Zoe Thompson: Bristol Beat Cop, Master Coach, and Europe's Strongest Women

Ever watched someone take a hard no and build a better yes? That’s the energy today as we sit down with leadership coach and Europe’s Strongest Woman competitor, Zoe Thompson, to explore how a Bristol kid who dreamed of joining the police carved a different path—front desk to senior leadership, single parent to elite athlete, and now a master coach who helps high performers make change that sticks.

We get into the quiet mechanics of real leadership: earning credibility without the badge, removing friction for teams running homicide investigations, and trusting subject-matter experts while making the final call. Zoe is candid about the cost of stubbornness—when proving a point stops serving you—and how age and experience sharpen the filter for which mountains are worth climbing. She also shares why coaches need coaches, and how seeking perspectives from different generations keeps your thinking fresh and your business resilient.

Zoe breaks down her PIIPS framework—plan, intention, identity, performance, structure—showing how belief-driven change, clear purpose, and the right routines turn good intentions into sustainable results. We talk humor as a coaching tool, scheduling joy on purpose, and building a flexible life that can carry real weight. If you’re feeling the pull to do more but don’t know where to start, you’ll leave with practical steps: keep what works, name the gaps, pick one move, and design the structure that supports it.

If this conversation moves you, follow the show, share it with a friend who’s ready for a real shift, and leave a review to help others find it. Then visit www.zoethomson.uk to dive into Zoe’s five steps of success and connect directly.

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Chapters

• 0:00 Meet Zoe Thompson
• 1:29 Bristol Roots and Policing Dreams
• 3:39 Front Desk to Leadership Fast-Track
• 6:29 Proving Credibility Without the Badge
• 9:34 Managing Investigations Through Logistics
• 13:45 Single Parent and Strongwoman Journey
• 17:45 Saying Yes and Rapid Competition Rise
• 20:55 Coaches Need Coaches
• 23:25 The Cost of Stubbornness
• 26:35 Humor, Fun, and Self-Awareness
• 29:25 Travel, Flexibility, and Lifestyle Design
• 31:15 Slow Seasons and Focused Offers
• 34:15 What Friends and Clients Can Expect
• 36:15 The PIPIS Framework Explained
• 39:15 Beliefs Behind Habits and Change
• 41:15 Where to Start When You Want More
• 43:25 Clean Slate: Working With Youth

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:37

Welcome back to one on one with Mr. U. Of course. I'm your host, Mr. U in Studio with us, leadership coaches, specialist, and master coach, Zoe Thompson is in the building. How are you?

SPEAKER_01: 0:47

I'm good. How are you?

SPEAKER_00: 0:49

Good, good. So good to see you here today. All right, we had a great uh creative view conversation. There was so much about you like this multi-layers and so interesting. So I want to get into as much as we can, but we customer asked our guests to start off with their childhood and their upbringing. Tell us about young Zoe, how you got from where you were then to where you are now.

SPEAKER_01: 1:09

Well, that's that's 46 years. So I'll try and keep it short and sweet. So I'm still in the city that I was born in and grew up in. Uh so in Bristol, in uh the UK. So it's kind of halfway between London and Wales. They're kind of the places that most people know. So born and bred here, have always lived here. Um, kind of a standard upbringing, really. My grew up with my mum and dad, um, both were in policing, they met through the police force. Um, so dad was in the police force, mum um was a stay-at-home mum. Um, so yeah, pretty standard, pretty standard upbringing. I shared my dad's passion for the police, that's what I wanted to do. Like right from my teens, nothing else was on the table. Although uh the school did try and persuade me that the navy might be an option for a while, but the sea kind of frightens the hell out of me, so that crossed off quite quickly. So I knew I wanted to go into the police, um, and that's I left school after my A levels, um, so college for you. Uh, left after my A levels and uh joined the police as a civilian with the intention of being a police officer, although that never happened. Uh, and I now um have a son, he's 23. Um, and we're still living in Bristol, so that's kind of the highlights.

SPEAKER_00: 2:32

All right. And so you said you didn't get achieved your achieve your dream as a police officer. Were you doing any work with them at all? What were you doing with them?

