Flexible working. Over the last 15 years in my HR career, these words are becoming more and more important. As lots of people experience parenthood, different lifestyles or life changes, more flexible working conversations are taking place in the workplace. So what’s the #flexappeal campaign all about? Created and led by Anna Whitehouse of motherpukka.co.uk, it’s about raising awareness of the benefits flexible working brings to a business and its teams.
Thanks to @emilygrayphoto for this photo
At the end of last year a message popped up in my @luckythingsblog Instagram account. It was from BBC journalist Bela Shah. She asked if I was interested in featuring in a BBC news story on blogging and Instagram life. Bela mentioned she wanted to do a story on Instamums. As with many journalists she still had to pitch her idea to her producers and directors at the BBC. So it wasn’t guaranteed this would really go ahead.
Did you know there’s a different theme for International Women’s Day each year? For 2017 it’s #beboldforchange. Not many people know but the first official “lnternational Women’s Day” event was held back in 1911*. As championed over at internationalwomensday.com, for 2017, they’re asking us to #BeBoldForChange where we can call on the masses for support or as an individual help move towards “a better working world – a more inclusive, gender equal world”.
Whoever we are and whatever we do, we can influence our social sphere to help other women feel more confident and reach their potential. I’m a strong believer that small actions are really important too. As Lucky Things is all about looking after our wellbeing, career and confidence, here’s seven ideas for supporting International Women’s Day today (and all year round). Continue reading
Failure is a funny thing. It comes and goes. Sometimes we can’t avoid it. Check out my earlier blog post on why failure can be a good thing. Failure can even do us a favour, if you see it as a learning experience. It’s also good to know how we can work with a bit of failure. What, if anything, is going to make us feel better about it? Here’s seven top tips on how to deal with failure.
Failure. It’s not a word a lot us like to hear is it? It’s viewed as the opposite of success. But is it always a negative thing? As a word, it gets a raw deal. It makes us feel bad, when we can try and take away the good bits out of it. The word failure can even scare people. It can stop people from trying things out that might go well. What will people think of us if we fail? How are we going to move on after a bit of failure? In some situations, I think there are lots of things we can learn from failure. It can actually help us out. So here’s seven things that are good about failure.
Check out next week’s blog on top tips on how to deal with failure.
Over to you…What do you think about the word failure? How does it make you feel? How do you deal with failures?
Whatever we do as day jobs or careers, over time, we build up a collection of skills and talents. Some we know we have but we may also surprise ourselves with our hidden skills. We pick up skills through training, on the job and every day tasks. We pick them up as we try out new things or projects. A we’re busy with work and life in general we can forget about our many skills and talents. Whether you’re in a job, working on your own business, trying both or a stay at home mum or dad, it’s important to celebrate your skills and talents… Continue reading
I’m always interested in how others get organised. Sometimes we talk about if there is such a thing. Does anyone feel 100% organised all of the time? It’s also about juggling rather than having everything sorted in a military style. I guess we also decide how long our to-do lists are, but there’s the daily and weekly tasks as well as our other mini life projects (family, us, or work-related). At the last Mothers Meeting of 2016, I asked the panel about their top tips for getting organised. Cherry Healey and Jenny Scott hosted the chat with Anna from Mother Pukka, Zoe from Dress Like A Mum, Steph from Don’t Buy Her Flowers, Hollie, creator of Yes Mum cards, Clemmie from Mother of Daughters and Clemmie Telford from Mother of All Lists. Here’s what they had to say… Continue reading
We can give ourselves a hard time can’t we? It’s also the goal-setting time of year. We may want things to be bigger and better than before. We may even be putting pressure on ourselves to pursue goals that aren’t right for us or our values. We may feel we need to set goals to be successful (definitely not always the case). Goal setting is good for us if it’s realistic, we stay true to what’s important to us and what works with our lifestyle and other commitments. Before you start rushing into planning goals, take some time to reflect on things you’ve achieved on the personal and professional side. So here’s seven reasons why it’s important to celebrate your achievements or what I call WOW moments…
Photo courtesy of Katrina Campbell Photography
It’s pretty important to get people together. The last Mothers Meeting of 2016 brought together lots of talented ladies at London’s The Town Hall Hotel. Not just a community of old and new faces but also the amazing entrepreneurs at the Christmas market. As the end of 2016 approaches a lot of us are thinking about the year behind us. We’re thinking about the ups and downs, the ins and outs of how we got through it and what we have planned for 2017 (crikey, where has the year gone?).
At this Mothers Meeting Confidence Conference we heard from a panel about what they have learnt from 2016. They also shared their highlights. Cherry Healey hosted the chat on the sofa featuring Anna from Mother Pukka, Zoe from Dress Like A Mum, Steph from Don’t Buy Her Flowers, Hollie, creator of Yes Mum cards, Clemmie from Mother of Daughters and Clemmie Telford from Mother of All Lists.
Confidence means so many different things to people. It all depends on who we are, what experience we have, what our aspirations are and most importantly how we feel about ourselves. All I know is that the most confident-looking people are not always confident. Self-doubt affects everyone at some time or another. Fact. We all need confidence energisers. So if you want a little inspiration about how to think about confidence or feel more confident, keep reading. At the Lucky Things Meet Up in October, I shared my seven Time to Shine confidence tricks. It got us all thinking. I also set the ladies their Time to Shine mission (homework!)… Continue reading
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