Saunders Fearns Catalyst Coaching

Saunders Fearns Catalyst Coaching Hi I’m Niki, founder of Saunders-Fearns Catalyst Coaching. Helping midlife women perform at their best without losing their edge. Clarity. Confidence. Performance

11/06/2026

Save this if you’ve been hard on yourself lately.

A woman got into my taxi today and told me she’d been up since 5am.

She wouldn’t get home until 8.

Then it was dinner, the kids and bedtime.

She was on her way to a meeting she hadn’t had time to prepare for because life had got in the way.

I told her about a mistake I’d made earlier that day.

She looked at me and said:

“Why are you being so hard on yourself?”

I smiled.

Because all I could think was…

You should probably ask yourself the same question.

Because high-performing women are often brilliant at giving compassion to everyone else.

Just not themselves.

We’ve become so used to carrying the load, pushing through and holding it all together that being hard on ourselves feels normal.

Necessary, even.

But maybe the strategy that got us here isn’t the one that takes us where we want to go next.

Maybe success doesn’t have to come at the expense of self-compassion.

And if nobody has asked you this recently…

Why are you being so hard on yourself?

10/06/2026

Read this if you’ve ever described yourself as resilient.

A young lad got into my taxi this week, anxious about an event he was heading to.

We talked it through and focused on what he knew to be true about himself.

Then he said:

“But I’m resilient.”

And it hit me.

Because high-performing women say exactly the same thing.

“I’m resilient.”

“I’m capable.”

“I’m the one people rely on.”

Until those strengths become expectations.

Until resilience becomes pushing through exhaustion, carrying more than your share and coping for longer than you should.

What if resilience isn’t about enduring more?

What if it’s about adapting?

And what if the very qualities that make you successful aren’t meant to be used against you?

🖤 Don’t use your strengths against yourself.

🚕 Follow for more things I’ve learned from conversations in my taxi.

09/06/2026

Open this if you’ve been trying to push through.

A few mistakes I wish I hadn’t made as a high-performing woman in perimenopause:

→ Saying yes to everything.

→ Not putting boundaries in place.

→ Believing that if I just worked harder, I’d get back to feeling like myself.

I was already overwhelmed.

Yet I kept accepting every invitation.
Every meeting.
Every opportunity.

Because somewhere along the way, I’d convinced myself that slowing down meant lowering my standards.

It doesn’t.

Midlife isn’t an excuse to expect less of yourself.

But it is an invitation to adapt.

To stop operating like the woman you were at 27.

And start supporting the woman you are now.

Because the goal was never just to survive.

The goal was to continue performing, leading and living well.

Midlife doesn’t mean lowering the bar.

It means changing the strategy.

🚕 Follow for more things I’ve learned through leadership, coaching and real conversations with women in my taxi.

08/06/2026

Open this if you’ve told yourself “I’m fine” recently.

One of the biggest lies high-performing women tell themselves?

“I’m coping.”

Because technically, they are.

They’re still running the business.

Still leading the team.

Still hitting deadlines.

Still showing up.

But then Friday arrives.

And they’re exhausted.

Not because they’re incapable.

Not because they’re failing.

Because they’ve spent the entire week pushing through.

Through the brain fog.

Through the self-doubt.

Through the decision fatigue.

Through the pressure.

And somewhere along the way, we’ve normalised this.

We’ve convinced ourselves that feeling completely depleted by the end of the week is just the price of success.

It isn’t.

And if every weekend is spent recovering from your week…

You’re not thriving.

You’re recovering.

There’s a difference.

The women I work with don’t want sympathy.

They don’t want excuses.

They want to feel sharp again.

Confident again.

Clear again.

Like themselves again.

And honestly?

That’s a much better goal than simply surviving.

🚕 Follow for more things I’ve learned from high-performing women in my taxi and coaching conversations.

Well I’ve waited ages to see it and it didn’t disappoint! Loved every second. My all time favourite artist and so happy ...
07/06/2026

Well I’ve waited ages to see it and it didn’t disappoint! Loved every second. My all time favourite artist and so happy that my boy loves his music too.

