January is always the same.

People are full of motivation, full of “this is my year,” full of fresh notebooks and big intentions.

And I love that energy.

But I need to say this: some people approach coaching the way they approach shopping. Like they’re picking a handbag.

“Do I like the vibe?”
“Does it look good on me?”
“Will it make me feel like I’ve got my life together?”

I actually took a Christmas break.

Like… a real one.

No laptop. No inbox. No “just quickly checking something.” I disappeared on purpose. So if you noticed the silence—sorry (not sorry). I needed it.

Now I’m back. Happy 2026. I genuinely hope this year is good to you.

And since it’s the first post of the year, we need to talk about the thing that never goes out of fashion:

New Year’s resolutions.

I’m not against the intention. I’m against the delusion.

Confession: for years, I told myself I was “having a Christmas break.”

I wasn’t.

I was just working from Portugal.

And what’s worse is that I genuinely believed it. Because the scenery changed. Because I was “with family.” Because I wasn’t in London, or in an office, in the usual routine. So in my head it counted as rest.

But if you’re still sending emails, still taking calls, still mentally “on”… that’s not a break. That’s relocation.

What’s your superpower?

If you asked me, I’d say mine is reading people. Not in a “woo-woo, psychic” way, but in the sense that I can usually tell - pretty quickly - who’s genuine and who isn’t. It’s a gift that’s served me well, both in life and in coaching.

I’ve always had it. Even as a kid, my parents would (sometimes grudgingly) come to me for advice about their own friends. I remember being ten, watching the adults, and thinking, “Why are you friends with that person?” My mom would roll her eyes and tell me not to judge. A year later? She’d admit I was right. Superpower confirmed.

Let’s rewind to 2012. Luanda, Angola. I was a director, but still the “junior” on a business trip with one of my seniors and the co-owner of the company. We’d landed a golden ticket: dinner at the home of the CEO of one of the Big Four consultancies. Not a hotel bar, not a stuffy boardroom. The CEO’s private home, inside a walled, guarded compound that could’ve been airlifted in from Beverly Hills.

Let’s get real: I grew up listening to self-help tapes.
Not music. Not stories. Self-help tapes.

From the age of eight or nine, every car trip was a motivational seminar on wheels—success gurus, personal development programs, you name it. My dad ran a consultancy company, so this was just… normal. I honestly thought everyone grew up like this.

If your company expects you to sacrifice your life for your career, they're not building a high-performance culture—they're building a burnout factory. After 20 years of coaching and my own burnout experience, here's the truth about work-life balance: it's not a luxury. It's survival.

Nineteen years in London. Seventy countries visited. Clients from over 150 countries coached. Here's what becoming a chameleon coach taught me about authentic adaptation, reading people, and why great coaching is never one-size-fits-all.

When Did Changing Careers Become an Act of Courage?

Our parents didn't agonize over career changes. Most didn't have them.

One job. One industry. One trajectory from graduation to retirement. The script was simple, predictable, and for many, suffocating.

Today? We're living in a fundamentally different world. And yet, we're still carrying the weight of that old narrative, the one that says stability means staying put, that reinvention is reckless, that changing your mind about your career is somehow a failure.

Let me be clear: it's not.

You've done everything right.

You've taken the courses. Read the books. Attended the workshops. Built the skills. And yet - you're stuck.

Not because you're not capable. Not because you're not trying hard enough. But because the version of yourself that got you here isn't the version that will get you there.

This is the career plateau nobody talks about. And it's not a skills problem. It's an identity problem.

The Pattern I Keep Seeing

I've coached hundreds of professionals who've hit this wall. High performers. Talented people. The kind of employees companies desperately want to retain and promote.

They come to me frustrated. "I don't understand why I'm not progressing. I have the skills. I'm doing the work. What am I missing?"

We need to talk about success.

Not the Instagram version. Not the LinkedIn highlight reel. The real thing.

Because I've spent over two decades coaching professionals across every industry, every income level, every definition of "successful" - and I keep seeing the same pattern.

The people who look the most successful are often the most miserable.

The Paradox Nobody Talks About

I work with several types of people:

But ultimately I see those who've "made it" - the big titles, the impressive salaries, the corner offices - who feel empty, exhausted, and trapped.

And those who've designed their lives around what actually matters to them - who might not have the fancy job titles, but have freedom, presence, and fulfillment.

Guess which group is happier?

I need to talk about something that's been driving me absolutely insane for a long time.

At least twice a week - sometimes more - I'm coaching someone who's had a horrific experience with a company's Talent Acquisition team. Candidates who were genuinely excited about opportunities, only to be met with such coldness, rudeness, or outright disrespect that they walked away thinking, "If this is who they're hiring, this isn't my kind of company."

And I've experienced it myself. Multiple times throughout my career, I've been interested in a role - excited, even - and then I meet the internal recruiter. The tone. The behavior. The coldness. And suddenly, I'm out.

In a world fracturing at the seams, with global conflicts, climate disasters, and systemic breakdowns, how do we maintain our humanity and mental health?

This blog explores practical strategies for navigating a dystopian landscape without surrendering hope, authenticity, or our fundamental connection to human experience. Discover how resilience isn't about toxic positivity, but about staying genuinely, courageously human.

In 20 years of leadership coaching, I've seen the same patterns repeat across boardrooms, teams, and industries. There's something we need to address - a truth about leadership that no one wants to say out loud.

Leadership isn't about having all the answers. It's about having the courage to admit you don't.

For two decades, I've watched leaders across continents struggle with the same fundamental question: "Am I doing this right?" And here's the truth nobody wants to say out loud - the best leaders are the ones brave enough to ask that question every single day.

The Vulnerability Paradox

Traditional leadership models are broken. They're relics from an era that believed authority meant invulnerability, that showing emotion was weakness, and that leaders should have all the answers before anyone asks the questions.

Bullshit.

Let's talk about the coaching world's dirty little secret: the eye roll I get when I say "I'm a life coach."

Introduce me as a "leadership coach" or an "executive coach," and suddenly I'm taken seriously. But "life coach"? Cue the skeptical looks and barely hidden smirks.

Here's the irony: Life coaching is the most comprehensive, challenging form of coaching there is.

Three years ago, when the genocide in Gaza began, something broke inside me. Not just from witnessing the horror, but from watching people I deeply admired stay silent.

Coaches I looked up to. Wellness professionals I respected. And when the world literally started burning down, they said nothing.

How do you call yourself a wellbeing coach while children are being slaughtered and you don't say a word?

As a Career Coach, I am often asked what the most powerful tool to find "the dream job" is, and my answer has remained the same for the past 15 years and I doubt it will ever change: NETWORKING!

Now that Spring is here, what better way to do that than by giving your life a much-needed spring cleaning? No, we're not talking about dusting off shelves and vacuuming carpets (although that's important too!). We're talking about spring cleaning your entire life, from your physical space to your mental well-being.

After all, Spring is the perfect time to rejuvenate and revitalize your life, and what better way to do that than to embark on a 31-day spring cleaning program?