Courage & Spice: the podcast for humans with Self-doubt

Sarah Vermunt is a longtime pal, career coach and the founder of Careergasm. She's written books about careers and columns for Forbes, Inc., Entrepreneur, Fortune, and Fast Company. She's had a regular coaching spot on the tele in Canada.Three years ago, out of the blue, Sarah started having psychic clairvoyant visions. She did not see this coming. Since then, life-long City-dweller Sarah has moved to a small town with a vibrant community of witches (it sounds a lot like Stars Hollow). She is now helping other newly awakened intuitives through her side quest venture: ‘Psychic Normies'.Sarah and I chat about:* The rise of clairvoyance and energy work over the last few years.* The importance of discernment in the intuitive community.* The need for energy alignment (especially with mentors).* How to navigate chaotic times, with Sarah sharing her vision about what 2025 holds for us all.Resources for you:* Psychic Normies* Book a personal energy reading with Sarah* Sarah's career coaching work: Careergasm* Sarah on The Gram Get full access to Courage & Spice at saspetherick.substack.com/subscribe

Content note: This episode includes discussions around intentional weight loss and diet culture, and therefore contains some swearing.This episode is part of a podcast series called The Body Stories. I'm joined by my beloved friend and fellow coach, Ali Shapiro. Over the next year, Ali and I will have an occasional and ongoing conversation about the nuanced relationship with our bodies. These are tender conversations, and at times, I will be in the coaching client seat. Our hope is that listening in will spark your own exploration of your body story.

As a highly sensitive person, Sam Dhu believes it is possible to be deeply ambitious and successful AND soft and sensitive at the same time. Sam is a Psychotherapist, Mentor, and Facilitator of Permission. Mum to eight-year-old, Amelie and two-year-old Frankie, and passionate advocate for being radically kind and compassionate to yourself.Sign up and get episodes sent to your inbox:We chat about how to acknowledge our individual capacity to create a life that feels "soft and successful." Many of us don't have time, the capacity (and maybe even the desire!) for traditional approaches to achieving success, and rather than making ourselves wrong, we can be much more creative in how we do this on our terms.Sam shares her journey of embracing her ADHD diagnosis and how the more she has accepted that her brain and nervous system have unique needs, the more successful she has become. This is where things get really fun: being compassionate with yourself when something isn't working or it's feeling hard, opens you up to your individual, unique needs, so you can get curious about what does work.This is such a reassuring and nurturing conversation for anyone who wants to create success on their terms. I just know you're going to love Sam!Resources for you: Sam mentioned these assessment tools for sensitivity and neurodivergence:* Highly Sensitive Test self-report* ADHD self-reportTo connect further with Sam:* Website* Find Sam on The Gram* If you are looking for support, this looks delicious: Slow: the Mastermind Get full access to Courage & Spice at saspetherick.substack.com/subscribe

Content note: This episode includes discussions around intentional weight loss and diet culture, and contains some swearing.This is the first in a new podcast series called The Body Stories with my beloved friend and fellow coach, Ali Shapiro. Over the next year, Ali and I will have an occasional and ongoing conversation about the nuanced relationship with our bodies. Ali is a deeply experienced coach whose work sits at the intersection of food, psychology, and behaviour change. Ali holds multiple certifications in integrated nutrition, and her master's degree is in human behaviour. She has over a decade of work with clients and founded the ‘Truce with Food' coaching methodology. This work is Ali's love language!To give you some context for this episode: I first went to Weight Watchers aged 11, thus began my on-off ‘its complicated' situationship with the worst of bad boyfriends: diet culture. It's been hard won, but these days, I have an appreciative and compassionate relationship with my body, and I feel so free of diet mentality. I also have a complex heart condition, and losing body fat will reduce the burden on my heart. At age 51, I want to lose weight in order to build a strong body that my 81-year-old self will be so proud of. As I embark on this process of intentional weight loss, a lot of old stuff has come up. So far, this process has contained a lot of surprising realisations, story rewrites, and tentative healing.In this first episode, we set the scene for this ongoing conversation. We talk about: * Diet culture as “thin at all costs”* Feeling peace within our bodies* What does it mean to trust your appetite?* How I've changed my eating habits* Why restriction is different from deprivation* Doing the “good thing” vs actually feeling good* Finding satisfaction in our day-to-day* Letting go of the Weight Watchers “walk of shame”This podcast series was sparked by our private chats where Ali's support has been rich with insight. Our conversations felt so nourishing I invited Ali to make this a public chat.These are tender conversations, and at times, I will be in the coaching client seat. Our hope is that listening in will spark your own exploration of your body story.Mentioned in this Episode:* Connect with Ali here.* Ali's upcoming program: Your Emotional Eating Blueprint: Why Am I Eating This Now?* That Sugar Film Get full access to Courage & Spice at saspetherick.substack.com/subscribe

Tamu Thomas is a transformational somatic leadership coach, the eldest daughter of West African immigrants, a mother, a speaker, and now a published author!Tamu's first book, Women Who Work Too Much, helps overachieving, overfunctioning women set boundaries, find joy, and flourish.This conversation was a balm, and I suspect fellow Gen X women in particular, will feel seen and understood. We are the generation that grew up being told we could have it all. Now, we find ourselves in our 40s and 50s—often our most creatively fulfilling years - doing too much during menopause while parenting teens and caring for parents and wondering why we are so bloody tired.In this conversation, we discuss natural (rather than toxic) productivity, radical rest, and why work (not overwork) can be a positive thing. This is such an important conversation for those of us who have blurred the boundaries between work, rest, and play (me, too!).Resources for you:Women Who Work Too Much by Tamu ThomasTamu on Instagram @tamu.thomasTamu on TikTok @tamu_thomas Get full access to Courage & Spice at saspetherick.substack.com/subscribe

Have you ever daydreamed about a different potential future for yourself? Perhaps your imagination offers you an entirely different job, country, or relationship?It might be that your life looks the same on the inside but feels entirely different to you.This might be a creative way to spend time on a drive or in a queue, and it could also point you towards an entirely new direction.In this episode of Courage and Spice, we are exploring this sometimes magical connection with Your Future Self. We explore:* How to connect to yourself years from now* How to use this envisioning exercise when we want to make a life change* When this exercise isn't helpful* How to decode the breadcrumb trail your imagination offers.I also share a quite magical experience of connecting to my future self years before I even knew what it was, and how my vision was a giant metaphor for life now.If you have a feeling that something new wants to emerge in your life, this episode is for you!Please do share in the comments what your Future Self is up to ✨Resources for you:* Self-belief Journalling: make a cosy date with yourself and your journal to explore a topic designed to help you grow self-belief. Our next topic is intention!* Write a letter to your future self.* Wishcraft by Barbara Sher * Rethinking positive thinking: Inside the new science of motivation byGabriele Oettingen* Hal Hershfield in conversation with Scott Barry Kaufman: The Psychology Podcast Get full access to Courage & Spice at saspetherick.substack.com/subscribe

If you love the idea of communal learning and connection, if you are looking for like-minded souls, if you have incomplete online courses on your laptop: listen in! I'm excited for you to get to know Sally Burns. We recorded this chat before ‘The US Situation' - I guess we need to start calling it what it is - The Coup by tech billionaires. To know that Sally is thoughtfully building an alternative to everything they stand for, fills me hope. Sally is an e-learning expert and ecological thinker. Her work involves reimagining the ways we commune and learn online, away from algorithms and ads.She's the Founder of The Portal Collective, an online space where people can gather to learn and grow in a meaningful community. The entire site and its ethos is so beautiful! It feels like wandering through a verdant garden.Sally also offers support for non-profits, coaches, and educators who want to host their work on a learning platform that is very far from big tech. I think this is a really exciting development for course creators!We discuss the importance of collaborative, co-created learning experiences that prioritize emotional safety and mutual care. We expand on the broader implications of community, collective action, and the role of imagination in creating a more connected and equitable world.This was such a hopeful and wildly nourishing chat.More resources for you:* The Portal Collective* If you are a Course Creator - check out the Portal.* Sally on Instagram* Combining by Nora Bateson* Love this? You might enjoy my conversation with Niki Wickes. Get full access to Courage & Spice at saspetherick.substack.com/subscribe

