Learning Podcast

#358 - ACADEMIC MEETS AUTHENTIC: DREAM LIFE LESSONS FROM A LIFELONG LEARNER with Dr Anna York-Weaving

Hi there,

I'm so excited to share this week's episode — it’s a good one!

This time, I’m joined by the incredibly inspiring Dr. Anna York-Weaving, a Cambridge PhD scientist, academic coach, podcaster, and fellow lifelong learner.

Anna's passion for learning and growth is contagious, and I just knew I had to bring her on to share her real-life experience and wisdom with our community.

In this insightful conversation, Anna shares her journey from growing up in Ukraine to earning a scholarship to study in the UK — eventually achieving her childhood dream of studying at Cambridge.

But it wasn’t all smooth sailing [is it ever?!]

She opens up about her early struggles at university, how she overcame failure, and the pivotal moment she decided to transform not just her results but her entire approach to learning.

Here’s what you’ll take away from this episode:

  1. How to learn smarter, not harder — and why reviewing information matters more than cramming it in.

  2. The power of visualisation and writing down your dreams — with a surprising story involving one of my books!

  3. Why setbacks are not failures but stepping stones to your future strengths.

  4. How to build habits like morning rituals that support your dream life (even with toddlers in tow!).

It's an episode full of practical strategies, inspiring mindset shifts, and warm encouragement.

If you're feeling a little stuck or unsure of your next step, Anna’s story will give you a beautiful nudge forward.

Tune in — and let’s keep dreaming big, together.

As always, I’d LOVE to hear what resonates with you from this episode and what you plan to implement after listening in. So please share and let’s keep the conversation going in the Dream Life Podcast Facebook Group here.    

Have a wonderful weekend …and remember, it all starts with a dream 💛

 💛

Dream Life & kikki.K Founder

SHOW NOTES:

  • Join our wonderful retreat to reconnect to you, and learn how you can run your own solitude retreats for yourself.
  • Join my Platinum Coaching Program (NEW Member Trial offer - save $200!) - where in May our focus is on Manifesting Your Dream Life - and turning vision into reality. Our Monthly Habit: Daily guided meditation. Commit daily to visualise your dream life and attract abundance.. Learn more here.
  • Links for Anna:
  • Join my virtual book club GROW for May where we meet weekly on Zoom to discuss and squeeze the learnings from great books. This May we're reading: 

    The DOSE Effect: Small Habits to Boost Your Brain Chemistry, by TJ Power. Today’s fast-paced world leaves many of us struggling with extreme emotional highs and lows caused by chemical imbalances in our brains, brought on by the pressures of modern life and constant digital connectivity. Neuroscientist TJ Power shares how you can reset and balance your brain chemistry with simple, everyday habits to lead a happier, healthier, and more productive life. NEW Member trial offer - just $9! Learn more here.

  • Dream Life Community Facebook Group: Connect with like-minded dreamers.

RESOURCES:

TRANSCRIPT:

Kristina: [00:00:00] [00:01:00] Hi there and welcome back to another episode. today we got another amazing guest. Joining us today is Dr. Anna York weaving, an academic coach, Cambridge PhD, graduate scientist, Podcaster and the founder of York Weaving Education.

She separately teaches cell biology and is a BI fellow at the University of Cambridge through her academic coaching work. Anna focuses on transforming the way students learn academic information, [00:02:00] helping them perform to the best of their ability in exams And supporting them in achieving their dream academic journeys. Anna's mission is to transform how students learn by focusing it on the how rather than just the what, equipping them with the tools to become confident independent learners.

Through her coaching and her podcast academic coaching for parents, She brings a unique blend of scientific expertise and practical strategies to support students, parents, and educators. Anna is also a mother of two young children and a lifelong learner, and she's part of our coaching program.

I just love Anna's enthusiasm for learning Personal growth and life. so I wanted to share her enthusiasm with you all today. she's simply amazing. So let's dive right in.

 [00:03:00] well, hello Anna, and a very warm welcome to my podcast. I'm so excited to have you.

[00:03:10] Anna: Thank you so much. It's such a great pleasure.

[00:03:12] Kristina: Ah, so before we get started, I wanna talk all about you and all the amazing things you're doing, but before we do, I like to ask a question that I ask to all my guests, and that is, did you have a dream as a child, something you wanted to do to have or become.

[00:03:29] Anna: I always wanted to become a scientist. I was obsessed with how cells work and what are the mechanisms that happen inside of them, and I then in the, in the end, became a scientist and I did pursue my career. So, but yeah, that's what kind of inspired me on my early academic journey.

