At The Awards People, we are (as you would expect) always encouraging people to put themselves or their businesses forward for awards. To check every now and again that we’re not just being incredibly biased, we speak to contacts outside of our inner circle to get their take on the whole subject.
Very recently we had an amazing conversation with Vicky Bailey who is a successful Psychotherapist and Performance Coach. As well as being a very clever lady, Vicky knows exactly how to get her clients ‘firing on all cylinders’ so we were very interested to know her opinion on the award process from the point of view of the nominee and we were blown away by some of the things she said.
Firstly, she likened award entry to a job interview. Her advice to clients is always to be proud of their achievements and she points out that the entry form should be treated just like an interview with a new prospective employer. The mindset, she suggests, should be one of making the very best impression and making sure that accomplishments aren’t ‘played down’ or entirely omitted due to bashfulness. An interview is seen as an opportunity to impress so why wouldn’t an award entry be seen as the same? You want the job, so you go for it, you prepare, and you tell everyone why you’d be so great in that position. The only real difference between this and an award is that you have to put the words down in writing – even better, you get to review and edit until you’re 100% happy!
Vicky also reminded us of the fact that we can learn a whole lot about ourselves whilst undergoing a process such as award entry. Self-doubt is the little nagging voice on your shoulder which tells you not to bother. Rather than spend time listening to the voice she says we should instead ask why that voice is actually there. Her answer is that it’s the part of your subconscious which keeps you grounded, helps you double check decisions and keeps you both alert and protected – by no means a bad thing we say. Submitting an entry for any kind of award is something which is bound to get you noticed and this possibility can sometimes prompt insecurities. The advice Vicky regularly issues is to use the ‘niggle’ as a chance to do a sense check on yourself; you are doing what you do because you enjoy it and you are good at it. Back to the interview scenario again – simply tell everyone just how great you are; they will want to know and they will most probably be incredibly impressed by your story.
Huge thanks to Vicky for giving us such an interesting insight into how our minds can sometimes control our actions in ways we don’t immediately recognise. If you, like us, were intrigued by the wisdom of her experience then you can see her recent visit to the ‘sofa of success’ on our YouTube Channel and – coming soon – on our very own vlog.
