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MAY 2013 / PRICE £3.99
YOU
Life Without Limits
JACQUELINE
GOLD
ANN SUMMERS CEO HAS THE MIDAS TOUCH
WHO IS THE MAN? BILL CURBISHLEY, THE MAN BEHIND THE WHO AND LED ZEPPELIN, TALKS TO US
BANK OF DAVE
INTERVIEW WITH DAVID FISHWISK, STAR OF BANK OF DAVE
MAY 2013
CONTENTS REGULARS 6 EDITOR’S LETTER
Bernardo Moya welcomes you to the latest issue of The Best You
29 BOOK REVIEWS We give you our top literary choices – a small selection of what’s available
64 TOP TIPS: STOP SMOKING Ali Campbell gives us 3 tips to help make that nasty habit go up in smoke
7 THE MIDAS TOUCH WE CHAT TO JACQUELINE GOLD OF ANN SUMMERS ABOUT HER CHALLENGES AND SUCCESSES
FEATURES 7 THE MIDAS TOUCH
We chat to Jacqueline Gold about her challenges and successes
11 WHO IS THE MAN? Bernardo Moya catches up with Bill Curbishley, manager of 1970s rockers, The Who
INNER YOU
16 TAROT AND BUSINESS
Esoteric expert, Anne Jirsch, tells us how she got into Tarot
18 MAKES GOOD SCENTS
Penny Price, one of the UK’s top aromatherapists, educates us in aromatherapy
20 IT’S ELEMENTARY
Author, Anna Konnikova, gets inside the mind of the world’s only consulting detective
ENJOY LIFE 11 WHO IS THE MAN? BERNARDO MOYA CATCHES UP WITH BILL CURBISHLEY, MANAGER OF 1970S ROCKERS, THE WHO
24 WHEN YOU’RE SMILING
National Smile Month is the UK’s biggest oral health campaign
26 DANCING TO WELLBEING
In recent years, Zumba has taken the exercise world by storm
THE BEST YOU No. 7 · May 2013 · Year 1 · EDITOR / PUBLISHER Bernardo Moya · DEPUTY EDITOR Zoë Henry · ASSOCIATE EDITOR Matthew Wingett · GRAPHIC DESIGN · Joanna Frackiewicz · NEW MEDIA · Allan Banford · TECHNICAL CONSULTANT Martin Carter · ADVERTISING · Carla Phipps carla.phipps@thebestyou.co · The Best Group International 5 Percy St. · London, United Kindom, W1T 1DG · Tel: +44 (0)845 230 2033 · www.the best you. co
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MAY 2013
CONTENTS LIVE LOVE LEGACY 42 THE SILENT KILLER
Suicide is the biggest killer of men under 35 in the UK. We chat to the experts
44 THE POWER OF NICE Jo Haigh definitely knows what works, and she says that being nice is up there
46 BOTTLING MAGNETISM Most of us have to work on being the centre of attention. Fiona Thompson explains how
FEEL & LOOK GOOD 50 TAKING LIBERTIES
46 BOTTLING MAGNETISM MOST OF US HAVE TO WORK ON BEING THE CENTRE OF ATTENTION. FIONA THOMPSON EXPLAINS HOW
Lifestyle editor Zane Henry chats to Sasha Wilkins
52 SEASONAL SUPERFOODS
Angela Steel gives us some great ideas for seasonal veggies
54 RUNNING FOR A HEALTHY HEART
This month the BHF is hosting two London Runs
WEALTH & RICHES 56 BANK OF DAVE
Dave Fishwick, star of Channel 4’s Bank of Dave speaks to The Best You
58 HOW TO BE A TOP…
...PR agent! The top agents in the UK on how to succeed
60 LEADING LADY Sheryl Sandberg is one of far too few women in business
62 THE ROCKY ROAD Inspirational people who didn’t have success handed to them
21 CENTURY LIVING ST
66 PORN, POLITICS AND BICYCLES
56 BANK OF DAVE DAVE FISHWICK, STAR OF CHANNEL 4’S BANK OF DAVE SPEAKS TO THE BEST YOU
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Erik CrouchTBC tells us what happening with the internet in the Far East
68 TURN IT OFF
The Best You gives you some tips on saving electricty
70 WE SUPPORT
The Children’s Trust is an organisation very close to Jacqueline Gold’s heart
THE BEST YOU
ANNE JIRSCH
ANGELA STEEL
Anne Jirsch is a psychic with an extraordinary gift. She is also a Tarot Consultant, Metaphysical Teacher, Past Life Regressionist and Future Life Progressionist. Anne’s client base is worldwide and includes heads of industry, politicians and celebrities.
is a Nutritional Therapist and expert on weight loss, metabolic health and diabetes. She also runs healthy cooking classes in London. Check out her website at www. superwellness.co.uk
@SocioWellBeing
@annejirsch
FIONA THOMPSON is an entrepreneur with businesses including leadership, coaching and capability development in the corporate sector. She also works with youth and ex-offender groups exploringtechniques to allow transformational change.
@fionajthompson
JO HAIGH
Jo Haigh has 20 years’ experience of negotiating the sale of businesses (at last count 327 businesses sold) and four bestselling books under her belt so there’s no denying she is a successful businesswoman.
@fdscfs
CONTRIBUTORS
ALI CAMPBELL
Ali Campbell is one of the world’s leading life coaches. He has built an enviable reputation as a highly-motivational coach, therapist, author and presenter. Dubbed “TV’s Mr. Fix-it”. He is a trusted advisor to celebrities, business leaders and even royalty around the world.
ERIK CROUCH
is a student in New York University’s Global Liberal Studies program, and focuses on East Asian history. He writes for Shanghaiist.com, a popular Englishlanguage website covering Chinese news, culture, and politics.
@erikcrouch
@ali_campbell
MARIA KONNIKOVA
was born in Moscow and grew up in the United States. She also holds an MPhil in psychology and an MA in political science from Columbia, and writes the weekly Literally Psyched column for Scientific American. She lives in New York.
@mkonnikova
PENNY PRICE
is the chair of the International Federation of Professional Aromatherapists and has been an aromatherapist since 1983. Penny spends much of her time teaching abroad and she is the daughter of the famous Shirley Price.
@IFPAUK
ZANE HENRY
Zane Henry is a deputy editor for a lifestyle and fashion magazine for British Airways. He has many years of experience working as a freelance writer and editor in leading titles. He currently lives in London, but grew up in the ghettos of Cape Town, South Africa.
@zanehenry
THE BEST YOU IS PUBLISHED BY THE BEST GROUP INTERNATIONAL, 5 PERCY STREET, W1T 1DG. OPINIONS EXPRESSED DO NOT NECESSARILY REFLECT THE BEST GROUP INTERNATIONAL POLICY. THE BEST GROUP INTERNATIONAL ACCEPTS N DER OFFERS ARE NOT ENDORSED BY THE BEST YOU OR THE BEST GROUP INTERNATIONAL.
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EDITORIAL THE BEST YOU
EDITORIAL
I
was lucky enough to have spent my early years being brought up in Spain, and I can tell you one thing for sure: in Spain you don’t normally talk about the weather! It’s sunny. It’s lovely. So there’s not much to talk about. When I was younger, I never understood why people in this country spent so much time talking about it. Well... now, I get it! It has been a long, long winter! How long? Well it feels like four to five years! And despite my Spanish surprise at all things British and meteorological, I have recently found myself discussing the weather with quite a few people. I can tell you, it’s the word on the street. The same questions come up time and time again: How long has this winter been, and for the love of all things holy, when is it going to finish? I’ve got some good news. Winter was officially over on March the 20th. That’s the vernal equinox, when spring finally starts to swell the world with life. So now is the time to start looking at green shoots, time to notice the fresh air, the mildness of the weather – and hopefully – the gentle rays of the sun. (It’s up there somewhere, above those
SO, IT’S OFFICIALLY OVER clouds!) It’s well known that more sunlight causes a release of Vitamin D into the body, boosting our immune systems and reducing tension. It’s great to lift moods. Things look… different. We feel lighter, we are so much more optimistic. So my question to you is, what else, or where else, can we get more spring into our lives? How do we get a more positive mood, and make spring more wonderful and life-giving? Maybe it’s time to stop watching the winter news on TV or reading depressing stories in the newspaper. After all, why do we want people telling us how bad things are, or what problems we are all meant to be having? Of course, I know that bad news sells. But, I wonder, why do we buy it when it can be so bad for us? Why are we so often so focused on bad news? There’s a well-known adage in Personal Development that you get more of what you focus on. If you surround yourself with positive people, focus on good news, happy things you will feel different. This is not positive thinking and aspiration. It’s
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Don’t knock the weather; nine-tenths of the people couldn’t start a conversation if it didn’t change once in a while.
brain science! So where can you make spring come to life? Whatever the weather over the next few weeks, it’s about time we bring spring to our work, to our new marketing campaigns, or how we talk to people. Even we at The Best You are embracing spring with a new look. I know you’re only six pages into the magazine, but I’m sure you’ve noticed that something is slightly different. We’re going for a cleaner, more modern look, which we think represents spring perfectly. It’s about time we shared a bit more spring with our loved ones. After all spring is a frame of mind! The grey skies and the cold can definitely have an impact – but the fact is, it’s down to you. b
WE WANT YOUR STORIES The Best You is all about inspiring people. If you have a tale to tell that you think will help someone become the best they can be, please tell us.
JACQUELINE GOLD
COVER STTORY
THE MIDAS TOUCH The Best You chats to the woman behind Ann Summers, Jacqueline Gold, about challenges in the business world and whether or not the modern woman can ‘have it all’.
COVER STORY
P
JACQUELINE GOLD
owerful, immaculate and full of self-belief, Jacqueline Gold is an inspiration to women all over the UK. She may have the demeanour of someone who has had things come easily to her, but Jacqueline has worked hard for what she has today, starting from when she was barely old enough to rent a car. While other people her age were going off to university and playing drinking games, Jacqueline was determined to get into the family business of Ann Summers, which her father, David Gold, had taken over in 1971. “Well, I went to work at Ann Summers for work experience initially,” she remembers, but being the boss’s little girl didn’t mean she was favoured. Instead, Jacqueline was paid just £45 per week for her efforts – less than the tea lady. If you go walking down the high street on a Saturday morning and pop into your local Ann Summers, you will find
The winners are the ones that are really engaged and in touch with their customers.
