Category Archives: Building Self Belief


How To Be Brave When You’d Rather Hide Under the Duvet

By Sarah Cooper | Published January 18, 2010

“I’m very brave generally” he went on in a low voice,” only today I happen to have a headache.” So said Tweedledum in Alice Through a Looking Glass.
The key to successfully changing career isn’t understanding your values, identifying your favourite skills and passions, creating a killer action plan and gathering support and inspiration to keep [...]

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Why you really don’t need to fear failure

By admin | Published October 18, 2009

Although we don’t always like to admit it, one of the biggest reasons we don’t always go for what we want in work - or life - is that we are afraid of failure.
Why does the idea of failure hold such power over us? Actually, we recover from failures all the time. Consider this:
How many [...]

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Are you accommodating or bulldozing your career obstacles?

By Sarah Cooper | Published October 1, 2009

When it comes to changing career, no-one can deny that you’re likely to meet a lot of obstacles. But are these barriers set in stone?
Early this morning I was struck by an apt analogy. I live, as many of you know, in a Chinese courtyard house, full of charm but somewhat tatty around the edges.
Half [...]

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Identify Those Elusive Transferable Skills: The 3 Pronged Attack

By Sarah Cooper | Published July 24, 2009

Not long after starting my coaching practice I delivered a workshop to young Chinese professionals on creating the perfect CV.
I was shocked to discover that the majority of participants were simply incapable of naming something they were good at – despite them all being competent English speakers with better jobs than most of their peers.
Half-way [...]

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How To Recapture The Optimism Of Youth

By Sarah Cooper | Published July 3, 2009

www.flickr.com/photos/zaqography/ /
CC BY 2.0
We all know that being positive is a Good Thing. But as we get older, it’s not that easy to break long-held habits of negative, self-defeating thinking.
I wonder if it’s because our thoughts are both so familiar and invisible that we don’t always appreciate their serious effect.
Imagine that every negative thought we [...]

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Ann’s Story - Why You Should Never Give Up

By Sarah Cooper | Published May 1, 2009

One of the few downsides of my coaching practice is not always knowing how things turn out for a client.
People come to coaching when they want to make a major change - and that’s not easy. In an ideal world, we’d continue the coaching until the client successfully made all the changes they wanted. But [...]

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Taking Inspiration From My Daughter

By Sarah Cooper | Published March 13, 2009

 
Two days ago my daughter Elsa (3 1/2) announced that she’d like to cycle herself to school - a local Chinese kindergarten just round the corner from where we live. Her bike was last year’s birthday present from her ayi (like a Chinese nanny). But Elsa never really got the hang of it before winter [...]

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Are You Watering Down Your Dream?

By Sarah Cooper | Published January 30, 2009

 
One of the things I often notice is how quick we are to water down our dreams. I know that sometimes we do have to bend to reality, but much of the time we don’t even give our dreams a chance. We compromise up front, before even testing the ideal. Or we lose focus, distracted [...]

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Give Yourself An “A”

By Sarah Cooper | Published December 12, 2008

 Benjamin Zander is the conductor of the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra and a teacher at the New England Conservatory.   Zander was concerned that the conservatory’s practise of grading students at the end of their course was causing them to play conservatively – holding them back from expressing their individuality and reaching their true potential.
 
He therefore came [...]

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How To Present Yourself As An Expert When You Feel Like A Fraud

By Sarah Cooper | Published November 28, 2008

 
5 “F-words” to help you quickly believe in and market your expert status! 
 
Facts, Focus, Fees, Follow up, Feedback
 
The 5 Fs are most relevant for those of you who are thinking of starting a consultancy or service business, but I hope everyone will be able to glean something useful.
 
Tip 1 – FACTS
 
When you’re [...]

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