To say that an enormous part of a leadership role in 2023 is about leading change is to understate the obvious

From startup founders to C-suite executives at multi-billion dollar companies, a fundamental key skill set is how to lead people through change. Post pandemic, changes we had anticipated to take years occur in months and, in some cases, weeks and even days

Understandably, leaders often struggle to navigate these changes simultaneously, dealing with economic, logistical and health crises, which now regularly unfold and impact businesses at top speed

Advancements in technology, human interconnectivity, AI, and the network effects between them, have created a new reality where change is rapid, constant, and everywhere

Completely exhilarating and scary too … that’s the reality of change

When we lead change it's easy to envision the future, that place beyond our wildest comprehension, that is utterly amazing

What we often forget is how fast, powerful and scary others find t...

Sounds weird, right?

Most of us seek comfort every day. We find it in hugs, in bubble baths, in nights in with Netflix. As humans, we are wired for comfort

In a turbulent world, it feels normal to seek comfort to re-energise and soothe ourselves from the chaos around us. The thing is, as humans we are also wired for growth. With no progress, with no growth, in the areas of our lives which are important to us, we simply aren’t happy

But a lot of us have forgotten this, believing true happiness lies only in the cocooning softness of comfort, neglecting the basic human longing for growth

A recent study by researchers Kaitlin Woolley from Cornell University and Ayelet Fishbach from the University of Chicago published by the Association of Psychological Science highlights the reality that prioritising comfort could be preventing us from the real happiness of living a life of fulfilment, progress, and growth

That's right - ironically, not welcoming discomfort as much as we welcome com...

At a party recently in an idyllic setting with children running amongst wild meadows and adults chatting over chilled rosé, as the sun set sleepily over the rolling hills in the distance – there were 2 topics of conversation – which was the best act at Glastonbury and what can we personally do to stop ourselves being replaced by robots – aka AI?

Since last October, artificial intelligence — in particular ChatGPT and its recently revealed successor, GPT-4 — has been the hot topic in conversations about the future of business, work, and creativity. ChatGPT became the fastest-growing consumer application in history — outpacing Instagram and even TikTok

We get it, it’s hard for some of us to remain upbeat in the face of exponential performance and pace, yet this is in fact, the best way to futureproof ourselves given the potentially massive implications of AI for our careers and the world around us

So, how do we stay sharp and relevant in this new world of AI?

The answer, we believe, i...

Guess how many different types of apps you have on your phone. Do you know the answer?

On average, we have 80 apps on our phones, and each day, we interact with at least 9-10 different types of apps. This means that for most of us, we have more regular interactions with different types of apps than we have regular interactions with different types of people! 

As humans, we are a social species, meaning one of our deepest-wired behaviours is building a social group or network - but how diverse is your network and why in truth is this diversity important?
 
The thing is, at a time when a lot of us are worrying about the impact of AI, a way to feel confident, strong and thrive with AI is to remind ourselves of what differentiates us as humans from apps and computers. Humans use the brain's computing power, memory, and ability to think, whereas AI-powered machines rely on data and specific instructions fed into the system. A way to thrive in a time of AI is to focus on building the skills...

From being replaced and manipulated by unregulated AI tools to the enormous challenge of climate change – a lot of us are feeling fearful of the future

It’s certainly true there is a lot going on right now which seems to be very different and larger than anything we have faced before – yet in reality from the fire of Prometheus to the mutinous neural network of 1984s "The Terminator" – humans have often been afraid of new technology. Some building structures in recent earthquakes and tsunamis would also be evidence of how we struggle to adapt to new ways of living in the face of impending natural catastrophes. Rather than doing what we can to mitigate the oncoming threat, we focus on impending doom scenarios, reach for a cold beer to drown our sorrows, and so the problem just gets bigger

Indeed, for a lot of us these external changes can seem so far outside our influence that we prevent ourselves from identifying the solutions to the very problems we are all facing

What to do?

It's...

