Real conversations about building yourself, your business and your next chapter. Honest stories, practical ideas and gentle encouragement for women creating a life they love— one ordinary Tuesday at a time.
Site
RSS
Apple
Data updated on 19/10/2026
Recent rankings
Latest chart positions across Apple Podcasts and Spotify rankings.
Shared links between episodes and podcasts
Links found in episode descriptions and other podcasts that share them.
Discover shows related to An Ordinary Tuesday, based on actual content similarities. Explore podcasts with similar topics, themes, and formats, backed by real data.
Welcome to An Ordinary Tuesday, the podcast for people who want to create a life and future that feels like theirs.
I’m Helen Collard, and each week I’ll be sharing thoughts, ideas and conversations to help you get clearer on what you want, build your confidence, and take practical steps towards the life, business and future you want to create.
We’ll talk about the things that matter, the things that get in the way, and the small shifts in thinking and action that can lead to real transformation. Sometimes we’ll get into the practicalities of building a business. Other times, we’ll explore the questions we need to ask ourselves, the beliefs we need to challenge, and what it means to create a life on our own terms.
My hope is that you’ll find something here that makes you stop and think, see something differently, or feel ready to take that next step.
Make yourself a coffee, get comfortable, and join me for an ordinary Tuesday.
The Next Chapter Pathway: Practical lessons, tools and support to help you create the life, build the business and become the person you want to be. www.helencollard.com/pathway
Free Authenticity Audit Workbook: The Authenticity Audit is a guided workbook to help you uncover the labels and expectations you’ve been carrying, work out which ones genuinely belong to you, and reconnect with what matters most. You’ll explore where you might be performing to please others, what you’re afraid they’ll see when you show up as yourself, and how to navigate other people’s reactions as you start making choices that feel more true to who you are.
Free Find Your Place Workbook: Find Your Place - A Guided Workbook to help you get clear on your skills, your passions, what you can do, who you can help and to help you identify ways you can earn income through your strengths and interests.
If you enjoy An Ordinary Tuesday, please follow or subscribe to the podcast wherever you listen. If an episode makes you think of someone who might enjoy it, share it with them.
It really does help more people find the podcast, and I appreciate it.
Thanks for being here. I’ll see you on an ordinary Tuesday.
Helen x
Shownotes for this episode:
Podcast 12: The Authenticity Trap and How to Avoid It
Authenticity. It’s everywhere on social media. We’re told to show up authentically, build an authentic brand and be unapologetically ourselves. But what does that really mean?
In this episode of An Ordinary Tuesday, I’m exploring the authenticity trap: the idea that we can present ourselves as authentic without ever doing the work to discover who we really are.
How much of the person you show the world is genuinely you, and how much is shaped by the expectations of other people? The labels you’ve carried for years, the roles you play, the opinions you’ve absorbed and the picture you have in your head of what a successful person or a good life should look like can all influence the way you show up.
I talk about the WAGOLL test — What A Good One Looks Like — and how easy it is to look at someone else's life or business and decide that their version of success is the one we should be aiming for. We can end up copying somebody else's style, ideas and ambitions while convincing ourselves we're being authentic.
We explore what it means to reconnect with your values, question what you really think, recognise where you're performing for other people, and get honest about what you're afraid they might see if you let your guard down.
I'll also talk about why your authentic self won't be everyone's cup of tea, why that's not necessarily a problem, and what happens when we stop trying to make ourselves acceptable to everybody. Whether you're building a business, looking for a new job or simply trying to work out what you want from your next chapter, this matters.
Because you can't build a life that feels like yours if you're too busy trying to be somebody you think you ought to be.
In this episode, we explore
What it really means to be authentic, why it takes more than copying the people we admire, how to recognise the labels and expectations we've inherited, and how to start making choices that reflect who we are and what matters to us.
We also look at the fear of being judged, the discomfort that can come when we change, and how to stop making other people's approval the measure of our success.
