Ten things I know now, that I didn't know a week ago

I've been writing this blog for a week now, so I thought I'd take this opportunity to look back over the last few days. It's quite a scary thing starting a blog, not knowing if anybody will want to read it or be interested in what you're going to say, but we're now closing in on 1,500 hits so thank you to everyone who's visited, read, commented and shared the blog so far. I want to be sure I'm posting on subjects that are relevant and interesting, so please do get in touch in the comments section below to say hello and let me know what you want to read more about.

(By the way, I'm told there might be a problem posting comments in Safari, so if you have something you want to say, please try a different browser. I'd love to hear from you so please don't be put off!)

It's been an interesting few days - I've thought about things I'd never considered before and let off a bit of steam on issues I've been raging about for years. Here are a few of the things I've learnt this week:

1. Standing out from the crowd, in all areas of life, is often just a case of following a few simple rules, and is sometimes as easy as doing things right.

2. I'm almost certainly not the only person in my office who sometimes feels they shouldn't be there.

3. Confidence is all in the mind, but the mind can be tricked by something as simple as changing how you stand for two minutes.

4. Interviews for jobs in teaching sound seriously scary.
5. It's possible to spend three weeks locked in a shop window with 300 poisonous spiders and live to tell the tale (although this does not mean I'll be trying it any time soon).

6. Quoting Voltaire in a job interview is a good thing.
7. Practising the 'power pose' in the work kitchen is not a good thing. People will laugh.
8. High street charity collectors are not, on the whole, very popular people.
9. Hiring a billboard costs £500 (you never know when that knowledge might come in handy).
10. And an interesting fact that I just read - apparently when trying out a new pen, 97% of people write their own name (this information is courtesy of the weekly newsletter from Innocent Drinks - definitely recommended, it'll brighten up your Fridays and you'll learn all kinds of random trivia).

Have a great weekend everyone!