The #PressForward Podcast

This a new mini series we're going to be running for the next couple of weeks.

Each weekday up until WordCamp Europe in Berlin, we're going to be posting a short podcast episode about people's experiences going to WordCamp around the world.

We're calling it “Press Pause”.

In this series, Micah Dailey from WPMU Dev and I (Nathan Wrigley) collaborate to interview WordCamp goers from around the world to hear their positive, funny, and maybe even emotional stories. It’s an opportunity to stop, slow down, and remember that, at its heart, WordPress is made up of people.

We thought that we'd start with ourselves and so Nathan and Micah go over why they like WordCamp as well as discussing some of their favourite moments.

We hope you enjoy the show, please do subscribe on iTunes or Spotify. We're always looking for feedback, if you have any thoughts or comments, please do reach out.

And remember... Together we can #PressForward

If you've never been to a WordCamp, then take a listen this series over the coming days and see if we can persuade you that it's a really great experience and one that you should be taking part in.

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Today we talk to Cory Miller, founder of iThemes. He’s been in and around WordPress for years and has an enviable reputation for creating a successful company. Today we talk mostly about his experiences with depression. Cory has not always had an open attitude to this subject, and like many who encounter it, the past was more about hiding it than sharing about it. More recently though Cory has seen that there’s value in sharing how depression has manifested itself in his life and how he’s coped with it. A post that he wrote several years back, called The Iceberg of Life discusses how it’s possible to show a public face of success and positivity, whilst at the same time having a private experience with depression. In this podcast we talk about Cory’s journey over the last few years and how he has found that sharing his stories of depression has enabled him to be in a better place. We talk about how it manifest itself at an early age and kept coming back. The conversation moves on to what he does to cope with his depression and who he goes to see to help him when he needs some support. It’s an amazingly frank and honest discussion shining a light on a subject that is too often pushed into the dark and never spoken about. Remember that you can reach out to WP&UP if you feel like you would like some support. We hope you enjoy the show, please do subscribe on iTunes or Spotify. We're always looking for feedback, if you have any thoughts or comments, please do reach out. And remember… Together we can #PressForward Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode we talk with Mike Killen about sleep.

On the face of it, you might think that there’s not all that much to talk about, after all you do it automatically, and what is there to discuss anyway?

Turns out that there’s quite a lot to discuss about sleep. Not just how the lack of it can alter your physical and mental health, but that there are perhaps ‘better’ ways to sleep if you are struggling with a lack of it.

Mike’s been on a journey of his own with his sleep. He was not getting enough and this was leading to problems. So he went looking for some answers and went down a rabbit hole, uncovering unexpected information, some of which might not be what you’re expecting to hear.

We all seem to be obsessed with the amount of sleep that we get, but Mike makes the point that the way that wake up and fall asleep might be of equal importance.

He also talks about things that we can do to enable us to have a more productive sleep routine. Putting down the technology, sticking to a fixed routine so that your body is more likely to understand when it’s time to go to sleep.

We also talk about those things beyond your control that get in the way of sleep; the noisy neighbour, the crying child, and what you can do to minimise their impact.

We’re sleeping for roughly a third of our lives… perhaps this is something that we should take seriously. Stop looking at it as an inconvenience and start giving it the respect it deserves.

We hope you enjoy the show, please do subscribe on iTunes or Spotify. We’re always looking for feedback, if you have any thoughts or comments, please do reach out.

And remember… Together we can #PressForward

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of the podcast we have Carrie Dils on.

You're probably used to listening to Carrie speaking on her Office Hours podcast, or maybe you've learned from here in one of the many courses that she produces. But today you're going to hear about a completely different Carrie, a more personal one.

You see, last year was a turbulent year; a year of many events. Some of them were amazing, some were not.

Perhaps the most remarkable event of all was a really transformational walk that Carrie undertook with her father. This was no ordinary walk. It was a walk on the other side of the planet. Over 500 miles across the north of Spain on the Camino de Santiago, a pilgrim route used to this day. We follow the journey that Carrie took and the ways in which it altered her life.

I'm sure that we've all had thoughts of going off to the other side of the world and trying something completely alien to us. This is that story.

Could you cope with the lack of connectedness which the modern world requires? Would you enjoy the mile after mile of walking? Would you love the changing landscape? Are you going to be prepared for the return home and the fact that you're a changed person?

Carrie then opens up about the year after the walk. Her relationship with two if her best friends has changed, possibly for good.

But, guess what? The WordPress community, so loved by Carrie, is there to offer he support as the new year arrives. There to make sure that she is ready to face new challenges. Carrie is ready for the future.

We hope you enjoy the show, please do subscribe on iTunes or Spotify. We're always looking for feedback, if you have any thoughts or comments, please do reach out.

And remember... Together we can #PressForward

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today we look at something that we have not yet tackled - physical health.

WP&UP provides support grouped into four health hubs, mental health, business health, skills health and physical health.

Working with WordPress is a wonderful challenge; but mostly that's a mental challenge. Many people in our community will spend quite a lot of time sitting in a chair, working on their computer; and it's all too easy for this to become a habit that is rarely broken.

