Potential Activation Coach | Speaker | Facilitator | Enabling individuals and teams live and work with clarity, authenticity and connectedness

I know what it’s like to feel stuck.

To be the leader who knows things need to change— is trying so desperately to change things but no matter how many meetings you have, how many processes you tweak, or how much effort you pour in, the problem keeps coming back.

So you read more books. 

Listen to another podcast. 

Take another course. 

I’ve been there. 

Lived the exhaustion, frustration, and disillusionment that comes from pushing harder, only to watch the same issues resurface. 

Lived the rollercoaster - I can do this, I can't do this, I am a horrible leader, break and start again - and so the cycle goes. 

I used to believe that with the right framework, enough effort, and a solid plan, I could fix anything.

But the reality? I was spinning my wheels. 

The only person getting burn in the process?

Me.

Why? Because organisations and teams are complex. Full of complex sticky problems.

And sticky problems don’t respond to linear solutions.

That’s because the challenges operational leaders face aren’t just process problems or just people problems—they’re systems problems. 

They are the tension between competing priorities and misaligned incentives.  Creating a cycle that traditional project management and leadership techniques struggle to break.

That’s where I come in.

I help operational leaders untangle complexity, restore clarity, and create momentum—without burning out their teams or themselves.

My approach isn’t about another framework, another change initiative, or another one-size-fits-all solution. I'm here to help you: 
✔ Identify leverage points – small shifts to give you some slack back in the system.
✔ Align people and process – so progress feels natural, not forced.
✔ Reduce friction and resistance – so the team moves together, not apart.
✔ See the system at play – so you can stop firefighting and start leading with confidence.

Because leadership shouldn’t feel like an uphill battle. And clarity shouldn’t be a luxury.

If you’re tired of spinning your wheels and want to avoid impending burnout, or need to recover from it - let’s connect. 

You don’t have to do this alone.

This hike will not fix everything.
This hike will not fix everything.
This hike will not fix everything.
This hike will not fix everything.
This hike will not fix everything.

This was on repeat with every step I took. 

Each painful, tiring step. 

Reminding myself that I won’t magically come out of the bush and be a different person.

My problems won’t have all gone away.

I won’t magically fix my procrastination.

I suddenly have all the skills I want.

Or be able to repair the relationships I want. 

This hike will not fix everything.

Chuckling to myself.

This was not a new realisation.

I’d first had this realisation 2 summers ago, doing something similar - 5 days in the bush. 

Off I’d trodded, in search of a great epiphany that was going to change everything. 

If I could just have the time to slow down, stop doing a million things then I everything would magically be ok. 

I got the epiphany - just not the one I wanted.

Not only was no one coming to save me. 

Some great insight wasn’t going to save me either. 

I would have to take ACTION.

Messy, imperfect action. 

And it would take time.

Ugh.

Two things I DO NOT LIKE. 

But nonetheless, it felt like a moment of awakening. 

Like something finally clicked in my understanding about the world.

Not at a cognitive level. 

But in my bones. 

I understood the assignment finally. 

It’s been 2 years of rebuilding.

Messy imperfect action. 

And it’s taking time.

Hence I found myself, again, hiking

Again, repeating “this hike will not fix everything”.

A reminder that I need to keep taking messy, imperfect action, and not expect immediate results. 

So just over 2 years since my breakdown, as we start a new year, often full with intentions, resolutions and great ideas, I am here to remind myself, and you:

You’ve got this. 

One little action a time. 

One little moment that seems insignificant, the moment where you:
- Scroll a little less
- Take the stairs
- Say hi to the neighbour that you usually ignore
- Read 2 pages
- Say a little kind word to yourself 

They add up. 

Change is happening. You are getting there. 

Keep going. 

_____
BookSmart & Broke: Because you can’t escape being human.

Roselle O'Brien

Clarity in Complexity | Dissolving stickiness in teams using a multi-disciplinary approach | There is no one size fits all

October 2024 my life made the most staggering change for the better, my first Vipassana retreat fundamentally transformed my life. 