Your next step
I've created The Authenticity Audit, a free workbook to help you explore the labels you're carrying, reconnect with what matters to you, recognise where you might be performing, and find the confidence to show up more like yourself.
It's a chance to pause, ask yourself some honest questions and start working out which parts of the person you've become genuinely belong to you.
You can also explore The Next Chapter Pathway, where we work on building a strong foundation, developing confidence and habits, creating a business that fits, and designing a life that feels meaningful and genuinely yours.
Thanks for listening to An Ordinary Tuesday. I hope this episode gives you something to think about, and perhaps the permission to stop trying to be everything to everybody.
11. How Much Money Do You Want?
Wednesday, October 7, 2026 • Duration 33:00
Come and check out The Next Chapter Pathway and Community:
Money is such an emotive subject. How much we earn. How much we spend. What we were taught about money growing up. The things we're frightened of. The things we dream about.
And yet, particularly online, we're constantly being told that we should want more. £10k months. Six-figure businesses. Financial freedom. The dream lifestyle. But how much money do you actually want? And perhaps more importantly, what do you actually want it for?
This week, I’ve been asking people that question on social media, expecting answers like "a million pounds", "£10k a month" or "I want to win the lottery". And while I got some of those answers, I was much more interested in the people who said they wanted enough to pay their bills and look after their dogs, enough to sort out the car, enough to treat their grandchildren – or, in one particularly memorable answer, enough for horses. Obviously. Because those answers weren't really about money. They were about what people wanted their money to make possible.
In this episode, I explore our relationship with money, the beliefs we inherit about it, the financial goals we set for ourselves and the danger of adopting somebody else's definition of success. I talk about why £10,000 a month might be exactly the right goal for you – but why I would still ask you why. I share my own picture of financial success and what my ideal ordinary Tuesday would actually look like. And, perhaps more importantly, why my vision has very little to do with being impressive and much more to do with connection, space, comfort, caring and having enough freedom to live the life I want.
We also get into some of the ideas in Napoleon Hill's Think and Grow Rich, including definite purpose, desire, self-belief, planning and action.
What if the thing you’re building your business around is something you haven’t finished working through yourself? Your experience can be the reason you start a business. It can give you insight, empathy and a deep understanding of a problem that other people are struggling with.
But there’s a difference between using your experience to help someone and using other people to keep processing your own experience. Your clients aren't there to validate your story. They aren't there to prove that your way of doing things is right. And they certainly aren't there to become versions of you.
In this episode, I’m exploring where that line sits — and why I think your business has to be about the value you can genuinely offer, rather than what you still need from the people you’re trying to help.
I’m also asking a question that I think we should all ask ourselves from time to time:
Whose need is this?
Why do you need your client to change?
Why do you need your audience to approve?
Why do you need somebody else to succeed?
And, perhaps most importantly, are you trying to solve somebody else's problems before you've worked through your own?
I believe that if you have a genuine skill or talent that can benefit other people, you have a responsibility to use it.
Your experience may have led you to that skill, but your job is to turn what you've learned into something useful. That's where purpose comes in.
If you want transformation — whether that's in your life, your career, a side hustle or a business — change alone isn't enough. Transformation requires action, and purpose gives that action somewhere meaningful to go. Your story might be the reason you start.
I use AI most days. I use it to help me think things through, organise my ideas, write things, create things, troubleshoot things and, occasionally, to tell me where the bloody button is in Kajabi.
But I’ve also learned that you have to be very careful about how much you let it take over.
In this episode, I’m talking about how I actually use AI in my business — including some of the times ChatGPT has been brilliant, some of the times it has been spectacularly wrong, and some of the times I’ve had to say, “No. That isn’t what I said.”
I talk about using ChatGPT as a thinking partner and a kind of mirror: something that can reflect patterns back to you, challenge your assumptions and help you see what you’re repeatedly talking about. That was part of the process that helped me articulate what eventually became The Next Chapter Pathway.
But there’s a big difference between using AI to help you think and asking it to do the thinking for you.
