In this episode, Kat chats with sports commentator Harry Everett about his own mental health journey and the challenges men face in opening up about their struggles. Harry shares some personal stories, tips for getting through the winter blues, and how being real with others can make a huge difference.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• I used to hate this time of year when you’d go to work and come home in the dark. Now I do outdoorsy things like going for a run or a cycle during the day and I’ll go to gym when it’s dark. I’m lucky, being self-employed, that I can do that others might not be so lucky. But, if you’re employed and can’t run, cycle of exercise during the day, simply making sure you get outside on your lunch break can be enough to overcome seasonal affective disorder.
• In recent years I’ve not been very good in my own company, I get bored easily and have to ring people to talk to someone. Maybe I’m too extroverted or ADHD but feel like I need to be busy all the time or around people. I’d like to be more comfortable with just myself on my own and I’ve started testing myself when I’m away for work by going out to eat on my own, but it’s a work in progress.
• My best mate, Max, killed himself when he was 19. I never got over it and always wanted to try to help and support him. At my wedding recently I didn’t have a best man because Max was always supposed to be my best man, luckily I had some very understanding and supportive groomsmen! Instead we had a charity box set up for people to donate to MIND which was a positive way to honour him.
• If you give up an hour of your time to talk to someone, on a podcast for example, and show your vulnerability – it might make you feel uncomfortable, embarrassed or cringey, but that doesn’t matter. You never know, your conversation could end up saving someone’s life.

BEST MOMENTS

“During the Winter one of my friends has started to go to bed at 10pm and get up at 7pm to make the most of the daylight hours.”
“There have been nights where I’ve woken up and taken myself to A&E because I’ve been considering doing what Max did. Probably because he did it is why I haven’t done it because I’ve seen the pain it caused his family and friends.”
“I want to raise awareness of mental health because it’s an elephant in the room and a subject that people don’t talk about enough.”
“Anyone can do Movember for free, it costs nothing not to shave.”

ABOUT THE GUEST

Harry Everett is a freelance sports journalist, compere, host and coach who spends a lot of time commentating on Somerset cricket on their award-winning livestream and for BBC Sport on football and cricket amongst other more niche sports media roles such as Media Manager for Badminton England and work in pickleball too. He has also commentated on England Lions and Sri Lanka and South Africa's international sides and is regularly invited on other sports podcasts.

He also tries to be a positive advocate for mental health and in getting young men speaking particularly too, you can donate to his Movember page here:
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Do get in touch with him if wanted for speaking at any events

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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On this episode Kat talks to several guests at the International Fitness Summit in Ibiza about their number one positive habit for getting in a high-performing state.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• First thing I do when I get out of bed is get out of the house, I need some level of nature. I take a 30–45-minute walk where I can clear my head, process things that happened yesterday and get ready for the day.
• Walking is something I can’t live without. If I go a day without walking my mood plummets. You need to create a routine around it, otherwise you’ll never get 10,000 steps in a day.
• A certain percentage of our everyday behaviours are habitual: We get a sensory input and we respond or react in a certain way. To move forward and focus on the right things we need to be able to create a bit more space between the trigger and the reaction. I call that “breaking the circuit”.
• My daily positive habit for about 6 years – for increasing my confidence – was doing something I found uncomfortable every day. As soon as you get used to being uncomfortable every day you know how to handle yourself if you find yourself in an uncomfortable situation in future.

BEST MOMENTS

“Even walking round the block or to the end of your street and back. Stack your current habits with walking; if you’re meeting a friend for coffee ask them to go on a coffee and a walk.”
“I used to be 100kg and now I’m 70kg, a lot of that was down to having ‘circuit breakers’ in place to stop me from snacking.”
“When you do uncomfortable things nothing bad happens, the worst thing that could happen is that someone might look at you a bit funny, that’s it. It’s changed my life.”
“One of my favourite things to do now is eat on my own and people watch, rather than being on my phone. Do you know how much drama I’ve heard? People cheating on partners, so-and-so from work, it's like living in Coronation Street!”

