This was meant to be a story about patience...

Hello lovely people,

The other day I was going fishing when my daughter Freya asked if she could join me. I was delighted but also nervous - I generally don’t catch much and didn’t want her to get disappointed or bored.

I gave her the usual spiel about “It’s called fishing, not catching” and how I go mostly for the sitting in nature and just chilling…catching is a bonus. I explained how lovely that is, the calmness, how it gives you space to breathe.

And it’s true. There’s something about staring at the water, doing nothing more complicated than holding a rod, where there’s no phone signal, that opens up space in your head. Time to remember what matters, examine things from a gentler angle, and just breathe (which, incidentally, are also the first steps in my Calm REBEL Arc.)

Of course, on this trip the fish didn’t get the memo. We caught LOADS. Barely any waiting at all. She thought it was brilliant. In a way I felt slightly betrayed by the universe for sabotaging my carefully prepared metaphor about patience and stillness.

But maybe that’s the real lesson: sometimes you prepare for calm and end up pulled into action. Other times you brace for chaos and find stillness instead. Either way, it’s worth casting your line.

And speaking of lines — now I’ve laid the bait of the story, here’s the catch: the very first copies of Calm REBEL Leadership are here. Some of you early rebels already reeled yours in (thank you for diving in first).

For everyone else, the book will be live on Amazon from Monday 6th October.

But before then, you can hook yourself a signed first edition direct from me. They’re available now — a small stash, once they’re gone, they’re gone.

Click here to get yours

I can only guarantee sending them to the UK right now but if you are outside the UK and you want to take a gamble then let me know.

Thanks, as always, for being alongside me through the calm, the surprises, and all the tangles in between.

Stay calm. Stay rebellious.

PS: Freya is now convinced that fishing is easy and she has “the magic touch” which when looking at the evidence she might not be wrong.