by Tim Parkins | Jun 22, 2025
How Your Growth Might Be Holding You Back I forgot to hit play, and accidentally had a breakthrough. Have you noticed it’s harder to think clearly these days? You’re always learning. Always listening. Always absorbing. Another podcast on your commute. Another newsletter in your inbox. Another book queued up. You tell yourself you’re being productive. That this is what growth looks like. But lately? It feels like none of it’s sinking in. You feel mentally full, yet somehow… unsatisfied. Like…
by Tim Parkins | Jun 15, 2025
Your Brain Fails You When You Need It Most. Here’s The Fix. The Backstory I’ve mentioned this before, but years ago, I learned the hard way that my “just grind it out” approach to dealing with stress had detonated every circuit in my mind and left me hospitalized. Recovery forced me to design and implement guardrails I’d never needed before. Out of that hot mess came my first Trigger Action Plans (TAPs for short). They were simple checklists that let me pivot from “spiralling” to “steady”…
by Tim Parkins | Jun 8, 2025
Trying Reindeer, Scoring Goals, and Rediscovering Myself A couple of weeks ago, I was wandering hand in hand with my wife along a cobblestone harbour in Copenhagen. No phone in hand. No tasks pinging. No running checklist in the back of my mind. enjoying time with my beautiful wife Janique Just walking. Exploring. Laughing. Watching people ride bikes in suits and heels like it was the most normal thing in the world. It felt… light. Not because the schedule was slow (it wasn’t). We were on a…
by Tim Parkins | Jun 1, 2025
Why Top Performers “Fake It Til They Make It” ‘Fake it until you make it’ gets a bad rap. But it’s one of the key tools top performers use; not to pretend, but to become. People treat it like a con, like you’re trying to trick the world. But it’s not about pretending to be someone you’re not; it’s about practicing the version of you that you’re becoming. Let’s say you want to be a writer. You don’t feel like one yet. You’re waiting for inspiration, or clarity, or… whatever magic lightning…
by Tim Parkins | May 25, 2025
The Promotion That Blew Up My Life I got everything I thought I wanted, and it almost broke me. Years ago, I was chasing a promotion. I was sure I wanted it. It looked great on paper; more responsibility, the opportunity to have even more influence, a fancy title that sounded cool, and, of course, more money. The classic next step. What everyone wants, right? I got the promotion. I was so proud of myself, feeling like “I’d arrived”. Now things would be great! Finally! But the shine quickly…
