Join Kat as she sits down for a conversation with inspiring Operations Director, Carol-Anne. Together, they take a look at what it really means to create a healthy, open workplace where employees feel safe to prioritise their mental health. Carol-Anne also opens up about her own experience with intermittent fasting and how small changes can make a big difference in how we feel and show up in life.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Employee well-being is a shared responsibility between employers and employees.
• In a fast-paced world, people often neglect their own well-being due to time constraints. It's essential to prioritise reflection and self-care, even if it means scheduling time for it in a busy calendar.
• Employers should create an environment where issues can be raised and heard, while employees need to take the initiative to speak up about their mental health and well-being.
• Carol-Anne notes how getting to know your team, and treating employees as individuals, can help to improve workplace performance.

BEST MOMENTS

‘There is no more time than is physically available during the day.’

‘There's a lot of times where employees don't talk or speak up until the last minute and it becomes too late and it's a bigger issue than potentially what it needs to be.’

‘I met somebody very senior in the week and she said that her boss can tell when she's been running before work without even having a conversation about the fact that she's been running.’

‘I think there's something in today's culture around that where we seem to be a lot more free in what we have the ability to chastise people around these days than we would have done a few years ago.’

‘We don't recognise the journey that people have been on to achieve milestones, whether that's career or personally, or maybe, you know, recovering from an addiction or whatever it might be. We just look at the moment when people are achieving some kind of success.’

‘Your truth can sometimes be very different to what the truth is, and having the ability to separate them can really take you down a different path.’

ABOUT THE GUEST

Carol-Anne Foote is a seasoned business manager with over 20 years of experience working in private healthcare. Currently, she works as an operations director for Meallmore, one of Scotland's most trusted providers of nursing and residential care. Skilled in strategy, finance, leadership, sales, HR, and change management, Carol-Anne also holds active nurse registration and a First-Class Executive Master’s in Business Leadership and Innovation.

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.

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In this episode, Kat speaks to Chris James, who reveals the lies we tell ourselves that keep us stuck and shares his powerful SCALE framework for growth. Chris shares his thoughts on optimism, relationships, and why most productivity apps are just expensive procrastination tools. Kat and Chris will challenge everything you think you know about success, time management and what it takes to build a life you don't want to escape from.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Chris shares his SCALE framework: systemise processes, create evergreen content, use automation/AI, delegate labour to others and eliminate unnecessary tasks to clone yourself in business
• Phone notes and pen and paper with weekly planning work better for Chris to keep him focused and organised. For most of us, productivity apps create procrastination instead of actual progress
• Chris uses a ‘perfect week’ calendar to balance daily business tasks with personal non-negotiables, which creates a better work life balance
• If you're not following through on scheduled commitments, you're simply not experiencing enough pain to drive real change
• Chris maintains optimism by zooming out, every problem becomes smaller when you widen your perspective
• If you’re struggling with a situation, Chris suggests you write out the problem and you'll feel better, then create a solution and realise it wasn't that bad
• Chris's business philosophy shifted from money driven to impact focused after he achieved financial freedom

BEST MOMENTS

"You're not in enough pain. If you are in enough pain, you'd do the thing."

"I have found the most productivity apps are actually just stopping you from being productive because they're forcing you to procrastinate when you should just be doing the thing.”

"Your mood, follow the plan, you feel bad about something, does it tie in with the main thing? No. Well, it doesn't matter then, does it?"

"We're overconsuming and we're underproducing, it's no wonder so many people are feeling really overwhelmed."

"The man who moaned about having to walk a mile to work suddenly shut the hell up when he saw the man with no feet."

ABOUT THE GUEST

Chris James helps coaches and marketers build 6 figure businesses without ads. He's a
best-selling author and speaker.

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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

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Kat shares a powerful reminder in this solo episode that you are not your thoughts. In every talk she delivers, she asks the same question and urges you to do the same “What is one of the first thoughts that you have when you open your eyes?” Kat shares why this question is so important, and you need to start taking note of these thoughts and how they impact your day.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• The thoughts you have first thing in the morning are shaping your day.
• Thoughts create actions, behaviours and your feelings.
• Negative thoughts have an evolutionary advantage to protect you, but in day to day life, they are sabotaging your growth and potential.
• When we believe every thought we have, including the negative ones, that’s when we impact our self-esteem and progress.
• You can’t stop your thoughts, but you can notice them without becoming them.

