Why?
As my wife likes to remind me, I never had the pleasure of giving birth.
But I feel like this may be the closest I get – a baby that has been incubating for possibly too long.
Having started a more conscious exploration of life and everything I do and think, the last ten years have landed me somewhat back where I started, except now armed with plenty of lessons learned along the way.
I moved back to Dublin with my wife Anne-Marie and our three children after 16 years in Sydney. That kind of life event tends to force you to take stock and think about what is most important. In my case, it also prompted a shift in my career path. Looking back, it was also probably the conception of The Wellbeing Academy.
As with all babies, it takes some incubation time to be ready to enter the world – and for its parent to let it go. Now is the right time.
As with all parents, I fear it with fall over. I have no idea how it will turn out. But I have to trust that, with some guidance, it will be fine.
So what is The Wellbeing Academy?
Are you like me when it comes to learning as an adult? I can only absorb so much. I tend to be very excited and determined when I commit to learning something. I’m pretty disciplined when sticking with a long-term programme. Yet mostly, I prefer bite-sized consumable topics that I can jump into and return to as I wish. Sometimes the urge to learn can come and go. Even when keen to learn, my brain can get fatigued by it.
The Wellbeing Academy is designed based on my own experience of personal development and building life habits. Over that time, I have physically changed my habits and brain.
Other features are prompted by working with humans in business for the past 20 years and running wellbeing and performance programmes for teams and leaders for the last ten.
The Academy allows members to jump in and out of topics. It is accessible anytime and anywhere you feel like learning – on your mobile or laptop.
Each micro-lesson takes a matter of minutes. So you get a nice dopamine rush as you tick the boxes and view your % progress through the course.
Importantly for personal change, it has practical action for you each week to enable you to rewire your brain as I have.
You ask questions and access coaching if you wish. You set your own pace.
You have access to every programme you participate in afterwards.
And as we grow and explore together, more topics will be added.
This replicates my own approach to personal development and growth – at my own pace, exploring my curiosity of topics that pique my interest, deciding when I wanted to learn and when to switch off.
No pressure, the right level of stress, and no deadlines – except the ones you set yourself.
James Parnell is the founder of The Wellbeing Gym, which provides online wellbeing, performance and productivity programmes to individuals and corporates.
He is also creator of The Wellbeing Academy with micro-courses and mastermind programmes such as the Productivity Mastermind. You can either:
- Take any public micro-course or programme available on the public Academy: or
- Become a Wellbeing Academy Gym Membership here and receive all member courses free.