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Health and fitness matters…we all know that. Multiple studies speak to not just the physical benefits but the mental and emotional ones too. And yet finding the time and motivation to get healthy can be hard. Especially when you’re busy doing all the things at work and at home.

Personally, figuring out a routine to stay healthy and fit has been a journey. I’ve transitioned from team sports (netball) in my twenties and early thirties to needing to shift things up to do something else that fits in around my life with 3 kids and a business to run.

The answer for me was joining a female specific gym: Pherform (here in Hong Kong). My routine has become so much easier after joining a supportive gym environment, focusing on strength training and getting coaching to help me along the way. Not only do I feel physically strong, I feel the effects it’s had on my personal growth, self-awareness, confidence and habits in other areas of my life.

The woman behind Pherform is Steph Poelman.

Have you ever made yourself wrong for being too emotional or sensitive at work?

Maybe you’ve had a difficult conversation, faced a micro-aggression or frozen on the spot…

In your mind you want to let things go but physically you find yourself unable to release the residual emotions that are there?

Emotional dexterity is the capacity to effectively recognise, understand and manage a wider range of emotions both within yourself and in others.

If you’re feeling disconnected from your emotions or your body, or perhaps you’re stuck in your head overthinking or in analysis paralysis, or even if you simply identify with being quite a sensitive person then emotional dexterity is a really important skill for you.

The skill of emotional dexterity is a complex one that encompasses empathy, emotional intelligence and the capability to maintain composure and make thoughtful decisions amidst challenging circumstances.

In this week’s episode of The Aligned Achiever Podcast, I’m sharing all about emotional dexterity and why it’s important for you, as an individual to develop and why I encourage organisations to foster environments where emotional intelligence and psychological safety are a given. I also share how you can start to build emotional dexterity to reap the benefits.

We’re not taught at school how to think about our careers, or even the importance of taking the time to get to know ourselves.

To me, this is a foundational skill that is overlooked until we’re out in the workforce feeling overwhelmed trying to balance our passion and what makes us feel connected alongside the practical components of our career, like financial stability.
This intersection is what I like to refer to as the career sweet spot.

The intersection between passion and practicality that works for you.

If you’re feeling disconnected in your current role, unsure of your next steps or if you feel like you’ve been self-sabotaging and making things harder than they need to be in your career and need a path to feel good again, I’ve got you covered.

In this week’s episode of The Aligned Achiever Podcast, I’m sharing with you the 6 core elements that are required for you to build a roadmap that directs you towards your unique career sweet spot and the 5 steps you can take to step out of the confusion and overwhelm and dealing with your inner critic.

Is the goal to always be productive?

Always being “on” and maximising our productivity sounds good in theory. Like it’s the right strategy that will get you closer to your end goal faster.

The reality is very different though.

We’re human. We need rest. Our brains have a finite attention span and ability to focus.

With that in mind, it’s important for all of us to be aware of what season we’re in. Whether that’s growth, a bit more work/life integration or reinvention. In this way we can ensure that we’re getting the rest we need and being purposefully productive.

In this week’s episode of The Aligned Achiever Podcast, I’m running through a playbook so that you can manage your stress and optimise your energy by beginning with understanding the season of life that you’re in.

If you’re like many of my clients, then I know you have the endurance to keep on pushing through, but I also know that pushing too hard for too long can come back to bite you in the form of burnout. I don’t want that for you, and I’m sure that’s not the outcome you want either. If you’ve been finding yourself juggling a million and one balls in the air, and you’re starting to drop one here or there or maybe you’re at the point that you’re struggling to keep any of them in the air – then you’re not alone. There are reasons that this is happening to you and there are ways that you can reflect and uncover what it is that is holding you back from achieving the life you want – without having to constantly feel overwhelmed and on the edge. These reasons often come from our subconscious programming, and things that we’ve internalised from society about what reasonable expectations are or what success looks like. Ready to uncover yours? In this week’s episode of The Aligned Achiever Podcast, I share the 3 ways that I see high-achieving women making work and life way harder than it needs to be so that you can start to get on the front foot in your life.
It’s easy to feel trapped in our beliefs that we’re failing if we’re not doing enough.