I also share what I’ve learned about AI making assumptions, hanging onto outdated information, being far too confident when it doesn't actually know the answer, producing content that sounds unmistakably AI-generated, and even completely losing the plot when I ask it to make a tiny change to an image.
And there’s a serious point underneath all the stories and the swearing.
AI can be incredibly useful. But it doesn't know what you want from your life. It doesn't know which direction is right for you. And it doesn't get to make the decisions.
Use AI as a mirror, not a map.
Let it help you explore, question, organise and create. But keep your own voice, your own judgement and your own ideas firmly in the driving seat.
Because otherwise, before you know it, you're asking a chatbot what you should do next with your life.
8. 10 Things You Can Do Today to Make Your Life Feel Better
Sometimes we don't need to completely overhaul our lives.
We don't need a new routine, a five-year plan or to become a completely different person.
Sometimes we just need to do one small thing that makes today feel a little bit better.
In this episode of An Ordinary Tuesday, I'm sharing 10 simple life hacks I've picked up from books, experience and the work I do inside The Next Chapter Pathway. They're practical things you can try today to clear your head, make a decision, change your environment, look after your future self and feel a little more in control.
And because I couldn't quite stop at 10, I've added a bonus tip at the end — one of my favourites.
In this episode
1. Choose your one thing Ask yourself: What's the one thing I could do today that would make the biggest difference?
2. Do a 10-minute life dump Get everything that's occupying your brain out onto paper — and then identify some things you can stop carrying.
3. Change one thing in your physical environment You don't need to declutter your entire house. Just fix one small thing that's annoying you.
4. Change the way you talk to yourself Notice the stories you tell yourself and start changing the language you use when you talk about yourself.
5. Make one decision you've been avoiding An undecided decision can take up an enormous amount of mental space. Sometimes you just need to choose the next small step.
6. Do a More Of / Less Of audit Identify five things you want more of and five things you want less of — then take one action from each list.
7. Find one thing you're spending money on that isn't making your life better Look at where your money is going and ask yourself whether it's actually buying you the life you want.
7. What Do You Do When Life Doesn't Go to Plan?
Tuesday, September 8, 2026 • Duration 27:05
Sometimes we don't get to choose the next chapter.
Sometimes it arrives anyway.
In this episode of An Ordinary Tuesday, I'm talking about what happens when life changes in ways we didn't expect — and what we do when the life we thought we wanted no longer feels like it fits.
Over the last few episodes, I've talked about change, new chapters, asking ourselves what we really want, paying attention to where our lives are going and making choices, even when we're scared.
But there are some changes we don't choose.
A diagnosis.
The end of a relationship.
The loss of a job.
Financial difficulties.
Children leaving home.
Having to move.
Or simply waking up one day and realising that something you once wanted desperately is no longer right for you.
In this episode, I share some of my own experience of navigating unexpected change.
I talk about becoming an empty nester, leaving a house that I once thought was my dream home, and the gradual realisation that sometimes a life can look right on the outside but stop feeling right on the inside.
This isn't an episode about having all the answers. It's about recognising when something has changed.
It's about allowing yourself to acknowledge that what once worked might not work anymore.
And it's about understanding that you don't always have to make one huge, dramatic decision.
Sometimes the next chapter begins with one small movement in a different direction.
In this episode, I talk about:
What happens when life changes in ways we didn't choose
6. You Can Change Your Life and Still Take Your Fears With You
Tuesday, September 1, 2026 • Duration 30:30
You Can Change Your Life and Still Take Your Fears With You
I've made some big, brave changes in my life—but I've often made them while carrying fear and self-doubt with me.
In this episode, I'm talking about the difference between changing your circumstances and changing the way you see yourself, why I believe the inner work matters, and why I've finally decided to put myself—and this podcast—out into the world.
I'm also introducing something I've been quietly building behind the scenes: The Next Chapter Pathway.
In this episode, I'm talking about confidence, visibility, authenticity and something I've learned about making big changes in life.
