,” they may be tempted to think!

6.     Less Is Usually More

Try not to indulge too much. A shorter speech full of quality content hits much harder than a mid-range waffle that goes on far longer than it is welcome. When you write your speech, make sure you edit. Use only your most potent material. Keep it short and fantastic. Audiences will thank you for it!

By Chris Thomson

P.S. Whenever you are ready… here are 3 ways we can support your personal and professional Conscious Goals:

1. Learn To Meditate With Neil In Just 10 Days!

Zen in Ten, our flagship online course, is a ten-day mindfulness challenge for people who need to slow down.

2. Work With Neil One-To-One

See if a Coaching Partnership or Professional Wellbeing Appointment is right for you. Book a 15-minute discovery call with Neil Seligman here.

3. Bring The Conscious Professional To Your Business

See if The Conscious Professional training and coaching programmes are right for your team or workplace. Book a call here.

The Conscious Professional is dedicated to delivering inspiring corporate mindfulness and professional resilience training, conscious leadership coaching and workplace wellbeing services at the level of professional excellence. Thank you for following our blog.

The post 6 Tips for the Perfect Public Speech appeared first on The Conscious Professional.

Negotiation is a part of business. Indeed, it is a part of life. When anything involves more than one person, inevitably there must be some level of debate, case making and compromise. Whether it’s about what movie to watch or how to close on a multi-million-pound deal for your company… negotiation exists.

Now, the stakes for what movie to watch with your pal, in general, are not especially high. But, in the workplace, artful negotiation, or not, can make a huge difference to many people. Negotiating well is very much a skill that requires practice. It is still true that many companies and professionals go to aggression as their main tool, but this needn’t be the case. Indeed, if professionals practice (as is becoming more the case) mindful, constructive, and connecting forms of negotiation, agreements often come to the fore with both sides feeling respected and catered for.

There are many views on how to negotiate. However, we believe that these five pillars are a good way to begin approaching your negotiations in a more mindful way.

1.     Clarity in Speech

It is critical to be clear and economical. Come to a negotiation knowing exactly what you want to achieve, what compromise you will tolerate, and what you will not. This will set you up to be crystal clear with the other side. Lack of preparation or hot-headedness can lead to waffling. Being unclear in your intent also leads negotiations down paths that neither side is really happy with.

So, be clear. Be concise. Don’t add irrelevant detail. Stay on track. This way, the parameters are clear, and the conclusion is more likely to be close to what you want.

2.     Active Listening

Don’t sit there ‘listening’ to the other side, when really you are just waiting for your turn. It’s easy to get bogged down in your own needs. However, if you are not present and sensitive to the argument of the other side, they are much less likely to steer in your direction. Listen. Properly. Try and genuinely see things from their angle. If there is this kind of appreciation on both sides, and goodwill to go along with it, it is much more likely that all involved will be on board with pleasing all parties.

3.     Constructive Questions

This ties into the clarity and economy point above. Do your best not to ask empty or irrelevant questions. Or, indeed, any question that doesn’t point to you end goal. In a negotiation, be mindful that all parties want to get to the end with a good result, so ensure that your questions move the argument forward and do not go back over old ground. Not only does this muddy the waters… but nobody wants a negotiation to go on longer than it needs to. Grumpy professionals make grumpy negotiators!

4.     Positive Body Language

There have been many studies about how humans communicate. Most of them agree that physical communication (so, body language) accounts for about 55% of human communication. So, you can communicate with the right words all you like (incidentally, verbal communication accounts for around 7%), but if your physical attitude doesn’t fit, you are doing yourself a huge disservice. Physically engage. Show positivity and respect in the way that you move and present yourself. It all plays into a positive outcome.

5.     The Inclusion of Metatalk

In case you are unsure, metatalk essentially refers to communications about the way in which you wish to communicate. It is really useful to lay out the ground rules and to agree a system of communication and mutual respect when entering a negotiation.