SPEAKER_01: 2:41

So I started off at probably one of the lowest entry roles. So I started off working the reception desk of the local police station. So I mean, it's crazy really when you think about it. And I was 18 years old, fresh out of school. You kind of think you know everything at 18 as well. I really did think that I knew it all, and I started off really confident, you know, just walked in, I was like, yeah, yeah, it's fine. But there was no training, like no formal training. I just shadowed the guy that worked there. I copied him, then he watched me to make sure that kind of had it kind of sussed, and then that was it. You kind of left to it. So that was the intention was to do that job for a while until recruitment opened, and then I would apply. And I did apply, but I didn't get through. I failed one of the assessments, um, like a psychometric test, past everything else, but I failed one of the psychometric tests.

unknown: 3:36

Okay.

SPEAKER_01: 3:37

So that didn't happen. And off the back of that, six months later, uh, an opportunity for promotion came up, and again, confidence. Uh, you know, I'd only been there three years, and I thought, yeah, I can go into my leadership role. Um, and so I applied for it, got it, and that was it. Then I never applied to be a police officer again. The leadership journey kind of took off, and that's where I spent 20 years.

SPEAKER_00: 4:03

Well, that's something it was a family tradition that you were trying to follow. Was there any disappointment from the uh folks that you didn't follow through with that, or was that something they were pretty okay with you deciding?

SPEAKER_01: 4:16

I I think initially I think my dad was pretty pleased that that was the career that I wanted to pursue. I think when I didn't get through, I don't think he was disappointed. I think probably as a dad of a daughter, knowing that the way the world was going, he was probably a little bit relieved. But I think also still quite proud that I was in the organization and and the career was going really well. So probably a bit of a mixed bag. I think some disappoint I think he was disappointed for me because he knew how much I wanted it, but at the same time, suspect probably quite relieved that I wasn't leaving the station and the safety of the station, and and but still doing still doing a lot of the jobs that police officers had always done. So I was really lucky that when I joined, a lot of the police officer roles were going through what we call workforce modernisation. So they were looking at jobs that had historically been done by police officers that didn't necessarily need a power of arrest or didn't necessarily need a trained police officer to do, and they were civilianising them. So I spent a couple of years kind of going around and doing the jobs that had always been done by police officers, but doing them as a civilian. So that was quite groundbreaking at that time.

SPEAKER_00: 5:34

Okay. And for all you guys that are watching and listening to it, if you have any questions or comments for Zoe or myself, jump into the live chat. We can't wait to hear from you and some feedback from you on how the show is going for you. All right, so we talked a little bit about your frustration, your frustration in your work, past and present. Kind of talk to us about that a little bit because they were pretty interesting.

SPEAKER_01: 5:57

So frustrations when I was working for the police.

SPEAKER_00: 6:00

Yeah, sure.

SPEAKER_01: 6:01

Yeah, uh, I mean, where do you start? I mean, there's frustrations with the public, then you've got frustrations with your colleagues as well. Um, I think I I loved it. You know, I can I can sit here now and and I can look back very, very fondly on those 20 years as a whole, big picture. But there were definitely a lot of really steep learning points in that. I mean, I was like I said, I was 18 when I first started, thought I knew everything that there was to know in the world, and very quickly learned that actually there's this whole world that exists out there that most of us don't know about. And then coming up through, now I went was in leadership at in within three years of starting. So 21, 22, and I'm in a leadership role, responsible for people that were the age of my parents, people that had been there kind of 10, 15 plus years, and you know, I come in with three years experience and saying, Yeah, I'm gonna be your I'm gonna be your manager now, and then was in senior leadership by the time I was 30, and it's very hard to know what was behind the challenges because I was female, I was 30, I was a civilian, so I wasn't a police officer, and I'm in there with responsibility for police officers that you know that that were a lot older, a lot more experienced, and I think there was probably a lot of question over whether or not I was able, capable. Uh so I really had to prove myself in every role that I went to, I really had to prove myself, and I think character always comes into this, doesn't it? I'm you know, I'm I am that person that if you tell me it can't be done, I'll do it twice to to prove the point. And I think that probably served me quite well. Uh, and I'm also quite thick skinned as well, which I think also helped. But I mean, at the time it was tough, like there were definitely periods of times that were that were really tough, and I had a lot of responsibility, but I loved it too. You know, they were tough, tough times, but you know, I do like a challenge. So for me, it was proving that I was capable, proving that I was the right person for them to give that job to, and proving actually, once you get to a certain level of leadership, you don't need to be the subject matter expert. What you need to do is trust the people who are and let them give you that information that enables you to make those decisions, and so actually not being the subject matter expert, not being you know the expert in those roles later on actually really helped because it meant I could step back and trust the managers that were working underneath me to tell me the information I needed to be able to make that decision. So it I think it worked out pretty well. Uh I mean I would like to think that they would say the same thing, but yeah, there were some challenges in there, but we we worked well. We we we found we found the common ground, we found the way to make those relationships work, and uh yeah, there were some some good times, and they did really important work. You know, I mean they they were investigating murders, homicides, you know, they they needed somebody to be able to take the logistics, take the decision making away from them so they could focus on the investigations. And that's what my role was was anything that wasn't an investigation came to me. So, you know, they wanted me to focus on what I needed to focus on so they could they could do their do their bit.

