My first year in Business in Denmark

I am sat writing this while my oldest daughter sits next to me drawing the beach view in front of us.

This is perhaps as fitting a picture as any to illustrate how different life is today compared to two years ago in the UK.

That isn’t to say that I didn’t love life then, I did. I always have. But I was also living in blissfully ignorance, constrained by beliefs that I had mistaken for facts.

Our brains have a habit of re-enforcing our beliefs with evidence from our surroundings and in the UK in Bristol’s business quarter there was no shortage of evidence that success was earned by hours given.

This belief alone leads to a whole load of problems.

Never feeling like I was doing enough

Feeling guilty for relaxing

Finding things to do that didn’t need doing

Sacrificing health for work

Denmark showed me plenty of evidence that this was far from fact. Not because people don’t do long hours, some do, but because it isn’t the norm I came from.

From this moment realisation onward I looked hard at each of my beliefs in areas such as health, money, relationships, business, marketing, and removed what wasn’t useful and tested what could be more useful or fun.

This led to a business that has grown faster than I ever thought possible.

When I moved here I decided that I would take six months off work and instead build a life I loved and a way of feeling that I loved.

It’s a feeling of energy, clarity and calm that I now use as a barometer of being in alignment with my values.

The recipe involves learning, nature, nutrition, sleep, exercise, connection with family and friends, everything I want from my life accept for one thing...

Impact.

This year has been all about building a business that has impact by serving others in the best way I know how.

There is something that you learn when you start to feel your best and then start a business.

You learn that each late night, each caffeine or alcohol excess, poor diet choice, each avoidance of exercising, each decision we make that makes us perform as less than we are, is actually a dis-service to those we are trying to serve.

Those crazy long hours might look like the best demonstration of care but they are in truth the complete opposite - to you, your family, your clients, your colleagues, your boss if you have one, your staff, your kids... they all get you at less than your best.

Guarding that requires constant vigilance because people will always ask you for more time.

Bit more time is a trick when it comes with less focus, attention and clarity.

I help business leaders to optimise physical and mental performance- I also help their companies too.

I strongly believe in collaboration, integration, communication and innovation.

I believe that these things are what will create a better world and the way I can best contribute to this cause is to create individuals with clarity, energy and self awareness.

To teach people how their brains and bodies work so they can learn to operate them optimally.

In the last year I have:

Written for 2 newspapers

Supported 18 CEO’s to better physical performance.

Coached 20 business leaders to better mental performance and clarity

Ran 4 1 day 1-2-1 coaching retreats in Gilleleje

Opened a performance studio on Strandvejen in a Hellerup

Started a podcast interviewing the most influential people in Denmark

Accepted an executive coaching role inside a company (and discussing with 3 more)

Been interviewed on habit forming for a leading fitness magazine.

This is totally the highlight reel by the way and just to be clear - each and every month, week, day contained failure, I’m not hiding that, but failure is just process. It just means you’re taking action.

Perhaps more important than the above achievements.

I have finished work at latest 4pm every day and been involved in school drop off every day.

I have been to the mountains in France 4 times

I have been to my summer house in Gilleleje for 20 weekends.

I have missed no school functions.

I have read the entire Harry Potter series with my daughter.

I have spent a lot of time in the forests and walking on the beach.

I have met so many very cool people doing some amazing things and I’ve laughed a lot.

I’m sharing this not to show off but to show that life can be better, it can be different, it can change radically with a change in beliefs and the movement of attention towards the world that we desire to live in.

My first year in Business (Dk) has been an amazing ride. I just can’t wait to see what this next one brings.

A big thank you to everyone I have met and worked with over the last year. You have been amazing!

Peace ✌️

Ed Ley