Alice Stapleton

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The Career Change Diaries Podcast: Episode 12

The Career Change Diaries is a year old! And what a way to celebrate, with this month's guest being legendary career expert, John Lees. In this episode, we discuss the 3 most common perceived barriers to a career change - money, the sunken cost fallacy, and confidence - and how to overcome these.

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The Career Change Diaries Podcast: Episode 11

In the latest episode of the podcast, we speak to Rosie Croft, who worked in luxury fashion buying for 12 years, working with some of the world’s most prestigious brands. After years of feeling dissatisfied, Rosie changed career, and is now a skilled artisan craftswoman. This is her story.

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4 Questions to Ask Yourself Before Making a Career Change

If you have grand career aspirations outside of your current career path, now may be the time to consider a change. But, how do you know whether making a change is the right thing to do? Here, we take a look at four of the core questions can you ask yourself before you decide upon a career change.

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The Career Change Diaries Podcast: Episode 10

This month, we speak to Hector Hughes, who quit his job in a tech start-up in order to co-found the digital detox cabin company, Unplugged. We hear how a Quarter-Life Crisis led Hector to a silent retreat in the Himalayas. Soon after, he quit his job and and started his own company.

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The Career Change Diaries Podcast: Episode 9

From Professional Wakeboarding to Online Lifestyle & Body Coaching. For December's episode of the podcast, we hear from Jenna Mcavoy, whose career has taken many turns, all fuelled by a desire to help and empower others. Her career journey shows how one chapter can unknowingly lead onto another.

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The Career Change Diaries Podcast: Episode 8

On the podcast this month, we speak to Vida Skreb, who is a Neuroscientist and Leadership Coach. Vida helps us understand why contemplating a career change is so challenging for us humans. We delve into neuroscience to find out where our fears and doubts come from, and how to overcome them.

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The Career Change Diaries Podcast: Episode 7

This month, we hear from Christina Frowein, who started her career in hotels and the travel industry, after her BA in Hospitality Management. After 8 years, she went back to university to follow her real passion, earning a MA in Coaching and Leadership, and now works for a coaching startup.

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The Unexpected Side Effect of Change: Loss

I’ve been having a lot of conversations about loss recently. It comes up quite a lot for career change clients, in that contemplating a new career comes with unexpected feelings of loss in relation to their current/previous career. Yet, the consequence of any type of change is loss.

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The Career Change Diaries Podcast: Episode 6

This month, we hear from Hannah Stange, who made a career change from the private equity sector, into the Probation Service. Hannah highlights the importance of financial planning when your career change may require a pay drop, and offers three key pieces of advice for others considering a change.

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Childhood Dreams: Do We Follow Them or Does Reality Bite?

I was recently made aware of new research, which gives an interesting breakdown of where we really get to with our childhood dreams. How many of us are actually following the career path we envisaged as a child? Or did adulthood change our priorities? Have a read to find out.

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The Career Change Diaries Podcast: Episode 5

This month, we speak to Rachel Schofield, who worked for the BBC as a journalist and news presenter for 20 years, before training as a Career Coach. Rachel discusses how even ‘sexy' jobs can have their downsides and how it can be hard to let go of a career that defines a large part of your identity.

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The Career Change Diaries Podcast: Episode 4

In July's episode, we hear from David Horrich, who provides a candid and philosophical account of his career change journey from e-commerce photography to property. He talks through the windy road of change, and why it’s OK not to have it ALL figured out before proceeding with your next step.

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Learning From Failure and Making Mistakes

It takes a lot to admit that you've made a mistake, and that a decision you made hasn't worked out in the way you'd hoped. Especially when you fear what people will think of you, and how they may judge you. So, here's a story of how I did just that.

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The Career Change Diaries Podcast: Episode 3

In June's episode, we hear from Spencer Williams, who changed career from retail management into garden design. Spencer talks about the impact being in a career he simply fell into was starting to have on his mental health, and how the death of his father prompted him to start his own business.

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The Career Change Diaries Podcast: Episode 2

In episode 2 of The Career Change Diaries podcast, we hear from career changer, Jemma Khan, about her intriguing journey from being an Account Manager for an IT recruitment company, to starting a whole new career as a Wedding Florist.