SPEAKER_00: 9:42

You definitely are a strong personality. I found out right from the very beginning. Um for you to uh be uh a leader in what's considered a male dominated new environment, then add on a single parent, then international strong woman competitor? Tell me where you think the turning point was where you kind of feel like you know what I can I can make it in these in these spheres because I know that there's a lot of challenges with all three of them. One individually, if you'd like to. I'd love to hear that perspective from you if you don't mind sharing it. But what do you think were trending points for each of those three areas that kind of you know what? This was hard, didn't know how I was gonna make it. I was able to do that. Well, what was the trending point for all three areas?

SPEAKER_01: 11:19

I think in all honesty, some of them, some of those things that was never the initial plan. So some of those things like things happened, and you just then deal with the situation that you're in and what you have to deal with. So I mean, if we take take the promotions quite often, I never went in with a well, well, my I went in with a career plan of being a police officer, that didn't happen. So, with the career kind of the that progression was quite often because opportunities became available, and I thought that looks really interesting, let me put my hat in the ring and see what happens, and then it happened. Uh, sometimes more to my surprise than than anybody else's. So some some of these things were actually I'm not sure any of them were part of the plan. You know, being a single parent working full-time, I I'm not sure many people, I mean there are some people, but I'm not sure many people set up with kind of raising a child in that environment. I had to go back full-time, you know. That financially that wasn't an option. But actually, you know, I have conversations with my son now, like I said, he's 23. We have conversations that actually that dynamic for him helped him to be more independent, has helped him to be able to do things at a much younger age than some of his school friends and college friends, because we had to have that dynamic where we had to be that team quite early on. And then the strong woman, you know, competing. I'm like I've uh certainly from my 20s onwards, um, certainly into my 30s, the strength and conditioning training was very much the hobby, the competitive element that I mean, I went down to I went down with a a girl that I trained with. There was an open day, she wanted to go and have a look around. I went down to keep her company because she didn't want to go on her own. And it's one of those, again, one of those things where somebody said, No, we're going to set up a competition, are you interested? And actually that year I had challenged myself to say yes to more opportunities. I'd had a bit of a wobble the year before, a few things had really knocked my confidence, and although things on paper were looking really good, I personally wasn't in such a great place. So I'd actually challenged myself that that year to force myself out of my comfort zone again and start saying yes to things as they came up. So the competition actually came as a result of that. So we'd gone down, and it you know, it was pretty cool, like it's pretty cool equipment, it was good fun to do. And as we were leaving, the guy that runs the gym said, No, I'm putting a competition on in a couple of months. Um, it would be great if you girls sign up. So I was like, Okay, yes, count me in. Uh, we'll worry about the training and how we're gonna make all that happen later. But yep, I'm gonna say yes, put my name down. And yeah, it turned out I was actually quite good at it. And one competition led to another, that led to another, that led to another. And it's that it's that meme, you know, when people the the meme that says, Well, that escalated quickly, it was literally that within 12 months of the first competition, local competition for amateurs in Bristol, I was competing at Europe's strongest woman. When I say it escalated quickly, it escalated quickly. And that was all at the same time as working full-time in a senior leadership role, and my son hitting his teen years, which I have to say he was pretty good. I I think I got quite a quite an easy run of the teenage years. I I think I thank sport for that because I think that really kept him grounded and gave him gave him a routine and gave him that commitment. And you know, they say, don't they, that um it takes a village and definitely his coaches and the world he was in definitely stepped in and did their bit in terms of male role models and giving him that support. So certainly took the village to raise him because all of this was all happening at the same time, and then I made the decision when he reached the year where he does his exams. My role was made redundant, and all of this kind of happened at the same time. And I thought, actually, probably the universe giving me the sign that it's probably time to step back from that now and put some energy into creating a business and getting him through his exams and see what's next for him and support him in that. So it was it was a good run, it was a good couple of years, but it was it was a lot. I look at photographs of myself now and I think, oh, you look exhausted. And I was, and I was, you know, I mean, training the training itself takes it out of your central nervous system. There's no denying that. I think it was there were there was a lot of juggling going on, but we made it work.

