The Good Life Well Lived: Recent Episodes
Nicola Semple
Series 3 of The Good Life Well Lived podcast is BACK with the Switch Off Sessions.
This series is focused on helping people to switch off their busy mind in a time of uncertainty and will be covering topics such as helping people to separate work and life in an age of working from home, finding relaxation techniques that work for you, digital detoxing and managing the mental load.
Hit subscribe to make sure you are updated when new episodes are released.
In ‘The Good Life Well Lived’ your host Nicola Semple guides you through inspiring stories and real world examples of people living their own version of a ‘good life well lived’.
Nicola shares proven processes and techniques to help you identify what you want to get out of life, take action to get it and to embrace and enjoy the perfect imperfection of a ‘good life well lived’.
Covering self-awareness, mindfulness, focus, confidence, wellbeing, productivity and finding balance in work and in life, each episode is designed to give you strategies and simple ideas that you can implement immediately to help you lead your version of the ‘good life’.
Wherever you listen to this podcast, put on your headphones, make yourself comfortable and prepare to feel like you are sitting down to have a chat with your oldest and most supportive friend.
Welcome to the final epsiode of the Switch Off Sessions on The Good Life Well Lived podcast. In this episode we are going to pull together everything that we have learned throughout the series and use it to weave our own bespoke wellbeing parachute.
Jon Kabat Zinn refers to 'weaving your parachute' in terms of mindfulness. By which he means, create the habit of a daily practice so that it is there to support you when you need it i.e. when you jump out of the airplane.
In this episode I take the analogy further and encourage us all to create our own wellbeing plan to support us in all aspects of life so that we are best able to support ourselves in difficult times.
Welcome to the ninth Switch Off Session on The Good Life Well Lived podcast.
In this episode, I talk about the power of showing ourselves kindness and self-compassion to help quieten our busy mind. Often we would not talk to our worst enemy the way that way talk to ourselves. Our constant internal narrative makes it difficult to switch off and give ourselves some breathing space. In this episode I share tips to help you give yourself a break and switch off that voice in your head.
Welcome to the eighth of the Switch Off Sessions on The Good Life Well Lived podcast.
In this episode we are going to explore how you can identify relaxation techniques based on your own Myers Briggs Personality Preferences.
For a lot of people, traditional relaxation techniques don't work and can often have the opposite effect. I share an anecdote about a friend who repeatedly went on spa days and would leave feeling more stressed than she started. By understanding our personality preferences (e.g. if you are an extrovert and get your energy from other people then don't expect to feel refreshed after a day of solitude) we can best create situations and experiences that we will find truly relaxing.
Welcome to the seventh Switch Off Session on The Good Life Well Lived podcast.
Today we are discussing the ultimate switch off tool, sleep. We cover the importance of sleep, the effect sleep has on our body and what we can do to make the most of our sleep.
Welcome to the sixth of our Switch Off Sessions on The Good Life Well Lived Podcast.
I call our mobile phone the modern day pocket knife, incredibly useful but potentially dangerous in the wrong hands! In this episode we are talking about how we can learn to switch off from our mobile phones.
I don't believe that it is helpful to or indeed necessary to switch off from our phones entirely but I do believe that we can use them in a more intentional and mindful way so that they add value rather than take over our life.
Welcome to the fifth of the Switch Off Sessions on The Good Life Well Lived podcast. In this episode, I share with you how you can create your own retreat from home. This is the perfect opportunity to create your own cozy, oasis of calm at home and immerse yourself in a bespoke retreat experience. It's the perfect way to switch off your busy mind and give yourself some breathing space.
Welcome to the fourth episode of the Switch Off Sessions on The Good Life Well Lived Podcast.
In this episode we talk about managing the mental load in the context of a pandemic. This time last year many of us found managing the day to day mental load of work, family and life management a heavy burden. In the Winter of 2020 that mental load weighs even more heavily on many of us. In this episode we discuss how we can give ourselves a break and allow ourselves to more effectively manage our many responsibilities.
Welcome to the third of the Switch Off Session on The Good Life Well Lived podcast.
Working from home makes it even easier to blur the distinction between work and home life. In this episode we discuss how establishing morning, lunchtime and end of day routines can be a helpful way to create boundaries to clearly separate work time from leisure time.
Welcome to the second episode of the Switch Off Sessions on The Good Life Well Lived podcast. There are more people working from home now than ever before and this is set to continue even after the Coronavirus restrictions are lifted. In this episode we share tips on how to separate work and home life so that the boundaries don't get blurred and you are able to switch off at the end of the working day.
