So we are at the beginning of another curfew week, lots of us at home trying to keep us with work requirements. How are you doing with your self-care? The challenge of working from home usually include;
Staying organized

1. Managing your time
2. Switching off
3. Collaborating
4. Socially interacting
5. Remembering to take regular breaks

Today my “tip of the day” is all about the last one:
“Remember to take regular breaks.”
I saw this image this week, and there are 50 opportunities for you to take breaks. How many could you practice this week?











​Have a go at practicing those you can and also remember;
Ships do not sink because of the water around them; ships sink because of the water in them. Do not let what is happening around you get inside you and weigh you down.
Have a great week.​

Hi
I hope you are well and ready for the week.
This week I have a fabulous EDGE Coaching tip for you to practice, which may help you when in conversation. Sometimes, the two-way spirit of communication gets ignored; when this happens only one side of the discussion is adequately understood. Today I will offer five tips to practice that will hopefully help you avoid this situation and get you to a productive outcome quicker. After all
"You have two ears and one mouth; listen twice as much as you speak."
Epictetus, Greek philosopher
In coaching conversations, we believe there are three levels of listening.

Level 1. Internal listening: Listening to words to formulate a response or to meet your own needs. You are listening for what the words mean to you.
Level 2. Focused listening. Shifting the listening focus to the speaker, leaning in and listening intently. Words, expressions, tone, pace, and emotions are being heard.
Level 3. Global listening. Where listening seems to take place only in a bubble containing the two of you, a forcefield surrounds you both, and you are using all senses to listen with; what do you see, hear, feel and smell. When you get a sense of something else going on, your intuition comes into play, so you ask about what you sense.

My tip this week is:     Listen with the intent to understand

To support you,  try to remember these five tips for good interactive listening:

1. Listen intently: this inspires confidence in the speaker.
2. Listen for expression and emotion; how might your conversation partner be feeling
3. Use silence confidently as a tool to encourage hesitant speakers. (excellent for students)
4. Ask open questions that lead to a discussion or more information.
5. Start your response with something your conversation partner said, so they know you got the gist.

"Most people do not listen with the intent to understand; they listen with the intent to reply."nStephen R. Covey
I hope this EDGE Coaching tip helps you to enjoy a more productive week. 

​So here we are; you have made it to the essential part of the self-coaching series—the end.
This part is called WILL.
The idea here is to turn the options you have come up with, in part 3, into action. Will is where you hold yourself accountable for what you say you are going to do.
“WHEN ACCOUNTABILITY IS PRESENT, PEOPLE KEEP THEIR EYES ON A VERY CLEAR PRIZE. THEY KNOW WHAT THEY ARE WORKING TOWARD AND HOW THEY ARE GOING TO GET THERE.”
You have to know what you are working toward if you want to keep it in mind. Set a goal, even if it is a short-term one, and set your eyes on it. Make decisions every day that will help you get closer to the target.
Hey, do not worry if you are reading this and thinking, hold on, I haven’t completed any of parts 1-3, don’t worry, they are all still available on my website right here http://www.edgebarbados.com/blog--newsletter.
Just scroll through the blogs, you will find them entitled Self -Coaching; there are three parts. If you are now thinking, yes, there is something I wish to achieve this year, have a look.
We started with creating the goal you would like to achieve; then we look at where you were right now (the reality) with that goal. The last part of this series was looking at the options you had at your disposal to achieve the goal. That meant listing all the things you could do to bring you closer to where you want to be.
Well then, If you are ready, let’s go with WILL
“ACCOUNTABILITY SEPARATES THE WISHERS IN LIFE FROM THE ACTION-TAKERS THAT CARE ENOUGH ABOUT THEIR FUTURE TO ACCOUNT FOR THEIR DAILY ACTIONS.” 
“Will” pretty much means “what will you do?” What is your first step towards the goal you have set yourself
Here are the questions which go with this stage. If you can answer these with confidence, you will have a great starting point to go ahead and achieve your goal.
When are you going to start each action? (one at a time is okay)
What could anyone else do to give you support with each one as you do them, and when will you ask for it?
How committed are you, on a scale of 1–10, to taking each of these actions?
If it is not a 10, what would make it a 10?
What will you commit to doing?
Please remember with some of your options; it may be prudent to do nothing and review later.
Are you closer now to achieving your goal?
Do you feel ‘empowered’ and more confident because you have experienced that by asking yourself the right questions and listening to yourself, you can find your own solutions?
The exercise questions help raise your awareness, which encourages you to take responsibility for achieving your goal. The fact that you come up with your own solutions will also increase your confidence to achieve your goal.
This set of exercises is a great way to get yourself started with your goals. As a coach, I am there to ask questions about your choices, maybe to get you thinking of things from a different perspective. I encourage you to have a go first, “as I said in my blog on 24th October 2020, “No one needs a coach” I try to help you achieve your goals quicker, this is because as a coach “I wholeheartedly believe that everyone has it in them to achieve all they are committed to realizing”
However, If this exercise has whetted your appetite and you would like to commit to achieving your goal quicker, let’s have a conversation. I am confident that together we can move you closer to your ambition.
Best of luck with your goals; let me know how it’s going, I am always at the end of an email