By Chris Thomson

P.S. Whenever you are ready… here are 3 ways we can support your personal and professional Conscious Goals:

1. Learn To Meditate With Neil In Just 10 Days!

Zen in Ten, our flagship online course, is a ten-day mindfulness challenge for people who need to slow down.

2. Work With Neil One-To-One

See if a Coaching Partnership or Professional Wellbeing Appointment is right for you. Book a 15-minute discovery call with Neil Seligman here.

3. Bring The Conscious Professional To Your Business

See if The Conscious Professional training and coaching programmes are right for your team or workplace. Book a call here.

The Conscious Professional is dedicated to delivering inspiring corporate mindfulness and professional resilience training, conscious leadership coaching and workplace wellbeing services at the level of professional excellence. Thank you for following our blog.

The post The 5 Pillars of Negotiation appeared first on The Conscious Professional.

The world moves and changes fast. More than ever, older people can get left behind, not because humans are intrinsically unable to adapt as they get older, but because many of us do not foster that part of our brain that practices learning when we get to adulthood.

Not only is continuing to learn as an adult nourishing, but it is also great for our personal and professional resilience. Resilience can mean many things, and keeping the ability to adapt to unknown situations is one of them.

Having a brain that still knows how to learn helps one to remain relevant, as well as connected to the world. Here are a few thoughts on how to keep ticking over in that regard…

1.     Pick Up A Pastime

The idea of a new hobby can seem overwhelming. There’s this idea that hobbies aren’t worth it unless you go for it all the way and spend loads of your time doing it. But hobbies needn’t be life-swallowing projects or stressful. My wife, over lockdown, decided to learn how to decorate cookies. It is something that she learned gradually. It is something that she found claiming. It is also something that she doesn’t do very often now, and she has managed not to judge herself for it. It’s a small new skill that she sometimes returns to and is always very happy when she does. It has brought her joy and it kept her mind active in a period of mental stagnation.

2.     Learning Something New About Something Old

If you are not in need of a new skill but want to engage the learning part of your brain, try to look for ways to advance the skillsets you already have. I often do this with cooking. I am an enthusiastic good cook and will often try to add a new skill to my arsenal. For example, I once spent six months working on how to make bread. I once decided to learn how to fillet a fish and joint a chicken. They were not such big exercises that they took up a lot of my time, but extremely satisfying, nonetheless.

3.     Into the Unknown

I always used to wonder why my parents took us to the same place on holiday every year. ‘Why not try somewhere new?’, I would think. ‘This is boring!’. But, as an adult, I totally get it. You go on holiday somewhere; you work out where everything is and acclimatise to the status quo… you have a lovely time. Then, next year, you think, ‘I could go somewhere new. But why would I, now that I have a stress-free option that I know I like?’

There is a lot to be said for visiting places that we are familiar with. It’s much less stressful and doesn’t require us to learn anything new. That being said, sometimes it is good to be somewhere new. It forces you to engage the learning part of your brain. Sure, it could be a new holiday destination. But maybe it’s as simple as trying a new coffee place from time to time, or going to a new supermarket and having to work out where they keep the cheese.

You don’t always have to ruffle the feathers of your routine like this, but it helps to do it on occasion.

4.     Become Conscious of Your Optimal Learning Style

Seeing out things to learn also helps you to work out what learning processes are the most effective for you personally. When taking on a learning process, try to consciously engage with how you are learning, and question whether it is working for you. The skill itself might not be that difficult, it might be the way you are going about learning it.

5.     Break Down Your New Skills

If a new skill you have to learn is overwhelming you, break it down into smaller components. The idea mastering of a many-faceted skill can feel like too much, especially if you haven’t learnt anything new in a while. Consciously break the skill down into components and concentrate on mastering each component in isolation. Try to concentrate on laying each brick, not on building the house.

