Jeff Weigh

On this episode I interview Dave Algeo who talks amongst other things about being stressed out and the damage of the 'shut the f*ck up type of attitude' when it comes to mental health.

On work-life balance Dave says;

"I like the perfect imbalance idea. I remember when work-life balance became a thing. I get it but the world of life is far more complex."

Dave spent a number of years working in the police force before setting up his own business in 2006 in the world of learning and development. His focus tends to be in the space of resilience and mental health and helping those feeling stressed out.

Host of Man Sprouts the podcast, Dave can often be seen and heard talking about vegetables! For those that remember Crackerjack, the losing contestants would often be saddled with cabbages!

Having gone through his own stress and fallen into arrears with his mortgage at Northern Rock; he's some how been able to use his own experience to positive effect.

He loves to learn and loves to turn this into learning and teaching for others; making a difference in the long term not just in the moment.

If you enjoyed the interview with Dave then please do start a conversation with him on;

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You can also find more details on their website

If you liked this episode then please do leave the show a rating and review on iTunes or the platform that you use to listen to podcasts. 

On this episode Dr Emma Foden and myself wish you the listeners and all our guests a happy new year.

The majority of podcasts don't get past 7 episodes and today we have finished the year with 33 episodes. 

The purpose of the podcast was to provoke new thoughts around well-being and challenge the myth of work-life balance in particular.

So many lessons from season 1 & season 2. 

Listen back to all of the episodes if you've missed any.

Tune in next time to hear me interviewing Dave Algeo the Stress(ed) Guru on the first show of season 3.

On this 'advent special' episode I look back over series 2 with Dr Emma Foden.

In advent calendar style, Emma & I take it in turns to select a number. Behind each number is a guest from the series.

We then share our own thoughts on the episode, the guest and the messages that they left us with.

Thank you for joining us on the advent special episode. We will be back on New Year's Eve with a special show; looking back over 2018 and giving you a flavour of what to expect in 2019!

As always you can catch up on any episodes you've missed on Anchor, Spotify, iTunes or the platform you use.

On this episode I interview Kate Richardson-Walsh; Olympic Gold Medal Winning Captain and most capped female hockey player in her country's history. We talk about transitioning out of elite sport, obsession and making things happen.

On work-life balance

“I think it is individual and it will change. Be curious about it and make the best decision for you.”

As an elite athlete, sport can become obsessive yet Kate has always tried to find ways to switch off. Working in 4 year cycles (as all Olympic sports do), Kate and several team mates believed after London 2012 that they could go better in Rio 2016.

This was a straight line; they failed hugely as a team after London 2012 before turning things around in the 18 months leading up to Rio 2016.

Transitioning away from hockey

In the lead up to Rio, Kate was made captain of the team and part of her role involved doing more speaking engagements.

Following the Rio games Kate and her wife Helen decided to set up their own business, combining speaking with going into schools and businesses and providing training. Something Kate describes as longer lasting; allowing others to thrive.

Being able to do something that you enjoy is important to Kate and she loves the nervous energy that she gets when speaking. The nerves remind her of her days as a hockey player and competing.

Strengths

For a long time when she was growing up, Kate didn't really know what she wanted to be. Her first thoughts were around teaching and she openly admits to 'bumbling down the road' in her earlier days.

However, she was able to see opportunities (like getting involved with hockey) and making the most of them. Hard work and making things happen were the drivers behind how Kate approached things.

'Emotional yet consistent' is how Kate goes on to describe herself and this has helped throughout her life.  She never felt she was good enough and this has allowed her to try harder. Openly critical of herself, Kate has been able to use this positively to drive her onward.

Feedback

Having come from a place where you are always receiving feedback; both Kate and Helen in their capacity as speakers are always seeking feedback on how they can improve.

Feedback is so important and whilst Kate views it as a gift, in the world outside of elite sport people aren't as forthcoming.

Whilst she's had moments of failure or challenging moments, Kate is not one for having regrets.

The GB Hockey Team had a vision for Rio 2016 which Kate has taken forward into her purpose and passion today;

“Be the difference, create history, inspire the future.”

