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Creating lasting change and transformation – new course

Today I’m super proud to launch a new self-paced course called “Creating the life you want: lasting change and transformation”, you can find it here.

This course represents hours of work, knowledge and learnings gained over the years. Everything I have used myself in order to change my life, and all my lessons learned based on personal experience.

Inside you will find a bunch of practical tools for you to implement in your life. It’s not fluffy, empty-worded, selling a dream that you don’t know what to do with. It’s got worksheets, journaling prompts and things that will make it tailored made to you. This is what will allow you to create the life you want, not something generic that fits for a bit of everything and nothing at the same time.

I truly believe in its ability to impact people and help them create change, and I hope you find it meaningful. I created it because I really want to enable people to drive change in their lives, and to empower you. I hope you like it, it will mean the world to me if you take it and it has a positive impact on you.

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Confessions of a recovering perfectionist

I’m going to be honest, until recently I was one of those people who called myself a perfectionist and would use it as my go to “weakness” in a job interview. But a few weeks ago in my coaching course, I was watching my fellow classmates worry about doing something right and I realized “I just don’t care”. From that point on I started to ask myself: am I actually a perfectionist anymore?

Truth be told, it’s not the first time I’ve heard people talk about their perfectionist tendencies and realized I truly don’t give a shit at all. 😂 And you know what? If I’m honest, I used to take pride in being a perfectionist, because it meant a job well done. It meant I went above and beyond, and held myself to ridiculously high standards no one else could meet, which ultimately made me “better”. As I write this I realize this sounds completely crazy, and yet it was true.

But today I think I’m finally free of perfectionism, I’ve reached the land of “I don’t care”, and I want to reflect a bit on this journey, and how it feels. I’m sure many of us out there can relate to the relentless life perfectionism creates.

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Why I decided to become a coach

If you’ve been following this blog for a while, or maybe you’ve come across one of my previous posts, then you will know that my coaching journey started back in 2016, and it has been truly transformative. When I first agreed to try coaching it was for two reasons. One was out of curiosity, having only ever been to therapy before. Can coaching help me? What is this trendy thing popping up? And the other was because I thought “maybe I can be a coach! I have to test this for myself”. As I just finished my coaching training with the CTI and am officially a coach, I wanted to take time to reflect on this journey.

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Risk taking, for a happier life

Above lake Annecy

Recently I started a new phase in my life. I’m continuing my coaching training, I’ve started coaching people, and I’m a full-time freelancer i.e. self-employed. I’ve also had more time to dedicate to content creation, which I have to say is making me really happy these days. All of this got me thinking about how sometimes in order to create change in your life you have to take risks, and that can be scary. I also see this with the clients I’ve been coaching: they seem to know there is another possibility, but naturally it can feel like a huge leap of faith that they’re not yet ready to take.

Today I want to dig into this a little bit more, when to take risks, and why they’re necessary if you want to succeed in creating your dream life.

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How to find the right coach?

So you’re thinking of starting coaching, but how do you find the right one for you? If you’re a first-timer to coaching this is a very important process, and I’m not going to lie, it’s a bit of a minefield. For the past 20 years (or maybe even more), the coaching industry has grown like crazy and now coaches are a dime a dozen! To make it even more confusing you have different kinds of coaches: life coach, business coach, relationship coach, empowerment coach, career coach, Executive coach… As well as people who proclaim themselves coaches without really being one. Just writing this list makes me chuckle because it goes to show how nebulous the term is. How on earth will you find the right coach in this haystack?

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How I went from burned out to thriving

Or in other words, how my thirties have been the most transformative decade of my life…

A lot is happening right now: I am about to turn 40, I just took a leap of faith and became a freelancer again, and I just started taking my intermediate coaching course with Co-Active coaching. All of this got me reflecting on the past decade and how I essentially turned my life around. I’ve gone from burned out, anxious, depressed, lacking in self-confidence, to someone who is grounded, aligned with her values and living life to the fullest. It’s a beautiful way to close off this decade and enter the next one, honestly I cannot wait to see what it brings. So, let’s jump in and let me tell you more about what happened.