By Chris Thomson

P.S. Whenever you are ready… here are 3 ways we can support your personal and professional Conscious Goals:

1. Learn To Meditate With Neil In Just 10 Days!

Zen in Ten, our flagship online course, is a ten-day mindfulness challenge for people who need to slow down.

2. Work With Neil One-To-One

See if a Coaching Partnership or Professional Wellbeing Appointment is right for you. Book a 15-minute discovery call with Neil Seligman here.

3. Bring The Conscious Professional To Your Business

See if The Conscious Professional training and coaching programmes are right for your team or workplace. Book a call here.

The Conscious Professional is dedicated to delivering inspiring corporate mindfulness and professional resilience training, conscious leadership coaching and workplace wellbeing services at the level of professional excellence. Thank you for following our blog.

The post How to Keep Your Brain ‘Learning Fit’ appeared first on The Conscious Professional.

Creativity is a skill. Yes, some people are more naturally creative than others, but it is still something that can be learned. Indeed, creativity, even for those who have a flair for it, can and should still be worked on, grown and improved.

Furthermore, there is a preconception that creativity is only for those in artistic or specifically creative fields. This is not the case. Thinking in this way helps you to solve problems, come up with fresh ideas, see things from different angles and take more risks. These things are useful in whatever profession you might work.

So, if you are not somebody you regard as naturally creative, how is such a thing found? How is this skill honed? Are there ways to cultivate it? Yes, of course. And here are a few ideas on how…

1.      Consciously Listen to Music

Put on an album. It might be your favourite album; it might be an album that is brand new to you. Listen to it from start to finish, and jot down any thoughts that float into your head as you are doing it… however odd they may or may not be!

2.     Draw Something Bad

This is a lovely little daily activity. Simply put aside 10 minutes in your day, treat yourself to a drawing pad and a new pen (or pencil, or crayon… whatever you like) and draw something. Pick an object, a coffee cup, a tree, a car, a ceiling fan, whatever… and just draw it. Do not allow yourself to erase anything or to judge whether it is good or bad… free yourself from criticism and just go for it.

3.     Draw Something Good

On the other hand, you may wish to try this. I have often taken on a little project like this. I once decided I was going to get really good a drawing hands. I have a whole sketchbook full of hands. I spent a summer getting good at drawing them. It was very freeing and satisfying to consciously engage in a creative project that was not overwhelming in any way, nor was it for display or accolade, it was just there to cater to a need for daily creativity.

4.      Cook Something Old In A New Way

Next time you are cooking… putting together a tied and tested family perhaps, why not swap out an ingredient. Trust your instincts. Have a play around. See what happens!

5.     Let Sleep Help You Out

If there is something you are trying to solve, and you just can’t seem to crack it, why not release yourself from the tension and frustration this creates, and leave it to your subconscious creativity? I often find that if I sleep on a problem and get up at a good time the next day (as opposed to staying up late getting stressed) my subconscious creativity solves the issue for me and allows me to complete the task in half the time, and with half the stress, that it would have done the night before.

6.      Snap Your Life

Next time you walk home, take a different route. Look around and notice new things. Maybe even take a few photos to commemorate the occasion. Like many in lockdown, I visited many local roads and parks that I had not visited before and had a lovely time discovering pretty houses I didn’t know were there.

7.     Watch

Yes, media is something we use to switch off, to entertain us. But media is so much more than that, we can take ideas from it and use it to inform the way we think in a creative sense. Did a character in your show just deal with a similar issue to the one you are dealing with at work? How did they get around it? Could their approach ensure yours? Maybe yes, and maybe no. But now, at least, you are thinking about your problem from a different angle!

By Chris Thomson

P.S. Whenever you are ready… here are 4 ways we can support your personal and professional Conscious Goals:

1. Learn To Meditate With Neil In Just 10 Days!

Zen in Ten, our flagship online course, is a ten-day mindfulness challenge for people who need to slow down.