Happy (lunar) New Year! It's the first new moon of the year, which also marks the beginning of the Chinese and Tibetan year of the wood snake (nb: I just had a little look at this, and the wood snake symbolises the embodied wisdom of the Divine Feminine who knows her worth, lives close to the Earth and is at ease in moving within her body, which is always changing, shedding old skins for new growth. The wood snake is all about moving forward intuitively, quietly, intelligently and intentionally - I mean YES PLEASE).So, what cracking energy to begin this year's podcast with!In this episode, I'm sharing the benefits of an incredibly effective practice for building self-belief: self-reflection. More specifically supported journalling.So, if you have never quite gotten into journaling, or perhaps you love the process of self-reflection but rarely move past documenting what's happening and into catharsis or even changing beliefs, listen in!I share more about what makes a journalling practice so powerful, how to deepen your reflections and support yourself to process what's happening, plus: my favourite questions to ponder.Mentioned in this episode:* Self-belief Journalling - quieten self-judgement and self-criticism, learn to hear the voice of your Healthy Adult Self, and build your self-belief with my new supported self-reflection practice!* The Coaching Well - communal reflective practice and supervisory support especially for coaches.* Let me create a podcast just for you! Email me with your questions or areas of interest for a podcast. And if you have a specific experience you would appreciate my take on, email it through - I will, of course, keep it anonymous if you prefer.* The post I wrote after my reflection practice following the inauguration.* My beloved astrologer, Phyllis (tell her we are connected!). Get full access to Courage & Spice at saspetherick.substack.com/subscribe

How do you feel about what you wear? Shopping for clothes in our fast-fashion world, deciding what you like (colours, fabrics, makers), trying things on, and deciding what suits can all feel a bit like a minefield. It can be incredibly activating for our self-doubt. Lizzie Parsons runs The Distinctive Style Atelier and she is all about finding joy, confidence, and authenticity in your personal style - she has a really fun, human Instagram account that I recommend.At the time of our conversation I was preparing for a keynote and having a real moment of what the hell should I wear?!We had such a fun chat about how to find your personal style and allow your personality to shine through.If your self-doubt get's in the way of what you choose to wear, this is a really uplifting conversation. Enjoy! Resources:Lizzie's InstagramUncover your style personality - take the quiz!The Distinctive Atelier This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit saspetherick.substack.com

I've spent a lot of this year thinking about the Coaching industry. It is undoubtedly going through a somewhat sticky phase of maturing - for some of us, this is a long-time-coming-reckoning.The increasing focus on ethics and having a scope of practice, being trauma-informed, calling out the training organisations that replicate unhealthy practices is all for the good - particularly when it comes to outcomes for our beloved clients.And if you are a coach, this shift in the industry can feel a little discombobulating, it can understanably bring up self-doubt. In this episode I share more about how I am showing up to support coaches, and specifically, what I think we need to focus on - what really matters for creating a sustainable, successful practice. If you are in coach training, or you've been a resident of Planet Coach for a while, this is for you!Mentioned in this Episode:2025 Ripen Coaches Circle Three OG Coaches Talking Shop This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit saspetherick.substack.com

IMHO, the best kind of humans can access deep joy and light because they have sat in their darkness and shadows. Olivia is exactly that! We talk about the path from anger, pain, shame and addiction to living from a quiet mind and safe body. Olivia shares how breathwork blew her heart open and invited her to follow what she calls ‘the yellow brick road home to myself'. Breathwork is such a mysterious and deceptively simple practice. Olivia describes how peaceful, soft, and undefended she feels, how she is able to lean into challenging experiences, in particular, grieving for her mother right now. It's so lush to hear her describe this.Now, Olivia is a breathwork practitioner; she holds women's circles and the most divine retreats (on my bucket list for when we return to the UK).Listen in for the richest conversation about what self-love looks and feels like. What it means to let go of labels of ‘good and bad', to feel our feelings, to build our capacity to be in the mess of life.I found our first date so healing, I just know you will love Olivia.Connect with Olivia:Website and Instagram.Self-belief School with Sas This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit saspetherick.substack.com

In my former life, I was in the business of corporate goals - we called these projects - and I was responsible for some of the biggest, hairiest, riskiest projects in the UK (that life is almost unfathomable to me now). #nowonderIdrankWe often had a team of physics grads who managed an enormous Gannt chart - the project plan. We talked about The Plan endlessly. It was forever being updated, changed, added to, and reported on.We worshipped that thing. I suspect that in the face of so many moving parts and dependencies, not to mention all the humans involved, the money involved - we were trying to hold on to some morsel of control. Of certainty. But the plan NEVER reflected reality! Because things take longer than we think, people get sick or change jobs; we meet unexpected hurdles. Decisions get made in basement rooms in Whitehall, and the whole thing changes. If there is one thing I learned, it's that doing anything is bloody complicated.When I burned out for the third time because I was not made for that level of stress, became a coach working with humans with self-doubt, I found we experience the same challenges for personal goals, on a more manageable scale.Self-doubt is often a huge part of our personal goals - which makes so much sense - we are stepping into the unknown to bring something into existence. However, no mainstream approach to goals takes our humanity, or Self-doubt into account. Instead, we are told we must be consistent, have willpower, be disciplined, and be organised. We are told our doubts, fears and worries should be dismissed or ignored. Its like having an internalised personal trainer yelling at us the whole time.But after working with hundreds of humans over the years, I can tell you that none of that even matters. In this episode of the podcast, I share the five things that pretty much guarantee goal success. These qualities are woven into my Courage-based Goals coaching programme, which is currently open for enrolment!If you've been stopping and starting on something that matters to you - a habit change, a creative goal, a desire for some new way of being - listen in!In this episode:Courage-based Goals: a 50-day coaching programme specifically designed for humans with self-doubt. If you are procrastinating on your goal - come and join us lovely - there is a spot just for you. We start on the 22nd of October and there is an early-bird price available right now

I'm so excited for you all to meet my newest friend: Nici Wickes. Cookbook author, beloved TV star, restaurant reviewer and food editor for various publications, Nici is a national treasure here in Aotearoa.We discuss the often undervalued experience of living alone. Nici speaks candidly about finding joy and fulfilment inside of a full midlife, living solo, and what she has learned about herself.Our conversation moves through Nici's experiences during New Zealand's lockdowns when she kept herself and her followers company with cooking videos. This reveals the powerful impact social media can have in fostering community and connection. Her reflections on the importance of creating meaningful connections without following the well-worn script are filled with humour and heartfelt honesty.I know you are going to love Nici!Quoteable bits:"I look back now, and that was a big part of writing A Quiet Kitchen, which is, as you say, it's only a cookbook on the surface, to be honest, and the rest of is sort of memoiry, self-helpy. Because I wish I'd read a book when I was in my 30s and 40s about how you could happily have a life on your own."“I reckon it's a really good idea, if you're on your own and feeling lonely, to move to a small place. I really do. I took a swim this morning and then stopped at the coffee shop, had coffee with a few characters, and had a few chats. That was nice. I reckon it really works.”“I think the difference now for me is if you abandon me as a friend or a lover because you don't like what you're seeing, what I know now is I won't abandon me. I've now got my own back and I'm still learning about that. And it's that beautiful liberation of going: I can be imperfect now.”Mentioned in this episode:Nici on Instagram | WebsiteA Quiet KitchenMore from A Quiet Kitchen This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit saspetherick.substack.com