I hope you have had a great weekend and are looking forward to enjoying a productive week.
I am delighted to bring you my "Tip of the Week," and I hope it inspires you to do more to make your week a more positive one in these challenging times. With this message, I have also included some bonus tips to support you and your children during the week.
The growth mindset is wonderful and amazing. People who have the desire and drive to grow are always improving themselves. They love challenging themselves and continually being better than they were yesterday. They always like to be building their knowledge of themselves and the world around them. They often become leaders seeking to help others grow, and they have an outlook that a situation can always be bettered. This is a lovely quote that encapsulates the premise:
"Challenges are what makes life interesting. Overcoming them is what makes life meaningful." -- Joshua Marine
So my tip of the week is "Becoming, is better than being."
Below are 5 tips for you to remember as different situations arrive this week. How many can you use to help you grow?

1. I can always improve
2. Mistakes help me learn
3. I persevere when I am frustrated
4. My effort and attitude make all the difference
5. I like to challenge myself

These were the tips I always instilled in my staff teams and students that will work with anyone. How can you use these statements to help you this week?
 
Bonus tip: Mental health for children and students
If you have children or students to support during home learning, try these:
5 questions you can ask to help them with their mental health.

1. Is there anything you would like to talk about?
2. Where in our home do you feel you can have your own space?
3. How do you feel about things changing?
4. When was the last time you were very happy?
5. Would it be helpful if we planned each day together?

Remember, there is usually more going on in a child's head than they are letting on; if you can help them share, they will always feel supported in these difficult times.
Have a great week and remember, developing your growth mindset will help you to "become."
​

I hope you are having a great week, and your happiness and those around you are shining through. (Tip of the week Monday 11th Jan)
When was the last time you taught your child or a student a useful soft skill? Did they even know that was what you were doing? Did they ask, “what is the point of this”?  It would not surprise me.  As a teacher, I had to field many questions like this; the most common was, “When will I ever use trigonometry in my life?”  I must admit, I did not always have an answer to this question unless they wanted to do something scientific or in construction.
But I did when they asked why we learned about soft skills.  Today, I will set out my top 3 opportunities all students should be provided to develop their soft skills in preparation for work.
“Soft skills” is a topic that often comes up in my conversations - I must admit I haven’t focused on this nearly enough in the newsletters or previous emails - which has prompted me to share this email with you today because it is crucial.
A great quote in this regard comes from author Peggy Klaus
 “Soft skills get little respect, but they will make or break your career.”
The definition explains why this is so:-
“Soft Skills: Personal attributes that enable someone to interact effectively and harmoniously with other people.
The importance of these skills is this: -
“We are preparing students for a successful career.”
I have had students practice a good firm handshake in the past or producing a big smile as a warm welcome when meeting people. When having conversations, encouraging them to hold eye contact and present positive body language were things I used to get them to do during school registration time. I remember the looks I would get when I would ask them to prepare a group presentation to present in the assembly in front of the entire year group!! Pure horror, but they did it and developed organizational skills and got a confidence boost as a side bonus. All in the name of creating opportunities to develop their soft skills. With the world changing and the job market being even more competitive, it is time to step it up.
In the modern workplace, you now need more than technical skills to be successful. Today’s employers seek candidates who can perform their jobs well but who can also fit into the company culture and interact seamlessly with other employees.
Since most jobs require teamwork, or if you work alone where you may need to interact with potential clients, it is crucial to possess soft skills to enhance your chances of success with your chosen field, so let us start thinking ahead. If we as parents or educators get the opportunity, we should be trying to add some of these opportunities to their learnings.
My top 10 opportunities all students should be given to develop their soft skills: -

1. Provide a learning environment where trust, initiative, and taking risks, in some parts, are encouraged.
2. Differentiated opportunities for personal growth and occasions to take or hold responsibility for essential things around the school community and home
3. Assign group exercises that allow students to speak, listen, write, organize, and lead.
4. Start grading students on how well they listen to their peers.
5. Design opportunities for students to build and demonstrate resilience.
6. Create opportunities for students to innovate, both on their own and in groups.
7. Give opportunities for introverts and extroverts alike to feedback in a controlled manner that suits them.
8. Acknowledge students who are committed to communicating ideas to others.
9. Hold brainstorm sessions in which students list the possible uses for various soft skills.
10. Support students by helping them find their own way with the challenges they face.

Partnering with businesses and individuals can help students develop their “soft skills” through training.
Students, especially the older ones, can also improve their soft skills by watching others and practicing what they observe.
Working with a professional coach can help individuals or groups develop “soft skills” in readiness for work. If you would like to know more about how EDGE Coaching could help your child or your students with soft skills development, email me at [email protected] or visit the website www.edgebarbados.com and use the contact page.
Enjoy the rest of your week and, this week, see if you can help someone else follow their dream too.