a very different sight to what Jacqueline was faced with three decades ago. “We’re in an industry of our own because we’re not really a sex shop and we’re not really a lingerie shop,” Jacqueline explains. “You couldn’t buy sexy underwear in the high street several years ago and sex shops were clinical in appearance. To have empowered women by creating an environment wherein they feel comfortable shopping, is something I’m particularly proud of. I think Ann Summers is still very
ABOVE Jacqueline may work hard, but she knows relaxing is important too
BELOW The Ann Summers store in Westfield, Startford
unique today.” Ann Summers is so much more than a shop that sells sexy lingerie and toys to spice up your time in the bedroom. A big part of the Ann Summers business is the parties. Based on the old-fashioned Tupperware parties from the 60s and 70s, Ann Summers Parties allow women to buy sexy lingerie in the comfort of their own homes. “I was invited to have a Pippa Dee party, rather like a Tupperware party. And it was at that party that, women were saying ‘why don’t you do Ann Summers’ parties?’” Great for women who feel too shy to shop at the stores, and great for a girls’ night in - certainly a step up from the old Dirty Dancing and Beaches marathons. The parties also benefit the Party Organisers financially, so they play a part in job creation, which is hugely important during this time of economic recession. “It’s about bringing financial independence to thousands of women through the party plan.” Despite Jacqueline’s successes in the business world, she never went to business school or had any formal training. Without the benefits of business education most of her peers have,
what does she attribute her successes to? “I like to think that I have demonstrated you can be successful without having that formal training,” she says. “I think there is an element of gut instinct. The three qualities you need are determination, passion and courage. I’ve always had a lot of courage, and while I don’t expect anybody to say so, you certainly do need to have courage. Even if it’s just to step outside of your comfort zone.” Deciding against a formal education seems like a strange choice for someone clearly so business-minded. “I hated school!” she laughs. “And I didn’t excel academically. I certainly could have done, but school was so different then. I’ve got a four year old and now school is all about making sure that your child is going to be happy at school. We know that’s what brings out the best qualities. But for me, there wasn’t the engagement that we have with children today in school. It was a good school, but I had a lot of home problems and that didn’t help either.” Jacqueline has transformed Ann Summers from the clinical, male-dominated business that it was in the 1970s to a place where women can visit comfortably, either alone, with their girlfriends and even their partners. She lists this transformation as something she is very proud of. “I feel very proud of what we’ve achieved,” claims Jacqueline. “Today’s generation would find some of the challenges that I faced a few years ago quite unbelievable. You do have to pinch yourself and remind yourself. There I am standing with the Queen in 2004 being recognised with other successful businesswomen. Times have certainly changed.” Jacqueline counts meeting the Queen as one of the high points in her career, but she has
ABOVE AND BELOW A couple of examples from the latest Ann Summers lingerie range
had some serious challenges to overcome as well. “Receiving a bullet in the post when I tried to open a store in Dublin was fairly scary. I seriously considered not opening but I went ahead. It’s now one of our top three performing stores and it’s even on the tourist bus route so it was the right decision.” Between the highs and lows, Jacqueline has shown that perseverance, hard work and courage will get you to where you need to be in your life, whether that is being the CEO of a Fortune 500 company, or a brilliant wife and mother. But can the modern woman have it all? “I think you can have it all but not necessarily at the same time,” she says. “I think women are incredibly good at juggling all of the balls, and this is why we under-estimate how good we are. Women who are successful usually have a family, a husband and a home to run as well. There’s no successful man out there that’s doing that. I obviously ended up having a family later in life. For me, it’s been about being incredibly organised. I think you can [have it all] but we’re not very good at asking for help and you have to be organised and resourceful if you want it all.” Hugely successful in business, with a fulfilling home life as well, what advice can Jacqueline Gold offer to those hoping to achieve what she
JACQUELINE GOLD AT A GLANCE: David and Ralph Gold buy the Ann Summers brand in 1971 Jacqueline joins Ann Summers in 1979 as a Wages Clerk on work experience Jacqueline launches Ann Summers Party Plan in 1981 in the UK and the Ann Summers we know today is born In 1991 Jacqueline is appointed Director at Ann Summers In 1993 Jacqueline is appointed Managing Director and Chief Executive of Ann Summers Jacqueline is recognised by Retail Week magazine as the second most powerful woman in retail in 2005 In 2007 Jacqueline is invited by HRH Queen Elizabeth to Buckingham Palace to celebrate the successes of women in business
The three qualities you need are determination, passion and courage has? “I hope that I do inspire women to see that if I’ve achieved success, then so can they. I think the key thing is not to be put off,” she advises. “It’s about doing your research, and choosing something that you are very passionate about. I think it’s also about making sure that you have found a gap in the market and that you are offering a USP, whether it be a unique product, a unique service, a unique price point. You have to differentiate yourself from the rest of the market and offer the customer excellence when it comes to service. The winners are the ones that are really engaged and in touch with their customers. I think business today is very much about having the right team on board, but also about being extremely engaged with your customers.” And what of her legacy? “Empowering women in the bedroom. Liberating women between the sheets.”
b
Don’t miss Jacqueline Gold’s Masterclass on 26 September 2013 http://www.thebestyou.co/ masterclass/jacqueline-gold.
BILL CURBISHLEY
FEATURE
Bill Curbishley Has led the most amazing life. Promoter and manager for The Who and Led Zeppelin, a film producer of such classics as Tommy and Quadrophenia and a man who mixes with the elite in society, his stories and experiences could fill a library, let alone a magazine article. With his background very similar to others and his personality modest and understated, Bernardo Moya finds out how he came to be The Man Behind The Who.
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FEATURE
BILL CURBISHLEY
Bill (centre) with Sting (left) and Franc Roddam (right)
B
ack at school in the 1950s, Bill Curbishley’s teachers told him he wouldn’t amount to anything. Smiling at the memory he says, “If they’re still alive, I’d like to tell them I did!” Born in Forest Gate in London’s East End, Bill was eldest of six children of a Royal Navy marine engineer. Living a relatively poor existence meant that “from a very early age, life was about work,” he recalls. Tall for his age, Bill added fake years so he could work on building sites in the school holidays. “To do four or six weeks work and earn a man’s wages was fantastic,” he affirms. And that wasn’t the end of his work. Every evening at the local railway he sorted newspapers for newsagents. On Saturdays he forsook footie with his pals to push his laden Co-op wheelbarrow from Forest Gate up Wanstead Hill to sell firewood. With school behind him, at his dad’s behest he worked as an apprentice draughtsman in an office in Westminster with a ticking clock that he counted to home time, he was so bored. Such a life clearly wasn’t for him - which is why he got work as a diver in Jersey before joining the merchant navy and travelled the world, jumping ship every time he came to a place he liked.
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“I honestly thought I may never come back again to these places.” It’s a fascinating insight into the youthful mind of someone who went on to such great success. If anything can be said about Bill, it’s that he took his opportunities when they arose. Finally back in London at the height of the Mod scene, Bill did what other Mods did – had fights with rockers at Brighton and listened to the amazing music of the time. In an environment surrounded by music he decided to “experiment” by joining a record production company run by a friend. It turned out to be quite an experiment. Luck soon struck when creative entrepreneur Peter Meaden, who’d previously discovered the Rolling Stones, offered Bill’s
company a band called The High Numbers. He’d written their first two singles, ‘Zoot Suit’ and ‘I’m The Face’ specifically to attract the Mod audience and - as he closed the deal - he changed their name to The Who. The company also later signed Marc Bolan and T-Rex.
OUR EDITOR BERNARDO MOYA TALKS TO BILL CURBISHLEY
BILL CURBISHLEY
Those were heady times of hard work and hard play which saw Bill’s and the company’s star rising. But the luck didn’t run all one way. In those heady days of the 1960s two of his colleagues got into heroin, while his third business partner, Mike Shaw, was paralysed in a car crash. Under these pressures, the business W to collapse. Nevertheless, The Who still wanted Bill to manage them and they soon called on him to negotiate movie rights to their ‘rock opera’ Tommy. Bill knew nothing about movies, but the situation was something that once again he was ready to rise to. “I used to go away, pick people’s brains, go back the next day, negotiate a bit more, go away again, find out a bit more, pick their brains, go back.” One of the brains he picked was David Putnam’s, who went on to become Lord Putnam. Bill says proudly, “I managed to conclude a really good deal and Tommy got made.” The movie was a massive hit, but Bill had difficulties to face with his other business partners who still had drug problems and whose court wrangling meant the
management company’s assets were frozen. For this reason Bill advised The Who to tour for the next two years to sustain themselves. Eventually they resolved their management difficulties and the 1973 album Quadrophenia became the subject for The Who’s next movie. Bill’s take on Quad was clear – the story was really about the music and, unlike Tommy, didn’t need big stars to carry it. He opted to use a completely unknown director
ABOVE From left to right: Roger Daltry, Keith Moon and Bill
BELOW The DVD covers for Tommy and Quadrophenia
FEATURE
and cast to tell the story of a young man’s disillusionment with his teenage ideals. Quadrophenia became a cult movie, despite American distributors wanting to dub the Cockney accents! Luck also helped Bill’s success. When he invited American record company executives to listen to the band Golden Earring in London, a bomb scare evacuated the theatre. 2,500 people waited in the street for over an hour until police gave the all clear. “The next day I found the Americans at their hotel and I said ‘Why didn’t you come?’ They said, ‘We couldn’t get near the theatre. There were thousands of people in the street... We want to sign that band!’” Life now seemed to go from success to success after the problems of the mid-1970s were put behind him. He even managed that other giant of rock music, Led Zeppelin. “I had Jimmy Page and Robert Plant. Jimmy Page was with me for like 14 years, Robert Plant was with me for 27 years,” he explains. “I had a short spell with UB40, too.” When asked how he did it, he says the main thing was to keep the bands’ jealousies in check, delegate day-to-day
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running of the band and jump in on the big decisions. The music industry has changed a lot in the last few years, Bill says. “There’s nowhere near as much variety and selection as we used to have when we were younger, you know, it’s just not there,” he adds. “Radio in America is sort of non-existent compared to what we had in the ‘60s, ‘70s and ‘80s..” When it comes to advising potential music managers, Bill tells a cautionary tale. “The music industry is extremely difficult right now, because what’s happening is that the distribution and selling of records has been monopolised by Apple. You’ve now got a generation that only buys single songs, single tracks. So the whole concept of an album as such, and the album being a musical journey, has sort of gone.” And to add insult to injury, according to Bill, Apple fails to invest in new acts, as the record labels of yesteryear used to. “They don’t invest one dime back into new artists, not a dime, they just sit there and take. So traditionally the record companies, even if you were on a bad deal and they were earning, not inordinate profits but big profits, they would always plough back into new artists, that was their business,
to nurture and build new artists, they don’t do it anymore.” This makes the record companies cagey about new acts, meaning that if you want success as a band, you need to go out and create a following first. It’s a new environment with new challenges for those hoping to make it. The list of Bill’s accomplishments over the years has been massive. The man who started stadium rock, the man who placed The Who at the 9/11 charity gig in such a way as to give them maximum exposure, recipient of the Kennedy Center Award, the USA’s highest arts award, the experiences of this man go on and on. But Bill says he has also learned to adjust to his success. It took him some time to realise he was working so hard from fear of being poor. As he puts it: “F.E.A.R. is False Evidence Appearing Real.” Having pulled back a little from his work with The Who he now spends more time with his family, knowing he has a reliable team to run the everyday business for him. That said, Bill has many more projects in the pipeline, despite insisting he isn’t working as hard as previously. Maybe that’s true – but he certainly knows how to harness his energies effectively. That, perhaps, is the key to his success.
