“Poor mental wellbeing in our key employees is probably a bigger risk to our business than increasing inflation rates right now” a CEO of a design company said to me last week

“The thing is, as a business we are doing really well, but our lead designer has just been signed off for burnout, our clients are being really understanding, and we are supporting him as best we can, so we are OK – but really, employee wellbeing is becoming our top priority"

This successful CEO is not alone...

Looking after wellbeing is now on all our to-do lists. All employees are asking for it and super smart CEOs, and CPOs know that if you are really interested in wellbeing for your staff, then what makes a real difference, is to do something to set them up, so they can handle difficult situations, live their best lives, and essentially thrive during changing times

From finance directors of large corporations to the owner of your local artisanal bakery - everyone is now in agreement that wellbeing is impo...

Today, when you meet your friends and family and ask how they are, how likely are you to get a sense from the energy they give off that they are feeling genuinely confident, happy and content?

It's true that in today's world feeling strong, poised, curious and open is pretty rare

If you are like us, you will find that most people you meet are feeling unsure, burned out, anxious and/or stressed. Even after fabulous holidays and weekends spent laughing in the sunshine - most of us don't seem to feel strong, poised and full of self-belief right now. The thing is, that is a real shame because in truth, this means a lot of us are wasting our talents - just at a point in time when the world needs our talents more than ever

A lot of us lack self-assurance because we are not aware of, yet alone using our talents and strengths

Choosing Confidence is about learning how to gain self-assurance, poise and self-belief. Learning how to trust yourself and know you are enough 

People who are prog...

Most of us have heard the well known saying, "80% of success is Showing Up", yet if this is true, why is it that so few of us actually do Show Up?

Let's start with what we mean by Showing Up

Showing Up is about allowing ourselves to be seen. Courage and vulnerability are the essence of what we are doing when we reveal ourself, we are being open - being open about our commitments, our accountabilities, where we are weak and where we are strong

This is Showing Up

If you think through people you know, at home and at work, you can probably come up with very few examples of people who really do Show Up who are consistent, who do what they say will do and are accountable for their actions, 100% of the time

The thing is, often the reason we aren't really truly, consistently Showing Up, is because we are not starting with Showing Up for ourselves first

Particularly if we see ourselves as 'high performers' - we will talk proudly about how we Show Up at work, and equally - if we see oursel...

If you are anything like me, then you may well find 'change' a bit of a tricky concept...

On the one hand we are surrounded by evidence that change is the only way forwards, on the other hand it can be pretty overwhelming and is often one of the reasons we feel stressed and frazzled on a regular basis

Here's the thing about change, most people - especially people who call themselves high performers, will talk confidently about how they are open to change. We are keen to be on the project teams, keen to be in the new roles, keen to not be left behind. And yet - when it actually comes down to doing things differently, working in completely new ways, with new people, new systems, new processes - very few of us actually welcome change

What's more, from Jo's experience, whenever she speaks about building change muscles in business 99% of people say they are agile, they are up for it, they are open to change yet once she actually delves a bit deeper the truth becomes patently clear. Ofte...

Countless studies prove that journaling is an extremely powerful way to boost our mental wellbeing, reduce depression and anxiety, and make us more content, productive and all-around happier with our lives

Boosting our ability to cope with intrusive and avoidant thoughts is one of the key benefits cited. A study published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology found that students who wrote about their deepest thoughts and feelings (handwritten or digital) in the month leading up to a big exam had fewer depressive symptoms because they didn’t dwell as much on their intrusive thoughts. What’s more, a  2018 study from the National Library of Medicine found that adults who completed a 15-minute online journaling session three days a week for 12 weeks were less likely to ruminate on their anxious thoughts and better able to move past them

Improving working memory, sleep, increasing creativity, and reducing stress, are all sizeable benefits of journaling...

...according to a ...

As so-called high performers we often define our success as being promoted into positions of leadership

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 above our pay grade. We lean forward in our chairs, relishing the intellectual challenge of new projects and responsibilities. We thrive with the opportunity to lead our team and prove our collective value

Then the reality of our leadership roles kick in and we can often feel 'stuck', sapped of energy and overwhelmed with the task in front of us

Change is constant, targets are tougher, yet the cash and resource often required to hit those targets is constantly cut. and I haven’t even mentioned the politics, goodness the politics!

When we have a catch up with our boss - what we need is momentum, energy, insight - what we often get is 30 minutes ...

There's an interesting dynamic between past, present and future that's helpful for us to know - 

It goes a long way to explain why often the things we plan for are such a letdown when they actually happen!

In the study titled, “The impact of anticipating positive events on responses to stress” published in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, US researchers Van Boven and Ashworth, discovered that future-musing creates more positive emotions than indulging in nostalgic trips down memory lane

On top of that, in a 2010 study on tourism and happiness, researchers discovered that holidaymakers reported a higher levels of pre-trip happiness than those who had no plans. The actual anticipation itself of the holiday had an upbeat effect on emotions. In addition, those people who went away and had a stress-free, chilled holiday, even experienced a boost in happiness on their return

Numerous research studies show that counting down to an event - any event - is as much fun as the...

Nearly all successful adults, it seems, tend to be weighed down by the responsibilities of work and life ...

We have forgotten the joy, the delight, the wonder, and awe that we had as children - we have forgotten how to be playful

Have you ever stopped to think about the impact of this on your life, and not just your own life, also that of you children and loved ones? How much fun and joy we miss out on, because we have become 'stuck' - forgetting the joys of being playful, flexible, adaptable

Being Playful is often a huge mind-set shift for people. We tend to be more restricted by our past experiences, than being optimistic about our future because we don’t see ourselves as a work in progress. Our brain is most agile when we approach life seeing ourselves as a work in progress

Re-learning how to be open and see everything as a work in progress is supremely important

Choosing to be optimistic is something that all of us can benefit from, it adds a childlike curiosity, a wonder and...

Here’s something that makes us smile ...

Did you know that research shows that if we put as much effort into building strong connections with people as the effort we put into our diet and exercise (the gyms, the equipment, the outfits, the diets, the vitamin supplements, the list goes on …) we may actually live longer…

In fact, studies show that the positive influence of social relationships on the risk of death are comparable with well-established risk factors for mortality such as smoking or alcohol consumption and exceed the influence of other risk factors, such as physical inactivity and even obesity (Holt-Lunstad, Smith, & Layton, 2010)

So, taking some time to focus on others, building our connections in genuine ways, may well be one of the most important ways of increasing our wellbeing

And yet, it’s one thing to understand the importance of social connections, but what if we don’t feel super confident in our ability to connect with people, our people skills? Where does that ...

Mental Strength is the new Zeitgeist – we all deserve the practical tools to mentally thrive! 

You know the great news? When we think about living a great life, we often think of having great energy, and when we think of energy, we often think in terms of batteries. What is fabulous is that when it comes to mental strength – spending time doing the things we really, truly want to do, the actions which are aligned with our values, our own unique vision of our own life – rather than depleting our batteries, this gives us mental energy – it actually refuels our batteries and builds our mental strength. Mental strength really is the new Zeigeist… 

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

Mental strength is often linked to top performers, 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 eques...