Cover -- Title -- Copyright -- Contents -- About the author -- Foreword -- Foreword -- Acknowledgements -- Introduction -- 1 Using neuroscience to maximize your brain for excellence -- Understand your brain -- The physiology of the brain -- Adrenaline -- Cortisol -- Dopamine -- Serotonin -- Endorphins -- Oxytocin -- The triune brain theory and neurotransmitters -- The reptilian brain (survival) -- The limbic system (emotional) -- The neocortex (thinking brain) -- Neuroplasticity -- Neuroscience and self-awareness -- Conscious mind versus subconscious mind -- Priming -- Habits and how to rewire the brain -- Suggestions to help you change your habits -- Exercise -- Heart, brain and gut -- Heart rhythms and coherence -- The importance of sleep -- Daydreaming -- Greater thinking -- The neuroscience of reversing negativity -- U-SOFAR technique, by Sue France -- 2 Relationship management -- Our social brains -- Work-life balance -- Understand yourself before you try to understand others -- What the boss-assistant relationship means to your health and well-being -- Image, perception and first impressions -- Tone of voice -- Attitude -- Managing your state of mind -- The handshake -- Professional image -- Appearance -- Flirting -- The beginning of a business relationship -- What is expected of each other: knowing the boundaries -- Key attributes, skills and knowledge that bosses look for in an assistant -- Working styles -- Constant communication -- Assumptions -- Be proactive, anticipate needs, be prepared and exceed expectations -- Be accountable: take pride in a high standard of work -- Empathy -- Honesty and integrity -- Trust -- Office politics -- How to manage your boss -- 3 Compassionate communication -- Body language -- Congruence -- Visual, auditory and kinaesthetic -- Visual -- Auditory -- Kinaesthetic -- Matching and mirroring -- Groups.

Matching and mirroring angry people -- Tone of voice -- Eye contact -- Use of space -- The 'influential' right side -- Hands -- Posture -- How to influence the 'chemistry' between you and your boss -- E-mail communication -- Listening skills -- Questioning skills -- Gossip -- Telephone etiquette -- Understanding and communicating with different cultures -- Smiling -- Language and compassionate communication with yourself -- 4 Confidence, self-belief and goal setting -- What is confi dence? -- The feeling of confidence -- The 'power poise' -- Act as if you are confident -- Think positive thoughts -- Focus on your strengths and boost your confidence -- Self-esteem, self-awareness and self-belief -- Internal 'negative gremlins' and internal 'positive coach' -- Self-limiting beliefs -- Tools to change/eliminate negative gremlin voices -- Mickey Mouse voice -- Affirmations -- Noticing and rephrasing -- The law of attraction -- The power of experiential learning -- Fixed mindset and growth mindset -- Continual learning -- Methods of learning -- Appraisals and feedback -- Tips on how to receive constructive criticism -- Personal development plan (PDP) -- Goal setting -- Reticular activating system (RAS) -- Steps to help you achieve your goals -- 5 Dealing with difficult people and managing conflict -- A problem-solving technique -- Assertiveness -- Say what you feel -- Learn to say 'no' to requests when you need to -- Dealing with sarcasm -- Sometimes it is ourselves making a difficult situation worse -- Think before you speak: simple and to the point -- Use a strong confident voice and reframe the problem -- Ground rules for discussions -- Be professional -- Be assertive -- Collaborate/compromise -- Strategies to help you deal with conflict and difficult characteristics of bosses -- Beware of giving too much empathy -- Avoid apologizing too much.

Gaining clarity -- Respond instead of react -- E-mail rage -- Real-life case studies on how to deal with difficult bosses/conflict -- Case study one -- Case study two -- Case study three -- Case study four -- Case study five -- Case study six -- What these case studies tell us -- Different types of management style -- The commander boss -- The negative boss -- The boss who is new to the company -- The bully boss -- The controller boss -- 6 Time, organizing and stress management -- Time/task management -- Prioritizing the workload -- Methods to help prioritize work -- Approaches to prioritizing -- 'Time thieves' -- Your desk -- Interruptions -- Set limits on tasks -- Avoid procrastination -- How to overcome procrastination -- Organizational skills -- Top tips for managing deadlines -- Save time dealing with e-mails -- Stress management -- The science of stress -- The 'Stress Hardy Personality' -- Understanding and dealing with our natural response to threat -- Mindfulness - be mindful and focused in the moment -- The CORE model -- Certainty -- Options -- Reputation -- Equity -- Time management and lowering stress levels -- Focus -- The Pareto principle -- Tips for time management -- Using your network -- Achievement and reward -- Advice on stress from assistants around the world -- 7 Organizing meetings and events -- Before the meeting: prepare and plan! -- Need for meeting -- Timing and invitations -- Define purpose of meeting -- Budgeting and booking -- Venue -- Entertainment/speakers -- Equipment -- Security -- Reception -- Signage -- Refreshments -- Attendance -- Agenda -- Documentation for the meeting -- Events team -- Training -- Flexibility -- During the meeting/event -- After the meeting: evaluate -- 8 Perfect presentations -- Preparation -- Logistics -- Dress -- Strategy -- Confidence -- Affirmations -- Exercises to reduce tension -- Content.

Slide preparation tips -- Practice -- During the presentation -- Handouts -- Eye contact -- Build in 'brain breaks' -- Voice quality -- Visual aids -- Posture, movement and space -- Ending the presentation -- Evaluation -- 9 Ergonomics: your health and safety -- The work station -- Apply work zone principles -- The primary zone -- The secondary zone -- The reference zone -- A tidy desk leads to a tidy mind -- Your screen -- Desk height -- Chair -- Principles of posture -- Head -- Neck/spine -- Arms/wrists -- Pelvis/thighs -- Feet -- Your keyboard -- Ergonomic health breaks -- Visual strategies -- Exercises -- 10 Powerful networking -- The neuroscience of networking -- What is networking? -- The benefits of networking -- Where to network -- The secrets of power networking -- Remembering people's names -- What to talk about while networking -- General points -- Create an internal network for assistants -- Using technology -- Frequency of meetings -- Benefits -- 11 A chapter to share with your boss -- Communication -- What bosses should know to work effectively with their assistants -- Empowerment -- The law of expectations: communicate your expectations clearly -- How to motivate your assistant -- Focus on the development of your assistant -- 12 Confident minute taking -- Definition -- Personal benefits of taking the minutes -- Preparation -- Pre-meeting with the chairperson -- Attendees -- The agenda -- Supporting documentation -- Using technology for supporting documentation -- During the meeting -- Taking the minutes -- After the meeting -- Producing the draft minutes from your notes -- Tips on proofreading -- Producing the final minutes -- Distribution of minutes -- Follow-up -- 13 Harnessing the power of digital tools and social media -- The first step to using social media is to sign up -- Username.

The second step is to create a professional, credible profile -- Social media privacy settings -- The third step is to get people to connect with you/follow you -- The fourth step is to keep on communicating and building relationships -- Social media time management -- Warning! -- Twitter -- Twitter vocabulary explained -- Facebook -- LinkedIn -- Discussion groups -- Other useful tools and tips -- Shortcut to learning curation -- Social shortcuts -- Web-presenting tools -- Internal networks -- Apps -- Evernote -- Pocket -- What you can use social media for -- Organize events using social media -- 14 The successful assistant -- Compassionate communication -- Keeping up to date -- Organizing for success -- Yourself and others -- Networking and career development -- The future of the assistant -- Index.