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How coaching changed my life

How coaching changed my life
Picture by Anna Alekseeva

It was recently world mental health day, and I started thinking about how much my life has changed and how I got to where I am today. I’m so happy that currently I experience a lot less anxiety, depression and general low moods. I’m also happy that I no longer work in a toxic environment and actually feel safe in my job, something that hugely contributes to overall good mental health. But this didn’t happen by accident or overnight. For me the thing that has significantly impacted my mental health is coaching, and I wanted to share why.

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A decade of mental health

A decade of mental health

With the ushering in of a new decade, naturally I started thinking about what I had accomplished in the past 10 years. There were many different things and it seemed more sensible to break it down into categories, which is when I thought of the last decade purely in terms of mental health.

What happened, and what has it represented to me? I wanted to take the time to reflect and put “pen to paper”. After all, “That’s mental” wasn’t born out of thin air.

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A mini interview series on mental health

Emma Brooks mental health

As I have been going on this journey with mental health, I have met many people along the way who all have their own stories to tell.

In fact, one of the things that inspired me to start sharing my story was hearing from others. Every time I heard from a friend or an acquaintance of some sort of hellish situation they were experiencing at work, I knew I was not alone.

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The end of year breakdown

The end of year breakdown
Photo by Austin Guevara from Pexels

Originally this blog post was going to be tongue in cheek – recounting funny experiences of end of year breakdowns. But since no one answered my call for stories – I decided to turn this into something that I hope is more meaningful and helpful.

In my experience, the end of the year at work is madness. You’re rushing to finish off the last projects, leave no loose ends before you go on holiday, but you’re also desperate to finally have a break! Meanwhile you may be reflecting on everything you’ve done this year, thinking about the performance review and conversations you want to have, and wondering what you’ve achieved. Or you may be – as I have in the past – ridiculously overworked and racing against the clock.

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Taking things personally at work

Taking things personally at work
Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

At the very basic level, we all want to do our best at work (unless you really hate your job). We want to make sure we’re doing what’s required, so our colleagues enjoy working with us and we can keep our jobs.

Whilst we busy ourselves with the basic requirements, there are many things that can get in the way of us doing our jobs properly – and I don’t mean finding a sense of purpose. While it’s extremely important and will help you be more engaged, before you’re able to reach the Holy Grail of purpose, first you need to get through the day.

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How to know when to quit your job?

how to know when to quit your job

I’m pretty sure that at least once in your life you’ve thought to yourself: “that’s it, I quit!”

If you haven’t then you are one of those very fortunate people who gets to do a job they love, or else perhaps you’re delusional… Just kidding!

More seriously, I don’t think there are many people who have not gone through a difficult time at work, or considered their career options, without thinking about quitting. It’s natural and perhaps even healthy to question your choices every now again. But it begs the questions of all questions (sort of like knowing who is “the one”): how do I know when to quit? To answer that, I’d like to share my experience.

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How to change workplace cultures that lead to mental health issues?

How to change workplace cultures that lead to mental health issues?

I’ve been addressing mental health in the workplace for a while, but one cannot talk about burnout (or other issues) if one doesn’t talk about what leads to it…

A lot of my articles focus on the individual and knowing oneself, which I continue to believe is of utmost importance. But is undeniable that certain environments create a burnout culture and are not favourable to employees’ wellbeing.

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How to support a colleague – mental health in the workplace

How to support a colleague – mental health in the workplace

Last time I wrote about team dynamics in the workplace and how they can affect your mental health. A really important part of that, is how to help someone else when you see they are in need. If that person is part of your team, or a colleague you see suffering, what can you do?

Showing someone else you care is probably the first step towards making them feel better. Remembering the times I was in most difficulty, just the simple fact of someone telling me to enjoy a break, or ask for help, already relieved the pressure a little.  So by the sheer fact of noticing, you might already be making a difference.

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