The Tom’s Life Lab Podcast

In the final episode of the anxiety series, Tom explores how anxiety often starts in the body before it ever becomes a thought. Racing heart, tension, urgency, these physical signals can quickly pull us into overthinking or reactive behaviour. And in those moments, we’re more likely to believe thoughts that are fast, protective, and often exaggerated. This episode focuses on a simple but powerful...

In the second episode of the anxiety series, Tom explores a pattern that sits at the heart of anxiety: the need for control. Under pressure, we often try to manage everything: outcomes, opinions, and uncertainty. But instead of calming us down, this can leave us feeling drained and stuck in overthinking. This episode introduces a simple framework to help: separating what’s in your control, what yo...

In the first episode of the anxiety series, Tom shares a story about “Will” - someone who, from the outside, seems to have it all together, but internally feels like everything could fall apart at any moment. This episode explores a common but rarely discussed experience: high-functioning anxiety. The kind that shows up as perfectionism, overthinking, or the constant fear of being “found out.” Tom...

In this final episode of Tom’s life lab, Tom reflects on crossing the finish line of the Manchester marathon 2026. After months of early mornings, long runs, and sticking to a plan, even when motivation wasn’t always there, the race itself becomes a moment of celebration. But what stood out most wasn’t the finish line. It was everything that came before it. Marathon training has a rhythm. Some run...

In this fourth episode of Tom’s life lab, Tom reflects on one of the more unexpected parts of marathon training, the quiet miles. While preparing for the Manchester marathon, his training plan has created regular time to run. On this particular run, there was no music or podcast, just the sound of his footsteps and breathing. And in that quiet, something shifted. Without distraction, his mind had...

In this third episode of Tom’s life lab, Tom reflects on a simple but often overlooked idea in both running and leadership: pace. While training for the Manchester marathon, he’s following a structured plan; Some days focused on speed, others on distance, and some simply about getting the miles done. This particular run didn’t start well. The first mile felt heavy, his breathing was laboured, and...

In this episode of Tom’s life lab, Tom shares a very different side of marathon training. With the Manchester marathon getting closer, not every run feels good. This one nearly didn’t happen at all. Before even leaving the house, the excuses were there: maybe tomorrow, maybe a shorter run, maybe not today. But he went anyway. It wasn’t a great run. Heavy legs, no rhythm, no flow. Just getting it d...

This episode of Tom's life lab is the first in a five-part series 'from miles to milestones'. Tom shares a moment from his marathon training for Manchester marathon 2026 where everything just clicked. Most runs feel pretty ordinary: tired legs, low motivation, just sticking to the plan. But this week, he had one of those rare runs where everything just clicked. His breathing settled, his legs felt...

Difficult conversations aren’t hard because we don’t know what to say, they’re hard because we lose our presence. In the final episode of the presence in life and leadership series of Tom's Life Lab, Tom explores what happens in our nervous system during challenging conversations and how staying present, even when uncomfortable, can lead to more honest and impactful outcomes Life Lab Experiment: I...

Many people believe they’re struggling because they don’t have enough time. But what if the real issue is energy? In this third episode of the presence in life and leadership series, Tom reflects on how caring too much, over-responsibility, and fear of dropping the ball can quietly push us toward burnout. Rather than doing more, this episode invites a shift in focus from managing time to managing...

Many of us live in a state of constant hyper-responsiveness, always reachable, always reacting, rarely fully present. In this episode of the presence in life and leadership Life Lab series, Tom reflects on how constant availability fragments attention, dulls experience, and impacts clarity. He introduces the idea of designing your presence; intentionally choosing when to be available, and when to...

Presence isn’t something you either have or don’t have, it’s a muscle you can build. In this Life Lab episode, Tom explores why staying present is hard in a fast, noisy world, and how we can gently return to ourselves without judgment. The episode includes a simple Life Lab experiment to help you practice presence in the middle of everyday life. Life Lab Experiment: Once a day, pause and notice on...

We spend most of our days in our heads: thinking, planning, solving and in the process, we often miss the signals our body is sending us. In the final episode of the energy Series, Tom explores how your body communicates fatigue long before your mind catches up. Tight shoulders, shallow breathing, tension, fading focus - these aren’t random annoyances, they’re early warnings. You’ll learn why igno...

