Your Time With James Sweetman

This week, I'm joined by Holistic Wellness Coach and author Sharon Fitzmaurice. Our heartfelt conversation is a fitting way to close this series of episodes. We explore the power of surrender, the wisdom of the inner child, and how healing often begins by simply allowing ourselves to feel worthy. Sharon shares insights from her own journey of overcoming trauma, as well as practical tools for reconnecting with presence, intention, and inner peace. It's a nourishing, soulful exchange, one that reminds us that transformation doesn't come from striving, but from softening.

We've all left meetings wondering -‘What was the point of that?' This week, I share 10 practical strategies for making meetings efficient, engaging, and worthwhile. I also explore how meetings are culture in action, the power of questions over statements, and why a meeting without psychological safety is a performance, not a conversation. And if you've never heard of ‘the meeting within the meeting,' the unspoken dynamics that tell you everything about leadership and team health, you'll want to tune in.

Change isn't just a strategic challenge, it's an emotional one. This week I'm exploring why so many change initiatives fail before they even begin, namely because of the absence of psychological safety. I'll also look at the emotional barriers to change, the common pitfalls to avoid, and how leaders can create environments where growth feels safe. I'll go beyond the workplace too, because personal change also needs safety. As I say in the episode- self-compassion is the psychological safety of personal change. So if you're navigating change, within your team or in your own life, this is an episode I'm sure you'll find worthwhile.

This week I'm exploring the topic of resilience, not as an heroic soundtrack moment, but as a soft, steady strength, a whisper that helps us move from ‘why me' to ‘let me.' We'll look at how resilience helps us navigate uncertain times and why it's less about bouncing back and more about recalculating, like your inner GPS when life takes an unexpected turn. I share practical tips for building resilience in everyday life. There's many reflection questions to ponder too, including ‘when was the last time I surprised myself with my own resilience?' Because chances are you already have!

We've all encountered people who drain our energy, test our patience, or trigger us in ways we can't always explain. This week, I'm sharing tools, insights, and fresh perspectives to help you deal with a difficult co-worker. I'll show you how to respond rather than react, and how to protect your peace of mind without losing your integrity. We'll explore how to reclaim your power in difficult dynamics and how sometimes our most challenging colleagues can become unlikely teachers. So if you're navigating a tricky relationship, or just want to feel more grounded when things get tense, this episode is for you.

This week's episode was inspired by a beautiful poem ‘I met my younger self for coffee at 10.15' by Jennae Cecelia. I imagine sitting down with my 18-year-old self, the one just out of school, starting his first job and full of questions. It began as a private journaling exercise, but the more I wrote, the more I felt it might resonate with others. It's a reflection on choices, resilience, and self-acceptance, an internal conversation that many of us rarely pause to have. Let it be a reminder that sometimes the person we most need to hear from is ourselves.

We often think we need confidence before we can act, to speak up, to take a risk, to try something new. But what if it's not confidence we're lacking. What if it's permission? This week, I look at how we've been conditioned to seek permission from others, but how real change happens when we stop waiting for approval, and start giving ourselves permission to begin. I also delve into the quiet but powerful role of willingness, the force that precedes courage. Willingness is what nudges us forward when confidence hasn't yet arrived. I also explore what it means to move from inner waiting to inner agency and how small acts of bravery can stretch our comfort zones and shift our lives.

This week, I'm unpacking self-awareness not just as a concept, but as a practice. I explore how self-awareness is the foundation of emotional intelligence and I make the distinction between the small ‘s' self and the capital ‘S' Self and how self-awareness helps us move beyond ego and reconnect with our authentic nature. And of course I share ways to help you enhance your levels of self-awareness. It's said that ignorance is bliss, but is it really? True growth begins the moment we step out of autopilot and start seeing ourselves clearly. Because the more you know yourself, the more power you have to shape your life with intention.

What if the key to greater clarity, creativity, and leadership isn't doing more, but doing less? In our fast-paced world, we glorify the grind, chasing the next goal and filling every moment with activity or distraction. But what if the real breakthroughs happen in the gaps, in the space where we allow new ideas to emerge? This week, I look at why stillness isn't laziness, but a strategy for better decision-making and deeper insights. I take you through the different types of rest we all need but rarely prioritise and I invite you to participate in a short experiment that I call “embracing the pause”. If you've ever felt guilty for slowing down, this episode is for you.

