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But if I'm doing a presentation or pitch, or writing and creating, you won’t get my best, most sparkling If I have presentations, need to write or create, I know I can have more impact in four hours in the

Recent performance feedback shows she needs to be more present, interacting with her peers and the business

I coached a recruiter recently and her pitch and CV profile start with ‘I help organisations find great I recently ran a value proposition writing workshop with a group of internal recruiters and was astonished when they presented the propositions they’d been asked to create.

colleagues to make informed decisions by analysing account data for indications of fraud, formulating and presenting

Electrify your energy and ignite your passion Passion. It’s not a word you’d necessarily associate with being professional or career growth. But we all need a bit of it. Why? Having the power of passion for career growth is a strength. What does passion have to do with being happy at work, getting your career back on track or finding the right job? Well, a lot. A whole lot, in fact. When you have passion, you know what inspires and motivates you. You have purpose, which gives you focus and direction. And knowing all of that means you know your strengths. And knowing your strengths means you feel confident and capable. Powerful, right? Passion has a lot to do with being happy at work and finding the right job or taking the next step. It can help you recharge your career, reconnect with things that excite you and enrich your working experience. Passionate is a buzzword you see (too) often in job ads and on CVs, but it’s often just a bit 'meh' and lacking substance. On a CV, who isn't going to say they are passionate, dedicated and hardworking? No one is going to write 'mildly interested, invested a bit and sometimes lazy' are they? One would hope not. If you want to include passion on your CV and LinkedIn, show the proof of how you demonstrated your passion and what outcome it drove or resulted in. If you talk about being passionate, be...passionate. I was hosting a mock interview with a client and with a deadpan face and very flat voice, they responded to a question with "I'm very passionate about..." but their face and voice said differently. We have to convey our passion with a bit of animation - eyes that sparkle and a face that lights up - even if it's just a little. If not, it's counterproductive. If you genuinely have passion, you have an edge. It’s more than enthusiasm and energy. Enthusiasm bounces around and can obscure the path ahead, but passion is honed and enduring. It’s powerful. It can take you places in life and in your career. You know passion when you see it in someone, even if you’re not sure what it is. It helps you make connections and it’s so attractive to other people – including recruiters, hiring managers, colleagues and leaders. They know you are genuine, that you’ll go the extra mile, give your all and stay motivated. Do you know what your passion is? Do you know how to harness it to give you an edge? A session of Career Therapy with me as your coach can help you connect with and articulate your passion in a way that is authentic to you. It can also show you just how powerful passion can be to help you grow your confidence and recharge your career. Let's explore how you can find or reignite your passion with a free intro chat. Click on 'Book a call' anywhere on the website or email me: louise@careertherapy.co.uk . And don't forget to check out other posts for more impactful career tips. What's stopping you? Why not follow me for more tips, tools and talks: LinkedIn   Louise Newton Instagram   @career_therapy_uk For questions to challenge your thinking and ignite your passion, here's my article on the Superpower of Knowing Your Why and this blog from Kira Day , Founder at the Passion Centre. If you'd like to receive no-fluff, practical insights direct to your inbox, why not sign up for the Career Therapy Newsletter ? It’s packed full of thoughtful career support grounded in years of coaching experience...and real life. Check out my other content on careers and confidence:   Know your strengths ,   5 steps to building confidence   and   Want more confidence? Take control . Photo by  Hal Gatewood  on  Unsplash