This one is for you if you are new to working from home or if you have always worked from home and have had a new 'workmate' join you during the last six months.
Welcome to Series 3 of The Good Life Well Lived Podcast, dedicated to the Switch Off Sessions, where I share tools, strategies, and ideas that you can use to disconnect from the noise and the busyness around you, so that you can be present and focus on what truly matters in our life, work and relationships.
In this series we cover:
- Tips to help you separate your work and home life
- Creating routines to help you have a structure in your day
- How to manage your mental load in times of a pandemic
- Creating your own home retreat
- Digitally detoxing and switching off from technology
- The power of sleep and how to make the most of your sleep
- Finding relaxation techniques to match your personality preferences
- Being kind to yourself, even when you find it hard
- Weaving your own well-being plan to support and nourish you
Make sure you subscribe to get access to weekly episodes.
If you don't know where you are going then how will you ever know if you get there? In today's episode I walk you through the process of creating your vision of a good life well lived and I also share four different ways that you can create a vision board so that you have a powerful tool to help you bring that vision to life.
Christmas shouldn't be another thing on the 'to do' list. It's a time to enjoy time with family, take some time out from your normal routine and to reflect on what is important to you. This week I share my top tips to help you have a stress free Christmas.
We are WAY harder on ourselves than we are on other people. Why do we do it? That the topic of conversation this week on The Good Life Well Lived podcast. I share my reasons why I think this is the case and also give suggestions for what we can do to give ourselves a break.
In this episode I walk you through how you can create a vision board that represents your good life well lived. I share four different ways that you can make a compelling vision board that will help bring your vision of a good life well lived into reality.
Our brains are incredible. This week I share with you insights into an incredibly powerful part of your brain called the Reticular Activating System. When activated the RAS helps us to identify opportunities and resources to help us to get what you want from life. It is like having a superhero on your team to help you make your vision of a good life well lived a reality.
Today we discuss the power of writing down exactly what you want and I share evidence that reinforces the impact this can have.
A call to arms to take a leaf out of our fishy counterparts book and follow our goals with tenacity and determination. I share my observations of a salmon's river adventures and what we can all learn from them.
I catch up on where I've been over the summer, what's coming next for The Good Life Well Lived, some ridiculously exciting news (well I think so anyway) and how you can get involved with a free masterclass to help you create your vision for 2020 and beyond.
Lisa Warner is the producer of A Life Full of Meaning vlog. A couple of years ago Lisa and her husband Glenn sold their house and possessions and moved on to a narrowboat called Nutshell. Lisa talks about what it’s really like to make such a massive life changing decision, why you don’t need to have it all planned out in advance and how she has to constantly check in with herself to make sure they actually are creating their life full of meaning and not getting sucked into the minutiae of day to day life.
Nina Grunfeld is an author, coach and founder of Life Clubs, practical workshops and communities to help individuals and organisations become happier and more productive. Nina and I talk about developing the superpower of self awareness, how we all need to be kinder to ourselves and how sometimes you need to let life evolve and go with the flow rather than having on set path. Nina’s wisdom, experience, warmth and humanity shine through in this interview, you’re going to love listening to her.
The Mental Load. All the planning, organising, list making that you do to manage your life. The minutiae. The stuff you can't escape that if allowed to get out of control can suck you in and make you feel like you are sinking. In this episode I share my tips on how you can lighten your mental load. You might not be able to escape from the mental load but you can learn how to manage it more effectively.
Cat Rose, founder of The Creative Introvert talks about what introversion is and some of the misconceptions that people have about introversion. Being an introvert does not mean that you are shy, socially awkward and lock yourself away all day. As a fellow introvert Cat and I share ways that we manage our preference for introversion and how we get over our natural tendencies to show up for the things that are important for us. This is a great episode for you to listen to if you already know that you are an introvert or you suspect that you might be. And it’s also useful listening for the extraverts of the world to help them understand how the mind of an introvert works.
Vicki Knights is a photographer, photography trainer and business mentor and host of the Shoot, Edit, Chat, Repeat podcast. In this episode we are talking about the important role that photography can play in our good life well lived and why photography is not just about taking photos.