We're all familiar with power-based leadership, where authority comes from titles and roles. But what about authentic leadership that is grounded in integrity, and character? This week, I explore the difference between role-based power and human-centred leadership. I look at why we seek certainty in times of crisis and how leading with authenticity fosters trust, inspires growth, and creates lasting impact especially in times of uncertainty.

What does it mean to be courageous? This week, I'm joined by Carol Mannion, co-founder of The Courage Project. We discuss how to walk with fear rather than be held back by it, as well as the quiet, everyday acts of bravery that often go unnoticed. Carol shares many insights including the enablers of courage—perspective, power, purpose, and presence. It's a conversation packed with inspiration, and practical wisdom.

I'm kicking off this 6th series of my podcast with a first. I'm welcoming back one of my first ever guests, Nichola Flood, also known as The Queen of Health. Nichola shares valuable insights on how she overcame recent health challenges that prompted her to reassess her approach to work. We discuss the importance of listening to our bodies, believing in ourselves, and taking time for rest. Nichola offers practical tips on health, wellness and entrepreneurship. One of my key takeaways from our chat was that "If we don't look after our bodies, we will have nowhere to live." A valuable reminder to prioritise health in all areas of our lives.

I've always loved the idea of starting afresh and January is a great time to refocus on what's important. In this special New Year episode, I share 10 powerful and slightly unusual questions to help you set some meaningful intentions and goals for the year ahead. We all know the adage, ask and you shall receive, well this episode is all about helping you fine-tune your asks. If you're more interested in manifestation than iron-clad motivation, inspiration rather than discipline, co-creating as opposed to striving, then this is the episode for you.

In this week's episode, the last in the current series, I share 20 powerful questions that have the themes of gratitude and completion running through them. Contemplating these questions has become something of a ritual for me and this year, not only do I pose the questions, I also share my own answers to them. My invitation to you is to grab a pen and notebook, and perhaps a mug of something warm, and gift yourself an opportunity to reflect on the last 12 months, to savour on the highs and take the learning from the lows.

Back by popular demand, this week's episode is my annual book review where I get to indulge in my love of reading and wax lyrical about the books that stood out for me over the last 12 months. There should be something for everyone - biographies, new novels, classics, and self-help. I also speak about a book with a strong family connection, a true crime book written by my brother!

This week I'm sharing the habits and rituals I practice that help me to manage my well-being and mental health. There is no doubt the world is going through challenging and stressful times and we all need ways to help us manage our fears and sense of overwhelm. I hope by sharing my self-care routine that you will be inspired to take a proactive approach to your own wellness and mental health.

This week, I'm offering some suggestions to help you during those times when you feel lost or stuck. They're my go-to insights and strategies, what I reach for when I feel directionless, demotivated and distracted. I explore themes including getting curious as to what change is trying to take place, how clarity is not certainty, but the quality of our seeing and how unexpressed creativity will always erode our well-being.

This week I'm looking head on at the challenge that is front and centre for most people tasked with delivering a presentation and that is managing their nerves. Even if you're an experienced presenter, there will be times when anxiousness and fear kicks in, as they do for me. So if you want to feel more confident at the top of the room, then this week's episode is for you. I share many practical tips and strategies, including a game-changing insight that transformed my own impactfulness as a presenter.

Today more than ever, patience is a forgotten virtue. When so much is accessible by the touch of a button, instant gratification has replaced the slow burn of anticipation. Decisions driven by immediate benefits rather than consideration of future consequences impact our lives at an individual and global level. This week, I explore the different causes of impatience, and offer some tips for dealing with frustration when things don't go your way, or when the world is simply not working to your preferred timescale.

This week, I'm exploring the synergy between two related business topics – personal or leadership branding and moments of truth. If you think about your leadership brand as the mechanism through which you market yourself to others, moments of truth are those instances when customers or colleagues form an impression of you, for good or for bad. I'll take you through the steps that will help you to create your brand blueprint. A critical moment of truth is when a client or colleague hears that you value them, I explore this and the other moments of truth that build trust and generate loyalty.

The word most associated with midlife is crisis, but this week I suggest a new word – chrysalis. I delve into the challenges and opportunities of midlife and how we can see our middle years as something more than a crisis to navigate. I speak about the ‘U-Curve of Happiness,' make the case for pro-aging and how mid-life gives us an opportunity to explore an encore career, a chance to harness our experience and align our profession with our passions.