I laughed out loud watching Michael Bungay Stanier , author of The Coaching Habit and The Advice Trap talk about ‘How to tame your Advice Monster’. “You nod, you look engaged, yet caring, yet concerned…just waiting for your turn to speak.” I wonder how many of us are good at faking active listening whilst our brains rush to devise solutions. As someone who loves problem-solving and offering solutions, wearing both professional hats as a ‘you’re the expert, what shall we do?’ consultant and a ‘tell me more, what else is going on?’ coach is a challenge. My AGH (Advice Giving Habit) used to be like that excited child stretching their arm up in the air so high that they leave their seat crying “pick me, pick me! I know the answer.” I can’t deny that child is still in me, but I can now ask them to shush and listen. Why? Because, as Michael points out, we often try to solve the wrong problem by thinking that the first problem we hear about is the most important one. Wrong. Nancy Kline’s Thinking Environment is based on the same principle; that the more people work through their ideas uninterrupted by comments, solutions and advice, the more interesting and powerful their thoughts will be. Two hard but vital lessons for me in my career have been to stop my brain racing and listen and think about the best solution, not the first solution. Learning how to do both of these things has paid remarkable dividends, professionally and personally. And they opened my horizons. The other lessons I learned along the way are: Questions are more powerful, useful and interesting than answers Adding value is not about me having all the answers It’s OK to stay in the not knowing, the answer will come What and so many other possible questions Whether you are a leader, manager, consultant, mentor or coach, your role is as a guide. A guide that enables and empowers others to think, act and move forward. They are the ones who need to come up with the answers for the solutions to feel real and have a chance of being realised. They need to feel the ownership, not rely on advice. Giving and receiving advice can be great sometimes but as Michael Bungay Stanier’s video reminded me, it can limit someone else’s ability to think more – and think better. Advice can lessen someone's willingness to take ownership and feel like they can’t find the answer themselves. I’m not a quiet coach. I’m not a coach who ‘knits yoghurt’ as one of my clients calls it. That client and others work with me because I ask challenging questions. I push them to leave their comfort zones and challenge their own beliefs and assumptions. But I do it in a safe way, striking a productive balance between challenge and support. Of course, I form opinions, that’s what enables me to ask more of those provocative, incisive questions. But I no longer feel compelled to share them. It’s not about me. And if the Advice Giving Monster emerges, I override it by knowing that if I listen more, I’ll learn more. And learning more helps my clients realise and achieve more. Watch Michael Bungay Stanier in action and see if you recognise some of your own habits and check out his book, The Advice Trap . Take the quiz to see what type of Advice Monster you have , when it is most likely to emerge and, crucially, how to tame it. If you’d like someone to help you work out why you are where you are and what might be next, or if you’d like to be challenged to step out of your comfort zone (in a gentle but candid way), why not get in touch and see where a session of Career Therapy could take you? Introductory calls are always free if you’re curious to find out more about coaching and working with me. Click on Book a call on the website for a free intro call or email me:  louise@careertherapy.co.uk   Why not follow me for more confidence boosting tips, tools and talks: LinkedIn   Louise Newton Instagram   @career_therapy_uk What’s stopping you? You might also be interested in my article on changing negative questions to positive ones. Check out my other articles on careers and confidence: Trust your gut instinct and Asking good questions . If you'd like to receive no-fluff, practical insights direct to your inbox, why not sign up for the Career Therapy Newsletter ? It’s packed full of thoughtful career support grounded in years of coaching experience...and real life. Photo by Vadim Bogulov on Unsplash

technique is acknowledging difference, putting it out there that you’re on different sides – and not pretending

Set yourself up with the direction, tools and energy you need for immediate and long-term success Do you know how to start your new job the right way? There’s a lot to think about - a hundred things, big and small, that you don’t know but need to learn very quickly. Some things you can plan for, some you can’t in your 30-60-90 plan, but there is one sure-fire way to make yourself unpopular and set you back on your path to success, and it happens more times than it should - coming on too strong and trying too hard. It’s a mistake I see people make time and time again, especially more senior employees. They think they are doing the right thing and often have no idea how annoying or disengaging their actions are to their new colleagues. This grave error? Wanting to ‘create impact’ and ‘add value’ from day one. OK, I hear you asking: “Surely, that’s a positive, isn’t it?” Well, yes. But it needs to be done the right way. It’s natural to want to make a good impression, show your strengths and justify why you were hired. There’s often a sense of needing to prove oneself quite quickly in a new role, which is OK, but what's not OK is when that drive overtakes clear thinking and works against you. How? Well, imagine you’re an employee and someone new starts. They jump in with ideas from the get-go, looking for things to be improved and changes to be made. Because that’s how they feel they justify being hired. Unfortunately, they don’t realise that their seemingly positive ideas and suggestions have a negative side. Firstly, they often don’t know enough of the background or history to be making assumptions and pronouncements about what should have happened or needs to be done. Negative strike one. Secondly, someone suggesting that changes need to be made implies that everyone is currently doing a less-than-stellar job. Negative strike two. Yes, you may have been hired with an agenda for driving transformation and delivering improvements, but there is a way of going about it, taking a little more time to truly understand where you are, who you are with, how they work and what they will respond positively to. Taking some time to observe, to learn and understand will lead to far more impactful change and value add. Learning how people and processes work, you’ll know which levers to pull, where to put pressure and how to deliver lasting change that your colleagues engage with and support. What you wear on day one is up to you, but here are my top 5 tips for starting a new role: Don’t rush to act. Look, listen and learn. Take your time to learn about the people, the place, the culture and the dynamics. Then, when you do act, you’ll have more impact because your suggestions will be backed by evidence and observation. • Be approachable, interested and confident. Introduce yourself, don’t wait for people to make the first move. Talk about them, not yourself and ask lots of questions. • Ask, don’t assume. Ask people to explain how things work at your new company. Don’t assume you know, even if you have experience in similar roles or organisations. Be open to learning. • Keep asking questions. No one will expect you to remember everything you see or hear in your first few days. Also, you can play the newbie card for a while without coming across as critical: “As I’m new, can you tell me how you arrived at that decision?” • Be yourself. Don’t try too hard, relationships are built over time and it’s not a popularity contest. • Be yourself. Prep and practice your pitch to answer " Tell me about yourself " with ease. If you’re nervous about your first day or how to make an impact in a new role, why not try a session of Career Therapy to help you prepare? From handshakes to value props, strategy to goal setting, it’s good to have a plan. Click ‘Book a call’ on the website for a free intro call or email me at louise@careertherapy.co.uk Why not follow me for more confidence-boosting tips, tools and talks: LinkedIn   Louise Newton Instagram   @career_therapy_uk There are 1000s of resources online to help you successfully onboard and this list from Coursera is a good reference point. Remember to keep track of what you've learned to date. If you'd like to receive no-fluff, practical insights direct to your inbox, why not sign up for the Career Therapy Newsletter ? It’s packed full of thoughtful career support grounded in years of coaching experience...and real life. Check out my other content on careers and confidence: Do Perfect Jobs Exist?, You can grow your confidence ,   5 steps to building confidence   and   Want more confidence? Take control . Photo by Clay Banks  on Unsplash