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How to Worry Less About What Others Think

A few weeks ago, I did something I was quite nervous to do. The experience encouraged me to share my thoughts and tips on what’s helped me stop worrying so much about what others think, because it holds us back in so many ways, especially when it comes to career change. So, read on to hear my tips.

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How to Change Career? Take a Test Drive

Changing careers can be a daunting process, but it can also be a rewarding one when it leads to a job that you enjoy more and find fulfilling. However, many people are put off because they don't know what new career to choose. This blog post suggests 'test driving' your ideas as the way forward.

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The Career Change Diaries Podcast: Episode 1

My new podcast is here - The Career Change Diaries! This monthly podcast is for all those contemplating a career change. Featuring inspiring interviews with career changers, and insightful conversations with experts on change more generally, you’ll learn all there is to know about changing career.

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Average Cost of Attending An Interview Now Exceeds £100

Last week, I was delighted to be the resident Career Coach at The Interview Store - a fantastic new pop-up store within Waterloo Station providing visitors with a free interview outfit and interview coaching, launched by Trainline in response to their latest research findings.

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Police Officer Tops List of Childhood Jobs

Recently, I had the pleasure of talking to a variety of radio/TV stations about childhood dream jobs, following new research from the ‘Be the Difference’ police recruitment campaign. Top of the list in this research? Police Officer! Here, I discuss that research and tips for changing career.

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5 Things To Consider When Writing A Career Change CV

When you move into a new career, you may be lacking key experience, skills or qualifications, so it's important to craft your CV carefully to highlight your most relevant and transferable attributes. Here are five things to consider when writing a CV for a career change.

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What Is The STAR Interview Technique?

Preparing for a job interview can be daunting. After all, you don't know the questions that are going to come up. The STAR technique can help you prepare strong answers that you can adapt accordingly. Read on to learn more about what the STAR technique is, and how you can use it during an interview.

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3 Things I Learnt From A Meditation Retreat

Last month, I did something that was quite far out of my comfort zone - I spent the weekend on a remote island off the coast of South West Ireland at a meditation retreat. Here, I share my experiences, and what I learnt from the experience.

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How To Know If It's Time To Change Career (& Where To Start)

Like many others in today's workplace, you may be considering embarking on a new career. It’s hard to know whether and when to make the change though. Read on for advice on how to know when it's time to move on, and a series of small steps to kick off your next career move.

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83% of Graduates Anxious About Next Career Steps

Last month, I was delighted to take part in the Government's 'Get Into Teaching' campaign. As part of the campaign, research was carried out to assess how students and recent graduates were feeling about making decisions concerning their future careers. Here, I discuss the findings.

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4 Life Lessons From A 40 Year Old

It was my 40th birthday yesterday. In a funny way, I feel a bit embarrassed saying I’m 40. Although, 40 is the new 30 apparently. Either way, turning 40 got me thinking about what I have learnt so far and what advice I would give my 20-30 year old self. So, here are my 4 life lessons so far.

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4 Common Career Change Fears (and How to Overcome Them)

Over the years, I have seen a patten in which fears often hold people back from making a career change. This article lists 4 common fears I have come across, along with tips to help you manage these fears, so they don't get in the way of you changing into more fulfilling and enjoyable work.

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How to Keep Motivated After Receiving a "No"

Job searching is a job in itself. That’s why it’s such a relief when you finally secure some interviews. The thing is, what happens when you receive that dreaded 'rejection' email? Sometimes it’s hard to think past that email. Here are a few tips to keep you motivated on your job search journey.

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Career-Changer Series: From Pharmaceuticals to Pilates

As part of my ongoing Career-Changer series, I had the pleasure of interviewing my very own Pilates instructor, Jenna Reece. I thought it would be great to understand why and how Jenna changed from working in drug manufacturing, following a PhD, to training and practicing as a Pilates instructor.

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Career-Changer Series: From Tech Growth to Start-Up Co-Founder

As part of my ongoing Career-Changer series, I had the absolute pleasure of interviewing Unplugged co-founder, Hector Hughes. Here he gives us an insight into where the idea for off-grid cabins came from, and what motivated him to step away from his previous career working in the tech sector.

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Career-Changer Series: From Physical Therapist to Accountant

As part of my ongoing Career-Changer series, I had the pleasure of interviewing Andy Elliot about his career transition from physical therapy to accountancy. Struggling with his anti-social working hours, we learn how Andy leveraged his strengths and interests to change career path.