SPEAKER_00: 16:25

Yeah, you certainly did. We talked a lot about uh you know some of those rough times you were having, you just referenced it a little bit ago. Who coaches a master coach? I mean, we we it it's a recent revelation for me to realize that you know what coaches actually need coaches. I didn't even think about it, even though I'm a coach myself. I didn't think about the fact you know what, I need to have a coach too. Yeah, who coaches a master coach like yourself when you're uh having these down times and you need to kind of get this boost and get this consistent support? Who coaches you?

SPEAKER_01: 16:53

Uh well I've I've had a coach the majority of the time, actually. So for my own coaching development, I have a coaching supervisor, so somebody who is a lot more experienced and holds me accountable for being a good coach. Um, but I've had fitness coaches, I've had nutrition coaches, I've had business coaches, you know. So I think there's always somebody that knows that a little bit more or does things differently, and that's something that I very consciously decided this year was I wanted to be in rooms with people who do things differently. So easy to surround yourself with like-minded people, and that's great, but I think sometimes we have to surround ourselves with people who do do things differently. So the business coach I worked with this year, I think he's just turned 30. So he's a good 15 years younger. He's been running a business a similar amount of time, but he does things differently, and that's what I wanted. I want somebody who goes, Well, why do you have to do it like that? And you know, I want somebody that that thinks differently, and you know, and it that probably needs to be a different generation, or it needs to be somebody with different life experiences. And so for me, being in a in a room with with people who have different experiences and different approaches, I learn learn so much from that.

SPEAKER_00: 18:20

I respect that because a lot of people do they say that they want that, but when rubber meets the road, they don't really always really want to have that. So I love do you think about that? You want to be around people or influenced by people who are doing things differently, different age level, different groups. I love hearing that because that's that's kind of where we need to be. You talked about your stubbornness uh earlier. We had deeper discussions in our pre-interview. I don't know how deep we're getting today. If you allow us to do that, I'm not quite sure. But what do you think your stubbornness costs you personally? I love hearing this concept because this is the kind of thing that I think our listeners resonate with because the real stories, the the real human experiences, that's what makes this show um what it's becoming. I'm really proud of that. So I'm kind of helping you kind of help pad the reputation of this show by asking. What do you think your stubbornness has cost you personally, Zoe?

