For you, new and popular

An edit of newly added resources and those proving consistently popular among our partners' teams.
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Mentors, Sponsors and Champions. With Abi Adamson
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Effective Allyship. With Abi Adamson
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What's your Privilege Pledge? With Abi Adamson
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Diversify your feed. With Abi Adamson
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Privilege reflections. With Abi Adamson
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Mindful toothbrushing. With Dr. Sam Akbar
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Anchor dropping. With Dr. Sam Akbar
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5,4,3,2,1 — a mindfulness technique. With Dr. Sam Akbar
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Urge surfing. With Dr. Sam Akbar
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Everyday mindfulness. With Dr. Sam Akbar
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Making room for emotions (and the weather). With Dr. Sam Akbar
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Letting go of emotions. With Dr. Sam Akbar
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How do you notice your thoughts? With Dr. Sam Akbar
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A coaching conversation around strengths
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Confidence Ecourse
eCourse: Confidence Mastery
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Daniel Goleman's Six Leadership Styles, explained by Louise Hedges
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eCourse: Mastering Delegation
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eCourse: Making Time
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eCourse: Get SET with your Goals
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Perspectives on privilege, with Abi Adamson
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Neurodivergent Perspectives Lexi Keegan in conversation with Dr Anne Cockayne low
Neurodivergent Perspectives. Lexi Keegan in conversation with Dr. Anne Cockayne
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Neurodiversity know-how: The Spiky Profile explained
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Neurodiversity explained, with Dr. Anne Cockayne
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Neuroinclusion at work: Thinking about adjustments
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Neurodiversity know-how. Autism with Dr. Anne Cockayne
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Neurodiversity know-how. ADHD with Dr. Anne Cockayne
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Neurodiversity know-how. Dyslexia with Dr. Anne Cockayne
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Micro-learning: Setting Better Boundaries
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eCourse: Practicing a Coaching Approach
Meetings
Finding fortitude, and follow on experiments
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eCourse: Conscious Inclusion
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Seven things to avoid when writing at work
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Share genuinely useful feedback with the BID model
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Solve problems before they happen with pre-mortems
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Five tactics for influencing those more senior
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Five powerful questions for adding impact and insight to your next interview.
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Try out the CAR technique, and upgrade your understanding when interviewing someone.
Good Qs
Smart ways to frame questions in your next mentoring session
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Try the 5 Whys to invigorate your problem solving and add depth to your decisions.
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Course Pack: Effective Allyship, with Abi Adamson
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Course Pack: Voice Gym. Building your vocal confidence
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A three minute mindset exercise, to support a coaching approach
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Try this deep listening exercise for deeper connection and better conversations
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Experiment with the BRAIN model for confident decision making and problem solving
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Discover the impact a five minute favour can have on your relationships, and network building
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Homework for Life: A ten-second daily ritual for noticing, capturing and practicing stories
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Course Pack: Storytelling
Do Story
Practical storytelling principles from Bobette Buster's book — Do: Story
Mentorsqarer
Evolve your 'inner mentor' — a short reflective exercise to focus your development, and the ways you can better support others
Spring
Experiment with a Springboard Story to communicate your change idea, and take people with you towards it.
N Ngrab
Course Pack: Natural Networking
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Tone Policing - What it is, why it's unhelpful and how to helpfully notice it.
Coaching Criticism
Find the Coaching in Criticism. Things to try when feedback doesn't quite land
4 Ds
The 4Ds. A practical framework for acknowledging microaggressions
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Mindful breathing — the foundation of focus and flow
Fly
Channel that fly on the wall. Try some purposeful self talk to mitigate moments of doubt
Friction
Add some friction to your most common distractions
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Build belief by recognising small wins — Try a 'Done List'
Silent Meeting
Make your next meeting a Silent Meeting
Can If Go
Immediately build your confidence, with a 'Can-If' statement
To Think
Don't forget to diarise thinking time — experiment with a 'To Think' list
Setback
Smarten your approach to setbacks, by trying out a Setback Story
CLAP
Get clear on control with a Clarity Clap
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Everything I Know about Life I Learned from PowerPoint — What we learned and where it led...
Circlestwo
How to be a meaningful mentor, insights from a purposeful podcast
If Then New
Design (and share) your If > Then statements, for a purposefully prompt towards action
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Practice the principles of persuasion from 'Godfather of Influence,' Robert Cialdini.
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Six steps for finding focus and flow, with Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi in mind
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Course Pack: Making Time
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Great questions to ask in coaching conversations, 1-1's and other curious contexts

Mindful breathing — the foundation of focus and flow

Short, intentional bursts of deep breathing are the scientifically proven and surest way to bring a greater sense of control, calm and focus to your mind and body. The simple steps, and audio guide, in this resource will easily get you experimenting.
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Mindful breathing — a foundational tool for feeling focussed

Through our collaboration with neuroscientist, and author of How Confidence Works, Ian Robertson we've learned that just as serotonin is the happiness hormone, noradrenaline is the confidence hormone, and confident people have a healthy balance of it.

Noradrenaline is adrenaline for the mind; a neurotransmitter that boosts alertness, stimulates activity in the brain and readies the body for action, which — as Ian points out in his book — is the foundation finding the focus we need to get things done.

There are natural ways that you can boost your mind’s noradrenaline, and the simplest is regular breathing exercises.

Making some time for a short breathing exercise is a brilliant way to immediately find focus, and lift your confidence — particularly when you’re feeling anxious (perhaps before a presentation, or difficult conversation).

Ian explained how closing your eyes, and intentionally, deeply breathing for just a minute or two changes the chemistry of your brain; stabilising your mood and making you more alert and focussed.

A guide for giving it a go

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In the audio clip below; coach, facilitator and wellbeing practitioner Katy Kent introduces the technique of mindful breathing. It's a simple, powerful and proven practice for bringing greater clarity — especially at times when our focus naturally drifts, or we become mentally overwhelmed with 'task switching'.

Listen to Katy introduce it in the clip, and then read over the written recap before experimenting with the technique as much as you can today and throughout the week.

Your written recap

1
Think like Dave

Productivity guru David Allen says that ’the mind is for having ideas, not holding them’, explaining that we drain our energy and diminish our focus, by holding too many competing thoughts in our minds all at once. So what if you gave yourself a minute of mindful silence to arrive properly?

2
Take a minute, get comfortable

Intentionally take a minute before a next meeting (or the time you've put aside to work on an important task). Sit upright and comfortable in a posture that feels good for you.

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And.... breathe.....

Spend a minute breathing slowly and steadily in through your nose and out through your mouth. A good rule of thumb is to exhale for twice as long as you inhale. Notice every inhalation and every exhalation intentionally and consciously. You might find it helpful to try closing your eyes.

4
Notice your breath if your mind wanders

If you get distracted by thoughts or feelings just bring your attention really consciously back to your breath. It’s that simple. The goal is to simply feel calmer and more present — and to achieve greater focus on that meeting, conversation or whatever else is in important right now.

Give this tactic a try today. As simple as it might sound, just slowing down and intentionally carving out that time to clear your mind and bring your focus to what's in front of you right now will pay great dividends in confidence, attention and energy.
See if you can do this simple 60 second exercise in the minute ahead of any meetings or 1-1s you have today — and throughout next week. Get into the mindful breathing habit!

Keen to dig deeper?

You might find this fuller eCourse on Better Breathing worth spending some time with.

Friend of You Can Now, Michael Townsend Williams wrote a brilliant (stocking sized) little book all about breathing. More on that here.

The science of breathing as a way to reduce stress. Interesting insights as always at HBR.

More Resources