Author: admin

Now don’t be alarmed, but I have learned to sing a bit. Just a bit. I can follow a few chords and when playing in the right pitch you could be forgiven for thinking that Sir Elton John is in the room. Except Elton can’t (to my knowledge) play the ukulele. Who has the talent now eh!?

It has taken me a while to follow notes with my voice and to build up my confidence to sing little songs to people. Yet the more I do it the more I enjoy it and the stronger my singing voice gets. (I started singing to the swans on the river at the end of my garden and they didn’t seem to mind, so I took that as permission to carry on).

We can all find our voice (without singing) and can clearly state what is on our mind and what we would like to happen. A good phrase to use is this…

‘When you say/do [insert frustration] then I feel [insert genuine emotion] and so I would like to discuss what we can do differently. What I would like is to [insert options]. Thank you for listening. What’s your thinking here?’

Powerful, clear and to the point. We can use a set piece phrase to find our voice and get our needs met.

So, this week have fun either speaking up, or singing to any passing swans you may come across.

Next week: Ask Them To Summarise

Today (5th July) is my birthday! I love birthdays and the best thing about them is that I have an inexhaustible supply of them for the rest of my life. Yesterday wasn’t my birthday and tomorrow isn’t either and yet that’s no reason to restrict my celebrations to just one day. Next week I’m off on an adventure to collect a rather special musical instrument and that’s a celebration of being me, being able to play music and being worth something rather special to play it on.

You are special too. Your birthday is special. Your business success is special. Your small wins are special.

We often do too much work and too little pausing to celebrate the positive outcomes.

So, this week please go and celebrate something. Even if all you do is dunk an extra biscuit at tea break and think a happy thought, that is enough.

Life is tends to be short, tough and unpredictable. You’d think given that status, we’d all have GCSE A* in Celebration Studies!

However we don’t, so it’s up to us to find a way to notice the good things and the good people and most important of all – ourselves.

Find something to celebrate please! Go to it with gusto!

I’m off to scoff another birthday chocolate and when the sun comes out again I will be sunbathing (me time) or swimming in the river with the kids (us time). What do you like to do?

Next week: We Can Find Our Voice