SPEAKER_01: 19:15

Um, that's a great question because other podcasts would ask me about the stubbornness and very much and how that's a strength. And and it is, and I could very easily sit here and give you a 10-minute answer of why it's a strength. But yeah, you're right, it has it has cost me. I uh I find that the stubbornness means that I want to make things work, and so I keep going quite often past that point where I probably could have walked away and there would have been less damage. I mean, hindsight's a wonderful thing, isn't it? Because we can look back on it, we can look at the big picture, and we can think, ah, okay, that's probably the point where you should have said enough is enough, that this isn't working, and it's now costing me more time and energy, mental, physical, emotional energy that isn't getting that return on that investment. So I think my stubbornness is quite often not letting it go when it's not working, for sure, but also that that element of just like I said at the beginning, you know, if somebody says you can't do it, I am so stubborn to want to prove otherwise. And sometimes I really have to sit myself down and say it's not worth it, you don't need to prove it, like it's gonna cost you way more than proving a point or proving that you can. Uh, and actually, somebody bought me uh a little sign and it says, just because you can doesn't mean that you have to, and that is something I have to keep coming back to because yeah, and I and we see this a lot with high performers, you know, when you're used to like I can dig deep, I can make it happen, I can be driven and determined, strike stubborn, and I can I can do everything it takes to make this happen, or I can just take a step back and think, actually, this isn't this isn't for me. I could, but I'm not going to. And I think I think this is coming with age and experience because I think 20-year-old me would have been like arms crossed, and like, yeah, no, I'm gonna make that happen. Watch this. Whereas I think 40 plus year old me is like, I know I haven't got the energy for that, and I also now know what's important and what isn't. And so I don't know that people would tell you that I'm any less stubborn, I'm perhaps a little bit more selective over what stubborn is honest and fair.

SPEAKER_00: 21:56

That's why we need to have people in our lives who can kind of speak to that and kind of help us get some perspective. That's why I asked you the previous question because that is just so important, especially amongst coaches. I've chosen to become a high performance coach. So the people you're talking about, that's who I have to be my clients are. So this is gonna be fun. But tell me, what do you think? What do you like about Zoe and what don't you like about Zoe?

SPEAKER_01: 22:22

What do I like? I think I think this oh that's such a that's I mean, this is this is an uncomfortable question to answer out loud. I think most of us, most of I think most of us know what we like about ourselves and what we don't, we just don't talk about it very often. And I mean, I had a conversation with a client uh this week, and and I said you can talk about your strengths out loud outside of an interview process because quite often a lot of us are only really given that space and voice in an interview to say, This is what I'm good at, and that's anything outside of that is really uncomfortable. I I think I would love to say kindness, compassion, empathy. Um sounds really weird saying it out loud. Uh, humour. I think a lot again, I think I'm I'm good at humour.

SPEAKER_00: 23:24

I think confirm no one.

unknown: 23:26

Sure.

SPEAKER_01: 23:28

In the right time, I think humor's really important. I think I think uh I asked this question a fair bit, like whether or not people feel that it's appropriate in a coaching environment. I think it is. I think for me, that humour is a great way to break state in a coaching session. So when it gets very heavy, when it gets very serious, actually just saying something that's a little bit lighter, and that person just having a little chuckle, and then it just gives them space to breathe, and then we go back into it again. I mean in the police, humour is a great coping mechanism, and I think it's definitely one of mine, but humour is really important. Fun is really important to me. Life is very, very serious, and I think we as adults forget how to have fun, or we don't give time to having fun because other things take priority. So, one of the things I've challenged myself to do this year is to do something fun every month. I am entertaining my inner child this year and doing lots of fun stuff because we don't make time, like a lot of people don't make time for it, and I don't I don't want to be that person. So what don't I like? I'm impatient. I'm so impatient, and I frustrate myself at how impatient I am because I want I want to get things done, I like to see results, but I like for me it's about continuous improvement. So I've recognized that actually the value for me is not in the outcome, it's in the continuous improvement. So I like to I am somebody who likes change, which I know a lot of people don't, because for me that's showing that things are moving on and things are changing and things are progressing. I am very impatient when things are stagnant and when it's the same thing over and over again. I like I'm I can feel myself like okay, something needs to change, like this needs to move forward, and I can be quite impatient with that, and I don't feel I'm as tolerant as that with other people. I have to catch that, I really have to catch that because this is like this is me and how I approach things, it's definitely not how other people like to approach things. So when I feel that it's stagnant for other people, I really have to hold off like that unsolicited coaching of oh, you could do this. Like this is not you, like this is them, and they actually might be quite happy with that. They might be quite quite happy with a slower progress and slower continuous improvement. So I think when we work in this world, we're very used to being around people who are like this, and so when I step out of this world, I have to remember that not everybody is programmed in the same way, and just because we see their potential and we see what could be possible doesn't mean that that's what they want.

SPEAKER_00: 26:41

That makes total sense. Okay, you're talking about having more fun doing more fun things. What are some fun things you've been doing? What kind of uh interesting places have you been visiting?

