Tag Archives: Confidence

Podcast Episode 032: Why plan?

TheStrengthsRevolution_albumart_2-2This episode raises the philosophical question of ‘why plan?’, and what role does planning play in our day-to-day lives? We all have needs and wants, and it is the conscious or subconscious plans that help us to exert some control in our aim of achieving them.

We engage in relationship plans, financial goals, career planning, and chosen uses of leisure time. It is a natural human activity that can become quickly mired in the bureaucratic jargon of goal-setting, care planning, support planning, where we talk of being person-centred when our systems are imposing service-centred solutions on people.

It can be a conflict between a requirement for order and a way of managing chaos, even though some people claim to prefer chaos. Plans can’t guarantee success but they can help to build confidence, apply order and structure, focus our energy, provide a road map. In the event of a crisis we have means of responding with our own personal crisis plans; and in anticipation of something desired going wrong we should have some kind of contingency plans.

For the full content of this episode click on the links to iTunes and Sound Cloud (or go to Stitcher Radio):

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/strengths-revolution-steve/id867043694

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/032-why-plan/id867043694?i=322813027&mt=2

“Failing to plan is planning to fail.” [Alan Lakein].

Podcast Episode 021: Strengths & Decision-Making

TheStrengthsRevolution_albumart_2-2How do we go about making decisions? The answer partly depends on the situations or circumstances we are in… ‘situational decision-making’ is an assessment of the situation followed by a quick mental simulation of the likely outcome of our chosen course of action. It is based in experience, responds to pressures on available time, and helps us manage ambiguous detail. It is a partly intuitively based approach to decision-making.

Alternatively, ‘analytical decision-making’ is a more structured approach applied to research, clinical and other work situations where masses of abstract data need processing, or a range of different people come together to make a decision.

Ultimately it is not so much about finding the right or wrong decision, but more about our ‘confidence’ in the decisions we have made. Confidence will be underpinned by a focus on the strengths that can be identified and productively applied as a crucial component in our approach to making decisions. An absence of identified strengths can still offer confidence, but in these circumstances it will be confidence in making the more risk averse decisions.

For the full content of this episode click on the links to iTunes and Sound Cloud (or go to Stitcher Radio):

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/strengths-revolution-steve/id867043694

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/021-strengths-decision-making/id867043694?i=318067222&mt=2

“When possible make the decisions now, even if action is in the future. A reviewed decision usually is better than one reached at the last moment.” [William B Given].

 

Podcast Episode 019: Confidence Tricks [1]

TheStrengthsRevolution_albumart_2-2Risk-taking is part of a healthy way of living, and we make decisions every day. However, just occasionally we are confronted with potential life-changing decisions, such as changing a job, moving our home, expressing feelings for others, marriage, children, divorce, and end of life choices.

How can we face some of these major decisions and make them with greater degrees of confidence? This episode offers a number of common sense tips to help us develop that confidence. Being reflective, checking things out with trusted friends, being aware of consequences, being open to learning not just seeing things as simple as success or failure.

Fir the full content of this episode click on the links to iTunes and Sound Cloud (or go to Stitcher Radio):

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/strengths-revolution-steve/id867043694

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/019-confidence-tricks-1/id867043694?i=317489992&mt=2

“But he learned long ago that a life lived without risks pretty much wasn’t worth living. Life rewarded courage, even when that first step was taken neck-deep in fear.” [Tamera Alexander].