ABOVE Bill also managed legendary rock band, Led Zepellin
BELOW 1970s rockers, The Who
“You know, much of what we do in our lives can be wasted energy. One of the things that comes back to me quite often is a quote from Ghandi: ‘Why run so fast if you’re running in the wrong direction?’ It’s about choosing the right road.” b
The Who and The Teenage Cancer Trust “Our doctor, Adrian Whiteson, started the trust because there is a dire need for care for teenagers. They are in a special area of life – not children, not adults. What happens often is if they are unlucky enough to get a cancer they are put in with terminally ill old people or babies. “Adrian introduced us to his concept and what he wanted to do, and I’m really proud to say that after 17 years now we’ve got 22 units opened in the UK. Last year, we did a fundraiser in Los Angeles, and we had a unit opened in UCLA Hospital. “We recently did a concert in New York in the theatre at Madison Square Garden, and we got Elvis Costello to open for us and support us. We raised $1.5 million to open a unit in Sloan-Kettering in New York. “I just feel we’ve achieved fantastic things. When I met five teenagers who’ve been affected by cancer talking about their futures now they’re clear of it, I felt that if they were the only five I ever met, it’s enough.” Find out more about The Teenage Cancer Trust: http://www.teenagecancertrust.org
SUCCESS AT A GLANCE
An attitude of willingness to work hard
Being willing to “experiment” with what you’re doing
Resilience when things go wrong
Being creative and thinking innovatively
Rising to a challenge and asking the help of others when you need it
Delegating the day-to-day stuff to ensure you come in on the big decisions
Flexibility in responding to problems
Knowing how to turn luck to your advantage
Identifying how to make the most of
opportunities
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Work, work, work!
THE BEST YOU
INNER YOU
THE BEST
YOU
Connect with the wonderful, special and powerful inside... Learn new ways to get your mind and body in balance, bring out the rich core of your being... and discover the secrets that will enable you to take charge of your Inner Life and become The Best You.
Life Without Limits
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TAROT AND BUSINESS
Esoteric expert, Anne Jirsch, tells us how she got into Tarot
MAKES GOOD SCENTS
Penny Price, one of the UK’s top aromatherapists, gives us an education in aromatherapy
IT’S ELEMENTARY
Author, Anna Konnikova, gets inside the mind of the world’s only consulting detective
ANNE JIRSCH INNER YOU have control over my destiny, because I didn’t make the move that was predicted. From that moment my intrigue grew. My best friend bought me a set of tarot cards and I dutifully sat down and tried to learn, but boy it was hard. To give you an example, just one card had many meanings, none of which made any sense when I looked at the picture. Some of the meanings of just one card were consanguinity, marriage with tribulation, inheritance (which could also mean loss). Then there were different meanings as to where the card lay in a spread as well as the combinations, that is, if one card lay next to another it would take on a whole new meaning. I was baffled and gave up. A couple of years later I met a gypsy who told me, “My forefathers couldn’t read or write. Do you seriously think they studied tarot from a book? Just look at what is in front of you and allow your intuition to give you the answers.” I haven’t looked back since. Over time I built a worldwide client base. My clients come from all walks of life – I have visited palaces, been flown out to Hollywood, and even sat in on board meetings with the CEO telling his team, “Anne is my secret weapon.”
Tarot can be surprisingly accurate, but that doesn’t mean you can’t choose your future.
Of course this didn’t happen overnight. I’ve worked hard for my clients and built a solid reputation. They expect a lot – people at the top do. But can tarot cards give you the edge? They certainly can. They can alert you to potential problems, highlight the best time to make a move, let you know who to trust, and show you who or what will bring you big dividends. Most people attempting to read cards have the same experience as me. They get a little tangled by all the different cards, meanings and spreads and soon give up. However, by using the NLP principle of chunking down, you will soon get the hang of it. There are 78 cards, so chunk down by separating them into three piles. Firstly, there are the Major Arcana. These are the cards you have heard of: The Wheel of Fortune, The Hanged Man etc. Next put aside the four suits: Cups, Batons, Coins and Swords. The third pile is for the court cards: Kings, Queens, Knights and Pages. Think of the tarot as your story – the Major Arcana
represent the big events in your life. The four suits are the details of love, money, work and all you have to deal with. The Court Cards are the players, the people in your life. Now take the four suits and split them into four piles: Cups for love, Swords for difficulties, Coins for money and Batons for work. Just by noticing which cards dominate gives you an idea of what you need to be focussing on. Now give the cards a good shuffle and lay out nine cards, three for past, three for present and three for future. Just take what comes to you. If the cards look better in the future that means you are heading in the right direction. I have been teaching tarot for over 28 years, and many of my students are now professional Tarot Consultants. I can teach anyone in a day – it is that simple. b
INTERESTED IN LEARNING TAROT? While all the symbols can be confusing, you’ll get the hang of it
Check out Anne’s online course here: three lessons at http://www.annejirsch. com/tarot_course.php. And the first lesson is free!
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INNER YOU PENNY PRICE
MAKES GOOD SCENTS A world-leading aromatherapy association is making it easier for serious enthusiasts and those wanting a career in the field to join. Penny Price lets us know the perks.
T
he International Federation of Professional Aromatherapists has launched an online service, allowing health enthusiasts to become non-practising members. Professional practitioners and students can also use the online service to become fully accredited once they have completed the necessary training. It is part of a major overhaul of the federation’s website at www.ifparoma.org that also includes a members’ area with latest developments and case studies in aromatherapy. IFPA Chair Penny Price, who has a worldwide reputation in aromatherapy, said: “We want to make it easy for people with a serious interest in aromatherapy to become members, even if they are not practitioners.
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For some people, it will be a first step to becoming a practitioner. Others will be happy just to build their knowledge of therapeutic techniques, essential oil uses and health tips and guidance through our professional magazine and the members’ area of our website. Membership also makes an ideal gift. We are the biggest organisation of our kind in the world, and our members have a wealth of knowledge of the subject to share.” The IFPA is stepping up efforts to get more practitioners to become professionally accredited in clinical aromatherapy, using oils to treat conditions as varied as eczema to asthma. Benefits for full members include being listed on a professional register available to the public and specialist insurance cover. Members have opportunities to meet at regional and national
PENNY PRICE
INNER YOU
BY STEFANIE PAGEL
MAKING THE DIFFERENCE
events, and to obtain educational grants and bursaries. IFPA is a registered charity with a worldwide membership of close to 2,000 and a respected voice in the field of complementary and alternative medicine. Clinical aromatherapy is widely recognised as a natural remedy for anxiety and pain, as well as aiding relaxation and boosting energy levels. The essential oils from aromatic plants are used in an informed and controlled manner, in a way that experts say can improve our wellbeing. IFPA encourages the controlled use of essential oils to bring balance to the mind, body and
spirit. Aromatherapy makes use of oilbearing plants from all over the world harvested for their therapeutic and other beneficial properties. The fragrances from essential oils stimulate emotional and physical responses through the olfactory system. Aromatherapy makes use of oils in a variety of ways, including inhalation, massage, creams and bath essences. Different blends of natural active ingredients determine the response, ranging from treating swelling and fungal infections, to stress relief and insomnia. Versatility, efficacy and a pleasant experience for the patient have made aromatherapy one of the worlds’ most popular natural remedies. Penny Price explains: “Essential oils are synergistic, meaning there are many different chemicals, which all work together to produce a whole range of integrated effects. When two or three aromatherapy essential oils are mixed together, there will be a stronger and different response compared with using one alone. This is the point of aromatherapy – the collaboration of oils and techniques that can positively improve moods and senses. The IFPA offers members expert guidance in this area, and allows for more people to become professionally recognised and involved.” b For more information, visit www.ifparoma.org or call 01455 637987.
Since I started studying the patterns of NLP, I had a particular respect for the workshops of Chris Mulzer, one of the best NLP trainers, at least on German speaking soil. So, I promptly decided to take the next step in my NLP training, the Master Practitioner, under him too. In retrospect I must say that my expectations were not just met, but even exceeded, particularly with regards to my teaching style. From quite early on I found out that the tight corset of our conservative school system, as well as the strictly given curriculum, didn’t give me the freedom and flexibility to provide the learners under my care with tools that equip them to live their perfect life and to successfully grow in the modern world, making it a somewhat better place than it is. After having observed and studied the elegant way Chris teaches the model of NLP, which is by superficially explaining something whilst subliminally demonstrating it, I found it as a perfect combination of the best and most effective teaching (and learning) techniques – free of any tenets and ties. So, I instantly started to model it since I believe it gives me not only more vibrant ways of guidance, but also helps to create new leeway to the students’ own interpretation and intuition of everything that surrounds them. No sooner said than done, it even turned my teaching style upside down to a much more empathic manner with lots of laughing and learning from each other. NLP isn’t about techniques, but a wonderful set of meta-tools (the methodology) in which to heartily explore the world with a sense of gusto and curiosity, and those tools will help you create methods, models and techniques to better navigate the world around you too. If you would like to see your story published, send it to marketing@thebestyou.co
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INNER YOU
MARIA KONNIKOVA
IT’S
Although Sherlock Holmes isn’t real, his insights into the human mind do more to teach us about how we should think than many conventional sources. Maria Konnikova, author of the recently published book Mastermind: How To Think Like Sherlock Holmes tells us what we can all learn from ”the world’s only consulting detective.”
ELEMENTARY S
herlock Holmes teaches us to be constantly mindful of our surroundings. When I was little, my dad used to read us Sherlock Holmes stories before bed. While my brother often took the opportunity to fall promptly asleep on his corner of the couch, the rest of us listened intently. I remember in particular one story that has stayed with me. Not the whole story, actually, but one exchange that caught my attention. In “A Scandal in Bohemia,” Holmes instructs Watson on the difference between seeing and observing: “When I hear you give your reasons,” I remarked, “the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each successive instance of your reasoning, I am baffled until you explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good as yours.” “Quite so,” he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing himself down into an armchair. “You see, but you do not observe. The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen the steps which lead up from the hall to this room.” “Frequently.” “How often?” “Well, some hundreds of times.” “Then how many are there?”
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MARIA KONNIKOVA
“How many? I don’t know.” “Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, because I have both seen and observed.” The exchange really shook me. Feverishly, I tried to remember how many steps there were in our own house, how many led up to our front door (I couldn’t). And for a long time afterward, I tried to count stairs and steps whenever I could, lodging the proper number in my memory in case anyone ever called upon me to report. I’d make Holmes proud (of course, I’d promptly forget each number I had so diligently tried to remember – and it wasn’t until later that I realised that by focusing so intently on memorisation, I’d missed the
We and our decisions both would be well served to take some of the famed detective’s advice
point entirely and was actually being less, not more observant). But what does it mean to go beyond seeing and to actually observe? Conan Doyle’s Holmes had taught himself to observe on a regular, almost superhuman basis. For him, taking note of the myriad inputs from his surroundings was a matter of course. He was never not observing, never not in touch with his environment. He had mindfulness down to an art. Most of us aren’t as careful. Our senses – and here I don’t just mean vision; I mean all of them, touch, hearing, smell, taste – are powerful forces. Every day, countless items, some glanced, or heard, or felt, or smelled only briefly, perhaps without ever registering in our consciousness, affect our minds and play into our decisions. But for the most part, we don’t pay attention; and we fail to realise what it is that is guiding us at any given moment, or fail to note something that would have made a crucial difference to our decision calculus. Most of us are lucky to have eyes that, like Watson’s, are
INNER YOU
every bit as good as Holmes’s. Ditto the rest of the senses. But so often, we squander them. We block ourselves off from the world, armed with headphones, dark glasses, eyes that look straight ahead and hurry on to their destination as quickly as possible, angry at the slightest interruption. How much do we miss that would actually make a difference, that continues to affect us even though we don’t realise it’s doing so? I’ve written in the past about the potential of smell to do just that, but the same holds for every single one of the senses we take for granted. Using our senses to increase mindfulness is key. We and our decisions both would be well served to take some of the famed detective’s advice, to go beyond seeing and into the realm of observing. Take note of what’s around you. Take note of how or why it affects you. You might not turn into an expert crime solver, but I guarantee, you’d be surprised at the difference it can make to the quality of your life and your decisions. b
DID YOU KNOW ? The character of Sherlock Holmes was inspired by a real life person, Dr. Joseph Bell, for whom the author of the Sherlock Holmes books, Conan Doyle, had worked as a clerk at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh. Like Holmes, Bell was noted for drawing large conclusions from the smallest observations.