I've made plenty of big decisions.
I've changed direction, gone back to university in my late forties, home-educated my daughter, moved house and repeatedly stepped into situations that felt uncertain and frightening.
So this isn't a story about someone who used to be too scared to do anything and suddenly became brave.
I've often done the thing anyway.
I've felt the fear and done it anyway.
But what I've learned is that you can change your circumstances without necessarily changing what you believe about yourself.
You can move somewhere new and still take your old insecurities with you.
You can start a business and still believe that someone else is more qualified than you.
You can stand up in front of a room and deliver a presentation while privately wondering whether everyone else knows something you don't.
You can make big, bold decisions—and still be doing them from a place of fear.
Over the last few years, I've spent a great deal of time doing the inner work. I've looked at the beliefs I hold about myself, the stories I've carried with me and the reasons I sometimes looked outside myself for validation.
I'M ALSO INTRODUCING THE NEXT CHAPTER PATHWAY
WHY NOW?
IN THIS EPISODE
A THOUGHT TO TAKE WITH YOU
LINKS & RESOURCES MENTIONED
THE NEXT CHAPTER PATHWAY
TO BE MAGNETIC
ABOUT AN ORDINARY TUESDAY
ABOUT THE NEXT CHAPTER PATHWAY
CONNECT WITH ME
5. Are You Choosing Your Life? Or Just Drifting Into It?
Tuesday, August 25, 2026 • Duration 28:34
Are You Choosing Your Life — or Just Drifting Into It?
Have you ever looked around at your life and thought:
“Well… how did I get here?”
Not because everything is terrible. In fact, maybe your life looks pretty good from the outside.
But perhaps you didn't consciously choose quite as much of it as you think.
In this episode, I’m exploring intentional living — and why I think the phrase sounds a bit bloody “life-coachy”, but the idea behind it is actually really useful.
Because so much of our lives happens through habit.
We wake up. Check our phones. Work. Shop. Eat. Scroll. Repeat.
And nothing particularly terrible happens.
But how much of that day did we actually choose?
We look at how habits can quietly become decisions, why the default isn't necessarily what we want, and how small deliberate choices can make an ordinary life feel much more like your life.
I use one of the least glamorous examples imaginable — going to the supermarket — to show how intentionality can change everything from what you buy to how you spend your time, money and attention.
We also get into:
why “autopilot” is a real feature of everyday behaviour
the difference between a useful habit and a habit you've forgotten you can change
what happens when we start imagining our future selves
why looking backwards can sometimes keep us stuck
the danger of making short-term decisions at the expense of future-you
the “comfortable cage” of a successful career that isn't necessarily a rewarding life
why success can sometimes keep us stuck
the difference between intention and control
and why you don't need to wait for a new year, a major life event or a five-year plan to start choosing differently
A question to take away
Mentioned in this episode
4. Who Gets Your Attention?
Tuesday, August 18, 2026 • Duration 42:36
Who Gets Your Attention?
Why you're busy all day but still not getting the things that matter done.
Have you ever got to the end of a day and thought: "What have I actually done today?"
You've been busy. You've answered emails, dealt with other people's problems, checked your phone, remembered things, worried about things... And yet the thing you actually wanted to do is still sitting there. Untouched.
In this episode, I start with a very ordinary problem: my dog's insurance went up by 30%. What followed was a ridiculous chain of emails, comparison websites, ChatGPT, a chatbot, more waiting — and, most importantly, a problem that kept taking up space in my head long after I had stopped actively dealing with it.
And it got me thinking: How much of our mental energy is being taken up by things that don't actually deserve our attention? And even more importantly: Who is deciding where your attention goes?