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5 Life Lessons From Having Covid-19

The inevitable happened week before last - I test positive for Covid-19. So, something I have been stressing about for 1.5 years finally happened. Over the course of managing the various periods of isolation, and being ill, I learnt a few important life lessons, which I share in this article.

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Finding Your Passion: The Paradox of Career Change

When it comes to career change, we're told to find and follow our passions. Quotes like, “If you do what you love, you’ll never work a day in your life” are supposed to help. This article explores how the pressure to "find your passion" could be holding you back from making your career change.

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Career-Changer Series: From Fashion to Business Mentor

As part of my ongoing Career-Changer series, I spoke to Gali Siegal about her transition from Fashion Account Manager to Business Mentor. Forced to re-consider her career following a serious accident, we hear how Gali sought out a new career with more flexibility and the opportunity to give back.

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Why We Fear Change (& How to Overcome Yours)

The strongest theme that has emerged from reading many personal development books and coaching individuals seeking change for over ten years now, is how FEAR is the one thing that holds us back from doing pretty much anything new. Here we learn why we fear change, and how to overcome those fears.

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What is Coaching Supervision?

I recently qualified as a Coaching Supervisor, having spent eight months completing a Diploma in Coaching Supervision. It's recommended that every coach has a Supervisor. But what is Coaching Supervision, and what can you expect from working with a coach Supervisor?

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Are You A Highly Sensitive Person?

I have recently become aware of a personality trait that I’m not sure I knew existed. I knew I was an introvert, and quite a sensitive one at that, and perhaps someone who struggled a little with anxiety on top of that. Here, I describe my discovery of the 'Highly Sensitive Person' trait.

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Career-Changer Series: From Marketing to Coaching

This week, as part of my ongoing Career-Changer series, I spoke to career-shifter Ayesha Murray about her switch from a successful 20 year career in Marketing to training and starting out as a Coach and Mentor for working parents.

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Your Career Questions answered on BBC News Live

On Monday, I was asked to join Simon McCoy on BBC News Live to answer questions from viewers struggling to find work during the Pandemic. I answered questions relating to CVs and interviews, offering advice and tips along the way.

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Career-Changer Series: From Teacher to Wine Business Founder

As part of my ongoing Career-Changer series, I was delighted to reconnect with an old school friend, who I spotted from LinkedIn had changed career and started his own wine business. Here, I share Edd Simpson's journey, from musician, to teacher, to starting his own business in the wine industry.

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The Parenting Equation Podcast

Earlier this week, I spoke to Ayesha Murray for her podcast, The Parent Equation. Ayesha coaches working parents looking to progress their careers or improve their work life balance alignment. We discussed our experiences of becoming a parent, and the impact children have on our working lives.

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How To Build A Coaching Business

If you’re a new coach starting out, or struggling to get your coaching business going, then this video is for you. I was interviewed as part of a series of fireside chats for the coach training company, Firework (who I trained with). In it, I share all my experiences of starting my coaching business.

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Understanding the Stages of (Career) Change

There’s no denying that 2020 has been a year of uncertainty. This article explores the Change Curve, a model designed to help us understand the array of difficult emotions we all experience during a period of upheaval, whether that be the recent pandemic or your current career change journey.

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Want to Change Career? Challenge Your Expectations First

It’s taken you a while, perhaps years of niggles, but you’re now aware that a change in career is required. So, what now? Where do you start? The first thing to do is examine your career change expectations, and ensure that they are as helpful as they can be.

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Career Advice Talk for Graduates (& Career Changers)

A few weeks ago, I was asked to record a careers talk for the school leavers of one of my old schools. The advice I gave is incredibly relevant for graduates and career changers too, as there’s a similar sense of ‘getting started in something new’ and ‘what’s next’ that spans both situations.

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Career-Changer Series: From Recruiter to Florist

As part of my ongoing Career-Changer series, I spoke to career-shifter (and dear friend) Jemma Khan about her courageous journey from being a Recruitment Consultant, to starting a whole new career, and her own business, as a Florist.

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The 5 Thinking Habits Holding You Back

What I’ve noticed over the past few weeks are a handful of thinking patterns that appear to be driving the fear a lot of us are currently experiencing. What are these unhelpful thinking habits we can look out for? How can we challenge them to enable us to think in a way that’s much more helpful?