It's a delight to be back in your earholes after quite a long break since the last episode - SasIf you are experiencing a major change in your life, you'll know what I mean by a Life Quake. These experiences shake up our foundations of who we know ourselves to be; we can feel quite unmoored and at sea.  This episode is especially for you if you are going through this kind of change right now, if you know you are entering a period of change or maybe coming out of one.I thought it would be helpful to delve into this process and maybe what to expect. It can be a huge relief to discover that there does tend to be an overall pattern to these periods, especially when you are experiencing a lot of uncertainty and/or chaos.I'm also sharing a bit of behind-the-scenes from my own Life Quake over the last nine months, what happened, and how I'm making sense of things now.My hope is that this episode helps you feel less alone. Quoteable bits:"It might be our first rodeo, but it won't be our last. We do keep changing and growing. We're always becoming, if we're lucky.""There is the sense of being able to really see the love and the light of each person. Even those people who are behaving in ways that I find objectionable - I worry about the distance they've travelled to leave their humanity behind. What has happened to them for them to think this is okay?""When that kind of grieving and shock begins to subside, we start to imagine sometimes quite big and wild options. Now that we're no longer that, what will we choose to become?"Mentioned in this episode:New glowed-up website!Everything pageLianne Raymond (who shared the dragonfly analogy)Sammie Flemming This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit saspetherick.substack.com

My brilliant guest today is Karen Arthur, menopause activist, campaigner, and host of the podcast Menopause whilst Black. She is also a teacher, a fashionista, and a grandmother, and does all of this with unrelnting wholehearted joy.Karen joins us to talk about the balance of feeling joy amidst increasingly troubling world news, embracing the aging process, and putting your energy toward meaningful change, note to mention a whole range of goodness about how we connect ourselves to the world.You can find out mroe about Karen at https://www.thekarenarthur.com/QUOTES“Instagram is my weapon of choice. And I don't mind being visible as long as I'm visible on my own terms.”“It all goes back to not doing something just because everybody else is doing it, but doing it because it feels right.”“I'm loving the collective resistance that I'm seeing happening around the world, whether it's walking out of the Senate, schools, turning up for marches, speaking out, having vigils. It's incredible.”

Welcome to a new season of Courage & Spice, and to the Age of Aquarius! For those less astrologically inclined, this means that 2024 has arrived with a big sense of newness – new ideas, new adventures, new opportunities, it's all on the way.  With just a few weeks before I officially move from our home in Bristol to Aotearoa, New Zealand, I'm experiencing fresh starts left and right. Tune in for some transformative life updates, plus a brand new freebie and news from the world of Self-belief School! Want to get unstick and into ACTION? Sign up for the Ultimate Procrastination Interrupter here: https://selfbelief.school/procrastination-signup/ Interested in joining the next round of SBCA? You can find all the information here: https://selfbelief.school/sbca/ QUOTES“When no one else is watching, how do we take care of ourselves?”“Aquarius is all about speeding up innovation and new ideas… and my god do we need that! We need really smart-brained people to come up with solutions to these complex problems that we're all living with.”

This week, we're taking a closer look at how to approach the fear of failure so that you can let go of it for good. The threat of failure brings up a lot of very real worries and feelings, which are completely valid. Failure is so wrapped up in our sense of self, what we're capable of, and our hopes for the future… no wonder we put so much effort into avoiding it.In this episode, I share the experiences that taught me to recontextualize goals in terms of ideas, commitment, and decisions. Practice this and you will never fail again! QUOTES “Just notice: what are you committed to? Where do you feel that in your body? What are you willing to keep doing until?  And then there is no way you can fail.”“It takes time to really sink into commitment. Every single time you keep a promise to yourself, you're edging closer to sinking into the commitment feeling.”“It's worth reflecting on your reasoning. Do you love the reason that you've decided to not take an idea into the next stage?”

Are you afraid of failure? You are definitely not alone. The fear of failure is such a big reason for self-doubt to show up. To complicate it even more, we define failure in so many ways, from not making the cut, to guilt around something unfulfilled, all the way to something simply not going your way.This is a bit of a personal one for me as I've been diagnosed with ‘heart failure' I've been playing with my relationship to failure for the last few months. I want to share my learnings for how I've made some deep peace with this. Tune in for the first of two special episodes. QUOTES“We make failure mean that something is bad or wrong with us, usually because we've been told that. We've been told that failure is a form of humiliation. Of course we would avoid it at all costs if we don't believe we can tolerate it.”“We forget that because we've failed in the past, we have so much more information. We're experienced, more understanding, older and wiser and more resourced.”

Is you self-doubt tied up in your relationship with money? This week, I'm joined by the Founder of Tended Wealth, Megan DeBoer.Megan defines wealth as a state of plenty in relationships, health, community, our environment, and of course our finances. Tune in for a rich discussion on the familial and cultural lineage of money, how we frame our relationship with money based on this history, and what we can do to create new, revolutionary narratives around how we build wealth and what we put it toward. You can find more about Megan athttps://www.tendedwealth.com/@tendedwealthUntil the end of February 2024, listeners can use this code for 15% off either of Megan's THRIVE or EXPAND courses: COURAGEANDSPICE REFERENCEDThe Soul of Money by Lynne TwistSacred Economics by Charles EisensteinQUOTES“The lived history of your grandparents, your parents, what they had to do to survive and the narratives that formed… all of it makes so much sense in the context of where you find yourself in this moment.” “If we all share these kinds of stories around our worthiness and our need to work really hard, there's something about that that can be really healing. That sense of ‘I'm not in this alone' can feel a bit like we're sharing the load.” “There is cultural and societal status attached to that form of wealth. And so it's radical reclamation of what it is, to see wealth that we create around us and our own bodies, to include in that our communities and the financial health of the people in our communities.”

Business ownership can be the most rewarding way to express who you are – you get to do meaningful work, live your values, and create beautiful things or offer helpful services. At the same time, it can be an epic self-development quest that you probably didn't even realise you were signing up for (I certainly didn't). There's no way to create a business that is risk-free, which means that self-doubt is often waiting around every corner. Listen in for five reasons why business can feel so freakin' hard, and what you can do about it!If you're looking for support as a business owner, Bravehearts is a new programme inside of Self-belief School, specifically for business owners. This is low/no content - just coaching and co-working to support you to complete a business goal before Christmas!We start 6th November. Get access by signing up to Self-belief School right here: https://selfbelief.school/enrol/#braveheartsQUOTES ‘We think we're just showing up and selling our beautiful work and getting to create a meaningful job for ourselves. But actually, you are going against everything you've been told will keep you safe.'‘As kids we heard, “do what you're told”. And as adults, we're looking to know the invisible rules of how to be an adult. We end up crowdsourcing our decision-making. And this is because we just aren't shown… how to trust our inner knowing'‘People are going to unfollow, unsubscribe, disagree with you. These are all just everyday, neutral choices that people make. If we have untended attachment needs, we can make any of these things mean that we are being rejected.'

This episode kicks off an occasional Courage & Spice series on body image, with my brilliant guest and dear friend Professor Phillippa Diedrichs!Phil is a research psychologist at the Centre for Appearance Research in Bristol, as well as the founder of Everybody Consulting, an academic led consultancy working with global brands to drive social change and improve wellbeing. Tune in for Phil's expert perspective on what forms our (often complex) relationship with our own bodies, and the ways we can react to and challenge the effects of the media, capitalism, and societal pressures on our self-perception. You can find out more about Phil at:https://www.phillippadiedrichs.com/https://www.everybodyconsulting.com/On IG @phillippa.diedrichs REFERENCESGender Magic by Rae McDanielQUOTES“We are judged in terms of how attractive we are, how likable we are, how funny, how smart, how healthy. These are the judgments people make all the time about other people based on how they look, so our appearance to others becomes really important.” “One of the things that we love as human beings in nature is the diversity. There's so many wonderful combinations of shapes and colours and textures. Imagine if there was only one kind of flower, one colour, one shape. Why do we then try and limit ourselves to that?”  

