Blog - Clara Kennedy Coaching

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Career Management

Sunday February 27th, 2022

What Do You Really Want In Your Career?

What do you really want in your career? Tough question, right? I've asked myself that…

Career Management

Thursday June 24th, 2021

How To Gain Clarity When You’re In A Career Rut

I completely understand the feeling of being overwhelmed and stuck in a rut. A few…

Stress Management

Thursday April 29th, 2021

Reflections Of A Recovering People Pleaser

Hello, my name is Clara Kennedy and I am a recovering people pleaser. Even though…

Saturday January 9th, 2021

Is Coaching For Me?

Thinking about working with a coach? Coaching is really beneficial when you’re ready for a…

Stress Management

Monday June 1st, 2020

Am I Heading For A Burnout?

Burnout can gradually creep up on us and take us by surprise. Before you get…

Tuesday April 28th, 2020

The Roots Of Positive Psychology

“The energy of the mind is the essence of life.” - Aristotle An interesting recent…

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A very well known positive psychology theory is kn

A very well known positive psychology theory is known as the Strengths theory (Proctor, Maltby et al. 2011). The research has shown that people will see more success on their journey when embracing their strengths, especially in challenging situations.
As humans, we tend to have a negative bias and often focus on our weaknesses rather than acknowledging our key strengths and skills.
To identify your strengths, reflect on career highlights and challenges you have had. What got you through them and made them such a success? What internal resources did you draw on to succeed? In challenging times, how did you over come obstacles? We all have a lot more grit and resilience than we give ourselves credit for.
For more similar career related content, subscribe to my newsletter by clicking the link in bio @clarakennedycoach

Never miss an update from Clara Kennedy Coaching b

Never miss an update from Clara Kennedy Coaching by signing up to my newsletter for tips and tricks on:
career confidence
work life balance
stress management
imposter syndrome
networking internally & externally
increased productivity
rest & recovery
personal branding
to name but a few!
Subscribe via the link in bio @clarakennedycoach

Such kind words 😍 🙏

Such kind words 😍 🙏

It's Pancake Tuesday and I'm asking the tough ques

It's Pancake Tuesday and I'm asking the tough questions! 🙃
There are some important questions that we need to ask ourselves when gaining clarity around our lives and careers.
Firstly, ask yourself what are your core values. If you are struggling with this, think of times you were:
feeling the happiest
feeling fulfilled
feeling proud
What about the people, place or situation made the above times stand out? What recurring themes are coming up for you from the above? These are most likely you core values.
Our core values are our guiding light that makes up our unique essence. When we honour our core values in day to day life, we achieve a much greater sense of fulfilment and joy.
Once you identify your values, ask yourself how well they align with the values of your current organisation?
For more similar career related content, subscribe to my newsletter by clicking the link in bio @clarakennedycoach

It’s Dogmas! 🎄🐶🐾 And safe to say we’

It’s Dogmas! 🎄🐶🐾
And safe to say we’re obsessed with Beau. She has made our Christmas so special ❤️ When she goes back home with her mamma, there’ll be a puppy shaped hole in our lives 😭
Hope everyone is eating up, drinking up, and resting up for these disorientating in betweeny days!

We often stay in our comfort zone in work because

We often stay in our comfort zone in work because we are afraid of failure, even when the comfort zone isn’t particularly comfortable.
This is a normal human reaction but this fear often comes from not having a safe space to return to within ourselves if failure occurs. Instead of being compassionate, we berate ourselves and this keeps us stuck in a rut.
With practice, we can reframe our thoughts from the inner critic to the inner mentor meaning we are much more likely to push ourselves from the comfort zone to the growth zone.
Start creating distance between you and that inner critic by tuning into your inner mentor!
💫Give your critic a name. Have fun with it!
💫Start to notice situations where the critic arises. You may notice the emotions that arise first. Then you can trace back to the thought.
💫Instead of saying to yourself, for example, "If I take a break and don't keep working then I will let people down" say "My inner critic (or whatever name you choose to give it) thinks that if I take a break and don't keep working then I will let people down".
💫When you notice it, pause for 10 seconds: take 3 deep breaths, and count to 10 with your fingers by touching your thumb off each finger. This exercise can be done in any situation discreetly.
💫Tune into your inner mentor / sage voice which has a much more compassionate tone of voice (as if you were talking to a friend who you have unconditional love for).
💫What you are doing by pausing for 10 seconds and counting with your fingers is consciously shifting from survival brain to our "sage brain" which is the middle prefrontal cortex and our right brain.
💫Use distant self-talk ie. use your name when giving yourself wise advice via “Chatter” by Ethan Kross
For more tips and tricks, keep up to date with @clarakennedycoach

It can be extremely difficult to focus on our care

It can be extremely difficult to focus on our career progression when we have a very high workload.
For my own work, I have tried and tested different ways to manage this and one of my favourites is the simple but effective "Eisenhower Decision Matrix".
“I have two kinds of problems: the urgent and the important. The urgent are not important, and the important are never urgent.” — Dwight D. Eisenhower
This matrix is a decision making tool which helps you differentiate tasks into important, not important, urgent, and not urgent. It splits tasks into four boxes that prioritise which tasks you should focus on first and which you should delegate or delete.
Funnily enough, the Not Urgent But Important box is where we really should be spending the majority of our time since this is dedicated to our career / personal development and our overall well being. However, this is the area that is the easiest to procrastinate on because we tend to get stuck in the other quadrants, fighting fires all day.
In order to use this, it is important to start tracking daily tasks and separating them into the 4 quadrants. If you are finding that most of your tasks are falling into Quadrant 1, 3, and 4, then it is time to rebalance the situation so you can focus more time on the Quadrant 2 - the Quadrant of Quality.
Quadrant 1 tasks do need to be worked on urgently but you can put time into strategic planning which lessens the need to fire fight.
Quadrant 3 tasks are what we classify as "busy work" and often can be delegated or deleted.
Quadrant 4 tasks are tasks that don't add much value whatsoever to career or business goals. These can be completely stopped/deleted.
When you work on reprioritising your tasks, you can discuss with a manager or supervisor on how to focus more time on Quadrant 2.
Create time for yourself on a Friday afternoon to check in with your "Eisenhower Decision Matrix" each week and reflect on what you can change for the coming week.
For more tips and tricks, keep up to date with @clarakennedycoach

🌟 Attention 🌟 I'm doing some research into

🌟 Attention 🌟
I'm doing some research into career transition at the moment and would love your input.
I've made this short survey around career development / transitioning, and it would be a great help if you could fill it out (all anonymous). Please feel free to share with your network. Survey link in bio @clarakennedycoach