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A Note on Coronavirus

I can only hope that you are all keeping well at this strange and unprecedented time. I imagine your career may well feel rather uncertain at the moment, but, on the flip side, perhaps this new level of downtime may prove to be a welcome opportunity to pause and reflect on your career.

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5 Tips To Adapt Your CV For A Complete Career Change

Writing a CV isn’t an easy task for some, and can be challenging at the best of times. But when changing careers, it can be even more difficult. These simple 5 tips from job site Zoek will guide you on how to write a good CV to help you impress potential employers and score your dream job.

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How to Start Your Career Change

For too long, we’ve relied on internet job boards to find a new career. This might work if you know what you’re looking for. If you don’t, it can feel overwhelming, and a process that often lands you back in a role similar to the one you were trying to move away from. So, what’s the alternative?

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Spring Sale: 10% Off

With it being the 1st of March, and in the spirit of having a good Spring clean, throughout March, I’m offering 10% off my 12-session career change process. So, if you’re finally ready to sort out your career, and make the shift into work you truly enjoy, then this sale is for you.

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Tips for Changing Career in Your 30s

How to change career in your 30s? I spoke to a client last week who said that changing career in her 30s felt like a crazy idea. She felt trapped. She asked me what advice I had for someone changing career in their 30s. So, I thought I’d share my top tips for changing career here.

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Career-Changer Series: From Account Manager to Food Stylist

This month, as part of my ongoing Career-Changer series, I spoke to Elle McCann about her journey from being an Account Manager to starting a whole new career as a Food Stylist and Recipe Developer. These interviews seek to share advice from those who have changed career in order to inspire those wishing to do the same.

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Understanding Your Own Definition of Success

When it comes to our careers, Social Media can make us a feel like a failure because we constantly compare ourselves to the achievements of others. If we’re not achieving the same things, we fail to see ourselves as successful. However, success should be an internal measurement, not an external one.

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Career-Changer Series: From Project Management to Business Owner

This month, as part of my ongoing Career-Changer series, I spoke to Siobhan about her journey from working in Project Management to starting her very own champagne business. These interviews seek to share advice from those who have changed career, in order to inspire those wishing to do the same.

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Career-Changer Series: From Registered Veterinary Nurse to Baker

Over the coming months, I will be interviewing and sharing the inspirational stories of people who have made the decision to change career. I ask them about their career shifts and what advice they have for others considering a career change. My first interview is with the amazing Ellie White.

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4 Ways to Embrace Uncertainty

When it comes to our careers, we stay in jobs we don’t like or enjoy, for fear of the unknown. This keeps us risk-free, safe, and comfortable - but it also limits our potential, and stops us from doing something new and inspiring. How can we overcome our fear of uncertainty and embrace change?

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3 Ways to Grow Your Small Business

Many of my career-changer clients decide to start their own business. They are attracted to the flexibility, autonomy, and freedom that such a career path offers. Every big corporation has to start somewhere. The following suggestions should help you on your mission to grow your new business.

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Are You Ready to Run Your Own Business?

If you are in the position of having had enough of working for others, there are always a range of steps you can take to get out of that situation. Probably one of the more exciting of these is to think about starting up your own business. In this post, we are going to take a look at some of the things you might want to do to make sure that you are truly ready to run your own business.

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January Sale: 10% Off

Returning to work after the festive season can really suck, especially if you hate your job. The start of the New Year can hit home hard too - yet another year doing work you don’t enjoy. If you’ve promised yourself that 2019 will be the year you finally quit your job and find work you love, then get in touch. There’s 10% off upfront payments made in January to help you on your way to finding a career that you’re passionate about.

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Tips for Overcoming Loneliness

It’s World Mental Health Day today. I’m so pleased that, this year, the focus is on mental health in adolescence and young adulthood. It’s great that mental health is being talked about more and more, and that people are starting to feel more comfortable opening up about how they’re feeling.

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Why We Stay in Jobs We Dislike

Recent research from LinkedIn sheds light on exactly why we stay in jobs we dislike. It would seem that there a number of common barriers we come up against when we’re considering a job change.

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Top 5 Tips For Starting Your Own Coaching Business

Since I get so many aspiring coaches asking for advice on how to be successful I thought it might be helpful to summarise the advice I often give about starting a coaching business and post it here for those of you who are interested in building a successful coaching practice in the future.

