The Self-Leadership Podcast

What would change if your everyday choices reflected more of who you are? Intentional living became a personal question for Nakhli Khoury when his corporate identity no longer felt like the whole story.

In this episode of The Self Leadership Podcast, Nakhli joins Anna and Josh to share five practices he uses to understand himself, notice his reactions and make room for what matters to him.

After almost two decades in corporate life, a restructuring and a health issue prompted him to look inward. He began recognising a thread across his work, relationships and interests: a love of learning and sharing what he knows.

Through these practices, Nakhli explores observing thoughts without trying to silence them, noticing how he responds to challenges, giving without recognition and caring for himself so he can be there for the people he loves. He also shares why feeling aligned matters more to him than being happy all the time.

Connect with Nakhli: LinkedIn

Connect with your hosts:
Anna-Maria: LinkedIn
Josh: LinkedIn

Resources:
Power Versus Force by David Hawkins

Chapters
00:00 Meet Nakhli, the curious teacher
09:48 Using identity to guide your choices
15:51 Turning inward to understand yourself
22:47 Practice 1: Meditation
33:11 Practice 2: Kundalini yoga
43:03 Practice 3: SOMA breathwork
49:42 Practice 4: Volunteering
54:36 Changing your relationship with the past
59:15 Practice 5: Longevity awareness
1:07:23 What your reactions might reveal
1:09:51 Recap of the five practices

If you've been wondering which parts of your life you've chosen and which you've simply continued, this conversation offers space to reflect. What helps you feel most like yourself?

Can you pursue ambitious goals without making your self-worth depend on whether you achieve them?

Marketer and entrepreneur Yana Lapitskaya joins Josh and Anna on The Self Leadership Podcast to explore that question through five practices that help her build a fulfilling, balanced life.

For Yana, tennis is a place to practice focus, meet people and learn how to move on from a bad point. Writing gives her a way to process emotions and create something meaningful. Self-reflection helps her revisit experiences, notice patterns and question the stories she tells herself.

She also shares what she learnt when her tech startup didn’t succeed as hoped, why she had already chosen to keep her worth separate from the business, and how that distinction can still be difficult to maintain in everyday life.

If you’re questioning your pace or putting pressure on yourself to keep improving, this conversation offers a way to reconsider what you’re working towards and what already makes your life worth living.

Connect with Yana:
Yana Lapitskaya on LinkedIn

Connect with your hosts:
Anna-Maria: LinkedIn
Josh: LinkedIn

Resources:
Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman
Think Again by Adam Grant
The Chimp Paradox by Steve Peters
Positive Intelligence by Shirzad Chamine
The War of Art by Steven Pressfield
The Inner Game of Tennis by Timothy Gallwey
Happy Sexy Millionaire by Steven Bartlett
The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck by Mark Manson

Chapters
00:00 Welcome and meet Yana Lapitskaya
04:39 Fulfilment, balance and fewer regrets
19:01 Practice 1: Sport
27:46 Practice 2: Art
38:50 Practice 3: Self reflection
46:02 Keeping self worth separate from results
55:14 Practice 4: Self improvement
1:03:11 Practice 5: Goal setting
1:10:05 The five practices revisited

Subscribe for more honest conversations about the practices that shape intentional lives.

In this episode of The Self Leadership Podcast, Anna and Josh speak with Manjot Bhatia, a father and entrepreneur based in Berlin, about five practices that help him live more intentionally.

Manjot shares how work pressure began affecting the way he showed up for his family, and how meditation and yoga became important to him. He explains how he makes room for rest during the working day, chooses what to learn and uses systems thinking to turn personal insights into action.

If your routines have become another source of pressure, this conversation offers a chance to reconsider what they’re for and what you actually want to practice.

Manjot Bhatia: LinkedIn

Connect with your hosts:
Anna-Maria: LinkedIn
Josh: LinkedIn

Timestamps:
00:00 Introduction
00:57 Living intentionally through mind, body and spirit
07:06 Practice 1: Sleep and regeneration
18:29 Practice 2: Learning and growth
31:36 Practice 3: Nervous system regulation
40:10 Practice 4: Systemic and integral living
54:28 Practice 5: Community
1:06:10 The five practices revisited

Subscribe for more honest conversations about the practices that shape intentional lives.

Across Episodes 9 to 16, our guests shared 40 self-leadership practices drawn from their own lives.

For this highlight reel, Anna-Maria Tsyupko and Josh Winterson picked one practice from each episode that had the biggest impact on them. New to the podcast? Start here. If you've been following along, you might find a practice you'd like to revisit.