We cover a wide range of topics in this episode, from using photography as a tool for mindfulness to creating magic memories with photos and create memories of the experience of a photoshoot as well as the photos that are created. She also encourages those of us that are camera shy to get over ourselves and get in front of the camera and she shares some powerful research on the impact of family photographs on our children’s self esteem.
Sarupa Shah, otherwise known as The Soul Agent works with people all around the world helping them to improve their relationship with money so that they can live a life of abundance and freedom and is a columnist with Spirit and Destiny magazine under the title of The Abundance Aunt.
In this episode we talk about how the stories we tell ourselves about money influence our thinking and our expectations around money, some of the common money blocks people face and how to start to recognise these blocks in our own life and take the first steps to overcoming them.
Cara de Lange is the founder of Softer Success and author of the book Softer Success: Prevent Burnout, Find Balance, Re-define Your Success.
Cara runs workshops and talks focusing on relieving stress and changing people's mindset to prevent burnout. Having experienced her own personal burnout Cara helps people to slow down, tune in and develop wellbeing strategies.
In this episode she shares some simple wellbeing strategies that we can all adopt to help us prevent burnout and enhance our good life well lived.
Louise Goss, a journalist, founder of the The Homeworker magazine and online community. For lots of people working from home in a flexible way is either a big part of their good life well lived or something that they aspire to in order to enhance their good life well lived. Louise has created her magazine The Homework to inspire, encourage and motivate those of us that do work from home.
In this episode we talk about the phenomenal growth in the number of people that work from home, what the reality actually looks like rather than the idealistic fantasy of complete freedom and flexility and Louse shares some fabulous advice on how overcome some of those challenges of working independently from home. .
Adele Stickland is a Fitness and nutrition coach, founder of the Get Gorgeous community and author of the newly released book Get Gorgeous. In this episode we talk about her ethos for looking and feeling fantastic every day. Adele also busts some of the myths and conflicting advice that we receive from the diet industry. A must listen if you want more energy and vitality to help you have a good life and live it well.
Sarah Cornforth, otherwise known as The Magical Creatrix, is an artist and the Founder of Live Your Life By The Moon. Earlier this year I became interested in lunar cycles and how our energy changes at different points of the lunar cycle and when I came across Sarah I jumped at the chance to interview her. We structure our work and our life around the Gregorian calendar, set resolutions on the 1st January and set goals and objectives at the start of each calendar month. Sarah shares why this isn’t necessarily the right way to organise our time and how we can better work with our energy levels if we follow lunar cycles rather than traditional months. I found the idea of working with the moon utterly fascinating and it’s something that I’m going to try out for myself. Have a listen and see if it might work for you too.
Gratitude. A simple concept with extraordinary results. In this episode we discuss the power of taking time to be grateful for all that we have in life. I also share scientific evidence that reinforces that gratitude is not just a 'good practice' it makes a tangible impact on our personal wellbeing.
In the true spirit of mindfulness we must focus on the present moment. Not worrying about the past or anticipating the future. By focusing on the present moment we will be able to embrace all that happens as life unfolds each day. This is your encouragement to enjoy each step on your journey of a good life well lived. It's the journey not the destination that matters.
If you died tomorrow what would you regret? A fairly morbid question but an important one. In this episode I encourage you to focus your attention on the people that matter the most to you and make sure that you are spending time with those people. No excuses allowed because I want to make sure that you have no regrets.
Jacinda Ardern, Prime Minister of New Zealand, Mother, Leader, symbol of compassion and empathy, a true role model. In this episode I discuss how we can ALL learn from Jacinda and show a little more compassion and empathy to those round about us.
Once you have figured out what you want from your 'one wild and previous life', you need to do the work to make it happen. Every single day. In this episode we talk about doing the work that matters to you, staying motivated and never underestimating the power of taking small steps.
You have choices. No matter what situation you are in or how stuck you feel there are always choices. In this episode we talk about taking responsibility and embracing your power to make the best choice for you. It's time to pull up your big girl pants and go after the things that really matter to you.
We spend much of our time trying to fix ourselves when actually nothing is broken. What would it feel like if we accepted ourselves exactly as we are? In this episode I share insights and exercises to help you appreciate yourself for the perfectly imperfect person that you are. You can expect a greater appreciation for yourself, your talents and even your quirks.
The most downloaded episode of the year was an interview with Shivonne Graham, the Director of Fundraising, Marketing and Communication at Women for Women International. In this episode we talk about the great work that Women for Women International do to support women in countries that are affected by conflict.
