Coffee with Colm

Doo-doo, woo-woo, Susan Jeffers, Maslow’s Hierarchy, miscarriage, unexplained infertility, childhood in Ireland, burnout, crossroads, mid-life crises… and motorbikes! What a wonderful, wide-ranging chat was had during the week with Ashleigh Tobin, over coffee, naturally.   If you consider yourself mid-life (or know someone who does) you need to gift yourself time to listen to the life-wisdom perme...

This was a great chat!   Brian Downes is a fascinating character in real life with an equally fascinating backstory which has equipped him, and qualified him, to do the great work he does around performance with individuals and within teams. From spending a week on a frozen lake in Outer Mongolia at minus 40 C (by choice!) to watching his 8-year old daughter perform in the Cork Opera House, to tal...

Stephen Downey is the reason I have a TEDx Talk to my name!   I’ve known the Stephen for several years now, and a nicer guy, you’d be hard-pressed to find, thorough gentleman, and gentle soul, through and through.   At an Amanda Delaney ‘We Can and We Will Talk” Event in Dublin in 2019, Stephen was introduced to the audience, of which I was a member, as someone about to do a TEDx. I was fascinated...

Wait till you hear this.   I was making my bed before going swimming one Sunday morning in late August, and I found myself repeating to myself out loud (I know!) Viktor Frankl’s famous quote, “We detect, rather than invent, our missions in life.”   No idea what was going on for me, but that phrase kept popping into my mind, and I kept repeating it out loud. “We detect, rather than invent, our miss...

Lads, I’m taking a break; I’m going on me holliers, and putting on me own oxygen mask for a bit. I was trying to figure out how to finish the series, and then a series (I know, right!) of happy accidents, including my usual way of recording CWC (Coffee with Colm) failing to open on my laptop, forced me to throw myself in the River Shannon…   …with my GoPro (a wonderful Christmas gift from Mrs. O’B...

This week let’s focus on Spirit - essentially YOUR relationship with YOU! You see, self-care is not self-ish. POYOOMF is Self-care in action. POYOOMF: Put On Your Own Oxygen Mask First This 'Coffee with Colm' Classic Mini-series is a favorite of mine, and of many others. I love simplicity - I have zero interest (and even less patience) in learning the seventeen things to do to get ahead in...

There are Four Pillars to a fully formed, balanced life, each of which deserves our attention:   1.     Health (covered, week 1) 2.    Wealth (covered, week 2) 3.    Relationships (today) 4.     Spirit (next week) Remember, to POYOOMF is to engage in Self-care. Self-care is not self-ish. Over the last few weeks, we touched on the first two of the Four Pillars: Health & Wealth.   This week let’...

To POYOOMF is to engage in Self-care. Self-care is not self-ish. Last week we touched on the first of the Four Pillars to a fully formed life, Health.   This week let’s focus on Wealth.   You are cordially invited you stick on the kettle, grab a coffee, and think with me for a few minutes as we continue our 4-week journey together to look at all four pillars   1.    Health (last week) 2.    Wealth...

By now you probably know I'm a proponent of POYOOMF. Put On Your Own Oxygen Mask First I like acronyms (even if I have to create my own, although the grammar police will probably correct me!)I like making things simple. For me. If it helps others, great, but truth be told I do all this stuff for me. To remind me. To help me get more out of life without busting my gut 24/5/365 (I hate social me...

I reconnected very happily with a friend on Saturday. Amanda Delaney visited us at PSA Ireland (Professional Speaking Association Ireland) and it was wonderful to see her and have the chats - Amanda's passion for wanting to help people is palpable.   While we were chatting about life and death (us having lost some mutual friends in recent times) and all things in between, I quoted Viktor Frank...

Time - The Great Leveller - In This Episode Yours Truly Uses The River Shannon To Explain. Time is infinite. Your time, my time, not so.   This week, I threw myself in the River Shannon (voluntarily and safely) to draw an analogy between the inexorable flowing of the river and that of time itself using a twig to explain my thinking. Many people act like twigs ending up in life where life takes the...

Professionals Never Lose - They either Win or They Learn.   I’m sure you were taught, as I was, the phrase, “Sometimes I win and sometimes I lose” and yet again we were taught wrong. No more than, as we said last time on “Coffee with Colm”, Practice does not necessarily make perfect, but practice ALWAYS makes permanent, this week we are revisiting a CWC Classic, and reminding ourselves that the co...

