2 Easy Techniques to Calm and Relax You (Almost) Anywhere and at Anytime

What the partners of Leicestershire based 

Morgan Gleave Art & Design 
have learnt in 12 years of running a small 
Graphic Design business. 

Breathing Exercise

Helpful when you are feeling stressed or angry

We all feel like this from time to time...

• Stand up or lean back on a chair and stretch your legs out.

• Concentrate on your breathing and your body.

• Breath in as slowly as you can through your nose until you can breath in no more. Push out your abdomen as you breath is so that your lungs have plenty of room to expand.

• Hold your breath for a couple of seconds.

This little timekeeper could give some tips on how to relax...

• Breath out of your mouth equally slowly.  Tuck in your abdomen towards the end of your outward breath to ensure that you push out every scrap of ‘air’.

• Do this three times.  (No, do not stop breathing altogether after these three breaths – that would be silly)

If you forget to breath again, you may be carted off like this poor soul...

You can repeat this whenever you find yourself getting stressed.

NB Do not do more than three deep breaths at the same time.  It is not good for you and you may start to feel a little peculiar.

Yes, well, perhaps not this peculiar

Some toilets are not as
relaxing as others...

Relaxation Exercise

When you are tense and tired, this will help

This is best done laying down.    

If that is not possible, it can done sitting at your desk, in your car (of course not when you are driving.  That would be silly!) or even – at a push – sitting on a toilet.   

(No, not when you are doing that.  Honestly!  You have to wait until you have finished and then do the exercise.)

• Although you can do this more or less anywhere, bear in mind that you will be pulling some strange faces.

(Will you stop it!  We are talking about pulling strange faces when you are doing the exercise!)

• The key here is to do the exercise as slowly as possible.

• Tense every muscle in your body at the same time and hold for as long as you are able.

• Whilst tensing, mentally inspect your body.  Work systematically upwards, starting at your feet, and ensure that every muscle is tense.  Do not forget your bottom, back, face and scalp.  Tense everything as hard as you can for as long as you can.

(Do stop giggling and concentrate!  Bottom is not funny!  How old are you?  Five?)

• Relax

• Working systematically from your feet upwards, tense every muscle for a few moments and then relax before moving up to the next muscle.  It is tempting to rush this stage, but resist and keep concentrating on each of your muscles. 

• Relax

• Tense every muscle at the same time for as long as possible whilst mentally inspecting every muscle as you did in step one. 

• Relax

• Rest for a few moments before going about your business.  You should be ready for anything now.  

(No one has fallen into the toilet.  We do not want to hear anymore poo humour!  Honestly!  Such a child!) 

The more you practise, the more effective these exercises are and you will very easily feel like this...

...or even like this...

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10 Things Not to do at a Business Networking Event

These posts are usually started with 'What the partners of Morgan Gleave Art & Design have learnt in eleven years of running a small business' but, fortunately, these things did not take eleven years to learn...

We could easily be accused of stating the obvious but sometimes what is obvious to one person is not obvious to another.

Remember that when you attend a business networking event you are representing your company, and that your appearance and behaviour represent your company's image.

When you go to a business networking event, ensure that you DO NOT:

1)  Smell bad

If you smell bad, people will back off.  To effectively network, you need to interact with as many other people as possible.

You do not have to look dirty to smell.  

It is no use putting on a clean, beautifully ironed shirt if you have not showered, put on clean underwear (No...turning them inside out is not good enough...) or used an antiperspirant properly.  

Note the word 'properly'.  When did you last read the instructions your product?

A common error is to forget to dry-clean, suits, jackets and coats regularly

Oh, and forget covering stale smells with perfumes - it does not work.

There is some excellent advice on managing body odour on the NHS Choices site.

Do not forget to keep your breath smelling sweet.  

Clean your teeth properly in the morning, at night and immediately before any social event such as a business networking event.  Also, have regular dentist checkups.  

Again, advice on treating and preventing bad breath can be found on NHS choices.


2)  Dominate conversations

You will lose people's attention if you dominate the conversation.

When you do speak, be relevant and succinctly communicate.

Remember to ask questions.  You learn more by listening than talking.

3)  Be unfriendly
The point of networking is to build business relationships.




You need to be approachable and to be willing to make an effort to introduce yourself to the other members of the group.

4)  Fiddle with your mobile

If your mind is on your mobile, you are not interacting effectively with the other attendees.

In any event, to fiddle with your mobile in company is rude.

Switch it off.  Put it away.  Concentrate on the people you are with.  

With very few exceptions,  the mobile communication can wait until the networking event is over.  That includes reading this blo...ok, bye then...

5)  Dress inappropriately




What is appropriate is difficult to specify, it is easier to point out what is not appropriate.


You would be well advised not to turn up to a business networking event dressed as the people here.


 (Arguably the black leather would get you and your business noticed, and we all want our business to be noticed.  Perhaps one of Morgan Gleave Art & Design's partners could try it.  Morgan perhaps...?) 

