A Bit Of A Boost

In 2014 I ran 10 marathons in 10 days. My cover story was that it was for charity, but I knew there'd be something in it for me as well.   What I got were a number of lessons that transcended the domain of running and positively affected every other aspect of my life.   I reflected on 10 of these lessons after the event and wrote 95% of a piece of work that I never finished.   When I came across t...

Chocolate, ice cream, alcohol, smoking, checking social media… most of us have something we indulge in a little more than is really good for us.   The level of indulgence will determine how much - if at all - it is a problem for you but even if you're not quite at the stage of sleeping on a park bench with a bottle wrapped in a brown paper bag, there's a chance that overindulging could be having a...

One of the things you hear a lot about when it comes to motivation, goals or high performance is the importance of mindset.     But what is mindset and how do we make sure that we have the right one?   My guest today to discuss this topic is a man who I've learned a lot from over the years, business psychologist and coach Bret Freeman.   I know Bret through Toastmasters International and he's forg...

For a decade and a half exercise was more than just a passion, it was also my career.     I trained clients as a personal trainer and boot camp coach, and also taught on PT diploma courses and delivered masterclasses to other trainers.   I was fully immersed in it and although my work these days is more holistic, it's still clearly an important topic for me and I'm pleased to have the opportunity...

I live just outside a little town called Thame in Oxfordshire and one of the many things I love about the place is the independent health food store, Planet Health & Organics.   It's run by Nutritional Therapist and Practising Naturopath Peter Dewdney, and over the years we've had many a long conversation about wellbeing, supplements and health and I was delighted to get the opportunity to record...

On today's episode I'm joined by fellow coach Laura Brunton to talk about living life more authentically and as 'Totally You'.   When I first met Laura a few years ago she was in corporate and you wouldn't have known it to look at her but she was on the brink of burnout.   We talk about some of the things that aligned for her to help her realise how she was holding herself back, how she was misali...

Some of my own big fitness goals recently have been just that - fitness goals. Not so much the running or the swimming, but all round fitness that includes strength, endurance and power. But how do you motivate and test yourself with these less linear goals? Well for me, Turf Games came along and gave me the answer. My guest on the podcast today is Turf Games founder Andy Manteit, who tells us mor...

My guest on the podcast today was the RAF's second ever female fast jet pilot, flying the Tornado GR4 on the front line, completing three tours of duty and 45 missions over Iraq.   Mandy Hickson talks to me about mindset and motivation, resilience and imposter syndrome, stress and confidence, both in and out of the armed forces.   I saw Mandy speak at an event a few years ago and recently read her...

Do you ever feel like you're stuck and unable to find a way forwards? Do you procrastinate, self-sabotage or hold yourself back some other way?   If so then you are in the right place as my guest on today's episode has over 25 years of experience helping people with overcoming precisely these challenges.   Moira Geary is known as the Recombobulator. She spoke at Momentum last month and her present...

Through my work as a speaker I get invited to present at a lot of company wellbeing weeks and events. A topic that I've noticed an increasing number of organisations have been including on their agendas lately is the menopause.   The more people I spoke to about this the more I came to realise how important it is for all of us - men and women - to understand the menopause and how we can have more...

We're often told when we're trying to build a new habit that we should try and carry it out at the same time of day, in the same place and in the same way.   This makes sense as it uses the 'Reminder, Routine, Reward' process that James Clear describes in his book Atomic Habits.   But what happens when that routine changes, such as when you go on holiday, when you're unwell or just hit the weekend...

In today's mini-motivation episode I share one simple idea: your energy flows where your attention goes. With all the noise in the world today it's up to each of us to decide in advance what we're going to pay attention to.

20 years ago when I started my career as a personal trainer clients would come to me asking the question 'George, how should I be eating and exercising in order to lose weight, tone up and get fit?'   This is the bread and butter of many personal trainers and although I think things have got a bit more sophisticated over the past couple of decades with out understanding of the other more immediate...

This is a brand new series of podcast episodes I'll be dropping into the show throughout the year, where I'll aim to share just one quick idea with you in just 2 or 3 minutes.   It's actually a part of one of my own goals to improve my ability to be concise, and I'd love to hear your thoughts and feedback about how useful or interesting you find them!   This first Mini-Motivations episode is about...

My first guest of 2022 was also my first guest of 2021, and I'm thinking maybe this will become a thing as long as he's happy to keep coming back on!   James Stott, AKA the Magic Marine joined us last time to talk about motivation, and he returns today with to talk about adventure, magic, myths and motorcycles. We also talk about taking ideas we read about in books and applying them to our own liv...

The end of one year and the start of another is a great time for reflection.     Among other things it's a good time to look back over the previous 12 months and identify some of the things that you're going to take forwards into the next 12, and some of the things that that you'd rather leave behind.   In today's episode I want to share some of the things that have made my list.   The 6 things I...

Every experience we have in life has the potential to teach us something about ourselves, and if we pay enough attention to it we can take these lessons and transfer them across to other areas of our life.   My guest for today's episode is a living breathing masterclass of precisely this. Following a 21 year career in the RAF flying combat helicopters, Sarah Furness has taken what she has learned...

Are you outgoing or reserved? People or task focused? Are you an influencer, a supporter, decisive or cautious?   Although your answers may change from situation to situation, we all have a set of general tendencies that we otherwise know as our 'personality'.   Personality profiling is the topic of today's podcast, and I'm joined by award winning DISC coach Vicky O'Farrell.   Vicky recently did m...

My guest on today's episode is Jess Robson, mental health activist and creator of the global movement 'Run Talk Run'. Jess is doing some tremendously important work in the world of mental health, and has created a space for a growing number of people to talk about their mental health in a supportive and positive environment.   I asked her about her own mental health journey and some of the strateg...

NSDR, or Non-Sleep Deep Rest, is a relaxation technique where you bring your mind and body into a state of deep relaxation, somewhere between being awake and asleep.   NSDR is a term coined by Dr Andrew Huberman, professor of neurobiology and opthamology at Stanford University and it's similar to a form of yoga called Yoga Nidra.   It brings numerous benefits that I've been enjoying recently and I...

When many of us define success we think of things such as those that we are able to have or to do, but my guest on today's episode has a different take.   Jennifer Merritt is a success mentor, and after a successful corporate career you might expect her to fall in line with the traditional society views of what success is.   Although she sees success as something we can all create as a feeling, it...

If there's been one positive from the pandemic it's that it has shone the spotlight of attention even more fiercely on the conversation about mental health.   Although the statistics inform us that 1 in 4 of us will suffer from a mental health problem at some point in our lives, every single one of us has 'mental health' that needs looking after.   Today's episode is less about the general societa...

The early bird catches the worm, but the early worm gets eaten by the bird.   You don't have to be a 'morning person' to benefit from some kind of morning routine.   In this week's solo episode I get into one of my favourite subjects, why I believe they can make such a big difference to how your day goes, and how to set up your perfect routine.   There's some more general advice and observations o...

Journaling is one of those things that lots of people know they could probably benefit from, but struggle to get started and turn it into a habit.   I've been writing in a journal since I was about 13 years old and these days it's one of my most important tools for maintaining my motivation, performance and personal development.   A couple of years ago one of my coaching clients Alexa Whitten - he...

For today's episode I'm joined by the award-winning host of the Game Changers podcast, Sue Anstiss MBE to talk about women in sport.   Sue has been a major player in driving change in women's sport for over 30 years. She's a founding trustee of the Women's Sport Trust and co-founder of the Women's Sport Collective and was recognised for her services to women's sport with an MBE in 2018.   More rec...