I want to share a different perspective with you today.

I want to prove that you DO have a voice, and that you can bring something entirely fresh to any situation, no matter how many times it’s been talked about before.

Picture the scene… it was a warm August day, way back in 2012.

The days before pink hair, before the books, before I’d fully found my career sweet spot and claimed it with all my heart.

Unusually for me, I was in full patriotic mode – I wore red, white and blue, including a cute Union Jack hairband.

Not only that, but I’d really pushed the boat out with a London Olympics temporary tattoo of a cartoon lion, in full view, on my cheek.

The lion seemed to dance and wave his flag every time I smiled.

I smiled a lot that day. My wife, Asha, had always dreamed of going to the Olympics – it being in our home country was the icing on the cake.

We grinned at all the Games Makers, high-fiving us all doing what Brits do best: queueing to get into the park.

We grinned from ear to ear when the tiny Mini cars whizzed across the stadium.

We grinned when we saw Usain Bolt pull his favourite pose.

We grinned when we went to buy lunch, even though it wasn’t that great and cost a small fortune.

We grinned even though our tickets turned out to be for the ONLY day GB didn’t medal.

And we grinned at my silly face tattoo. A lot.

The grinning started to subside after we got home, and I tried to gently remove the tattoo from my face.

Team GB’s Pride the Lion hadn’t been listening when they said ‘temporary’!

I tried soap and water.

I tried holding a wet sponge to my face.

I even tried surgical spirit!

Pride stubbornly remained.

Work appointments that week meant I couldn’t just leave him to wear off slowly, and so I resorted to scrubbing.

In the end, though Pride had faded away (in more ways than one!), my face was to remain patriotic for some time – red raw, blue bruises and white everywhere else!

It was only after I’d posted a pic of my mug on Facebook that I learned temporary tattoos come off pretty easily with olive oil

Back to the present day, when I sat in my wife’s Creative Co-Working Space and Asha used her London 2012 T-shirt as a writing prompt, I knew I’d be able to approach things differently.

While the masses might automatically veer towards messages about pride, confidence, unity, effort and great achievements, here I am writing about something entirely different.

My London Olympics story is one of delighting at the love of my life realising a dream, of parking fears of judgement and getting right into the spirit of things with my out-of-character red white and blue outfit, complete with a cartoon lion plastered on my cheek.

Not only that, but it’s a story of learning from our mistakes, and remembering that there’s always something to learn from the people around us – including the hidden powers of olive oil!

And when we allow ourselves to panic and make daft choices instead of asking for help, we may well end up red-faced… and not just because of embarrassment!

Why am I sharing this with you today?

Because I see so many coaches, leaders and business owners selling themselves short and keeping their voices low.

All too often, I hear people saying they don’t know what to talk about online, in newsletters, blogs and social posts, because they’re so convinced it’s all been said before.

I want to remind you that YOUR perspective will always carry a bit of magic and a fresh message.

Drop into your heart. Remember everything you’ve seen, learned and felt, and write from there.

Share your unique experiences, throw in those life lessons and leave people in a place of possibility, and you won’t go far wrong.

And if you’re really, really stuck, drop my wife, Asha, a line. When she’s not helping people to write and publish their books, she’s helping people to get unstuck with their content.

I might be a tad biased, but she’s the best content coach I know.

 Until next time,

 #UnleashYourAwesome

Taz X