Mission Imperfect: navigating life with coaches Kirsty and Kathryn

This month, Mission Imperfect is 6 months old! We have released an episode every Wednesday since our launch in Oct 2024, and decided that is worth a moment of acknowledgement and celebration.

Whilst as coaches we spend a lot of time helping others look forward, focusing on the what now and next, there is value in appreciating just how far you've come too - which we encourage you to do in this week's episode!

It's been imperfect, life is, and fortunately so is the name of our podcast. This week's question to mull over:

Consider a way in which you've stepped out of your comfort zone in the last 6 months. How do you feel differently about it now compared to at first, and what's your key learning from the experience?

Find us here:

Kirsty: ⁠www.coachingbykirsty.co.uk⁠Kathryn: www.kbmindfulcoaching.com     

And on social media here:

Kirsty on Instagram - ⁠www.instagram.com/coachingbykirsty/Kathryn on LinkedIn - www.linkedin.com/in/kathryneball  

This week, we realise it has taken us until series 2 to talk explicitly about life coaching!

We bust some myths around what life coaching is and isn't, so you can decide if it is of interest, or isn't - either answer is fine!

3 myths we discuss this week:

1) Coaching is like counselling, therapy or mentoring (or is the poor relation of those)

2) A coach will tell me what to do / how to sort my life out!

3) Coaching is for people who need something fixing (possibly including themselves) or for when something has gone wrong.

And we break with tradition to ask you 2 questions this week:

a) Can you see if life coaching may be of benefit to you right now, or not?

b) If you were offered a free coaching session right now, what would you choose to focus on?

Find us here:

Kathryn: www.kbmindfulcoaching.com 

Kirsty: www.coachingbykirsty.co.uk

And on social media here:

Kathryn on LinkedIn - www.linkedin.com/in/kathryneball  

Kirsty on Instagram - www.instagram.com/coachingbykirsty/

Resources

https://www.kbmindfulcoaching.com/post/counselling-coaching-and-mentoring-what-s-the-difference

https://www.kbmindfulcoaching.com/post/a-coaching-archway

We couldn’t put this one off any longer… procrastination!

We probably all do it, but it’s often misunderstood. This week, we are talking about why we put things off, is procrastination really a problem and how might we overcome / manage it.

We also coin the term ‘positive procrastination’ for when it’s not always a bad thing.  

Biscuits even manage to get a look in, because more often than not for both of us, they are our reward for doing the task we were procrastinating over!

Today’s question for you to mull over and which we also answer in the episode: 

‘What is something you know you are procrastinating over (that you do want or need to do?’). 

How can you move one step closer to it being done, or even just get started?

Find us here:

Kathryn: www.kbmindfulcoaching.com     

Kirsty: www.coachingbykirsty.co.uk

And on social media here:

Kathryn on LinkedIn - www.linkedin.com/in/kathryneball  

Kirsty on Instagram - www.instagram.com/coachingbykirsty/

Resources

Kathryn’s blog on procrastination:

https://www.kbmindfulcoaching.com/post/is-there-a-solution-for-procrastination-or-is-it-actually-a-problem

The 4 Ds model – https://www.pmcolumn.com/4-ds-of-time-management/

As a society, we’re pretty obsessed with the rich and famous… but talking about money is often a bit of a taboo, isn’t it? Not in this episode of Mission Imperfect, though!!

Join us in considering all the benefits of money and all the ways in which we’ve been conditioned to think of it as bad – confusing, much?! We also have some suggestions as to how to start addressing that cognitive dissonance so as to create a healthier relationship with money.

Along the way, Kathryn is introduced to the concept of “Eat the rich” and Kirsty is introduced to the concept of not buying biscuits. One demonstrated a great deal more intellectual flexibility than the other in the face of a new idea…

Today’s question for you to mull over and which we also answer in the episode:

What words immediately come to mind when you think about money?

Find us here:

Kirsty: www.coachingbykirsty.co.uk

Kathryn: www.kbmindfulcoaching.com

And on social media here:

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/coachingbykirsty/

LinkedIn - www.linkedin.com/in/kathryneball

Resources:

Books:

“You are a Badass at Making Money” – Jen Sincero

“The Psychology of Money” – Morgan Housel

“Secrets of the Millionaire Mind” – T Harv Eker

“Get Rich, Lucky Bitch!” – Denise Duffield-Thomas

Blog:

https://www.coachingbykirsty.co.uk/post/you-re-allowed-to-want-more

Journal prompts:

Money is… (Use this as a sentence starter 7 times in succession)

The best thing about money is…

The worst thing about money is…

Not having money means…

Having money means…

Rich is…

Welcome to series 2 of Mission Imperfect!

We’ve spoken about failure before… so it's only fair that it’s now the turn of success.

What are markers of success and how do we translate success in our lives?

We discuss signs of success and on whose terms in this week’s episode, along with being up the wrong ladder, success ‘traps’ and how to define it imperfectly your way instead! 

