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I have spent a few days this week in Whangarei, that, coupled with the school holidays and a bit of a cold, has meant I haven't really known what day it is all week! It was really lovely to get the chance to visit the northern part of the motu (country), and I am also really energised by the new organisation I'm working for. On Thursday I visited the venue for my upcoming workshop: two/fifty seven Willis Street. As soon as I walked in I was struck by the friendliness and in

The last few weeks have been pretty full, as you might have guessed by the fact that this email is coming out later in the week than usual. Thank you for your patience with me! The past couple of weeks have included some real highs and lows. I have interviewed two amazing wahine (women) for the podcast, and I did my first online international Keynote on Thursday. Last week I attended a memorial of a colleague and friend, so the week has been full of emotions and memories.

Have you ever thought something had to be done one way, and then something happens that just blows that idea out of the water? I've been thinking a lot about paradigm shifting, blue sky thinking, and pushing back against expectations at the moment, and I have to say, it's exciting. Next week I will be presenting an online keynote presentation I'm titling Run Your Own Race: Trail Blazers. It's for an international organisation doing some really amazing work in the cancer sp

Wear the rhinestones Kia ora e hoa (hello friend), It's been a busy few weeks! The Aligned Author I flew to Auckland for the Romance Writers of New Zealand conference, where I heard from inspiring writers, met new and old friends, and was reminded again of some of the business basics of being a writer. On Saturday, I presented a workshop entitled The Aligned Author, about designing our lives intentionally, reflecting on what matters to us, and making space for it. Most of t

What if we were allowed to choose again? Who would we be if other people's expectations weren't shaping our decisions? It's a question I've been sitting with lately, and it's what inspired this week's episode of Doing It Messy. So many of us are living lives that we didn't consciously design. Sometimes we followed the path we thought we were supposed to take. Study this. Work here. Buy the house. Have kids. Stay home. Keep climbing. Be grateful. Sometimes we did make a co

From dream to design Normally Saturday mornings are Park Run days for me. I joined up in Adelaide as a way to make friends, and it's been a part of my routine ever since. Remarkably, the sun was out today, and it was actually still (almost unheard of in Te Whanganui-a-Tara, Wellington, in winter). Perfect running conditions. But I didn't go. Instead, I chose to walk the dogs with my dad. Andrew and I go up and visit my parents reasonably often. They're only an hour up the

It's almost the end of March. It's almost Easter. I know, I don't understand where the past three months have gone either. I caught up with my unofficial Alignment Circle today and it nourished my soul so much. Even though you might not feel like you have moved significantly towards your goals just yet, I bet you have achieved more in the past three months than you think you have. And if you haven't, don't worry. If this is a season of pushing for you- there is still plenty m

I’m a summer child. No two ways about it. I love sunshine, long days, living in shorts and jandals, and swimming in the sea. On the rare Wellington days when the sun shines while I’m in the office, I peer miserably out the window, running desperately outside to soak up vitamin C on my breaks. I drive my family nuts insisting we sit outside for dinner, even when it’s windy (spoiler: it’s always windy in Wellington). I’m also birthday obsessed . To me, birthdays are right up th

This time of year comes with a lot of noise. Noise about goals. Resolutions. Getting it right. Becoming better, more disciplined, more productive versions of ourselves. Don't get me wrong, I love goals. They can be inspiring, motivating, and genuinely helpful. They can give shape to our hopes and help us move toward things that matter. But they also have a quieter, darker side — one we don’t talk about nearly enough. Because so often, traditional goal-setting asks more of us

For a long time, I loved goal setting. I loved the clean slate of a new year, the notebooks, the plans, the sense that if I just thought hard enough and planned well enough, I could shape the year exactly how I wanted it to be. And to be fair — that approach worked , to a point. It helped me build a career, move countries, write books, run an ultramarathon, I ticked off some big life milestones. But lately, I’ve been craving something different. Something a little less rigid.

How Looking Back Helped Me Set Intentions for the Year Ahead I’ve been obsessed with goal setting and resolutions for a long time, but recently I’ve felt the desire to do something a little less right-or-wrong , and a little more in line with the kind of peace, ease, and spaciousness I’m working towards. Rather than jumping straight into goals, I’ve been drawn to a more reflective way of beginning the year — one that starts by looking back , before we look forward. Why I’m St

“A reflection on identity, values, and coming back to yourself — and why building a life that feels true matters more than ‘new year, new you.’”

It's that time of year; when people are looking towards 2026 and making a list of goals and resolutions. There are habits we promise ourselves we will stop, and ones that we will absolutely start. I love the enthusiasm of the turn of the year. I love that, for once, we are looking at ourselves and our lives and trying to figure out what we want to do differently. In my view, the more often we sit down to reflect on what matters, the better! We get so many messages every day a

Yesterday I had the pleasure of attending two events that helped me to connect with inspiring people. I attended a women in business event and heard from a fabulous woman entrepreneur; a proud kiwi who freely admits she doesn't have it all together, but whose story of resilience and creativity was hugely inspiring. I also got to talk to some other awesome women in business; people from accountants to sexual wellness experts, to stylists, to people recycling old things and tur

I had lunch with a wonderful friend yesterday. When I asked her how she was, I must admit, I was worried that she would say 'oh, you know, burning the candle at both ends a bit', or, 'feeling pulled in too many directions'. This is the kind of thing you would expect a successful CEO of the Aotearoa branch of an international organisation to say, especially when she's also a wife and mother as well. I should have known, however, that that wouldn't be her story. My friend looke

Is the goal actually to achieve all the hard things in life, or is it to have a more pleasant and meaningful life? Growth is one of my values, which is wonderful in so many ways, but sometimes it can mean I fall into the all-too-common trap of thinking that doing more makes me a better person. If I'm striving, if I'm working hard, I'm more meritorious, right? As a society, in the West at least, we seem to have this real aversion to laziness, which can make us feel like if not

One of the main reasons I wanted to write the VIP Mindset book, and indeed to start coaching, was to help busy, overwhelmed people who feel like they are fighting life and losing, to find a sense of ease. However, as the kind of person who has a Goals diary, who enjoys feeling productive, but who also struggles with laziness, I am mindful of not writing a book that is simply about taking the easy route at all times. In fact, I think often the easy choice in a moment is not th

Every year for the last five years or so, I have asked myself this question. I start my year by reflecting on my values, and from there I build out my goals. My values pretty much always stay the same, or very similar, but I think it's important to reassess each year, and to remind myself of what my vales mean to me. Determining your values can be done in a number of ways. If you sign up for my coaching, you can get a specially designed worksheet from me, but even just googli

Earlier this year I was fortunate enough to attend a workshop with Sara Cannon. There we learned all kinds of tips and tricks for making our plans and ambitions actually achievable. One of my biggest realisations was that I could give myself permission to follow my energy. This is an approach I now take, wherever possible, each day, week, and month. I’m still working on the specifics, but for now what it looks like is a week’s to do list (colour coded if I can), rather than

Look back and see how far you've come. Yesterday I drove to pick up the groceries. This does not sound like a big deal. In many ways, it's not. However, I didn't start learning to drive until I was seventeen. I didn't get my full licence until I was 29. Since then, I've hardly driven. I owned a car for about six months, and then I sold it to go travelling. I haven't owned one since. This means that when I do get behind the wheel of a car, I can be a bit nervous. I'm fine driv