Remember being eleven? In 2022, are your year 7 classmates happy and content or burnt out and overwhelmed?

Here’s a thing - think about the kids who were in top set, who were striving for scholarships, crazy competitive on the sports fields – the ones fighting for success, obsessed with achievements, studying like ninjas

Do you know any of them now? Maybe it’s you? How did it work out?

Take a look around and you may see that a lot of the big themes we see around us – the burnout, the great resignation, the overwhelm - are themes often driven by feelings of deep insecurity, a striving for perfection and a lack of understanding of how to build real mental strength. Feelings and behaviour which started in year 7 (or even before)

Scratch our shiny surface and underneath, many of us, even if we are so-called successful, are in truth attacked by deep insecurity - a wicked imposter syndrome which started when we were small, often alongside a lack of tools to build mental strength. Indeed,...

The laptop falls to the kitchen floor – “that’s IT! I’m DONE! I’m OFF!”

This is pretty much a regular scenario now in homes across the world ...

Overwhelm. The great resignation. We are leaving sour relationships, unfulfilling jobs, toxic work environments in our millions. Left, right and centre, over the last 18 months an overarching theme of overwhelm is leading us to reflect, reconsider, and re-evaluate our lives

We are picking different choices in an attempt to rid ourselves of this feeling of overwhelm – and often the choices we start with are the obvious ones – new job, new partner, new routine, (new laptop!)

What we often don’t start with, when we feel so overwhelmed – is building our mental strength

Which is ironic really – because actually – when we start our new job, our new relationship, our new routine – wouldn’t we want to start from a position of mental strength?

Because if we don’t – guess what – in 6 months time, that feeling of overwhelm might just still be there...

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 ...