We’ve been taught to push through when things get tough, to power on through tiredness, brain fog, and fading focus. But does it actually work?

In this episode of Tom's Life Lab, Tom explores why forcing yourself to keep going when your energy dips often leads to slower work, lower quality, and deeper exhaustion. Rather than being a weakness, those signals of fatigue are your body asking for a reset.

You’ll learn why small pauses can completely change your state, how “pushing through” is often driven by fear, and a simple experiment that could help you get more done without burning yourself out.

Rest should be simple, but for many of us, it’s anything but.

In this episode of Tom's Life Lab, Tom explores why slowing down can feel so uncomfortable, especially for people who are driven, ambitious, and used to constant action. From the guilt that creeps in when we stop, to the false idea that rest is “doing nothing,” this episode unpacks how we’ve been conditioned to equate busyness with progress.

You’ll learn the difference between real rest and passive distraction, why your energy needs regular replenishment, and how small moments of genuine rest can actually make life and work feel easier.

This week’s Life Lab experiment is simple: one proper rest break every day. No multitasking, no scrolling, just rest.

In this episode of Tom's Life Lab, Tom explores the hidden cost of being “always on” and why constant availability is quietly draining our energy, focus, and mood.

As part of the energy series, he reflects on how easy it is to slip into checking messages, only to find work bleeding into evenings, sleep, and recovery time. What feels productive in the moment often shows up later as poor focus, low energy, and burnout.

This episode is a reminder that boundaries aren’t about shutting people out, they’re about protecting your ability to show up well. Real energy is restored when we create space to switch off.

🎧 Listen now and try this week’s Life Lab experiment:

In this episode, Tom explores why feeling busy but depleted isn’t a time problem, it’s an energy problem.

As the first episode in the energy series, Tom reflects on how easily our energy gets drained by distraction, constant demands, and a lack of boundaries. Tom shares why protecting your energy isn’t selfish, but essential for presence, focus, and impact, and how small, intentional choices can radically change how you work and live.

This episode is a reminder that your effectiveness isn’t measured by hours worked, but by how you manage and protect your energy throughout the day.

Listen now and try this week’s Life Lab experiment:

Resilience isn’t just about surviving challenges, it’s about shaping your identity through them.

In this final episode of the mindset series on Tom's Life Lab, Tom shares a personal story about a moment of vulnerability at work and how it transformed his understanding of strength.

Strength isn’t the absence of struggle, it’s the decision to rise again. Each hard task, difficult conversation, or tough decision becomes a “brick” in the foundation of your identity. By consciously acknowledging these moments, you build evidence that you are someone who does hard things.

The Life Lab experiment this week: pick one hard thing you’ve been avoiding, complete it, write it down, and celebrate it. Over time, these actions stack up to reinforce a resilient identity that naturally leans into challenges.

Resilience isn’t just about pushing through, it’s about changing how you relate to difficulty.

In this episode of Tom's Life Lab, Tom continues on the mindset series, sharing a personal story from the early days of HEX, when repeated rejection started to take its toll. Instead of quitting, he turned rejection into a game, assigning points to every “no” and tracking them like a scoreboard.

What started as a coping mechanism became a mindset shift. By gamifying setbacks, Tom reframed failure as progress, reduced fear, and built the persistence needed to keep going until the yeses came.

This episode explores why making hard things playful doesn’t trivialise them, it transforms them and challenges you to run your own experiment this week.

In this episode of Tom's Life Lab, Tom explores how narrowing your focus to what’s actually in your hands can calm overwhelm, restore clarity, and build resilience especially when the world feels noisy or uncertain.

He shares the story of his book launch and how quickly he spiralled into worrying about reviews, sales, and opinions he couldn’t influence. The turning point came when he shifted his attention back to what was in his control: how he showed up, how he rested, and what he created next.

This episode is a reminder that reclaiming your energy starts with one small, intentional action and that momentum is built through tiny wins, not perfect outcomes.

Listen now and try this week’s Life Lab experiment: write down one thing each morning that you can control today. At the end of the day, reflect on how that focus made you feel.

In this episode of Tom's Life Lab, Tom explores how the mind creates stories, sometimes helpful, often unhelpful and how easily we can spiral into beliefs that simply aren’t true.

He shares a moment from leading a major change project when one tough meeting sent him into self-doubt… until he paused, questioned the story, and remembered his strengths.

This week’s episode is a reminder that you get to choose which stories receive airtime and that courage often begins with gently challenging the narratives your mind invents.

Listen now and try this week’s Life Lab experiment: Notice one unhelpful story your mind tells you. Write it down, then write down a time it wasn’t true.

In this episode, Tom explores the mindset that anything is possible not by pretending things are easy, but by choosing challenges that stretch us, scare us, and grow us.

He shares the story behind writing his book 'People People', the self-doubt he had to work through, and how taking imperfect steps strengthens your ability to adapt, learn and lead.

This is an episode about resilience built on purpose, leaning into discomfort, and discovering what you’re truly capable of.

🎧 Listen now and try this week’s Life Lab experiment:

Starting again can feel heavy, even shameful, as if beginning anew means something has failed.

But as Tom shares in this episode of Tom's Life Lab, reinvention isn’t weakness; it’s courage in its purest form.

Whether it’s a plan that’s fallen apart, a dream that’s shifted, or a life change you didn’t choose, starting again is part of being human.

Tom explores what it means to rebuild, to release the version of yourself that no longer fits, and to find strength in small beginnings.

Listen now and try this week’s Life Lab experiment: Take one small step, not the whole staircase, toward your next beginning.