It's woo woo to some.

It's as natural as breathing to others.

I'm somewhere in between but can't deny the benefits of learning to watch my mind rather than it run the show. 

Not here to preach but if you have a curiosity in Vipassana and have ever though about doing a 10 day silent retreat then feel free to drop me a line.

Not saying it's the only way - there are many ways to achieve the same outcome.

Many wise sages have written about separating from the mind from for centuries. And science now supports it. 

"The mind is a tool. The question is, do you use the tool or does the tool use you?" - Zen Proverb

I use the tool now.

At least more than it uses me.

Every Month, I Lose Myself 

Every month, there is a grieving. 
No matter how much I understand it or know it’s coming. 
A moment is all it takes. 
A moment too quick, often I don’t notice. 

And then, I question my life. 
I wonder if the people I love the most love me back. 
I wonder if I love them. 

Every month, I lose myself. 
Not when you think. 
My period is what brings me back. 

I have PMDD (Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder). 
I wish it had been diagnosed 15 years ago. 
But maybe not, I wouldn’t have learned to heal the way I have. 

PMDD isn’t “just PMS.” 
It’s a severe, cyclical condition that impacts mood, cognition, and relationships. 

For me, it feels like short-circuiting. My brain stops working. 

I lose my drive, my love, my compassion, my humour. 

And I find anger, pain, hurt, frustration, despair. 

Then, just like that, the switch flicks back on. 
The energy returns. The lightness. The fire. 
But the grief follows—the replay of missed moments, spirals, impulses. 

This is my reality. 
And maybe, it’s someone else’s too. 
I don’t have the answers...just a growing awareness, and a commitment to keep learning, keep talking, and keep finding ways forward. 

👉 Have you heard of PMDD before? 
👉 Or do you know someone who might be struggling with it? 

Let’s talk about it. Awareness matters. 

#PMDD #MentalHealthAwareness #HormonalHealth #WomensHealth #BreakTheStigma #RealTalk #EmpathyInAction

100 hours of mediation. In 10 days. Complete silence. 

No reading. No writing. 

Just me and my mind for 10 days. 

I did my first Vipassana just over a year ago. 

All because I am competitive and needed to win Life Bingo that I was playing with my friends 😅

As a meditator for over a decade I wasn’t sure what this was going to give me but determined to win bingo I was off. 

Day 6. The pain was excruciating. Sitting for 10 hours a day, I was sore. My body was tired. 

But I was committed. Going through the process.

Tears were near.

But I kept going through the process. 

Fighting, grappling, bargaining. 

Back to the process. 

And then, without warning…I was just there. 

With my pain. 

Not fighting it. 

Feeling it. 

At peace with it. Watching it.

And seeing my mind and all the ways it was trying to get me away from the pain. 

I was both with it and not it all at the same time. 

Not so detached that I wasn’t there. 

But not so attached that I was IT. 

It was an experience like no other. 

When you start the course they say talk about how you can only come to truly know this through experience. 

It’s one thing to understand and appreciate it. But to deeply, truly know it you must experience it.

In THAT moment, I understood. 

This is what it was to bear witness to my mind, the default patterns of the subconscious. 

To what is was to be able to witness pain and know that I could take action as needed but that was not reacting to it. 

I was in full control. It was both me and not me all at the same time. 

And then I did what we do - I tried to hold on.

Grasp. I must keep this. 

I must never let this go.

Any guess how that went? 😅

But now I understood.

A new path had opened up for me. 

The vision, the direction of my life was now, irrevocably changed.

This past year has been a deeper dive into the fascinating understanding of how I, we, respond when in pain.

Physical pain
Emotional pain 
Existential pain

What are my defaults? 

Where does my brain go? The sense maker, the protector to take me away from these sensations.