– I started drawing, thinking about how to present a career journey visually on a slide.

And more time to just be, to enjoy the present as much as, if not more than racing to the future and

She recently faced a dilemma: should she leave for another start-up offering a massive pay hike, or stay

Do you worry about missing out? Are you diluting your attention, energy and impact? It’s very tempting to try and do everything all at once when you’re caught up in the excitement of starting a new business, a new role or when changing direction. Or if you’re someone who finds it hard to let go. Or if you want to be involved in everything and find it hard to stay in your lane. You have Pro-Fomo. Professional Fear of Missing Out is, ironically, one of the ways you will miss out. When you’re trying to be involved in everything, working excessively to try and clear that (unending) to-do list or be all things to all people, you will inevitably miss something. Or burn out trying. Your efforts and focus get diluted and, as can often happen, you don’t hit deadlines or meet expectations, your attention is divided and your energy diffused. The result – you don’t do a great job, or you do it too late. How do we solve this? Think of your work effort as a five-course fine dining experience rather than an all you can eat buffet. If you’ve ever heard of the 80/20 rule (also called the Pareto Principle ) then you’ll understand that 80% of your outcomes derive from 20% of your efforts. Think about it for a moment. Are you focusing your efforts where you’ll get the most results? Or are you watering down your results and impact by not being focused on the activities that really matter? To ensure success it’s advisable to have a plan – and stick to it. Like a menu. It sets out in detail the stages we can expect, they have a logical flow and they complement one another. You could use also use the Eisenhower Matrix to help you decide what is more important and where to focus your attention. Plan your work or ‘courses’ so there is an engaging and interesting introduction that you build momentum from as you move forward, perhaps with a few flourishes or hidden ingredients to draw attention but always following a defined direction. That way, your efforts will bring rewards. You’ll be seen as strategic, sharp-minded and focused on the things that matter. If you’re trying to do everything and not do anything particularly well, why not try a session of Career Therapy and find your focus? Swap Pro-Fomo for clarity and direction and move your career forward with confidence. Click ‘Book a call’ on the website for a free intro call or email me at louise@careertherapy.co.uk Why not follow me for more career confidence-boosting tips, tools and talks: LinkedIn   Louise Newton Instagram   @career_therapy_uk If you'd like to receive no-fluff, practical insights direct to your inbox, why not sign up for the Career Therapy Newsletter ? It’s packed full of thoughtful career support, grounded in years of coaching experience - and real life. Check out my other content on careers and confidence: Know your strengths , How strong is your personal brand? and Who are you comparing yourself to? Photo by Marten Newhall on Unsplash