We also discuss the lessons we all can learn from these incredible women and how while we may come from very different social and geographical backgrounds, we have more in common that that which divides us.
I hope that you enjoy listening to this episode as much as I enjoyed recording it. Women for Women is an incredible charity but over and above that Shivonne is a truly inspirational lady, who without a doubt is living her own version of a good life well lived
The Good Life Well Lived Podcast is one year old today! In this episode Nicola shares the highs and lows of creating the podcast and also gives you a loving kick up the backside to encourage you to follow your passions and get your work out into the world.
Beatrix Schmidt is a sleep coach, speaker and author of The Sleep Deep Method. She specialises in helping people with insomnia by helping them to make changes to all aspects of their lifestyle and she believes that sleep is a skill that can be developed, by anyone and at any time of life.
This episode will be of particular interest to those that suffer from insomnia or have friends and family that suffer from insomnia. But even if you are not personally impacted by insomnia Beatrix shares some great advice that we can all take on board to help us to sleep better and have more energy and vitality.
Jo Gifford helps amazing people to unbox their brilliance and get their message out into the world. Jo juggles all of the projects that she does around her twin girls and also manages a number of chronic health conditions. In this episode we talk about what it’s really like to live with chronic health conditions and Jo shares amazing actionable tips on how to conserve and maintain energy and really look after ourselves in the best way possible. Jo is a real inspiration to me and I know to many others, I know that if you are managing long term health conditions that you will be uplifted and inspired but even if you are lucky enough to be in good health Jo’s advice on how to make the juggle a reality is amazing and well worth a listen.
Severine Nemen is a Nutritional Therapist and motivational Health Coach who helps her clients to boost their levels of energy and drop unwanted weight by changing their relationship with food and making better food and lifestyle decisions.
In order to have a good life well lived we need to have sufficient energy to do all of the things that are important to us. In this episode Severine shares some practical strategies that we can all put in place to help us boost and better manage our energy levels.
I am joined by Scott Newby the managing director of NewbyCore Consulting, an employee engagement and wellbeing consultancy based in Edinburgh. He is also the author of mental health blog Me, My Mind and I and the driving force behind a new mental health social media campaign to encourage us to spend more time talking to each other. In this episode we talk about how to support our own mental health and what organisations can do to encourage good mental health among their employees
I'm joined by Stefanie Fowler, owner of ‘Fanny’s Real Fitness’, which offers personal training and nutrition coaching and the author of www.fannysrealfood.com a food blog providing hundreds of healthy recipes and tips and advice for a healthy lifestyle. Stefanie is uber practical and down to earth and is able to demystify a lot of the conflicting health advice and get to the root of what is really required to have a healthy lifestyle.
Life can be frustrating! In today's episode I share one very simple hack that you can use to eliminate 99% of life's frustrations. Mastering this skill has been my biggest learning point and allowed me a massive mindset shift and I can't wait to share it with you.
If you are thinking of New Year Resolutions then setting yourself some health and fitness goals will probably be high up your agenda. A couple of months ago I decided to try out the 30 Days of Yoga Challenge with Adriene Michler and it was a revelation. Not only did I start a daily yoga practice but I learned a lot about myself in the process. Today I share with you what I learned, some of it might surprise you!
It's now time for something completely different and something of an experiment. A simple exercise that shows how five minutes can change your day.
Bruce Daisley is European Vice-President for Twitter, host of the UK's number one business podcast Eat Sleep Work Repeat and the author of The Joy of Work: 30 Ways to Fix Your Work Culture and Fall In Love With Your Job.
We spend a third of our lives at work so if we are to have a good life well lived then it's important that we enjoy and are fulfilled by the work that we do.
In this episode Bruce shares his insights and tips into how we can all fall in love with our job again. What I particularly like about Bruce's approach is that he wants to empower individuals within organisations to take action rather than wait for their employers to tell them how they are going to make their working life better.
Talking to Bruce was fascinating and he shares important lessons on how to enjoy our work more, whether we are employed or work for ourselves.
In this episode I share how to have a stress free, calm Christmas.
It's the 'most wonderful time of the year'. A time to take a break from routine, connect with family and friends and have some fun.
Yet sometimes the 'most wonderful time of the year' can feel like the 'most stressful time of the year'.
Finishing off work before the holidays + back to back social events + family commitments + Christmas shopping = Stress, Overwhelm and Exhaustion.
The desire to be all things to all people can leave us feeling like we are not good enough in any department.