Most days aren’t ruined by one big stressful event, they’re worn down by lots of small ones. In this episode of the Tom's Life Lab, Tom explores the idea of micro stressors: the emails, notifications, interruptions and task switches that quietly stack up and drain your energy without you really noticing. You’ll learn why it’s not the size of these stressors that matters, but how they accumulate, h...

We’ve been taught to push through when things get tough, to power on through tiredness, brain fog, and fading focus. But does it actually work? In this episode of Tom's Life Lab, Tom explores why forcing yourself to keep going when your energy dips often leads to slower work, lower quality, and deeper exhaustion. Rather than being a weakness, those signals of fatigue are your body asking for a res...

Rest should be simple, but for many of us, it’s anything but. In this episode of Tom's Life Lab, Tom explores why slowing down can feel so uncomfortable, especially for people who are driven, ambitious, and used to constant action. From the guilt that creeps in when we stop, to the false idea that rest is “doing nothing,” this episode unpacks how we’ve been conditioned to equate busyness with prog...

In this episode of Tom's Life Lab, Tom explores the hidden cost of being “always on” and why constant availability is quietly draining our energy, focus, and mood. As part of the energy series, he reflects on how easy it is to slip into checking messages, only to find work bleeding into evenings, sleep, and recovery time. What feels productive in the moment often shows up later as poor focus, low...

In this episode, Tom explores why feeling busy but depleted isn’t a time problem, it’s an energy problem. As the first episode in the energy series, Tom reflects on how easily our energy gets drained by distraction, constant demands, and a lack of boundaries. Tom shares why protecting your energy isn’t selfish, but essential for presence, focus, and impact, and how small, intentional choices can r...

Resilience isn’t just about surviving challenges, it’s about shaping your identity through them. In this final episode of the mindset series on Tom's Life Lab, Tom shares a personal story about a moment of vulnerability at work and how it transformed his understanding of strength. Strength isn’t the absence of struggle, it’s the decision to rise again. Each hard task, difficult conversation, or to...

Resilience isn’t just about pushing through, it’s about changing how you relate to difficulty. In this episode of Tom's Life Lab, Tom continues on the mindset series, sharing a personal story from the early days of HEX, when repeated rejection started to take its toll. Instead of quitting, he turned rejection into a game, assigning points to every “no” and tracking them like a scoreboard. What sta...

In this episode of Tom's Life Lab, Tom explores how narrowing your focus to what’s actually in your hands can calm overwhelm, restore clarity, and build resilience especially when the world feels noisy or uncertain. He shares the story of his book launch and how quickly he spiralled into worrying about reviews, sales, and opinions he couldn’t influence. The turning point came when he shifted his a...

In this episode of Tom's Life Lab, Tom explores how the mind creates stories, sometimes helpful, often unhelpful and how easily we can spiral into beliefs that simply aren’t true. He shares a moment from leading a major change project when one tough meeting sent him into self-doubt… until he paused, questioned the story, and remembered his strengths. This week’s episode is a reminder that you get...

In this episode, Tom explores the mindset that anything is possible not by pretending things are easy, but by choosing challenges that stretch us, scare us, and grow us. He shares the story behind writing his book 'People People', the self-doubt he had to work through, and how taking imperfect steps strengthens your ability to adapt, learn and lead. This is an episode about resilience built on pur...

Starting again can feel heavy, even shameful, as if beginning anew means something has failed. But as Tom shares in this episode of Tom's Life Lab, reinvention isn’t weakness; it’s courage in its purest form. Whether it’s a plan that’s fallen apart, a dream that’s shifted, or a life change you didn’t choose, starting again is part of being human. Tom explores what it means to rebuild, to release t...

Life has a way of surprising us. Sometimes it’s a new opportunity, other times it’s the kind of change that knocks the wind out of you. In this episode of Tom's Life Lab, Tom shares what he’s learned about dealing with life’s curveballs, the moments when plans fall apart and certainty disappears. He explores why our first instinct to control or fix isn’t always the right one, and how peace comes n...