Jude Law and Robert Downey Jr star as Dr Watson and Sherlock Holmes in Sherlock Holmes: Game of Shadows. Photograph courtesy of Nu Metro Publicity.
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ENJOY LIFE
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Laughter, humour, travel, love - these add the sparkle that make life worth living. Climb a mountain, give to others, start a family, embrace life... What are the things you wish you had done, but haven’t yet? Life is no rehearsal - find ways to enjoy it, whenever you can!
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WHEN YOU’RE SMILING
N ational Smile Month is the UK’s biggest oral health campaign
A-LA-LA-LA ZUMBA
I n recent years, Zumba has taken the exercise world by storm
WHEN YOU’RE SMILING This year National Smile Month takes place from 20 May to 20 June and is the UK’s largest oral health campaign. It gives us the opportunity to learn more about why looking after your pearly whites is so very, very important. 24 | WWW.THEBESTYOU.CO
THE BEST YOU
A
lthough it’s called National Smile Month, there is a serious issue behind it. Poor oral hygiene routine can lead to gum disease and there is also evidence of a link between a lack of brushing your teeth and heart disease. What’s more, an unhealthy smile and bad breath can lead to poor self-confidence and to social awkwardness. A bad smile can really hold you back and affect your health. This is why keeping up with a healthy oral routine is important.
Celebrate National Smile Month with these top tips: ■ Keep to a regular daily oral hygiene routine to ensure you maintain a healthy smile. ■ Brush your teeth twice a day for two minutes with fluoride toothpaste
■ Cut down on sugary foods and drinks. ■ Visit your dentist as often as recommended for a routine check-up, which is once every six months. ■ Regular flossing alongside brushing your teeth can help prevent gum disease. ■ Excessive drinking and smoking can prevent you from having healthy, white teeth, and there is a higher risk of developing mouth cancer and gum disease. ■ A healthy well-balanced diet helps keep teeth in great condition. ■ Detox your teeth by drinking plenty of water. Water is vital for a healthy body and skin. By drinking eight glasses per day, you will notice a positive difference inside and out. So get those teeth sparkling! ■ Using a mouthwash as part of your daily routine can also help to keep your breath fresh and your mouth healthy.
F
ollowing these top tips will help keep your smile looking and feeling great. There are many huge benefits in keeping your teeth and gums in great condition. Not only will a great set of teeth make you feel more confident, but you will feel much healthier. The teeth can be susceptible to developing a wide variety of problems and diseases, so by keeping up with a regular great oral health routine, you can try and keep your teeth and gums in tip top shape!
So, it’s time to get brushing! Brought to you by Beverly Hills Formula
ENJOY LIFE
SIMPLE IDEAS I will never forget that day it all started. Waiting in between two flights at the airport, I picked a little book, Who Moved My Cheese by Spencer Johnson, which talked about how we, as human beings, get stuck in our own realities most of our life. We complain and blame others, and by doing so, we lose the opportunity to act, to change, to make it better for ourselves. When I got back home that night I was excited about this idea and the fact that by taking more responsibility, I could start to change my life for the better. I went on and immersed myself in good materials in topics like personal development, leadership, psychology, metaphysics and religion to improve myself. This inspired me so much and I committed myself to waking up early every morning to make early rising a habit. I can recall how tough this was as I, like most of us, have been conditioned to believe that I am not a “morning person”. The idea of reading and learning something new every single day inspired me, too. I started to use a journal to reflect on my own experiences and challenges. I went on to nurture some traits within me like gratitude and start listing things I am grateful for every day. I took up sports although I was the kind of person who almost never exercises. The list could go on and on but what is most important is that all these changes I made were simply because of a simple, yet powerful idea in a book that I have the power to change my life for the better. It changed my life, made me engage with it more and get more from it. It really is as simple as picking a book from a shelf to start to make the change! “For your life to change you must change” – Jim Roh If you would like to see your story published, send it to: marketing@thebestyou.co
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THE BEST YOU
By this time, Zumba was a fully developed aerobic exercise system, that was easy to do and incorporated not only salsa and merengue, but elements of mambo, chachacha, flamenco, cumbia, samba, bellydancing, soca, bhangra, hip hop music, axe music and tango. Working with two friends in the US, Perez produced a demo video and licensed the product to Fitness Quest, who created a line of home videos and a direct marketing campaign. From here, the phenomenon spread across America, and from there across the world. Zumba sessions are usually around an hour in length, with instructors licensed by the Zumba Academy. They make for great exercise, having fast and slow rhythms and resistance training, and burning off an estimated 500-1000 calories per session. Different types of
BELOW Zumba may be about having fun, but it’s still physical exercise, so remember to stretch
Zumba have been developed for specific markets – for example Zumba Toning is designed to target the thighs, arms and abs as well as other areas, while Zumba Gold is a more gentle exercise designed for older participants. Probably the most famous Zumba participants are Jennifer Lopez and Kirstie Alley, as well
ENJOY LIFE
as Halle Berry and Victoria Beckham. The effect of exercise, movement and bright uplifting music has a great effect on participants, who come out not only feeling toned and well exercised, but also full of beans from the music. With an estimated 14 million people taking weekly Zumba classes in more than 150 countries, and with children as young as four taking part as well as people into their 70s and older, it’s a universally enjoyed and fun exercise regime.
DID YOU KNOW ? A demo reel was presented to Fitness Quest to create a direct marketing campaign and a line of home videos by three Albertos: Alberto “Beto” Perez, who came up with the idea, teamed up with cofounder Alberto Perlman and a childhood friend, Alberto Aghion, who is now the COO. That’s a lot of Albertos! Zumba Fitness has raised millions of dollars for charitable organizations, including Susan G. Komen, Augie’s Quest and the American Heart Association. One Zumba class, which lasts about an hour, can burn calories between 500 -800 calories. That’s more than a Big Mac!
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THE BEST YOU
BOOK REVIEWS
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Great reading, viewing and listening to empower, entertain, enrich, delight and enhance. The Best You rounds up classics and new books and media products that will make such a positive difference in your life
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If there’s a book you really want to read but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it. – Toni Morrison
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BOOK REVIEWS
THE BEST YOU
MASTERMIND
BY MARIA KONNIKOVA What is it that separates Sherlock Holmes from his longsuffering friend and sidekick Dr John Watson? What makes Holmes such a superior detective, able to piece together clues and solve problems that seem elementary to Watson only in hindsight? And can we – most of us Watsons ourselves – ever harness a bit of Holmes’s extraordinary powers of mind, not to solve crimes, but simply to improve our lives at work and home? The answer is yes, and in Mastermind, psychologist Maria Konnikova shows us how. Using plots and passages from the wonderfully entertaining Holmes stories, she illuminates how Arthur Conan Doyle’s detective embodies an ever-present mindfulness, and how this active mental disposition proves foundational to his success. Beginning with Holmes’s concept of the ‘brain attic’ – a metaphor for the information we choose to store in the mind and how we organise our knowledge, Konnikova unpacks the mental strategies that lead to clearer thinking and deeper insights. Moving through principles of logic and deduction, creativity and imagination, Mastermind puts 21st century neuroscience and psychology in service of understanding Holmes’s methods. With some self-awareness and a little practice, we can all employ these methods to develop better strategies, solve difficult problems and enhance our creative powers. Writing for Holmes fans and casual readers alike, Konnikova has translated what so many of us love about the great detective into a remarkable guide to upgrading the mind.
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THE BEST YOU
BOOK REVIEWS
An entertaining blend of Holmesiana and modern-day neuroscience – New York Times
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LEAN IN
BY SHERYL SANDBERG Ask most women whether they have the right to equality at work and the answer will be a resounding yes. Ask the same women whether they’d feel confident asking for a raise, a promotion, or equal pay, and some reticence creeps in. The statistics, although an improvement on previous decades, are certainly not in women’s favour – of 197 heads of state, only twenty-two are women. Women hold just 20 per cent of seats in parliaments globally, and in the world of big business, a meagre eighteen of the Fortune 500 CEOs are women. In Lean In, Sheryl Sandberg – Facebook COO and one of Fortune magazine’s Most Powerful Women in Business – draws on her own experience of working in some of the world’s most successful businesses and looks at what women can do to help themselves, and make the small changes in their life that can effect change on a more universal scale. Learning to ‘lean in’ is about tackling the anxieties and preconceptions that stop women reaching the top - taking a place at the table, and making yourself a part of the debate.
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THE BEST YOU
BOOK REVIEWS
Lean In is essential reading for anyone interested in righting the injustice of this inequality” – Sir Richard Branson, Chairman, the Virgin Group – Sir Richard Branson, Chairman, the Virgin Group
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DEPRESSIVE ILLNESS:
THE CURSE OF THE STRONG BY DR TIM CANTOPHER If you suffer from depression, this bestselling book shows that you are not alone, and that you are in fact much stronger than you think. People with depression so often struggle on – dealing with pressures and stresses that other people would run away from – until their bodies can take no more. Dr Cantopher shows that depression may be seen as the body’s way of ‘blowing a fuse’, and explains that it is indeed a physical illness from which recovery is possible. This new edition: • Guides the reader through the nature of depression, its history, symptoms, causes and treatments • Examines some of the principles of psychiatric theory • Includes the latest information of medications Depressive Illness is a warm, supportive book, which stresses that sufferers should not blame themselves, but can take hope from the fact that there is meaning in their illness, and that getting better is a real option.
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THE BEST YOU
BOOK REVIEWS
In the battle to beat depression, this book represents the definitive weapon. – Ruth Lavery, DEPEND
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DOING BUSINESS THE PHILIP GREEN WAY BY LIZ BARCLAY
Philip Green, retail’s most colourful figure, is widely regarded as the finest retailer of his generation and one of the best business brains in the UK. He made his first million at 33, and now owns the Arcadia Group, running about an eighth of the UK clothing retail market. So how did a man who just fell into the industry by accident go on and build this business empire? The Unauthorized Guide to Doing Business the Philip Green Way draws out the universal lessons from Philip Green’s remarkable success and identifies 10 strategies for building a business empire that can be applied to any business or career: Do it your way Make the business run as efficiently as possible Keep the customer satisfied Whatever you do, don’t break the supply chain People matter - you can’t run an empire without them Spot the money-making opportunity When the going gets tough - work harder! Aim high and keep trying Stay private but enjoy the publicity Give something back Want to be the best? The secrets of phenomenal success are in your hands.
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THE BEST YOU
BOOK REVIEWS
Barclay, a self-confessed fan of the retail magnate, lists 10 secrets behind Green’s enormous fortune. – The Independent
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PRACTICAL MIRACLES: BY ARIELLE ESSEX
After seeing naturopath Arielle Essex in the film documentary The Living Matrix, many people ask, ‘How did she heal her own brain tumour without medical treatment?’ Convinced that resolving stress would help, Arielle’s healing journey focused on how the mind and emotions affect the body. Practical Miracles explains how she applied the practical psychology of NLP to disentangle her own confusing cloud of thoughts and restore inner peace. In Practical Miracles, Arielle describes her process for facing any kind of crisis and turning it around: heal the thinking to transform the stress; don’t let outside events trigger your emotions; learn how to bounce back instead of being bewildered and confused; and develop the kind of resiliency that sustains you and keeps you well, no matter what happens. Having faced her own crisis, Arielle knows the kind of questions people really want to ask: • How • How • How • How • How • How
can I make a miracle happen when I need one? could this have happened to me, and why now? is it possible that my thoughts have contrbuted to this? can I resolve this problem and get rid of it right now? is it possible to forgive the unforgivable and let go? can I bounce back and prevent this happening again?
