Hey Subscriber First Name

As you read this, I want to start by saying thank you.

You’ve chosen to give me a few minutes of your time each week and that exchange matters. Time and attention are the most precious currencies we have. They’re the energy that underpins everything - our work, our relationships and our growth.

So if you can’t tell already, the theme for this week is time. It’s been on my mind. Maybe it’s the clocks changing, maybe it’s a reflective anniversary or maybe it’s that I’m finally discovering the power of slowing down.

I’m writing this on 27th October, 26 years to the day since my mum passed away suddenly when I was 17. For most of my adult life, I didn’t stop to face it. I learned to fill the silence with movement, chasing job titles, deadlines and distractions (anything to avoid the stillness where pain might surface).

But when the music stops, we have a choice: keep running or turn and face what’s been waiting for us. Eventually, I stopped and began to re-parent that scared 17-year-old boy who thought that if he kept moving, he’d stay safe.

Looking back brought sadness and looking forward brought anxiety. I rarely stayed in the present, which is the only place where life actually happens.

When my mum died at 49, I didn’t realise just how young she was. When you’re 17, it feels a long way to 49. Now I’m 43, it feels very different. Time changes everything, especially perspective.

Mum ran out of time, but she planted enough seeds for me to grow strong roots. She was a feminist hippy who followed her heart. It led to some decisions that will never make sense to me but that’s ok. She was trying her best and she radiated love. It’s an energy that I honour and one I had forgotten about for a while.

In my corporate years, we wore busyness as a badge of honour. Back-to-back meetings, no time to think or even go to the toilet. But the truth was, we often achieved nothing of real substance. I burned out when I realised that no matter how hard I tried, it wouldn’t work if I was in the wrong soil.

These days, I measure time differently. I learn new things every day and I have profound experiences through my work. I earn less but I live more.

Something that struck me this week was the clocks changing. It feels strange that we all collectively agree to change the time. In reality, we’re not changing time, we’re just agreeing to change a clock. Nature hasn’t changed, nature doesn’t follow time.

Nature follows something deeper. Nature follows rhythms and cycles. Yet we impose deadlines, squeeze more from our days and tell ourselves we’re failing if we don’t keep up.

This is a reminder that rushing, even for the sake of progress, rarely leads to deeper fulfilment. Speed isn’t inherently valuable, presence is.

And in many ways, this is what I see with AI. Technology offers us incredible power to move faster, to do more but at what cost?

We’re like children with a new toy, enchanted by the speed and the possibilities but not always guided by purpose. We’re like saplings desperate to grow rapidly, yet rushing too fast may mean we never become old, wise oaks.

Nature doesn’t operate like that. A tree doesn’t question its worth or rush its growth. It doesn’t strive for purpose, it simply is. It rests, reaches and renews in rhythm with its surroundings.

We, on the other hand, fill our calendars with the noise of ‘not enough’. But what if everything we need is already within us? What if slowing down isn’t weakness, but wisdom?

In my coaching and regenerative strategy work, this shows up all the time.

When people slow down, truly slow down, they begin to see the patterns.

They reconnect with what’s alive in them and that energy starts to move through their work, their teams, their decisions. Regeneration isn’t about doing more. It’s about creating the conditions for life in us and around us to flourish again.

So I’ll end this with a news article I found when clearing out my grandparents house, it was just days before my mum died.

She’d just been to Downing Street to support a new lone parent initiative which was something she was passionate about. And following her heart and finding the time, is how a low grade civil servant from the South Coast made it all the way to the Prime Minister.

I’m excited about how I’m spending my time this week. We’ve got two events which are included on the events calendar.

Check out what’s going on in the area, there are some cool things happening.

October Events

🌳 The Natural Network - ‘Crossing the Threshold’

31st October at Four Acre Farm

We have just 2 tickets left for our second Natural Network event. I know it can be hard to find the time for mornings like this but I guarantee you’ll leave with a new perspective. The session includes a workshop, facilitated discussion, market garden lunch and a 30 minute coaching conversation with me. Tickets here

☕ People, Planet, Pastry

30th October at Patch

We have the final People, Planet, Pastry of the year on 30 October. Tickets here. We’d love you to come and join us to make this the biggest so far!

Thank you again for being on this journey today. I always learn something new from writing these newsletters, I hope you did too.

And you enjoyed spending your time with me.

With compassion, curiosity and love,

Nick

Well that’s it for another week. But we don’t have to stop there.

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