The Rugby World Cup is edging to a close with the remaining 4 teams left in the competition. It’s thrilling stuff.

And apart from showing the million and one ways you can play about with a ball they’ve also had some fabulous lessons in how to communicate.

Want to be a better writer? Keen to know how to make your audience keep reading your words? Help is here.

And it’s not what you think, trust me, but it will make you a good writer.

What’s in a name? And how one thing make a whopping difference to that name standing out?

Here’s how…

How buying a phone reminded me of the power of communication and how there’s always one thing that stands out head and shoulders above everything else.

It's a superpower, actually.

And it might just surprise you.

Emotional triggers. Grinning madly. Then welling up moments later. Giving a crap about something. Excitement. Every minute dripping with glamour. A few laughs.

There’s one show on the telly right now that's nailing all of these.

I can remember the squeak of my green flash shoes on the court. The elation when a smash had just the right angle on it.

Little did I know this would teach me a lot about how to manage communication in my professional life decades later…

Communication skills coaching has a lot to do with gardening. Are you after a brilliant pot plant, a section of your garden looking stunning or do you want the whole package: landscaping the lot, to create a wow factor among your colleagues and the leadership?

What I am talking about? Well, it all started when I went to the garden centre at the weekend. And it swallowed me whole.

It’s where, in addition to 15 other indoor and outdoor plants,  I picked up Chamaedorea Elegans, which sounds like a posh sexually transmitted disease but isn’t.

Woman reassesses life during a road trip around Iceland in November with best friend’s deaf son.

What happens when you find out your boyfriend’s not a regular bloke but a superhero.

Oscar winning Anglo-French actress disappears from the glare of celebrity and escapes to the countryside.

These are the last three books I’ve read.

Here’s my third and final post on how to manage your inner critic, and today it’s all about changing the tune that you listen to.

Imagine the scene.

Something’s happened and you’re not happy about what you said or did.

And in your head the “Ballad of Regret” is playing big time.

D’you know that voice in your head? Recently, I posted the first way to manage that. Here’s a second way you can tame the voice if it’s getting a bit big for its boots and all bossy and judgy with you. And it’s to do with having good manners.

Using this technique lets you create distance between you and your thoughts. And puts in a bit of a boundary.

And why’s that important?

Your inner critic. The sh*tty committee. Fred. Or perhaps Tabitha. Do you have a name for the voice in your head?

I’m going to share 3 ways of managing that voice, and this is the first of those articles.

This first method is to check in with yourself.

Here's how to tell stories to make you sparkle at your next job interview. Do you have an interview coming up? Are your communication skills up to scratch? Got your stories ready and good to go? Things like…

“Can you tell me about a time …?” “How do you approach a situation when…?” “Describe to me what you’ve done for…”

Ring any bells?

I was painting a wall in my living room the other day.

And as I opened a pot of white paint I noticed something that surprised me.

You normally think of white paint being, well… white.

Plain. Neutral. Disappear into the background stuff.

But on the inside of the rim I could see the finest ring of dark, charcoal grey.

Life lessons from a spatula.

And something you could make for your lunch without much hassle.

Yes, a recipe of sorts!

Living in a different culture can show you new things. Enter “The Bakkerswinkel.”

It’s the name of the Amsterdam cafe where I first ate this scrumptious, yummy food.

This is it…

I used to work as a receptionist.

A role that mostly gets ignored by folk. You’re in the background in many ways. Almost invisible, really.

That person who keeps the plants company. Answers phones. Smiles a lot.

Gives people directions. And not many people really talk to you.

But one person did.

They’re deep in discussion and one of them is sharing something big and personal. What he’d believed for the longest time isn’t true.

Although he’s come far in life, he’s not where he thought he would be.

It’s like his focus had been fuzzy and now he can see things with brilliant clarity. And it’s liberating. But shocking. And he’s crestfallen.

So goes a scene with Abe Wiseman, in the penultimate episode of “The Marvellous Mrs Maisel.”

Alone.

Alone can get a bad rap.

It can mean less of.

Inferior.

But the opposite can be true.

Alone can bring all kinds of riches.

611. That’s all it said. And that number guaranteed privacy. And that the message would be read shortly by one of the most powerful men in the world.

Our world is crammed with distractions. 

Shiny things that get our attention.

39 tabs open on a laptop.

Whether it's acing interviews, engaging with audiences, or crafting stories to boost your brand, we're all in the business of communicating these days. And how we use our words matters.

How much can you fit into 30 mins about speaking with impact and using your words well? It turns out, quite a lot!

I was a guest on Gillian Whitney’s LinkedIn Live recently and we had a great conversation about…

Believing good food encourages good behaviour meant that these luxuries could be enjoyed:

• Cream of celery soup

• Roast turkey

• Ripe olives 

Kinda fancy, yes?