Kat talks with Jay Alderton, a transformation coach, speaker and former British Army soldier, who cuts through the noise with brutal honesty and knowledge based on his personal experiences. They talk about the dangers of online connection replacing real human interaction, relationship longevity and personal growth. Jay delivers powerful truths about self-awareness, accountability, and the courage to do hard things and his unique perspective on why "knowing and not doing is the same as not knowing" will challenge you to examine your own life and excuses!

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Jay's experiences have taught him that true success comes from understanding the difference between failing and failure. Failing is just part of the learning process.
• Through his years of experience in the fitness and social media industry, Jay has observed how modern technology creates a false sense of connection. We need real human interaction and he creates this himself by challenging his comfort zone in various situations.
• Jay has found that public accountability is crucial for achieving goals. When he tells others about his intentions, he's more likely to follow through because he values being seen as reliable and trustworthy.
• Environment shapes performance. One thing you can do for your environment is consider your own digital connections through actions like auditing your Whatsapp conversations and social media feeds to ensure they support growth rather than negativity.
• There is power in focusing on one "keystone habit." which can often create a cascade of good habits and success.
• Self-awareness and brutal honesty are essential. Jay challenges his clients for their own benefit.
• Having been with his wife since age 13, Jay understands that relationships require constant communication and adaptation.
• Based on his observations of both clients and his own journey, Jay recognises how people can become comfortable in negativity, creating toxic cycles of complaining without action.

BEST MOMENTS

“You can't fail if you don't give up.“

"Knowing and not doing is the same as not knowing. So you don't know something if you're not doing it, that's the reality. So don't fool yourself that you are, that you know something."

"My granddad taught me to leave things better than when you found them... if every human being left people and things a little bit better than when they found them, the world would be a much better place."

"We are more attracted to negativity and drama than we are to positivity and kindness”.

"Environment dictates performance... Being around other people who are focused on growth and focused on improvement, you end up being that person who's focused on growth and focused on improvement."

ABOUT THE GUEST

Jay Alderton

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Hard-Stuff-Easy-Life-Principles/dp/0241682673

ABOUT THE HOST

Kat started her career as a teacher, before moving into Tech where she worked in different executive roles within teaching and consulting working across the globe, both in the public and private sector. Despite appearing 'successful' on the outside, she paid a heavy ‘life’ price. In 2016, her whole world collapsed. The reason? The compound effect of years of unhealthy and toxic habits that destroyed her health, relationship and career. She suffered a severe breakdown and lost everything. In the middle of this she got headhunted for her first CEO role. She rebuilt herself by changing just one small habit, and built a series of positive habits which has transformed her professional and personal performance, resulting in becoming the healthiest and happiest version of herself.

She is a positive habits international keynote speaker and teacher, giving talks and delivering high impact programmes to organisations across the globe.

LinkedIn

Instagram

Kat talks to social psychologist Thomas Curran for a fascinating exploration into perfectionism, productivity, and the pressure to constantly achieve more. Kat and Thomas challenge the societal obsession with constant growth and explore why we feel we're never "good enough." From the surprising economic roots of perfectionism to practical strategies for breaking free from its grip, they share tips on finding balance in a world that demands perfection. Thomas also shares his thoughts on the power of doing nothing and his life changing decision to give up alcohol.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• The feeling of "not being good enough" is partly driven by our economy's need for constant consumption, which requires people to feel perpetually insufficient to drive purchasing behaviour.
• Success stories like Gymshark shouldn't be our only measure of achievement. We need to recalibrate and redefine what success means, recognising that making a decent living is enough.
• Perfectionism creates a gap between who we are and who we think we should be, this is driven more by the pressure to constantly achieve more.
• True rest and "doing nothing" can paradoxically be our most productive moments, allowing for creativity and lateral thinking that busy work prevents.
• Early morning exercise, even just 15 minutes, can transform your day - the key is making it easy and accessible rather than setting unrealistic expectations.
• Parents can integrate positive habits with family life rather than seeing them as separate activities, this can be anything, from family book clubs to exercise and walks.
• Phone addiction and constant screen time pull us away from being comfortable in our own skin, contributing to perfectionism and hyperactivity too.
• Small changes, like giving up alcohol, can have transformative effects on energy, presence, and productivity that exceed expectations.