In Practical Miracles, finding answers to all of these questions becomes not only possible, but completely achievable in your life, as Arielle guides you on your own unique healing journey to a life of freedom and fulfilment.
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THE BEST YOU
BOOK REVIEWS
As a cynical old git, this is the last type of book I’d normally review – but Arielle’s material is always well written, meaningful, thoughtprovoking, and – unlike so much else in this field –effective. – Gerry
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BOOK REVIEWS
THE BEST YOU
LIVE LOVE LEGACY
THE BEST
YOU
What do you want to be remembered for? What are your relationships like with those around you? How does life treat you - and how do you treat your life? There is so much good in you. Enrich your life with the passion you feel and the connections you make.
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THE SILENT KILLER
Suicide is the biggest killer of men under 35 in the UK. We chat to the experts
THE POWER OF NICE
Jo Haigh definitely knows what works, and she says that being nice is up there
BOTTLING MAGNETISM
Most of us have to work on being the centre of attention. Fiona Thompson explains how
LIVE LOVE LEGACY THE BEST YOU THE BEST YOU
THE SILENT KILLER
Suicide is the biggest killer amongst men aged 18 to 35 with 4,500 men taking their own lives yearly. What causes this trend, and what can be done to put an end to these horrific statistics? The Best You investigates.
I
n 2012 in England and Wales, YouGov carried out a survey for Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM). According to that survey, 26 per cent of people indicated they had considered suicide, 54 per cent of which had considered it seriously. What was interesting about the survey results was that while the contemplation of suicide is relatively equally balanced between men and women, it is men who actually follow through. Men are three times more at risk of suicide than women, and in 2011 76 per cent of suicides in England and Wales were men. Rachel Clare, editor of CALMZone, CALM’s in-house magazine, says, “It is suggested that men are inherent risk takers, and that suicide is attempted as much by women as by men, but men succeed in their attempts.” While men may be inherent risk takers, one can’t help but think that men may feel the pressures of the economic climate more than women do. Clare goes on to say, “Clearly the economic climate, work pressures, financial worries, relationship breakdowns will all affect our mental well-being, regardless of gender; yet whatever the demographic, the suicide rate will be predominantly male.” We may not be living in the 1950s anymore, but research shows that men still feel the pressure to provide for their families. According to a report by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, “fathers’ main reason for working was most likely to be as a way of providing for the family; [while] mothers were more likely to cite reasons of independence.” It also said “many men – including those who are sick and disabled, unemployed, and low-paid – felt that being unable to provide for their families severely affected their confidence in their ability to be ‘good fathers’.” But it’s not only the increased pressure on men that drive them to this drastic action. CALM is filling a niche in helpline services – one that offers support to men in times of crisis, something that has been missing in modern society. Clare explains, “Despite all the advances of feminism, women are still understood to be the ‘weaker’ sex. It is deeply engrained in our culture
THE BEST YOU
LIVE LOVE LEGACY
Good teachers don’t hit kids with sticks for making mistakes any more. They lead them kindly to an understanding of their errors and how to get better. The same approach works for adults, particularly yourself. -Tim Cantopher, psychologist
that weakness is female. There is still a stigma surrounding men seeking help or being open about their issues, for fear of being seen as ‘less of a man’ for doing so. Men are more likely to turn to alcohol and drugs when depressed, have overt anger issues and embark on risk taking behaviour. Depression isn’t simply a case of appearing lethargic and sad. It’s much more complex than that. Because of this, depression can often go undiagnosed in men until it’s too late. We believe that these societal issues have a direct effect on the high rates of male suicide in this country.” While suicide rates are higher in men than in women in every age group, it is in younger men that the problem is most intensified. According to an article by Dr Trisha Macnair published on bbc.co.uk, 4,500 men take their lives each year – and 1,700 of these are under 35. In England and Wales alone around 24,000 attempted suicides are made by 10 to 19 year olds every year. That’s one every 20 minutes. Although fortunately many are reached before it is too late, suicide remains the main cause of death in young males between the age of 18 and 24. Middle-aged men may feel the pressure of having the burden of supporting
their families financially and being the main breadwinner in the family, but what are the pressures felt by the younger people? Ged Flynn, PAPYRUS Chief Executive, tries to shed some light, “We know that young people are often under all sorts of pressure. These might include exam pressure, relationship difficulties, struggles with sexuality, growing up, living in difficult situations at home, being bullied, struggling with self-esteem, peer pressure and many other reasons besides. The current economic downturn will no doubt be creating uncertainty for some young people. Lack of work or prospects can impact heavily on some young people, as can worries about losing their jobs or unemployment in their household. We know that many young people are juggling many of these issues at any one time. Suicide is not an answer, but the desire to end emotional pain can become overwhelming.” The suicide statistics in the UK and the world over are a big problem, but it is important that we are not part of that problem but part of the solution. One of the best ways that we can do this is by reducing the stigma against suicide. Flynn elaborates, “Stigma can
be subtle: it isn’t enshrined in some big rule book but, somehow, we all contribute to it. We use phrases like, ‘I have to admit that I get depressed some times’ or ‘He was going to do something stupid’ (a euphemism for suicide). Even the phrase ‘commit suicide’ is another way that we stigmatise the subject. Suicide has not The suicide been a crime in the UK since statistics in the 1961 and yet we continue to UK and the world use this phrase that suggests over are a big it is an illicit act. Many of us problem, but it is don’t know how to talk about important that we suicide. Often, we believe are not part of that that we will put the idea into problem but part someone’s mind if we mention of the solution. it. This is nonsense. We really need to shatter the silence that surrounds suicide. That way, by breaking the power of the taboo that accompanies even the word, we will bring it out of the shadows and improve the chances of people being able to speak about their own worries and suicidal thoughts. That leads to improved help seeking and can only help prevent future suicides.” ABOVE The high rate of suicide amongst men in the UK is a big problem
b
DID YOU KNOW ? Suicide is the biggest killer of men under 35 in the United Kingdom, accounting for more deaths in that gender age group than road deaths, assault and HIV/AIDS combined.
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JO HAIGH
LIVE LOVE LEGACY
Some people think that being rude and unapproachable is part and parcel of being a success. Jo Haigh disproves that theory.
H
as it ever been tougher out there in the big bad business world? Well certainly not in my memories. I have noticed how some people are reacting to this economic turmoil and, frankly, it’s rather unpleasant. Dogs just aren’t eating dogs; they are eating the cats and even the children. Ok, they may win a few points in the short term but a long-term strategy based on this premise must ultimately be destructive to the perpetrator. It’s a very difficult time for virtually every business, yet being nice costs nothing and the returns can be very substantial. Donald Trump once said “For my money I would rather make a deal with people who treat me well”. At a recent meeting someone said to me that the person we had been interviewing had a wonderfully financially successful company. But because he hadn’t been ‘socialised’, he could appear opinionated, arrogant and, well, frankly rude. It was recommended that I just overlook that, as clearly he knew what he was doing. Certainly on paper he had achieved huge financial success but, by his own admission, had done so at the cost of friends
Being nice costs nothing and the returns can be very substantial
BELOW Friendliness in the work-place makes going to work feel less like a chore.
and family. The question is, could he have achieved this without the ‘attitude’? Maybe, and certainly as one matures and times get hard, as they are now and will be so again, it’s friends and family that keep us warm and support us and very little else. So here are my tips for a nicer approach and please, whatever you think, do not confuse being nice with a soft touch or you may be rather shocked at the results. Smile. It costs nothing, and it exercises the face muscles and reduces wrinkles. Say thank you. It means more than a bonus to many people. Don’t create a blame culture. All that happens then is when things go wrong they get hidden. Tell it like it is. Constructively and privately. Be appreciative. Always
acknowledge people who go further than the norm and help those who try to. Respect everyone. They may not have your money, looks, brains or education but that doesn’t mean they are inferior in any way. Don’t sell out. If you compromise your principles for a bit of cash, you will regret it. Avoid the lowest form of wit. In difficult situations try humour instead or sarcasm. Don’t get political. Don’t use office politics or the gossip chain to further yourself at the cost of a colleague. Put yourself in the other person’s shoes. Look beyond simply your own self interest. Be nice to yourself. The better you feel, the better you will treat others.
b
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FIONA THOMPSON
LIVE LOVE LEGACY
The charmed ones. The superstars. The lucky few. Call them what you like, but it’s clear that some people attract positivity while others struggle to get through each day. Fiona Thompson, former banker and current leadership expert and entrepreneur, tells us that we can all be superstars.
I
was asked this by a client who wanted to understand why some people were able to walk into a room of strangers and develop strong interpersonal relationships at a first meeting. When I watched their ‘superstars’ work their magic it became clear they all had two things in common. Perhaps surprisingly, it wasn’t intelligence, seniority, age or sense of humour – all of these things varied across the group. It wasn’t obvious physical attractiveness either, though all the superstars were equally successful in attracting both platonic and romantic relationships. Whatever they had
clearly worked in all types of relationships. The first thing in common was a really strong sense of self-esteem. Their body language showed they were confident about their own worth. That made sense – we’d all feel confident if we lit up every room we walked into, wouldn’t we? Except their self-esteem wasn’t influenced by people’s reactions. They didn’t falter if they weren’t met with a positive reaction and their egos didn’t inflate when they had a really spectacular welcome. So it wasn’t popularity that was driving their self-worth. Instead their self-esteem seemed deep seated, quietly held and internally driven. Secondly, just about everyone left an encounter with a superstar feeling happy. Not just happy for any old reason. The superstar had made the person they met feel better about themselves. The superstar’s personal selfesteem meant they weren’t using sycophancy, flattery or selfdeprecation to change the way the other person felt about themselves. They consistently made the other person feel important, valuable and special. They recognised something valuable about the other person and made it clear they were important and special for it. They didn’t necessarily say it explicitly, but it was obvious from the interest they showed in the other person and pleasure they took in acknowledging the other person’s worth. It sounds quite obvious until you ask yourself how often you leave an encounter not
feeling better. We often enjoy spending time with other people when they are funny, clever or interesting. But how often do you leave feeling distinctly better rather than feeling a little inadequate, insecure or unsure? Leave those negative thoughts behind and bask in the warm glow of acknowledgement instead. This is the energy and excitement that has these superstars drawing people magnetically to them. The sense of validation and security makes us willing to build a bond with them so quickly. So if the secret to magnetism is strong self-worth and the ability to validate others, can anyone do it? Absolutely: both can be developed to a large extent. Working with self esteem and attention to others is a little bit of magic. Find out next month how you can start to make that magic happen yourself: professionally and personally! b
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THE BEST YOU
FEEL & LOOK GOOD
THE BEST
YOU
Feeling good about yourself makes the joy shine from your eyes and your skin. It makes others respond to you in new ways, and it gives you a whole new outlook on life. Looking good draws others to you and enhances your lives in ways you haven’t yet imagined. It’s great to find new ways to feel and look good now!
