Latest articles on Life Coaching

As a recent ‘quitter’ with no job to go to, the hardest thing was dealing with the shame I felt as a degree-educated 27-year-old, living at home with my parents, jobless.

As a millenial, it’s drilled into us that we go to university to get a good degree, to get a great job and to earn a great salary. But in some cases, life doesn’t always pan out how we had carefully mapped it. My worries when considering moving on, weren’t ‘what would my friends say?’ rather, ‘what would my parents’...

When I present to organisations and companies about confidence, I often question the attendees as to how confident they are in their abilities at work.  I ask them to score their expertise from zero to 10 - with zero being "I'm totally incapable of doing my job", and 10 meaning "I'm extremely capable". When I average the scores of men and women, I can guarantee that the men’s average score will be higher than the women’s average. This is backed up by research in which they...

I know it’s hotter than ever right now, but try, if you can, to think back to the winter.  Six months ago you may have been sitting at your desk, or sitting on the bus travelling to work, shivering a bit and dreaming of long, lazy summer days. So then why is it that we usually spend the summer busier than we expected? Our dreams of hammocks and iced tea are replaced with sweaty rush hour journeys. Reading a good book in the garden gets substituted with much less relaxing activities...

I recently enjoyed a couple of hours with a local photographer, a gift from my Step-mum to share with my Dad. We headed up the Northumberland coast to a fabulous little bay. Andy shared a three-step process to taking a good photograph, and I’ve been experimenting ever since.  I love easy to follow steps to anything, and I got to thinking that the way of looking at photography that Andy cited (adapted from Ansel Adams) could easily be applied to changes you want to make in your life....

The term ‘success’ is a loaded one. Whether it’s tied to our careers or our personal lives, the idea of being successful comes with a lot of pressure. There is an underlying assumption that success needs to look a certain way.

This could involve having a certain amount of money, a certain lifestyle, a certain job position or even a certain relationship status. Combine this with our tendency to compete and compare, and it’s no surprise a lot of us feel like we’re ‘failing’ in certain...

My friend Robert, who lives in Lincolnshire and with whom I correspond via email, is a keen vegetable gardener in his small back garden. Amongst all the home produce he grows, he excels with aubergines. I also attempt to grow home produce. I excel most of all with cucumbers and tomatoes in my greenhouse. Robert does not have a greenhouse so his produce is all grown outside. His aubergines have already produced two large fruits - mine are still in flower. When my plants produce fruit, they are...

‘The purpose of life is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experience.’ Eleanor Roosevelt Today, are you feeling inspired, energised, enthusiastic? Or are you feeling overwhelmed, frustrated, anxious or even stuck, when you think about the week ahead? Focussing on your 'why' can help you to feel more motivated and positive - even about more mundane activities. Why are you doing what you are doing this...

I was at a recent networking event. As I introduced myself to everyone in the room I used an example of a vision which one of my mum clients created. Two of the mums said ‘that sounded just like my vision!’. It wasn’t theirs, but this got me thinking about the similarity between the visions which my mum clients tend to set when they work with me. A vision might be the most powerful way to keep you focused on what you want in life whilst keeping you motivated in achieving it....

If talking hypothetically about making a big decision summons a sense of anxiety for you, then please know that you are not alone. Although some people do a fantastic job of being decisive when the need arises, we all wonder about the potential outcome should we have made a different choice. It is natural to wonder, be curious, and explore a choice from different angles. This ability to problem-solve and consider multiple viewpoints is a part of what makes us human. But with great power comes...