The Positive Habits Podcast

• The Power of 10 Minutes

  Join Kat in this episode as she talks about the power of 10 minutes. A simple idea, Kat explains why this can be such a transformative habit to create and will change the way you go about creating any positive habit in the future. KEY TAKEAWAYS One of the biggest self limiting beliefs is the lack of time. If you are told by someone that they do not have enough time, ask them how much time they need. You will be surprised by their answer. Because of the way most of our lives are, it can be a challenge to make time for the things that give us energy and sustain us to be higher performing in all areas of our life, so we choose not to do them. Telling yourself that you only need to do 10 minutes makes it much easier to execute and build positive habits. Don’t underestimate how powerful consistently doing 10 minutes of something can be to your life. This is all about giving yourself permission to spend that 10 minutes on something for you, to help create a positive change in your life. BEST MOMENTS "When did you last say I don’t have time?” “The reality is that most people are doing nothing” “All it is, is 10 minutes, just 10 minutes” “The impact of doing anything for 10 minutes regularly, ideally daily, is huge” 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

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  10:02
• The Human Side of High Performance with David Beswick

  Kat is joined by David Beswick, a leader in the events and technical production industry. From navigating imposter syndrome to mastering the art of vulnerability in leadership, David shares his journey of personal and professional development, including his transformation from a self described ego driven manager into a vulnerable, growth minded leader who champions continuous learning and team empowerment. The conversation also explores the psychology of confidence, the power of incremental progress, and the crucial importance of setting boundaries in both business and personal life. KEY TAKEAWAYS Confidence can often mask imposter syndrome, but acknowledging this duality is crucial for authentic leadership. David reveals how embracing vulnerability and being honest about our struggles can actually strengthen our leadership presence and connect us more deeply with others. The most effective path to achievement isn't about massive leaps but rather breaking down goals into manageable steps. Just as you wouldn't attempt a marathon without training, success in business and life requires systematic, incremental progress. True leadership isn't about doing everything yourself but rather facilitating and empowering others to excel. David shares how letting go of control and trusting your team can lead to better outcomes and prevent burnout. Setting clear boundaries, especially with technology and work hours, is essential for maintaining high performance. The most successful leaders often have the strongest boundaries. Personal development shouldn't take a backseat to business development. Leaders who invest time in their own growth and learning are better equipped to guide their teams through challenges and adapt to change. Building confidence comes from embracing both success and failure as learning opportunities. David emphasises the importance of analysing what works, even in apparent failures, to create continuous improvement. Authenticity in leadership means being comfortable saying "no" and prioritising self care without guilt. This approach actually leads to better decision making and more sustainable success. BEST MOMENTS "I'm sitting here churning this out, I've learned this the hard way, I've gone into scenarios where I'm full of energy and I think that I know exactly what I'm going to do and I try and execute and I'm like, I'm not prepared for this." "Your job is not to do everything, your job is to facilitate everything to happen in that organisation, to guide it, to support and empower other people to do what your goal is." "When I'm at work, I'm a beast, I work. But when I'm at home, I'm at home." "If you're not adapting and not staying relevant, you'll perish. We've suffered with that because we've been complacent." ABOUT THE GUEST With 26 years in the live events industry, my passion has only grown stronger. Starting as an apprentice fascinated by the technical side, I quickly moved on to running events for blue-chip clients. This led to organizing meetings and eventually becoming a project manager.Promoted to Southern Live Events Manager, I honed my client management skills and expanded my supplier network. Despite leading a senior office-based team, my heart remained on-site, driving me to embrace a production manager role as part of my director position at X3 Solutions.I leverage my technical expertise and design flair to create unforgettable AV experiences for events of all sizes, worldwide. My goal at X3 is to ensure our clients get the best solutions for their events. David Beswick LinkedIn 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

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  46:22
• All-or-Nothing to All-or-Something : People Focused Leader Celine