2. Work With Neil One-To-One

See if a Coaching Partnership or Professional Wellbeing Appointment is right for you. Book a 15-minute discovery call with Neil Seligman here.

3. Bring The Conscious Professional To Your Business

See if The Conscious Professional training and coaching programmes are right for your team or workplace. Book a call here.

The Conscious Professional is dedicated to delivering inspiring corporate mindfulness and professional resilience training, conscious leadership coaching and workplace wellbeing services at the level of professional excellence. Thank you for following our blog.

The post Manufacturing Creativity appeared first on The Conscious Professional.

The summer is coming to a close. Certainly, if you have kids, school kicking back in is a very clear signal that we are back to business, the chilled-out summer months are done for another year, and we are on the road to winter festival season!

If you are like me, you might make every effort to cling to that feeling that holidays give you. I try to take the zen, conscious feelings, clear-headed sensations, relaxed vibes, and positive thoughts that I have managed to amass on a break or vacation with me, back into the world of work and normal life.

However, even if I manage to see my life through the lens of my refreshed holiday self, that feeling never lasts forever. Eventually, all the rhythms and stresses of the daily grind bed themselves back in. And though this may be the case, there are things you can do with that brief burst of holiday energy to embed new habits and ideas that might change your life for the better for a longer term than the lasting power of those sweet summer vibes.

1.     Put Holiday Daydreams Into Practice

Breaks and holidays, for me, offer a chance to actually think. I find, that with everything going on in normal life, rarely does my brain get an opportunity to wander. To organically come to conclusions and have ideas without the pressure of life getting in the way. I will always come back from holidays with ideas about how I’m going to change my life. I’ll have things I want to implement to improve my resilience, practices I want to begin to boost my wellbeing, and ideas I want to turn into magnificent projects or works of art!

Now, most of these are pipe dreams. But maybe you could pick one of these bright ideas to actually focus on and make a go of!

2.     Add A New Hobby

One of your daydreams might have been to add a new hobby to your life. So do it! Get started. Learning something new and exciting will make the day-to-day feel enticing. it may also help to make your routine feel fresh, not entirely like the day-to-day that you left behind. And who knows this new hobby might be something you end up really passionate about. As you learn new skills, meet new people, and boost your wellbeing through experiencing new things, you might even find your life transformed forever!

3.     Exercise

Exercise is always there to give your mood a boost. I talk about the benefits of even gentle exercise a great deal, and that is because there really is nothing that boosts your mood and the way that your body functions like a walk, a run, a swim, a cycle, or a gym session. Getting [back] into exercise post-holiday will also help to remove any feeling that you have ‘let things go’ during your downtime. I know, that if I have taken a break, it only takes one gym session to have me feeling like I’m back on top of my exercise routine again.

4.     Be Social

See people and be merry. Friends and family are sure to give you a boost if you are feeling down about your transition back into non-holiday life. Laugh, share, love and be loved. 

5.     Plan Stuff You Like

I always find that it always helps to have something fun on the horizon. And so, I always have a few things planned. It might be a small weekly thing. For me, it is Pizza Friday. We always have pizza on a Friday. Maybe it’s a concert or theatre trip in a few months’ time. Or it might even be the promise of your next big trip. Get something fun in the diary.

By Chris Thomson

P.S. Whenever you are ready… here are 4 ways we can support your personal and professional Conscious Goals:

1. Learn To Meditate With Neil In Just 10 Days!

Zen in Ten, our flagship online course, is a ten-day mindfulness challenge for people who need to slow down.

2. Work With Neil One-To-One

See if a Coaching Partnership or Professional Wellbeing Appointment is right for you. Book a 15-minute discovery call with Neil Seligman here.

3. Bring The Conscious Professional To Your Business

See if The Conscious Professional training and coaching programmes are right for your team or workplace. Book a call here.