I share my top seven tips to help you have a stress free Christmas. Listen all the way to the end where I share a free tool that you can use to help you find a breathing space and get perspective this festive season.
Jo Dodds is a productivity and wellbeing specialist. We talk about a topic very close to my heart and that is productivity and getting stuff done. We are busier now than we ever have been before. Having systems and strategies that we can use to be productive and get things done is vital so that we can have more time to focus on the things that matter to us. In this episode Jo shares:
- What the busy, stressed and overwhelmed have in common
- How to get clear on what you really want from life (and why this is so important)
- Why motivation to be productive is a myth
- Her top productivity tips to help you get things done with ease
- How systems can save the day, even if you are not a naturally organised person
Paul Jarvis. Paul is the author of Company of One, a book about why staying small is the next big thing for business. His writing, and in fact all of his work, focus on the view that business growth isn't always good and isn't always required. I have followed Paul for a while and he is a true inspiration and a man who lives life on his own terms.
In this episode we talk about:
- The importance of creating our own definition of success
- Why business owners really need to know when enough is enough
- How to block out the 'noise' from other people and stick to your own path
- Being brave and constructing a life that works for you
- Why it's often the simple things that mean the most to us
Kirsty Bowman-Vaughan, Deputy Head of Strategy and Innovation at the Money Advice Servic shares her top money money management tips for a good life well lived.
I can almost hear the intake of breath as you read this. Money? Money? We're British we don't talk about money?!? Well, in this episode we are talking about money. In fact all of this week (12th-16th November 2018) the Money Advice Service are hosting an event, Talk Money to encourage us to talk more freely about money, debt and financial planning.
Kirsty shares her advice and tips to help you get into the best financial shape possible and also gives insights into how we can all encourage the younger generation to become more financially savvy and more comfortable and capable talking about money.
Does it ever feel like everyone around you has totally got their act together while you have no clue what you are doing? if so then this week's episode is for you!
You might look at people with an active social life, or who exercise every day or who are making great advances in their career and think. How on earth are they able to do that and I am just about keeping my head above water? If you have children this feeling can intensify even more. You can barely peel your kids away from the screen and you are being met with images of your friends kids getting their PB in a cross country run or coming top of their class in Mandarin lessons.
I am going to give you the straight, honest, answer that you seriously need to hear about why everybody else has their act together and you don't.
Shivonne Graham is the Director of Fundraising, Marketing and Communication at Women for Women International. In this episode we talk about the great work that Women for Women International do to support women in countries that are affected by conflict.
We also discuss the lessons we all can learn from these incredible women and how while we may come from very different social and geographical backgrounds, we have more in common that that which divides us.
I hope that you enjoy listening to this episode as much as I enjoyed recording it. Women for Women is an incredible charity but over and above that Shivonne is a truly inspirational lady, who without a doubt is living her own version of a good life well lived.
I'll hold my hands up and admit that I am a recovering Busy Bee. Up until a couple of years ago I wore busy as a badge of honour and was the master of keeping all of the plates spinning, all of the time.
But I realised that my busyness was not making me happy. I wasn't prioritising the things that were important to me and that ticking things off the 'to do list' was utterly futile because there would just be more and more 'to dos' that would come along to get done.
I am all for encouraging people to live a rich and varied life, spending time with the people that matter and doing things that are important but that doesn't mean that you need to be constantly busy, stressed and overwhelmed.
In this week’s episode of The Good Life Well Lived podcast I share some advice and tips on how you can stop feeling busy all the time.
El Edwards is a mindset geek on a mission to help fun-loving entrepreneurs ditch the head junk so they can get stuff done without wearing sleep deprivation like a badge of honour.
El is a force to be reckoned with and in this episode she shares her own story of building her own business (which most definitely was not a straightforward journey from A to B and how she is known as the irrepressible silver lining spotter.
She shares an incredibly simple yet powerful tool that we can all use to help us to see the silver lining of any situation.
This week I was asked to contribute a short video clip to a local charity campaign about my most memorable childhood Christmas gift. After racking my brains for a while I remembered a pair of red leg warmers that I desperately wanted when I was about six years old.
In this week's episode of The Good Life Well Lived podcast I share some lessons learned about creating a good life well lived that were sparked from the memory of the red leg warmers.
Heather Waring is, a coach, speaker and author and founder of Women Walking Women Talking. Heather works with busy and stressed women to design the life they truly want by walking talking on Transformational Walking experiences along ancient paths like the Camino de Santiago in France and Spain and the Pilgrims Way in the UK.