SPEAKER_01: 26:49

Uh well, I went rollerblading, which took me way back to my teens.

SPEAKER_00: 26:55

Is there pictures and videos in there somewhere where I can see?

SPEAKER_01: 26:59

Well, there are, but I know it's gonna that's gonna cost you, I think. I had to so I rollerbladed as a kid, uh, and I went with my sister who also rollerbladed as a kid, and we were we were talking about it in the car on the way down, just praying that muscle memory came back, and it and it did, and it was a great, it was a great night. Um what else have I done? Um oh gosh, like I've I've literally challenged myself to do something every month. Um and some of it's been a little bit late out there. Sorry, say again.

SPEAKER_00: 27:31

And you visited a lot of cool places too. You're talking about.

SPEAKER_01: 27:34

Yeah, I love traveling. So I have just spent a month in Cyprus and I went to Malta for a week before that. Yeah, coming back to this weather is not it at all. Um, yeah, I love to travel, and I'm very fortunate that I've been able to create a business model that means I can I can travel and throw the the laptop in and still be able to work. So got a couple of little mini Europe trips coming up to travel with the basketball team and watch the games um across Europe.

SPEAKER_00: 28:06

So oh wow, okay.

SPEAKER_01: 28:07

We're not done yet. We're not done yet. Still got another two trips planned before the end of the year.

SPEAKER_00: 28:12

So I love it. Well, that's pretty cool. That's pretty cool. All right, so uh as a coach and somebody who is admittedly uh impatient, what happens when your client list begins to get low and things begin to get stagnant, but you adding uh new clients in? What is Zoe's world like when this is happening?

SPEAKER_01: 28:33

Zoe now or Zoe old. So old versions of Zoe would be like, well, let me add this in, let me create this and add this in. Uh Zoe Now has learned that actually sometimes that space has its uses. I mean, we still need to pay the bills and it still needs to be a profitable business. I'm I'm much better now at planning ahead and trusting the process a little bit more. Whereas I think earlier versions of myself would have been, well, let me, you know, one person would say, Oh, do you do this? And I'd say, Yeah, I do that. And I'd go away and I'd create it and I would add it to the mix. And I think what would happen was that it just created overwhelm for anybody that visited my website because I was doing all of the things for all of the people. Whereas now I'm much better at saying, No, I don't need to do that, but I can send you to somebody who does do that really, really well, and just really focusing on what I'm good at and talking about what I'm good at with the people that I can give my best to rather than trying to be all the people, all the things to all the people getting better, but I do again the impatience and that willingness to be able to do all of the things, I do have to catch myself doing it.

SPEAKER_00: 30:02

Okay, I love the transparency.

SPEAKER_01: 30:08

This is the challenge when you work in awareness, though, isn't it? It's like, oh, I'm so uh but then my clients don't want they don't want perfection. They also I think most people who go to a coach, I think want a coach that is transparent about what they're working on and how they're working on it because that makes it relatable. That means that that you're working with, you know, they're choosing to work with somebody who's on a similar journey and is doing the work, it's not just gifted to us at birth. There's no lessons to learn there. I think I think it's important to be transparent about what we're working on. Sometimes the awareness is hard, though, isn't it? Sometimes I'd like to be a little less self aware. I think life might be a bit easier, but yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 30:56

I'm with you there. This is what one of my last few tough questions, and then we'll close the show out today. So I want to ask you this because I heard from a coaching standpoint. From a personal standpoint, you still need people in your life, you still need friendships and relationships. What can somebody expect to see and experience with you if they try to approach as a friend or in a relationship with you? What are they going to see happen? Because you shared a lot of things about who you are as a coach and what you like, the things you don't like. What are they in for? Because it's probably going to happen, and it could be watching, listening right now. Who knows? What are they going to expect from Zoe when they approach this world?