Michelle Schulp works with WordPress, but places her physical health front and centre. She makes sure that she's working hard, whilst providing time to get up and move.

She talks to me about why she thinks your physical health and productivity are interconnected and how you might begin your journey towards being more active if you need to.

There's no right answer to this and we explore the many ways that you can transform a sedentary life into something different. This does not have to mean following the well trodden path of going to the gym multiple times each week; there are many ways that you can improve your physical health, and some of them don't even require you to leave your desk.

Michelle's story might resonate with many of you, and her fascination with being active and healthy was something that she learned in later life, she not was always this way.

It's a great listen for those of you who feel that you might have developed a lifestyle that does not have enough physical movement in it. A testament to how things can change. It's not root and branch and you can make little steps towards a more active life starting today.

We hope you enjoy the show, please do subscribe on iTunes or Spotify. We're always looking for feedback, if you have any thoughts or comments, please do reach out.

And remember... Together we can #PressForward

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode we speak with Tom Chute from Pragmatic, a growing agency based in Brighton in the UK.

The agency has grown very rapidly, fast becoming one of the larger UK agencies.

Growing an agency so rapidly brings with it some unexpected situations, and that is the focus of the podcast today.

We chat with Tom about the structure of the agency and how they try to make it a place that their staff like to work at.

We also explore how the company has had to tackle issues like allows employees to have extended time off on mental health grounds. This process was a learning curve for all involved.

There's also a discussion about how they are trying to make the office a healthy place to work.

Perhaps the most interesting take away from this is the idea of a 'open source' agency. A central resource of non-competitive resources that all agencies can share in order to promote happier, healthier working environments.

We hope you enjoy the show, please do subscribe on iTunes or Spotify. We're always looking for feedback, if you have any thoughts or comments, please do reach out.

And remember... Together we can #PressForward

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this weeks episode of The #PressForward Podcast by WP&UP we’ll be hearing from two guests; Laura Nelson and Matt Medeiros.

Laura shares some of her experiences of dealing with mental ill health and how the agency she works for, Pragamatic, supported her. She’ll talk about her experience in dealing with anxiety and panic attacks.

She’ll also share some of the positive, people centric management techniques that have helped her to transition back into a regular working day.

Our second guest on the show, Matt, a member of the Pagely family. Talks about his experiences of being self-employed, the challenges he faced, the highs and the lows. He talks candidly about his thoughts on the WordPress community, WordCamps and what he’d like to see going forward.

Both guests talk about their personally experiences and share advice for those facing challenges with their well-being.

We hope you enjoy the show, please do subscribe on iTunes or Spotify.We’re always looking for feedback, if you have any thoughts or comments, please do reach out.

And remember… Together we can #PressForward 🧡

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this #PressForward podcast episode we speak to Paul Lacey.

Paul is a WordPress agency owner based in the UK.

Over the last couple of years Paul has had issues with taking on too much work and then feeling unable to complete his tasks. In a six month period his family hit a crisis which changed all of their lives.

In that short period one successful business was sold off in order to redress the balance and restore some time into their lives.

It was not as simple as that though as Paul then found it harder to complete his work than ever before.

Paul sought help from this local doctor and this gave him some positive results.

It's a fascinating story which I'm sure many of us can identify with.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of the #PressForward podcast we'll be hearing stories from two people in the WordPress community.

First we hear from Phil. He talks about his recent experiences with panic attacks; how they were often caused by pressures from work and how they came to rule his life.

Phil is the owner of a fast growing agency and was under pressure last year as the agency was growing. He hear about how he managed and how he was able to use the services provided by WP&UP to support himself.

Laura works in the UK for Pragmatic, a large and growing agency. Last year Laura had to take some time off work. This ended up being longer than she’d anticipated.

From Laura’s point of view, this created anxiety about whether or not her employers would still view here in the same way when she returned. She began to think that perhaps they would no longer require her service.

What unfolded was a journey in which both sides, Laura and Pragmatic learned how to best support one another, to respect the situation as it was, and work towards the common goal of getting Laura back at work, which is where she wanted to be.

We hope that you feel able to subscribe on iTunes or whatever podcast player you're using, and we'd certainly encourage you to share this new endeavour wherever you can.

Thanks for your support of 'The #PressForward Podcast'.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We introduce you to ‘The #PressForward Podcast’. It’s a new project that we hope your going to enjoy.

The idea of the podcast is to support the aims of WP&UP in offering support for members of the WordPress community.

Each week we will have guests on to talk about WordPress related things, but also to address some of the areas that don’t usually get covered, such as mental health.

In this, the first episode, we speak to Dan Maby, the founder and CEO of WP&UP about the aims of the charity and what its purpose is. We discuss at length what support WP&UP is providing and how you might get involved.

We then move on to chat with Giles Hales-Tooke. He talks very candidly about his battle with anxiety. He explains how it manifests itself and how he’s managed to stay on top of it.

We hope that you feel able to subscribe on iTunes or whatever podcast player you’re using, and we’d certainly encourage you to share this new endeavour wherever you can.

Thanks for your support of ‘The #PressForward Podcast’.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.