The Productive Pessimist

  Why bother with a mentor? Most of us have encountered the situation of knowing exactly what we want to do with our lives, or where we want to be in our careers, but not having a clue how to get there from where we are now.  The gulf between what we perceive as being "needed" in the role or life we want, and the resources, experience, and skills we have , seems un-bridge-able; there are no stepping stones, the current is too powerful, we don't know anyone with a boat... A mentor is, allegorically speaking, "a person with a boat." They've made the same journey we want to make, often from an equivalent, if not absolutely identical, starting point to us, and so they know  it's do-able for "someone like me" - because they are  "someone like you", and they did it. Unlike a coach, who supports you to become better at something you're already at the very least okay at, and who assumes the perspective of "I know more about this than...

  Calm down. We haven't decided for a total 360 on our brand - we're still The Productive Pessimist, still a bit more "storms, spite, sarcasm" than "live, laugh, love"  - it's just that it seems like a good time to remind people that pessimism doesn't mean doom and gloom and moaning about everything - it's simply assuming that things may not go the way you'd like them to, and planning on that assumption, so that, if they don't, you can dust yourself off and carry on anyway.  After all, if they do  go they way you want...there's nothing stopping your onward progress, is there?! You hit a milestone - press on towards the goal! 2025 In a recent meeting, a retiring colleague from the property sector was asked what he imagined he'd see if he had a crystal ball for 2025; his response was "a steady recovery for the commercial sector."   The commercial sector doesn't just mean commercial property rentals, although that is my...

Less than six months after taking office, Keir Starmer's Labour Party are proving every bit as "nasty" as the "Nasty Party" the Conservatives of the past 14yrs managed to become infamously dubbed; most visibly in their narratives around people who are currently unemployed owing to disability. Now, it is not unreasonable, to most people, to feel that "almost everyone can do something!" - but gainful employment isn't about whether people can  do something; it's about whether employers are happy to let people  "do something", and, more importantly, amenable to paying them a living wage   for  "doing something."   With Rachel Reeves' recent increase in Employer National Insurance contributions , and the persistent shambles that is the process of being able to secure funding for necessary workplace accommodations for disability via Access to Work , which is seeing people waiting up to nine months or more without the means to ...

There are 551,000 more people unemployed than there are available jobs.  Clinicians are EXCEPTIONALLY resistant to the idea of providing routine medical appointments outside of working hours. Bus companies just shrug their shoulders as able-bodied mothers take over the lone wheelchair bay on each bus with their buggies, tourists yeet their wheeled suitcases into it, and bored teenagers sprawl there, because schools refuse to provide their own bus services, and bus companies are allowed to take more passengers than there are available seats. In the UK, there is an average of 37 reported hate crimes against disabled people every single day. That's an average of a crime against a disabled person every single hour of every single day. It's not an "epidemic of worklessness" - it's an epidemic of intolerance for anyone who isn't 100% "normal" and "on the ball" 100% of the time.  It's an epidemic of intolerance for any period of absence, and a...

  “I don’t want your face looking like that while I’m talking.”  (Face was ‘bland neutral.’) “People here don’t like you, because you’re too negative.” (Used very light sarcasm to defuse workplace tension.) “I think it’s a bit inconsiderate to overshare the way you do…everyone is struggling here, and they don’t need to be worried about you.” (Had responded to “How’re you doing?” with “Okay, I think…it’s been a bit tough at home, but I’m getting through. How’s everything with you?”) “We need happy, bubbly team players here - if that’s not how you feel, every day, then I’m sorry, but we’re just not the right place for you to thrive.” (Person was behaving normally, being professionally welcoming, supporting their colleagues.) Employers don't want to employ people with "mental health problems" (or disabilities), but the government don't want those people claiming welfare. Yes, depression and anxiety are natural, normal responses to life, especially life as it is current...

Hi - my name's Ash, and I'm the co-founder, Director, and lead consultant for The Productive Pessimist. (And, as you can probably tell from my 'Resting-What-Fresh-Hell-Is-This?-Face, the reason why the company is called The Productive Pessimist  in the first place!) Apologies for the face, by the way - I'm not that good-looking at the best of times, and I hate doing selfies! I also don't take very good selfies anyway, owing to significant visual impairment. (I'm registered blind, and losing what sight I have - left eye only, currently around 45% - a bit more rapidly than I'd like.) However, the terrible selfie that starts this blog post sets us up nicely for a segue into the main topic; How the heck do these rules work, anyway?! The 'rules' for succeeding at interviews, in work, when you launch a company, in the first three years of running a company, are basically the equivalent of riding a bike. Except the bike is missing three gears. And the chain...

Are you a pessimist wondering whether life coaching would actually support you?  A question many people ask us is: "Does life coaching work for people who are pessimistic?"   Many people will tell you it doesn't, that pessimists don't have the open-mindedness required to engage effectively with life coaching. At The Productive Pessimist, we firstly don't just  work with other pessimists - we actually like to work with people who have a different outlook to us, although, obviously, we have a natural connection with our fellow pessimists who are looking to become more productive. If you're wondering whether life coaching from The Productive Pessimist is for you, the following extract from our book "People Have a Problem With Your Attitude", which is available to order for just £4.99, or is sent free when you book a life coaching, business coaching, or business consultancy session with us (email us at theproductivepessimist@yahoo.com to order your copy,...