Category: Health & Wellbeing

career, growth mindset, Health & Wellbeing, New thinking

Be More Pirate – Attitude and Growth Mindset

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Having a growth mindset is extremely important in maintaining a positive outlook at work and in home life. It encourages an individual to overcome challenges and failure, whilst continuing to strive for success. Adopting a growth mindset allows us to develop our skills and abilities, as it allows us to acknowledge that we have the capacity to improve even if we are not currently successful.

“The problem is not the problem. The problem is your attitude about the problem.”– Captain Jack Sparrow, Pirates of the Caribbean character

Carol Dweck renowned researcher author of Mindset describes two mindsets. Fixed and Growth;

Fixed mindset: “In a fixed mindset, people believe their basic qualities, like their intelligence or talent, are simply fixed traits. They spend their time documenting their intelligence or talent instead of developing them. They also believe that talent alone creates success—without effort.” (Dweck, 2015)

Fixed mindset thinking

This is too hard

I can’t do this

This work is good enough

Growth mindset: “In a growth mindset, people believe that their most basic abilities can be developed through dedication and hard work—brains and talent are just the starting point. This view creates a love of learning and a resilience that is essential for great accomplishment.” (Dweck, 2015)

Growth mindset thinking

I can try a different strategy

Is this really my best work?

This may take some time and effort

“Individuals who believe their talents can be developed (through hard work, good strategies, and input from others) have a growth mindset. They tend to achieve more than those with a more fixed mindset (those who believe their talents are innate gifts).” – Carol Dweck.

A growth mindset encourages us to take on new tasks, conquer fears and push ourselves out of our comfort zone. This promotes learning and personal development which can in turn increase our confidence and self-esteem. Having a fixed mindset leads to feelings of stagnation, lack of motivation and low self-worth; this is why it is so important that we adopt a growth attitude towards ourselves, others and situations in life.

How you view yourself determines fixed or growth mindset


Dweck takes this stoic approach, writing: “in the growth mindset, failure can be a painful experience. But it doesn’t define you. It’s a problem to be faced, dealt with, and learned from.

The power of yet

In a growth mindset Dweck talks about the power of yet. Instead of praising talent and intelligence, Dweck argues that we should praise the process: effort, strategy, focus, perseverance and improvement. Process praise, she explains, leads to more persistence and, ultimately, better results.

Having or developing a growth mindset enables us to be open minded about opportunities that come our way-we learn how to adapt easily without feeling overwhelmed by potential failure or change. This type of mentality is an especially useful tool when working with colleagues as it allows us collaborate more effectively as well as being able to accept disagreeable viewpoints without becoming overly defensive or judgmental. In addition, having an open mind when tackling tasks will enable us create innovative solutions rather than just settling for the obvious answer!

With this approach, individuals are encouraged to keep going despite any roadblocks they may encounter on their journey-this helps maintain positivity in both professional and personal lives. So while I’m not condoning Captain Jack pirate behaviour we certainly need to consider our attitude towards issues and problems with a “not yet” attitude.

Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept on trying when there seemed no hope at all- Dale Carnegie, American Writer and Lecturer

Overall, having a growth mindset is essential for maintaining a positive outlook at work and in home life – allowing us take on greater challenges with confidence while appreciating the power of learning through mistakes along the way!

Author: Ciara Moore

Ciara is the founder of Female Leaders At 50 Network

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Health & Wellbeing

Feeling run down and not getting any healthier? Here’s why you should consider Lifestyle Medicine.

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The importance of lifestyle medicine is that it provides evidence-based solutions to help prevent and manage chronic diseases, such as heart disease, diabetes, obesity and cancer. It also helps us maintain overall physical, mental and emotional well-being. The six pillars of lifestyle medicine focus on healthy behaviors like eating nutritious meals, exercising regularly, getting enough sleep, maintaining supportive relationships with family and friends, reducing stress and quitting unhealthy habits like smoking or excessive alcohol consumption.

Staying healthy as a female over the age of forty is especially important due to the hormonal shifts that our bodies go through during this time. Our metabolism slows down while we gain more abdominal fat and tend to lose muscle mass – all of which can lead to an increased risk for chronic illnesses and health problems. To combat this trend it’s important to start improving your lifestyle now.

Reducing substances like alcohol and smoking is essential in order to protect your body from damaging toxins while maintaining optimal health. Sleep plays an important role in helping the body recover from everyday activities as well as promoting good mental health. Nutrition is key for both preventing disease as well as managing existing conditions. Eating a balanced diet with a variety of fruits and vegetables helps ensure proper nutrient intake for energy throughout the day and a strong immune system against infection or illness. Relationships are important for social support as well as providing accountability when trying to stick with new habits or accomplish goals that require dedication over time.