  Kat is joined by Celine who shares her extraordinary journey of resilience and transformation during the COVID-19 pandemic, where she lost 99% of her language school business. Rather than succumbing to despair, she emerged stronger, eventually building a successful business group and winning awards. Through candid conversation with Kat, Celine reveals how positive habits, mindset shifts, and celebrating wins became cornerstone practices that not only saved her business but revolutionised her approach to leadership. KEY TAKEAWAYS Celine transformed her response to COVID-19 from initial fear to purposeful leadership after a friend asked her "who do you want to be in this situation?" - a question that sparked her leadership journey. She discovered the power of 'all or something' during the pandemic, shifting away from her previous all-or-nothing mindset to embrace smaller, consistent actions in both business and personal practices. Her implementation of celebrating the wins at the start of every meeting revolutionised her company culture, creating measurable improvements in team morale and engagement, as evidenced by recent anonymous culture surveys. Celine established non-negotiable daily practices like meditation, walking, and yoga before COVID hit, which became crucial anchors in helping her maintain stability while leading her team through the crisis. She overcame limiting beliefs about being a woman in business and 'being bad at maths', realising she could build a successful business group by embracing her authentic leadership style and surrounding herself with complementary talent. Through applying the Stockdale Paradox principle during COVID, she maintained an unwavering faith in travel's return while being realistic about immediate challenges, helping her preserve her business until recovery. Following the pandemic, Celine took bigger risks than ever before, acquiring three businesses to form a group, achieving more growth than her original pre-COVID trajectory would have allowed. Her journey through menopause and COVID led her to reject what businesswomen often feel like they should be doing, instead embracing a more authentic approach to business leadership that acknowledges the whole person rather than trying to fit a traditional business mould. BEST MOMENTS "I can just be me and I don't have to be good at everything if I've got really great people around me, I don't have to be cutthroat, I don't have to be a business whiz." "When you look back, you think those first couple of weeks of COVID, it was such a weird time, wasn't it? Because nobody knew what was happening." "All of our meetings always start with celebrating the wins, you literally see and feel the energy, even on a team's meeting and definitely in the room, it sort of elevates everybody." "Life doesn't have to look like what you thought it did or what everyone else thinks it does." "I thought I had to be somebody else in order to be successful in business." "All part of that, who am I going to be through this? I think I realised, well, I'm going to have to really look after myself and I'm going to have to make sure that these are my non-negotiables every day." ABOUT THE GUEST I have been in this business for longer than I care to remember. Language learning and teaching have always been more of a passion to me than a job. I feel strongly that the experience that the young people have with us is one that they will remember for a very long time and what I love about our team is that we all care about what we do. English is an ever more important language in the world and yes, it is a huge benefit to these young people to come to the UK to learn it. However, I believe that it is also a huge benefit to them to experience a different culture, be away from home and have to cope with all that it entails and meet and befriend people their own age from all over the world. Celine is the Founder and Group CEO of the UKLC Group, leading providers in language programmes in the UK and Ireland for students of all ages. 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

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  41:09
• Losing Half Your Body Weight: Darren's Incredible Transformation

  Kat chats to Darren Lloyd, who talks about hitting rock bottom at 24 stone with type 2 diabetes and losing half his body weight through ketogenic living and intermittent fasting. Kat and Darren also discuss career resilience, relationship challenges, and how making one significant change can create a positive effect across all aspects of life. KEY TAKEAWAYS Career satisfaction comes from finding alignment between personal values and professional impact. Darren found his sweet spot in EdTech, combining sales success with meaningful contribution to education. Traditional weight loss methods often fail because they don't address the return to old lifestyle habits. Darren maintained a steady weight loss of about a stone per month through a complete lifestyle redesign. Understanding the relationship between carbohydrate intake, insulin, and weight gain was transformative for Darren, his research revealed how modern eating patterns contribute to obesity and diabetes. Drastic health transformations require thorough research and a personalised approach. Darren's success came from extensive study of ketogenic living and intermittent fasting. Mental health and personality can be significantly impacted by physical health and Darren regained his outgoing nature and positive outlook after his weight loss. Seemingly healthy choices like fruit can be metabolically problematic still. Replacing office snacks of Toblerone with grapes and bananas still caused insulin spikes and liver fat storage. Progressive fasting can be sustainable - starting with 16:8 fasting, moving to 18:6, then incorporating weekly 48-hour fasts, and monthly 3-5 day fasts showed how the body adapts gradually. Darren's relationship breakdown led him to meet his current wife and build a happier life, sometimes better things come from bad situations. BEST MOMENTS "Food doesn't have to be the driver of life, you can still enjoy it... but I'll just say instead of giving me the rice or the pasta, give me an extra portion of the veg or some more meat." "One slice of bread is the equivalent of eating three teaspoons of sugar. Not many people would think of it that way." "When you make a decision, obviously it can spark all sorts of different emotions, but once you've made a decision and you follow through with the decision, no matter how difficult that is... then you start, like the doors start to open up." "If you're not getting enough sleep, that is really dangerous and harmful to health” ABOUT THE GUEST Darren is a 57 year old sales professional based in Somerset and working across the UK in the Higher Education administration software sector. Darren’s transformation took place between July 2023 and December 2024 following a pre-diabetes diagnosis in 2016 and a full diabetes diagnosis combined with high blood pressure in 2019. He put out a LinkedIn post about his journey in December 2024 which has gone viral having been seen by over 225,000 people. In 6 weeks. This was the first step in a campaign he is running to use his transformation both to inspire others struggling with weight and/or diabetes, and also to work with scientists, doctors and journalists to get policy makers in government/NHS to understand that their advice needs to patients needs to change in order to tackle the nation’s obesity and diabetes epidemics. Darren has put together a one page document containing links to the key videos, doctors and scientists that educated him back from morbid obesity and diabetes to full health. If these resources would be helpful to you, email Darren at [email protected] quoting “Positive Habits Podcast” and he will send you a copy of this free document - all of the resources are also free to access. Darren’s transformation took place between July 2023 and December 2024 following a pre-diabetes diagnosis in 2016 and a full diabetes diagnosis combined with high blood pressure in 2019. He put out a LinkedIn post about his journey in December 2024 which has gone viral having been seen by over 225,000 people. In 6 weeks. This was the first step in a campaign he is running to use his transformation both to inspire others struggling with weight and/or diabetes, and also to work with scientists, doctors and journalists to get policy makers in government/NHS to understand that their advice needs to patients needs to change in order to tackle the nation’s obesity and diabetes epidemics. Darren has put together a one page document containing links to the key videos, doctors and scientists that educated him back from morbid obesity and diabetes to full health. If these resources would be helpful to you, email Darren at [email protected] quoting “Positive Habits Podcast” and he will send you a copy of this free document - all of the resources are also free to access. 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