I'm sure you were taught, as I was, that practice makes perfect and yet it seems we were both taught wrong, not on purpose mind, but wrong nonetheless. Practice does not necessarily make perfect, but practice ALWAYS makes permanent. You see whatever you practice you get better at. As human beings, we learn to operate mainly subconsciously in terms of something we practice regularly, think driv...

Coaching - THE Quintessential 100 Year Work - Possibly the Most Important Work in the World.  Recorded ON Lough Derg (not in it this time) on my birthday - Yay, Happy Birthday to me! Level 61 and loving life - in this week's "Coffee with Colm" Yours Truly ruminates about one of his most cherished views, that we are ALL involved in 100 Year Work, for better of worse, (actually until d...

Caroline Rigney, a renowned Co. Limerick farmer took time out to attend Pendulum Summit in January – and then to have “Coffee with Colm”.   From pigs breaking through fences, to packaging delicious pork and bacon product for fans nationwide, to Killaloe Farmer’s Market, to forgiving ourselves and our parents, to letting go of the past, and embracing the present with one eye on the future, I had th...

A "Coffee with Colm" Special recorded LIVE while immersed in 7 degree water in the Shannon River as the sun dawned on the last Sunday of February. My lovely Mam passed a year ago - on Feb 20th 2023 - God Rest Her. Being an all year round open-water swimmer since 2020 I was intrigued to stumble across an open-water swimming challenge called Freezebrury - to remain immersed in open water f...

Karen Pappin is a fellow Dub (South Side, but we’ll let her off – although I had to address it over our coffee chat!) living in and working from beautiful Kinvara, Co. Galway.   She’s a storyteller – a Brand Storyteller - and she came along to Pendulum as part of our little group of Vagabonds, not knowing what to expect.   The speaker that ‘spoke’ to her was not even on her radar before she attend...

The Biggest Challenge Most Coaches Face is Filling Your Diary. We have the solution for you. As a Professional Coach myself (part-time), like you, I learned that the hardest part of coaching is… prospecting… to find clients. Coaching is not the problem, prospecting is. When I looked around me at all the coaches I know (and know of), I realised the majority had the same problem; you and me, we woul...

Paul Massey was a retailer back in the day. One thing he insisted on was that he trained his staff what to do in the event of a robbery – no eye contact, open the till, step away, no heroes.   When two guys arrived one evening, one with a sawn-off shotgun, the other with a hammer, Paul found himself instinctually NOT following his own advice!   Paul is lucky to be alive. He retired from retail sho...

How do some people, get ahead, and many don't?  Those who get ahead in any area of life, take more shots than those who don't - simple! In so doing, they experience more rejection, and the natural outflowing of experiencing more rejection, is... more success! I was a tad under the weather for the past week and as such missed the opportunity to have coffee with one of the Pendulum Vagabond...

Galway Girl, and Film Industry Pro, Emma Owen, had “Coffee with Colm” during the week to share her experience of attending Pendulum Summit.   It was FUN!   Then, on one of my questions, Emma began her response with, “Can I be a bit controversial here?” I knew right there that my answer to that question wasn’t going to matter; the train had left the station…   She also named her Standout Speaker an...

So, a group of Business Vagabonds got together, and we went along to The Pendulum Summit 2024 to witness the 10th anniversary of its founding by Frankie and Norma Sheehan, to listen and learn from each other as well as from the world-class speakers on stage.   We all came from different walks of life and diverse businesses (thus the Vagabond moniker); some small, others larger, all making a differ...

There is a Global Pandemic affecting 1 in 4 of us – Mental Health IS The Elephant in the Room.   I was blessed to attend Pendulum Summit in Dublin during the week along with another 2,000 souls, twenty of whom had come together as The Vagabonds’ to have fun and learn and make friends over the few days. It was everything I expected, and more.   I was moved to action (or consideration at least) by s...

You've had a car accident. They rush you to hospital. They tell you they're going to operate to save your legs. They lie! They are in fact operating to save your life; your crushed legs are incidental (to them!) When you wake up, they tell you you'll never walk again. You disagree! So instead, you become twice world champion! That, my friends, is the potted history of my first guest on...

You all know Colin Farrell - Hollywood Actor, and a fellow Dub. Colin was interviewed by Miriam O'Callaghan on the stage at Pendulum Summit back in 2019 and he lived up to all my expectations of the man; being at once a global celebrity and a humble man who hasn't forgotten his roots.  Not ugly either, it has to be said! Anyway, I chose the podcast I created on foot of his interview with w...