‘Think Like A Rock Star’ doesn’t sound like sound advice on how to approach situations in our comparatively mundane, non-rock star lives. True, there was a moment in the 1980s when girls made decisions based on ‘what would Madonna do’, but I imagine most of us abandoned this guiding principle along with perms and padded shoulders.
But we might learn a thing or two from rock band Van Halen. No, hold the air guitar, this isn’t about their music. The reference is to the story about the band’s rider, or list of requirements, for all their concert venues. One of the stipulations was for a bowl of M&M sweets — but definitely NO BROWN ONES. When the band arrived at a gig, the first thing they would do is check the candy bowl.
Doing things quickly can make us feel productive and in control.
Power comes in different forms. We tend to automatically associate it with position and job title but we have all known bosses and team leaders who just don’t cut it and we have all known less elevated work colleagues who carry a lot of clout.
Identifying our feelings and naming them as accurately as we can is a way of gaining self-knowledge and a means of controlling and managing our emotional life.
You don’t know what went wrong. You were talking to a friend or someone in your family or an acquaintance or someone at work, and you thought you were listening to what they were saying and making appropriate responses.
The South Downs National Park Authority is running a campaign to encourage people walking, sauntering, running, picnicking or generally enjoying this lovely area of the countryside in the South of England to treat each other courteously and they suggest that we say hello when we pass by someone, say thank you when someone makes way for us or opens a gate or whatever, that we say excuse me when we…well, you get the picture.
The first problem with eye contact is that we all know that it is A Good Thing which we should all practise, but we don’t know how to do it without looking and feeling awkward and just a bit creepy.
We all know how to walk, right? It’s easy. You just put one foot in front of the other and you get to where you’re going. Well, yes, up to a point. But when you enter a room or a building, when you walk around your place of work, people are forming an impression of you just by observing the way you move. If you want to make a positive professional impact, walk like a winner.
The way you speak is central to the impact you make. You can develop a way of speaking which adds to your professional presence and which places you in the category of people who make an impact and should be taken seriously.
We all know that ‘nice’ is an overworked word, one we use when we are unable to or can’t be bothered to come up with something more precise.
Of course you accept your mate’s feelings, you may think, as you recall all the hours you spend listening to their emotional traumas about their significant other, or lack thereof, or their mother or their boss or their kids or their diet…