A quote to leave you with from Kate;

“It's not about what you want, it's what you need.”

Start a conversation with her on;

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On this episode I interview Angela Cox; Mindset Mentor, Motivational Speaker & No 1 Best-selling Author, who helps others on their journey to 'being their best self'.

Passionate and driven on by her own earlier experiences in life, Angela is also on a journey herself.

From being abused as a child to spending all of her adult life on a diet and being fat, Angela is very honest and open during our interview. A secret binge eater alongside being a high powered *successful) executive; she went on yet another diet in 2016 only this time things were different.

What changed?

Well it turned that this latest diet was a healthy eating diet with incorporated exercise, and at the same time Angela started reading a book called Positive Thinking. The book talked about affirmations and she started doing them every day without fail.

Everything combined together allowed Angela to lose over 8 stones in weight! At the same time the inner critic's voice inside of her started to become more positive.

As part of her own journey she's realised that happiness doesn't come from stuff.

The book

'Enough' is a compelling account of self determination and survival written with absolute honesty and passion. Part memoir, part manual full of tips, tricks and rituals to integrate into your life to be the best you, you can be.

Here's some wise words of wisdom from Angela;

"Stop the comparison thing because it sucks the life out of people."

Check out what Angela is up to here

Order your copy of the book here

Start a conversation with her on;

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On this episode I interview Nick Littlehales, Elite Sleep Coach and author of Sleep; the myth of 8 hours, the power of naps and the new plan to recharge your body and mind.

Very soon into our conversation, Nick talks about the need for downtime and recovery. He goes on to share his journey so far and the paradigm shift that he's starting to see in relation to how people view sleep and recovery.

Nick talks about there being no budget for sleep in a lot of sports and businesses that he's gone into. Sleep and recovery are relatively new concepts compared to diet and exercise.

It's fascinating to hear Nick explain chronotypes and the impact that this has and can have on our sleep and recovery. For those not familiar with chronotypes, essentially we are talking about whether you are an 'am'er or a pm'er'! In simple terms; are you a morning person or not!

The book

In Nick's book are a number of steps including;

- Circadian rhythms

- Chronotypes

- Cycles not hours

- Pre & post sleep routines

- Activity and recovery harmony

Sleep doesn't have to be a challenge or issue for you anymore.

Here's some wise words of wisdom from Nick;

"Get back to some basics and get your awareness up. Put into practice some of the things we've been talking about and you'll be happily amazed."

Check out what Nick is up to here

Start a conversation with him on;

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On this episode I interview Dr Steve Marshall; the man behind seeing differently, working on purpose.

On work-life balance Steve says;

"On the face of it, it's a good idea but I've never achieved it. I think my most successful moments have been when I've not been in balance."

Background

Steve started out with a career in photography before deciding to apply for a role in the military. Having spent 22 years as a fighter pilot which he describes as an excellent career, he lost 26 of his friends in accidents. As he came towards the end of his 'flying job' he pondered what he might be able to do about the future accidents, as the current loss rate seemed to be deemed ok. Working with others he was able to influence some change to the organisational culture.

Helping others

Steve left the military in the hope that he could help people change the way that they think.

In his work as a change consultant, Steve worked with groups of people to help them learn in ways that they achieve a collective personal transformation.

He talks about values in organisations;

"Often we go through life wearing somebody else's clothes; somebody else's face."

Whilst Steve continues to work with doctoral students, he's just stepped away from the academic management role to pursue his love of image, vision, connection and ’seeing differently’ as we offer witness to each other - so in his words; following his deeper, truer purpose!

In some ways Steve's returned to what he loves most; having first expressed an interest in doing photo journalism at school only to be sent off to do work experience in the local Foundry!

Find out more

If you enjoyed the interview with Dr Steve Marshall then please do start a conversation with him on;

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You can also find more details on his website

On this episode I interview Fiona Murden, Occupational Psychologist, Speaker, Blogger and passionate about doing what makes your heart sing.

Fiona spends a lot of her time profiling senior leaders of organisations (around the world) and helps them find a good fit within the business. On the back of this she is involved with executive coaching within organisations.

