At Verve Lead, we spend a lot of time exploring the less buoyant phases of life; the times where the tank is low, energy and resilience are drained and our emotional, physical and spiritual worlds are lacking.  We use the buoyancy gauge as a way to check our resilience and energy: The first few phases are difficult and can lead

When you wake up each morning, are you feeling weary? As you go to work, are you feeling stressed? Throughout the day, are you distracted? Bored? Tired? When you get home, do you find yourself spending most of your evenings in front of a screen?  Many people would describe this as normal… expected, even. Life is tiring. Work is hard.

The Lord gives his beloved sleep. Jesus himself slept even at times when the disciples thought he should be awake—for example, in a boat in a storm! Rest is spiritual. We begin each day with rest, just as we begin each week with Sunday, a day dedicated by the Lord to rest. God understands that a rhythm of rest is

When considering how to be a better leader, we often focus on our physical health last. Priorities tend to lean towards the emotional and spiritual. However, a healthy body is foundational to a practitioner’s work and a balanced life for any person.  I was recently challenged by this verse during a sabbatical trip:  Joshua 14:10-12 (New Living Translation) 10 “Now,

Who’s Present with You Besides the Client? When a client sits down for a mentoring session, what we see is a single individual. However, an experienced mentor understands that it is more complicated than this. In Coaching, Mentoring and Organisational Consultancy, Peter Hawkins and Nick Smith discuss the law of three clients, which is the idea that our clients all

Learning to fill the tank My journey through burnout and recovery has remade me. I used to just go, run fast, and pay little or no attention to how I was doing. To recover from burnout, I had to learn to rest. For some reason, cultural—the pioneer spirit, a warped Christian perspective of self-emptying, or just plain low self-value, I

In my late teens, burnout described an adrenaline-fueled moment in a car. You floored the accelerator, redlined the motor, dropped the clutch, the wheels would spin, scream and smoke. The vehicle would have no momentum. Eventually though, the tires would grab and the vehicle launch forward. Often the vehicle was then out of control. This was dangerous driving.   Burnout

Once I thought it was weak people who burn out. I am ashamed of my ignorance. Now I understand that success is the prelude to burnout. Pace and Pressure A motor burns out through excessive use. People are the same. It is the ones who want to make a difference, those with drive and determination, that are prone to burnout.

I didn’t see it coming Something was wrong, and I thought I was sick physically. I didn’t wake up one morning and say, “I’m burnt out”. It was a process of realising something was not right and my GP saying, “Don, I think you are heading to burnout”. Thank you, Dr Don, for your diagnosis. Feeling tired and flat. At