We are facing an unprecedented time in history. Rapidly changing job markets, the onset of Artificial Intelligence and geopolitical unrest, are just some of the many factors creating a very unstable environment, in which it’s impossible to predict how the near future will look with any degree of certainty. As we now approach four years since the first COVID-19 national lockdown in the UK, many are still suffering the impact of the global pandemic.

Perhaps no one more than young students, whose formative years were robbed of social interaction and the ideal conditions for their development. As the eldest of four, my three younger siblings, aged twenty four, seventeen and thirteen, often share with me the growing complexity of issues that are currently affecting them and their peers.

A frequent topic that particularly resonates with me is one of struggling to find their pathway in life. Like many young people, I struggled to feel a sense of direction and purpose. However, I was fortunate to have regular open conversations with my Dad, Steven, a chartered psychologist, that inspired a deep sense of curiosity within me. I was encouraged to question what I truly wanted from my life. This sparked a desire to understand the mind and behaviour and formed my pathway into studying psychology.

Over the ten years since, I have been able to work alongside my Dad with high performance teams and athletes, some of which became World Champions in their respective sports. His unique framework based on five key psychological principles ("The Five Things") that have formed the basis of our approach here at EA5. Having experienced the impact of this process shape own journey, I am extremely passionate about helping our people to transform the way they think so they too can express themselves freely.

In September of last year, I was keen to engage with more young people regarding our work at EA5. I welcomed the opportunity to return to my secondary school, which my youngest brother currently attends. I delivered a careers talk titled “How to find your pathway in life?” and my brother was sat in the front row. It was an incredible experience to go back and speak to students about the lessons I have learned in my time since being sat where they were.

Within the talk, I spoke about "The Five Things" that helped me in my pursuit of answering this question. The first of which is to "Listen". Not only to those around you who have your best inertest in mind, but to listen to what you tell yourself.

As a young teenager, I often was very self-critical, thinking negatively about mistakes that I made. I regularly compared myself to others and thought that was how I would motivate myself to achieve my goals. However, when my Dad challenged me to become more aware of my thinking, by taking time to really listen to what I was telling myself, did I realise how detrimental this mindset was. Our thoughts and the words we use are extremely powerful and shape how we view ourselves and the world around us. Simply by pausing and taking a moment to reflect on how you are feeling in this present moment can help to build greater self-awareness. This is the first step to gaining the clarity you need to answer the question; how to find your pathway in life.

During the rest of the talk, I continued to discuss the "Five Things" and was taken aback by the responses of those who resonated with my story and how the 5 principles have and continue to help me in life. Following this, my team and I have taken on more opportunities to provide free school talks and assemblies, specifically addressing the question of how to find our pathway. If you would be interested in enquiring about our keynote address within education, we very much look forward to hearing from you.

At EA5 we are also excited to have launched our new website which hosts our latest coaching programmes aimed to support people of all ages and backgrounds. From Transformational Leadership Coaching, to Physical Training Packages, our processes leverage world champion psychology to provide our clients with the guidance they need to inspire greater confidence, self-appreciation and leadership. 

Thank you for taking the time to read this blog. I'd encourage you to take a moment now to be still and listen to what thoughts come to your mind. Perhaps you can write them down, or even better, share them with someone close to you. The more aware we all become of how we think and feel, the better we are to communicate our thoughts with others. Together we can then support each other to find our pathways in life.

We very much look forward hearing any thoughts or questions you may have following this article or about our range of services at EA5.

All the best,

Zak