VOICINg MY OPINION

A song in my Heart

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 13:09:21 +0100

I don’t know if anyone reads this blog but it is a great way for me to map where I am. As a musician I often get frustrated when i don’t get an opportunity to vent my creative spleen.

I have been revisiting some the my past musical projects and have realised that i had done a lot more than I have thought. So I decided to put a music page up for you to listen to and maybe give feedback if you feel so inclined. It is an eclectic mix of stuff which made me aware that I am very much project driven. Give me a subject or a deadline and I can produce. Without these stimulus I drift around in musical wilderness.

I have been singing a lot recently which I alway enjoy although some of the costumes I have had to wear I prefer to leave in the annals of history.....great fun though.
Check out www.lacageauxfolles.myzen.co.uk

Boundary Limits of thought

Mon, 3 Mar 2008 14:17:52 +0000

It occurred to me this week, when talking to some of my students that we all put conditions and boundaries up in our mind, way before anyone else does.....why is this?

Partly it could be down to conditioning, parting upbringing, and partly because it is easier to make an excuse than to fail.

When asked some time ago, why I gave up being a singer in the West End, my stock answer was always....”I was always told by my agent that I would come into my own when I was 35”. Guess what ... I believed her!! I was doing some work for an event company at the time and thought, “As it is going to be a few years before I come into my own, as she put it, I will carry on doing this job (event company) as I am really enjoying it!”.

Basically, I bought into the boundaries that someone else had set and it changes that course of my life.

Now, fortunately I came to realise that the only boundaries that really exist in our lives are set by us and that it is resourcefulness not resources that get us to where we want to go.

Try this... Think, if you took away any financial, family, distance and confidence constraints and could do anything you dreamed of ....what would it be?

Now what you have done is taken away the boundary limits of thinking and taken the first step to making your dream a reality.

Now the hard work begins, because whatever anybody tells you, you got to give something to get something back. You want the world....well, you have got to give it first.!

Training the brave

Wed, 13 Feb 2008 17:16:51 +0000

I spent yesterday in London doing 1-2-1 training with my associate and friend Richard Newman. I was really looking forward to it because having spent the last 10 years training people 1-2-1 in the studio, I was aware what a whole day coaching these two guys could achieve.

Wow, it didn’t disappoint. In the morning we worked with a guy who wanted to come across better in 1-2-1 situations. He wanted some advanced body language skills (Richard’s area of expertise) and to feel more in control of difficult situations and negotiation (My bag). We showed him some core techniques and helped him practice them in role-play situations and finished off with some advanced skills to help him get the edge he was looking for. He didn’t shy away from anything we threw at him and even though he was the MD of a large company, he was really open to what we were trying to say.

The second guy went even further. He was the CEO of a large record label and although been incredibly successful, he realised that he didn’t feel as comfortable in certain situations as he used to be. During the session we came to some difficult conclusions as to why, gave him suggestions of how to overcome this feeling. After some amazingly brave steps he left feeling elated. As did I.

What a great day.

Duff Blog

Tue, 5 Feb 2008 19:46:20 +0000

Well this is my first Blog and thanks to the people at Apple for making this process so easy.

These are indeed exciting times in the Duffill household, firstly my wife Emma (you can see her on the home page with my son Daniel) is expecting our second child. So come September we will be four (not including the dogs!)

Daniel is heading for his second birthday and is becoming more and more independant., He surprised Louise at nursery yesterday by asking “Louise, what is Amy doing?” - quite some vocab for his age... He is such an outdoor boy too. Always asking to go outside.

As for me I am as busy as I have ever been..I have had some really exciting coaching challenges lately including coaching my business coach Johnny Cass in between him traveling to Los Angeles and Sydney. Spent last weekend in Madrid coaching some hyper-intelligent Doctors. I have been coaching in London and Bristol most of the last four weeks. As well as trying to keep my feet on the ground setting up seminars for my clients in the West Country.

Today I still have to add some music on to Julian’s (Long standing friend and business associate) website www.1stcallentertainment.co.uk, Write a backing track for one of my clients, take two coaching sessions and attend a rehearsal. So better go now. I will write more soon.