SPEAKER_01: 31:37

I don't know. I think it would be a lot of the same, perhaps just a little less filtered. I think I'm I'm more, I think, yeah, I think what my clients get is very similar to what people get. Okay. I think it's probably just more in that coach state of remembering that I'm showing up for what they need, and part of that is who I who I am. That's why they choose to work with me. But actually, I'm remembering that in that in that hour, I'm there for them. I'm not there for me. So I think it would be very similar. I think people can get a very when I'm comfortable, the more I get to know people, the more like you read the room and you get to know the people that you're with, it probably becomes a little less filtered. Probably the humour gets a little bit more close to the learning, maybe, but I don't know. I think it would be pretty much the same.

SPEAKER_00: 32:34

Okay. I'm like, hmm, interesting.

SPEAKER_01: 32:45

Part of me wants to ask, What was that? And the other part of me says, Yeah, leave that, leave that alone.

SPEAKER_00: 32:52

No, it's off the air. How about that?

SPEAKER_01: 32:54

Okay, that's fair.

SPEAKER_00: 32:57

Okay, so let's talk a little bit about the work that you're doing, business-wise. Talk about just uh PIPS framework that you develop. What does that mean? What does that actually do?

SPEAKER_01: 33:07

So it's the framework that I teach my clients, it's also the framework that I use. So that's that's where it came from. So there's five pillars to the framework, and I find that whether it's for me or for my clients, that if you cover off all five of the pillars, then you're setting yourself up for success, but not just success that looks good on paper, the success that feels good. So it means that it aligns with your values, it all fits in nicely with who you are and where you want to go. So the five pillars are plan, intention, identity, performance, and structure. So the planning, a lot of people are really good at the planning, although my impatience means that it forces me to spend more time planning and not just coming up with three bullet points and jumping straight in. Intention is just being very clear around purpose and also showing up with intention, actions that are intentional rather than going with the flow and just doing what you've always done. Identity for anyone that's read James Clear's Atomic Habits, and I know there's lots of other things out there, you know, being stepping into future versions of our identity, looking at who's successful at this that that we can mirror and model are really important. Performance, so you'll know with working with high performance people, there's habits, there's behaviors, there's mindset, confidence, consistency, motivation, and discipline all come into the performance elements. And then structure, which tends to be the other one that most people get either stuck on or they don't pay as much attention to, and that's creating a routine and creating a structure that enables everything else to happen. So a lot of people are really good at planning, they've got an idea of what it is they want to achieve, but they don't create a structure that enables that to happen. So they're good for a few days and then it tends to fall by the wayside. So having a really good routine and structure that supports everything else is important. So all five are really important, not necessarily in that order, but most clients tend to work through in that order because you get all of the information and then create the structure to support it. But yeah, I've had a lot of clients that have used it and been, yeah, it's not quite often. It's when they work through the five, they can work out the missing piece of why they've not been able to make things happen before, and then they've got that magic ingredient that it's not magic, it's just it was missing, and then they can put it into put it into practice.

SPEAKER_00: 35:54

Okay, I love that. So the PIP framework is the same thing as the five steps of success. Okay, small. So, what would you say, Zoe, from your experience, are the most common habits and behaviors that hold people back?

SPEAKER_01: 36:08

It's I think everything comes down to the beliefs, you know, whether it's beliefs that you hold because that's what you were told when you were young, or whether it's beliefs that you hold because of experiences that you've had. And so we can do the surface level work of changing how we act, we can do the surface level work of okay, this is how I want to respond to things. But if we don't do the work on changing the belief that drives that, as soon as you know it gets busy or stressful or we're distracted, we revert back to those old patterns of behavior. So for me, it comes back to those beliefs.

SPEAKER_00: 36:56

I love this. So this is my next to last question for you. What's some advice you would get to somebody who recognizes, you know what, I can be doing more, kind of how you were early on, but they don't know where to start. Maybe you can't tell me exactly what you did to start, but what would you tell those that are watching and listening? How can they start?

SPEAKER_01: 37:19

I think I mean this is very similar to to quite a lot of the early conversations that I'll have with clients. So I think start with what works, start with what you're good with and what you want to keep, because we can, you know, we can very easily focus on what we feel is missing and overlook what we already have. So I know some people will call that the abundance mindset, but I think we can be very distracted, and especially high performers and especially people who are always thinking about the next thing, we have to remember what we've already got so that we're not focusing on just the gaps, that we're focusing on what we already have. So sit down, make and make a whole list of if you're going to make some change, what do you want to keep? What don't you want to change? What are you really grateful for? What makes you happy? What gives you that fulfillment? And then you can start to look at where the gaps are, and that will start to give you a picture of what you could step into next. The values and the needs and that sense of purpose are really important, but unless we're very, very quick, very get very quick to get clear on what we've already got, we could run off in a very different direction, and we need to ground ourselves first in with the good stuff. So that's that's where I would start.

