So, do you have a favourite road sign? I realise this may be considered a strange question. My favourite road sign is the one that says “Keep Two Chevrons Apart”.

Why I love it is that it’s visually interesting - you’ve got the car, the road, the two chevrons, the 3D perspective.

I love the word ‘chevron’ - you don’t really get to see it very often. And I love that the instructions are a bit of a challenge. “Keep Apart Two Chevrons”. I immediately focus on counting the chevrons between me and the car in front and seeing if we are indeed keeping two chevrons apart. It takes concentration to maintain that pace. And being mindful.

Did you ever that old saying ‘May You Live in Interesting Times’?

Well, wow, I think we’ve been living in interesting times.

6 years of Permacrisis (pandemic, Brexit, War in the Ukraine, the cost of living crisis). And most recently a change in UK Prime Minister and the passing of Queen Elizabeth II.

Worry, stress, change, sorrow… the thing about interesting times is that they can be emotionally exhausting.

We can plough on, one foot in front of the other, getting through the day to day life because we have to - we have to pay the bills, we have to put food on the table and so on but at what personal cost?

How to Pivot to Passion & Purpose

Many of the senior leaders I coach have reached the top, achieved a huge amount in their field and find themselves at the top of the ladder asking, what’s next? What do I do now?

It’s a place I found myself before my pivot to my new career. It’s a place that can be unsettling.

If you’ve always had another rung on the ladder to climb, it’s strange and, for some, it can create feelings of ‘it’s all over’ and ‘I’m over the hill’.

I’m here to say ‘whoa there Nelly, let’s not get out the pipe and slippers just yet because there’s plenty of life in the ol’ metaphorical dog yet’.

Because once you reach the top in any given field, you tend to have at least a couple of decades of professional experience and expertise under your belt, as well as the wisdom that comes from a lot of life experience.

You could pretty much do or handle most things that were thrown at you. They may not necessarily be what you want to do but you could work it out and do it. Am I right? (Yes, Tracy)

I think this crossroads is a wonderful opportunity to stop and work out how to pivot to a role (or roles) centred around your purpose and passions.

How and why it’s good to reframe failure.

Like most self-critical over-achievers, I have - in the past, because I now like to think of myself as a happy over-achiever - done my fair share of kicking myself when I’ve made a mistake or wallowing in the sometimes excruciating after-effects of putting my foot in it or feeling despondent when things haven’t worked out how I wanted them to.

And over the last three years as I’ve transitioned from a TV career to setting up my own coaching business there has been a lot of trial and error and quite a bit of putting lots of energy into something only to see the result seemingly fall flat.

But, you know, you gotta kiss a lot of toads before you find your handsome prince. Don’t all shout at once about how outdated that line is. I know, I know.

But in that journey, I’ve developed new wisdom, I’ve realised that even when things didn’t fly straight away, those things still had wings elsewhere, further down the line or gave birth to new chicklings in due course (yes I love to stretch a metaphor…)

What I’ve realised is this:

Failure is just development in disguise.

What do I mean?

Do you just plonk your CV up on LinkedIn or talent databases and hope to be found. Or do you believe that if you work hard, put your head down and do a good job, you’ll be noticed and promoted?

Well, I want to challenge that belief!

I think earlier in your career that approach can work. But as you go up the ladder or the pyramid where there is stiffer competition for fewer jobs, I don’t believe you can rely on that approach.