Practices selected:
Ep9, 13:17: Breaking away from local maxima
Ep10, 20:44: Pausing and reading the body
Ep11, 26:32: Disconnecting from the phone
Ep12, 55:13: Emotional literacy
Ep13, 47:17: Make rest non-negotiable
Ep14, 1:02:05: Positive self-talk
Ep15, 44:01: Move for four minutes
Ep16, 25:34: The Full Seat Rule

Which practice would make the biggest difference for you? Tell us in the comments, and subscribe to The Self-Leadership Podcast for more conversations about how we lead ourselves.

Connect with your hosts:
Anna-Maria: LinkedIn
Josh: LinkedIn

Florestano Compagno became very good at showing up for other people, often before asking what he needed himself.

In this episode of The Self Leadership Podcast, he joins Anna and Josh to discuss what he calls selective presence: choosing where your attention and energy belong. He explains how perfectionism and assumed expectations pushed him to overdeliver, and why being present requires clear boundaries.

Florestano also shares five practical ways to be more intentional with your attention. Give people your full focus. Leave situations where you have no reason to stay. Exercise without turning your body into another project. Step back when life feels overwhelming. Find small moments of joy in ordinary days.

Practices discussed
Practice 1: The Traffic Cop Rule
Practice 2: The Full Seat Rule
Practice 3: Anti Performance Physicality
Practice 4: The Greater Picture Check
Practice 5: The Tomato Pasta Philosophy

Connect with Florestano Compagno
Florestano Compagno on LinkedIn

Connect with your hosts
Anna-Maria on LinkedIn
Josh on LinkedIn

Chapters
00:00 Introduction
05:24 What does living intentionally mean to you?
15:08 Practice 1: The Traffic Cop Rule
25:34 Practice 2: The Full Seat Rule
34:28 Practice 3: Anti Performance Physicality
45:19 Practice 4: The Greater Picture Check
55:20 Practice 5: The Tomato Pasta Philosophy
1:02:54 Florestano’s five practice summary

Subscribe for more honest conversations about the practices that shape intentional lives.

Stress is a familiar state for Saliha Van Nuland. Growing up in a chaotic environment left her accustomed to hypervigilance, and she still notices how easily her nervous system can move into fight or flight.

Childhood chronic bronchitis meant repeated hospital stays and having to relearn how to breathe. Years later, Saliha trained as a breathing teacher and began using the breath to notice stress, change her state and create more space before reacting.

She joins Anna and Josh to share the five practices that help her return to steadiness. They explore what breath holds and over breathing can reveal, why a useful reset must be simple enough for a difficult day, and how nourishment, movement and journalling support her wider approach to nervous system regulation.

Resources
Dr. Belisa, The BREATHE™ Certification Program
The School of Self
Tabata

Connect with Saliha Van Nuland
Saliha on LinkedIn

Connect with your hosts
Anna-Maria on LinkedIn
Josh on LinkedIn

Chapters
00:00 Introduction
05:40 Living Intentionally
13:03 Childhood stress, bronchitis and relearning breath
18:32 Practice 1: Breathe through the nose
26:35 Practice 2: Exercise the breathing muscles
37:40 Practice 3: Hydrate and nourish in the morning
44:01 Practice 4: Move for four minutes
47:48 Practice 5: Journal what needs attention
53:40 The five practices in review

Subscribe for more honest conversations about the practices that shape intentional lives.

Featured topics
breathwork, nervous system regulation, conscious parenting, emotional regulation, intentional living, nasal breathing, breathing exercises, morning routine

The first month in Angola was awful. Beth had quit her job as a petroleum engineer, sold the house in Aberdeen and moved with her husband to a country where she knew nobody, didn’t speak the language and couldn’t safely go out on her own. He left for work every morning and was the only person she saw all day.

What got her through was a line she found while looking up motivational quotes: everything is hard before it is easy. Six months in, she is learning Portuguese, working part time and travelling to places she never expected to see.

Beth joins Anna and Josh Winterson to talk about what happens to a driven, goal oriented person when the structure disappears.

Practices discussed
Practice 1: Set a clear goal
Practice 2: Plan the route
Practice 3: Do the work
Practice 4: Reflect and adjust
Practice 5: Positive self talk

Connect with Beth
Beth Jones on LinkedIn

Connect with your hosts
Anna Maria on LinkedIn
Josh Winterson on LinkedIn

Chapters
00:00 Introduction
05:41 How Angola changed Beth’s perspective
09:24 Living intentionally
22:45 Practice 1: Set a clear goal
35:12 Practice 2: Plan the route
40:12 Practice 3: Do the work
52:35 Practice 4: Reflect and adjust
1:02:05 Practice 5: Positive self talk
1:10:28 The five practices in review

Subscribe for more honest conversations about the practices that shape intentional lives.

