Blog

Do you see yourself as a superachiever? 

I didn't for many, many years and I know that a number of my clients and probably the majority of women in my programmes, also don't see themselves as superachievers. And because we don't see ourselves as superachievers, we also find it quite difficult to celebrate success. This is because:

There's always something else to do. 

There's always something else to achieve. 

There's always something else that wants our attention.

Therefore we don't celebrate success, because we don't see ourselves as achieving.

Some examples from my earlier years; I was moved up a year at school and I was involved in helping other students to improve their reading and literacy. When it came to my exams, I was supporting other students in getting their exam prep done, but I didn't see that as anything extra. That was just me! That was part of what I did. That was part of who I am. 

When I joined the world of work, even as a trainee, I was...

I’ve made no secret of the fact that after my Burnout I continued in my corporate career and that’s where I thought I’d stay, until, three months after my two operations in 48 hours, I heard myself say for the very first time that I wanted to start my own company.

Never had I ever imagined that this was a path I would take.  Firstly, I had no real idea what I would do, secondly I knew nothing about starting a business, and thirdly, my dreams of the super large global role that I would be able to take on once my sons were finished school was the thing that had kept me in my role.

The drive though of starting my own consultancy became overwhelming, and within three months, I’d left my six-figure salary, created a business that was aligned to my values and started to really focus on the change that needed to be made in the world of work.  And seven and a half years later, I’m still here and growing from strength to strength.

Recent...

I speak and write a lot about leading from your core, and alignment plays a big part in this.

When I hit Burnout in 2013, I was not aligned with my values. I'd been working in a toxic environment that was causing me to be much less of the real me, and it was shaping me into something and someone that I didn't recognise. Determined to fix the issues in the workplace and to do what I knew I was capable of doing, I kept on pushing, kept on trying to fit, and I kept on fighting.

I had seven months going in and out of hospital, working from my hospital bed, refusing to be defeated, refusing to give in and refusing to rest. I had work to do and change to create and I was damn well going to make it work.

Fast forward to today, and I'm aligned to my core, to my values, and to my work in ways I would only have been able to imagine back in 2013. And yet it hasn't been easy to get here.

Burnout caused me to question everything. Who I was, what I wanted, what I was good at, where I was heading....

 The latest Deloitte Global report “Women @ Work: A global outlook” that represents 5000 women across 10 countries reveals a stark reality for women in the workplace. The report finds that these increased responsibilities are having devastating effects on working women as 51% of those surveyed are less optimistic about their career prospects today.

Additionally, women surveyed reported a 35-point drop in mental health and a 29-point drop in motivation at work compared to before the pandemic.

The report states that equality has regressed during the pandemic, stifling years of slow, but steady progress. Increased responsibilities at work and at home during the pandemic, coupled with non-inclusive workplace cultures, are resulting in diminishing job satisfaction and employer loyalty for women.

Since the pandemic began, 77% of women surveyed say that their workloads have increased – the most frequently-cited change in their lives brought on by the pandemic. Women...

Over the past few days and weeks I’ve seen more and more people passing judgement through their comments and conversations about others. Lots of ‘I can’t believe they are doing this…’ and ‘they should be doing more or less of that..’

And I’d invite you today to think about where this judgement is coming from.

When I first started Tribal Leadership, identifying the cultures that occur in companies, one of the first activities that I was invited to do was to go somewhere like a coffee shop or park, sit, observe others and notice what was coming up for me. Where there any themes? Were there any topics? What was the judgement that was coming up for me and why?

The first I noticed was that appearance was a big thing that kept coming up. The thoughts of ‘she shouldn’t be wearing that’ came up a lot in the hour that I spent sat observing. Where had this come from? I’d always thought...

On Monday night and sat and watched I Am Not Your Guru on Netflix, the behind the scenes filming on Tony Robbins six day event. It's been coming up on my account as one I might like for months, but I've never entertained it, until now.

Over the past few months I've been pushing forward to do the things that make me uncomfortable. I've always believed we grow on the other side of our comfort zone, but I've also realised that I have times when I'd just rather avoid things. Tony Robbins was one of the things I've been trying to avoid, and I never really knew why.

Tony Robbins is a name that you can't really avoid. His programmes, talks, seminars and photo are pretty much everywhere in the world of self development. My fire walking instructor worked with Tony Robbins, it was the image of Tony on the marketing material that made me put off the training. I've trained in Breathwork with Dan Brulé, Tony Robbins breath work coach, and I've had conversations with Tolly Burkan, Tony's...