One of the biggest ways that self-doubt holds us back is by telling us that we aren't ready. This shows up differently depending on your specific situation. Maybe you're an artist waiting to feel ready to share your work with an audience, or a writer waiting to contact agents. A coach waiting to perfect your offer before putting it out into the world… even a parent waiting until the kids are older to pursue your dreams. No matter what your situation, I've found that we're never really waiting to feel ready; we're waiting to feel safe. Listen in for tips on how to stop the waiting game from holding you back... ...plus BIG news from the world of Self-belief School! I'd love to invite you to my free workshop, Why am I so mean to me?, which will show you how to speak to yourself with compassion, encouragement and respect. The workshop will take place on Wednesday 4th October 2023 at 8 pm UK time. All you have to do is register here: https://selfbelief.school/kindness/ Self-belief School is also getting a very exciting update, and will soon be available for you to join at any time! No more waiting for enrolment to open… and certainly no more waiting to be 'ready'

Welcome back to Courage and Spice! As 2023 continues, today I'm sharing with you a compassionate and deceptively simple self-reflection process that has gotten me through uncertain times recently. Listen in for these two questions that you can use to support yourself when the future doesn't seem so clear. QUOTES“Adulting has real periods of strain. And often there is no neat solution… we have to keep going. There's no destination. I'm unlikely to get to a time where there aren't pressures or some kind of constraint. I need to figure out a way to support myself in this.”“When the world or our lives feel really complex and uncertain and big, it's almost like we need to meet that with a big solution. But actually, I found that the simpler the solution, the more likely we are to do it.”

Believe it or not, we're about half-way through the mystery magical adventure that has been 2023! Before we go on a podcast hiatus for the summer, I wanted to share the unexpected and twisty journey that this year has been with you. In January, if you asked me to imagine where my mind, heart, and even my body would be in July, I would never have come up with where I am now. A lot of this started with a trip back to my home and family in New Zealand, which evolved my relationship with the past and opened a new sense of possibility for the future. Tune in for more on where this has led! And if you're interested in feeling more at home in your body, The Embodyment Workshop, is coming to you live in November: https://selfbelief.school/embodyment/  QUOTES “I'm feeling a mix of grief and loss of leaving here and the people that I deeply care about, and also real excitement and trepidation about taking my business into a whole new place.” “There's something about seeing through the haze and the fog of all those worries, doubts, and fears, to actually the truth of right now, in your heart.” “I've been thinking about all the places that I could belong that I maybe haven't allowed myself to, or that I've tried to protect myself from because of some anticipated risk that people won't like me if I go there.”

Are you feeling out of alignment with your natural rhythm? Maybe you don't even know if you have a natural rhythm? Perhaps you are searching for a sense of order outside of the 9 to 5 world of notifications and expectations? This episode is a treat! Jen Wright is a mentor who works with folks to build values-based, heart-led businesses and she is here to share her expertise in slow, sustainable, cyclical living.Listen in for her insights on how to tune into your body to create your own unique cycles and rituals, making the most of your time in the most nourishing, fulfilling, and intuitive way. The Aigned Community: Cyclical living and slow business support for gentle rebels https://life-aligned.mn.coMore about Jen:https://www.lifealigned.co.uk/https://www.instagram.com/lifealignedco/REFERENCESLottie Randomly https://www.lottierandomly.com/QUOTES“It's about tuning back into our bodies. Seeing when we can rest, when we can slow down, and when things feel easier for us, rather than just pushing all the time.”“If we think about a hierarchy of wellness, sleep is the big pillar at the bottom. That's where our body repairs itself, when our natural healing happens. When we dream, we are usually processing stuff from that day. In order to dream, we need to get into depth of sleep.”“Can you imagine a society where all of us are educated about the cycle of life? Where we ask, what does that actually mean for all of us? And commit to knowing that.”

If you're not following Keri Jarvis on Instagram @keri_l_jarvis, what are you doing?! Keri is a developmental coach, intersectional feminist, community activist, and all-around bloody ace human. When we recorded this episode, Keri had posted some brilliant thoughts on Instagram about what it really means to identify with being an ambitious person and how her own sense of equity, justice and feminism has caused her relationship with ambition to evolve.We got together to chat more about ambition, getting comfortable with contentment, what gratitude really means in practice, and competition versus collectivism. Plus a huge amount of amazing references and resources that are sure to send you down a rabbit hole of info and inspo

My guest today is Ellie Kime, writer, founder of Enthusiast and Co. and publisher of Voracious Magazine. Ellie has a master's degree in enthusiasm (yes…literally!) and is here to share what it really means to live with unbridled passion for the things you love most. We're throwing away surface-level good vibes and toxic positivity and diving deep into what it means to be joyfully enthusiastic. Tune in for advice on how to live by your own rules when it comes to business, hobbies, creativity, and everything in between. You can find out more about Ellie at: https://www.theenthusiast.co/about-elliehttps://www.instagram.com/eleanor_mollie/  QUOTES “My conclusion is to just to stop playing by the rules, cause if we can't win then let's play our own game.” “Even if you can't find somebody with your very specific enthusiasms, surround yourself with a group of people who really understand the depth of your enthusiasm, the embodiment of how it feels.” “You've just got to do everything with love. Otherwise what's the point?”

This week I'm speaking with the brilliant Bridgette Boudreau! Bridgette is a master certified life coach; she has been a CEO to multimillion-dollar corporations, built her own business twice, and developed programmes that have trained thousands of coaches… myself included!Bridgette's mission these days is to infuse your working life with vision, meaning, growth and healing. But today, we're digging even further into a ‘stealth mission' that we both share, to educate clients, coaches, and any consumer of coaching, to be aware of the shadow side of the coaching industry.  Tune in for insight on the toxic side of manifesting culture, what accountability looks like within coaching practice, and the ways that a good coach will amplify YOUR light. You can find out more about Bridgette at:https://www.bridgetteboudreau.com/https://www.instagram.com/bridgetteboudreau/ REFERENCESKelly Diels wrote a great post about the Launch Formula 'mental triggers' approach and why we should do better.Lianne Raymond: http://www.lianneraymond.com/QUOTES “Your limitations shape your purpose just as much as your gifts, strengths, and your light. So it doesn't mean you don't get to be what your heart wants – it means you can stop trying to prove yourself.”“It's not your fault if you paid a bunch of money to a super coach and they didn't give you the basic consideration that you should get as a customer… It is never okay for somebody to be mean to you, to be cruel to you, to lie to you, to make an example out of you, or to gaslight you.” “We project our light onto these people. We think they know The Things and they have The Right Way and all that stuff. And that's you. You can trust yourself.”

If you've been following along on Instagram, you may have caught that a few weeks ago I posted about my decision to cancel my biggest launch of the year. I had just announced Brave Coach Week, which was a joy to run last year and was shaping up to be the same. Off the back of that, I was going to announce the next round of the Self Belief Coaching Academy, the course that's at the centre of my work and heart. All seemed like it should fall into place. And then… I just wasn't feeling it.Tune in for my story of what happens when you ditch a launch strategy that just doesn't seem to fit and embrace the complexity of making decisions that truly align with how you want to show up.QUOTES“Can we dispense with any notion that everything has to be a “hell yes”, or it's a no. We're so much more complex and nuanced than this. Decisions are rarely this clear cut, so if it's not clear to you, nothing's gone wrong.”“It's okay to show up as you are now and to trust that your people will come with you.”“Money comes from our relationships with people. It comes from trust and consistency, but that means that we really need to know who our clients are. We need to know how our thoughtful services and our helpful products make our clients' lives better.”

This episode is a little piece of magic brought to you live from Aotearoa, New Zealand. The day after I landed from the UK, I boarded a Very Tiny Plane in order to spend the day with dear friend and fellow coach, Sammie Fleming.Sammie's coaching practice is all about supporting creatives, coaches, space holders, and healers to claim their wholeness, leadership and deep confidence with ease and flow.Tune in as Sammie and I give you a peek into our time together, including insights on the crossroads between ambition and intuition, accessing your true desires, and holding space in both your client work and everyday life. You can find Sammie athttps://sammiefleming.com/https://www.instagram.com/sammiesonjafleming/ If you are ready to deepen your coaching presence and advance your coaching mastery, you are invited to consider the Self-belief Coaching Academy. This evidence-based, trauma-informed, ICF-accredited programme is specifically designed for practitioners whose clients are impacted by self-doubt. QUOTES FROM SAMMIE“It's a skillset to be able to be deep in the unknown and hold it without forcing any direction. To navigate your client and really, truly hold them.”“I'm quite disinterested in holding my clients accountable and nowadays. I'm so much more interested in cultivating a fire so strong that they are going to do the thing anyway.”“There's no such thing as the ‘good client'. You don't have to perform for me. You don't have to achieve for me. I'm just going to sit and bask in all of you.”“Abundance comes in many, many, many forms. Including the ability to pot around and drink your coffee slowly. Or be on stage in front of 10,000 people. Or spend an entire month reading all the books you wanted to read all year. Not one of these is more important or valuable than the other.”

