How to be "a stronger, more effective and confident human being"

It’s not about becoming someone else. It’s all about having the confidence to tap into all that you already are.
Julia GoodmanJulia Goodman
Julia Goodman

New book You Brand: A Manual For Confidence sees Felpham-based Julia Goodman share the secrets of her 30-year career as a pioneering performance coach.

“You Brand is you everywhere”, as Julia explains. “You start out by thinking who you are and whether there is more to you that you are not feeling comfortable about expressing. You start thinking about how other people perceive you and how people read you because very often for all sorts of reasons we are not our full self a lot of the time.”

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Julia came into the coaching on the back of a successful acting career – and it was these skills she turned to.

“I was thinking ‘I am divorced with two children and when I am not working, I am living on social services.’ And I was thinking ‘If I can learn from these wonderful parts that I have been lucky enough to play, then maybe it is time for me to move on and to put some food on the table for my kids.’

“And I had the idea to take the techniques and the psychology and the science of communication that we use as actors and that we are trained in as actors… and to transpose them to non-actors.

“The skill you need as an actor is to get under the skin of the person that you are playing so that you can play them with depth and reality and authority.”

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The idea of You Brand, as Julia explains, is that you use those skills to get to your own inner core.

“It is about getting people to be able to express more of themselves; to be able to articulate the things about themselves that they can’t reach any other way.”

Julia stresses it is all about self-realisation: “You are not becoming someone else. You are becoming more of yourself with skill.”

And you become your brand: “And you can do that whether you are talking to three people or to 500 people; whether you are in an interview situation or in a conversation.”

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It is life-changing. Julia cites the CEO of a top company who was convinced he couldn’t speak in public because of his dyslexia.

“One of the key things that I think that is really interesting is connection – something which we desperately need and desperately want in this time of isolation. We so long for connection. But when you read this book you will understand that you can actually communicate yourself still and in so many better ways – even within the restrictions.

“It gives you a better sense of your own worth and your own value. And for young people it really is an investment in their future. When we do come out of all this, these young people are going to be changing their lives and going for interviews. If you genuinely realise that you are a unique individual with important things to offer, it will make all the difference.

“And it is all done on a process based on the performing arts. It is about tapping into what is already there and maybe blowing it up a bit and heightening it a bit so that if you are ever in a situation where your tummy is going ‘Euuuuwww…’ then you will be able to cope. You will have fear and stress and tension, but you learn to use them to be able to perform.”

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But, as Julia stresses, You Brand isn’t about acting: the role you’ll be playing is you.

“Even if you don’t want to use your You Brand to achieve a particular ambition or advance your career, I think you’ll find that knowing and accepting who you are – and using and communicating that awareness on an everyday basis – will make you a stronger, more effective and confident human being.”

The book is available from Matador Business Coaching www.troubador.co.uk and from Amazon; ISBN: 9781838593568; price: £11.99.

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