Last June, I was extremely excited and a tad nervous to start filming my first ever LinkedIn Learning courses.
As with many things this year, it didn’t quite go to plan. I was supposed to film them in California in lovely air-conditioned studios, instead, due to COVID-19, we had to film at my house in Derby in what was the hottest week of the summer (and without air-conditioning!)
However, despite the changes, challenges and the nerves, it was an extraordinary experience.
The filming crew; Christen, Tony, Nathalie and Sebastian were fantastic. They worked remotely from California, waking up at 4am to ensure we could get everything finished in time. Not only were they incredibly professional, but they were also warm, encouraging and patient.
It is amazing to think that we started the process at the end of 2019.
When I was invited to design the two courses, I immediately wanted to do something based around my books on Simple Thinking and Change.
I settled upon the concept of Smart Thinking for the first course and Mental Toughness for the second.
I’ve been fascinated by the concept of Mental Toughness since I started working in elite sport over a decade ago.
This concept was first developed in the 1980’s by sports performance psychologists. It’s aim was to the help athletes perform better at an elite level, especially when under pressure and duress.
It works by developing high levels of belief, focus, the ability to manage stress and a constructive context for failure. It also highlights the importance of mental preparedness.
Little did we know when I started planning the course over a year ago how important and relevant these skills would be in the face of COVID-19 where we’re living with so much uncertainty and the need for mental focus, agility and strength is unprecedented.
Although LinkedIn Learning is a subscription based service, you can get a month’s free trial. My two courses are released next week, so why not sign up and take a look?
I hope you find them useful and I’d love to hear your feedback!
