When you work in a creative role, remember it’s not just your mindset you need to strengthen. Movement is medicine, preventative medicine that keeps you feeling young. And the endorphins - heller! For a sustainable creative practice look after your physical health too.

I try to keep it high vibe, inspirational content, only occasionally falling down a Kardashian hole. But it’s still not healthy to take in so much information without taking the time to digest before starting the next video, podcast or audio book.

1. Wake up​ to the way your fear is holding back your creative potential - by cultivating self awareness.

2. Shake up​ your limiting beliefs with a new way of thinking about failure - by embracing positive psychology and unshakable self belief.

3. Make up​ with yourself by softening towards your creative anxiety - accepting unconditional self compassion.

Evidence shows that people with natural creative gifts are wired differently. They experience intense extremes in energy and mood. They can go from flow energy where rest and food are not needed for days, to devastating lows. Flow to low. They feel intensely. The same sensitivity that makes creatives intuitive also makes them moody, with extreme mood swings a part of their daily life. This special disposition leaves creatives at a higher risk of mental illness.

If you stop running and hiding from the things that make you nervous, you’ll see for yourself, fear is a gift. A message. A lesson to guide you in the right direction. A shortcut to level up. Here I share a potent journal exercise from my free Failure Friendly Ebook.

As someone who has always had an abundant supply of self doubt and had to work really hard to feel confident, it was interesting to hear from someone else who found that confidence came naturally and self doubt only appeared later in life.

The truth is I am, you are, we are all invited to unlimited success, optimal vitality, endless abundance in all areas of of our life. Something tells me it’s not going to be an easy or steady climb, we will tumble and fall as we head for an ever increasing summit. But don’t stop now because you’re comfortable. Ask for more. Realise you deserve it.

The Gary Vaynerchuk’s of the modern motivational movement have a lot to answer for. The message to work harder, and longer than anyone else and sleep when you’re dead, is normalising an imbalance of masculine energy in the workplace. Yeah it feels amazing to crush your goals, smash your to-do lists, and kill it at work - but does it feel natural? Are you growing tired of the hustle and yearning instead for flow? As a woman, existing in the fiery world of entrepreneurship, the corporate ladder or just the daily grind can disconnect us from our natural feminine energy and lead to burnout.

Next time you’re struggling with an undesirable reality or unexpected situation try and imagine that discomfort in a box. Take a few deep breaths and envision yourself taking the box, or the problem, confidently and calming, with two hands. Send a message to your subconscious that you’re going to own this gift and take your power back.

This is the most woo woo sentence I think I’ll ever write: the language of nature is paradoxical. It talks in opposites, creating discomfort so that we will act in contrast. When we’re hungry we don’t crave more hunger because it would lead to starvation. Hunger tells the brain to break our fast with food. It’s through this polarity that nature creates continuous rhythm, swinging from extremes: day to night, summer to winter and food to fast. Life.

When your life falls apart, it’s hard get past the shock of it all. ‘How did I let this happen?’ I asked a friend when I admitted to her how of course I had strayed. Her response was not what I expected but it hit the nail on the head. She said ‘How do you boil a frog?

Eckart Toole points out that until you find that ‘aha’ moment of stillness, you have no choice but to repeat the patterns of your past. Let that sink in. If you crave control and have an inner critique with PMS like I do, you can imagine the hostility you hold against yourself when you thing are not going to plan. It puts the lame in blame let me tell you. But what the godfather of Mindfulness has demystified here is that blaming yourself only moves you further away from your goals by creating another self destructive pattern of thought. (The blame game).

This is one of my favourite exercises from my free ebook, the 4 questions every creative person should ask themselves to avoid slipping into old patterns of self destruction during the creative process. To become Failure Friendly we must move from being self conscious to self aware - there is big difference.

Excitement is the spark. Let’s get this fire started. Like the best firewood, you need to break it down, way down, kindling baby! The smaller the better! Don’t smother your flame with a heavy load. Lighten up and watch it light up! Here’s how to make a start on your creative project.

Ideas are easy, finishing is hard. It isn’t the work of finishing so much as the emotional turmoil of competition that is the real battle. In this video Seth Godin explains why are brains are wired this way, and how to breakthrough the uncertainty. It’s easier than you think - I wish someone had told me about this ten years ago!!

There’s a thunderstorm crashing outside and my boyfriend’s dog is hysterical. I’ve never seen her like this. She’s never cuddly with me, so it surprises me when she rests her head on my heart. Suddenly she’s calm. She falls asleep on my chest while the storm rages on. My slow heartbeat has calmed hers.

Only you can set you free, but may you find conviction in the strength of another. I found it in these words from Nick Cave:

“And if you want to bleed, just bleed… And if you want to leave, don’t breathe…don’t breathe a word…Just step away…and let the world turn”

Exhaling is the physiological switch we can flick to move from fear to excitement, I explored the research the backs this up in an earlier blog. But it turns out that exhaling can do so much more for your body and mind, are you ready?

Being Failure Friendly is about being your own biggest advocate, believing in yourself even when it seems impossible. What’s come to my attention lately is the way stress can hijack our ability to advocate for ourselves. Chatting with a group of women the other day we came to the conclusion that we all suffer from mental fog when we’re put on the spot to explain our ideas. At first we thought it was the result of self doubt, but then I remembered something awesome that had happened to me a few weeks earlier.

Where do you go when you procrastinate?

I can be found deep diving into Pinterest or ears deep in Podcasts. I’m drawn to the energy of renegades, whether its stand alone fashion or #girlbosses telling stories of how they forged their own path - I could drink that inspiration for days.