We've all heard about burnout, but what about bored-out? Bored-out gets far less attention than it's workaholic cousin and because some of the symptoms are the same, it can be misdiagnosed. I explore the difference between your core work and phantom work, the politics, the red tape of bureaucracy and the personality management that drains the spirit. Whilst the behaviours that lead to burn out are applauded in organisations, to admit feeling bored is taboo. I also speak about how you may love what you do, but can still get bored by it.

Many people struggle to enjoy their accomplishments or to find lasting satisfaction in their successes. If you're dragging yourself along, with so-called success always seeming to be just out of reach, then this episode is for you. Success in one area of life, does not guarantee satisfaction in life. I suggest that it's time for us to redefine success and we start by viewing success and satisfaction as independent variables. Remember success is a measure that is decided by others. Satisfaction is a measure decided by you.

Are you a people pleaser? It's nice to be nice and we will do kind and thoughtful things for many reasons, but that's not the same as people pleasing which is defined as ‘striving to please others in order to gain their approval, or to avoid criticism or conflict, whilst sacrificing your own needs and wants in the process.' This week, I'm taking a deep dive into the ‘disease to please'. I explore the causes, the symptoms and the cure, including 9 practical ways to overcome the ingrained habit of excessive people pleasing.

In the first of a new series of episodes, I'm delighted to be joined by Paul Rock. Paul is a musculoskeletal physical therapist who specialises in pain management. I started working with Paul a few months ago for back pain and I've found his work and approach not just worthwhile, but eye opening. His holistic approach prompted me to question many of the unconscious rules I'd established for myself, rules I'd built up around my sense of identity – who I am, what I can do and what I can't. He has quite literally turned my perspective of pain on its head. www.skerriespainandinjuryclinic.ie

This week, in the last in the current series, I'm posing the question - what if your effectiveness as a leader expands from not knowing? I look at the dangers of managers thinking they know it all and why delighting in the unknown is the secret sauce of leadership. I also share 12 tips for harnessing the power of not knowing, including suspending our desire to be the smartest person in the room and accepting that confusion is part of the process of unlearning.

At what point do we accept that we are no longer climbing a career ladder, but on the final rung? When does the finishing line of our working lives first come into view? At what point do we shift down the gears of ambition? These are some of the questions I'm pondering this week. Over the last 20 years I've helped countless clients navigate a career transition, often from roles where they've achieved success, to roles they find more fulfilling. I explore the concept of encore careers, a second act that tends to be more aligned with our passions and skills. I also speak about job upcycling and role crafting whilst sharing plenty of questions to help you refresh your career, contemplate your next chapter, your final chapter or even the epilogue.

I'm James and I'm a recovering perfectionist. That's the declaration I'm making upfront this week. Perfectionism can be a point of pride, but under the surface of high achievement often lurks a need to control and ultimately low self-esteem. We can endeavour to do our best and set high standards, but we can also sacrifice too much at the altar of perfectionism. This week, I look at the different types of perfectionism, how and why perfectionism takes hold, as well as the symptoms of perfectionism. I also share 11 ways to loosen the shackles of perfectionism. The perfectionist in me was aiming for 12, but 11 is good enough!

This week I'm stepping outside my comfort zone, because I'm speaking about a personal topic – my journey with cancer. Thankfully, earlier this month, I received some great news, all my tests were clear and my consultant doesn't need to see me again for a year. Over the last 7 years, I've attended hospital for tests, operations and treatments every few months, so it's such a relief to be able to forget about something that has occupied part of my mind for so long. Now that I have a little perspective, I talk about the highs and lows and how cancer changed me as a person. I also share the piece of writing that helped me with my journey of healing, not the physical healing, the trickier part, the emotional healing.

