It’s a space for good people to get good things done, well, and in good company.

“DO to BE” is an answer to the three main reasons why good people with good things to do, don’t: procrastination; poor accountability; and low confidence.

For the majority of my adult life, I have been supporting purpose inspired, changemaking people to spin their gossamer, glimmery ideas into being. Often these are ideas that cause others to state their negative opinions about how ‘it can’t be done’… Except with a purpose inspired person with a strong vision about the way their ideas will be changing the world, anything is possible.

I love working with the art of the possible, and it is the art of the possible which inspired my vision for how “DO to BE” can change the world.

The reality of life for many purpose-inspired business people is that they are good people with great ideas which will make a difference in the world. Yet they aren’t doing it, despite knowing logically, they can and will make that difference if they apply their backside to the chair and ‘just’ do the work. They are usually solo working in some way and often home based, so aren’t necessarily working in a community setting. Love or hate an office, it usually comes with a community.

Despite being generally optimistic, having a flexible outlook on life and enjoying learning, these good people are caught up in the dullness of low confidence and procrastination. They are tripping themselves up. Sometimes they are working hard on activities which don’t make much of a difference, so their progress is slower than they would like. And often they are tired.

I help these amazing people to get into motion.

To do that they need clarity about which action to take next, and why. They need time to take that action and they will do their best work with connection and a community of peers who are enthusiastic about their progress.

As a facilitator and coach, I am well placed to create a space for other people to get stuck into their work. I also wanted somewhere that gathers interested, inquisitive people who love learning and are quite happy to listen to alternative points of view.  People who want to make a difference in the world are generally hopeful and I like having people like that in my life. So I began. I started hosting virtual co working sessions, and then my ideas suddenly came into focus and I created the membership community.

I called this community of positive and interesting people “DO to BE” because it is only by DO-ing that we are BE-ing the changemaker.

And incidentally, it is only DO-ing that we learn, so that’s a nice bonus and I like working in the bonus zone… (‘The Bonus Zone’ and ‘The Art of The Possible’, are two major drivers for me).

So how does “Do to BE” work?

“DO to BE” is mainly comprised of a weekly facilitated virtual coworking session. In this space people get stuff done and they come out of it with a sense of accomplishment and momentum. The way we work is powerful, getting people into flow quickly. Time flies in these sessions, but we get loads done.

It’s a bit more besides, but this is the main reason why people join. Every Tuesday morning, we gather at 9am on Zoom for three hours of distraction-free workspace. We consider our bigger pictures and then select the specific tasks, declare our intentions and then get on with it, cameras on and mics off to create the ‘body double’ accountability effect. As someone said the other week ‘it’s a good job my camera was on, or else I would have gone for a nice lie down instead’. And we cheered them for staying put in the face of the pull of the sofa.

Sustainability is vital. In “DO to BE”, working well is a non-negotiable. There are work breaks every hour. At the end of each work session, after celebrating our achievements, we get up, move and bring attention to our breathing before having 10 minutes of no screens and no desks. Some people can walk quite a long way from their house in 4 minutes. Others clean. Others sit outside. Whatever they do, the aim is to replenish as we work.

We do all this without speaking much. This allows people to sink into their well of inspiration, without being distracted by whatever might be bothering other people that day. After 3 hours, and in reward for not chattering out loud earlier, we use the time between noon and 1pm to share news, ask questions and, if required, a have a bit of hot seat coaching from me.

Most importantly, we do all this without guilt or shame. There is no obligation to attend. This is working as adults in charge of our own lives – it is not about doing your homework before you go out to play or any other hangovers you might have from when you were a child.

This is a positive choice; a necessary and compelling disciplined practise, inspired by the long term benefits for other people.

This is working with joyful effort. We do this with laughter and encouragement.

Together we build our confidence and self-reliance and together we make faster progress. It is powerful.

What else do we do?

There are a few monthly activities. This is a space for networking with other members and finding out what they do and why they do it. I hope that collaborations between members will become a feature. We have a library of recordings of members chatting to me about what they do and why they do it. I am happy for people to buy from one another, but scraping contact details and actively selling to fellow members will get a rapid termination of membership. This is designed to be an eaze-y space to be part of.

At the end of each month we have a 3 hour co declutter session for clearing the decks and understairs cupboards, making space for the next month. Doing dull stuff in good company is a feature of the membership!

Each month I put together a training module of the skills that help people to work well and purposefully. I have two frameworks that I have devised, and these form the basis for everything in “DO to BE”: ‘The Vitality Triangle’, and ‘From Here to There’. Both were devised from my development management experience in the not-for-profit sector, and both have their place in the purpose inspired business.

I use Circle as our platform for hosting the community and associated resources. Our space on Circle is ours – with no algorithm, no scraping of data and no adverts.

Annually there will be an in-person gathering of members, with members sharing their skills and wisdom to create an engaging and useful program of speakers.

I will be hosting three co working retreats each year. Four days of a mix of work, rest and play in a gorgeous setting and in good company. Running a business is hard work, and we need both the headspace for getting on with projects and replenishment and reward for working so hard and that's what the retreats are designed to provide.

Why Tuesdays?

Many people have Monday obligations: emails and meetings and bitty bits of work, attending to other people’s needs so that they can progress their work. Tuesday is nearly at the beginning of the week, so “DO to BE” members get some momentum for the rest of the week, whilst also being more likely to be able to get away with having a distraction-free morning than they could on a Monday.

In time, I may expand to other parts of the week, but the aim of the game is working sustainably for me too, so for now virtual coworking will only happen on a Tuesday morning.

I have been running this space for a year now

I have no idea how that year went so quickly! In this last year I have noticed that people generally use this space in two ways: doing the necessary work ON their business; and progressing projects.

This week for instance, one person used the time to write client proposals and write some emails for existing clients. Another person usually uses this time to create and schedule their social media posts each week, but this week they were planning 2024. They said that they have never, ever planned a year before, and it felt really good to have the bones sketched out before the end of October half-term. They also said that what they really appreciate about “DO to BE” is that it forces them to make a decision about WHAT they will do next, and then they have no option but to take action on that decision. The benefit for them is this is the complete reverse of how they would be working if left to their own devices. Well, they wouldn’t be working as such, more prodding about with a few things, not actually DO-ing what they need to do to make progress.

As another member says, "this is the cobbler’s shoes solution" (classically, children with a cobbler for a parent had dreadful shoes because the cobbler would be too busy doing client work to make time to sort their kids’ shoes out).

I could write for ages about why I love “DO to BE” so much. What brings me the greatest sense of fulfilment is seeing other people doing their thing, well. I love seeing others succeed.

Fancy joining us?

With no quibble cancellation and the first month free, this is a no risk investment in your productivity. If you have a difference to make in the world and want to get on with it, we would love you to join us.

Check out the details on the "DO to BE" membership page.