Mission Imperfect: navigating life with coaches Kirsty and Kathryn

Following on from last week’s episode on pausing, this episode provides practical tips, tools and techniques for creating and using a pause in your day to day life. If you find this useful and want to dig deeper into the right ways for you of making the changes you want, then get in touch with either of us to find out about our 1:1 coaching. Find us here: Kirsty: www.coachingbykirsty.co.uk Kathryn...

Hello and a warm welcome back to Mission Imperfect for series 4 in 2026!   As mentioned in today’s brief extra introduction, Kathryn ishosting a free online workshop – Reset and Refocus for 2026 : Beyond New Year’s Resolutions . It’s on Wed 14 Jan at 1 pm (UK time), so if you’re tuning in before 14 Jan, please sign up for this free, informal and reflective workshop here: https://us02web.zoom.us/me...

Mission Imperfect is a year old - well, a year and a little bit, if we’re being pedantic, because, in keeping with the MI ethos, we’re late in noticing our anniversary!! So, in this episode, we’re taking the opportunity to reflect on the last year and consider whether Mission Imperfect is a success or a failure - and whether those labels even matter… And there’s an announcement about some changes,...

We know that ‘rules for life’ sounds catchier but that doesn’t quite fit with our imperfect ethos of finding your own way here at Mission Imperfect! That said, we did think of a few ‘guidances’ for life that everyone may benefit from hearing: each is open to your own personal interpretation, context and circumstances to become hopefully more useful than a set ‘rule’. We cover just 5 in this week’s...

Why do we hold onto so much negative stuff? What does “letting go” mean? How do we do it? We manage to discuss all of this without singing That Song, and Kathryn coins the phrase “Be at one with the biscuit”, which might just be Mission Imperfect’s new motto. Today’s question for you to mull over and which we also answer in the episode:  What are you holding onto that no longer serves you? RESOURC...

Today’s episode is a special guest episode with Dr RebeccaWilliams, a former GP and now stress management consultant, and we discuss, (unsurprisingly!)  all things stress; what it is, how it shows up, the harm that long term stress can cause, how we tend to cope with it and some healthier alternatives we can try instead.  Stress isn’t quite the same as pressure or anxiety, and can leave tell-tale...

Today’s episode is a special guest episode with SandrineOlmi, the Relaxed Nutritionist, and we discuss what we eat, specifically for better energy levels!   We dive into: eating with the seasons, why all calories arenot created equal, when we eat, fasting, leftovers and why eating for better energy doesn’t have to be costly or time consuming with Sandrine’s tips! Today’s question for you to mull o...

Humans seem to have a preoccupation with having purpose (and perhaps rightly so, as we discover in this week’s episode). But we can get wrapped up in it and what it means, such as equating it with our value as a person. It can get tricky! We discuss why a sense of purpose matters to most of us, what this could mean and look like, and how to find or reconnect with it again.  Todays’ question for yo...

Today’s episode is a special guest episode with ShannonMurphy, a professional organiser, and our topic is one with more to it than meets the eye – decluttering.   It’s more than just getting rid of things and tidying up,which may sound worthwhile but not particularly inspiring. We are exposed to so many messages of ‘buy this!’ and ‘you need this’, but Shannon shares some key questions to help us r...

How would you feel about #banmirrors? We invite you to imagine not being able to see yourself when you wanted to, or to catch sight of your reflection dozens of times a day.  We’re so mind-blown by the idea of not being able to check our appearance before leaving the house, or not being able to tell if our hair is doing something weird(er than usual) that we quite forget about biscuits. Shocking,...

Is practising gratitude worth a go? This is exactly what we try to answer in this week’s episode, along with what are the things we may be grateful for, and what to do with those feelings of thankfulness. Research all seems to point in a positive direction when it comes to the benefits of gratitude: physically, emotionally and mentally. Perhaps worth knowing more about then!   Today’s question for...

“ I know ”: a statement of agreement, support or understanding, or shorthand for “ You can shut up now, because I’ve decided that you can’t tell me anything new, so it’s my turn to talk ”? We discuss how the belief that you know something - whether about a subject, about how someone else is feeling, or even about yourself - can blind you to new information, and we suggest some ways of avoiding the...