This week I'm joined by James Parnell to chat about the neuroscience of well-being. Amongst his many qualifications, James is a mental fitness coach, is an expert in the area of applied neuroscience and brain health and he's the founder of The Wellbeing Gym. James shares many tips, techniques and insightful acronyms, including ‘PROMISE,' a way to achieve balance across the different dimensions of well-being. He takes us through the characteristics of the lifestyles that support longevity, ways to quieten a busy mind and even what's required for a daily ‘dose' of happiness. It's a fascinating and fun conversation, an episode not to be missed. And I have to say James cracked me up when he shared his personal motto. Find out more about James Parnell at www.jameseparnell.com

This week I'm pondering the question – am I addicted to self-improvement? It might sound like an odd question for someone who has worked full time in the personal development industry for the last twenty years, but too much of anything is not so good, and there is a dark side to self-help, one that presupposes that who you are isn't enough. I'll take you through some of the warning signs that suggest your self-improvement may have become self-defeating. I'll share with you the antidote for over reliance on self-improvement too. This week's episode is a reminder that we should never trade happiness for the pursuit of happiness.

As someone who has worked as a professional motivational speaker for 20 years, and who has delivered countless presentation skills workshops, this week I'll show you how to present confidently to senior managers. In addition to best practices around opening strongly, handling questions and using visuals, because delivering presentations is also about self-belief, exercising courage and moving beyond the limitations we place on ourselves, I share some self-management techniques, also known as ways to keep those presentation nerves in check.

What role does courage play in your life? There are six different types of courage and this week, I'll take you through each one, so you can see how many you recognise. I also look at why being brave is not the same as being courageous. Courage is often associated with grand acts of heroism, but in reality, courage is more nuanced and deeply personal. Courage underpins so many facets of our lives. It's the quality at the heart of all change, it's a vital leadership trait and it's found on the starting line of every goal, desired result or success.

Most of us operate a belief that goes something like -one day when I achieve enough, earn enough, am successful enough, slim enough, spiritual enough, loving enough, qualified enough, or selfless enough then I will feel worthy. On my podcast this week, to that limiting belief I'm saying, enough. I'm delving into the topic of worthiness. I'll take you through what has been a gamechanger for me when it comes to self-worthiness and why, if you wish to enhance your self-confidence and feelings of worthiness, that it is vital to understand the difference between the two.

This week I'm exploring the topic of habits and how even well-intentioned habits can be the hidden cause of boredom in our lives. Just as organisations apply kaizen techniques to enhance productivity, we can personalise that drive for continuous improvement in our quest for greater prosperity, or success. But life is not an assembly plant and we are not machines. So this week, I posing the question is your over-routinized life draining your spirit? I would have to answer yes, so I'm also sharing what I'm doing about it.

We all know the adage - when life gives you lemons, you make lemonade. That's the theory, but in reality, sometimes life just punches you in the guts. I'm currently experiencing just such a time. In fact, over the last few years it seems that I've had so many lemons thrown at me that I could open a lemonade factory! On this week's episode I speak about how I cope with life's curveballs and how I try to manage my well-being during challenging times. I hope you find these insights and tips helpful when life gives you lemons.

I'm starting this new series of episodes with an inspirational guest, Jack Kavanagh. In 2012, Jack suffered a life changing spinal cord injury leaving him with 15% muscle function. In the years since, Jack has challenged the perceived limitations of his situation. I was honoured to chat with Jack about his story. Jack poses some insightful questions to reflect upon, including how am I showing up for myself and for others and do I respect the person I see in the mirror. I also love his analogy about how small keys can open big doors. This episode is packed with gems of wisdom and no small amount of inspiration. I took a lot from our conversation and I think you will too.  www.jack-kavanagh.com

In the final episode of this series, I'm exploring a topic that I've been working on personally and that's overthinking. In particular, I share 8 strategies we can use to stop us falling into the bottomless pit of worrying excessively about the future, or ruminating on the past. When I realised that overthinking was the source of my exhaustion, I researched ways that would help me to quieten my mind and I'm sharing them with you this week. So, if like me, you struggle to switch off, find yourself rehashing past events, or analysing a situation to the point of inaction, then this is the episode to you.

This week I'm marking a milestone. Twenty years ago this month, I jumped from the corporate career ladder and set up my own coaching and training business. I've been looking back and reflecting on what I wish I'd known back then. This week, I'm sharing 7 lessons I've learned, many the hard way. Despite a financial crisis, a pandemic and many personal challenges, I'm still standing and I'm as passionate now about what I do, as I was back in January 2004.

I'm kicking off the New Year with a special episode titled ‘Intention, Attention, No Tension.' If you're like me and don't buy into all the ‘New Year, New You' hype, or the old 'strive until you arrive' approach to goal-setting and resolutions, then this is the episode for you. I share the questions that I reflect upon at this time of year and give many examples of how the intention, attention, no tension approach has worked for me and my clients. So if you're more interested in manifestation than motivation, inspiration than efforting, co-creating as opposed to doing it all yourself, then be sure to tune in.

