Fear isn’t necessarily telling us where not to go. Sometimes it’s telling us where something matters. So the next time you're feeling fear*, ask yourself, what is this signaling to me? *Please don't practice this around carnivorous predators like dog packs, bears or large cats. And watch out for cows - vegetarians can be dangerous too!

The first time I noticed it was in India. We'd arrived in Udaipur armed with the latest edition of the Lonely Planet. Like thousands of backpackers before us, we headed for the first guesthouse it recommended. Full. The second. Full. The third. Also full. By the time the fifth guesthouse turned us away we were feeling less than pleased with ourselves for having followed the book so faithfully. Eventually we wandered a little further and found a small family-run guesthouse tha

The bear of little brain is 100 years old today, and in those years Pooh has been busy, more than a dozen movies, published in more than 50 languages (including Latin). Pooh is banned in China for modern day political reasons, but in the Tao of Pooh, Benjamin Hoff shares how the simple-minded character of Winnie the Pooh perfectly emulates the teachings of the ancient Chinese philosophy of Taoism. (Taoist principles revolve around simply living as you are and following the na

On being more than one thing, and learning to make sense of it I came across a phrase recently: the slash career. Trainer / facilitator / coach HR professional / project manager Designer / strategist / writer At first, they sounded like indecision. Like someone couldn’t quite land on a single identity. But the more I thought about it the more they started to feel more honest than most job titles. Because it would seem that very few people are just one thing anymore. Now ther

“What I learned on my own I still remember.” Nassim Nicholas Taleb AI seems to be showing up in almost every conversation I’m having at the moment. How do we use it? What should we use it for? And increasingly: what is it doing to the way we learn? The research is beginning to suggest an interesting distinction. AI can help us learn, sometimes remarkably well, when it acts as a tutor, challenger or thinking partner. But when it does the thinking for us, something gets lost.

There is no such thing as a quick question. (Almost) every question rests on layers of background, context and history that the person being asked cannot reasonably be expected to know. And what begins as a simple enquiry therefore becomes a brief investigation, usually ending when the questioner talks themselves into the answer they suspected / wanted all along.

In coaching, growth is an ongoing journey, not a destination. The peer coaching process allows coaches to learn, practice, and refine their skills in a supportive, non-hierarchical environment. It's like having a built-in accountability partner who gets it; a fellow traveler who understands the challenges, the language, and the passion for helping others. Peer coaching is an opportunity to experiment, receive candid feedback, and sharpen your approach. And for more senior co

A carpenter doesn't buy a chisel, toss it into a box, and hope they'll remember it's there six months later. They know every tool they own. They sharpen each one. Clean it. Replace it when it's worn. They practise using it until it becomes second nature. They know which tool is appropriate for which job—and perhaps more importantly, when not to use it. Many coaches, on the other hand, collect models like souvenirs. GROW. CLEAR. OSKAR. Box Breathing. Motivational Interviewing

Not that new as an idea (Merriam-Webster traces the expression to 2016) but I just learned it and wanted to share here...

How To Simplify Session Notes And Amplify Insights Themed Reflection Sheets are structured yet flexible tools designed to help coaches capture key insights from each session in a quick, meaningful way. Less intrusive than note taking by using prompts like “Key Insights,” “Action Items,” and “Unspoken Observations,” these sheets guide you to identify pivotal moments, energy shifts, and underlying themes without spending too much time on analysis. Each prompt is open-ended, inv

How have the obstacles in your life helped you flourish? #reframe

There’s a particular kind of productivity that happens at 2am: You remember the email you haven’t sent. The appointment you haven’t made. The thing you absolutely mustn’t forget tomorrow. And then, having remembered it, your brain helpfully reminds you again (and again and again...) Happily there may be a surprisingly simple answer: write it down before you go to bed. In one small experiment, researchers asked people to spend five minutes writing either what they had already

Enlightenment doesn’t necessarily change the activities of your life. You still make breakfast, answer emails, walk the dog, wash the dishes, chop wood and carry water. What changes is your relationship to those activities

Received a link to a file. Waited 40 minutes for permission to open the file I’d just been sent. Spent another 40 minutes looking for a message that was in Email or Slack or Teams or maybe the team WhatsApp. No luck Asked Copilot. Copilot didn’t know either. Productivity is going extremely well.

There is something fascinating happening at the same moment that so many people are predicting the disappearance of human work. Put simply it appears that the more intelligent our tools become, the more valuable other humans seem to become. I was thinking about this after reading an article arguing that now may be an unexpectedly good time to buy pubs in the UK. Not because people suddenly want more beer, but because people increasingly need somewhere to gather, argue, think

You know when you have a temporary inability to recall a particular word or name even though you know that you know i? The “tip-of-the-tongue” phenomenon. There's a word for that! Lethologica: the word for when you can't remember the word (try remembering that!) Please note there will be a test at some point

You might know that I got laid off. I had a few days to process the news before my final day arrived and when it did, I wrote a post to say goodbye, and to let people know what had happened without having to tell the story a hundred times. And quite a lot has happened since I shared that news... I’ve received dozens of messages from people who have my WhatsApp number. On LinkedIn, there have been hundreds of comments, messages and reactions. It has been incredibly humbling. I

We’re all making stuff up more often than we admit. In conversation, we fill gaps. We infer intent, reconstruct missing context, and form explanations from incomplete information. The problem isn’t making assumptions, it’s presenting them as facts. Saying, “I’m making this up, but I suspect…” is powerful in a conversation. It shows that you know where the evidence ends and your interpretation begins. It gives others permission to correct you without turning the exchange into

Another technique I picked up in training, a simple test to gauge to clarity the message of a presentation. Read the heading on each slide one. Ignore everything else on the slides and read them from beginning to end. Do they tell you a story? Too often, slide headings are simply labels: Sales Performance Customer Satisfaction Market Growth Employee Engagement They tell the audience what the slide is about, but not what they should take from it. So instead of: Customer Satisf

Take the time to sit in nature - even if only for a few minutes and see how it helps you reset This is the bench that Matt Damon and Robin Williams sat on in Good Will Hunting (the squirrel isn't a fan)