So, as I’ve already mentioned, one of my aims for 2018 is to do something towards personal development every day. Last week I enrolled on the Mindset Shift Summit, (which I discovered thanks to those wonderful @DigitalMums on Twitter), organised by the lovely Sophie Segal, and signed up to participate in a series of inspiring talks all with the objective to help support mums find flexibility and confidence…
On 29th Jan there was a live ‘kick off’ event with Penelope Blissenden, who walked us through the steps to energetically align to our goals.
The subsequent 4 days of the summit were based around 4 themes to address different needs and issues;
DAY 1 – DISCOVER
DAY 2 – LEARN
DAY 3 – CONNECT
DAY 4 – THRIVE
There was an amazing amount of content and information to digest but I just thought I would share some of the ideas that really resonated with me from each day.
DAY 1
Rebecca Fraser-Thill – “How to pivot your career and feel confident as a result”
In this talk Rebecca suggested
- asking the people you are close to “what am I good at?” in order to try and find a new direction. Sounds simple but often gets overlooked.
- She talked about using your own values, explaining that writing them down on little cards (even just one per night if you’re strapped for time) and shuffling them into order of priority can help work out what’s most important to you and therefore exactly what you’re looking for in a potential employer when you look for a new job.
- 16 PERSONALITIES, a free personality test that I now intend to do to find out what kind of person I am and why I do things the way I do…
DAY 2
Paul Lindley, Ella’s Kitchen Founder & CEO “The Power of Adopting a Toddler Mindset.”
In this talk, Paul explained the importance of (re)learning how to view the world in the way we once did, as children, and using that mindset to be more confident, to approach challenges with enthusiasm and confront problems in a direct manner. He suggests that there is so much in the way that children behave that we can implement in our own adult lives such as
- reducing stress by keeping things playful
- thinking divergently when problem solving
- harnessing our curiosity
Phanella Mayall-FineStep-up Club Co-Founder & Author “Self-promotion: know your ‘Brand Me’ and use it wisely”
My take away points from this talk were
- think of yourself as a package, how you dress, how you talk, how you act all works together to tell your story
- curate your style with the same attention to detail you would give a real brand; you have your own look, which is part of how you ‘sell’ yourself
- Adapt to your surroundings but remain true to yourself, your values and your style; don’t change who you are but learn to flex depending on the situation
Hannah Martin, Talented Ladies Club Co-Founder “How to pitch ourselves to a company plus the stories we tell ourselves”
- imagine the person you want to be to give you confidence
- imagine yourself winning that job interview, play the scenario over and over again in your mind so you go in there expecting to get the job
- Deflect any negative answers by bringing in something else to talk about that’s relevant and puts a positive spin on things.
Aby Moore, blogger at Youbabymemummy.com and founder of Mumpreneur Revolution “Vision boards for success.”
So Aby was talking through how to create a vision board so you can start to mentally condition yourself for achieving your goals. I actually think this will be fun as it’s like creating a mood board so I’ll jump on Photoshop for that one and then stick it up somewhere I can look at it every day. I might even share it on here when it’s finished!
DAY 4
Wies Bratby – “How to negotiate your worth”
Very interesting talk about the gender pay gap and how women are not confident enough to ask for a higher salary when they land a job. She pointed out that
- HR and recruitment agencies will generally calculate your salary by asking for your previous amount and adding 5% so don’t tell them!! (although, if they ask you, I’m not sure how you tactfully get out of that question??)
- Do your homework. Research the salaries of similar roles first
- Have something to show them your worth too, like a strong report or project
So, this is just a small selection of tips that may be useful. What other ways are there for mums to achieve the flexibility and confidence to marry careers and family successfully?
Thank you Sophie for a fantastic and inspiring event and looking forward to enrolling on the next Mindset Shift Summit!
Zoe x