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Overcoming Your Fear of Changing Career

Whenever we’re considering making a change, or doing something new or different, it’s often our fears that get in the way. This post seeks to help you understand where these fears come from, and how to manage them.

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5 Reasons Millennials Quit Their Jobs

As a Career Change Coach, I hear many reasons for leaving what may appear on the surface to be a perfectly decent job. Whilst these reasons often vary from person to person, what I’ve noticed over the years is a strong pattern in what tends to underpin their motivations for leaving.

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Returning to Work After A Baby: Tips & Experiences

Having a baby is a funny thing. In the eyes of some, you immediately age about 50 years, but, in your head, you feel just as young as you ever did. Here I share my experiences of returning to work after being on maternity leave, and tips for you and your employer to help make it a smooth transition.

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How to Change Career in 2018

I read this morning that the average person will change career 5-7 times during their working life. If you’ve decided that this is the year that you finally ditch that job you hate, then here are five steps to help you on your way to changing career in 2018.

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LBC Interview on Millennial Inheritance Boom

Recent research conducted by the Resolution Foundation suggests that Millennials are set to enjoy the biggest inheritance boom of any post-war generation. I was kindly invited on to Andrew Castle’s LBC show this morning to discuss the findings, and what benefits this might bring for millennials

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I’m back from Maternity Leave!

No I haven’t posted anything new for over a year now and no, I didn’t get lazy or super busy - I have been on Maternity Leave, having given birth to little Magnus in December 2016. I’ve just returned to work and I have some exciting news about a new Career Coaching programme I now offer.

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The Quarter Life Crisis

The Quarter Life Crisis describes the anxious transition those in their 20s and 30s often experience when they start to question who they are and what they want from the rest of their lives. It often prompts the need for a career change but few know what they want to do instead.

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How To Be Happy: Change The Way You Think

In this blog post, I examine the idea of changing things as a way of finding happiness. I have learnt that perhaps the answer is not to seek happiness from external things. Perhaps the answer is to change the way we see and interpret things within ourselves. I explore this concept within this blog.

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Managing Millennials: Key Tips

Through experience I now have a pretty clear sense of what frustrates this generation about their jobs, so much so that they’re considering leaving, or even completely changing career, as a result. so, here are 7 key tips for managing Millennials in the workplace.

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I Hate My Job: What Are My Options?

Maybe you’re feeling frustrated, disillusioned, or just fed up. We all feel like this from time to time but what do you do if you’ve been feeling this way for a while now? In this article, I take you through four key options that can help you determine what your next step might need to be.

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Five Ways to Stop Feeling like an Imposter

Following on from my last post on how to build your self-confidence, it seemed apt that my next article focus on perhaps the ultimate form of low self-confidence — the feeling that you’re a complete fraud. Here, Imposter Syndrome, and five ways to overcome it, are discussed in more detail.

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5 Tips for Building Your Self-Confidence

We face some form of rejection almost every day, which can impact how confident you feel. How can you build yourself up again, or maintain the self-confidence you may already have? Here are five tips on how to do just that.

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5 Signs it's Time to Quit Your Job

If you're seriously dreading every Monday morning, and find yourself counting down the hours each day, it may be time to reassess. Here are five signs that it's probably time to quit your job.

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13 Ways to Overcome Your Fear of Rejection

I consistently see the fear of rejection as the predominant obstacle holding back my clients from performing at their highest potential. We must not be rejected in any way. Here are 13 ways to overcome your fear of rejection.

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Review 2015 & Preview 2016

At the end of each year, I like to review what I've achieved over the past 12 months, what's gone well, and what I'd rather forget. It encourages you to think about what you'd like to get out of 2016. So, grab a notebook and get started with planning how you want 2016 to look.

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How to Get More Coaching Clients

I started my Life Coaching business five years ago. I’m not going to lie – it’s been, and continues to be, an uphill struggle. In a saturated market, it is hard to get clients. In this post I share the five things I’ve learnt that are fundamental to sustaining a full-time Life Coaching practice.

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December Deal: 30 Minutes Free Coaching

There's not much of 2015 left. Where has the year gone? If you've still got business/career/life goals you want to achieve before the end of the year then book a coaching session in for December and you'll get 90 minutes of coaching for the price of 60, potentially saving you over £50!

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Five Tips for Overcoming Perfectionism

Perfectionism, defined as “a refusal to accept any standard short of perfection”, is always something I’ve struggled with. Here are my top tips on how to overcome perfectionism and move forward with your goals.