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  40:35
• Why Your Food Choices Matter with Hazel Long

  Join Kat and registered nutritionist, Hazel Long as they explore our modern relationship with food, eating habits and the surprising connections to mental health. They discuss everything from the challenges of our current food environment to practical strategies for developing healthier eating patterns. Hazel shares insights about why we fall into unhealthy habits, especially during holidays, and offers realistic ideas and solutions that don't involve restrictive dieting. KEY TAKEAWAYS Whilst working in public health for over eight years, Hazel has noticed a dramatic shift in our food environment, noting how even simple items like coffee have evolved from basic options to complex, highly processed versions with added confectionery and syrups. Drawing from her clinical experience, Hazel emphasises that successful dietary changes often start with a single habit - like establishing a proper breakfast routine - rather than attempting to overhaul everything at once. Self monitoring can be a powerful tool for behaviour change, for example through food diaries or tracking apps, but the approach must be individualised. Around 25% of our calories come from out-of-home food sources this is why Hazel focuses on helping clients develop strategies for navigating these environments. Hazel advocates for approaching food choices through the lens of how they make you feel rather than focusing on appearance or weight, which she's found leads to more sustainable behavioural changes. Working with families, Hazel has observed that establishing morning routines, particularly family breakfasts, can serve as a foundation for better eating habits throughout the day. Financial circumstances significantly impact eating behaviours, there are stark differences in health outcomes appearing as early as primary school age. From her experience as both a nutritionist and parent, Hazel promotes the importance of role modelling healthy eating behaviours for children, incorporating this principle into her professional advice for families too. BEST MOMENTS "When we look in certain areas, particularly rural areas, particularly areas of higher deprivation, where people are relying on smaller convenience stores, the cost of a healthy food shop is significantly more than when we compare it to places where people have access to things like low budget supermarkets." "I would never advocate for people to cut all sugar out of their diet. We just looked at her behaviours and then we looked at ways in which we could reduce that sugar intake to help her feel a bit better." "I'm a really big advocate of family breakfasts... it's a really good thing for the kids in terms of us sitting down together, undistracted, before school, before nursery, having a meal." "It's not about kind of living this rigid lifestyle with food, but it's just, I think at some point you need to raise your consciousness of what you're actually putting in your body and how it's making you feel.” "If I had a choice, I would much rather live a life where I got to enjoy food in a healthy way than restrict myself and kind of be hating the fact that I can't eat X, Y, and Z." *Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in Scotland, but is second to Dementia in England, Wales and the UK as a whole. ABOUT THE GUEST Hazel Long, Freelance Registered Nutritionist (AfN) Instagram Linkedin 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

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  44:19

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