Exercise should be incorporated daily in order to boost energy levels and provide physical benefits including improved muscle tone, better posture, weight management and stress reduction. Finally, reducing stress is essential in order to stay mentally healthy by taking breaks from work or other difficult situations that may cause undue strain or anxiety.

The combination of these six pillars of lifestyle medicine will create a healthier version of yourself by establishing sustainable habits that you can keep up with long term in order to maintain your wellbeing now and into the future – no matter what stage of life you’re currently in!

Feeling run down and like you’re not getting any healthier?

Lifestyle medicine is a great way to take control of your health and well-being. It’s a comprehensive approach that focuses on implementing healthy habits and behaviors in order to prevent or manage chronic disease.

With the Healthy Active Women Lifestyle Medicine Programme, you will learn how to make lifestyle changes that will have a positive impact on your health for years to come. You’ll be given all the tools you need to make lasting changes and feel better than ever before.

Sign up today for our next 10 week programme You won’t regret it.

Ciara Moore

Ciara Moore a certified personal fitness trainer (ASFA) and a certified complete health improvement facilitator.

Contact CiaraMBmoore@outlook.com

Health & Wellbeing

Healthy Active Women

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ITS ALL IN THE HEAD

During Covid – 19 we all put on the ‘Covid spread’. Roll on conversations with friends assuring me I was fine and haven’t we all put on a little weight. I had been working away and arriving home each week meant I could have a bottle of wine and a large bag of crisps….to myself. I worked hard, I deserved it didn’t I?

I thought I looked ok until at the latter end of 2020 I spotted myself in a lift mirror at a sideways angle and saw my protruding tummy. The last time I had a stomach so large was when I carried my children during pregnancy and I was never a petite carrier. In 2020 I jogged a 50k but was not lean! I was fit but fat. Friends said I was looking good, and it was all ‘in my head’ but I did not feel right as I watched my waist expand. I was watching everyone’s waist expand too and saying the same things to them! ‘Its menopause and its natural’ we said ‘We are all experiencing it.’ But I felt this was not right. I felt exhausted and tired, frumpy and old before my time.

I finally pulled myself together, entered a fitness programme and really changed my mindset and my approach to food and exercise. The programme helped me refocus and made me want to understand more about food and my health. It was not rocket science. It was what we all know ;

Good food = Good health.

Once I signed up to changing my outlook (in my head) planned my food, reduced my alcohol intake and stopped my long runs replacing with shorter bursts of activity. I even started to use weights and battleropes. It really did not take long to notice the changes in my shape. I was definitely also more productive at work, less stressed and my low energy was gone. I took a keen interest in learning more about how food and weight bearing exercise is important even more so in my 50s. Particularly bone health as it is essential in women as we age, choosing the right foods, combined with weight bearing exercise prevents osteoporosis.

SO WHATS NEXT?

I have always been passionate about supporting female leaders. II founded a female leaders network. I know as a female leader I had been spending hours glued to my desk. I had been eating little or no food some days then binging others. That’s another thing I started to eat a lot MORE food (the right food) and still lost weight. I started to consider if I had been like that not caring for myself I bet many other working age women are too. I thought about how I can help them.

I wanted something more than a diet, we know diets don’t work but what was the toolkit I could give to women to help them too? Even if I could help one woman that would be enough for me.

I trained in a lifestyle medicine programme in October 2021 and this year after building up my confidence (who would listen to me I thought?) I ran my first group of five working age women through a complete health improvement twelve week programme.

The results have been rewarding.

The women have reported many changes such as

reduced weight,

improved mood,

reduced menopause symptoms

reduced cholesterol levels

‘Had my first appointment at the docs. lost 13% of my previous weights. Amazing! Lost 10.5kg! Thank you so much!‘

TOOLKIT FOR EVER

We all know and I will say it again diets do not work, this is about a mindset change with the right tools . We cannot be perfect all the time and we all need a treat now and then but having the toolkit helps get you back on track again quickly. Food is our medicine.

‘I have been off the programme for a couple of weeks now but back on it again and feeling so much better. My mood has lifted and the fog has gone again. My daughter begged me to go back on it as I was in such a foul mood….it shows it works’

So if you have the right mindset and you want to gain the lifestyle medicine tools to support you become a Healthy Active Woman with a supportive community behind you please contact me to discuss. Our next wave of Healthy Active Women (Complete Health Improvement 12 week Programme) starts on the 3rd August 2022.

You may like join our Healthy Active Women Community of Interest Group on the 13th July 2022.

To enrol in the programme or join the Healthy Active Women Group please contact me via email: CiaraMBMoore@outlook.com