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Video: Meet Alice

This is a short video I made introducing myself and what I do as a Career/Life Coach. Have a watch if you'd like to find out more about coaching and what to expect from working with me.

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The 5 Components of Self-Discipline

Last week, I attended a talk on self-discipline. Its a big issue as it’s hard to embed new habits and routines when our old ones are so ingrained. Here I share the five elements of self-discipline that we have to work on if we are to be motivated, productive and achieve the goals we set ourselves.

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Generation Y: 6 Key Facts

Yesterday, I sat as part of an expert panel at a Diversity & Inclusion event KPMG put on looking at the challenges ‘Five Generations in the Workplace’ will create for organisations in the near future. In this post, I share the 6 key facts we all need to know about Generation Y.

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Brits Lose Confidence at 25

Volvic released the results of research they conducted as part of their new campaign, which found that by the early age of 25, Brits have lost the confidence they felt they had in their early 20s. They didn't feel this confidence came back again until the age of 55. This post explores this reseach.

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My 5 Tips to Success

I was interviewed for the Coventry Radio Plus 'Talk Business' show on what factors I felt contributed to my success. Being interviewed for this radio show helped me reflect on how successful I actually am if I measure myself against what's important to me. Here are the factors I mentioned.

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Expectations: A Severe Case of the 'Shoulds'

I'm nearly 30 - I should be married by now. I should have kids by now. I should own a house by now. I should be settled in my career by now. I should not be eating this chocolate! Sound familiar? Sounds like a severe case of the 'shoulds' to me. We put a lot of pressure on ourselves to have all these things before a certain age. This post explores these high expectations, usually set by others, and how we can manage them.

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Spring Sale: 30 Minutes Free Coaching

Yesterday, British Summer Time began. To celebrate this period of transition and make the most of the Summer months, I am offering you 30 minutes free coaching with the first coaching session you book in, potentially saving you a whopping £52.50. Be quick though - this offer ends May 31st!

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Why It's OK To Be Single At 30

Having seen quite a few clients already this year, and heard about their Christmas breaks, it reminded me of the pressure that people in their late 20s and early 30s face from family, friends and society to "settle down and have kids". I experienced the same questions over Christmas - "When are you going to have children? You're not getting any younger. I had three kids at your age." In this post, I explore why it's OK to be single at 30.

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'End of Year Review' Exercise

At the end of each year, I like to review what I've achieved that year, what's gone well and what I'd rather forget. This exercise is a great way to do that. It also encourages you to think about what you'd like to get out of 2015. By thinking ahead you gain an idea of what actions you need to put in place to achieve next year's goals.

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How To Think More Positively

We start to think about all the negative reasons for not trying something new, all the things that could wrong, and all the reasons why we're not up to the job. We start to doubt ourselves and our ability to cope with the worst case scenario. Here are two ways to overcome these doubts.

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Turning 30: How it Feels & How to Cope

I'd say about 90% of clients come to coaching when they're in their late 20s, regularly commenting that it was their looming 30th birthday that had triggered their anxiety about where their life was heading. There's something about turning 30 that shakes us awake and gets us questioning ourselves.

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What is Life Coaching?

Although coaching has been around for many years, the majority of people still don't know what it is or what's involved. Here, the most common myths about Life Coaching are dispelled and an accurate picture painted of what coaching really is.

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Life Coaching in London

A Life Coach can help you get back on track with your goals, rather than rushing through life with little thought or self-awareness of whether the path you're going down is the right one for you. I offer face to face sessions to clients all across London, and further afield by telephone or Skype.

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Gen Y Characteristics

This article is about exploring the negative characteristics of those within generation Y, those in their 20s and early 30s are being labeled with in the workplace.

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How to Present Yourself Better

I work with quite a few clients who would like to feel more confident presenting and speaking up in meetings. I went to a talk recently by Robin Kermode, one of Europe’s leading coaches to CEOs, boards, and senior professionals, who spoke about bringing authority and personality to your work, and the best way to maximise the effect of personal communication and the secrets to confident speaking. A few of his tips are worth sharing if you’d like to feel more confident speaking up.

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Overcoming Barriers to Decision Making

When we’re contemplating change, there are always decisions to be made. We can stay in decision making mode for a long time, going backwards and forwards as we think about all the pros and cons of the options we have before us. It can feel quite paralysing, so much so that sometimes we opt to just do nothing.

