Helping professionals build confidence, maximise performance
and achieve career success
Evidence based personal and professional development strategies
Hi, I'm Martin Cole.
I'm qualified as a lawyer and a coach, and I’ve had a lengthy career leading teams in the legal and financial worlds, as well as teaching and training lawyers and other professionals.
A few years ago my world was turned upside down.
I met and married my Australian wife and moved from the UK to Australia, changing jobs several times in the process.
I struggled in a big way to adjust to the move and some other changes that occurred around that time. I therefore made it my mission to understand what was happening to me and, in particular, what was standing in my way.
I began to study psychology and soon realised that I could combine what I was learning with my professional experience of leading, mentoring and informally coaching others.
I therefore qualified as an organisational and executive coach and went onto obtain a Master of Science (M.Sc.) in coaching psychology.
My mission
My mission now is simple:
To help good, smart and talented people overcome the barriers that prevent them reaching their full potential.
I do this by providing the free material on this website and by offering targeted training, coaching and education. All of this is based on sound evidence and grounded theory.
I don’t have all the answers by any means, but some of the areas that my work tries to address are these:
- What do we need to do perform well and feel good about ourselves and the things we do?
- How can we be more confident and overcome the fears that hold us back?
- How can we operate effectively in this increasingly complex and uncertain world?
- How can we improve the way we think?
- How can we respond effectively to the challenges life presents us with?
- How can we manage our thoughts and emotions so that they facilitate productive behaviours, rather than knock us off track?
- How can we make sure we’re doing the right work, in the right way?
- How can we perform to our highest potential?
- How can we achieve peak performance without burning out in the process?
Through my writing, training and coaching, my goal is to help you answer these questions and, in the process, develop lasting capabilities that will help you improve the quality of your of your personal and professional life.
Join Now
Join my other readers whose aims include building positive behaviours and habits, improving confidence and work performance and aligning their careers with their strengths and goals.
Join now and I'll send you the following free e-book resources, as well as regular updates, new content and special coaching and training offers:
- Sharpen Up: 6 of the Best Strategies for Improving your Performance and Increasing your Productivity at Work
- The Evidence-Based Career Change Framework: Where to Go Next in your Career and How to Get There
- The Self Determined Life 7 Step Plan for Building Confidence
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What others say ...
Amazing Coach
An amazing coach is what springs to my mind when I am asked about Martin. What impresses me about Martin is he encourages and challenges me to positively reflect on my skills and experience in ways I have not previously thought of. Finding that I have more to bring to an employer than I realised improved my self confidence and helped me to achieve my goal of finding employment. He is a master at helping me refocus my mind if I am losing sight of my objectives. His coaching is valuable long after the coaching ends, as I continue to use techniques I learned from him regularly. I give Martin my heartfelt recommendation without hesitation.
Career Success
I would without hesitation recommend Martin and endorse his mentoring and coaching skills. I strongly believe the current success in my career is attributed to his guidance, advice and mentoring. I am a person who is very ambitious, very eager to learn, feels the need to always be a high achiever and at times it leads to additional pressure. Martin has a nurturing nature where he displays empathy but has an ability to understand the pressures in a work environment and what avenues can be taken to resolve a problem in the most optimal manner. Martin, thank you so much for being such a genuine person, I'm so grateful to have met and worked with you.
Supportive, listening, non-judgmental
Martin is a supportive coach. He listens for what is being said and what is not said. He is non judgmental, provides thoughtful reflections and asks exploratory questions. Martin did a great job of allowing me to describe the coaching I needed for the session and kept the coaching on track to wrap up at the correct time. Martin's perspective is much appreciated. He asked great questions that led me to an aha moment which is always exciting. I have a solid plan on moving forward in creating my successful business.
Goal focus
Being coached by Martin has enabled me to focus on things that help me to achieve my goals. His coaching style is very supportive and insightful which has been really beneficial in helping me to make current and future career-related decisions. I would definitely recommend Martin as a coach.
Are you interested in receiving personal coaching?
I’m currently based in Australia but since coaching works effectively by telephone or video call, as well as face to face, I can work with clients from most places.