The Conscious Professional is dedicated to delivering inspiring corporate mindfulness and professional resilience training, conscious leadership coaching and workplace wellbeing services at the level of professional excellence. Thank you for following our blog.

The post Back to Work: Beating the Post-Holiday Blues appeared first on The Conscious Professional.

Self-care looks different for all of us, but what is the same, is that we all need to make time for it in order to lead a positive, fulfilled, and productive life. It is essential to our physical and emotional well-being, as well as our resilience through times that aren’t as enjoyable, or even downright tough.

If you feel like you need to give yourself a bit of attention, and aren’t exactly sure where to start, here are a few things to try that work for many people…

1.     Switch It All Off

The thing that I often struggle with, with so many different things going on in any given week, is the overload of thoughts, feelings and distractions fighting for attention in my head. Self-care is giving myself a period of pure silence, away from e-mails, my phone, and any of the things that need addressing in the bigger picture of my life.

As a daily practice, this might look like sitting in a comfortable chair with my coffee for fifteen minutes before I begin the day. Or maybe I’ll have a nice stare out of the window, being conscious of the world moving and nothing else. The ultimate way to do this is to go far away on holiday and leave my phone in the hotel room for the day… but that’s not very helpful on your average Tuesday!

2.     Switch Something On

Alternatively, getting lost in something other than the real world is a great way to relieve stress. A few weeks ago, I was extremely anxious about an outcome at work. I found the best way to bring that anxiety down was to play a computer game for an hour. The game required me to immerse myself and concentrate on the imaginary world, diverting focus from the spiralling in my head. This helped my resilience a great deal throughout the week.

3.     Clean Your Spaces

My living room was so messy, it had been driving me mad to the point where I simply couldn’t work in it (I work from home). So, one day, I put aside two hours to deal with it from top to bottom. The serenity I felt from doing this did more for my wellbeing and productivity than anything had done in weeks.

4.     Exercise

Whether it is a leisurely walk or an intense hour in the gym, regular exercise sessions have been proven to make you feel good. For me, it is not only about fitness, but the fact that an hour in the gym does not involve juggling a hundred things. An hour in the gym is just that… a chuck of time where my focus is in just one place.

5.     Get Outside

If you, like me, work from home, you may recognise the realisation that one can have… that you have gone days without stepping foot outside. A bit of sun, or even rain on the face can do wonders for resetting your mood and concentration.

6.     Music

Music is the ultimate mood lifter. If a situation is making you feel low, or you need to space out for a while, then switch on your favourite album, artist, or track on repeat (I’ve been known to play the same recently discovered song on a loop for hours before) could be your ticket back to productivity and positivity land.

7.     Food

If there is a favourite snack you are craving, or if you don’t really want the fancy salad you planned for dinner and would rather order pizza instead, maybe it’s what your soul needs. Eating consciously and mindfully is important, but on occasion, comfort food will do your wellbeing more good than denying it.

8.     Breathe

Nothing has ever been made worse by returning to the breath. I have a regular exercise that I practice when feeling overwhelmed. I just switch on my rainfall playlist and focus on my breath as I listen to the rain. It always makes my chest feel a bit lighter.

By Chris Thomson

P.S. Whenever you are ready… here are 4 ways we can support your personal and professional Conscious Goals:

1. Learn To Meditate With Neil In Just 10 Days!

Zen in Ten, our flagship online course, is a ten-day mindfulness challenge for people who need to slow down.

2. Work With Neil One-To-One

See if a Coaching Partnership or Professional Wellbeing Appointment is right for you. Book a 15-minute discovery call with Neil Seligman here.

3. Bring The Conscious Professional To Your Business

See if The Conscious Professional training and coaching programmes are right for your team or workplace. Book a call here.

The Conscious Professional is dedicated to delivering inspiring corporate mindfulness and professional resilience training, conscious leadership coaching and workplace wellbeing services at the level of professional excellence. Thank you for following our blog.

