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Making Better Choices When it Matters with Sara Milne Rowe

This week’s guest on The 21st Century Creative podcast is Sara Milne Rowe, one of the leading performance coaches in the UK and the founder of the company Coaching Impact, and the author of The SHED Method: Making Better Choices When It Matters.

She works with senior leaders and teams in the creative and media industries, education, startups, and female entrepreneurs. In The SHED Method she shares the principles and techniques she uses to help her clients perform at their best under pressure.

Like all top coaches, Sara enlists the help of other coaches to help her reach her own goals. So when she signed a publishing deal for The SHED Method, she came to me for help in getting the book written, and also with making the transition from coach to writer, as she saw that, as a coach who writes books, I had been through the same process myself.

As I worked with Sara and read the successive drafts of her book, I was struck by the down-to-earth nature of a lot of her advice, for top performers. Things like getting a good night’s sleep, staying hydrated, watching your diet and taking time out to exercise – especially when you’re busy.

The kind of things it’s easy to overlook while you’re pursuing your ambitions – especially if you’re a working on a computer, or creating imaginary storytelling worlds, or on a punishing schedule of live performances.

Reading the draft, I got a few flashbacks to my own experience, and times where I hadn’t taken care of myself very well, and had paid the penalty. So I thought it would be helpful to invite Sara on the show to share some of the ideas from the book with you.

In this interview Sara invites you to ‘become a scientist on your own behaviour’ by observing what works and what doesn’t work for you, and experimenting with new ways of doing things.

As well as the foundation of SHED practices, she gives you a new and user-friendly way of looking at your brain, and working with it rather than against it, when you’re trying to achieve or create something extraordinary.

She also talks about her experience of going from a creative practitioner towards becoming a thought leader with a public profile in her industry. So if you’re on a similar journey, from working alone in your studio or with clients, to stepping into the public eye in print, online, in media of any kind, Sara offers a great example of how to find the inspiration and the courage to go for it.

You can get tips and updates about The SHED Method on Facebook and Instagram.

About The 21st Century Creative podcast

Each episode of The 21st Century Creative podcast features an interview with an outstanding creator in the arts or creative industries.

At the end of the interview, I ask my guest to set you a Creative Challenge that will help you put the ideas from the interview in to practice in your own work.

And in the first part of the show, I share insights and practical guidance based on my 21+ years experience of coaching creatives like you.

Make sure you receive every episode of The 21st Century Creative by subscribing to the show in iTunes.

Mark McGuinness: <em><strong>Mark McGuinness</strong> is a an award-winning <a href="http://www.markmcguinness.com">poet</a>, a <a href="https://lateralaction.com/coaching">coach for creatives</a>, and the host of <a href="https://lateralaction.com/21stcenturycreative">The 21st Century Creative Podcast</a>.</em>