If you know me, you’ll know that I’ve been talking about bubbles for a few years now. 

It’s not because I had a crystal ball and could see the future when bubbles would become part of our everyday vocabulary. It’s obviously because my company is called POP.

In the work that I do, I talk about how we often try to protect ourselves in bubbles when we feel threatened by challenges in our lives: 

• when we face a career crossroads

• when our self-worth has taken a hit

• when we feel less than compared to others

• when we feel like our true value isn’t being recognised

• when we feel unfulfilled, unsatisfied and unsure about our future

That’s a long list. Which means there’s a lot of hiding going on.

As we now know, of course, hiding in our bubbles can be a reasonable response, but only in the short term. Because our bubbles can end up trapping us if we don’t have the courage to pop them when it’s time. 

These are the...

When I was a young television anchor working in a small market in Northern Michigan, a well known New York talent agency offered me “representation”.  And no, this is not a humble-brag, so keep reading… (I’ll also explain the picture above at the very end.)

I was actually pretty surprised. What were they doing trolling around tiny towns’ tv stations? “Looking for talent we can grow into larger markets” was the answer.

The thing was, I wasn’t interested. Not then, at least. I knew I still had skills to hone and frankly loved living in the area (if you haven’t been to Traverse City, Michigan, you are missing out on some of the most beautiful real estate in the United States).

So, I asked the agent “Why would I want to give a cut of my salary to someone who really can’t help me right now?”.

He had a ready answer: when it came time to renew my contract, he could negotiate a better deal than I would have...

The Dictionary.com definition of confidence is:

“1. full trust; belief in the powers, trustworthiness, or reliability of a person or thing:

We have every confidence in their ability to succeed.

2. belief in oneself and one's powers or abilities; self-confidence; self-reliance; assurance:

His lack of confidence defeated him.”

Note how the definition of confidence includes the danger of not having it: defeat in the face of challenge.

To be able to “go confidently in the direction of your dreams” as  Henry David Thoreau said, you need to have a clear idea of what makes you strong and the strength of mind to overcome internal and external obstacles that undermine confidence: your own fears and  insecurities and external criticism and challenges. 

Step One: Own Your Strength

When you can see and embrace your innate talents, and the skills you’ve learned - through life experience as well as what you’ve learned in the classroom - you...

Doubting our abilities can stop us in our tracks. We can all probably pinpoint a time when we've given up on something, out of fear, and ended up missing out. This can be especially debilitating for women.

Co-authors of the book, The Confidence Gap, The Science and Art of Self-Assurance – What Women Should Know, Katty Kay and Claire Shipman, revealed that  confidence struggles particularly damage women’s careers.

A chronic lack of confidence among women leads them continually to underestimate their abilities, fail to put themselves forward for promotion, and predict they won’t perform well when faced with challenges - far more so than their male counterparts.

In one example, a study by Hewlett-Packard found women only considered going for that promotion when they were 100% confident they fulfilled all job requirements. Men were happy to apply with only 60% of the requirements fulfilled.

Even the expected income of graduate students differed, with women...