In this episode Heather shares her own personal journey, her recovery from adrenal fatigue and the central role that walking played in her recovery. She outlines how she helps other women to uncover their own path and be true to themselves and she shares insights into the incredible walking tours that she facilitates for her community. Heather reckons she has the best job in the world. I think she might be right!
Welcome to episode 32 of The Good Life Well Lived podcast where I am joined by Yasmin Vorajee, Yasmin is the creator of Tiny Time Big Results and she helps small business owners run a profitable business in 20 hours a week or less.
In this episode Yasmin shares some insights from her newly released book Tiny Time Big Results: 4 Principles to Run Your Profitable 20 Hour Week Business. She talks us through each one of the principles - Purpose, Profit, Productivity and Play and shares some golden nuggets about how strong foundations each will help you to create a thriving, profitable, sustainable business.
Andrew Johnson works with individuals and organisations to help them relax, change and create. He is the voice behind “with Andrew Johnson” apps that have had over 11 million downloads to date. In this episode he shares insights into mindfulness, meditation and how we helps people with 'eyes closed' work. In a world of increasing complexity the ability to manage our own stress levels is vital. Andrew shows us how simple it can be to find our own path to relaxation.
Kelly Pietrangeli, Founder of Project Me For Busy Mothers found the early years of motherhood hard, very hard. Feeling like she had lost herself she created her own Project Me to get her passion and spark for life back. After she successfully managed to regain balance in her own life she decided her mission was to share the tools and strategies that she had learned with other mothers. Kelly shares what she has learned from her own experience and her work helping hundreds of women create their Project Me.
In this episode I am joined by the incredible Hannah Martin, Founder of Talented Ladies Club, a magazine-style website for working mums.
In this episode Hannah shares her wisdom on a wide range of topics including understanding what success really means to you, how we can all learn from difficult times and how to have the confidence to do the things that you really want to do (and not get swept up doing the things you think you should be doing).
September has a back to school feeling filled with positivity, energy and enthusiasm. There is a real sense of making the most of the last few months of the year. Unfortunately this period can also be filled with over work exhaustion and burnout as people make that 'final push' before Christmas. In this episode I share my top tips to make sure that carve out time for yourself so that you are able to get to Christmas without crashing and burning.
Do you want to look back on New Years Eve and feel satisfied and accomplished with how you spent 2018? In this episode I share some simple steps that you can take to get crystal clear clarity on what you want to get from the last few months of 2018 and also how to keep yourself on track to make sure that you do the work and get the results that you want. A must listen if you are frustrated and disappointed about how the year has been so far or if you want to make sure that 2018 is a year that you will remember for all of the right reasons.
As children we were often told to 'be grateful for what you've got'. In today's episode I explore the incredible and somewhat surprising power of gratitude. I share details of some research which outlines the profound gratitude can have on many aspects of our lives and I share some simple tips to help you integrate a gratitude practice into your daily lives.
In this week's episode I talk about learning to say NO. So many of us are people pleasers (I'm one, I know exactly how you feel). But when you try to please everyone, quite often you end up pleasing nobody. Especially you.
Listen in to understand why it is SO important that you learn to say no and also to get my best tips on how to make it happen. I know that it's not easy but with practice you can do it.
Time is our greatest asset and we need to spend that time wisely. It can often feel like there are never enough hours in the day to do the things we want to do and spend time with the people that are important to us. In this episode I share my all time favourite exercise that is guaranteed to help you focus and ensure that you are able to find time for the things that matter the most to you. Simple, effective and you can put it into practice today.
Welcome to Episode 23 of The Good Life Well Lived podcast and the third of our Summer Sessions, a series of bite size episodes to give you food for thought and help you take action to create your good life and live it well.
Today I introduce a simple, but if used correctly, incredibly powerful tool to help you find the balance you desire in your life. The Wheel of Life is a tool that I have used with colleagues, clients and programme attendees for a number of years. It allows you to assess where you are currently devoting your time, energy and attention and gives you the opportunity to decide if you need to make any adjustments. It seems deceptively simple however the impact can be truly transformational.
Let me talk you through how you can use the Wheel of Life and you can also access my Wheel of Life worksheet at nicolasemple.com/clarity
Welcome to Episode 22 of The Good Life Well Lived podcast and the second of our Summer Sessions, a series of bite size episodes to give you food for thought and help you take action to create your good life and live it well.