Featured topics
Ambition, goal setting, self discipline, self reflection, high achiever mindset, career change, Ironman triathlon, time management, gratitude, personal growth, living abroad

Creative burnout pushed Diego Scarsella to leave his London life behind and rethink what meaningful work could feel like. After returning to Italy, the product designer set out on a seven month overland journey from near Milan to Bali, travelling one bus ride at a time to find his spark again.

Diego joins Anna and Josh to share what the journey revealed about courage, intentional living and the space creativity needs. He explains why courage often arrives after we act, how stillness helps us understand what we have experienced, and why rest can be more useful than another hour of busy work.

The conversation also explores the difference between doing what looks productive and doing what feels meaningful. Diego’s practices are deliberately flexible. You don’t need a seven month trip to begin. A walk, a short rest, a page of reflection or a few unproductive minutes of play can be enough to notice what you need next.

Connect with Diego
Diego Scarsella: LinkedIn

Connect with your hosts
Anna-Maria: LinkedIn
Josh: LinkedIn

Chapters
00:00 Meet Diego Scarsella
06:03 Why recovery became an adventure
13:11 Finding meaning in small daily actions
17:41 What stillness reveals after intense experiences
21:34 Burnout, boreout and misaligned work
27:55 Practice 1: Spend time in nature
33:18 Practice 2: Document, reflect and move on
38:35 Practice 3: Let go to make space
47:17 Practice 4: Make rest non negotiable
52:08 Practice 5: Create something every day
1:00:28 The five practices in review

Subscribe for more honest conversations about the practices that shape intentional lives.

Topics
creative burnout, intentional living, travel, finding your spark, rest and recovery, meaningful work, busy work, creativity, time in nature, journalling, self reflection, letting go, courage, community

Anna-Maria and Josh speak with Minna Schmidt, a financial wellbeing coach and co founder of Flourish Financially, a money and wealth academy for women. Minna shares how her relationship with finance changed over time, why so many people avoid looking at their money, and how financial confidence can create more freedom, security and choice.

The conversation also moves far beyond money. Minna talks about the health wake up call that forced her to set boundaries, the question that now guides her life, the role of purpose in financial decisions, and why emotional literacy matters even in highly structured work. She also shares her love of Finnish sauna as a place for presence and reflection.

This is a conversation about money, but it is really about agency. What are you avoiding, what are you building, and does it actually belong to you?

Minna Schmidt:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/minnaschmidt/

Connect with your hosts:
Anna-Maria: https://www.linkedin.com/in/atsyupko/
Josh: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshwinterson/

Resources:
The Psychology of Money: https://amzn.eu/d/06d7I3Hz

Chapters:
00:00 Introduction
06:55 What intentional living means to Minna
10:48 The health wake up call that forced a boundary
20:26 How Minna found her purpose
24:18 Practice 1: financial self care
33:49 Practice 2: purpose led living
39:49 Practice 3: sauna as presence and renewal
46:24 Practice 4: embracing discomfort
55:13 Practice 5: emotional literacy
1:05:01 Minna’s five practices in summary

intentional living, money beliefs, values based living, burnout, personal growth, seeking discomfort.

At 33, Ricardo was lying on a couch, recently divorced and freshly out of his second business, when he saw his future with uncomfortable clarity. If he kept going, he'd be a 60 year old salesman in the wine trade, living a life he never chose. He got up and changed direction.

Ricardo is a serial entrepreneur and father of three who built his own businesses for most of his adult life. In this episode of The Self Leadership Podcast, he shares how that moment on the couch reshaped his sense of purpose, and why the season he's in now belongs to raising his kids.

Anna and Josh explore six practices with him: jujitsu as a form of meditation he calls human chess, disconnecting from his phone and going back to the 90s, being fully where you are, prioritisation and the order of things, writing to empty your head, and learning to trust other people. Underneath all of it sits one idea: a fulfilled life might come from having less in it, not more.

Connect with Ricardo: Ricardo Camarinha on LinkedIn

Connect with your hosts: Anna and Josh

Resources:
Thinking, Fast and Slow
Why We Sleep
Getting Things Done
The Organized Mind

Chapters:
00:00 Introduction and meet Ricardo
02:18 Learning with AI and building things again
07:09 What living intentionally means
08:33 The couch moment at 33
12:25 Purpose in seasons of life
16:14 Practice 1: Jujitsu as meditation
26:32 Practice 2: Disconnecting from the phone
31:53 Practice 3: Being where you are
37:57 Practice 4: Prioritisation and the order of things
39:56 Practice 5: Writing things down
45:41 Practice 6: Learning to trust people
47:13 Recap and closing thoughts

self leadership, intentional living, presence, digital detox, jujitsu, meditation through movement, life purpose, prioritisation, personal growth, focus, emotional resilience