We may have heard of the term quiet quitting when it comesto work, but what about quiet quitting in life?   If quiet quitting means something along the lines of ‘mentally checking out’ rather than actually checking out, then surelyit is possible for this to happen in our lives as well as work, especially since we don’t get the choice to actually leave! This week, we discuss why we may engage in qu...

As thousands of young people leave home for university, we take a look at Empty Nest Syndrome: what is it, why does it happen and what can you do about it? We get so engrossed in the subject that we don’t even mention biscuits…But to make up for it, we do  get a tad distracted by catapults…Grab a cuppa and a biscuit (or a catapult) and join us to find out more! Today’s question for you to mull ove...

September often has more of a new year feeling to it than January. There’s new beginnings, a change of season, children back at school (finally!) … it just feels more like a fresh start kind of month somehow! In this week’s episode, we cover why having a pause and reset can be beneficial at any time of year, and importantly, how to attempt one. Where is your time and energy going to be well spent,...

This week we take you inside the workings of a coachingsession. Whilst nothing will compare to actually experiencing one, we try to explain what you could expect from a session – that is, with a coach like one of us! We cover how it will start, progress, the main ‘body’ of thesession, how it will end, and what you may feel during and after a session. If you’ve experienced something entirely differ...

Today’s episode is a special guest episode with Amy Downes, The Content Wizard, and our topic this week is a meaty one – social media and our wellbeing ( can the two mix?!). Amy is a huge Harry Potter fan, hence the many (apt) references – such as how we avoid the ‘Dementor’ mode of social media (when it sucks all the joy from us by usingit). Social media is a form of escapism, but there is a dark...

“Doing your best” is often seen as an excellent antidote to perfectionism, so you’d think that here at Mission Imperfect we’d be all in favour of it, right? Er…not quite… Join us for a chat about how the idea of doing our best can make us feel under pressure to consistently deliver our best output, or give us an excuse not to step things up…and how context is everything! We also disappear down a r...

The idea of trusting your intuition is very appealing, isn’t it? But what if that first, unthought response to a situation or opportunity is not your gut instinct but rather the deeply embedded programming created by years of dealing with other people’s reactions to what you say and do? We argue that spending time thinking about your first response to something can help highlight the true voice of...

What even is overthinking – how is it different to otherthinking?! This week we consider how overthinking leads to a lack ofaction, increased rumination and staying in ‘what if’ territory. We also discuss our preference for deeper, wider or newthinking and how to spot the difference between this kind of helpful thinking and less helpful overthinking, plus how to help steer your thinking towards th...

Being present means not being mentally absent. Ah, guilty as charged then (on occasion)! This week, we discuss why being present even matters, and why we can find it so tricky to master. Luckily, we have a few ideas to help us be more present, even though Kathryn admits to being a planner, and Kirsty tries to change the past through willpower alone. Today’s question for you to mull over and which...

Roots : restrictive, anchoring, connecting, trip hazards, something that needs dyeing…? Having agreed that this isn’t about hair, we manage a quite sensible conversation about the ‘woodwide’ web, and (surprisingly) avoid getting too distracted by cream teas, only to end up discussing trees walking about and swinging anchors; daps; bonsai rejection, and our (temporary) failure to be more firmly roo...

Today’s episode is a special guest episode with John Bryant,Low Carb Coach, and our topic this week is a great one which impacts us all – sleep.  A good night’s sleep is the holy grail we wish to have and repeat, but it can feel out of our hands to get! However, fortunately there are some things we can doto help ourselves which John generously shares with us all – from sleep cycles, body temperatu...

Too much of one thing (even biscuits!) isn’t good foranyone. But how on earth do we lead a ‘balanced life’? This week we discuss what’s tricky about the concept ofbalance in the first place, a life ‘see-saw’, and how we can create a semblance of balance (rather than a perfect equilibrium). We also pick apart the term ‘work-life balance’ and replace it with a life smoothie!   Today’s question for y...

This week we delve a bit deeper into life coaching: when isit likely to be useful, what coaching offers and when it might be time to try it.   Of course we are biased, but with good reason – in a lot of life’s ups and downs, coaching can be useful, complimentary to other initiatives and a way to unravel the messinessof life to make it all feel a bit simpler. Coaching can be proactive, not just as...