05/06/2026

Open this if you’ve had one of those days.

You know the ones.

Nothing has gone terribly wrong.

But suddenly you’re questioning everything.

The business.
The decision.
The next step.
Your ability.
Your progress.

Today was one of those days for me.

So I did what I often tell my clients to do.

I stopped.

Took the dog out.
Got some fresh air.
Stepped away from the noise in my own head.

When I got home, I opened a letter and it happened to be exactly what I needed to read.

A timely reminder that things are often better than we think they are.

But honestly?

Most days you don’t get the letter.

Most days you have to create that perspective yourself.

Because one difficult day doesn’t mean you’re failing.

One setback doesn’t mean you’ve made the wrong decision.

And one moment of self-doubt doesn’t erase everything you’ve already achieved.

High-performing women are particularly good at turning a bad day into a judgement about themselves.

Don’t.

Rest.
Reset.
Then look at the facts.

Your brain is usually far kinder after a walk than it is after a day of overthinking.

🖤

03/06/2026

Open this if you’re a midlife woman who’s always telling yourself:

“I’m fine.”

Because a lot of women who enquire about coaching tell me the same thing.

“I’m not sure I need it.

I’m surviving.”

And every time I hear it, I think:

When did surviving become the benchmark?

Not thriving.

Not feeling energised.

Not feeling confident.

Not feeling clear.

Just…

surviving.

The women I work with are incredibly capable.

They’re still delivering.

Still leading.

Still running businesses.

Still holding everything together.

But often they’re doing it while:

→ overthinking more

→ doubting themselves more

→ feeling mentally exhausted

→ working harder for the same outcomes

And because they’re still functioning, they convince themselves that’s good enough.

But surviving isn’t the same as feeling like yourself.

And if you’ve become so used to coping that you’ve forgotten what thriving feels like…

maybe that’s worth paying attention to.

🚕 Follow for more things I’ve learned from women in my taxi and coaching conversations.

03/06/2026

All set up and ready at the expo

And if you’re wondering why the woman standing behind the menopause banner keeps talking about confidence, performance and leadership…

It’s because the women I work with aren’t worried about hot flushes.

They’re worried about losing their edge.

They’re worried about:

👉 second-guessing decisions

👉 feeling less confident at work

👉 working harder for the same results

👉 wondering why everything suddenly feels more effort than it used to

The conversations I’ve had already this morning have reinforced something I hear all the time:

“I don’t feel like myself.”

Not because women have suddenly become less capable.

Not because they’re losing their minds.

But because they’re trying to perform at the same level while carrying a level of cognitive load nobody talks about enough.

That’s the conversation I’m interested in.

Not just menopause.

Performance.

Confidence.

Decision-making.

Leadership.

Because women aren’t failing.

They’re often trying to navigate midlife without the support or understanding they need.

So if you’re here today, come and say hello.

No hard sell.

No awkward pitch.

Just a conversation.

📍 Stand 60

(And yes, I’ll happily talk to anyone who stops for more than 30 seconds.)

02/06/2026

Open this if you’ve ever caught yourself saying:

“I used to be confident.”

Because I hear it all the time.

In my coaching.

In my taxi.

From incredibly capable, successful women who have somehow convinced themselves that confidence is something they’ve lost.

But confidence doesn’t disappear overnight.

It gets buried.

Under exhaustion.
Overthinking.
Pressure.
Responsibility.
Trying to hold everything together.

And the longer you tell yourself:

👉 “I used to be confident”

the more your brain starts treating it like a fact.

So try this instead.

Tell yourself what you’re still good at.

The things you’ve achieved.
The things you handle every day.
The things people rely on you for.

Because confidence isn’t built by looking backwards.

It’s built by recognising what you’re capable of right now.

And one more thing…

Stop waiting until you feel confident before you take action.

Action is usually what rebuilds confidence in the first place.

🚕 Follow for more things I’ve learned from women in my taxi

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