Today I ask the question of ‘Are you spending time with the right people?’. The people that we spend time with have a massive influence on the way we think, feel and on our overall well being and happiness. In this episode I encourage you to think about the drains and radiators in your life. The drains are the people who sap your energy and leave you feeling negative and uncomfortable. The radiators are the people that light you up, leave you feeling energised and happy to be alive. I also share some simple strategies to help you minimise the time you spend with drains and make the most of the radiators in your life.
The Good Life Well Lived Summer Sessions are bite size episodes to give you food for thought and help you take action to create your good life and live it well.
In this first summer session I ask the question of 'Where are you now?' and encourage you to take some time to reflect on whether you are happy with where you are. A simple exercise with truly powerful results.
Life is busy which means we can feel like we are constantly spinning plates, waiting for one of them to crash to the ground. This episode of the podcast was inspired by a doodle that the brilliant Beta Mummy shared on Facebook earlier this week. Beta Mummy blogs and creates clever cartoon observations of parenthood and life in general. The work she creates is funny and incredibly relatable.
This week she shared a picture of Beta Mummy spinning all of the different plates in her life and we could see some of them coming crashing down to the ground. This reflects modern life in general but for working parents summer and Christmas are the two points in the year where the plate spinning seems to get even more out of control than normal.
In this episode I share some simple strategies to help you keep those plates under control and to help you do it with a smile on your face.
In this episode I share how to manage your energy so that you can get more done and feel less frazzled.
We're all familiar with the idea of time management and making the most of the time that we've got available to us however I believe that energy management is just as, if not more important.
We all have a finite supply of energy each day and that supply varies from person to person. I share some ideas on how you can maximise the amount of energy that you have in the first place and how you can best manage your 'pot of energy' to get the most out of your day.
Nicola Humber activates recovering good girls to embrace their so-called imperfections and shake off the tyranny of 'shoulds', so they can be their fullest, most magnificent unbound selves
Nicola's first book Heal Your Inner Good Girl struck a chord with recovering good girls everywhere and the highly-anticipated follow-up, UNBOUND, is out on now.
In episode 18 of The Good Life Well Lived podcast Nicola explains how we can all ditch the things that we think and feel we should be doing and find our own freedom in the things that truly light us up.
Grace Marshall is the author of the award-winning “How to be REALLY Productive”, a writer, speaker and coach and she runs workshops as a Productivity Ninja. She’s a recovering perfectionist and is continually working on being good-enough most of the time, with intermittent lapses into hopelessness and brilliance.
Grace and I discuss what being productive is really all about, how to be productive even when those around you are not and how to find a work life rhythm that works for you.
Claire Ransom is an entrepreneur, writer, blogger and founder of Lazy Flora, a plant subscription service.
In episode 16 of The Good Life Well Lived podcast, Claire and I discuss the adventure of starting a new business and explore the impact that her business has had on not just her career but all aspects of her life.
Renee Canter, also known as The Girl Who Cardens is a gardener and garden designer who believes that our gardens can add joy to our lives.
She makes gardens easier to be enjoyed and demystifies the gardening lingo so that any family can create their dream space.
In this episode Renee shares how we can create the perfect outside space where we can enjoy time with our family and friends and create an oasis of calm where we can live our good life and live it well.
Sarah Buchanan-Smith is the founder of Soul Ambrosia and a coach helping women learn to care for themselves so they feel nurtured, restored, revived and ready to thrive.
In this episode we talk about the importance of having a morning routine and the difference it can make to your day. Sarah shares the importance of establishing the right morning routine (for you) and simple changes that you can make so that you face the day with the best possible mindset.
Christine Askew is an expert in neuroscience, mindfulness and schema therapy who helps her clients to become more emotionally resilient.
She works with clients to identify and change unhelpful patterns that were created in childhood – known as schemas – that are impacting their psychological and emotional well-being and affecting their relationships.
In episode 13 of The Good Life Well Lived podcast, Christine gives a fascinating insight into schema therapy and explains how we can re-wire old patterns and build up the parts of the brain that are essential for emotional resilience.
Clara Wilcox is a straight talking, practical and experienced coach who helps clients navigate the tricky waters of returning to work, career change and professional development.
She is the founder of The Balance Collective a social enterprise focused on improving the lives of parents by promoting a healthy work/life balance.
Clara shares her own career journey, the challenges of the new (to her) world of self employment and how she now helps other people to define their own version of work life balance and to make that a reality.