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TAKING LIBERTIES
Lifestyle editor Zane Henry chats to Sasha Wilkins
SEASONAL SUPERFOODS
Angela Steel gives us some great ideas for seasonal veggies
RUNNING FOR A HEALTHY HEART This month the BHF is hosting two London Runs
FEEL & LOOK GOOD
ZANE HENRY
TAKING S
LIBERTIES Meet Sasha Wilkins, whom you may know better as Liberty London Girl: journalist, blogger, editor, broadcaster, media consultant and business owner. Zane Henry, writer, editor and networker extraordinaire, got to know her a little better. 50 | WWW.THEBESTYOU.CO
he is the name and face behind media brand LLG Media and social media consultancy business LLGConsults. She is a dazzling exponent of the new kind of media mogul: self-starting, social media savvy and relentlessly dynamic and energetic. She first attracted attention for her awardwinning lifestyle blog LibertyLondonGirl. com, which she wrote anonymously for three years before revealing her identity in a magazine interview in 2010. “I was extremely nervous before revealing who I was,” she remembers. “I was worried that people would be disappointed to discover that it was me. I was also deeply concerned that the new site I had stayed awake for 72 hours building was going
ZANE HENRY
to crash under the expected traffic. It did. These things happen.” After graduating with a degree in Theology and Religious Studies, she didn’t have an exact idea of what she wanted to do, apart from a clear desire to work in the media. She always had an interest in fashion, but in the days before the Internet it was hard to break into the rarefied world of fashion journalism. “What helped me to survive was being completely open-minded about the career moves I made,” Sasha says. “I started out in a magazine art department, and went on to be a commissioning editor, an editor in chief, a fashion director on both contract and editorial publications, a news reporter, stylist, broadcaster, marketer, branding consultant and more. All that wealth of experience has fed into the success of the business I now wholly own.” Getting a fledgling business off the ground was not easy though. She went through a rough patch after leaving the magazine world in 2008.
“I was homeless for two years, living on friends’ couches, in spare rooms, youth hostels and, sometimes, in the back of my car, whilst I doggedly got on with building LibertyLondonGirl. com’s reach. I’m insanely proud that I did it all on my own, with no help or investment (beyond the hospitality shown by my wonderful friends and family, of course). She has gone on to write for publications such as The Sunday Times, The Observer, Harper’s Bazaar, Elle, Condé Nast Traveller, and The Evening Standard. Her TV & radio appearances include BBC Radio4's Today programme & Woman's Hour, the News at Ten, BBC Breakfast, Sky News' Jeff Randall Live, CNN, BBC World Service, BBC Worldwide and BBCNews 24. Being so fabulous comes with pitfalls, like having to be careful while navigating the line between personal life and business. “It’s almost impossible, given that my company has been based on documenting my daily life.
RECOMENDED READING
FEEL & LOOK GOOD
The key skill for anyone heavily involved in building a brand on social media is to make sure you don’t give away everything about yourself, so you can feel that you still wholly own areas of it in complete privacy.” She’s not showing any signs of slowing down. She has set up a digital film, as well as launching three new digital projects under the LibertyLondonGirl brand. Her wisdom and success are hardwon in a notoriously tough industry. “I would have liked to have had more faith in my abilities when I was starting out. It took me a long time to work out that 99 per cent of people are bluffing every single day, and that mediocrity is rewarded as often as talent, so worrying that I wasn’t capable or equal to others around me was an utter waste of time. I would advise anybody wanting to work in this business to have faith in yourself. Learn to say no. And no again. Get enough sleep, learn to delegate, and hire a really good cleaner.” b
The Best You website is packed with loads of great books, DVDs, CDs, downloads, free articles and reports. Check it out now: www.thebestyou.co
Michael Neill Supercoach
Spencer Johnson Who Moved My Cheese?
Michael Neill shares
An amusing and
the secrets of transforming your life
enlightening story
Martin Seligman Flourish How to truly get the most out of life
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FEEL & LOOK GOOD
ANGELA STEEL
SEASONAL SUPERFOODS With spring here at last after a shiveringly long winter comes a plethora of interesting and colourful fruits and vegetables on the supermarket shelves that aren't only great to eat, but can really help us shake off the winter blues and do our bodies some good, too. Nutritional therapist Angela Steel gives us some guidance on what to do with them, and why they're so good for us.
LIVER-LOVING
SUPER PASTA The seasonal wild rocket in this yummy dish helps to detoxify the the liver by stimulating bile flow and contains many phytochemicals and anti-oxidants. Anti-oxidants negate free radicals, molecules that are associated with cell damage and ageing, while one of the indole phyto-chemicals rocket helps detoxify hormones via the liver, among other things helping to counter the carcinogenic effects of oestrogen. Artichokes, too, are great for the liver. They contain the phytonutrients Cynarine and Silymarin, known to boost liver cell regeneration, and have long been considered a good natural remedy for hepatitis.
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ANGELA STEEL
INGREDIENTS (PER PERSON):
• 1 handful gluten-free or wholemeal pasta. (I used gluten-free) • ¼ tsp chilli flakes • 1 clove of garlic • 1 small pinch Himalayan crystal salt • 2 handfuls of rocket • 4-5 pieces of grilled Artichoke in olive oil, chopped (you can also use fresh artichoke) • 50g Halloumi cheese, diced • 1 tbsp pine nuts, lightly grilled • 1 tbsp olive oil (for cooking)
PREPARATION: 1. Add pasta to boiling water in a pan. Meanwhile, make a generous bed of green leaves in a pasta bowl, add chopped artichokes. 2. Grill the Halloumi pieces till they just start to turn brown. Then lightly grill the pine nuts. Use a dry frying pan – no oil. 3. Once the pasta is cooked (keep testing to catch ‘al dente’), drain and place the empty pan back on the gas. Add olive oil, chilli flakes and the garlic. Before the garlic starts to turn brown, add the cooked pasta and toss so that it’s coated with the olive oil, chilli and garlic. Add a small pinch of salt. 4. Lay the pasta on top of the green bed of leaves and artichokes, place Halloumi cubes and sprinkle the pine nuts over the top before serving.
FEEL & LOOK GOOD
RAW ENERGY
FAVA BEAN DIP Such a bright green colour and distinctive flavour can only mean one thing: Fava beans (also known as broad beans) are bursting with nutritious goodness. This dip makes a tasty snack, high in plant protein (helping to even out blood sugar spikes and troughs) and is particularly rich in B vitamins (great for energy production) and minerals like iron, copper, manganese and magnesium. Not to mention the cholesterol-busting phytosterols.Fava beans also contain Omega 3 and Omega 6 fatty acids, which are component parts of the myelin sheath fatty layer around neurones in the brain. That means Fava beans are great brain food, supporting efficient transmission and potentially slowing or reducing the effects of Alheimer's. I tasted ‘Fava Bean Pate’ for the first time in Turkey and this is what inspired this recipe. The Turkish version is usually made with dried fava beans, but here I use them fresh, almost raw and ‘in season’.
INGREDIENTS:
PREPARATION
As a dip with nibbles for 4 people:
1. This is not a recipe to do in a hurry. Shelling the beans can be quite a meditative experience. Sometimes it’s good to have an excuse to slow down! Once you’ve removed the beans from their pods, drop them into boiling water for a couple of minutes. 2. Drain and transfer them to a bowl of cold water so they retain their colour Squeeze them out of their outer skin, leaving the bright green flesh. 3. Place the peeled beans in a food processor with all the other ingredients. Stream in a tablespoon of olive oil while puréeing. 4. Place the dip in a bowl and garnish with a sprig of mint. Serve with oatcakes, crackers or raw veggie sticks.
• 500g fresh fava (broad) beans, shelled • 1 tsp cumin powder • 2 large spring onions finely chopped • 1 pinch Himalayan crystal salt • 2 cloves garlic • 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil • 1 tbsp lime juice • 1 tbsp filtered water • Sprig of mint
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FEEL & LOOK GOOD
THE BEST YOU
The British Heart Foundation is the UK’s number one heart charity, and this month they are hosting the London Runs. So if you’re in London in May, get active and help save lives.
FOR A HEALTHY HEART
C
oronary heart disease is the single biggest killer in the United Kingdom, but the British Heart Foundation is leading the fight against it. Founded in 1961 by a group of medical professionals, their pioneering research has helped to transform the lives of people living with heart and circulatory conditions. But there’s no reason you have to leave all the work to the experts – there is something you can do to help, while getting your heart pumping as well. This month sees two runs for the BHF – the Tower of London Run and the Canary Wharf Jog.
TOWER OF LONDON RUN This run takes place on Wednesday 8 May 2013 and
offers the unique opportunity to actually go down into the moat of the Tower of London. Choose from distances between five and 10km, set your own pace and experience this incredible event with your friends, family or colleagues. Back for its 35th year, this is an event not to be missed.
Jog event information Join the fun after work on Wednesday 22 May 2012 for the famous Canary Wharf Jog. It's your opportunity to take part in their only free event, right in the heart of the Docklands. Join in for the warm up and then run, walk or jog as many laps as you like up to 10km. This hugely popular and unique street run around the famous towers of Canary Wharf is a great way to end your working day.
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Online registration for adult LEFT The people of London participants will be open are getting active until Friday 3 May 2013 for the Tower of London Run and until Friday 17 May for the CENTRE Canary Wharf Jog at www.bhf. Red is the colour of org.uk. For a children's or postal passion and love - emoregistration form for either tions of a healthy heart event, please email events@ bhf.org.uk or phone 0845 130 8663. Entry fees for the Tower RIGHT of London Run are £12 in Run, Londoners, run! Taking part in the advance for adults and £6 for London Runs is good children or of you pay on the for your heart and the day in £20 for adults and £10 cause for children, and the entry for the Canary Wharf Jog is free! Their research is powered by your support. Every pound raised, every minute of your time and every donation to their shops will help make a massive difference to people’s lives. Brought to you by the British Heart Foundation b
THE BEST YOU
WEALTH & RICHES
THE BEST
YOU
Wealth [n] “happiness,” also “prosperity in abundance of possessions or riches” from Middle English “wele”, meaning “wellbeing”. Riches [n] “valued possessions, money, property,” Making money and bringing greater wealth to EVERY area of your life...
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BANK OF DAVE
Dave Fishwick, star of Channel 4’s Bank of Dave speaks to The Best You
HOW TO BE A TOP…
...PR agent! We get advice from some of the top agents in the UK on how to succeed
LEADING LADY
Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg is one of far too few women in business
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THE BEST YOU
WEALTH & RICHES
magnitude, a can-do attitude is of the utmost importance. “Anything is possible, but selfbelief is everything in life,” says Dave. Of course, as it is with everything in life, there will be naysayers, but Dave recommends not giving them the time of day. “I don’t pay attention to bullies or people who tell me that I can’t do something. That just makes me want to do it more.” b low. Most big banks offer less than one per cent interest, with some as low as 0.05 per cent. That means that your £1,000 savings would only earn you 50p a year! Dave vowed to make the interest rate at his bank five per cent, and if there were any profits leftover after that, he would donate them to charity. “We gave to so many charities. The British Heart Foundation, Red Cross, Marie Curie, The National Deaf Children's Society, to name but a few. It was so difficult to choose which ones we were going to support. I looked at the charities I really liked and went to have a chat with the people. These people are angels and saints. The Bank of Dave will always support local charities.” Imagine the big banks saying that. Dave elaborates on his initial goals and how that iffered from what he actually achieved. “I was just hoping to help locally – lend people the money to buy minibuses, help pensioners get a better rate, but it snowballed.” According to Dave, smaller banks that help smaller
businesses will see the end of the recession. “There are 1,000 large towns in the UK. If you have one Bank of Dave or Bank of Whoever in each town helping generate or sustain just 1,000 businesses, that’s 1 million businesses being saved – that’s the end of the recession.” But is it sustainable? Dave thinks so. “I have changed banking in Britain forever. We only have one per cent bad debt, which is better than any other bank in the country. It’s gone global because we have an enormous soapbox to stand on – television. We are taking this to the next level.” With the global success of this project, it can probably go without saying that given the choice, Dave Fishwick would do it all again. “Projects like this are really difficult, but I had such a good time doing it that if I did it again I wouldn’t do anything differently. It’s like when you’re playing poker and you go all in. Once you push all your chips into the middle of the table, there’s no turning back.” When taking on the high street banks in a battle of this
DID YOU KNOW? In the past 100 years there has only been one new high street banking licence granted in the UK to Metro Bank in October 2010.
