Balance & Beyond

“Just be yourself” sounds empowering until you realise it gives you nothing to do. If you’ve spent years being the capable one, the reliable one, the person who can carry everything, you might not even notice how often you edit yourself to stay safe and loved. Jo Stone unpacks why this common advice can feel hollow for women in midlife, and why the real work is less about thinking your way into au...

Discover your dominant Success Strategy here. You can be capable, reliable and wildly productive, and still feel like your life no longer fits. That tension is often not a motivation problem. It can be a success strategy that worked brilliantly for years, then quietly started costing more than it gives back. We dig into how patterns like over-helping, over-planning, over-working and over-perfectin...

We talk about why so many of us feel stuck at multiple crossroads at once, from work and relationships to health and identity. We share a simple filter that cuts through overthinking by separating irreversible choices from decisions you can test and adjust.  • feeling overwhelmed by interconnected decisions and too many options  • why more information and more choice can create decision paralysis ...

If you feel like you’re holding a dozen competing problems and somehow still making no real progress, you’re not broken, you’re overloaded. Jo Stone speaks straight to high-achieving women who look fine on the outside but privately know the old model of success no longer fits. The cultural conversation used to centre on burnout and pushing through. Now it’s fractured into a “soup” of questions abo...

I cancel a workshop after ticket sales fall flat, and I unpack why that “public failure” ends up being one of my most valuable lessons this year. I show how to separate disappointment from self-doubt so we can move faster, learn more, and stop paying the hidden cost of personalising outcomes.  • cancelling a workshop after strong early signs but no sales  • perfectionism wounds and the urge to mak...

Your feed isn’t random. If you’ve been obsessing over chateau renovations, Tuscan villas, eco farms, bookshops, or van life, it might not be wanderlust at all. It might be the clearest signal you’ve had in years that the old model of success no longer fits and that something in you is asking to come back online.  I talk through why so many high-achieving women in their 40s and 50s are having an “e...

Work is louder than ever, and plenty of us are calling that “progress” while quietly wondering why we’re exhausted. I sit down with Dr Kat Page, organisational psychologist, leadership adviser and author of Good Work: Transforming Your Work from the Inside Out, to name what’s actually broken and what we can redesign so women don’t have to keep paying the price with their health, time and identity....

Doors are now open for the July 6 intake of Balance & Beyond! If you've recognised yourself in the patterns we've explored in this episode and you're ready to move beyond awareness into real change, we'd love to support you. Find out more and book a conversation with our team here: https://www.balanceinstitute.com/balance-and-beyond You can be wildly capable and still feel...

Doors are now open for the July 6 intake of Balance & Beyond! If you've recognised yourself in the patterns we've explored in this episode and you're ready to move beyond awareness into real change, we'd love to support you. Find out more and book a conversation with our team here: https://www.balanceinstitute.com/balance-and-beyond I share the secret belief that kept me st...

Doors are now open for the July 6 intake of Balance & Beyond! If you've recognised yourself in the patterns we've explored in this episode and you're ready to move beyond awareness into real change, we'd love to support you. Find out more and book a conversation with our team here: https://www.balanceinstitute.com/balance-and-beyond You can look successful and still feel li...

Doors are now open for the July 6 intake of Balance & Beyond! If you've recognised yourself in the patterns we've explored in this episode and you're ready to move beyond awareness into real change, we'd love to support you. Find out more and book a conversation with our team here: https://www.balanceinstitute.com/balance-and-beyond I’ve just come off three and a half weeks...

Doors are now open for the July 6 intake of Balance & Beyond! If you've recognised yourself in the patterns we've explored in this episode and you're ready to move beyond awareness into real change, we'd love to support you. Find out more and book a conversation with our team here: https://www.balanceinstitute.com/balance-and-beyond You can be wildly capable and still feel...

Doors are now open for the July 6 intake of Balance & Beyond! If you've recognised yourself in the patterns we've explored in this episode and you're ready to move beyond awareness into real change, we'd love to support you. Find out more and book a conversation with our team here: https://www.balanceinstitute.com/balance-and-beyond We talk about the hidden reason smart, ca...