In this episode, we are addressing a topic that comes up all the time during Supervision sessions and in training coaches in the Self-belief Coaching Academy: how to go 'deeper' with coaching clients.While the specifics for each of your individual clients will obviously vary, I wanted to spend some time looking at the generalised contexts that tend to be present. And also to know that this is a really, really common question for coaches to ask!I'm sharing three approaches designed to help you access a deeper space with clients. I also share why a desire for new approaches is a great sign that you are evolving as a coach. Let's get into it!  If you are ready to deepen your coaching presence and advance your coaching mastery, you are invited to consider the Self-belief Coaching Academy. This evidence-based, trauma-informed, ICF-accredited programme is specifically designed for practitioners whose clients are impacted by self-doubt. Quotes "As coaches, we can get wedded to our client's goals and we end up coaching around the goal and not the person. We can easily take it as a personal failure if the client doesn't get to where they want to go. But what if the goal isn't helpful for the client's growth? What if the goal changes? What if the client achieves the goal but feels flat and disappointed? When we focus on goals, we can end up solving the wrong problem'."“The reasons that we have protective, resistant behaviours is no accident. They've served important purposes. But at some point, we need support to try new ways of doing things, of getting our needs met.”“After the first 100 hours or so of client work, you may have taken your foundational coaching skills as far as you can. You are likely to be feeling curious and ready for more.”

Our coach training equips us with incredibly helpful tools, concepts and approaches, and client work provides the real-world experience of supporting actual humans, most professional coaches find that there is still something missing. And no I don't mean a business coach! We need a different third thing - a learning space that helps us to make sense of everything. Where we can reflect on our relationship with very specific, three-dimensional, paying clients (not theoretical avatars or other trainee coaches).Where we can feel supported and frankly, less lonely in this work (it's super tricky when we work from the kitchen table or the spare room!)And we usually need other resources and choices for supporting clients more effectively (because none of us know what we don't know). As the coaching industry matures, being in Supervision is now recognised as the standard for coaching excellence. And having been in Supervision for a decade, I honestly don't know how any coach does this work without it. I'm delighted to welcome Kris Shepard back to the podcast to chat more about Supervision - Kris is a Life Coach and Supervisor who helps coaches show up authentically with their clients and masterfully hone their unique coaching style. In this episode, we talk through the ins and outs of coaching supervision, and why it should be the first point of call for coaches who are figuring out this beautiful, helpful work. You can find out more about Kris athttps://www.instagram.com/becometheauthorofyourlife/https://directory.iccs.co/united-kingdom/london/supervisor/kristina-sheppard  If you're interested in coaching supervision with me, a Growth Edge Supervision Circle will be beginning in May. You can click here to find out more and join the waitlist: https://selfbelief.school/supervision/

Urgh criticism is The Worst, isn't it?  Just the thought of it makes most of us clench up. So let's have a peek at what's actually going on.In this episode, we'll explore why we are so afraid of criticism, where that 'urgh' reaction comes from, and what we can do to get more comfortable with what other people think. For this week's free resource, you can download my recent workshop What will people think?!, which dives even further into how to lovingly detach from other people's opinions: https://selfbelief.school/podcasts/episode-133/Have a question about self-doubt that you want me to answer? You can submit a question for the podcast right here: https://selfbelief.school/podcast/#question QUOTES“Self-doubt isn't particularly logical or rational. Most of the time we can see that this is not a very healthy belief for me to hold, but somehow, can't go through with an alternative.”“Anyone's opinion of you is first filtered through their own perspective. We have to be discerning about whose criticism is worth listening to”"Every quality is neutral. There is no inherent best or right way; it's all in the context and the nuance between the two poles."

This week my guest Sophie Howarth and I are diving into what it really means to create your own pace in a culture that prioritises faster and more.Sophie is an artist, writer and teacher, whose work is about deepening connection to ourselves, one another and the wider web of life.  We talk thorough ways to tune into your surroundings and get comfortable with going slow, and how Sophie includes and promotes this practice in her own work.Tune in to see just how much you can discover on a pilgrimage within the fabric of your own life! About Sophie Across an eclectic career spanning the arts, activism, social enterprise and government, Sophie has been committed to developing more imaginative responses to our most urgent concerns. Best known as the Co-Founder and first Director of The School of Life, Sophie has also been Curator of Public Programmes at Tate Modern, Faculty Lead at Year Here, Head of Education and Research at iniva, and a Special Advisor on Social Action in the Number 10 Policy Unit. She is also the author of several books including The Mindful Photographer, Street Photography Now and Family Photography Now.You can find out more about Sophie here:https://www.sophiehowarth.com/https://poetrypharmacy.co.uk/the-distillery/online/ Interested in Self-belief School? Here's all the info: https://selfbelief.school/enrol/ References“Ode” by Zoe Higgins (poem)“I thank you god for this most amazing day”, E E Cummings (poem)If Women Rose Rooted, Sharon Blackie (book)Quotes“Tuning ourselves into noticing brings so much depth, but it can't be done in a hurry. You just can't do it if you're busy getting from A to B in a race.” “Sometimes making peace with all the things undone, all the people that we failed to get back to, all the ambitions that we're not pursuing, allows for this really loving space of just being with what is.”“With that privacy attention, these things that happen without an audience, that aren't shared, that aren't for anyone else except our ourselves and our beloveds. These are the really precious resources that we have.”

A huge 2023 welcome back to Courage and Spice! I took some time to reset over the Christmas holiday, a much needed step back that made me realise just want it means to fully commit to rest and rejuvenation instead of just stopping work.As I make plans for the new year, I'm realising that there's no reason for the spaciousness that I felt to disappear. Which is why I'm focusing this episode on how to stay in a gear that honours your energy and creativity.I'm also making some changes to how our episodes are going to be released, which means that every solo episode will come with a free resource to help you put everything we talked about to action! Click here for this week's Guide to Uncovering Courage Based Goals:   https://selfbelief.school/courage-spice-resources/ Signups for Self-belief School are now open! Click here for more info: https://selfbelief.school/enrol QUOTES“There's so much emphasis on growing and getting bigger and more audiences, and my fire has just gone out for that kind of stuff. I'm already connected to the most amazing folks”“When you just let your mind wander with no fixed destination or idea for what should happen, it's going to give you a breadcrumb trail that's worth following.” “A goal is just a temporary state: we are learning some stuff about ourselves, trying to achieve something or part of something. And at the end of that, we can go :what really worked? What do I want to do more of? What's the next 30 day goal?”