SPEAKER_00: 38:40

No, I love that. Fantastic answer. All right, this is our last question of the show. And normally I don't prepare folks for having been doing that lately because it's such a deep question and requires some thoughts. Call a CMV question, career, mission, and vocation. We talked about it a little bit. Hopefully, you remember. But the whole idea of this is a theoretical wiping of the slate, and you've done hobby-wise, career-wise, mission work-wise, vocation-wise, temporarily erased and off of the board. What is Zoe Thompson doing today, most likely, outside of those areas? I'll give you a second to think about it. I think you guys are watching and listening. You want to get a shout-out on our show? Shoot me a text at 904-867-4466. Text me at 904-867-4466. I'll give you a shout-out on our next episode. And thank you again for just leaving your name and the city you're calling from. Give you a shout-out on the next episode. Thanks again for doing that. All right, so go ahead. Here's your uh opportunity to answer that question if you can.

SPEAKER_01: 39:41

If you need more time, you know, I think I would be doing something with young people and potentially some people that are on that cusp where they could go left, they could go right, and giving them the tools that help them to make better decisions for them and for their future. So a lot of the work that I do now I love doing, but if I could get that into people at an earlier age, I think it would help make life much easier. I my gut answer is something with not necessarily with young offenders, but with young young people who don't have that circle of influence, they don't have that village that can help them to be able to do that.

SPEAKER_00: 40:29

I see three things in you. You could do either one of those three things, and those answers that come to me mind for me. Every time I ask that question, I always have some answer in mind, but it's not mine, it's for them, but I've seen social work. I've seen an athletic coach, I've even seen a professor when I talk to you. I'm like, you could do all three of those things. I'm not saying go do it now because your life is busy enough as it is, but those areas that if we were we were working to slate clean theoretically, you could do any of those three things. Does any of that stuff resonate with you at all?

SPEAKER_01: 41:03

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, I mean, I support the the the youth basketball teams here where I as a volunteer, um, where I can. But yeah, I social work, I think with the it's the the system the system I think would make that is what makes it difficult. As with most government agencies, your hands are a little bit tied, but yeah, yeah, I could see myself doing all three of those. Just don't tell me you don't see me doing it, because then I would have to go and do it to prove to prove you're mountain climbing.

SPEAKER_00: 41:35

There you go. Have fun with that one.

SPEAKER_01: 41:37

Yeah, that's fun.

SPEAKER_00: 41:39

No, that's good. Zoe, thank you for your time and coming in here and talking about this. This is so fantastic. If you guys want to find out how to reach out to Zoe and see the framework, the PIP frameworks we were talking about, addresses right here on the screen. But for those that are listening and not watching, www.zoeThomson.uk, z-o-e-thomson.uk. You can get some of the free training she has there for the five steps of success framework. Of course, you can reach out to her, I'm sure, and have her uh answer any questions you may have, or if you find her valuable as she's already a master coach, so she can she can definitely help you out in some areas regarding burnout and making big career moves. She's a specialist at that. www.zorethomson.uk, zoethomson.uk. Any closing thoughts for our audience, Zoe, before we sign off?

SPEAKER_01: 42:30

No, I just really appreciate you inviting me in, and the conversation has been great.

SPEAKER_00: 42:35

Oh, same here. It's been a pleasure. Stay on me for a little bit afterwards, and we go ahead and close out for those that are listening and watching. We have this uh episode already live on most platforms. The ones that it's not, it'll be up hopefully within the hour, within the next half hour or so. And then, of course, on all other platforms like Apple Podcasts, Pandora, Spotify, iHeartRadio. It'll be up before 12 noon today. So thanks again for watching this and everybody. Zoe, thank you for your time on this. Have a fantastic day. That's Zoe. I'm Mr. You. We're out of the way.