Improve any relationship with just three words. No, not “I love you” but “Just Like Me”. In this blog I explain how these three words can make a huge difference.

Have you ever got caught up in someone else’s drama and found yourself thinking “How on earth did I get sucked into this?”. If you have then chances are that you have been drawn into a drama triangle.

I got geekily excited when I saw this being used to describe the conflict between characters in the BBC drama The Cry recently, although it occurred to me that many viewers might not understand why the main character Joanna was being asked about a triangle by a psychologist. Here I explain what that triangle is all about.

I've set myself a goal to read one self-development book per month. To make sure I really reflect on what I'm reading I'm going to extract the wisdom from the best business and personal development books and share it with you. This month I’ve been reading Heaven and Hell: The Psychology of the Emotions by Neel Burton

This month I’ve been reading Alive at Work: The Neuroscience of Helping Your People Love What They Do by Daniel M Cable. The book largely focuses on a part of the brain called the ‘seeking system’. Our seeking system is the part of the brain that creates the impulse to explore our world and learn about our environment. But what has this got to do with feeling alive at work?

This month I’ve been reading Get The Truth. Getting someone to tell the truth is an essential skill that most people would love to have but very few people possess. Former CIA agents and professional interrogators Philip Houston, Mike Floyd, and Susan Carnicero are among the world's best at detecting deceptive behaviour. Not only can they convince people to share things they don’t want to tell but often the subjects of their interrogations thank them for the opportunity afterwards!!!

Relationships, public speaking, performing a song for Simon Cowell. All things you should put as much of yourself as you can into. A lion's den, a pair of hotpants 2 sizes too small and difficult conversations-all things you absolutely take yourself out of. I don’t mean don’t have difficult conversations but, as far as possible, we should take ourselves out of them.

Have you ever felt snowed under because of the commitments you have to other people? If you have then you may be training them to depend on you either practically or emotionally. Even worse your act of kindness might not be as kind as you think.

Ever described yourself as being in two minds about something? Have you ever stopped to wonder if there's some meaning to that? 

In this blog I explore the difference between two types of thought, or processing, our minds use and the importance of appreciating the role each is designed to play. If you often experience a conflict between what you feel you should do and what you actually want to do, it might be helpful to ask "Am I using the best part of my brain to solve the problem?"

Willpower doesn't exist.

We've all experienced a lack of what we call 'willpower' so we think it must be real. That sounds reasonable until you think about what willpower actually means . Here's why willpower isn't what we think it is.