We cut carbs, we spend over $350 per month on our appearance, we nail our morning beauty routine, we spend hours in the gym perfecting the best workout for a great butt

In fact, when we want to make ourselves attractive, pretty much all of us tend to spend our time and money on our appearance without realising that the key thing which makes us attractive – and I mean really attractive – is self-confidence

Have you ever noticed how when someone is confident within themselves, they change the energy wherever they are

They are magnetic, we are drawn to them; we want to be their friend, to talk to them; and go out with them. Confidence lures people in and reflects our true nature. If we are dull and dreary, people will avoid us. If we are bright and vibrant, people will want to be around us. It’s that natural spotlight

Research confirms that someone who chooses to be confident has a real sense of who they are, what they bring and what they offer. They come into relationships ‘whole’, n...

From start-up founders, to top stylists to Olympic athletes ...

...we increasingly understand that what makes us not only successful, but also happy in life - is having a great mind-set

The thing is – look around, from world-class athletes, to global influencers, to our own friends and family – what with enforced isolation, shutdowns, restricted access, home-schooling and business closures – even the most upbeat of us can fall into the depths of stress, anxiety, loneliness and deep uncertainty

Surely it’s almost impossible under the conditions that most of us experience today - to ‘have a great mind-set?'

Actually – it is possible – it’s possible for any of us to approach each day with energy and motivation, confident that whatever is thrown our way, we can - not just survive, but thrive

We don’t just know this, we live it – during lockdown we created Progressfull™, a company designed to unlock personal progress and professional potential

During lockdown I became healthier, durin...

As so-called high performers in either start-ups or in larger organisations, we often define our success as being promoted into positions of leadership

The hard work and dedication has paid off. We are so proud, so inspired, so motivated. We know we will now finally be able to implement our own creative ideas, we know we can now set our own challenging targets and get the stuff done, we know needs to get done. We know how to drive the growth, we know our teams and our business deserve. We know, we know, we know. Yes!  We finally get to prove it!  

Our hearts and brains overflow with the potential we see around us, in our teams, our brand and in our own ability to make great things happen

Finally we get to do the things which other leaders before us, failed to get done

When the first few promotions come, we excitedly check the increase in our bank account. We 'accept' the invitations to the ‘important meetings,’ previously out of our pay grade. We lean forward in our chairs, reli...

This is all about you – not us, not anybody else

One of the key ideas behind Progressfull™ is that we all have extraordinary potential, we all have capabilities beyond our wildest dreams. And with the right insights, frameworks and tools we can all unlock our infinite potential and enjoy living unique lives, filled with meaning, purpose and progress

We are also aware that, despite external so-called success, nearly all of us experience deep fears that 'we are not enough' at some point, or even most of our lives. Some examples of how this feeling can be disguised are; relentless ambition, jealousy, or a feeling of shame at not being lovable - this can often be triggered when we compare ourselves to others

It is for this reason that we have created a brand “Progressfull™", rather than taking the approach of using one person's name ie “Erin Example, or Sam Sample", which is the norm these days

We know that in reality, all the answers to the questions of how to progress and live a bett...

In a world of so much beauty, yet so much uncertainty, so much opportunity, yet so much volatility...

Never has the demand for us all to Show Up as the best version of ourselves been greater

Together we have the talent, we have the knowledge and we have the potential. We can discover new ways of doing things, we can develop new businesses and design new products, we can create positive change. And yet...

Why do so very many of us, at some point in our lives, suffer from the fear of not being good enough?  Which means, we don’t start, we don’t try, we don’t finish, we give up. We don’t Show Up

For some of us, this so-called normal feeling of not being good enough only hits us on certain days, when nothing we do feels good enough. We kind of hate ourselves for a bit, pour ourselves a glass of wine or take it out on our loved ones, go to bed angry and wake up kind of ready for a new start the next day 

For those people this feeling of  ‘not good enough-ness’ seems to pass and doesn’t...