One of the truths we’ve come to understand at Progressfull, is that we can all benefit from choosing to see things a little differently

Human performance expert Stefan Falk, highlights that “sinking into boredom” is a downside of having an "autopilot" mind-set. When we deal with the everyday, familiar tasks and activities our brain conserves energy by moving to “autopilot” mode. When we are in this mode not only is it easier to sink into boredom, we also miss what’s new, what’s different and what’s noteworthy in the daily and familiar

Most of us have lives that are embedded in the familiar daily and weekly routines and rhythms. As a result our brain's autopilot can be restricting our perspectives and the opportunities for growth that are all around us

Even when facing the most tedious tasks, ones we have completed a thousand times over, we can cultivate a sense of curiosity and build our perspective by tuning-in to the small things that make the context or the task different. This m...

What is one thing so many of us could let go of which would truly change our lives today?

Letting go of anxiety so we can increase our energy would greatly improve a lot of our lives right now. From bar-tenders to bitcoin bankers, we are realising that living with extreme anxiety is simply unsustainable

In fact, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO), as one of the two most common mental health conditions, alongside depression, anxiety costs the global economy US$ 1 trillion each year

When I first thought about this, I was actually quite angry - how can we simply 'let go' of anxiety?

Well, the truth is, that some things are a lot harder to let go of than others, yet in reality a lot of us could genuinely deal with the actual problem we are anxious about a lot more effectively, if we were able to let go of at least some of our anxiety

Why is that then?

In today’s complex and ever changing world, it is no surprise that a lot of us carry feelings of anxiety which drain ou...

‘I don’t get it,’ said one of our clients this week, ‘what does it mean, to adapt and change to suit each situation, yet stay the same? It doesn’t make sense’

This is often one of the most challenging concepts for us to get our heads round and I must say that when Jo first explained this to me, it took a while for it to properly ‘click’ for me too. Now, I really love this concept and use this a lot in in my daily life. What it comes down to is all about how we own congruence which is one of the 5 Progressfull Principles

The 5 Progressfull Principles (Showing Up, Choosing Confidence, Being Playful, Owning Congruence, Welcoming Feedback) help us deal with the wonkiness, flaws and imperfections - which unless we have had an excellent executive coach or a brilliant therapist - we won’t know how to turn around to make progress. Progressfull does this by making the activities, and what we go through in typical executive coaching or therapy, accessible to everyone!

The 5 Progressfull Princ...

How do you swap feeling stuck for feeling smart and sharp?

Look, listen and learn to be playful, making progress the Progressfull way

Are you pursuing your personal interests and passions? Are you chasing your professional ambitions? Lifelong learning gives us a great sense of purpose, fulfillment and satisfaction, at work, at home – in our whole life. It’s really all about connecting with our innate curiosity and childlike willingness to ‘have a play, have a go’ – learn something new

But in reality, most of us adults definitely don’t have a lifestyle which makes learning easy, so we miss out on all the progress, the passion, and fulfilment and can end up feeling stuck

Stuck because in truth we humans have a natural drive for curiosity – to learn, to explore, to play, and to grow. So if we aren’t learning, we aren’t making progress – we feel like we are stressed, stuck and stagnating – wasting our potential

Learning new stuff, new ideas, new skills, encourages us to improve our o...

We're often exhausted because we spend our time shadow boxing in our mind...

Our imaginary opponents are worry, stress, and what might be

Do you waste energy fighting the idea of something that may never happen?

How often are we told ‘don’t worry’ as Bob Marley sang – by our friends, by our families, by our colleagues, our doctors, and our teachers. The reality is, in today’s world, worry and stress are absolutely a normal part of most of our daily life

What's more, most of us believe that worry is a normal healthy reaction to so much turbulence and trouble. The thing is – it is normal in as much as this is most people’s reaction – but worrying, being anxious and stressed, robs us of the very energy we need to actually make a positive difference. To adapt and change - to benefit both ourselves and everyone around us in today’s world - cannot be done unless we are confident in our capabilities, are self-assured, seeing possibilities and opportunities for positive change and alternat...