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Spring Sale

I don’t know about you but I’ve found this winter pretty grim. I feel like I’ve been in hibernation mode since Christmas. I have set myself the goals I want to achieve for the year but to be honest, I haven’t done much towards them these last two months.

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Are Your Thoughts Holding You Back?

Being creatures of habit, our minds want us to stay in our warm, safe comfort zone. To stay put saves us energy and we know what to expect. We think we have things figured out and that helps us feel in control. That’s great unless we want things to change.

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Life Lessons From Cycling

Bear with me here, I do have a point! Having got in to road cycling about a year ago, my passion for the sport has had its ups and downs. At first, I just wanted to give up. It was so hard (because I was unfit and didn’t know how to cycle efficiently) and everyone was so much faster than me. I couldn’t keep up and felt like a failure.

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Dreading Going Back to Work? Here’s How to Look Forward to it.

Let’s face it, even if we love our job, the thought of the first day/week back at work after the Christmas and New Year break can feel pretty crappy. I’ve been doing one or two things, which I feel are making that first week back seem bearable and I’m actually starting to look forward to it. I’ve listed these things below to help you look forward to going back to work too.

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Review your 2013 & Preview your 2014

In my role as a coach over at Mind The Gap, we’ve been working on putting together an exercise to encourage those in their 20s and 30s to review what 2013 meant to them, whilst also getting them to think about what they want out of 2014. The questions are great so I thought I’d share them with you.

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Launch of Mind The Gap - Market Research

Over the past few months three other coaches and I have been working away to launch a new coaching community called Mind The Gap for those in their 20s and 30s who are perhaps experiencing what feels like a quarter-life crisis.

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You Are What You Eat

Remember that little lady, Gillian Mckieth? ‘The Poo Lady’, as I used to remember her as, who then went on to make a bit of a spectacle of herself on ‘I'm a Celebrity...’. Well, I'm beginning to realise she had a point. You are what you eat.

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Adjusting Your Lens

The other week I went to a seminar on the use of Neuro-Linguistic Programming techniques in coaching. Many coaches I know are trained in NLP but it’s not something I've looked too much in to in the past as my background is Cognitive Behavioural Therapy so I was keen to find out a bit more about it.

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Time for a Spring Clean?

In my eyes, today signifies the first day of Spring. It certainly might not feel like it as it's still bitterly cold but March, April and May are now on their way. Yay!

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2013 Prudential Ride London—Surrey 100

On the 4th August this year, I will be taking on a cycling challenge like no other (!) through the closed roads of London and the Surrey Hills. It’s a modified version of the London 2012 Olympic Road Race, starting in the Olympic Park, which is pretty cool. The 100 miles however may not be so cool!

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Home Alone

If you will be spending Christmas or New Year’s Eve on your tod this year, then no worries, try out the following...

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What is Workplace Coaching?

Short interview for AskimoTV on the quarter-life crisis, what it is and how coaching can support individuals in their 20s and early 30s going through this confusing and frustrating period of their life.

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Positive Thinking

Short interview for AskimoTV on Positive Thinking, what it is, the importance of thinking positively and how you can train yourself to view things from a more optimistic viewpoint.

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What If...

I usually write a post each month but somehow October has just appeared out of nowhere! Anyway, here we are again in the last quarter of the year. Time to turn over a new Autumn leaf and get going on those goals you wanted to achieve by the end of 2012.

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Friends

Throughout my career as a coach for young professionals, clients have often commented on the changing dynamics of their friendships throughout their 20s. It can be a confusing time. I think this little poem can help you understand why some friendships might begin to change as we grow older.

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Keep it Positive

The other week I attended an EMCC workshop on Positive Psychology, many people think that Positive Psychology is just about adopting a more positive, optimistic viewpoint of a situation but Its actually about using your natural strengths and positives to better yourself and your situation.

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Overcoming Fear of Change

The School of Life recently ran an interesting talk on the fear of change. Dr Chris Irons, Clinical Psychologist, suggests that its the stress linked to change that we fear, rather than the actual change itself. With no frame of reference for the change, we fear the unknown.