[00:03:46] Kristina: Oh, that's interesting. And um, did you as a kid, just kind of what kind of trigger that?

[00:03:52] Anna: I don't know. I just, maybe I just had a problem solving mind. I'm also a chess player, so I always like to solve problems. [00:04:00] And I think science, it has so many unanswered questions, and I always want you to contribute something to the field and you have in some original experiments, and I think scientific career allows you that.

[00:04:12] Kristina: yeah, yeah, absolutely. So, So we got listeners from all over the world. I would love for you to maybe just do an introduction of yourself and just tell us a little bit about your journey so far. Because every time I see you on Mondays, I don't know very, you're very well, but when I see you in the Dream I coaching program, I'm like, you are so interesting.

You're so talented and You're so excited about life. So I'd love for people to understand a little bit more about your journey.

[00:04:40] Anna: so kind to say that. so, I arrived to the UK when I was 14 years old. I'm originally Ukrainian and I was very lucky to get, scholarships to my school because of my chess and academics. And it just gave me this beautiful platform just that inspired my academic journey. And I [00:05:00] decided to then follow my dream to become a scientist.

And I applied to Cambridge and I got in, and again, it was one of my biggest dreams at the age of 10. I wanted to get into Cambridge. I was so obsessed with it and, absolutely loved it. I then studied biological natural sciences for three years. Did my masters for a year, and did PhD for another three years.

I always say Cambridge is such a lovely place. It's like a black hole. It sucks you in and then you just can't get out. but in my first year of Cambridge, I didn't do well in exams. I found it so, so hard. It was so much information to learn and I worked hours and hours on end and I just didn't do well in exams then.

And for me, it was such a shock to the system when I always learned, okay, if you work hard, then you get your results. And I didn't. And I still remember myself writing a letter on a piece of paper. So this is the power of writing. And it [00:06:00] said that this, I wouldn't call it failure, but this setback you are going to make it into your strengths in the future.

[00:06:08] Kristina: Oh, it gives me goosebumps.

[00:06:10] Anna: And I have no idea why I did it. Maybe I had to process my emotions and I reread it now and I was like, oh my God. The way turned my life around. I didn't know what it would mean, but I put myself on the journey to. Understand, how do you learn academic information rather than what you learn?

[00:06:30] Kristina: Yeah.

[00:06:30] Anna: And few years later, I then did incredibly well in my exams to an extent that I was then asked to teach students on how to do well in their exams at Cambridge.

[00:06:42] Kristina: wow.

[00:06:43] Anna: And that set me on a journey. And I loved my scientific career, but I think education passion just took over. And I just wanted to teach other students my framework and say, okay, this is how you do well, even if you put many hours and you [00:07:00] are not doing well in your exams. That's all right. Happens to many people.

But it's kind of inspired me to then, teach students on how to learn information rather than kind of pushing more theory into students. and this is what inspired me to find my own business, academic coaching business where I work with students, school students, university students, on teaching them the methods that I've created whilst being at Cambridge.

[00:07:25] Kristina: Oh, that is amazing. How inspiring. And so great to hear because so many of us have challenges in life, and if we can get through them know, in a positive mind and then learn from it, then we can help others. And we've seen that many or many people in the Dream Life coaching program with, you know, about.

not being well or, not being a good planner or, organized or whatever it is. And we see that, that then becomes their strength. So how did you actually learn to [00:08:00] learn? Because that's something that I'm really fascinated with as well, because I read as you know, so much, but it's really hard I find to remember everything that I, I read and learn.

[00:08:13] Anna: I think I. Learning for me was a lot of trial and error and kind of going through it. I think the biggest challenge as humans in education, I think we're presented with so much information whether we read our favorite nonfiction books, and I think, I'm sure many people of us find that when we read something a few months later, we're just gonna forget about it.

So I always say we need to have some systems of remembering or reviewing that information. So this is basically one of my. signature methods is how do you actually break so much information into a framework where you have certain sub concepts? And I always say it's probably difficult to remember all the tiny details, but if you can break the information into the main concepts, then that's how it [00:09:00] works.

Because your brain then can say, okay, let's say this is the topic of time management, and you've read a book or a chapter and it has like 10 main subheadings or maybe even the entire book. And you say, okay, what are these subheadings? And then you can add more information later. It's almost like a pyramid or an hourglass model is how do you retrieve that information?

