Challenging unhelpful negative thoughts is a skill. These thoughts are not facts, and by challenging them we can differentiate between what is real and what is distorted emotional interpretation. When we temper and control the emotional black-and-white thinking, which comes from an agitated emotional brain, we can better access our thinking rational brain (our higher intelligence) and see things with a far clearer perspective. This is good emotional intelligence, not least because it is fair, realistic and balanced.

There are many people who believe that the life of a Student is an easy and carefree one. But this is not necessarily true. The practises and habits that you set in place when you are a Student will often remain with you for the rest of your life and lead to your success. So it is important to realise that you have both strong points and weak points, and to then do what you can to improve yourself.

If you haven’t already heard, 12 September 2012 is National PA Day. This will be the 2nd annual celebration of Britain’s PAs – the people who make Britain’s offices work – so why not be part of it by spending the day with your fellow PAs at Office?

This annual day will celebrate Britain’s PAs – the unsung heroes of Britain’s offices – and aims to highlight the increasing importance of the estimated 600,000 highly skilled PAs working in offices across the UK and to promote the profession to well-educated young people seeking an exciting and stimulating career.

Once we are aware of any one or more unhelpful thinking tendencies, we can then begin challenging unnecessarily negative thoughts and practise using different language which better reflects the shades of grey of reality, training the brain to move further away from instinctive black-and-white (emotional) thinking. Here are some examples of some typical black-and-white thinking styles and possible contrasting ways of looking at things.

I expect at some point in your life – perhaps more than once – you’ve said this. When you’ve said it, you most probably meant something like “I wish some significant good fortune will come my way soon!”

Reading the Daily Express on my flight to Spain on 25 June, I came across a small article on a poll carried out by the children’s literacy charity, ‘Volunteer Reading Help’.  In their study of 500 Chief Executives, Managers and other high earners, they found that hard work, charm, persistence, warmth, intelligence and a sense of humour were high amongst the ingredients for success. It also revealed that luck, fate and good timing also help.

As you work your way through the Legal Secretaries Diploma course, there may be a part of you that feels anxious about how you are going to secure a job as a Legal Secretary or PA. This is perfectly understandable, as you are only human. Rest assured that some of the other students will be feeling exactly the same way. The good news is that there are some excellent resources on offer when you decide to study through the Institute, and these include CV help, career guidance and access to a wealth of information that could really help you to move forward.

When people who should not be in such work manage to slip through the cracks in the pavement and enter professions where vulnerable children or adults are involved, this is an issue that is always guaranteed to create a high level of controversy in society. After all, the vulnerable are the people we should always make every effort to protect the most, and when there has been a breach of trust, this is something we have to learn from and we must ensure the same thing never happens again.

Have you recently decided to return to studying after a long break? Perhaps it has been many years since you last found yourself in such a position, and now that you have enrolled on one of the Institute’s courses, you are hoping that you will feel enthusiastic right through to the end. Enthusiasm is a common emotion to feel at the start of a course of study, although it is sometimes difficult to maintain. Rest assured that there are ways in which you can control such emotions, and ensure that you remain steadfastly committed and enthused by the course.

The conscious (thinking) brain and the subconscious (emotional) brain

Our brain is a complex and fascinating organ. The thinking (conscious) brain operates at an intellectual level, giving us perspective and good problem-solving capability. When it works in healthy harmony with our emotional (subconscious) brain, we function at our best and can be at our most robust and resilient in dealing with whatever life throws at us. Research has shown that the emotional brain processes around 2 million pieces of information every second. In contrast, the thinking brain can hold only between five and nine things in conscious awareness at any one time. So, of necessity, all the pieces of information that the emotional brain deals with (like blinking, regulating blood pressure, telling us when we need food, etc., as well as the range of feelings and thoughts which it generates) need to be filtered before being brought into conscious awareness. The brain’s own filter mechanism is capable of developing and retaining unhelpful negative processes, the three most usual culprits being deletion, distortion and generalisation.

Well, actually, no! You’re not its greatest asset, but you are part of its second-greatest asset, and that is something, in itself, to think about! Why? I’ll tell you later.

What, then, is your firm’s greatest asset? It’s their clients. Why? Well, without them there would be no firm, no business, no partners and no staff, because there would be no money coming in! So clients are extremely important – you don’t need to be a rocket scientist to appreciate that – as Aleksandr Orlov Meerkat would say – ‘Simples’!