We run a real risk of burning ourselves out if we don’t take a step back to ask whether the standards or expectations we are putting on ourselves are realistic.

Burnout is a silent societal epidemic that we need to address because it robs us of our passion, energy and joy, leaving us feeling exhausted, overwhelmed and disillusioned.

Burnout is so much more than simply feeling tired or stressed. It can have serious consequences on our physical, mental and emotional health even if we don’t realise it during the moment.

In this week’s episode, I discuss the five reasons why we need to address burnout and the actions you can start putting in place today to help you thrive in a culture of overworking.

In a world where hustle culture is glorified and even rewarded, burnout has become an all too familiar companion for many people.

It’s easy to feel trapped in our beliefs that we’re failing if we’re not doing enough.

We run a real risk of burning ourselves out if we don’t take a step back to ask whether the standards or expectations we are putting on ourselves are realistic.

Burnout is a silent societal epidemic that we need to address because it robs us of our passion, energy and joy, leaving us feeling exhausted, overwhelmed and disillusioned.

Burnout is so much more than simply feeling tired or stressed. It can have serious consequences on our physical, mental and emotional health even if we don’t realise it during the moment.

In this week’s episode, I discuss the five reasons why we need to address burnout and the actions you can start putting in place today to help you thrive in a culture of overworking.

International Women’s Day is upon us this week and this year’s theme is focused on inspiring inclusion.

According to the IWD website “When we inspire others to understand and value women’s inclusion, we forge a better world. And when women themselves are inspired to be included, there’s a sense of belonging, relevance and empowerment.”

Whilst it’s great that we celebrate International Women’s Day and the progress made, I believe that it is just as important for us to reflect on the challenges that persist for women in achieving a sense of inclusion within workplaces.

After all, it is one thing to feel inspired through these conversations and another to turn these initiatives into practical applications that truly support women to feel a sense of belonging and value in their workplace.

And to do this, we need to start by addressing the foundational and fundamental challenge that women are facing which is the silent epidemic of burnout.

I believe it’s important to consider the role that diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging play within organisations in fostering a better sense of wellbeing for women which, in turn, results in increased retention rates and performance.

In this week’s episode, we’ll explore the relationship between burnout and inclusion.

I address why burnout is not just a matter of personal well-being, but a crucial step towards fostering a more inclusive workplace and society for women.

In particular, I dive into the 3 reasons why we need to look at burnout if we’re to inspire inclusion for women in the workplace.

This week on the podcast, I had the pleasure of interviewing Nassim to hear more about her journey from high flying corporate lawyer to starting her own professional home organising business, right here in Hong Kong where she and her team help busy professionals streamline and organise their physical spaces whilst create calm and ease in their mental spaces.

I asked Nassim on the podcast because her story of how she navigated her transition from litigation and international arbitration to reassessing her direction to found her own business, is a wonderful example of how to navigate a career transition for yourself.

All of our paths will be different but I hope you enjoy Nassim’s candid telling of her journey and how she discovered her path to aligned achievement.

Do you have a difficult boss? Or have you had one before?

A challenging relationship with your boss can lead to you questioning your career decisions or looking for a way out when you actually love your job and are really good at it.

It’s also one of the biggest challenges in the workplace that leads to burnout.

It’s not easy to be in the position of having a difficult boss whether it’s because they’re micromanaging, communicating poorly or highly critical and whilst you can’t control them or their behaviour there are things within your control that can make all the difference.

In this episode of The Aligned Achiever podcast we explore questions to ask yourself and actionable that my clients implement to navigate the complexities of working with a difficult boss whilst preserving your well-being and career trajectory.