"She Believed She Could, so She Did!"

As a proud partner of Bloom North, we were so excited to attend their latest event, 'She believed she could, so she did'. It was a fantastic event focusing on the impacts of a positive mindset, goal setting, and affirmations. The panel were made up of inspirational speakers, athletes, founders, and therapists, hosted by Ellie Edwards-Scott, Co-Founder of The Advisory Objective. The thought-provoking event caused us to re-think our outlook on the way we perceive ourselves and interact with our thoughts.

The human brain is the most complicated organ in the human body. It runs 24/7, 365 days a year, processing on average 6,000 thoughts a day. We talk to ourselves more than anyone else, so why are our internal monologs usually more self-critical than self- appreciative? A positive mindset can change our physical, mental, and emotional health, as well as help us live longer!

A negative mindset can put you into a primitive state, your fight or flight mode, causing your brain to partially shutdown and limit the outcomes you can see happening. A positive mindset allows you to be more logical, and think of solutions based on a realistic situation allowing for a more productive and positive outcome.

“If you have a positive mindset you’re more productive, sharper, and can make better decisions” – Simon Calderbank.

Here are the tips and tricks we learnt to get yourself feeling more positive!

sarah alice

Sara Taylor, Creative Recruitment Consultant, and Alice Moore, Data & Tech Recruitment Consultant

Techniques to achieve a more positive mental attitude (PMA):

Affirmations/Mantras

Affirmations are a great place to start “Changing the narrative and shifting the perspective” – Abigal Irozuru.

Affirmations are positive statements that you repeat on a daily basis to help get you in a more positive mindset – the morning is a great time to do this! Simon recommended reframing your statements from ‘I am not’, to ‘I am’ making them definite and constant. Mantras are sounds or chants that carry deep vibrations; these are said to help you better harmonise with the universe and feel more grounded.

Both can help reframe your thoughts and bring you back to the present, allowing you to be more open, accepting, and in a better place to achieve your goals.

Box breathing

Box breathing is a deep and mindful breathing technique that causes your breathing to slow down and become more controlled. The conscious act works by focusing the mind on the present, acting as a distraction to worries you may be having. Simply count to four, hold for four, breath out for four, hold for four, and repeat. Doing this helps calm your nervous system and decreases your stress levels.

Check out this TED Talk by Dr Alex Watkins recommended by the panel to help explain the benefits and process of this breathing pattern.

Be present

“If you are depressed you are living in the past. If you are anxious you are living in the future. If you are at peace you are living in the present.” – Lao Tzu

Alek recommended that to make yourself present you need to incorporate all of your senses. Think of three things you can hear, smell, feel, and see.

If where you are isn’t feeling right or is the cause of your anxiety, then physically alter your environment. Don’t struggle at your desk, get up, make a coffee, go for a quick walk. Physically moving will also help.

Imagination

There was an element of audience interaction here; the audience was told to shut their eyes and imagine holding a lemon. Then visualise putting it on a chopping board and getting out your knife ready to cut it. You slice it in half, then half again and the juice is all over the board. You can smell the lemon. You pick up a segment and you bite into it. You can taste it right? You get the feeling of the sour pinch in your mouth?

This is the same with positive mindset. Put this energy and imagination into a positive outcome. An interview? Imagine it going amazingly well, you have a good connection and answer all the questions seamlessly. You will go in confident, calm, and clearheaded. If you put this energy into imagining it going in a negative way, and all the wrong things that could happen, then this will come true. You will go in nervous, maybe stutter and are more likely to make mistakes.

“If you think of something in a negative way, when it comes to the event it’s more likely to happen in a negative way” – Lucy Thompson.

Therapy/Coaches

If you have tried the above and are still struggling to find your inner positivity, then there are some professional options you can try. Some of the speakers were coaches and therapists trained in altering the minds thought processes into more productive and positive actions.

Hypnotherapy is a heightened state of concentration and focused attention. Guided by a trained, certified hypnotist or hypnotherapist, hypnosis allows you to be more open to suggestions to making healthy changes in your perceptions, sensations, emotions, memories, thoughts, or behaviours.

Coaching can allow you to see the “answers that are within you”, sometimes you just need to chat through it and get another person’s perspective so that you can see it in yourself.

To conclude, we had a great time at the event and thank all the speakers for their time and insightful views. It was definitely thought provoking and we found ourselves broaching it as a topic in our office after the event.

It is natural to think negatively on certain situations, and recruitment definitely has its ups and downs, but after this talk we both definitely feel better equipped to take things on. We hope the techniques we learnt and have shared in this blog can help you ace your next interview, and take on any stressful or negative situation!

Thank you to the brilliant panel: