Seven things I’ve learnt from my Mum

My Mum has been a pretty cool role model over the years. Here’s seven things I’ve learnt from my mum…

My experience talking about blogging and Instagram life at the the BBC

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.

Dealing with FOMO – the fear of missing out

The fear of missing out. FOMO contains a big word: fear. None of us want to fear anything do we? It can affect us from childhood, in our teens and in our grown up years. Even my girls have a bit of FOMO. Why end the day and have to go to bed? Last night I heard “I want to come in your room Mummy” a hundred times as Big Munch must have known I was planning my outfits for the week. Coming back to the grown up world, with people more on social media we can see what others are doing, where they’re hanging out and what they’ve been invited to. Here’s some tips on how to deal with FOMO – the fear of missing out.  

Seven ways to support International Women’s Day

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). 

Top tips on being social media savvy from Eimear Varian-Barry of The EVB Edit

As you know I’m a big fan of Instagram. For me, it’s also a great source of inspiration and a way to build your online community. It’s also a supportive place when you can surround yourself with like-minded people. It was great meeting the successful Instagrammer Eimear Varian Barry at a recent Mothers Meeting in London. She blogs over at The EVB Edit although she’s modest about being called a blogger.

Looking at Eimear’s Instagram feed, her style and layout looks flawless. In real life, Eimear is refreshingly honest and down-to-earth. When I first said hello to Eimear, we ended up chatting about Zara; not about the world of blogging or Instagram.

Top tips on dealing with failure

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.

Why failure can be a good thing

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.

1. It’s going to happen whether we like it or not…We are not super-beings. Yes we’re masters at juggling all kinds of things and winging it through life. But we can’t do everything. So accept that failure is going to crop up here and there.
2. It teaches us something we didn’t know before…When something doesn’t go to plan, it’s always a chance to learn something. Failure teaches us about ourselves but also about things that are beyond our control.
3. We know for next time!..Ever experienced a failure and then afterwards saying to yourself “That won’t happen again!”? Sometimes it shows us what we’re not comfortable doing. It also hows us what we can try differently next time. So don’t let failure put you off trying out things again. Failure can happen for a number of reasons, some might not affect things next time.
4. It’s part of the journey…Whatever we’re trying to do or work on, dealing with a bit of failure on the way is part of moving closer to success.
5. It doesn’t mean we are complete failures as human beings…Just because something goes wrong it doesn’t mean we are failures or incapable. It also doesn’t mean that things won’t go right next time.
6. It happens to everyone…It really does. Anyone you admire – bet they’ve experienced some kind of failure. At some point everyone has failed in their life. Not everything can be plain sailing. Some people are better at hiding at managing their failures than others. Some people are more comfortable about experiencing failures. Some don’t realise they’ve failed and keep going anyway. Failure doesn’t discriminate so it can affect all of us at any point.
7. It actually makes us stronger…When you’ve experienced things going wrong, the experience makes us more resilient and more importantly more aware.

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?

Career: Celebrate your skills and talents

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…

Top tips on looking after yourself

Where are the weeks going? There is always lots to do so it’s important we take time to look after ourselves. If we look after ourselves then I believe we’re also able to feel more confident and focused.

It was pretty cool sharing my top tips for looking after yourself to an inspiring crowd at the Lucky Things Meet Up in January. I wrote these top tips especially for the event. As promised, I wanted to share these on the blog too. I know I’ll be looking back at this list throughout the year! Here you go…

What does confidence mean to you?

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!)…