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Research on the Quarter-Life Crisis gets published

The research that I completed recently was published in the peer-reviewed academic journal, International Journal of Evidence Based Coaching and Mentoring, which I was obviously delighted with. It is a short summary of the research, as the word limit was very strict, but it gives a good overview.

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Interview on the Quarter-Life Crisis and Coaching

Last week, I was interview by David Barry who publishes a small online magazine. He contacted me and asked if I would be happy to discuss my recent research on the Quarter-Life Crisis and what I did as a Life Coach. Of course I was delighted to take part and here is the interview.

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Vision Boards & Future Goals

Vision Boards are great for starting to visualise your future goals. You might have a clear idea of what you want or you might not, it doesn’t matter. It is a process and it helps formalise your thinking into a kind of creative, visual action plan to refer to now and again.

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Understanding Depression

Last night I attended an event at The School of Life called ‘Understanding Depression’. Although the majority of my clients do not have depression, one or two do so I wanted to learn more about the causes, symptoms and effective interventions.

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That Dreaded Word ‘Exercise’

I’ve always been known as the lazy one in my family. I’m not that fit, I don’t like running and generally, I’d rather be in bed than get out of it to do ‘exercise’. That was how people knew me. And I have to say, I wasn’t that happy. Looking back, I always felt quite low.

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Annual Coaching Research Conference: Presentation Notes

In January I presented the findings of my research on the quarter-life crisis at the 8th Annual Coaching and Mentoring Research Conference. You can view the Prezi presentation that I used here and this blog post accompanies this presentation as it might not make much sense on its own.

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2012 Offer: Free Coaching

Throughout 2012 I am offering one person each month the opportunity to experience coaching entirely free of charge with the aim that they will be so delighted with the results that they won't be able to doing anything else but spread the word of how coaching helped them.

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The Ten Commandments of Self-Esteem

Today’s sermon comes from that of Catherine Cardinal (appropriate name hey!), author of The Ten Commandments of Self-Esteem (1998). I love this short book because it is so simple and straightforward.

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The Quarter-Life Crisis

During our 20s and 30s we seem to struggle for several years, trying to figure out who we are, what we like and dislike and what we want to do with our lives. We want to establish our own unique identity more than anything but the current climate frustrates this process

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That to-do list...

We all love a good list, however before you know it, the list is as long as your arm and becomes overwhelming. Here’s a hint from expert Jeff Herring, courtesy of Stylist, on how to tackle that to-do list and make it manageable.

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The Fairy of Appreciation

An excerise to develop positive thinking and appreciation. Have a read and give it a go yourself. It’s a little odd but the principle of it works wonders for positive thinking and learning to appreciate your life.

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Ideal You Vs. Actual You

One of the main things that seems to hold us back from getting what we want is low self-esteem. Try this exercise and see how your level of self-esteem measures up.

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It's Time to Talk

It has struck me lately that the more and more technology develops, the less and less people are going to talk to each other. Not a good thing in my opinion.

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Get SMART in 2011

So I’ve started to hear people mutter those wonderful seasonal words, “My New Year’s resolution for this year is going to be...”. If you’re anything like me, you can’t even remember what you said your resolution for this year was.

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Challenging Your Negative Beliefs

We often interpret situations inaccurately. We add two and two together and get five. We wrongly piece together information about what has happened and what has been said.

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The Wheel of Life

When we know we aren’t at our happiest, it can be hard work trying to figure out which bit of our lives to focus on first. We end up losing sight of the bigger picture because we spend all our time worrying about and focusing on all the different thoughts racing around in our heads.

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Too busy to live?

"When are you free next?" I dread it when a friend asks me this question. The answer usually involves me flicking through the pages in my diary, freaking out at all the commitments I’ve penciled in and then having to suggest a date in about six weeks time.

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Wise Words from Baz

We could learn a lot from Mr Luhrmann. I was listening to the lyrics of ‘Everybody’s Free (To Wear Sunscreen)’ on the tube this morning and a few of his lines seemed to offer good guidance to life I thought.

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Benefits of Mindfulness

A few days ago, I attended a talk held at The School of Life in association with Psychologies Magazine (both are great resources for those interested in self-development by the way).

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Alice Stapleton

About Alice

Alice coaches those who want to change career but don’t know what they want to do instead. She offers Career Coaching designed to help graduates, early to mid-level career-changers, and parents returning to work gain a clear vision of what career is right for them, and how to achieve it. She is also an accredited Coach Supervisor.