Emotions are amplified at Christmas and for many people it's a stressful and challenging time. So this week, I've created a moment of calm, a reflection piece, words and music to help quieten the mind and soothe the soul. If you get overwhelmed by everything that clamours for your attention at this time of year, if you're carrying the loss of a loved one, or if you simply want a moment of respite in the midst of the busyness, then I'd like to think you'll find this episode worthwhile. This week also marks the 150th episode of my podcast, so my heartfelt thanks to everyone who tunes in each week.

This week, I'm speaking about my favourite books of 2023, so this is an episode for the books lovers. I've narrowed down everything I've read over the last 12 months to my top 10 books. There should be something for everyone, from insightful biographies of figures I admire, page turning novels and of course some personal development books that generated plenty of ‘aha' moments.

This week's I'm focusing on a topic that is gaining more traction when it comes to general well-being and that's awe. It's a tiny word, but a vast concept. Awe is a deep, rich feeling, that I believe we all crave. We want to feel the wonder of the world, not the weight of it. I speak about how awe benefits us, the humility, compassion and creativity it stimulates, as well as the ways we can open ourselves to experiencing more awe in our lives. I also share my experiences of awe, those moments that stopped me in my tracks and more often than not, brought a lump to my throat.

This week, the tables have been turned as Nichola Flood, aka the Queen of Health, interviews me about my experiences of burnout. This conversation was first broadcast on Nichola's YouTube Channel (where you can see us as well as listen to us!) In our open and honest chat, I speak about my health challenges, the symptoms of exhaustion I experienced and how I'm navigating a path forward. 

How do I know it's time to change jobs? It's a question most of us have asked ourselves at some point. This week I'll take you through the different motivations for changing jobs, the  push and pull factors, criteria to consider and the pitfalls to avoid. I also pose some coaching questions to help you gain clarity on your specific situation. 

There are 1440 minutes in the day, and this week I'm ensuring that we take just 5 minutes for ourselves. This is a new type of episode for me, as it's a reflection piece, a combination of words and music that hopefully encourages some introspection. Most of us are busy managing responsibilities and juggling commitments that we rarely have a chance to pause, reflect and remind ourselves of how far we've come and what's truly important. 

A conversation with a man with 100K unanswered emails and a woman who realised she couldn't be in two places at once, were the joint inspiration for this episode on time management. We all know the fundamentals of effective organisational skills, so this week I'm focusing on 5 key distinctions that make all the difference when it comes to being focused, proactive and productive. These tips gives us an enhanced sense of control over our workflow and are a counterbalance to feelings of overwhelm, which for me, makes organisational skills a key part of my self-care routine.

This is the time of year when trees shed their leaves. It prompted me to think, what can I shed? In this week's episode, I suggest 5 areas where we can contemplate what we can drop, including goals or ambitions that no longer serve us, as well as habits and routines that may be beyond their sell-by date. By pondering the question – what I can shed, or drop we are aligning with the cycle of nature.

This week, in the first in a new series, I speak about how taking an extended sabbatical wasn't enough. Yes, I need physical rest, but burnout is not the same as tiredness. I share how overthinking was the root cause of my exhaustion and how I learned that you cannot skip any of the of stages of change, including that sense of feeling lost. I also speak about how our lives transform when we are courageous enough to bring our values front and centre. I close  with some reflections on the spirit of adventure, something we all crave deep down.

If, like me, you don't buy into the ‘New Year, New You' hype, then this is the episode for you. I believe that we are all perfectly ourselves whilst still works in progress. So in this special episode at the start of 2023, I share the questions that I reflect upon at this time of year including - What have I been resisting? How can I nourish my soul? How can I exercise my creativity? In 2023, let's focus on the inner work and allow our ‘doing' to be a natural bi-product of our well-being.

In this special episode, I share my thoughts on what makes Christmas meaningful as well as some self-care tips for this time of year. At the heart of this episode I share 18 self-reflection questions, a great way to close out the year. These are ideal to ponder curled up with a journal and a cuppa, or to discuss with a friend or family member. Wishing you all a wonderful and wonder-filled Christmas.