In this episode, I explore:
Why being busy doesn't necessarily mean you're moving forward
The hidden cost of constant interruptions
Why your phone isn't always the problem — and why it's not as simple as "just put it down"
How even using ChatGPT can become a form of distraction
Why worrying about other people's lives can sometimes become procrastination
The uncomfortable possibility that your brain may be distracting you from things that feel difficult or uncertain
How to identify what is actually important and what is simply noise
Using The One Thing to identify what will genuinely move the needle
Time blocking and working with your own energy
The Eisenhower method for deciding what to do, schedule, delegate or delete
A simple way to quiet the mental chatter
3. Your New Life Will Cost You Your Old One
Tuesday, August 11, 2026 • Duration 31:42
Your New Life Will Cost You Your Old One
What if the life you really want comes with a cost?
Not just a financial cost — but the cost of approval, comfort, certainty, relationships, and sometimes the identity you've built around the person you thought you were supposed to be.
In this episode, we move from the question “What do I really want?” to the much more practical question: “Okay… so how do I actually build it?”
I talk honestly about the financial reality of creating more freedom and space in your life, including my own experience of deliberately choosing a life with less income but more time, space and freedom.
Because this isn't about pretending money doesn't matter. It's about working out how to make the things that matter to you coexist.
We explore: Why creating your next chapter may have a cost The difference between a dream and a strategy
Why fear often disguises itself as “being realistic”
What your favourite parts of your current job might be telling you
How to identify the things you're willing to do consistently
Why resilience is easier when you find your tribe
How other people's fears can become disguised as advice
Why you don't need to burn down your old life to create a new one
What happens when change isn't your choice
Why your next chapter doesn't need to be perfect — just increasingly yours
This week's journal prompts
What do I want?
Why do I want it?
What matters enough to me that I'm prepared to prioritise it?
What am I prepared to say no to?
And then I ask a slightly different question: What would your life actually look like if you won £20 million tomorrow? Because money can give you choice and comfort, but it doesn't necessarily give you purpose. So perhaps the question isn't simply how much money you want. Perhaps it's: What do you want your life to feel like? And what are you prepared to do to create it?
Grab a coffee and come and think this one through with me. I'd love to know: how much money do you want – and what do you actually want it for?
Your purpose gives you direction. Your skill gives you something valuable to offer. But the transformation belongs to the person you're helping.
Finding Your Place If you're thinking about starting a business, a side hustle, changing direction or finding work that feels more aligned with who you are, I've created a free Finding Your Place workbook. It's a guided exercise to help you get clear on what you do, who you help and where you fit — so you can create a business or find a role that feels aligned, fulfilling and purposeful.
And if you're ready to take those ideas further, you'll find The Next Chapter Pathway at www.helencollard.com
Follow An Ordinary Tuesday
If you're enjoying An Ordinary Tuesday, follow the podcast wherever you're listening so you don't miss the next episode. And if this episode makes you think of somebody who is trying to build something from their own experience, share it with them. Because sometimes the question isn't “How can I change them?” It's: “What have I got to give, and how can I use it?”
And frankly, that's a job for you.
In this episode I talk about:
How I use ChatGPT in my business
Why I started using AI as a thinking partner
How AI helped me spot patterns in my own thinking
The danger of AI making assumptions about you
What happens when AI confidently tells you how to do something it can't actually do
Why you shouldn't settle for the first AI-generated piece of content
Using AI to speed up the boring jobs
Why AI can be useful for getting thoughts out of your head
The difference between using AI to support your thinking and letting it replace your thinking
Why keeping your own voice and judgement matters
The big takeaway: Use AI as a mirror, not a map.
Let AI hold up the mirror. Don't let it take the wheel.
8. Create one tiny habit that makes tomorrow easier Do something today that your future self will thank you for.
9. Do something your future self will thank you for Think about the person you'll be tomorrow and make one choice today that makes their life a little easier.
10. Stop for five minutes and actually be where you are Put the phone down. Don't make it productive. Don't turn it into content. Just be there.
And then there's the bonus tip... Stop looking at how far you have to go — and look at how far you've come. Inspired by The Gap and the Gain, I talk about the difference between measuring yourself against where you want to be and recognising the progress you've already made.
Ask yourself: Where was I 12 months ago? What have you learned? What have you achieved? What have you survived? What have you started? What have you stopped? What are you better at? What's changed that you barely even notice?