Siobhán Kangataran is a writer, coach, facilitator and founder of ToGetHer Further, a community of women supporting each other with their challenges to get further together on their journeys.
Siobhan shares her own journey from feeling trapped and unhappy in the corporate world to carving a more creative, entrepreneurial career path for herself and provides practical advice and inspiration for anybody in a similar position.
Sarah Swanton is a Podcaster and founder of Happy Healthy Entrepreneur, where she teaches entrepreneurs how to optimise their mental health & wellbeing.
You get to listen in to a conversation between Sarah and I where we review the lessons we learned from Catherine Price’s book ‘How to Break Up With Your Phone’.
If you are concerned about the amount of time you spend on your smartphone and are addicted to the notifications and the lure of your social media feeds, this is a must listen to episode.
Ann Brown, founder of Happy Being You is a Business Coach, highly sensitive introvert and one of the UK's leading experts on overcoming the fear of visibility for introverts in business.
For many of us the idea of stepping and having the world see us for who we really are can be incredibly uncomfortable. In this episode Ann shares some great advice on how to overcome these fears and be brave enough to be seen by others.
Jess Baker is a Business Psychologist, Leadership Coach, creator of the Tame Your Inner Critic programme and in her spare time she dabbles in stand up comedy.
I don’t know about you but my inner critic is an unwelcome companion that tends to put in an appearance when I least want it to.
Jess shares some brilliant advice and techniques we can all use to put our inner critic in it’s place so that we can get on and do the things we want to do in our life.
Victoria Casebourne shares how to create more space in your life for the things that matter most.
Victoria has run The Keepsake Co for the past 16 years and knows that the busyness of being your own boss alongside being a mum means it is vital to put yourself first before you break.
Victoria is launching Create More Space which is all about self worth, self confidence and self love and how important these are when looking after our mental health.
Sceptical about mindful meditation? Today I uncover some myths around mindful meditation and explain how you can practice mindfulness in your every day life.
This episode is for you if you are curious about mindfulness meditation even if you are sceptical, have tried it before and think that you can't do it or think that you are not the type to meditate.
Emily Thorpe, founder of Happy Working Mum shares her personal story and advice on how to find the elusive balance between your work and home life. She also shares her strategies for eliminating guilt and enjoying your time at work and at home.
Mindfulness is a real buzz word at the moment. With everything from mindful colouring books to mindful food subscription services. But what is it? And why are so many people making such a fuss about it? In this episode Nicola explains the basics of mindfulness, what it is, what it isn't and how to incorporate more mindful moments into your good life well lived.
Rebecca Bradley, Founder of Proper Post a monthly greetings card and stationery subscription service joins me on Episode 3 of The Good Life Well Lived Podcast to talk about the power of tracking a word a day.
Proper Post is one of my favourite independent businesses and a great way to feed a stationery addiction. But more than that it makes sure that you never miss an important moment again - you tell Proper Post important birthdays and special occasions and they remind you about them.
Founder Rebecca Bradley (MA) FCIPD has a background in HR and strategic leadership she strongly believes in smiling and is a champion of kindness. She is driven by the desire to inspire people to use the digital world to connect people in analog ways. And most importantly, she is a thoroughly nice person!
A self confessed 'data geek', in 2017 Rebecca decided to track a word a day to understand her feelings and emotions about her business and self employment. The result was an incredible insight into what makes her tick, what motivates her, what she struggles with and what lifts her up.
Rebecca is now on a mission to encourage other people (not just business owners) to track their word of the day and benefit from similar insights.
It's time to get thinking about how you want to live your life. To inspire you I share with you my manifesto for a good life well lived.
I have outlined my ‘Good Life Well Lived Manifesto’ as a cornerstone for how I want to lead my own life.
I am sharing with you so that you can take inspiration from it and perhaps use as a foundation for creating your own Good Life Well Lived Manifesto.
As mentioned in the podcast, you can download a copy of The Good Life Well Lived Manifesto HERE.
My Manifesto will not be the same as your Manifesto. That’s OK. We’re all different.
But feel free to pinch the bits that resonate and add in the bits that make your Manifesto unique to YOU.
Welcome to The Good Life Well Lived Podcast. In this first episode, your host Nicola Semple shares:
- What The Good Life Well Lived Podcast is about
- Who your host Nicola Semple is and why she set up the podcast
- What you can expect and how you can get involved