FASCINATING STUFF. 

So with that I”m off to do it again….. 

10 days. 100 hours of mediation. Silence.

No reading. No writing. 

See you out the other side. 

_________________
BookSmart & Broke: Because you can’t escape being human.

Smashed the exam. Smashed the paper. 
But the real lesson? Action matters. 

Back in university, I had a legendary communications professor known for telling it like it is. 

His message: If you don’t want to be here, leave. Why waste your time? 

At the start of the semester, I boldly put my project on the wall. I was determined to finish early. All semester, I kept thinking: I must do that. 

In narrator’s voice: She did not, in fact, do it. 

When the exam came, I wrote a stellar essay about how action matters. I reflected that good intentions aren’t enough...you have to act. I declared I would take action. 

In narrator’s voice: She did not, in fact, take action. 

It took me 12 years to truly learn that lesson. But when I did? Everything changed. 

✨ Action beats intention. Every time. 

If you’ve been waiting for the “right time,” this is your sign: start now. 

#Leadership #PersonalGrowth #ActionMatters #LessonsLearned #CommunicationSkills #ProfessionalDevelopment #MindsetShift #TakeAction

“I’m making this declaration to be a creator, right here right now.”

Words uttered to the trees and the birds. 

Trudging, wet boots, blisters, and a pack that was way too heavy, I’d been pondering what 2026 looks like for me. 

With a nagging feeling that I’ve had for a few years that I’m not living my purpose that I can’t seem to shake. 

Sure I do a lot. Have an achieved a few things.

But, for me, they don’t seem to leave me with a deep sense of purpose. 

That I’m living life on the right train tracks.

Coming up 4 years ago I realised I had put my ladder against the wrong mountain and had to get off.

Quit my job, moved to QT (for what was meant only be 12 weeks!). 

But the voice was there, so too was the sense in my heart. 

“This is great, it looks good on paper, but something’s missing….” 

And so I’ve dabbled in this and that.

I needed to play, experiment. 

Prove to myself I could make it outside of the box I had put myself in.

And I did. 

Set up my business. 

Replaced my salary.

Surpassed my salary.

And yet here I am, trudging through the bush, with a deep ache in my soul. 

Something is still missing.

I’m still on the wrong train tracks. 

This isn’t a call to drastic change. 

This isn’t an Eat, Pray, Love moment.

I’m not throwing it all in again.

But there is a shift. Or at least as my next experiment in figuring it out. 

12 week of being a creator. 

5 days in the bush does still give you some good time to think. 

Free of the noise of life. 

And the voice that I heard was the one that said “we’re a creator”.

We aren’t creating. 

It’s time to create. 

With no goal or objective in mind. 

With no outcome. 

No box to tick.

Let’s get back to creating. 

Jan 7th 2026 - I committed to creating. 

Every day. 

I will produce something EVERY DAY. 

And I wasn’t about to let being in the bush stop me. 

If I was to start - it had to be NOW. 

I wasn’t letting myself get caught up in the excuses from the start.

We start now. 

I am a CREATOR. 

⬇️ With a little reminder from last year to keep me going.
_____
Creator Day 07.01.26
_____
BookSmart & Broke: Because you can’t escape being human.

Counter to a lot of what I usually share, about doing the hard thing, facing the uncomfortable, and sticking with the boring, repetitive work - sometimes, you have to start with what excites you. 

Because possible is exciting. 

For over a year, I’ve had this idea to share my story and do something with BookSmart and Broke. 

But I kept telling myself the first step was posting on social media: 
✅ Learn how to write a hook 
✅ Learn how to record B-roll 
✅ Learn how to do voice-over 

Let’s be honest...that’s too many steps to getting started. Especially when those steps include learning. 

But writing a blog? That I can do. 

That’s something I can improve 1% every day. 

That’s possible. 
That’s exciting. 

If you’ve been waiting for the “perfect start,” maybe the answer is simpler: start with what feels possible. 

