There's this boy ... 

A 15 year old GCSE student on his way to one of our best Universities. He is smart, sociable and spirited, excelling at everything he puts his hand to, from sport, to his grades, to fronting the school band. Looking in from the outside it seems that his life is stretching before him full of hope and opportunity 

And yet. He is crippled by anxiety and shame. Anxiety and shame driven by perfectionism. Permanently on a high wire, of perfectionism. Desperately driven by an anxiety thinking that if he falls off, there is no world to welcome him. He does his schoolwork, he does his pull-ups, he does his push-ups, he checks his phone, hour by hour, minute by minute, ever fearful of the shame of not hitting his high performing, perfectionist targets

How can I explain to this smart, sociable and spirited 15 year old that striving for excellence is one thing. Striving to excel in his unique way, using his own combination of brilliant brain, inate sociability and fierce d...

Why do so very many of us, at some point in our lives, suffer from a feeling of wonkiness, a fear of note being good enough, the fear of not being perfect?  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 perfect 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 visibly impact their daily lives. Here’s the thing though - honestly, most of us struggle with this feeling, for a bit longer than a moment  

This feeling of 'not good enough-ness' does seriously impact how we Show Up and what we achieve in our lives

For some of us we fight the feeling of not being good enough by going into workaholic, overachieve mode. Others o...

Is your wellbeing suffering because you feel 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 fact in 2021 more than 8,000 children in the UK picked 'anxiety' as the top choice when asked for the words they would use to discuss health and wellbeing

What’s more… we also know these feelings of stress and anxiety not only detract from our overall sense of wellbeing, they are also not helping our productivity and performance - at work, at home in our whole life

In fact, they are harmful to our bodies as well as our minds, to say nothing of the impact we have when we appear anxious and stressed on our friends and loved ones and frankly, also our credibility at work. But what can we actually do about it? Especially because some of the factors which are making us feel this way, may appear to be so far out of our control?

The good news is, that honestly (and surprisingly for some of us), there...

On first sight, I thought I was looking at a pile of rock

– the ocean backdrop so hypnotic with it’s crashing waves, the cliffs so mesmerising it was hard to see the iconic outdoor theatre

And yet – there in full sight was the Minack theatre, the extraordinary legacy of Rowena Cade. The story of how this rocky Cornish headland transformed into a world-famous theatre is a story of one woman’s creative vision, fearless dedication, and sheer hard graft

Rowena Cade was born in 1893 and moved to Cornwall where she built her home, Minack house on the Minack headland, following World War 1 and the death of her father

Rowena was passionate about theatre and offered her garden to a local production company who wanted to stage Shakespeare’s ‘The Tempest’. To help them, she decided to create a stage and somewhere for people to sit. What is incredible, is that Rowena didn’t use heavy machinery to create the seating area and the stage, she and her gardener - Billy Rawlings - used hand tools and...

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...

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...

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...