[00:09:21] Kristina: Mm, interesting, interesting. You might have to have a little session with us in, um, in my book club because, uh, it's, you know, as we, as you know, we read so many amazing books, but it's really so sometimes really hard to remember it all. Maybe we don't need to remember everything. Of course. We only take on what what we think is relevant for us at the time.

[00:09:42] Anna: Your book club is such a brilliant idea in the sense that we read so many books and it's a new book every single month, and I think we learn so much. And then our wonderful community will always say different things, different ideas. So how on earth do you keep track of that information in an accessible manner to you?

[00:10:00] So when you come to it a year later, you still know how to access it.

[00:10:04] Kristina: Yeah, it's an ongoing challenge, but maybe we can have a little session with you in the book club. So, you are an academic, a coach, a mother, and a lifelong learner. What does it.

really mean to you to be. All of those things at once because I mean, I was fascinated with your, showing up rate, late pregnancy, but even when you had a baby, and it was so beautiful to see your little baby as well on screen.

But it was fascinating to me that you, you, still showed up and you have your own business and you kept working and you seem to be doing it all. So tell us a little bit about how you balance all that.

[00:10:46] Anna: I absolutely love it. I'm a strong believer that each human needs to have different parts of their life or different varieties of their life. in a sense that the more identities you have, the better, [00:11:00] obviously in terms of a balance, but because it gives me that variety.

So I can be a mother, I'm a coach, I'm an academic as well. so it always infuses you and inspires you

think because if you do one thing all the time, I think it might get difficult at times. So it's just the way my brain works. I just have to have different things to my life. And it's very kind of you to say that. even when I had baby, I was, uh, came back to the program very quickly. I'm gonna be honest with you that months when I did have to miss a few sessions, I was missing you guys so much because we have such a wonderful community.

You become like almost a second family. And I was like, gosh. I was saying to my husband, I was like, gosh, I just want to come back and have sessions with Kristina because it's integrated into your, uh, routine. I, because I'm based in the UK and Cambridge, for me it's a morning and it's such, for me a wonderful time to start, the week really.

[00:11:54] Kristina: yeah, absolutely. And we love having you in there. You're always so full of brightness. Some of us back [00:12:00] on the, this side is a little bit more tired and you always have such a great energy. So thank you so much. And it's fascinating to see all the things that you are juggling, but it's really great to hear that you have so many interests and that actually drives you to, balance it all because that's not always easy to do. I completely get that, especially when you have young children.

[00:12:21] Anna: I think I probably wouldn't say I have a perfect balance. I am continuously working on it. And I think this is where your program works brilliantly because it does teach you to have this balance with, all your wonderful exercises. It always gets you to think on how you lead your life.

And I think when you love what you do. Each part of your life. I think the time almost doesn't exist. You just want to do more and more. but what I'm learning at the moment is so important to have set times where you do your, your work or when you spend time with your family.

And this is, was for me, probably the biggest lesson because I was feeling guilty doing the work, [00:13:00] and then I was feeling being, you know, with my children, I was like, gosh, I'm not doing enough work. So I think for any young mothers there, I think, and I'm still learning this and internalizing, but I think it's so important to have those boundaries.

and I work from home, so it can be difficult to have those boundaries. And I think it's so important to have a shutdown ritual, for example, of where you say, okay, how do you finish the day? For example, cleaning your desk or checking your emails or setting your day for the next day. So.

[00:13:29] Kristina: Yeah. That's brilliant. That's So.

good. And yeah, I think it's so important, especially when we work from home. as a mom, it's so much, it's so great to work from home, but it's also challenging because it's easy to then just do a little bit more work in between everything.

Uh, and it's really hard when you love your work so much to always be torn between. So I completely get that. But it's so great also to have something we love doing because I also understand that's not the case for everyone. So that's us kind of living the dream, but not [00:14:00] always, you know, a dream life is never an easy or a perfect life.

It's just, um, something we enjoy and we, the balance still, has to be worked out. Do you remember a moment when you knew you wanted something more, when you started dreaming about a different or a bigger life, maybe even like when you were living in Ukraine? I didn't actually realize that you were from Ukraine, so, did you feel like you wanted something outside of your country something that your parents decided?

[00:14:30] Anna: I think my mother played such an important role in who I am and inspiring me to work hard and always go for your dreams. I think because she's such a hard worker, she always said to me, look, whatever you want, you go for it. And I think secretly she's this dreamer, she does believe in the power of vis visualization as well.

