Something I’ve discovered in the last year or so is the importance of blending fun and work. And that’s not the forced fun awkward role play type fun, but the genuine laughter, generating connections and “I really love this” type fun. I’ve been weaving this into what organisations I work with, what projects…
Tag: Charity
A Day in the Life
I’ve been enjoying a really good work/life balance since Christmas, so I thought it was about time I did another day-in-the-life snapshot. Here’s a random Thursday in January: 9am – 10am: Warm Up A rare day when I’m not doing school drop-off so I enjoy a slower start to the day. First job…
The Value of Humility
I’ve recently taken up swimming and those long quiet stretches doing lengths got me thinking about the value of humility. I haven’t swum properly since I was pregnant with my first child and before that since I was a child myself. I’ve recently gone back to the pool as a fitness push –…
Lessons in Criminal Justice
I’ve been learning more about the youth justice system for a recent project and it’s hard not to come away with a deep sense of sadness. It feels like we are clinging to an antiquated set-up, and I struggle to see hope in a system that continues to put punishment at its heart…
The Word of the Year is Build
Somehow its 2024 already and we’re catapulted into the season of new years’ resolutions – new strategies, aspirations and ambitions for the brand shiny new year ahead. One thing I’ve done is complete the Year Compass – reflecting back on the year gone and looking forward to the year ahead. What I love…
The Power of Action Learning Sets
One of the passion projects I’ve been pursuing over the last few months where my work schedule has been a bit more spacious is Action Learning Sets. With 5 other lovely humans from a freelance network I’m part of, we embarked on an exploration of what they involved and how they would benefit…
The Feast and Famine of Freelancing
It’s a phrase I’ve heard so many times – that freelancing is all about feast or famine. Newbies and established players seem to agree on it, there will be times when you have more work than you know what to do with, and times when you worry how you’ll pay the mortgage. It’s…
Lessons in Co-Design
This summer delivered a fantastic opportunity to work alongside a fellow freelancer on a co-design project, working to develop national policy asks for the upcoming election. I jumped at the chance – to build on my policy experience, to go deeper into co-design and to work in a freelance partnership. What’s Co-design? Co-design…
How LEGO Can Bring Play To Work
I recently fulfilled a year-long ambition: to certify in the Lego® Serious Play® method. Ever since I read Michael Fearne’s book last year, I knew I wanted to train in it. Fairly new into freelancing, and with a fairly hefty price tag for the course, I sat on it for a year before…
How to Be a Great Client
So, there are clients and then there are clients. I braced myself for a range of clients when I started out – the brilliant ones and the hair-pulling ones, because that’s life, right? Some people are clear, logical, structured and great communicators, and some people….less so. I’ve been looking back over the last…