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This week I’m exploring the topic of working from home or living at work as it is perhaps more accurately described. As someone who has worked from home for nearly 20 years, I share what I’ve learned, including the hidden pros and cons, as well as some suggestions for how to make working from home work for you. 

Normally, at the start of January, the focus is on a fresh start, or a ‘new you’ for the New Year. But as we continue to endure the Covid 19 crisis and another lockdown, for me, it’s a time for resolve, not resolutions.In this week’s episode, the focus is on strategies for digging deep yet again. If you ‘switched off’ over Christmas, this episode is an opportunity for a ‘reboot.’

Even in a normal year, everything is amplified at Christmas and 2020 has been far from a normal year. The expectations of Christmas can be weighty, there’s even the pressure of having a ‘Happy Christmas.’In this week’s episode, I share what Christmas means to me as well as tips and insights for a healthy dose of self-care at this time of the year.

Now, on the cusp of the New Year and at least the psychological possibility of a fresh start, I’m looking back and asking - what do I know now that I didn’t know twelve months ago? In a year of dark clouds, I’m searching for silver linings. So this week I’m sharing 20 lessons life has taught me in 2020, many the hard way.

This week I’m joined by model, stylist and pro-age advocate Mary Dunne. In a wide-ranging conversation, we discuss positive ageing and how she embarked on a new career in her sixties.Mary’s approach to life is so inspiring. She shares her insights on wellness and beauty and looking and feeling good at any age.

This week I’m talking about books, one of my great passions. I share with you my favourite reads of 2020, the biographies, novels and of course the personal development books too.People often ask me what I’m reading and this episode is my long answer. If you are a book lover, or simply seeking some book recommendations, something to curl up with on a winter’s evening, then be sure to tune in.

This week I’m joined by a very special guest, Bibi Baskin (www.bibibaskin.ie) As a broadcaster, Bibi has presented more than 1000 TV shows and was the first woman in Ireland to have her own chat show. Long before The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel opened its doors, she converted a landmark building in Kerala, Southern India, transforming it into a renowned hotel.Harnessing all her knowledge and experience she delivers talks and seminars on the many aspects of wellness. In an uplifting and wide-ranging conversation, Bibi shares what she considers to be at the heart of wellness and well-being. We also chat about change, coping with it and instigating it. Bibi’s new book ‘The Happy Book Vol 2’ is out this week.

This week’s episode has been inspired by my Dad, who passed away at the end of September. Witnessing his brave battle with pancreatic cancer was challenging as I grappled with my own feelings of powerlessness.Being present with him when he passed was profound. It’s said that all fear is ultimately a fear of death. Having witnessed it up close, I’ve been reminded of how precious life is and what’s truly important.

This week I’m going back to basics and sharing some of the principles I’m using to pivot my business in these challenging and unprecedented times. It’s marketing 101 which for me is all about connecting what you do with your ideal audience in a meaningful way.Who are your ideal customers? How can you link what you do with your audience? How can you harness your uniqueness? These are just some of the questions I’ll be exploring. 

Whilst we might crave to get back to normal, back to life pre-Covid, we have the opportunity to reach for something better and that starts by getting curious as to how we can be a ‘better’ version of ourselves.I know one of my pulls for getting back to life as normal is the familiarity of old habits and routines that gave me certainty and made me feel safe. But I also know that many of my old habits were beyond their sell by date.How can I live a more enriched life? Do I really need to do that or have that anymore? These are just some of the questions I share this week as we contemplate living more consciously.

Join me this week for an uplifting conversation with South African based Coach, Trainer and Facilitator Mandy Antzoylatos (www.freedom44.co.za)We chat about what to do if you find yourself at a career crossroads and Mandy generously shares tips and insights from her popular workshop where the focus is on liberating your full awesomeness.We also discuss how Covid 19 is making us reassess what’s important to us and how we can use this to instigate meaningful change. It was a fun and empowering conversation, an episode not to be missed.

If you want to run a successful business, are seeking to pivot your business, or simply want to climb the career ladder, it all comes down to Adding Value.In this weeks episode, I play with the ‘V’ in Value and explore 8 concepts to help you add more value. I explore the dance between Visibility & Vulnerability and look at a shift in mindset to help you raise profile.I also explore the importance of Vision, finding your Voice, knowing your Values, and the Victories you help your stakeholders achieve. Continuing with the theme, I even look at Visualisation and the role of Vibration in harnessing the law of attraction.

Usually, at the beginning of September, there is that sense of getting back to normal after the summer holidays. But 2020 has been anything but a normal year!When I find I’m lacking in motivation or feel weighed down by feelings of worry and frustration, I rely on that mantra – ‘Keep Calm and Carry on’ and that’s the theme for this week’s episode.So tune in and let me take you through, 7 tips, 7 handrails that I use to help me navigate these challenging times.

What’s the difference between career achievement and career fulfilment? What factors have to be present to experience a sustained sense of satisfaction from our working lives?These are the questions I’m exploring in this week’s episode. I’ve drawn from my own experiences as someone who had achieved career success but little fulfilment, and also from working with clients in this area for nearly 20 years.Whilst in recent months the world of work has changed dramatically for so many of us, the criteria required for career fulfilment are still as relevant.

In the last in the series of episodes marking my 20 year anniversary of resigning from my corporate job, I’m focusing on the lessons learned, the nuggets of wisdom I wish I’d known back then.If you are contemplating changing career or seeking the courage to follow your passion, then be sure to tune in. We usually have habits of thinking, embedded beliefs when it comes to work, and like software, sometimes our mindset needs an upgrade.So as well as lessons learned, in this episode I also share questions to stimulate your own thinking and perhaps give you some ammunition to instigate your own career evolution or revolution.”

In the follow up to last week’s episode where I shared my story of escaping the corporate rat race, I speak about how I discovered the world of life coaching and why I knew it was my calling.Setting up any new business is never easy, even when you are following your passion. I take you through the highs and lows of those early years. I also share some tips and insights that I wish I’d known back then. If you’re at a crossroads and are seeking some inspiration to make a career change, I think you will find my story to be a worthwhile listen.

Twenty years ago this week, I resigned from my secure, salaried role as Customer Services Manager in an Insurance Company. I jumped from the career ladder I’d worked so hard to climb, into the unknown. Why? Because I was desperately unhappy and had reached the point where something had to change. In this week’s episode, I share the story of my career and how I found the courage to make long-overdue changes. So many people want to live from a place of greater authenticity, to be truer to themselves. If you’re one such seeker be sure to tune into this episode where I speak about this critical turning point in my life.

Like so many people I’ve missed watching sport. If this was a normal year I’d now be enthralled with the Tokyo Olympics. I’ve always been a big fan of the Olympics and Paralympics. Athletes at the top of their game and the excitement of world-class competition. Wearing my personal development and leadership hats there are many lessons we can learn from the Olympics. In the absence of sporting action, in this week’s episode, I share five of them in an effort to kindle that Olympic spirit.

Most of us are so tough on ourselves, we are our own harshest critics, our own worst enemies. In this week’s episode, I share 7 ‘reality checks,’ 7 truths that remind us how to be a little more gentle towards ourselves, to give ourselves the occasional break. In other words, we are exploring ways to be more self-compassionate.

At a time when there is so much change and turmoil in our world, our old ways of coping with change may no longer be enough. The ripple effects of the Covid 19 crisis means this uncertainty and upheaval will continue. So, in this week’s episode, I explore what doesn’t work when facing change, as well as sharing some new approaches to help navigate a path forward.