When I speak to mums in my tribe about going back to work the number one thing they say to me is: “I don’t have the right skills anymore”. Now they might not say it in exactly those words but that is the underlying message. I believe that ultimately it’s a lack of confidence we suffer from when we return to work after a break but to tackle that, we need to face those fears head-on. After the previous three episodes Ihope that already you are seeing a glimmer of hope, a spark of self-confidence? If not, trust me and bear with me as I take you through the skills you need to return to the workplace. I have only discussed 5 here, but there are many more. These would be the ones I would focus on and are those an employer will be commonly looking for.

Raising a family takes love, time and effort and is often described as one of the most rewarding things you can do. Days turn into months and years and suddenly the kids are at school and you are ready to do something for you. Sound familiar? Many parents I speak to find themselves wanting to return to the workplace after a significant career break of anywhere from 5 to 20 years. Do you want to know the biggest barrier to returning to work after raising a family?

It always amazes me how soon you need to start planning your return to work after your little one arrives. You think you have all the time in the world and suddenly your baby is 6 months old, sitting up, eating and starting to move around and it's time to start planning your return (or not). Preparation is key. Let's look at the logistical and emotional needs in returning to work.

It's 2015: In the top left hand corner of my diary there is a number scrawled in black ink. It tells me that I have 36 working days left before I leave for my second bout of maternity leave.

Hindsight is a useful thing isn’t it? The benefit of going through this process once already has made me make crucial changes in preparing to leave. I thought it might be useful to share my experience.

For years I have yearned to be one of those people who get the job done way ahead of time, giving them time to be smug and relaxed. Instead, I find myself consistently working right down to the wire, feeling the pressure of the deadline. I procrastinate and I’ve berated myself for that but I am also a high achiever. I am definitely driven by a deadline but it’s taken me a long time to realise it. What about you?

Last week we were thinking about self-forgiveness in terms of moving on after making a mistake. It got me thinking about leaders too and how we can become better leaders through self-acceptance and forgiveness.

I listen to my client as I watch her mentally let go of the belief that she needs to do at all. It's liberating for her. In that moment, she lets the ideas come and go, observing them with curiosity; she's in the zone. She leaves lighter, focused, and ready to accept herself... because sometimes you have to let go to grow.

Have you ever considered your career potential? By this I mean the potential to be happy and fulfilled in your career. Most people I meet are tremendously critical of themselves and their capabilities. This is true whether they earn £16k or £100K+. Most people don’t appreciate themselves, their job or their journey and this can be a barrier to reaching your career potential

I think we can all agree that we can't do it all and that attempting to do so causes overwhelm can't we? Once you have accepted this fact then next comes creating a strategy for creating the life you want. Before you can ask for what you need, however, you need to understand what that is. So in this podcast, I am going to take you through understanding what you need and then how to ask for it - whether it's in your personal or professional life.

Our values are the things which we believe to be important in the way that we live and the way that we work. Our values affect our behaviour and act as an internal navigation system guiding us along our journey. Today I am going to take you through an exercise on how to identify your core values.