Then write down 10 things you're proud of from the last year. They don't have to be impressive. They just have to be yours.
Books mentioned in this episode
The One Thing — Gary Keller & Jay Papasan
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People — Stephen Covey
Take Control of Your Life — Mel Robbins
Atomic Habits — James Clear
The Power of Your Subconscious Mind — Joseph Murphy
Be Your Future Self Now — Benjamin Hardy
The Art of Spending Money — Morgan Housel
The Power of Now — Eckhart Tolle
Flow — Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
The Gap and the Gain — Dan Sullivan & Benjamin Hardy
One thing to take away You don't have to do all 10. Choose one. Pick the one that would make the biggest difference to how you feel today — and go and do it. Because creating a better life doesn't always require a massive change. Sometimes it's just one tiny action taken on an Ordinary Tuesday.
The experience of becoming an empty nester
When a dream can slowly stop feeling like a dream
Recognising when something in your life no longer fits
The difference between choosing change and adapting to change
Why you don't need to have the whole plan figured out
How small movements can eventually lead to much bigger changes
Learning to navigate uncertainty when you don't yet know what comes next
A question to think about: What has changed in your life that you might still be trying to make fit, even though it no longer feels right?
You don't have to know what to do about it yet.
You don't need to have a five-year plan. But sometimes the first step is simply being honest enough to notice it.
The Next Chapter Pathway If you're at a point in your life where you know something needs to change — but you're not entirely sure what comes next — I've created The Next Chapter Pathway to help you work through it. It's a space for building the foundations for whatever comes next, working on yourself, your work or business, and the life you want to create. Find out more about The Next Chapter Pathway here: THE NEXT CHAPTER
FREE DOWNLOADS - you'll find all my free downloads HERE
If you'd like to connect with me on Instagram, you'll find me @Helen__Collard — The Next Chapter.
And if this episode resonated with you, I'd love it if you followed the podcast and shared it with someone who might need to hear it.
Let's walk this journey together.
And that work has changed something.
I'm still capable of feeling nervous. I still have an inner critic. But I'm much less concerned about whether everybody approves of what I'm doing.
And that has made it easier to become visible.
Recently, I made what felt like another big, brave move: I put this podcast out into the world and shared it with people I know.
And that might sound like a very small thing.
But a year ago, I would have worried about who might see it.
What would former colleagues think?
Would people think I was ridiculous?
Would they wonder who I thought I was?
Instead, something rather lovely happened.
People were kind.
People were supportive.
And many of the people whose opinions I had worried about simply said, in one way or another: of course you're doing this.
It reminded me that sometimes the stories we tell ourselves about what other people think are just that.
Stories.
And it also reminded me why I believe the work we do on ourselves matters.
Because confidence isn't always about becoming louder.
It's not about pretending to be somebody else.
For me, confidence has increasingly come from knowing who I am, understanding what I bring to the table and being prepared to let other people see it.
I've been quietly building something behind the scenes called The Next Chapter Pathway.
I've created it for people who want to make positive, intentional changes in their lives—even if they don't yet know exactly what those changes need to look like.
It's built around four connected pillars:
Build Your Foundation — getting clear on what you want, what matters and where you're going.
Build Yourself — strengthening your mindset, confidence, identity, energy and boundaries.
Build Your Business — creating work and income that reflects who you are and supports the life you want.
Build Your Life — creating more freedom, fulfilment, choice and space for what matters.
I've created the Pathway because I don't think these areas of our lives exist in isolation.
You can have a brilliant business idea but struggle to put yourself out there.
You can achieve everything you thought you wanted and still find yourself asking:
Is this actually the life I want?
You can know that something needs to change without knowing exactly where to begin.
The Next Chapter Pathway is designed to give you ideas, tools and space to explore what comes next—and then start building it.
You'll find short, focused lessons, practical exercises and worksheets, journaling prompts, tools and resources, with new content added every week. There's also a private community and two live community conversations with me each month.
