Life as a single mum can be challenging and exhausting, especially around this time of year when all the shops are filled with heart-shaped balloons! Here are some top tips to help you improve your confidence and take control of your life and its direction.

1. Congratulate yourself for doing an amazing job under difficult circumstances. Children bring us endless pleasure but bringing them up alone can often be demanding and overwhelming. Acknowledging everything you do to ensure your child is happy and content should make you feel proud.

2. Ensure you are happy about your self-image. This do...

1. Commit to your goal
Choose what you really want to achieve and believe that you can accomplish it.

2. Be realistic
The key is continued motivation. If you set the bar too high, you risk failing.

3. Write it down
A simple yet powerful technique that generates commitment and drive. Write your goal on a piece of paper and stick it where you’ll see it daily.

4. Make an action plan
Decide how to achieve your goal. Write down all the steps you aim to complete in order to conquer your ambition.

5. Be flexible
Not everything will go to plan. Don’t be too rigid else the first minor obstacle may ...

As Big Ben chimes in the New Year, many of us will be making resolutions in the hope they will change our lives for the better. So how can we make certain that such aspirations will be achievable and enable us to live life according to our own set of needs, desires and values?

Effective goal setting is the key. The first and often hardest step is to identify realistic goals that you believe will change your life for the better. A tip here is to consider all the life-long aspirations you have held but never pursued due to lack of time, self-confidence or both.

How realistic are your aspiratio...

As the year draws to a close, many mums will be finding that their schedule is becoming more and more hectic. Does your ‘to-do’ list look a little something like this?

• Make the Christmas cake
• Order the turkey
• Find an angel outfit for Alice’s nativity
• Find a suitable teacher’s gift for less than £5
• Dissuade the kids from spending too much on their friends’ Christmas presents
• Find a suitable Secret Santa present for the boss…
• Review savings for Christmas presents
• Write Christmas cards
• Ask Aunty Nell what colour slippers she would like this year
• Buy de-icer
• Fix windscreen crack befor
...

Are you one of the millions of 21st Century mums on the quest to become a Supermum? Are you so desperate to achieve this astounding status that you have absolutely no time to fulfil your own pleasures in life?

Let’s consider the concept of the ‘Supermum’. The title does sound very grand, aspirational and positive, doesn’t it? However, not only is the vision of lycra-clad, cape-wearing mums standing by a school gate hilarious and yet some how horrifying, the concept of such social standing is even more ridiculous.

The term Supermum generally brings with it connotations of ‘having it all’ and ...

Fun and enjoyment should be vital to everything we do in life – otherwise what would be the point of the exciting adventure called life? Happiness comes from yourself but as a busy mum, the likelihood is your fun-time is at the very bottom of your list of priorities. Being a fun mum will make you a happier, more fulfilled woman who is in control of life and all its challenges!

A mum’s work is never done. Between keeping the house clean, doing the laundry, making meals and shuttling the family around to football practice or ballet lessons, mums have got their work cut out for them! But what ab...

Returning to work after having a baby can be a harrowing time. Since April 2007, many mothers have been able to enjoy a full twelve months maternity leave, during which time a great bond forms between mother and child. The guilt about leaving your baby when it is essential for you to return to work is compounded by the need to place them in childcare.

According to a recent survey, an estimated 3.25 million UK families place their children in childcare. Although the environments are safe, loving and educational, almost half of these parents worry about the long-term effects childcare may have ...

As great parents who love nurturing their children, it is not surprising you feel guilty at the slightest misdemeanour when things don’t go to plan.

A lot of guilt-fuelled regrets occur after a moment of high-tension, conflicting moments – especially when you’re over-tired and over-worked!

The best way to break this frustrating, inevitable cycle, and prevent you from feeling guilty about the way you react to your child’s demands or tantrums, is to take some essential time out.

Unfortunately this too can lead to more guilt! Leaving your children to go and enjoy yourself can result in you fee...

Positive thinking is such a powerful attitude, it can help you to fulfil your dreams. It will empower you to be the very best you can be.

For those mums who feel frustrated, confused or unfulfilled with life, positive thinking can be a difficult concept to grasp. How can a method of thought possibly have an effect on your life?

The way you currently feel is a direct result of your negative thoughts and limiting beliefs. If you cannot see a way out of your current situation, your limiting beliefs are prolonging your despair. Negative thoughts are contagious – one leads to another – leaving yo...

Tracey Wall is now an accredited Advanced Confidence Coach and practitioner of the accredited “Confidence for Life” programme by Dawn Breslin – internationally acclaimed life coach, best-selling author and broadcaster. As an experienced professional life coach, NLP practitioner and director of Empowering Mums, Tracey can now offer this powerful and life-changing programme to her clients.

During the programme, Tracey will coach you to release the pains of your past, your negative thoughts and limiting beliefs, and support you to overcome your fears and worries. Through effective exercises, t...