For my last episode of 2022, I'm talking about the number one action that I've taken to grow my business. Now stay with me, because I know this can come with a lot of feelings… that action is asking for feedback! We tend to avoid feedback because many of us equate it with criticism. The secret is that the benefits of getting that feedback far outweigh the fear around it. This means building the courage to ask is one of the best things you can do for your work, business and personal growth.So what's this episode really about?I'm breaking down how feedback can really benefit you in order to challenge the fears around it and be able to use it as a strength! There are a few different angles to this:Feedback is the intel that will make ‘that thing' that you're trying to do the most impactful it can be, because it'll speak specifically to those you're trying to help.Conflicting feedback can strengthen your self-trust, as different perspectives put you in touch with your own.If you're a perfectionist, practicing asking for feedback can take the pressure off feeling you need to be the expert on everything. Tune in for more on how to get comfortable with the how's, when's and why's of asking for feedback, and then using it to take action! Connect with Sas Petherick:Website:    https://selfbelief.school/class/And if you heard my introduction and are interested in coaching supervision, you can sign up for Growth Edge Circle here: https://selfbelief.school/supervision You can quote me on that…“Asking for feedback before you've made your thing, or completed it, is a great way of adding in your client's voice to whatever it is that you are creating on their behalf.”“If you ask a range of different people for feedback, you're probably going to get different perspectives, and sometimes they will be in conflict with each other. It's a really great opportunity to just sink into your own discernment.”“My protective self-doubt is always telling me to wait until everything is right, to be afraid of risking criticism and rejection. And then I sit with the question, what else could be true? And I find that there's almost never a really good reason to wait.” Like what you hear? Why not help me reach more ears (and give my self-belief a boost) with a 5-star rating?Sign up for SBCA 2023 here: https://selfbelief.school/sbca

Today, we are visiting our guest, Agnes Becker's world.This is the world of we are stardust - a place where art and science collide to enrich your experience of and relationship with our messy, beautiful universe.So what's this episode really about?Agnes creates artwork that inspires connection with the more-than-human world and online adventures that encourage you to rewild your soul.We talk about wonder, and hidden worlds, and finding both by slowing down and really looking. Agnes' invitation is to engage our senses and notice - and we'll be rewarded with the gift of opening our perception of ourselves and the way we experience the world.There is so much wonder in Agnes' work. If you feel like you're rushing around but you're aware that something else is going on beyond that, in nature and in some deeper part of you, our conversation will help you find your way to your wild and beautiful soul.We discuss the attention economy, that first spring of COVID-19, how to let go of urgency and the grief that can come up when we reconnect with the natural world. She talks about how she navigated her way to a place where she weaves art and science together, and how We are Stardust is her place to belong in the world. If you'd like to connect to the more-than-human world, Agnes offers a portal.LINKSRewild Your Soul Workshop / Autumn Leaf Painting WorkshopBraiding Sweetgrass - Robin Wall KimmererSophie StrandAlan Watts quote / Ram Dass quote / Finding meteorite impacts in Aboriginal oral traditionConnect with Agnes Becker:Website:    https://wearestardust.uk/Instagram:    @wearestardustukYou can quote me on that…“We are creatures not computers.” - Sas Petherick“That tiny moment, to look at that one leaf, it can change the perception of yourself, and change the way you're thinking about the world and your life.” - Agnes Becker“What I love is the learning. Not just through the science but through the experience and observation and attention that art invites you to cultivate.” - Agnes BeckerLike what you hear? Why not help me reach more ears (and give my self-belief a boost) with a 5-star rating?Sign up for SBCA 2023 here:https://selfbelief.school/sbcaSign up for SBCA 2023 here: https://selfbelief.school/sbca

If you notice there are stories you are telling yourself like “If my partner was different, I would feel loved” or “If my boss was a whole other human being, I would enjoy my work so much more” then this episode is for you!I'm sharing how to become aware of the expectations we carry around and the steps to take to make the shift from expectations to unconditional love. This process has dramatically transformed every single one of my relationships.What if no one needs to change for you to feel ok? What if the people you don't like, can be your greatest teachers? What if unconditional love is entirely possible for you to access? This episode is about relationships and the way we can show up to them from our healthy adult selves.You can quote me on that…“When we put our happiness in the hands of another human, we set both of us up to fail.” - Sas Petherick“Other people do and say things and we interpret what they do and say. That interpretation creates some kind of meaning that feeds into our beliefs. It's what we believe that creates our feelings.” - Sas Petherick“When we're willing to take responsibility for how we're interpreting anyone else's actions when we're willing to take responsibility for what we believe, we crack a new level of adulthood.” - Sas PetherickLike what you hear? Why not help me reach more ears (and give my self-belief a boost)Sign up for SBCA 2023 here:https://selfbelief.school/sbcaSign up for SBCA 2023 here: https://selfbelief.school/sbca

I'm really excited to chat with you today about a concept that has been brewing for me over the last few months - that every single story we tell about ourselves, has three different narratives.In this episode I discuss these three layers as I see them, and explain how going into the third layer is where we get to really understand something new about who we are.It's no accident that this is coming up for me right now, as I am currently in an in-depth training programme to certify as a Coaching Supervisor. In supervision what we're trying to do is look at a bigger (super) perspective (vision) of our work as coaches. It's a big old soup of (sometimes uncomfortable) reflection!So do listen in:If you're trying to figure out what's happening for you in an area of your life that feels unsatisfying or confusing.If you're a coach that's curious about supervision practice, you might enjoy hearing more about my experience of it.And if you're a human experiencing self-doubt, this approach to storytelling and meaning-making is likely to support you!LINKSWebsite:    https://selfbelief.school/class/Insta: @saspetherickYou can quote me on that…“When we get into a reflective practice of some sort, we get to unearth an expanded narrative.” - Sas Petherick“Asking ‘what else could be true?' brings in complexity, and also possibility. If we allow ourselves to really sit with that question we can start to see that the meaning-making we've drawn is specific to that story. It may not be a universal truth.” - Sas PetherickLike what you hear? Why not help me reach more ears (and give my self-belief a boost) with a 5-star rating?Sign up for SBCA 2023 here: https://selfbelief.school/sbca

Folks I'm so excited to welcome Katie Kurtz to the podcast. Katie is a licensed social worker and trained trauma specialist, certified coach, consultant and yoga teacher. Not only that, but she also facilitates a beautiful program called Cultivate, which is all about trauma-informed care, and has recently created the most beautiful card deck called Contain.So what's this episode really about? This conversation is an in-depth conversation about trauma-informed care and trauma-informed coaching. Katie shares with us what trauma-informed care is, and how it came to be -  growing out of the roots of trauma therapy, PTSD and the experience of survivors. Trauma is something that affects all of us.We talk about how trauma-informed care has recently entered new and non-traditional fields, such as coaching, wellness and entrepreneurship businesses. Katie shares the importance of understanding that trauma-informed care has a significant history, and how to put this mode of care into embodied practice.We discuss how the current lack of supervision, mentorship, peer support, coaching and regulation means that many people are practising outside their scope if they identify as trauma-informed coaching people are practising outside their scope. It's really about how we move into this new wave of trauma-informed care to make it adaptable for all professions and spaces.We finish up with Katie explaining how she prioritises resourcing herself, and how she cares for her nervous system, as well as how her beautiful card deck was created as a way to create space for ourselves, and others.Why you should listenIf you experience any discomfort around identifying as a trauma-informed practitioner, this conversation will help you understand its scope and how to embody the practice as ethically and holistically as possible.LINKSYou can find the Contain card deck right here!Connect with Katie Kurtz:Website:    https://katie-kurtz.com/Instagram:    @_katiekurtzConnect with Sas Petherick:Website:    https://selfbelief.school/class/You can quote me on that…“I don't think we need to remove the term trauma-informed care, we need to reclaim it. Reclaim it in a way that brings us back to shared language and understanding of what it is. And encourage people to adopt it with integrity and within their scope of practice.” Katie Kurtz“You can't say you're trauma-informed, you have to be it. What I simply mean by that is, you can't just use words and not have action behind it.” - Katie Kurtz“It's about how we show up with this commitment to widen our lens and be super mindful of the lived experience of both ourselves and others and apply that as much as possible to the entirety of our work.” - Katie Kurtz“The paradox of being trauma-informed as a coach, means you know where you don't go. You almost need to have a trauma-informed lens, so you know when you have reached the limits of that.” - Sas PetherickLike what you hear? Why not help me reach more ears (and give my self-belief a boost) with a 5-star rating?Sign up for SBCA 2023 here: https://selfbelief.school/sbca

I'm really excited to bring you this episode today, especially for all the coaches in the house as I share an incredible conversation I had recently with a few members of my business mastermind group.In this round table conversation, I'm joined by Ellie Swift, Taryn Bolt, Sofia Bernardi and Nivek Harrison as we talk about all the aspects of running a coaching business - the good, the bad and everything in between. This was such a generous conversation and I know you're going to get so many takeaways as we talk about what we would do if we were starting out in business again. These incredible women have taught me so much about what it means to be in a community, and being surrounded by their support, encouragement and wisdom has been next-level awesome.If you're in that first phase of making lots of decisions in your business and perhaps feeling a bit lonely, this conversation will be a breath of fresh air for you.LINKSWebsite:https://selfbelief.school/class/Like what you hear? Why not help me reach more ears (and give my self-belief a boost) with a 5-star rating?