ABOUT THE GUESTS

Diren Kartal, Fitness Legend

https://www.instagram.com/diren.kartal/

Bethany Dobson, Online Coach

https://www.instagram.com/bethanyydobson/

Lewis Potts, Creator of The Adherence Amplifier

Lewis is an award winning coach who has over 500 success stories under his belt since he got into the industry in 2020. Starting out purely as a transformation coach working for a well-known company, he found that his true passion was in the areas of mindset and behaviour change after going through his own challenges.

https://www.instagram.com/lewispottsofficial

Petrina Bryne, Online Coach

Petrina is an online coach who works with people who don’t feel included or seen in the fitness industry.

As someone with rheumatoid arthritis, fibromyalgia, hyper mobility, ADHD, autism, PCOS, she understands how daunting the mixture of information out there can be and just wants to support and educate people to be healthy in a way that suits their body.

https://www.instagram.com/pbfitness_1?igsh=OTNiNGZ3MXNlbTdv&utm_source=qr

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.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/katthorne/

https://www.instagram.com/the_morning_gamechanger/

On this episode Kat talks about one of the questions she gets asked most often and is something she struggled with for years: How do you actually stick to a habit?

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• You can make a habit manageable by focussing on it for 5-10 minutes at a time or make it attractive by giving yourself a reward afterwards. For example, I don’t have a morning coffee until I’ve done my exercise habit.
• In every single talk I give I ask the same question: If you were to stick to this habit for the next 21 days, what do you think the impact would be on your life? There’s something really powerful when you stop and think about what’s on the other side.
• It’s difficult because you don’t always see the immediate gain or the dopamine hit that you get off a lot of unhealthy and toxic habits. But you do get to achieve those long-term, important things that you want for your life.
• The more you practice overriding the thoughts that are trying to stop you from doing the habit you’re trying to commit to and the more you hammer in the new thoughts of why am I doing this, because I want to have more energy, be a better parent, go and visit that place, whatever it is, that becomes easier when you become clear on why you’re doing it.

BEST MOMENTS

“One of the most important things we overlook when it comes to sticking to a habit is digging deep and asking ourselves why we are even bothering with this change?”
“Whenever I get the thought that I can’t be bothered or haven’t got time, I have another thought: How am I going to feel after I do this?.”
“I have so many dreams and goals that depend upon me having a healthy body and brain to achieve them, like places I want to travel to, I can’t do that if I’m not healthy enough to get there.”
“The feeling of feeling good, strong and healthy is now my motivation and discipline, it helps with the consistency.”

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

On this episode Kat talks about breaking a particularly negative habit: Doom scrolling on your phone, especially first thing in the morning and last thing at night.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• It’s become more and more apparent over the years that more and more of us are struggling with our phones and the concept of excessive scrolling, known as ‘doom scrolling’. Going on my phone last thing at night and first thing in the morning was definitely something that contributed to my life explosion in 2016. It was one of my most toxic habits.
• The definition of doom scrolling is about scrolling negativity through the news, but for a lot of us doom scrolling is that rabbit hole where you spend sometimes hours just looking at and absorbing content in a sort of zombified state.
• Part of the challenge is that when we move around our homes or workplaces, we’re taking our phones with us. At home, one easy thing you can do is find a home for your phone and leave it there.

BEST MOMENTS

“Even now I work really hard to not fall back into the trend of looking at my phone last thing at night and first thing in the morning.”

“Rather than going to bed with your phone and doom scrolling before you go to sleep, put it in the other side of the room or even better in another room and read instead.”

“The more you practice this the more aware you are and you’ll be able to stop yourself from doing it.”