If you'd like to find out more, you can explore the Pathway here:
This is an affiliate/referral link, which means I may receive a commission if you choose to join through my link, at no additional cost to you. I've personally used To Be Magnetic and only share resources that I've genuinely used or believe may be useful.
An Ordinary Tuesday is my podcast about real life, change, growth and the messy business of working out what comes next.
In each episode, I explore questions such as:
What do I actually want now?
Who am I becoming?
What needs to change?
How do I become more confident and trust myself?
How do I build a life, career or business that gives me more freedom, meaning and fulfilment?
I'll be talking about confidence, mindset, identity, relationships, work, business, money, personal growth and the sometimes messy business of trying to work out what comes next.
There are no promises of a perfect life.
No pressure to hustle.
And no requirement to have everything figured out.
Just honest conversations, useful ideas and the occasional reminder that your life doesn't have to be completely extraordinary to be worth paying attention to.
Because sometimes an ordinary Tuesday can be the day you decide to do something differently.
I've created The Next Chapter Pathway because I know how easy it is to spend years building a life around other people's needs, expectations and priorities.
At some point, you get to build something with yourself at the centre.
The Pathway brings together four connected areas of life:
Build Your Foundation. Get clear on what you want, what matters and where you're going.
Build Yourself. Strengthen your mindset, confidence, identity, energy and boundaries.
Build Your Business. Create work and income that reflects who you are and supports the life you want.
Build Your Life. Create more freedom, fulfilment, choice and space for what matters.
You don't need to have everything figured out before you begin.
If this episode resonated with you, I'd really appreciate it if you shared it with somebody else who might need to hear it.
And if you're enjoying An Ordinary Tuesday, following or subscribing means you'll be the first to know when the next episode is out.
And, obviously, there are cats.
And bananas.
And an unnecessarily large box of crisps.
And quite a lot of Talking Heads.
Because music is part of how I make sense of the world — and Once in a Lifetime is a pretty perfect soundtrack for the question at the heart of this episode:
How did I get here?
Maybe intentional living isn't about controlling your life.
Maybe it's about becoming awake enough to notice that you're choosing it.
And sometimes, the most important choices aren't the big dramatic ones.
They're the ones you make on an ordinary Tuesday.
What are you doing because you consciously chose it — and what are you doing simply because that's what you do?
You don't have to change everything.
Just notice.
And then choose one thing.
Once in a Lifetime — Talking Heads A recurring musical reference throughout the episode, particularly around the question: “How did I get here?”
How Habitual Is Everyday Life? A 2025 ecological momentary assessment study exploring how frequently everyday behaviour is habitually initiated and executed.
Be Your Future Self Now — Benjamin Hardy The book I reference when talking about the relationship between our past narratives, our present choices and the future we are creating.
Why I've stopped calling my To Do list a To Do list Instead, mine is now: Things That Will Move the Needle Forward.
Because this isn't really about becoming more productive. It's about becoming more deliberate about what gets your attention.
Your attention is finite. And if everyone and everything else gets first dibs on it, what is left for you?
Your goals.
Your ideas.
Your relationships.
Your future.
Your next chapter.
Your challenge this week:
Don't try to overhaul your life. Just notice.
Notice what interrupts you. Notice what you reach for.
Notice what thoughts keep coming back.
Notice what's actually urgent.
Notice what's important.
And notice what is, quite frankly, none of your business.
Then choose one thing that will move you forward — and give it your attention. Because the big changes start with the small things we do on ordinary days. On an ordinary Tuesday.
I'd love to know... What's currently getting more of your attention than it deserves? And what would you give that attention to instead?
What strategy do I need to make it possible?
What will I consistently do, even when nobody is watching or applauding?
What do I want more of?
What do I want less of?
And finally: “I am deliberately rebuilding. I know what I'm building towards, which makes it easier to decide what deserves my time.” Your life doesn't have to be perfect. It just has to be increasingly yours.
