Susan Scott, business psychologist, nutritionist and author of the Young Professional’s Guide: How To Have An Outstanding Career shares 10 things she’d like her readers to know about her with Female First on the day of her book launch in Waterstone’s Piccadilly, London – 8th May 2017
Susan Scott
I’m passionate about health and wellbeing. There’s no way you can perform at work if you don’t have wellbeing and I’m sure this is why productivity is so low in this country. So many people are weary and exhausted. I find it hard to sit still though and even when I’m watching TV I’m reading or doing something. Yoga is my time to completely switch off and recharge my batteries; it works so well for me but it’s about finding what works for you.
I started a hill walking group. I had a yearning to walk the North Downs Way and emailed a few friends to see if they wanted to join me and before I knew it we had a big group. We’ve now walked five National Trails, all amazing and all so different – from Hadrian’s Wall to The Thames Path (although that was flat). It’s been a fantastic stress reliever – I can’t think about anything when I’m chatting and laughing with fiends and focused on not tripping up or walking into a branch. Our family and office dog, Connie the Cockapoo, walks with us and has become the walking group’s mascot.
I LOVE dancing. I’m absolutely useless at the sports my husband loves: tennis, skiing and sailing and not keen on the gym but dancing is my sport. Any 70s or 80s music will have me singing and dancing. I often nip out of the office during the day to do a Fitsteps class, a dance class devised by Natalie Lowe and Ian Waite from Strictly. I go jive dancing with my husband and we did salsa for a few years. I came back from a holiday in Cuba a couple of years ago exhausted because the salsa music they were playing all the time had me dancing all the time!!
People fascinate me. I have this curiosity to know more and more about people. Every year I like to do a long-haul holiday and part of the pleasure is speaking to the locals.
I’m a Londoner. I love my city and even though I live outside London now, I still get such a buzz when the train pulls into London Waterloo and I can see Westminster Palace and The London Eye on one side and The Shard on the other.
I’m arty. When I get a chance I like to do something arty. My father-in-law was an avid stamp collector and when he passed on last year I made a bowl for each of the family covered in his stamps. I did pottery for GCSE but my big love is glass. I’ve done workshops in glass blowing (unbelievably hard), glass fusion and stained glass and wish I had time to do more. Instead I watch all the crafty programmes on catch up – baking, sewing, painting, pottery and look on longingly and in awe of what people can do. I’m really into the theatre and am loving all these live downloads to cinemas from the National Theatre.
I’ve walked over hot coals. Last year, for the Duke of Edinburgh Diamond Award, I did a firewalk. It was so incredibly amazing I did it twice! I now have a picture on my desk to remind myself of the positive feelings it gave me.
I never expected to write a book. I’m more of a talker than a writer, although, I won a handwriting competition when I was at school. The teachers (and me) were completely flummoxed and I can only think that it was because I used my artistic skills to make my writing look exceptionally beautiful that day, because normally it’s a scrawling mess.
I adore the seasons we have in this country. The light, the colours, the flowers and the smells all evoke strong feelings in me. I have a November birthday and sadly this is my least favourite month – it’s always so gloomy. I was determined to have a Summer wedding but I was rewarded with a day of pouring rain and thunder storms – not what I had hoped for a Summer wedding but is still a talking point.
Friendships are incredibly important to me. I still have sleepovers with my school friends and we’ve know each other for decades!
About Susan Scott
Susan Scott lives in Surrey and travels the world on business. She is a business psychologist, nutritional therapist, trainer, consultant and coach, as well as a public speaker and an author. Susan believes that everyone - Young Professionals in particular - deserve to work in ways that foster their resilience, performance and careers. She is a Fellow and Member of many professional organisations, runs two successful companies and has years of experience developing and running consulting and training programmes for private and public sector companies in the UK, across Europe, in the USA and Australasia on change, leadership and wellbeing as well as providing personal coaching support for individuals. Susan is also privileged to have been Chair of the International Stress Management Association. However, what seems like an accomplished career has had more than its fair share of blips along the way, including a complete derailment only five years in. Despite these blips, Susan has managed to accomplish a lot because behind everything she does, Susan is brimming over with a passion to constantly learn with a strong desire to create work places that allow people to thrive and succeed – she believes everyone in the workplace should be allowed that opportunity. Inside every one of us is potential but this crazy, highly pressured world can often make it hard to achieve success – Susan's role is to inspire and energise people to do just that. Susan brings a highly energised, knowledgeable and blended mind-body approach to her work. She's practical and realistic but also, and very importantly, business focused.