BEST MOMENTS

“Those thoughts are shaping your entire day”

“The job of this voice is to protect you and keep you safe, but often that voice can end up sabotaging you”

“I have got to a point now where I recognise those thoughts and I don’t let them control me or my actions”

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 with Allen Johnson who shares his tough love approach to breaking unhealthy cycles, making sustainable lifestyle changes and being a positive role model for children. He shares his personal story of overcoming family challenges and gives practical advice on movement, accountability and raising your standards as a parent.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Many parents neglect their own health while claiming to prioritise their children, missing the connection between self-care and effective parenting.
• Breaking large health goals into smaller, manageable steps is essential. Start with one meal improvement, one 10-minute workout per week or reducing alcohol consumption gradually, instead of attempting complete lifestyle overhauls.
• Tracking your habits creates awareness and accountability, many people overestimate their healthy behaviours until they actually document them.
• Practising gratitude and appreciating life itself can shift your perspective. Allen suggests comparing your life's value to material wealth: if you wouldn't trade tomorrow for a million pounds, why aren't you treating each day as the precious gift it is?
• Digital distractions, particularly phones and social media, are destroying quality time and relationships and stopping people from investing in their health. These "easy now, hard later" choices lead to long-term dissatisfaction.
• Movement is the foundational habit that creates positive ripple effects throughout your life so find physical activities you genuinely enjoy to build sustainable consistency, leading to better mood, energy, relationships, and self-image.
• Start with micro-commitments to overcome inaction; a 5-minute daily walk with your kids or 10 minutes at the gym can break the "all-or-nothing" mindset that prevents many people from beginning their health journey.
• Alan shares how growing up with an alcoholic father and challenging family dynamics fuelled his passion to help others transform their lives.

BEST MOMENTS

"If someone was to give you like a million pounds, would you be happy and excited? And of course you would be... Would you accept that million pounds if you couldn't wake up tomorrow? Of course answer is gonna be no. So then why aren't people treating their life like that?"

"There's a saying that hard now easier later or easy now, hard later and I think most people are choosing easy now, hard later. It feels easier in the moment... but in the medium to long term, you are only gonna be gaining more weight, feeling worse about yourself."

"Whenever I step into that gym and train my body hard, I always walk out of that gym feeling 10 times better than when I walk in. And that's why movement, exercise, workouts, whatever you wanna call it, is such a powerful habit to embed into your lifestyle."

"What did you come here for? Did you come here to just survive? Or did you come here to really, really live a great life, and I definitely know that I wasn't put on this earth to have an average life."

"Stay consistent for long enough, and that's how you get life changing results."

ABOUT THE GUEST

Allen Johnson, dad of two young boys based in Essex, who helps other parents work smarter with time & become an inspiring, energetic role model model for their children inside his transformation programme ‘Reach Your Peak’.

Follow Allen on instagram.

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

In this episode, Kat talks about the 10 things she has learnt by setting herself the challenge to run every day, for 100 days. Whether you are a runner or not, these lessons will still apply to you as Kat talks about why you can change more than you think when you commit to doing something small every day.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• No matter what habit you are trying to create, you just need to start. Once you do, you will build momentum and motivation to continue.
• We have all broken so many promises to ourselves, but by creating a small every day habit and sticking to it, we are honouring a promise to ourselves.
• Progress isn’t just about your best days but your average ones too.
• Making one positive habit change begins a ripple effect on the rest of your life, this is the power of habit.

BEST MOMENTS

“Honestly, it’s changed so much more than my fitness”

“It was reminding me that action beats overthinking”

“I started running because I wanted to honour the promise to myself”

“The best thing you can do is just begin”

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 speaks with David Harkin, CEO of 8 Billion Ideas, about his viral LinkedIn post about his phone detox. David talks about the impact constant digital connectivity was having on his life, including his performance as a CEO and father. He shares how setting boundaries with phone use and creating phone free periods, helped him regain focus and presence and build healthier relationships with his loved ones and technology.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• David's phone detox revealed that only 1-2% of notifications were truly urgent, we all overestimate the importance of immediate digital availability.
• Implementing 'batch processing' of communications at specific times of day can dramatically reduce the mental load of constant interruptions.
• Schools' communication strategies are adding to parents' digital overwhelm with multiple platforms and frequent updates, another source of micro-doses of stress.
• Starting Mondays with personal time (e.g no meetings before 10 AM) sets a positive tone for the entire week and creates space for creativity and strategic thinking.
• Creating a phone me culture at work can reduce the thousands of unnecessary messages exchanged, streamlining communication and improving focus.
• Removing work apps from your phone during weekends or designated periods creates crucial boundaries that protect personal time and mental space, too.
• Constant notifications interrupt creative flow, particularly for tasks requiring longer concentration, significantly extending the time needed to complete them.
• Finding your third dimension beyond work and family, like running, learning piano, or reading, is essential for personal wellbeing and maintaining energy for other areas of life.

