Woody Wonders

I'm a bit late with my blog this month as me and the lovely Mr Bob have had a mini-break in France.  I have to admit that I was looking forward to the trip with a mixture of both excitement and apprehension. It had been 26 months since we last stepped foot on French soil and the world is now a very different place.  We were unsure of what to expect, what documents we did or didn't need and how the French would now look upon us.  Let's be honest, the UK hasn't exactly put itself in a great light with Europe, or the rest of the world for that matter, over the last few years. I'm very pleased to say that everything went smoothly, we weren't thrown into jail for putting a cross in the wrong place on our forms and the French people were as welcoming as ever.  I suppose it does help that I can speak enough French to get by and not have to resort to shouting 'CHIPS' at the top of my voice - there's a story there, but I'll save it for another time. Anywa...

Remember in my January blog when we spoke about how important it was to ease yourself into the year and not put yourself under pressure?  Well, I was talking with a friend recently and she was feeling a bit down on herself because she was feeling a bit out of control with life and not able to do some of the things she'd planned to do during January.  "Hey, don't worry" I told her, "let's make February the new January"! It's ok if things didn't quite go to plan for you in January, that was exactly the point I was trying to make in my previous blog.  January is about testing the water, starting to think about what you want to do over the course of the next few months but maybe not putting them into action yet. So, now is the perfect time during February to up the ante a little bit, let's take a few more baby steps so we are ready to emerge all guns blazing ready for the start of Spring in March. Let's do some reflection on January: What di...

  ... although let's be honest, it's usually not that joyful!  It's cold, dark, and a very, very long time to the next payday!! You know my thoughts on New Year resolutions by now, I'm not a great fan despite the fact that I absolutely love planning, organising, goals, targets etc etc.  However, it's simply not a good time of year to put pressure on ourselves.  Every year we think that something magical is going to happen on the 1st January and we'll morph into super motivated human beings.  I'm not being pessimistic, I'm being realistic and whilst it's brilliant to have the goal of changing something in your life for the better, you need to go about it in the right way. Instead of charging into the new year like a bull in a china shop, use January and February to re-group so that you are ready to emerge in Spring, along with all the other new shoots and things in nature that have been resting and recuperating.  Don't be too complacent though, th...

I'm late with publishing my blog this week as I had to prioritise other things this weekend, which leads me quite nicely into this week's topics.  First of all, I'd like to tie up the Xmas side of things and then talk a little bit about New Year. A couple of weeks ago I spoke about the build up to Xmas and how easy it is to become overwhelmed at this time of year.  You can only do your best and can only focus on one thing at a time.  What really helps me is keeping some element of routine in my life.  They act like a safety net when I'm feeling like I'm in the midst of chaos.  It's very easy to forget about our usual routines at Xmas and, to some extent, that can be quite freeing.  The downside is that we can end up in a whirlwind of moving from one thing to the next without any purpose.  In my case, the one thing I do without fail is to stick to my exercise routine.  I may choose to do 10 mins yoga instead of a 10k run but for me, exercise is the...

It's all very well wanting to please family, friends, colleagues, employer but self-esteem starts with YOU .  If you're not proud of yourself and don't believe in yourself then how on earth can you expect anyone else to invest in you. This is something I've struggled with from time to time, as I'm sure we all have.  We go through periods of thinking 'hell yeah, I'm on fire' to 'oh my god, I'm a failure'.   In terms of work, the last 18 months have been particularly difficult, as like most other people, I've felt this constant need to be 'visible' and wanting to show I'm 'adding value' .  It's been an uphill battle at times and there's been a few 'no-one knows what I do' moments and, as a result, I felt like I was losing my confidence and self-esteem. A few blogs ago, I gave a little hint that I was doing something new in terms of my self-development and confidence.  So, in a bid to get on top of this...

I don't know why it comes as such a surprise every year, it is the same date after all, yet all we hear when it gets to December is "I can't believe it's nearly Christmas". We suddenly go into panic mode in relation to presents, trying to see everyone, tying everything up neatly to finish off this year and plan for the next one. Let's be brutally honest, I doubt we will ever change and we will continue to go through this every year.  Time simply runs away from us so let's not beat ourselves up about it.  We can only do so much and we can only do our best with the time and resources we have.   First of all, the best thing you can do is get everything out of your head and into an action list.  Write down absolutely everything that is on your mind. Next job, put everything into categories such as 'Presents', 'Family', 'Food & Drink' and then into sub-categories such as 'Buy present for mum', 'Visit Uncle George', ...

What do you think of when you hear the words 'customer service' ?  There's numerous definitions floating around but more often than not we associate customer service   with companies. "the assistance and advice provided by a company to those people who buy or use its products or services" I started thinking about this topic in more detail following two very bad examples of customer service from two separate high street banks and two very different experiences. The first experience involved a complete breakdown in communication between a number of bank departments yet every single person I spoke to was polite, friendly and understanding.  All very well and good but nothing ever got actioned and the whole sorry state of affairs dragged on for almost 3 months.  By the end of last week I'd reached my tolerance limit and I was practically begging and pleading for someone to help me.  I was trying to sort a very sensitive and distressing issue and by this time, urge...