And I think what she did for me is that she said to me, there are no boundaries for you as a child, so whatever you [00:15:00] dream, you go for it. And I think that's how she supported me on that journey. so I always pursued whatever I wanted. However, I would say the pivotal moment in my dream life was I still remember walking in Covent Garden in London and I was waiting for my husband. it was his birthday and I was waiting to take him for the dinner. He was late after work, so I went for a walk in Covent Garden and I saw this beautiful Kiki K store and I walked in and I'm such a fan of stationery and it was absolutely gorgeous.

But then I remember seeing your book, your Dream Life starts here and it was this beautiful, bright yellow book, was the workbook as well. And I remember buying it and I. Almost like having this aha moment, realizing that it actually came to me at the right time of my life because this is where I was when I was still working in the education and I had dreams [00:16:00] of setting my own business in academic coaching, but I didn't maybe have all confidence to do that.

And I remember still doing that first chapter of exercises where it's 101 dreams, starting to ride them out. And you know what? I said, my dream is to have my business. Kristina said so in her book, so I'm going to do it. And that was like, for me, it was this moment. And I always say to my friends, it's Kristina who inspired me to found my own, business indirectly. I've never met you at the time, obviously, but I loved your book so much so that I was like, right, you have your three dreams, your top three goals, and you just have to go for them at the right

[00:16:41] Kristina: Yeah. Oh. So first, thank you for sharing that. I didn't know that it's so amazing that we can inspire people from all over the world and this is another really good lessons for anyone listening and you, I think, because I think we can all [00:17:00] write a book and I think you should definitely write a book.

I'm sure it's part of your 101 Dreams anyway, but when we share some of our lessons, and, you know, you've heard this a million times for me in the program that, you know, writing down my dreams really changed my life. And, uh, I could never. Ever have imagined the life that I got to live after writing down some simple back then dreams that was not simple in terms of making them happen.

But it wasn't anything like, it wasn't like changing the world. It was just really changing my world. And, uh, it was just so amazing and it's so great to, um, have written that book and being able to reach people all over the world. So thank you so much for, for sharing that and well done to you because it's one thing to read a book as we know it's another thing to implement it.

So well done. And it's, uh, so inspiring to hear about your coaching and what an amazing difference you make for people that wants to get into Cambridge or [00:18:00] other universities perhaps, or, just doing better at school. So tell us a little bit about your business, because I.

am very sure that there will be a few people here who might need your services.

[00:18:11] Anna: That's very kind. So I work with school and university students in helping them change the way they learn academic information. it's regardless of whether they're doing well or they're underperforming.

I always say if your child is struggling academically or underperforming slightly, it's always important to understand why that might be happening. The academic world at the moment works that way. If someone is underperforming, you're like, right, let me get a tutor.

But the key thing to understand is. By pushing more academic information, the same information that has already been taught by schools. And if it's you to teach us the same information again and again, that doesn't help your child actually learn. Well, there is probably something else happening. And I always say, if you learn the methods [00:19:00] first, they can then apply it to all of their subjects.

And it doesn't have to be subject specific. and that's what I do on a daily basis. I work with individuals and I have group coaching sessions as well where I teach students on how to learn. and I also help students with their undergraduate and postgraduate applications.

And I inspire them that they can follow any educational journey they want because I love my academic journey so much. I just want to have as many people in the world very similar journey to whatever it might be for them. and just inspire them on their dream academic journey.

Because I always think if you do what you love, then you are going to excel in anything you do in life, and then you're gonna spread more goodness in to other people as well. So it's like almost like a circular effect.

[00:19:49] Kristina: Yeah, yeah, absolutely. That is so great and um, imagine if all kids got to learn that, that would be amazing. So a big dream of yours, no doubt, to [00:20:00] reach as many people as possible. I do understand that you have a podcast as Well, Tell us about that.

[00:20:04] Anna: Well, I have you to thank for that because in our lovely coaching group you also said, that anyone can have their own podcast. So yes, writing the book is going to be the next one, but I might give it a few years. but I still remember that session and you said. Look, everyone can do their podcast, and it always been my dream and I always kind of said, okay, let's wait a bit longer again.

And then I was like, you know what Kristina told me to do so, so I'm just going to go for it. And I'm so, so, so grateful. I love my podcast. It's academic coaching for parents. I interview educators, neuroscientists, dreamers, about education and what they know. They share their career journeys. And what's fantastic about that is I just meet so many wonderful people and learn.