Today’s question for you to mull over and which we also answer in the episode: 

‘What does success look like for you personally, at this stage of your life?’

Find us here:

Kathryn: www.kbmindfulcoaching.com     

Kirsty: www.coachingbykirsty.co.uk

And on social media here:

Kathryn on LinkedIn - www.linkedin.com/in/kathryneball  

Kirsty on Instagram - www.instagram.com/coachingbykirsty/

Resources

Our former episode on 'values' – episode 21 of series 1

(5 Mar 2025)

https://www.kbmindfulcoaching.com/post/what-is-success

It’s not just about how we look, it’s about how we feel, howwe value ourselves, and what we think we are capable of too – which the beauty industry knows too well!

This week we are discussing all things related to howwe see ourselves,  the negative filters we have and how to remove them! We discuss ‘re-blonding’, eyelashes likeescaping spiders and one-legged high jumps; biscuits just sneak in.

 Today’s question for you to mull over and which we also answer in the episode:

‘What does the belief that you aren’t attractive (enough) stop you from doing or allow you to avoid doing?’

Find us here:

Kathryn: www.kbmindfulcoaching.com     

Kirsty: www.coachingbykirsty.co.uk

And on social media here:

Kathryn on LinkedIn - www.linkedin.com/in/kathryneball   

Kirsty on Instagram - www.instagram.com/coachingbykirsty/

Kathryn talks about the idea that our lives are like books, with whatever phase we happen to be in being the current chapter, not the whole story. And, no matter how dramatically or sadly one chapter might end, there’s always a new chapter to follow it - and we always get to choose whether we’re the hero or the victim of our own stories.

Kirsty, after wrongly claiming that this episode breaks with a tradition of one word episode titles, gets distracted by the idea of a fairy tale sequel called “Cinderella: the divorce years”...

Today’s question for you to mull over and which we also answer in the episode:

What would you like your next (or a future) life chapter to contain? Is it more of what you have now, or something different?

Resources:

https://www.kbmindfulcoaching.com/post/your-life-story

Find us here:

Kirsty: www.coachingbykirsty.co.uk

Kathryn: www.kbmindfulcoaching.com

And on social media here:

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/coachingbykirsty/

LinkedIn www.linkedin.com/in/kathryneball

It’s just a word, but a troublesome one – in this episode we talk about all the reasons we dislike ‘should’, or as Kirsty puts it why it sucks the joy out of life, makes us feel inadequate, and separates us from our sense of who we are and what matters to us. And biscuits make a return!

Today’s question for you to mull over and which we also answer in the episode:

‘What is the main feeling you associate with the word“should”?’

Resources:

7 Levels Deep https://www.7levelsdeep.com

Blog: https://www.kbmindfulcoaching.com/post/should-is-a-dirty-word

Find us here:

Kathryn: www.kbmindfulcoaching.com     

Kirsty: www.coachingbykirsty.co.uk

And on social media here:

Kathryn on LinkedIn - www.linkedin.com/in/kathryneball 

Kirsty on Instagram - www.instagram.com/coachingbykirsty/

Values are not something we tend to discuss with each other - but maybe we should, and today we’re doing just that!

Values are invaluable (see what we did there?!) guides in life, alerting you to what/who is right - and not right - for you, and enabling you to carve out a path that feels good to YOU.

Values can also be carefully curated tick box exercises, serving only to create an impression…especially in the corporate world, some cynics (Kirsty!) might say, but also for individuals trying to be who they think they should be…

We offer some suggestions for getting to know your values - and get a little competitive over how many different meanings we can wrap up in one word!

Today’s question for you to mull over and which we also answer in the episode:

What are your personal and/or professional values - and are you meeting them?

Resources:

Kathryn’s blogs on values:

https://www.kbmindfulcoaching.com/post/knowing-your-values-why-does-it-matter

and

https://www.kbmindfulcoaching.com/post/connect-with-what-matters

Kirsty’s Know Your Values exercise: https://coachingbykirsty.co.uk/resources#more-stuff

Find us here:

Kirsty: www.coachingbykirsty.co.uk

Kathryn: www.kbmindfulcoaching.com

And on social media here:

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/coachingbykirsty/

LinkedIn www.linkedin.com/in/kathryneball

In today’s episode we are talking about the areas in which we may want to have personal boundaries and how to communicate them (without having a personal rulebook to hand!).

We think they are needed because without them we are in danger of entering ‘people pleasing’ land or ‘I wish I wasn’t here’ land – both undesirable! 

Today’s question for you to mull over and which we also answer in the episode: 

‘What’s your relationship with personal boundaries? Are they clear? Flexible or static? Communicated or often crossed?’

Resources:

https://www.kbmindfulcoaching.com/post/how-to-have-personal-boundaries

Find us here:

Kathryn: www.kbmindfulcoaching.com     

Kirsty: www.coachingbykirsty.co.uk

And on social media here:

Kathryn on LinkedIn - www.linkedin.com/in/kathryneball  

Kirsty on Instagram - www.instagram.com/coachingbykirsty/