Forget New Year's Resolutions. If you want to achieve something (on ANY day of the year): decide, get strategic, create a plan and do it. So now, you can spend January 1st reviewing the last 12 months and capturing your 30 best and most useful insights. Then: commit to a years' worth of thinking those good thoughts. Here are a few to get you started ...

When taking a new leadership role, our eagerness can often cause us to make mistakes. Some are trivial; some are consequential. But all are deep learning experiences … IF we can develop the awareness, accept the responsibility, and learn to reflect on themes and commonalities that help us establish performance habits that eliminate issues, ongoing. Here are a few strategies to avoid the more common pitfalls - to ensure your next leadership role is a success from the outset.

We've all suffered the occasional (and sometimes, not-to-occasional!) dip in performance. Even high-achieving peak-performers lose their mojo from time to time! So we all know just how frustrating and disempowering those periods can be. In those moments when you're looking to rekindle top performance, there are a few high-leverage strategies to turn to. Let's think together about how to make those tonics part of our High Performance DNA - so dips in performance are something never to be feared (or tolerated!) ever again.

A powerful decision need not be defined as anything other than a "yes" or a "no". Or perhaps better to say, "HELL YEAH" or "no", but still the same clear and clean distinction. Anything less than that is not a powerful decision. And anything less than a powerful decision … and direction, momentum and energy are lost to limbo. Your decision-making system needs to be robust and highly effective, especially for the high-pressure moments. Optimise your decision-making skill with these 7 easy-to-adopt disciplines.

More often than not, we focus on *the* performance, achieving *peak* performance, putting on *a* performance. But there is another format of potent performance. The kind that compounds over time from consistent and sustainable focus on first principles. This approach generates the accumulative – and underappreciated – power of an average day. And it can create equally stellar results - just without the unhelpful stress that comes from continually chasing (and chasing, again) peak performance in the moment.

There are many stand-out competencies that make up stand-out leadership. Strategic thinking. Communications. Influencing. Relationships. Execution. Results! But the day-to-day can quickly send us into a cascade of fighting fires that promotes focus and attention on the immediate, at the expense of the longer-term priorities. Switch-up your thinking, so your agenda is not dictated by the fires, but by your priority results.

Think of a favourite boss … and notice the word “boss” is not nearly enough to describe the role he or she played for you! Role model. Mentor. Coach. Advocate. Teacher. Sounding board. Confidant. And so, given the significance of this relationship, we want to be adept at fashioning a strong working partnership with them. Here are 9 behaviours to achieve the kind of productive, deeply respectful and free-flowing relationship with your boss that sets you both up for ongoing success at work.

There is a near-infinite number of leadership models out there. So, which model should you adopt and align with, for best results? Answer: Your Own. The most impactful model of leadership we can follow is one of our own authentic design. This is the gold standard for the high-performing leader … and what each of us should be aspiring to. Here are 5 foundations to begin building yours.

Despite the obvious need for a strong conversation when underperformance is having a detrimental impact on the project and the team, most of us shrink from the task. At the very least, we procrastinate and then water-down the message. At the very worst, we avoid it entirely. It's easy to judge another for not having that tough conversation - but we've all been there. Why is it so difficult? We fear the INTERPERSONAL RISK. Here are 7 thoughts to help you be of deep service to your people, at those times when a tough message needs to be shared.

Habits are efficient, performant and robust. That's why the human brain wants to turn anything and everything that looks important into a hardwired habit. And it's why, any time we want to perform, habit formation is a great strategy. We all want to be better leaders and managers. So, what are the performance habits that amplify leadership quality and skill. I’m going to guess you’ve already got the core fundamentals in place. So, here are 7 disciplines which are maybe just a little different from the normal advice.

A procrastinating mindset is a powerful and attractive perspective. But we can use that idea of perspective to overcome procrastination. Here's how.

Whenever events don't quite go according to plan, our potential for learning goes way up. So, take time now to learn these 8 Game-Changing Lessons in Professional Performance

Work can be draining - especially when working on the next career move. Learn to look after the driving force behind the change - yourself.

Shifting a culture starts with ourselves and our own little corner of the world – and a series of small but impactful behaviours that, incrementally, add-up to positive change. Here are 4 leadership habits to inspire that stimulating and empowering culture within your team. #BrainBasedCoaching

Whatever your definition of work/life balance and harmony, they're only achieved when we get out of autopilot and into intentional focus. Try these 12 mini challenges to rediscover your balance.

From short project updates to major strategy decision gates. From small internal presentations to significant external keynotes. Being able to deliver showcase moments with skill and confidence is one of the surest ways to build reputation and career capital. But also, the need to speak publicly is a daunting thought for many. Where to start? What to focus on? What to omit? How to conclude? Quickly and painlessly get to the heart of your audience and your message with these 15 essential questions. #BrainBasedCoaching

I often hear how intimidated people can become when meeting with (for example) senior leadership. What do I say? How do I say it? How am I coming across? Am I doing this right? If this resonates, try not to lose sight of the fact this is still person-to-person connection; and that as a human being, you're innately gifted at it. So, drop your internal questioning and commit to creating connection and rapport. Building rapport is about reducing differences, amplifying commonality, finding complements (with an "e") and all whilst staying true to your own nature and values. The first basis for genuine and meaningful rapport is physiology. Here are 4 quick, simple and super-effective body language "tweaks" to settle you into the conversation.

What would you say is the most important leadership quality we're NOT talking about enough? The leadership quality we're looking for from our leaders - and from ourselves - is not the intense and hardcore rush, rush, rush that most choose in reaction to a demanding workplace. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. Here’s how we can return to leadership serenity. #BrainBasedCoaching

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