BEST MOMENTS

"I was realising something's gotta change here because I'm sitting here reading my 8-year-old boy a story and I'm thinking about work and I can't stop thinking about work. I'm in two places at the same time."

"What I found interesting was when I turned the phone back on, there was a billion notifications there, but really the stuff which was urgent, you're talking about one or 2% of the stuff."

"I'm dyslexic as well, so it's not very helpful having that constant interruption when you're trying to write emails or get into a flow state of thinking."

"I think it would be great to see quick phone calls coming back into fashion again and using that as a way to get quick answers from people so we are not falling into the trap of just waiting for an update."

"Being present is one of the most beautiful things I've ever experienced. I feel like we're creating a better quality experience for people who are listening. It's more enjoyable for both of us to have this conversation."

ABOUT THE GUEST

David Harkin is a husband, father of three, and CEO of 8billionideas—a global education company delivering its Critical Curriculum to over 500,000 students in 25 countries. A recognised leader in education, he’s delivered two TEDx talks: "Can a 4-Year-Old Change the World?" and "How We Can All Embrace a World-Class Mentality." Ranked 8th globally by ISC Research, he’s received multiple awards, including the EduFuturist Award. Formerly at IBM, David led a multi-million-dollar business by 24 and earned the CEO Award. Outside work, he’s Vice President of Sevenoaks Vine CC and a passionate cricketer.

LinkedIn

8billionideas

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 Luke, a former workaholic whose perspective shifted after a realisation about his relationship with his children. Luke talks about how this change in perspective redefined how he viewed success and why creating a balance in all areas of life is important. He also shares with Kat why making genuine connections matters, how to be more present and how he creates a family first culture in his team.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Luke's wake up call came when his young son wrote 'Daddy, I got my swimming certificate today. Are you proud of me?' on a whiteboard because he knew he wouldn't see his father that day.
• Success doesn't have to mean sacrificing family time for your career. Luke went from earning a high salary with no time for family to making 40% less but being present for all his children's important moments.
• Constant goal setting and a "next big thing" mentality can create perpetual dissatisfaction; when you achieve one goal, you immediately look for something bigger rather than appreciating what you've accomplished.
• Luke deliberately creates a "family first" culture in his workplace, telling employees not to take holiday days for their children's events but to simply attend them.
• Men particularly struggle with communication and mental health, creating environments where phones are banned naturally encourages meaningful conversation and connection.
• Staying present rather than obsessing over future achievements reduces pressure, enables smarter choices and creates consistency while making the process more enjoyable too!
• Extreme challenges (like ultramarathons) driven by ego can lead to misery and disappointment; Luke found greater fulfilment in simple experiences like walking with his son or dinner with his daughter.

BEST MOMENTS

"When I came home, my son had written on the whiteboard 'Daddy, I got my swimming certificate today. Are you proud of me?' The reason he'd done that is because he knows he's not gonna see me. I was sat in my front room bawling my eyes out. This is not who I wanna be."

"For me, goals now are 'I'm gonna go for a walk with my son' or 'Me and my daughter are gonna go out for dinner together.' These are more important goals, really short term things, but I don't write them down. I just make sure they happen."

"I think if you blame other people for mistakes or you've got excuses for you not being where you want to be, then it's quite a loser mentality. I've always tried to blame myself for things."

"If you take a break from worrying about what you don't have and then focus on what you do have, I think it just makes you a lot happier by focusing on the present."

"A lot of people, success for them is having a lovely car, a massive house, lots of money. Whilst all them things are great, that's not what success looks like to me. Mine is being able to take my son to a swimming lesson."

ABOUT THE GUEST

Luke is the Director and Founder of Marble Recruitment and Co-Founder of Balance Wellness Club. One of his biggest regrets in life is that he prioritised work over spending time with my family and this is something he has been trying to remedy over the last 2 years since setting up Marble Talent Group.

Connect with Luke

Check out Balance Wellness

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