Outside of the corporate world, Fiona is also a blogger with a fascination of understanding the brain and helping others make sense of things happening in their worlds.

Background

Fiona started out reading medicine and openly admits to her own life never being a straight journey.

She does admit during the interview that she wanted to be a fighter pilot!

Fiona shares;

"Even when you're exploring; it gets messy, it's difficult. You have to stick to it and find what makes your heart sing."

Making time to think

Fiona promotes the action of making time to think; time for thinking ahead. It's easy to get caught up being busy and everything associated with that.

Society values busyness over thinking and our brain is geared up to action rather than contemplation.

Wanting to make a positive difference to peoples lives, Fiona embarked on the journey of writing a book.

Fiona is Author of Defining You: How to profile yourself and unlock your full potential.

Packed with research and psychology, the driver for writing her book was to make the tips and ideas (which she uses within organisations) available to everyone.

She is both passionate and on a mission. Fiona has made it her purpose to help others understand their own purpose. It's become 'her itch' and she's determined to pursue this.

If you enjoyed the interview with Fiona then please do start a conversation with her on;

Twitter

Instagram

LinkedIn

You can also find more details on her website

On this episode I interview Todd Brown; co-founder of Next Action Associates and pioneer of the Getting things done methodology created by David Allen.

In a nutshell (Todd's words) they are helping people be as productive as they can be and focused on the right things.

Todd says; it's not just about being busy. They want to help people at the same time to lower their stress levels.

Background

Todd discovered the work of David Allen when he was starting a new job; watching a seminar of his whilst he was waiting for his computer and work-space to be set up.

However, whilst it was an epiphany moment, a lot of what David was talking about resonated with Todd. Things like; how do I keep my head clear so I can focus on whatever I choose to focus on.

Over the coming months Todd started to implement some of the tools and ideas from the Getting things done methodology before deciding to set up Next Action Associates.

At Next Action Associates

We have a definition of work;

"work is anything in your life that isn't the way you want it to be"

Essentially this is the gap between where you are right now and where you want to be.

Things are coming at us faster than ever before and we are always available. We all need strategies to be able to deal with what's coming at us each day. The 'commitments' as Todd and initial David Allen refers to them as.

It hasn't always been the case in Todd's career but the work he is doing now (and has been doing over the last 10 years) is what considers to be 'important work'.

Openness to being a beginner

Many of us are afraid of being a beginner.

There's a great quote from Sting;

"I'm never afraid of being a beginner."

We don't all have the luxury of doing what we love all of the time, but as we go through life it's important that we pay attention to whether or not what we are doing is aligned to our deeper purpose. The Getting things done methodology allows you to get into a state of flow and optimise each part of the process; capture, clarify, organise, reflect and engage.

Todd's thoughts on work-life balance.

"If we felt like we were always in balance, life would probably get a bit dull. A very important part of life is getting out of control, getting out of balance."

If you enjoyed the interview with Todd then please do start a conversation with him and Next Action Associates on;

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Welcome back to the second part of this episode where I interview Katy Murray & Fiona Smith from Catalyst Collective; the co-founders of a global network of world changing women with a focus on changing the dialogue.

They came together and founded Catalyst Collective just over 12 months ago and provide a community and resources, including on-line programmes and face to face coaching.

Both have 20 years' experience in organisational consulting and leadership development and focus now on sharing that expertise (wisdom) with women leaders, and consulting with organisations that want to make a difference around inclusion.

In part 2

Katy & Fiona share their insight and research into the gender pay gap, shifting the focus of discussion and how do we re-define leadership.

They truly are two minds working in collaboration; looking to address the balance of leadership. We delve into comparison in the workplace and competition, discussing organisations and experiences where sharing isn't encouraged.

They deliberately choose to work with an abundance mindset for themselves at Catalyst Collective; supporting and encouraging one another and creating together.

Curiosity and boldness they hold one another's back rather than holding one another back. They've developed a partnership and sense of accountability which drives everything they're doing.

Start a conversation with them on;

Twitter

LinkedIn 

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