Last year I did a big birthday thoughts episode - just jamming on what's on my mind right now. So today it's my 49th birthday and these are my big birthday thoughts. If you're at a crossroads or coming up to a new stage of your life, you might be curious to hear how I'm navigating this time of my life.If you're curious about what it feels like to build a life that fits you, in all your humanness, I offer some reflections on what this has felt like for me.Perhaps you'd like just to tune in for a chat and reflection on another human living their life, through all the messy disappointment, beauty and wonder. Bring your tea! LINKSWebsite:    https://selfbelief.school/class/You can quote me on that…“What does it mean to build a life that allows self-doubt to be part of it, that compassionately brings it along?” Sas Petherick.“There is no distance to go, it's about presence.” Sas Petherick“I am both an over-functioner and I am very ordinary. I have an idea of a quite big, bright, colourful life, and in relative terms, it's quite small, it's quite ordinary. All of that is true.” Sas PetherickLike what you hear? Why not help me reach more ears (and give my self-belief a boost) with a 5-star rating?

This week's episode is essential for all business owners. It can often feel very lonely when running your own business and it's difficult to find other people who can truly relate to your journey. My guest today is Mel Wiggins. After a decade of working in nonprofit management and activism roles, Mel decided to pivot her career to work with women who want to be more courageous in their lives and work. She built a strong and thriving community serving hundreds of women from her home in Northern Ireland and is absolutely passionate about helping women succeed. Mel runs leadership programs, strategy days and retreats for women business owners. This episode is perfect for you if you're searching for a community or are feeling like something is missing in your support network. We discuss the limited spaces for women business owners that welcome our vulnerability, the challenges involved with commodifying everything about ourselves, and how integral a strong community of like-minded people is to hold you up during the hard times, cheer you on during the good times and motivate you to never give up.Links:Mel's Website Mel's InstagramResources mentioned: Soul of Money Website The Sophia Century - Lynne Twist: www.youtube.com/watch?v=iz18RQ7UR3w You can quote me on that…“The trick of patriarchy is dangling success for women” - Mel Wiggings“When you cultivate trust in those spaces, people will show up for you” - Mel Wiggings“A really healthy community is where everyone gets to show up as they are and the boundaries are clear” - Sas PetherickLike what you hear?Why not help me reach more ears (and give my self-belief a boost) with a 5-star rating?

There is NOTHING quite like the buzz of teaching a course you've created and the magic that happens as the group goes on a learning adventure together. Plus: the creative, financial and emotional rewards for you - so fun!However, the sobering reality is that the completion rates for adult online learning experiences are really shocking - less than 15% of us finish any kind of online experience. In this episode, I take you through the five key reasons why online learning experiences don't deliver. I also give you ten reflections that you can take away to consider for how to create a really brilliant course that your people say an immediate yes to, love and complete.This episode will support you to bring your online course dreams to life. The world needs your expertise, your brilliance and your thoughtful, intentional programs. I promise you, this is going to help you create a brilliant course.Why you should listenThis is especially for those of you who create online learning experiences for your people. You might be a coach, teacher or program instructor and you're looking to create an online course that people love, complete and that gets rave reviews. A course that people say an immediate yes to. Or perhaps you're already running a course and you want to put an injection of OOMPF! into it. And of course - if self-doubt is holding you back from creating the programme you've always wanted to bring to life - this episode is for you.Links:Self-belief SchoolResources mentioned:How to be a brilliant course creator (PDF)Like what you hear?Why not help me reach more ears (and give my self-belief a boost) with a 5-star rating?

I'm delighted to introduce Angela McMillan. She is the founder of Elemental Health and is an accredited counsellor and coach who works primarily with young people who experience anxiety. Angela has made it her mission to help anxious young people and the adults in their lives develop tools and strategies to help them recover from anxiety and thrive.So what's this episode really about? Being a teenager is always tricky but right now there are so many additional layers of complexity right now -  recovery from the pandemic, the climate emergency, choices around identity...In this conversation, we explore the ways we, as adults, can recognise anxiety in teenagers, including physical, emotional and behavioural symptoms. Angela shares how her own journey with an anxiety disorder has helped her find a truly holistic approach to both living with and recovering from anxiety.We also discuss the importance of resourcing ourselves, and how we can offer those resources to the teenagers in our lives.Self-doubt and self-blaming can get in the way of connecting with your teenager. Angela talks us through how to ensure that the work you do with your teenager is focused on them (not you) and the importance of working as a team to navigate tricky emotions.Why you should listenIf you are a parent and your teen is having a tough time coping with life right now, this conversation will be really helpful.Perhaps you're using tools to help your teenager already, but you get the sense there are more effective ways you can connect and work with your teenager.Or perhaps you have a teenager in your life that's going through a rough time, but you don't know how to approach them.LINKSThe author mentioned: James HillmanAngela McMillan Elemental Health:    https://www.ehe.org.uk/Angela McMillan Instagram:    https://www.instagram.com/elementalhealth_uk/Website:    https://selfbelief.school/class/You can quote me on that…“Every time we take care of ourselves, we are able to travel back in time and offer some compassion and love and care for our younger selves.” Sas Petherick“If anything is happening that is out of the ordinary, then that's a really good opportunity to have a conversation about that.” Angela McMillan“One of the things that can happen is - we want to mind read. We notice our teenager is withdrawn or behaving in a way that isn't recognisable to us and we try to think of all the possible reasons as to why that might be. We might blame ourselves, our family, the friendships that our child is in, and sometimes we forget that the only way we're going to find that out, is to sit down, connect and find out what is happening.” Angela McMillan “You can say - I can see this is hard, you're not alone. That changes people's psychology to know that.” Sas PetherickLike what you hear? Why not help me reach more ears (and give my self-belief a boost) with a 5-star rating?

In today's episode, we are talking about Future Fantasies.This is one of the most innocuous patterns of protection - one day I'll have this / do this / be this.It's SO seductive! So let's talk about how future fantasies work, the ways self-doubt is involved and how to unhook yourself from this pattern.If you tend to get stuck in thinking “when I have that job I'll be able to…” or “when I lose weight I can…”, then this episode is absolutely for you.If you're waiting for ANY outside circumstances to change so that you'll feel magically ready - this one is for you!This episode will help you recognise any future fantasies you may have, and unhook yourself from them.LinksSelf-belief School enrollment is open for a few more days! Jump in before the 23rd of September!Watch the Self-belief Matrix Workshop replay You can quote me on that…“I want you to be in the reality of you right now. She is so capable, she has everything she needs. It's so easy to believe in her and you. Decide to believe that you can figure this out.” - Sas Petherick“You can't wait long enough, to feel safe enough, to make this fantasy a reality.” - Sas Petherick“I think goals are amazing, but it's never about ticking it off, it's never about getting to the point of success. It's about who you become along the way. Goals, for me, are just the vehicle for your growth and expansion.” - Sas Petherick“Setbacks, challenges and frustrations just mean you're doing something. This is where the growth happens” - Sas PetherickLike what you hear? Why not help me reach more ears (and give my self-belief a boost) with a 5-star rating?