Mental Strength is the new Zeitgeist – do you have the practical tools to mentally thrive? 

Success is rarely instant - from Simone Biles to leading edge scientists, from Tom Daley to tech founders we are increasingly aware that mental strength is the real secret sauce of success

In fact, in all walks of life - from start-up founders to chefs to musicians - when we look at successful people, we are fascinated to learn how they do what they do - what their secret for success is

Talent, skill and knowledge? We are increasingly recognising the much more important ingredient: mental strength

Being an Olympian not only requires immense physical talent but also an incredible amount of psychological control - resilience and determination help them bounce back from defeat and keep on keeping on. From Tom Daley - the British diver who competed in three prior Olympic games and only recently won his first ever Olympic gold medal in Tokyo, to Andrew Hoy - the Australian equestrian eventer who ...

Frankly, are you over it? 

The relentless uncertainty, the daily "can we, can't we, shall we, shan't we" of mask-wearing, social meet-ups and staycations, has now writhed it's way into our morning coffee-catch ups and our message feeds. The snake of uncertainty brings with it small, sneaking, daily confrontations with tricky choices, the relentless drip, drip, drip of new decisions, draining our energy and distracting our focus

With every glimmer of fun and freedom, we now peer into the shadows, calculating the risks and assessing the new behaviours to adopt. To keep safe, to keep strong. We have swapped worrying about 'if our job has enough purpose' for 'will I still have a job' and 'how do I keep myself and my family safe'. The statistics collaborate with our instinctive refocus on the basics of survival - whether looking at the economy, the local area R number, or the 30% of Corona survivors who are now likely to suffer PTSD

Yup, for pretty much all of us, our current reality is...

Do you often appear anxious or stressed? 

You aren’t alone - we are all aware of the increase in the number of people feeling anxious or stressed in today’s world

In the UK, the office of National statistics – reports that over 19 million people record high levels of anxiety (Ref1). A recent Gallup poll (Ref2) showed that the majority of American adults, 60%, now experience stress and worry on any given day. This is an increase of 14 percentage points between 2019 and 2020. In fact, the levels of people feeling anxious or stressed has now reached such high levels, that it is often called a ‘plague of stress’ – threatening to impact the majority of our lives

No great surprise that the main causes of this increase in stress and worry are our concerns about our physical and financial health, the pressures of required social isolation during the pandemic and the chaos for parents balancing work and childcare from our homes

The thing is, when we feel anxious and stressed, knowing the re...

Living our best life and being our most successful selves is phenomenally noble and wonderfully woke

and yet if we are honest, how many of us have thought about what that actually means

Like generations before us, we all strive for a life well-lived

Today this seems to mean a combination of being woke – the definition of woke, as stated by Merriam-Webster being, ‘Aware of and actively attentive to important facts and issues, especially issues of racial and social injustice’ - and living our best lives, which according to social media roughly translates as being present, travelling the world, landing a dream job and being physically and mentally fit and strong - sounds good to me!

So today we are striving to live our best, woke lives

Which makes sense – sort of. Most of us now know, through various pieces of research shared on social media, news articles and blog posts, that success today is not just about the job, the car, the house and the holiday destination. We are rightly ang...

I know this girl

She is a 20 something law student in her final year at one of our best Universities. She is smart, sassy, and excels at everything she puts her hand to, from hockey to home-baking. Her life is stretching before her - full of hope and opportunity 

And yet. She is crippled by anxiety and shame. Anxiety and shame driven by perfectionism. Permanently on a high wire, of perfectionism. Desperately driven by an anxiety that if she falls off, there is no world to welcome her. Day by day, hour by hour, minute by minute, ever fearful of the shame of not hitting her high performing, perfectionist goals

How can I explain to this sparky, kind girl that striving for excellence is one thing. Striving to excel in her unique way, using her own combination of sassy brains, deep kindness and fierce determination. That will bring magic. Striving for full marks, to always be top of the class, to never make mistakes. That will bring madness. A madness driven by seeking to control the unc...