6)  Be greedy

If you are greedy with food, it is not such a leap to conclude that you are greedy in business.

Probably not true but networking is about image.



We have all seen people at events pile their plates up like Mount Vesuvius.  It is not a good look.  

It is easy to imagine that if a person eats a volcano... 

...then they will erupt like a volcano.

Do you want to risk an 'eruption' during a business networking event?

Is this the image of your business you wish to portray?  An easy way to avoid this temptation is to eat before you attend.

7)  Eat like a piggy


If you eat like an animal, people will be repulsed and may conclude that you aint got no class.

Do not eat like Piggy on the right. 

Remember the table manners Mummy and Daddy (or Nanny) taught you.  

Oh, and eat as if The Queen is visiting, not as if you are snacking in front of the television after school.

8)  Be sexist, racist or any other ‘ist you can think of




Doing this could really get you into poo.  

Few people are impressed by this kind of thing.


This can be a bit of a minefield sometimes, so if in doubt, do not say it.




9)  Swear


It can appear as if swearing is acceptable everywhere these days.  

It is not.  

In a professional situation such as business networking event, it is not generally considered acceptable to swear.  

If you avoid it, you cannot go wrong.


"Did you %£$*&@£ get that?  

Do not *&£$*@$ swear when you at a ?>£*%^% business networking %^&£$^£ event!  It is $&^@£^* RUDE!  

So keep your *^6$%*£ mouth $%@£*&$ SHUT!"

10)  Put down other people, even in jest

This includes others within the group or your competitors.  

By all means mention your unique selling point such as that your knitting yarn is perfumed with lavender.  However, avoid anything nasty such as saying that your main competitor, the Pickled Herring Knitting Yarn Company, are rubbish because they perfume their yarns with fish'.

Again, remember what Mummy and Daddy (or Nanny) taught you, 'if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all'.

(The kitten is not relative to this article.  It is just fun to include an uplifting image.  After all, Morgan Gleave Art & Design is a creative company so we can be forgiven for enjoying adding images.)

You may find the following articles useful:

• 4 Step Plan to Boost Your Confidence at Business Networking Events: Step 1

• 4 Step Plan to Boost Your Confidence at Business Networking Events: Step 2

• 4 Step Plan to Boost Your Confidence at Business Networking Events: Step 3

• 4 Step Plan to Boost Your Confidence at Business Networking Events: Step 4

Have you any items to add to this?  

Have you ever made a networking event mistake you would like to share with us?  

Have you seen anyone else make an error?  (No names please, we want to avoid upsetting people.)

5 Steps to Managing 'Failures' in Business - and Elsewhere Too

What the partners of Morgan Gleave Art & Design have learnt in eleven years of running a small business. 

1) Do not avoid trying just to avoid failure

 “It is hard to fail, but it is worse never to have tried to succeed."

Theodore Roosevelt

2) Accept that everyone fails sometimes  

This does not mean that you should go round expecting to fail all the time – that would be counterproductive.  

It means accept that failing is part of life so that when it happens, it does not come as an earth shattering shock.

You will meet other entrepreneurs who appear to be perfect in every way.  It is easy to assume that you are the only one with difficulties. 

It is not true.  The rest are hiding failures behind their professional personas. 

You need to do the same because to openly dwell on your difficulties will reduce your potential customers’ confidence in your business.

(The butterfly has nothing to do with the article - it is just pretty and cheerful.)

3) Learn from your failures  

Work out what went wrong so that you can avoid the same thing happening again.   

4) Own your failure  

If you contributed to the failure, do not make excuses or blame someone else. 

Similarly, do not be too hard on yourself. 

If your failure affects someone else then take genuine responsibility for it.  Apologise, and make amends if you can. 

5) Forgive yourself and move on

Once you have worked out what went wrong, learnt from it and done all you can to make amends, it is time to forgive yourself and move on.

Forgiving yourself is not easy but worth the effort.  

Sometimes it is just a case of reminding yourself that you are humans and not infallible or that sometimes things just happen because we cannot control everything.

‘Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.’

Winston Churchill

6)  What to do when failure makes you feel miserable

  

Sometimes, when something major does go wrong, you have to let yourself be upset before you can regroup and start learning from the event.

Click on AUseful Little Trick for Managing ‘Bad’ Feelings for a surprisingly effective technique for managing your less welcome feelings.

The more you fail, the easier it gets to accept failure and move on.

Post Script

The death of the wonderful David Bowie has been announced today.  So sad.  Such a loss.

Reading David Bowie's obituary on the BBC’s website it is clear that even David Bowie had his fair share of failures but he still kept bouncing back and trying different things.  

If David Bowie cannot inspire you not to give into life's setbacks, then I doubt that anyone can. 

David Bowie, RIP

Have you any inspiring stories about how you have turned a failure into a positive learning experience?  This can be in business or elsewhere.

Comments about David Bowie are welcome too.