If you've ever worked with a coach in the past or you're thinking about doing so, this episode will help you understand the difference between a “nice” conversation and coaching that is truly transformational. Maybe you've got a stack of self-help books, you follow a lot of coaches and therapists online but you're feeling frustrated that you still haven't been able to make the changes that you want. If you can relate, this episode will give you some deeper insight into the brave and liberating work we do inside Self-belief School. There is a massive difference between information and transformation and I want to speak to this in the context of the conversations I've been having recently. So what's this episode really about? I share the three key relationships that we actively develop in the Self-belief School and why this process leads to transformation:We explore the idea of Self-doubt as The Protector.We understand and heal the relationship you have with the root causes of self-doubt. And we focus on building a relationship with ourselves that's rooted in compassion. When you have a healthy adult self, you feel resourced to do all the adulting! Links:Self-belief School EnrolmentYou can quote me on that…“We don't tend to grow or change or expand our self-concept because of information... It's actually the application of that information that leads to transformation.” - Sas Petherick“To me, there's no question that you're doing something wrong. You're not doing anything wrong, you're doing something that creates safety.” - Sas Petherick“The healthy adult self is the part of us that has access to key resources: self-belief, self-acceptance, self-worth and self-trust. All of these resources are able to be developed.” - Sas PetherickLike what you hear? Why not help me reach more ears (and give my self-belief a boost) with a 5-star rating?

It's September: back-to-school season. For me, lifelong learning is one of the great joys of being an adult - because we get to choose our experiences!But taking the time to reflect before you dive into a new learning experience is important.In this episode, I have nine questions to help you decide how and why to take the leap. These are questions to ask both of yourself, and also of the course. They will help you think about why you might be interested in a course, get clear on your intentions, and will set you up for success.Know that I am always rooting for you, so do get in touch if you have questions.So what's this episode really about? This episode is for anyone interested in lifelong learning. You may have a course in mind, or perhaps you have just been thinking about learning something new. You might be feeling super excited about a new learning adventure, but perhaps you're not sure you can last the distance. Or perhaps you're feeling unsure about the delivery style and how you'll show up for the group learning components. This will help you get clear on why you want to learn and how to get the most out of the experience.Links:Website: https://selfbelief.school/enrol You can quote me on that…“To be committed means you stay with it, to be willing to suck at something new. Commitment is one of the most powerful emotions we can have. Things like resilience, courage, and capability are all built on the foundation of commitment.” - Sas Petherick“Everything, in my opinion, is worth celebrating.” - Sas Petherick“Lifelong learning is one of the great joys of being an adult.” - Sas PetherickLike what you hear? Why not help me reach more ears (and give my self-belief a boost) with a 5-star rating?

Self-Belief School is the program I've been dreaming about creating for a really long time. It's the culmination of 10 years of work and it is finally ready!I have a deep and abiding passion for our experiences and for the last decade I've been obsessed with why we hold ourselves back and get in our own way.I've read pretty much every evidence-based study based on self-doubt. And while sometimes it feels like a strange thing to own, there is no doubt I am an expert on self-doubt.What I realised when I started out on this journey of discovery around self-doubt is that it is far from an individual experience. It is both caused by and sustained by systemic barriers. There is an individual experience of self-doubt and a collective movement that's required to work through it and change how we respond to it.And this school - The Self Belief School - is everything you need to know to take you from self-doubt to self-belief. This is an evidence-based, practical, implementable, trauma-informed, proven approach supporting you to make conscious choices and create a life that fits you.It's so fun to think about the impact this is going to have - this program feels so freaking juicy to me.Why you should listen:If you're sick of feeling like you're never quite lovable and capable enough so you hold yourself back from sharing your ideas, your work or your heart. If you have a constant hum of self-doubt in the background and you are sure there's another way of living in the world, this is a must-listen. If you're curious about coaching or you want to take your coaching experience to the next level. If you'd like to explore topics like your goals and dreams, your relationship with money or your body image through the lens of self-belief. If you want to find a different way of being in the world and creating a life that fits you.Links:Self-belief School WebsiteYou can quote me on that…“We've kind of convinced ourselves that there's a magic pill, that one day we're going to wake up and feel differently. What I want you to know is that that is highly unlikely. But when you very intentionally decide ‘I'm going to work with self-doubt….I'm going to start freaking liking myself' - the impact on your life does feel like magic.” - Sas Petherick“When you get connected to who you are, under your self-doubt, life's richer, it's more meaningful, more fulfilling and this is available to you.” -  Sas Petherick“This is an opportunity to try on a part of you that wants to belong, that wants to feel connected” -  Sas PetherickLike what you hear? Why not help me reach more ears (and give my self-belief a boost) with a 5-star rating?

This is my last episode before a summer break with my lady friends so I thought it would be great for this episode to check in on my word of the year: Disappointment. I chose to play with disappointment in 2022 because I recognised it to be the psychological risk I'm most sensitive to. My self doubt is always trying to protect me from being disappointed but as we know, that's just an illusion of safety. I wanted to be able to sit with disappointment, explore it a bit and get rid of the obligation to just get over it. It's been a wonderful journey!So what's this episode really about? Understanding the root causes of my tendency towards disappointment and the impact that my upbringing had on this.What I've learned about my own disappointment and how a lot of the circumstances are seemingly petty. The mainstream advice about handling disappointment and why this doesn't sit right with me.How I've been practicing sitting in my disappointment and being curious about what I'm actually feeling.The revelation of the complexity of emotions I've experienced underneath my disappointment.Disappointment needs somewhere to go. As adults, we can do this through journaling, talking to a friend, emotional release etc.How quickly disappointment can invite us to warp the meaning of any event that causes it.The difference between clean and dirty pain and how disappointment plays into this.How being more open to disappointment and sitting with it has led to more fun and joy.Why you should listenIf disappointment is something you're susceptible to, I hear you friend and this episode is perfect for you. I talk through my own learnings from the year so far as I've been open to experiencing disappointment, not just trying to make it go away. We'll talk through the complexity of emotions underneath disappointment, learning how to sit with it and how doing this can actually help you experience more fun and joy. LINKSWebsite: https://selfbelief.school/class/You can quote me on that…“I don't want to anticipate disappointment before something's even happened.” - Sas Petherick“Disappointment, unlike a lot of other emotional states, is not a clean and tidy emotion.” - Sas Petherick“Disappointment sometimes needs somewhere to go.” - Sas Petherick“I'm just less bothered by being disappointed than I was in January. And as a consequence of that, I'm just having a lot more fun.” - Sas PetherickLike what you hear? Why not help me reach more ears (and give my self-belief a boost) with a 5-star rating?Previous episode mentioned: Word of the year (but make it disco)

Today's episode is in response to two listener letters on issues that affect so many of us, mothering and friendship. I have guest Lisa Mabberley on the show today to share her expertise as a self-belief coach who works with people impacted by issues surrounding motherhood.Thank you to Angela and Jen for trusting us with their stories. So what's this episode really about? Lisa shares the concept of Matrescence - the ongoing process of changing and transforming as a human being into a mother. Angela, the first writer, went through the greatest part of matrescence during lockdown when everyone was in a bubble. For many new mothers, it hasn't felt how we thought it was going to feel and we talk about how Jen might support herself to rebuild friendships that support her in this stage of her life. Jen's letter encompasses feeling some relief at deciding to not have children and how this is impacting her friendships. We talk about the fixed narratives surrounding what a legitimate mother has to look like and how Jen has allowed herself to experience freedom and joy through being open and fluid in all aspects of her life. Why you should listenThis episode is perfect for you if you're experiencing or have ever experienced friendships changing as a result of becoming a mother or deciding not to have children. We'll discuss the false narratives surrounding these issues and how people can become boxed in and develop unrealistic expectations of others and ourselves that impact friendship. Links:Coach with Lisa at Self-belief Coach MatchLisa's WebsiteLisa on InstagramResources mentioned: Ted Talk: Alexandra Sacks; reproductive psychiatrist You can quote me on that…“When you have gone through an enormous change during that time of global change, that need for getting back to normal is even stronger.” - Lisa Mabberley“When you find that it doesn't match your expectation, you can feel quite ‘other'.” - Lisa Mabberley“Our biggest fear is that we'll lose the relationship by addressing the conflict but I have found the opposite to be true.” - Sas Petherick“All friendships of any length are based on a continued, mutual forgiveness.” - David WhyteLike what you hear? Why not help me reach more ears (and give my self-belief a boost) with a 5-star rating?