ONWARD AND UPWARD The Bank of Dave is still going, but that hasn’t stopped David Fishwick from moving on to a new challenge. Last month he was featured on The Secret Millions as he reinvented the job centre in order to help youths with job creation. “We proved it worked. It was such a good idea and we wanted to repeat it across the country,” said Dave.
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THE BEST YOU
CHARLOTTE ALEXANDER, FASHION JUNIOR ACCOUNT MANAGER, BRANDNATION
WEALTH & RICHES
THE BEST
YOU
Life Without Limits
PR requires guts, imagination and the best possible people skills you can muster. To survive, you must be able to charm the toughest journalists on the end of the phone within seconds. To stay sane, you must be kind to people and be thoroughly passionate. My top tips are: read every kind of editorial you can fit into your day. Seek out inspirational mentors and make them remember you. And if in doubt, make people laugh.
VICTORIA CAMERON, PR AGENT, MAX CLIFFORD
To work in PR you need to have tenacity, a thick skin, vision, lots of ideas and be able to think outside the box. You also need to be able to get on with people from all walks of life. PR can cover so many different areas, you need to be able to relate, empathise and gain the trust of others. You also need to be able to foresee potential problems so you can be prepared for any crisis management. In short, a huge amount of multi-tasking and organisation is needed. Not forgetting a friendly demeanour, which I hope I have!
JULIA SPENCE, FOUNDER, JSPR
I cut my teeth in a close-knit all-female Covent Garden-based team where we all did everything, from making the tea to client liaison. I set up my own travel PR business when my children came along, and thanks to today’s technology, it lends itself to flexible working methods. Quite rightly, my clients expect great results and so the hours, although flexible, are long and you can never really switch off. But we build really close relationships with our clients, so much so that we feel part of their team, and it then becomes incredibly rewarding.
IN THE NEXT ISSUE OF THE BEST YOU We know that from the moment you turn the final page of this issue, you’ll be waiting with baited breath for the next, so we’ve decided to give you a little teaser…In June we will be featuring interviews with Michael Neill, Roger Harrop as well as a retrospective on the London Marathon. We also welcome a new columnist to the team, American TV show host, Kristen White. We’re sitting on our cover story for the moment, but we promise you, it's gonna be a good one.
DID YOU KNOW ? Public relations tactics were used to incite the American Revolution. Pamphlets called "Common Sense" and "American Crisis" were used to spread anti-British Propaganda.
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THE BEST YOU
WEALTH & RICHES FAR LEFT NEW YORK - MAY 18: Image of Facebook CEO Mark Zukerberg is flashed on a screen outside the Thomson Reuters building at the opening bell in Times Square on May 18, 2012 in New York City.
ABOVE LEFT Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook, believes that there are too few women in positions of power.
board seats – tops out at 15, 16 per cent. The numbers have not moved since 2002 and are going in the wrong direction. And even in the non-profit world, a world we sometimes think of as being led by more women, women at the top: 20 per cent.” So what can be done about these low figures? In Sandberg’s book, Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead, she urges women themselves to make the difference. She argues that it’s not the responsibility of the men presently in control to make space for women in positions of power – the women have to push their way in. She calls it “sitting at the table”.
“Just a couple weeks ago at Facebook, we hosted a very senior government official, and he came in to meet with senior execs from around Silicon Valley. And everyone kind of sat at the table. And then he had these two women who were traveling with him who were pretty senior in his department, and I kind of said to them, ‘Sit at the table. Come on, sit at the table,’ and they sat on the side of the room.” Sandberg makes the point that while women are just as able as men are, they are less forthcoming. They are less likely to volunteer for a project, even though they might want to do it, and know they have the skill and experience to pull it off.
RECOMENDED READING
He had these two women who were pretty senior in his department, and I said to them, ‘Sit at the table.'
They are also less likely to take credit where credit is due. She draws the comparison, “If you ask men why they did a good job, they'll say, ‘I'm awesome. Obviously. Why are you even asking?’ If you ask women why they did a good job, what they'll say is someone helped them, they got lucky, they worked really hard.” So come on ladies, lean in. Sit at the table, and go for what you know you deserve. b
The Best You website is packed with loads of great books, DVDs, CDs, downloads, free articles and reports. Check it out now: www.thebestyou.co
Sean Mahoney Social Media for Beginners
Lisa Nichols No Matter What
Brian Tracy Maximum Achievement
l Business,
l Our
l
leisure and everything inbetween is covered
emotional strength enables us to achieve the lives we were born to lead.
Ideas, concepts, and methods used by highachieving people.
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WEALTH & RICHES
THE BEST YOU
DR ROGER BANNISTER BELIEF BEYOND LIMITS
The man who can drive himself further once the effort gets painful is the man who will win."
AMELIA EARHART A UNIQUE PIONEER
Women must try to do things as men have tried. When they fail, their failure must be but a challenge to others."
On May 6 1954, British runner Dr Roger Bannister ran a mile in three minutes 59.4 seconds. He was the first human being to run the mile in under four minutes. It was a record that changed what people thought was possible. Born in 1929, Bannister's early inspiration was Sydney Wooderson, who made a remarkable comeback in 1945 by setting a new British record in this race after setting the mile record before the war. Bannister began his running career in 1946, at the age of 17. Inspired by attending the 1948 Olympics, he set his sights on the 1952 Helsinki Olympics. When he failed to win a medal, this merely stiffened his resolve to to be the first four-minute miler. Once he'd proven it could be done, others followed. His record was broken 46 days later, and after that, the floodgates opened wide. Six people broke the world record that year. Bannister went on to become a distinguished neurologist and Master of Pembroke College, Oxford, before retiring in 1993. When asked whether the fourminute mile was his proudest achievement, he said he felt prouder of his contribution to academic medicine through research into the responses of the nervous system.
Born in 1897 in Atchison, Kansas, to wealthy parents, Amelia was raised by a mother opposed to moulding her children into “nice little girls”. She took her first flying lesson in 1921 and saved up to buy her first plane, a bright yellow biplane she named "Canary", which she used to set her first women's record by flying to 14,000 feet. In 1928 publisher George P. Putnam approached her to become the first woman to fly the Atlantic. Three woman had died that year attempting the flight, but she flew successfully from Newfoundland to Wales in 21 hours. When Earhart married Putnam she maintained her independence, referring to the marriage as a "partnership" with "dual control." In 1932, five years after Charles Lindbergh, she took off from Harbor Grace, Newfoundland toward Paris, being forced down by bad weather over Ireland. She went on to set an altitude record for autogyros, became the first person to fly solo across the Pacific and was first to fly solo from Mexico City to Newark. In 1937, Earhart aimed to be the first women to circumnavigate the globe. Just 7,000 miles short of the 29,000 mile journey her plane was lost in the Pacific. Her go-getting attitude remains an inspiration to everyone seeking to push new boundaries.
ROGER BANNISTER IS A RARE ATHLETE. NATURALLY GIFTED AND HUGELY DETERMINED, HE CHANGED THE WAY PEOPLE THOUGHT ABOUT SPORT. AT THE SAME TIME, HE IS A MASSIVELY MODEST MAN WHO UNDERPLAYS HIS CONTRIBUTION TO SPORTING HISTORY. – BERNARDO MOYA
AMELIA EARHART'S BELIEVED THAT MEN AND WOMEN WERE EQUAL IN "JOBS REQUIRING INTELLIGENCE, COORDINATION, SPEED, COOLNESS AND WILLPOWER." SHE KNEW THE RISKS, AND PROVED SHE WAS ANYONE'S EQUAL.
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– BERNARDO MOYA
THE BEST YOU
WEALTH & RICHES
NELSON MANDELA
MICHELLE OBAMA
A BURNING SENSE OF JUSTICE
BALANCING HOME AND POLITICS
It always seems impossible until its done.
I loved getting A's, I liked being smart. I liked being on time. I thought being smart is cooler than anything in the world.
Nelson Mandela is one of the world's great figures in the struggle for racial equality and for the dignified treatment of all people. His long journey in life has been driven by a burning sense of justice. Born a member of the Thembu royal family in 1918, Mandela studied law at university and developed a passion for anti-colonial politics. He went on to join the ANC and was a founder of its Youth League. Repeatedly arrested, he was eventually tried for treason alongside the ANC leadership and acquitted. Initially committed to non-violent protest, he finally led a bombing campaign against government targets, was caught and sentenced to life imprisonment. He was captive for 27 years, being released partially due to international pressure. Becoming ANC president, Mandela led negotiations with President de Klerk to establish the first democratic elections in South Africa in 1994. He led the ANC to a landslide victory. In power, he created a new constitution and initiated the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to investigate past human rights abuses, while introducing policies aimed at land reform, combating poverty and expanding healthcare. Though now retired from public life, he remains a figurehead for truth and justice, and is regarded as the Father of the Nation by the people of South Africa.
Born in 1964 the daughter of a water plant employee and homemaker, Michelle grew up in a small apartment with her family in Chicago. As a student she demonstrated in favour of hiring professors from minorities. Later, working for the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau, she helped low-income tenants with housing cases. Working in law, she met and mentored Barack Obama, whom she married in 1992 and with whom she had two children. Her dedication to her family was strong, even during Barack Obama's 2008 campaign for president, causing numerous arguments about the time they must spend with the family. Nevertheless, politics is part of who she is. "Politics," she says, “decides the future we want for our kids and our grandkids.” As First Lady, Michelle Obama has put her name to anti-obesity campaign Let's Move, organic gardening, has fought bans on abortion, visited homeless shelters, supported military families, helped working women balance career and family, encouraged national service, promoted the arts and is an advocate of LGBT rights. A deft manager of her public persona, a smart political thinker and someone who is fired by morality and justice, Michelle is viewed by millions of Americans as a role model who proves that anyone can succeed in the USA.
HE FOUGHT FOR JUSTICE FOR HIS PEOPLE AND HAS MAINTAINED A WISDOM IN NOT SEEKING REVENGE ON COMING TO POWER. HE IS A MODEL OF STATESMANSHIP AND HIS WORK HAS DIRECTLY LED TO FREEDOM FOR TENS OF MILLIONS OF PEOPLE IN SOUTH AFRICA AND FURTHER AFIELD. – BERNARDO MOYA
MICHELLE S A WOMAN WHO VALUES FAMILY WHILE AT THE SAME TIME HOLDING STRONG POLITICAL AND MORAL VIEWS. BORN FROM AN "ORDINARY" FAMILY, SHE AND HER HUSBAND HAVE SHOWN THAT THE AMERICAN DREAM IS STILL A REALITY IN THE USA. – BERNARDO MOYA
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21ST CENTURY LIVING
THE BEST
YOU
The pace of change can sometimes bewilder, but also gives amazing opportunities to meet new people, discover new things and thrive. Bring out the best in you by discovering the latest innovations that will put you ahead of the pack.