BEST MOMENTS

"Growth doesn't thrive in abundance, it thrives under scarcity... In order to have growth, there has to be deficit."

"We live in supply side economies where consumption is a big part of everything... if we need to consume all the time to keep our economy growing, that means that we need to feel inferior all the time."

"I think we should be lounging about wasting days more, human beings need to be contemplative, resting just as much as they need to work."

"When you become a parent, you realise that you're reduced to nothing more than a helpless spectator. So ultimately they're in control anyway."

ABOUT THE GUESTS

Thomas Curran

ABOUT THE HOST

Kat started her career as a teacher, before moving into Tech where she worked in different executive roles within teaching and consulting working across the globe, both in the public and private sector. Despite appearing 'successful' on the outside, she paid a heavy ‘life’ price. In 2016, her whole world collapsed. The reason? The compound effect of years of unhealthy and toxic habits that destroyed her health, relationship and career. She suffered a severe breakdown and lost everything. In the middle of this she got headhunted for her first CEO role. She rebuilt herself by changing just one small habit, and built a series of positive habits which has transformed her professional and personal performance, resulting in becoming the healthiest and happiest version of herself.

She is a positive habits international keynote speaker and teacher, giving talks and delivering high impact programmes to organisations across the globe.

LinkedIn

Instagram

Kat is joined by Seema Menon, who shares her journey from being a ‘constantly on’ sales director to discovering the transformative power of mindfulness and balance. She discusses her experiences leading at Sony Pictures and completing marathons, challenging the "busy culture" mindset while offering practical ideas for sustainable high performance. This episode also features surprising statistics about productivity and includes a compelling discussion on why the simplest solutions are often the most effective.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Rather than making life easier, technology has created a "scarcity mindset" where we feel compelled to work harder and achieve more, leading to chronic stress and burnout.
• Small, sustainable changes like five minute meditation breaks or mindful walking can have more impact than dramatic lifestyle overhauls, making them more likely to stick and create lasting positive change.
• The cost of burnout extends far beyond work performance, affecting relationships, health, and finances, with some people taking years to recover from severe burnout.
• Businesses are seeing more silent resignations and decreased efficiency due to the "always on" culture, particularly in hybrid work environments where boundaries between work and personal life have blurred.
• Intentional congruence - combining activities like walking meetings, can help integrate mindfulness into busy schedules without feeling like it’s wasted time.
• Morning routines incorporating exercise or mindfulness can boost workplace productivity by up to 72%, while quality sleep can increase productivity by 29%.
• Seema's practice of mindfulness made her more aware of others' challenges, transforming her leadership style to become more empathetic and supportive of team members.

BEST MOMENTS

"Nobody's going to say that I wish I did that extra one hour of work and got that additional deal for that organisation. It would always be regret about not having spent enough time with their children."

"Every time you look at the clock, bring a smile to your face, you're alive and kicking."

"We get so caught up in this trap of work and careers... What are your children going to remember? What are your partners, your family, your friends going to remember?”

"You don't have to always be the Iron Man or the superwoman... just be yourself and just be kind."

ABOUT THE GUEST

Seema has over 19 years diverse experience in Broadcast Media and Entertainment predominantly in Advertising Sales. Her previous role as Region Head of Sales, Sony Pictures Network entailed leading teams across multiple geographies with revenue generation responsibilities.

Seema has had a stint in technology (Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning) at SparkBeyond, UK, an AI scale-up, as Impact Strategist (EMEA). At present, she pursues her entrepreneurial venture as a Coach, Mentor and Keynote Speaker, conducting various Apperceptive programs with Headstride Ltd. Seema remains immersed in her Leadership roles at Toastmasters International, as a Mentor at The Prince's Trust and at CSO UK as a Steering Committee Member.