👉 What’s one thing you can start today that feels possible for you? 

#Leadership #PersonalGrowth #ActionMatters #StartSmall #MindsetShift #BookSmartAndBroke #ProfessionalDevelopment #TakeAction

#FAIL 

I was so determined. 

Make a daisy chain. 

Make something with sticks.

Anything - just create something.

And then I walked. 

And walked a bit further. 

And then decided to walk out a day early. 

Which then meant a late night drive. 

And before I know it, 

Midnight.

I’ve not created anything. 

I’ve ‘failed’ before I even started.

So much for the strong determination I felt just hours earlier making my declaration. 

But here I was, staring at the ceiling, accepting that if things were going to be different I needed to do different. 

That pang of ‘somethings missing’ still there.

Cue my brain that is great at coming up with solutions

Rules - we need some rules!

That will solve the problem.

Ok so our rules will be....

What a lovely way to fall asleep 😅

But at least for a moment I didn’t have to feel the yucky feeling that I had AGAIN said I would do something and then not done it.

Oh to be human and always running from the yucky feelings. 

Happening below the consciousness.

It just happens as easy as it is to breathe air.

My brain coming to the rescue, saving me from the feelings. 

Saving me from my reality that I had committed to being a creator. 

And not taken any action. 

Luckily I get tomorrow. Luckily I’ve committed to 12 weeks.

One day at a time. 

I AM a creator. 

______________
Side note - pic from the book I devoured in less than 24 hours on the same day. FASCINATING read, highly recommend.
______________
Creator Date: 07.01.26
______________
BookSmart & Broke: Because you can’t escape being human.

We are emotional at our core. 

I use to write my to do lists based on clients and categories. 

And it never really worked for me. 

Now I write them based on the emotions (emotional blocks!)

The cateoges change as needed but are always based in emotion. 

It helps me prioritise better and see what I’ve been avoiding with a bit less sting! 

Because you can’t avoid being human!

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“But I was going to do that anyway”

Oh the ways my brain tries to discount what I do.

I’d planned to do these cookies while I was away. 

Drop some off to our neighbours and keep the boys in the flat nourished (aka bribed). 

Because I planned it, it doesn’t count right?

Creation has to be new? Spontaneous? Inspired? Unplanned? 

Where do I get all these rules from??!!

_________________
Creator Day 08.01.26
_________________
BookSmart & Broke: Because you can’t escape being human.

The opportunity to work in education and with industry, mentoring students and assisting with internship placements is HERE ⬇️⬇️⬇️

Open article: Internship Manager | Adventure Tourism | Jobs,Smarter | ZEIL by zeil.com

Internship Manager | Adventure Tourism | Jobs,Smarter | ZEIL

“That doesn’t count”

Creator. Producer. The aim to just be making things. 

Push past the perfectionism. 

Not trying to be creative although some of it will be that. 

But create. 

Make things.

Average things.

Good things.

Bad things. 

But value creating, producing. 

It started as joke with a friend. I was going to keep a tally on the fridge of how many times I was right and he was wrong 😅

(Yes I’m competitive haha)

Ah! This can be my creative ‘thing’ for the day. I’ll make up a cool little tally.

Out comes the craft box.

In comes the perfectionist…
That’s not good enough
That doesn’t count
You have to make it cooler and more detailed

So I didn’t do it. 

Found something else to do instead. 

But the Creator voice was there too:
It counts
It doesn’t have to be pretty 
It doesn’t have to be prefect
Just start

I’ve given my creator permission to speak. 

It’s quiet, and it’s trembling but I can, in the moments I pause, hear it.

So it may look like something I made when I was 7 but here is my tally.

Not only I am 1 up on Charlie, my Creator is 1 up on my perfectionist. 

_________________
Creator Day 09.01.26
_________________
BookSmart & Broke: Because you can’t escape being human.

taplio

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