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PORN, POLITICS AND BICYCLES Erik Crouch tells us what happening with the internet in the Far East
POWER TO YOU!
The Best You gives you some tips on saving electricty
21ST CENTURY LIVING
ERIK CROUCH
PORN, POLITICS, AND BICYCLES Erik Crouch, writer for Shangaiist. com, a popular English-language website covering Chinese news, culture and politics investigates how China manages choice and individualism in the internet age.
C
entral to the idea of happiness in the West is the idea that we choose our destinies. Choice makes us individuals, and through realizing our individualism we become more fulfilled. Yet much of the rest of the world does not share this very Western idea. Yang is a twenty-year-old migrant worker who sold me a fake iPhone in Shanghai last January. While we talked in his small market stand, he eagerly asked for my QQ number, the personal address of users on China’s largest social network. Yang vigilantly updates his QQ several times a day with new photos, status posts, and popular links. QQ is China’s version – some would say knock-off – of Facebook, and has boomed in use since Facebook was censored off the Chinese internet in 2009. Daisy is a wealthy college student who also lives in Shanghai. She learned English
while studying in Australia, and we met in a sushi restaurant frequented by the city’s Western expats. Daisy pays a monthly access fee to tap into a VPN server, which allows her to bypass China’s internet restrictions. She uses Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube as easily as anyone living in the US or Europe and loves Western pop culture. Yang could probably get the money together to purchase a VPN subscription, but he doesn’t want one. His friends use QQ, not Facebook, and they post updates to Weibo, not Twitter. China’s government has been blocking foreign social networks for so long that it has spawned a uniquely Chinese internet, with its own versions of popular Western websites. YouTube is censored, but Youku fills the gap. Google search access can be spotty, but Baidu serves the same purpose. WeChat, QQ, and Weibo combine to form an intricate social network substitute for Facebook and Twitter. These Chinese equivalents
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Google search access can be spotty, but Baidu serves the same purpose. ABOVE Google is banned in China, but the Chinese have make other plans to get what they need
RIGHT Despite it being slightly different information to what we are used to in the West, China has an information super highway of their own.
of Western websites come with a catch; nothing too racy, especially about politics. The government has no qualms about squashing stories it doesn’t like or cutting off access to websites it can’t control. Full censorship is reserved for websites like Facebook and Twitter, whose users’ communication cannot be regulated. On QQ and Weibo, the government actively intervenes against political chatter. A Weibo user who tries to talk about official corruption or government gossip will see his post deleted in minutes, if it goes through at all. A Youku video-uploader who tries to post an anti-establishment clip will never be able to get it online. The religious group Falun Gong (a meditation/spiritual movement) is labeled an “evil cult” and any discussion otherwise is immediately deleted. Online pornography is “polluting the social environment” and is blocked nation-wide. Politicallysensitive topics like Taiwan
ERIK CROUCH or Tibet are censored out of existence. This treatment isn’t reserved just for democracy advocates and political dissidents. In late March a photo of the new president, Xi Jinping, was censored off the web because he was holding his wife’s handbag (too weak!). Last August, a photo of Premier Wen Jiabao was blocked because he was riding a bicycle (too casual!). The International Business Times estimates that, out of the 100 million daily posts on Weibo, as many as ten million are censored. For Yang and Daisy, this censorship means very different things. For Daisy, it’s an inconvenience. She wants to see her friend’s videos on YouTube or trip photos on Facebook, and needs to buy a VPN to do so. For Yang, it’s all he knows. During our conversation, he revealed his disbelief that QQ could be accessed from other countries; Facebook is blocked in China, so QQ is probably blocked in America and Europe, he assumed. Any online discussion
about this censorship, of course, would be censored. Yang and Daisy aren’t political dissidents. They are typical Chinese twentysomethings whose status updates, whether on QQ or Facebook, focus on memes, fashion, music, and celebrities. The topics of discussion on QZone (the QQ version of Facebook’s “News Feed”) are, for the most part, just as trivial and lighthearted as those on the Western web. The difference is politics. During an election season, or following a political scandal, Facebook lights up with discussions, images, news, and arguments. Even the most casual user would find it hard not to stumble into political chatter on Twitter or YouTube. On the Chinese internet, however, politics either follows the government line or faces deletion. Youku, Weibo, and QQ have hundreds of millions of users, all of whom are forced to keep their conversations confined to the daily and inconsequential. Celebrities and memes are encouraged, but
21ST CENTURY LIVING
DID YOU KNOW ? China has the world’s largest mobile phone population (over 850 million active accounts in 2011). [ Wikipedia “List of countries by number of mobile phones in use” ] By 2015, China’s Internet population is expected to reach more than 650 million…..however, that still would only represent less than 50% of China’s total population. [ BCG report “China’s Digital Generations 2.0” May 2010 ] Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, and Wikipedia are blocked in China by the “Great Firewall of China.” [Wikipedia “List of websites blocked in the People’s Republic of China” ]
ABOVE Did you know that 66% of the world’s 130 million bicycles made are in China?
don’t try putting up that photo of Wen Jiabao on a bicycle. In many ways the Chinese social media reflect the Western ones, with that big difference – a guiding hand that directs specifically political thought, so that the security of the State is maintained, and the party line is upheld, presumably for the good of the whole. The emphasis here is not on the individual, but on the group and its stability under Communism. It’s a far cry from the Western approach, but at the same time, both seek to support their respective systems. In the West, after all, Google monitors our browsing and gives feedback to sites such as Facebook, who then know which adverts to place before us. Such an approach seeks to support the notion of the individual as supreme, reinforcing our own conceptions of ourselves.
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THE BEST YOU
I
n the developed world we take electricity for granted. From first thing in the morning when the alarm clock goes off, boiling the kettle to make that first cup of tea or coffee, listening to the radio as you get ready for the day through to catching the train or tube to work, electricity is the background to our lives. Yet, with all his abundance of electricity in our lives, we don’t have don’t have to travel very far to meet people who have to do without. Just a hop and a skip away in Africa you find huge areas where people are awoken in the morning by the cock-a-doodledo of the rooster, make their coffee in a pan over a fire, and get to work in the old fashioned way – by walking. This way of life may seem entirely foreign to us in our electricity-rich world, but with the price of fuel to make electricity on an upward spiral, the time when we could thoughtlessly waste energy is coming to an end. Carry on without considering the resources we are using, and who knows - it may not be too long before we’ll all have to get roosters of our own to make sure you make that morning meeting! According to a report by energy regulator Ofgem, Britain will face energy shortages by the winter of 2015, with the amount of spare energy falling from 14 per cent now to only four per cent. This means we
QUICK TIPS Turn the temperature of your dishwasher down to 30°C When making a cup of tea, only boil the water you need Unless you are baking, there is no need to preheat your oven. Let your hair air-dry in the summer instead of using a hairdryer
BELOW Being careful with electricity can save you some cash.
would have to rely more on the power of imported gas, which would result in steep price increases. So, what can we do? You might think all your electricity usage is completely essential, but surely there are areas to cut back? We’ve put together some great tips that will save you cash and are great for the environment as well. We gave you some good ideas back in February. Now here are even more:
HIGH AND DRY Many people in the west use their tumble dryers to dry their laundry all year round. Sure, that might seem obvious in the winter months, but even in the summer, when the central heating isn’t on many people find they don’t have an outside space to get their clothing dry, or just haven’t thought how to save on that fuel bill. Of course, it helps to have an energy efficient tumble dryer, but if you don’t that doesn’t mean you need to get a new one. You can just change the way you use it. For example, you can hang your clothes on a clotheshorse in your living room until they are almost dry, and then just tumble dry them for a fraction of the time to get them completely dry instead
21ST CENTURY LIVING of putting them straight into the tumble dryer after the spin cycle. You could save over £130 per year.
LIGHT UP MY LIFE This may sound like an obvious one, but remember to turn off the lights and the television when you leave a room. To be honest, turning off the lights doesn’t actually save you that much money (if you go out for two hours and forget to turn a light off, that is only going to cost you less than one pence), but when it comes to conserving energy, every kilowatt counts. That said, the telly does use a lot of electricity, so remember to switch it off!
GET DISCONNECTED If you aren’t actually charging your mobile phone, unplug the charger and turn the plug off at the wall. To be honest, small device chargers left in the wall with now devices attached don’t run up a huge bill – but imagine millions of these devices all over the country left plugged in and that 4 per cent margin suddenly starts to look very tight. Every little helps, as the saying goes. On a more thrifty note, remember when you go away for the weekend to unplug as many appliances as you can (except the fridge of course) and turn the switches on the sockets off. Turning appliances off completely instead of leaving them on standby can save you nearly £80 per year. b
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WE SUPPORT The Children’s Trust The Best You backs worthy causes that support our community The Children’s Trust is a UK charity for children with complex disabilities. The Trust helps children from all over the country and is probably best known for providing rehabilitation and support to children who have suffered a brain injury after a tragic accident or serious illness. They also provide expert nursing care and education for children with multiple disabilities and complex health needs. Thanks to the generous support of the public, The Children’s Trust is able to continue providing the very best care for children at their specialist facilities in Tadworth, Surrey. They are also using charitable support to reach more children and families around the UK than
ever before: in March 2013 the Trust funded a new clinical post in Nottingham Children’s Hospital to help children with brain injuries; and they are reaching out to the thousands of families who have a child with a brain injury through their Brain Injury Hub website (www.braininjuryhub.co.uk), which provides information and support to parents. By supporting The Children’s Trust you’ll be making a difference to the lives of some of the UK’s most vulnerable children. To make a donation or find out how you can help, visit www. thechildrenstrust.org.uk
OTHER WORTHY CAUSES WE SUPPORT National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) www.nspcc.org.uk Katie Piper Foundation www.katiepiperfoundation.org.uk
10millionmetres www.alexflynn.co.uk
War Child www.warchild.org.uk
Teenage Cancer Trust
Sebastian's Action Trust
Alice's Blog
www.teenagecancertrust.org
www.sebastiansactiontrust.org
alicepyne.blogspot.co.uk
Johnson Beharry VC
Bosom Buddies UK
Alice's Blog
www.johnsonbeharryvc.com
www.bosombuddiesuk.com
alicepyne.blogspot.co.uk
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n o i t a m r o f n i r o f ? g y n r i u k j o n i Lo n i a r b d o vice d o a l a h c i t c d a l i h and pr c n o i t a n m r o info .co.uk for ryhub u j n i n i a r .b Visit www
New
The Brain Injury Hub is a brand new information website for parents and other family members of children and young people with acquired brain injury. Whether you’re a parent, grandparent, friend or just want to know more, the Brain Injury Hub is packed full of information on all aspects of childhood brain injury, including: being in hospital, returning to school, talking to others about brain injury, parent and sibling wellbeing and much more.
Website features:
• Fully referenced information • Easy-read versions of all materials
• Bookmark pages to read later • Discussion forum for parents to pose questions and share experiences
• Dedicated information for teachers
Charity registration no. 288018
www.braininjuryhub.co.uk
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