The post 8 Ideas: What Does Self-Care Look Like? appeared first on The Conscious Professional.

You will probably be quite familiar with the term ‘motivation’. Motivation is something that is heralded as one of the great tools for success. It has a reputation as a kind of lightning bolt of energy and productivity, that once cultivated will render whatever activity you are using it for completed to its fullest. If motivated, you are likely to have exceeded expectations and breezed through the task at hand with relative ease, such is the unparalleled clarity of your focus!

This is slightly in jest of course. But motivation is something that people seem to wish they could bottle, so useful is it to finding success. However, success cannot run on motivation alone. It’s less raved about siblings, and consistency, which might not be as exciting, but it is absolutely just as important to functioning at a useful level in the long term. Let’s think about why…

The Pros and Cons Of Motivation

 Motivation has many pros. Motivation itself is characterised by the desire to reach a certain goal or outcome. Therefore, by definition, motivation has great energy and is a fantastic tool for growth beyond your current limits and abilities. Motivation is exciting to sit in as well, it brings about hope, endorphins, belief that you can achieve something that, perhaps, you have never achieved before.

But there are cons. The issue with motivation is that it is unreliable. Motivation levels change from day to day. It can be punctured by a number of things. Perhaps you are having a bad day, perhaps you are hungry, or perhaps you become distracted and pulled into something else. Motivation can also waver when the goal you are shooting for is long-term. If something is taking a lot of time to reach, the monotony or lack of exciting results can make motivation hard to cultivate.

The Pros and Cons Of Consistency

The pros of consistency are clear. Although consistency might not be as exciting as motivation, it is the foundation upon which new ground is broken and success is achieved. It is the thing that makes new habits settle in, a commitment to learning patience and careful progression, and leads to a result achieved through conscious effort, which is all the more rewarding.

However, the fact that consistency requires conscious effort and vigilance is somewhat of a con. Unlike motivation, which, most of the time, is involuntarily sparked by excitement, consistency is a deliberate decision derived from rational thinking. Consistency is boring. But it does pay off.

Why Motivation Alone is Not Enough

And so, taking all of the above into account, perhaps you have a theory as to why motivation alone does not generally lead to fully realised goals and skills.

Motivation alone is too inconsistent to reach long-term aims. Some days it just doesn’t show up! That is when consistency comes in. Consistency, and the habits that bloom from it, are like a failsafe. It ensures that you get back on the bike even when you don’t feel like it.

What is true is that consistency doesn’t have much of a place without motivation either. Indeed, without the initial motivation to do something, consistency, pertaining to whatever journey you would be going on, would not need to be deployed.

Therefore, for goals to be reached, consistency and motivation are very important. So, when thinking about getting yourself to a destination, or at a time when you need your colleagues to reach for something, don’t just concern yourself with motivation. Motivation may be the fine young filly that people are most drawn to, but never forget or underestimate the solid old workhorse that is consistency.

By Chris Thomson

P.S. Whenever you are ready… here are 4 ways we can support your personal and professional Conscious Goals:

1. Access Free Live Meditations & Energy Transmissions

Inside our private Facebook Group, The Conscious Professional Mindful Community, where Neil leads live weekly community events. Join now for free.

2. Learn To Meditate With Neil Seligman In Just 10 Days!

Zen in Ten, our flagship online course, is a ten-day mindfulness challenge for people who need to slow down.  

3. Work With Neil One-To-One

See if a Conscious Coaching Partnership is right for you. Book a 15-minute discovery call with Neil here.

4. Bring The Conscious Professional To Your Business

See if The Conscious Professional training and coaching programmes are right for your team or workplace. Book a call here.

The Conscious Professional is dedicated to delivering inspiring corporate mindfulness and professional resilience training, conscious leadership coaching and workplace wellbeing services at the level of professional excellence. Thank you for following our blog.

The post The Importance of Both Motivation and Consistency appeared first on The Conscious Professional.