Doors are now open for the July 6 intake of Balance & Beyond! If you've recognised yourself in the patterns we've explored in this episode and you're ready to move beyond awareness into real change, we'd love to support you. Find out more and book a conversation with our team here: https://www.balanceinstitute.com/balance-and-beyond You can tick every box and still feel str...

Turning 47 comes with a surprising data point: it’s supposedly the peak age of unhappiness, yet I feel like an outlier. I share the three changes that help me unlock more happiness without needing an easier life.  • the research on midlife unhappiness and why it might show up around 47  • reframing the traits I used to hide as my zone of genius  • dropping the chameleon habit and saying the thing ...

You can run a team, lead through crisis, and keep a brave face all day then come undone over a lunchbox, socks, or a towel on the floor. We call it the “duck on a pond”: polished and capable on the surface, frantic paddling underneath. If that’s you, you’re not failing at life, you’re running on empty, and home is where the mask finally drops. Joe is joined by coach Sabina to get honest about why...

We realise how often “self-care” comes with an asterisk, where we only do things for ourselves if we can justify them. We challenge ourselves to find what actually makes us feel alive, not just what keeps us functioning.  • asking what we’ve done this week just for us  • noticing the qualifiers that turn self-care into damage control  • spotting guilt, shame, and “insurance policy” habits in our r...

Register now for The Overdrive Reset - a free 8-day WhatsApp experience designed for women who are exhausted from constantly carrying, managing, fixing, anticipating, and holding everything together. Short daily voice notes. Real pattern recognition. No wellness fluff. Starts 29th May. Join here: www.balanceinstitute.com/reset Your calendar says “rest”, but your body treats it like a threat. If yo...

Register now for The Overdrive Reset - a free 8-day WhatsApp experience designed for women who are exhausted from constantly carrying, managing, fixing, anticipating, and holding everything together. Short daily voice notes. Real pattern recognition. No wellness fluff. Starts 29th May. Join here: www.balanceinstitute.com/reset We rethink goal setting through a simple lens: how we want to feel, not...

 Register now for The Overdrive Reset - a free 8-day WhatsApp experience designed for women who are exhausted from constantly carrying, managing, fixing, anticipating, and holding everything together. Short daily voice notes. Real pattern recognition. No wellness fluff. Starts 29th May. Join here: www.balanceinstitute.com/reset When was the last time you went to bed with nothing nagging at you, no...

 Register now for The Overdrive Reset - a free 8-day WhatsApp experience designed for women who are exhausted from constantly carrying, managing, fixing, anticipating, and holding everything together. Short daily voice notes. Real pattern recognition. No wellness fluff. Starts 29th May. Join here: www.balanceinstitute.com/reset We uncover a hidden pattern that links being understood with being saf...

Register now for The Overdrive Reset - a free 8-day WhatsApp experience designed for women who are exhausted from constantly carrying, managing, fixing, anticipating, and holding everything together. Short daily voice notes. Real pattern recognition. No wellness fluff. Starts 29th May. Join here: www.balanceinstitute.com/reset You know that moment where you “win” the conversation in the shower, de...

Mother’s Day hype can make it feel like becoming a mum should complete you, and we push back on that idea with honesty and grit. We name the script that shames women for wanting more, and we argue that loving your kids and loving yourself can sit side by side.  • rejecting the idea that motherhood alone must feel “enough”  • separating love for our kids from loss of self  • telling the truth about...

The next promotion can be the moment you realise you’re done climbing. Not because you’ve lost your edge, but because you can finally see what the next rung will cost your energy, your health, and your sense of self. I’m hearing this from smart, senior women again and again, and it’s why I’m sharing what I’ve learned from making the jump from corporate to entrepreneurship after 20 years inside the...

I share what three and a half weeks of single parenting reveals about distraction, time pressure, and the sneaky pull of doomscrolling when you’re craving connection. I also walk through the tools I use to stay present, protect my energy, and keep life lighter without settling or lowering my standards.  • noticing the spike in social media use and news consumption under stress  • recognising react...