LinkedIn

ABOUT THE HOST

Kat started her career as a teacher, before moving into Tech where she worked in different executive roles within teaching and consulting working across the globe, both in the public and private sector. Despite appearing 'successful' on the outside, she paid a heavy ‘life’ price. In 2016, her whole world collapsed. The reason? The compound effect of years of unhealthy and toxic habits that destroyed her health, relationship and career. She suffered a severe breakdown and lost everything. In the middle of this she got headhunted for her first CEO role. She rebuilt herself by changing just one small habit, and built a series of positive habits which has transformed her professional and personal performance, resulting in becoming the healthiest and happiest version of herself.

She is a positive habits international keynote speaker and teacher, giving talks and delivering high impact programmes to organisations across the globe.

LinkedIn

Instagram

Kat talks about the concept of choosing your hard. She explains why choosing what feels like the easier option at the time can actually be making your life harder and the idea that doing hard things creates an easy life.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Kat would spend every morning snoozing her alarm, feeling stressed by immediately checking her phone and needing caffeine to get started. This was a hard way to start the day and ultimately live.
• Getting up at 5 am to exercise or meditate every morning is also hard, but is it a 'better hard' than many of us choose?
• The small decisions we constantly make in our daily lives are all contributing to how we feel.

BEST MOMENTS

“The question is, which hard are you going to choose?”

“Hard things, easy life”

“We overlook all these little choices every day, they are contributing to how we feel in our lives”

ABOUT THE HOST

Kat started her career as a teacher, before moving into Tech where she worked in different executive roles within teaching and consulting working across the globe, both in the public and private sector. Despite appearing 'successful' on the outside, she paid a heavy ‘life’ price. In 2016, her whole world collapsed. The reason? The compound effect of years of unhealthy and toxic habits that destroyed her health, relationship and career. She suffered a severe breakdown and lost everything. In the middle of this she got headhunted for her first CEO role. She rebuilt herself by changing just one small habit, and built a series of positive habits which has transformed her professional and personal performance, resulting in becoming the healthiest and happiest version of herself.

She is a positive habits international keynote speaker and teacher, giving talks and delivering high impact programmes to organisations across the globe.

LinkedIn

Instagram

Kat is joined by Damien Baxter, a former teacher and now Head of Marketing for LiveLink Ai. They explore the often overwhelming busyness we all struggle with and how to achieve sustainable well-being through creating positive habits. Kat and Damien highlight the vital connection between mental, emotional, and physical health and talk about the importance of creating unscheduled moments to simply exist. The conversation also addresses why success doesn't always mean happiness, why you are always the priority and offers advice for creating a more balanced, fulfilling life beyond hustle culture.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Our brains only have so much capacity and the hectic modern world we are all living in currently makes things difficult for us, particularly around memory.
• Being busy is a habit in itself. Damien creates what he called ‘interim time’ to just exist and be, rather than always being scheduled to do something.
• Kat’s burnout in 2016 was in part because she did not give herself the space or time to understand what was happening in her life and the challenges she was facing, particularly in regard to relationships.
• Looking after yourself properly, including eating well and exercising is proven time and time again to impact both your professional and personal performance, but this is easily ignored at the expense of 'working hard'.
• Your number one priority in life isn’t your work or other people it is your own wellbeing. You have to look after yourself to be able to help others.
• Your mental health and your emotional health are intertwined with your physical health and performance. Damien experienced first hand what this meant during covid.
• If you can learn how to give yourself energy and increase performance regularly, you won’t need to always feel like you are waiting for your next ‘break from life’ to relax, like annual leave or Christmas.
• Just because someone has everything society tells us we need to be successful, it doesn’t mean they are happy. Even the likes of Steve Jobs is rumoured to have regrets on his deathbed of not spending enough time with family and friends.
• Even small changes to your habits can completely transform your life and your happiness levels.

