As we head into the winter months it’s dark, it’s cold and Spring feels a long way away. In the past week it has been very cold here in the South of England. Probably nothing on what is seen in other countries but we English love to moan about the weather. Probably because we secretly love it.

We are heading into the Christmas period which brings its own issues for some but it’s a period of fun and excitement for many. A thankful way to squeeze ourselves through the first part of the winter at least. But, those January and February days are coming so its always good to be ready for that mentally and physically. There are things we can do make it more bearable and a time to really set in motion positive plans for the coming seasons.

So, this is a post about preparing but also one of celebration. I have just launched a dedicated section on this newsletter to mental health. To be honest, I hadn’t intended to write quite so many posts on mental health but here we are with a few now. I’ve realised its an area where I enjoy looking into new ways to help so I’m equally delighted to be able to share those things in this newsletter.

I stumbled on the graphic below from Liz Fosslien on LinkedIn last week. It reminded me me of how looking after your mental health is not a selfish thing at all. Our mental health affects everyone around us. From the teams we lead at work to our families once we get home. They feel the benefits when you feel in a good place.

Over the past few months I’ve explored different ways of approaching mental health. In October, the days were starting to shorten but the benefits of still ensuring you get out there in nature were clear. Building time outside is one of the best things you can do to improve your mood and set you up for the day. recommends:

Check out my October post below:

That brings us to rest. Again, this is one of those things were you need to look after yourself. The temptation is to keep going until you feel like you need to stop. The key is to build in rest so that you never get to that stage. In the long run this will avoid burnout too.

In the post below I explored these 6 ways that you can build rest into your routine:

• Every hour take a 5 min break

• Every 4 hours take a 15 min break

• Middle of the day take a 30 min break

• Take a full rest weekend every 30 days

• Take a 3 day break every quarter

• Once a year, take a week off.

And that nicely brings us to resilience. Lucy Hone, in her TED talk told a heart breaking story about how she lost her daughter and how she went from helping others build to resilience to a crisis of her own. She sets out three tricks that can really help you.

Check out the full post here with links to the YouTube video of her talk.

Finally this brings us to one of my big learnings from this year and from the pandemic before that.

It feels more so these days that most media outlets thrive on the latest crisis and look to suck you in to the latest bad news. They have realised that its much easier to keep people on their platform by feeding them bad news as opposed to good news. This is the same human inclination to stop and stare at a car crash on the motorway. We cant help it.

But you can, and need to stop watching the news. Imagine what you could do with that time….I started this newsletter!

Check out the full post here:

You can find my new mental health section in the bar at the top of my home page. I hope you find these resources useful.

This week’s recommendation

- This week I discovered this little gem of a newsletter which I immediately subscribed to. Written by Richard Johnson, he covers subjects from coffee and alcohol to Charlie Munger and the stock market. Worth reading and subscribing to.

- Stories from career breakers to what is time, this is a newsletter I wish I'd discovered earlier. has created a unique collection of articles that explores a world of excitement beyond the mundane. Go take a look!

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