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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Instagram

On this episode Kat is joined by Lucy Cox, a confidence expert, to talk about the connection between neurodiversity (particularly ADHD) and habits.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• We take on so much information. There are so many ‘shoulds’, I’m writing a book about ‘should’ because it’s this toxic stick that we whack ourselves over the head with We should be better, we should be more active, we should have better habits, etc. It pops up everywhere in our lives, and the more we consume self-help advice, courses, talks, etc, we accumulate more ‘shoulds’ and it becomes so overwhelming we don’t know where to start.
• I didn’t set out to go into the world of self-confidence, it’s a personal quest. When you hit your 40s it’s one of those things that starts to come to a head, whether that’s feeling like you should be further ahead in your career, the business should be doing better, further ahead in your relationships, etc. It’s not gender or geographically specific
• You can advise 100 different entrepreneurs on the same task and they’ll all approach it differently. When you examine what sits behind that you start to see that it’s the way people are deciding to keep themselves safe – socially, emotionally, physically, financially – that comes from the things that we’re told, the things we believe to be true about ourselves, about other people, about what an entrepreneur is.
• We’re born with a certain personality and pull between positive and negative; we’re innately programmed to keep ourselves safe in very different ways. You can look at twins and they ways they self-sabotage, one might be a very active energy – controller, hyper achiever – and one may be a passive energy – victim, people pleaser. But you can see that from the day they’re born.

BEST MOMENTS

“Talking without action is pointless.”

“When you give someone the olive branch of being able to design something like a new positive habit for themselves, there’s a different commitment to following through with it.”

“There are so many microaggressions that we come into contact within our lifetimes.”

“ADHD is the disability of social disapproval, the presentation is disorganisation, forgetfulness, chaotic, the inability to follow-through, compulsive, and not socially acceptable and not-visible All you life you have to make excuses to fit in.”

ABOUT THE GUEST

Lucy Cox is an award-winning business and confidence coach with over 14 years of experience in the field of coaching, training, impactful program development, and facilitation.

Lucy is a certified Positive Intelligence Coach and Life Coach who brings a wealth of real-life experience; as a coach, an entrepreneur, and (importantly) as a human being.

No stranger to the ups and downs of leadership, parenthood, relationships and personal growth, Lucy brings a warm, personal, empathetic energy to everything she does, developing strong, honest relationships and creating lasting impacts for all clients.

Website

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

On this episode Kat is joined by Daniel, a hairdresser and corporate and community fundraiser for Mind in Somerset, to talk about why getting your hair cut is good for your mental health.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• I joined Mind because I wanted to help people. Over a 25-year period as a hairdresser I’ve got really close with a lot of people, we’ve got real strong bonds. It’s not always one way either, if I’ve been struggling over the years I open up. It’s a nice space where people can say how they feel and feel comfortable with that knowing it’s not going to go any further and that they’ve got your support.
• Sometimes as a hairdresser you have to deal with deep conversations, if you’ve got a client who’s coming in and has lost a loved one or something like that, there’s nowhere to run or hide. It teaches you to have those conversations and really open up, it’s a real journey that you go on together.
• Statistically, men find it harder to talk and open up. It’s about trying to find those areas where you can reach out to men and in a way where they do feel comfortable. If that is in the role of a barber, that’s fantastic.

BEST MOMENTS

“Hairdressers probably have a stronger bond than most counsellors and can probably connect a lot longer.”

“Sometimes taking on deep conversations day-to-day all year long for a long period of time can really affect you if you don’t look after yourself.”

“Hairdressers and barbers are finally getting the credit they deserve for the role they play in society, and that’s mainly around mental health.”

“If I can help anyone in any way I will, it’s a really good feeling. Being able to help somebody will always outweigh money, which doesn’t fuel me at all.”

ABOUT THE GUEST

Daniel James, a passionate corporate and community fundraiser for Mind In Somerset, working to support mental health initiatives and promote well-being in our community. With a background in hairdressing, I combine my love for creativity and self-care in my role as a hairdresser, enhancing my clients’ confidence and helping them look and feel their best.
In addition to my work in fundraising and hairdressing, I am the proud owner of MR. SE, a hair and beard products range that I’ve developed to celebrate and support grooming for everyone. My products are designed with care, reflecting my commitment to quality and the importance of self-expression.

I am deeply committed to helping people and believe in the power of meaningful conversations to transform lives. Whether I’m discussing mental health, grooming tips, or simply sharing stories with friends and clients, I find joy in connecting with others and making a positive impact.

The Walk For Wellbeing Just Giving page
The Mindful Moment Self Care boxes
Mind In Somerset Instagram
MR. SE Haircare Instagram

MR. SE Haircare Website

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