BEST MOMENTS

“Having that free time to just do ‘stuff’ is important”

“One of the reasons my life completely exploded in my face is because I never gave myself the space to truly know what was going on”

“Life’s too short, enjoy it and embrace the people around you and make time for strangers, everybody has a story, just listen”

“Prioritise what you have to do and make time for yourself.”

“Without you, everything falls apart, so you’ve got to look after yourself”

“People will die for their children, but they won’t live for them”

“Men do cry, men can have these moments of weaknesses emotionally”

ABOUT THE GUEST

Damien Baxter, a former teacher and now Head of Marketing for LiveLink Ai.

LinkedIn

ABOUT THE HOST

Kat started her career as a teacher, before moving into Tech where she worked in different executive roles within teaching and consulting working across the globe, both in the public and private sector. Despite appearing 'successful' on the outside, she paid a heavy ‘life’ price. In 2016, her whole world collapsed. The reason? The compound effect of years of unhealthy and toxic habits that destroyed her health, relationship and career. She suffered a severe breakdown and lost everything. In the middle of this she got headhunted for her first CEO role. She rebuilt herself by changing just one small habit, and built a series of positive habits which has transformed her professional and personal performance, resulting in becoming the healthiest and happiest version of herself.

She is a positive habits international keynote speaker and teacher, giving talks and delivering high impact programmes to organisations across the globe.

LinkedIn

Instagram

This episode explores how positive habits can help people navigate menopause, reconnect with themselves, and build stronger relationships, as Kat chats with menopause coach and educator, Adele Johnston, about confidence, and finding joy.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Part of my menopausal symptoms is that I get cold bones and shivery, so when I go inside the sauna it’s heaven for me. I feel safe, like I’m having a big warm hug, my bones are happy.

• We, as women – females born female at birth with reproductive organs – are the majority percentage of the world that will appease others. By us sitting silent and not voicing what we do and don’t want (like guys talking in the sauna when I went in there to relax) we won’t get it.

• When we think of relationships it’s wider than marriages or partnerships, it’s relationship with self, within professional settings, friendship settings, children. Within the space of work that I do as a menopause coach I work with a lot of women who are no longer in a relationship with themselves. That’s the challenging foundation to build upon to have structured, strong relationships in all other senses.

• Losing a relationship with self is really sad to witness and I went through it. I went into early menopause in my mid-30s and I lost my relationship with myself. Everything from changing body shape and the ability to feel comfortable and confident in that new body composition. You start to question yourself, like if you’re good enough for that promotion, so why put my name in the hat?

BEST MOMENTS

“Sometimes we just have to ask for what we want.”
“In romantic relationships, when we start to feel less than, not sexy and sensual we stop dressing that way and we don’t feel our best possible self, that confidence that oozes out of us that our partners fall in love with isn’t there anymore. That became a big divide between me and my husband.”
“We can get swept up in the whirlwind of life, we can be at the forefront of our career in our 30s and 40s and we can become a slave to life and forget about ourselves and stop doing the things that bring us joy.”
“What’s in your joy jar? Where do you like to go? What do you like to experience with your senses? It’s about re-learning you.”

ABOUT THE GUEST

Adele Johnston is a menopause coach and educator for health coaches, PTs, Aesthetics practitioners, dentists and coaches, specialising in women’s health and happiness. She specialises in empowering women to navigate perimenopause, menopause, and beyond with health, happiness, and success.

Website

ABOUT THE HOST

Kat started her career as a teacher, before moving into Tech where she worked in different executive roles within teaching and consulting working across the globe, both in the public and private sector. Despite appearing 'successful' on the outside, she paid a heavy ‘life’ price. In 2016, her whole world collapsed. The reason? The compound effect of years of unhealthy and toxic habits that destroyed her health, relationship and career. She suffered a severe breakdown and lost everything. In the middle of this she got headhunted for her first CEO role. She rebuilt herself by changing just one small habit, and built a series of positive habits which has transformed her professional and personal performance, resulting in becoming the healthiest and happiest version of herself.

She is a positive habits international keynote speaker and teacher, giving talks and delivering high impact programmes to organisations across the globe.

LinkedIn

Instagram