‘Are you looking for adventure?’ The advert, calling for people to sail a tall ship for 12 weeks across the Atlantic, jumped off the page.
I have cerebral palsy due to being oxygen-deprived at birth, so I knew there would be more challenges, but nothing that 21-year-old me felt I could not overcome.
I have always been motivated by learning, coming up with creative solutions to problems and making a difference.
Out on the Atlantic, working as part of a team, I knew I could do all three.
That trip set a pattern I would not fully understand until years later.
During my 20-year career in HR and recruitment, working within the NHS and national charities, the same thing happened in every job. I would enjoy it for the first couple of years, and then feel my motivation start to drift.
Each time, I would privately question whether I was in the right role at all.
Deep down, I knew I wanted to set up my own business, but as a single woman with a mortgage and bills to pay, I had never been brave enough.
Everything changed in 2014, when I was recovering from hip surgery and found myself dreading returning to work.
I negotiated a way out and set up Plain Sailing HR but, like many founders, I was still yet to fully commit to the vision.
I took on an interim HR role and kept hedging my bets until I found a lump in my breast that turned out to be cancer.
Navigating surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy made me realise: Life’s too short.
In 2015, I committed fully to my business, now Plain Sailing Motivation, and became a licensed practitioner, then a business practitioner of Motivational Maps® – a tool that helps people understand what they need to energise and sustain them.
The framework solidified an insight I had been circling my whole career. Motivation is not fixed. What drives you at 25 rarely drives you at 45 or older.
I’m now a Motivation Specialist – working in the UK and internationally as a professional speaker, trainer and coach – improving employee motivation, engagement and wellbeing.
I have delivered keynotes and training for clients including the Scottish courts and Tribunal Service, the NHS, the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists, and AstraZeneca.
My TEDx talk – exploring the human cost of low motivation and engagement at work – was recognised with a finalist placing for the ‘Best TEDx 2026’ at the international Speaker Awards.
Within months, however, a routine mammogram detected a new primary cancer in my other breast – leading to a second mastectomy in October 2025.
I share these diagnoses not for sympathy, but as the clearest proof I have of what I now teach others. A founder’s life isn’t plain sailing. We must constantly rethink and navigate what drives us.
What motivates us to set up our businesses isn’t always what motivates us a few years down the line.
Those changes impact our creativity, happiness, performance and wellbeing.
Not understanding what gave me energy in my 20s meant I always felt unsettled at work. I had never been motivated by making money, gaining status or being in charge.
Game-changer
Understanding I need to be doing something that truly makes a difference and solves problems was a game-changer for me.
I know what I need to do to ‘boil my kettle’ or ‘charge my battery’ – the analogies I used in my TEDx talk.
Professional speaking is one of my energisers. We all have limited time on this planet, so the more people I can talk to about motivation in one go, the greater the impact I can have.
(Photo credit: Northern Powerhouse Media)