What they know in this sphere of education and neuroscience and they just share their [00:21:00] career journeys as well, which is very, very inspiring. I think choosing your career is so important as well, and I think so many people think, okay, well I have to have this linear career where I can't have different projects or different spheres.

But I think the more you listen to people, you realize what versatile backgrounds they have

and how they actually ended up doing their dream jobs. and dream careers. And I think that just inspires me so much as well. And I hopefully What would inspires parents and educators and other listeners.

[00:21:34] Kristina: Yeah, Absolutely. And I think you know, it's, uh, we spend so much time at work or in our own businesses, and if we don't love it what's the point? And you know, I I, often pinch myself thinking, having this podcast, this is part of my work, writing a book is part of my work and coaching. Like every Monday night, I, I just love it.

And then now I've added running retreat and it's just so amazing and I absolutely love it. [00:22:00] And, um, I wanna reinforce that I often do on these podcasts that, you know, I thought my first business, Kiki k was gonna be. you know, my forever and I lost that business and that was sad and really hard.

But now I get to do even better things, in my opinion, the things that I'm really interested now compared to what I did when I started that business. So it's so amazing and you don't have to follow the path that you perhaps started and you can change at any given time, and that's what, um, creating your dream life is all about Which I love.

[00:22:35] Anna: Absolutely. I think it is about your dream life. Dream career. And I always say to people, you know, you might be thinking that you are doing the right thing or you're enjoying it, but I think it's so important to explore different things and I think you just have to try it out. it might be difficult for people who obviously have full-time jobs to try something on the side, but you can have a side hustle and even if doing something for a few [00:23:00] hours a week just to see if you like it, and whether that can help you change your career.

But I think it is the power of dreaming.

I'm sure you, your audience has already tried your exercises, but it's so important to do it on a regular basis. And even that dream exercise 101 dreams, they change so much as you go along. I was looking through my book this morning actually, and I've never filled out 101 dreams.

I still can't do it,

[00:23:28] Kristina: And you don't

need to, it's

just really about the abundance of dreams. It's not really about the 101, but it's more just about don't let it just be a few. Let's just think Let's think really big.

[00:23:39] Anna: Exactly, and it's again, the power of writing the dreams down and actually looking back on them and realizing how much you actually achieve,

it's so, so powerful and I think it's so, so inspiring and I think, yeah, everybody should be just doing this exercise on a

very yeah. yeah. yeah. Well, it's actually, it's for, it's a free, [00:24:00] um, exercise that I have as a bonus session on my, my podcast. And for anyone who is eager now to do that exercise, you can just go back to the bonus session and do that. Um, it's free, so it's accessible for anyone. I have a question for you. You have pursued knowledge your whole life and still are.

[00:24:20] Kristina: How did the Dream Life coaching program fit in to that learning journey for you? Because I you know, we chat over coaching and then the book group, you are always learning new things and you always have amazing books. You were the one who, who recommended the Dose Effect by TJ Power. The book we currently are reading, in the book club, which is, I absolutely love.

So there's you, there's so much you learning and, and you often mention that you wanna go and, you know, learn about other things as well. So how did the Dream Life Coaching program fit into all this? Because you are, you know, you are a doctor and you have a PhD and a master's, like, tell us about that.

[00:25:00] Anna: [00:25:00] I absolutely love the program. I think it's became integrated into my life now as a weekly habit. I really look forward to it. Every Monday morning with my cup of coffee, with my beautiful notebook and pen, I'm ready. And. You learn so much from the books we read, you learn so much from our wonderful community because each member of our community has such a unique journey to them.

Different life experiences, different academic experiences, and I love learning from other people. I just thrive on it. I love listening to different stories. we have this wonderful global community, who share that passion for your philosophy. And we're so like-minded.

So we always come to the sessions full of energy and. Sharing and supporting each other and everyone is at different stages of their life. Different people might have their own struggles. However, I think we're there as a team [00:26:00] that just kind of drives us forward on our dream journey and I love learning as all us in the group where life learners, and I think that's again, such a great passion to share among

[00:26:12] Kristina: Yeah, Yeah, So tell me, is there a daily or weekly habit that helps you keep grounded and aligned with your dream life? Even when things are a bit chaotic? I have no doubt there will be some days that are a bit chaotic with, you know, a toddler and a, and a newborn. So are there some, you know, weekly or daily habits that helps you?

[00:26:36] Anna: Absolutely, and you shared it with us, is the power of the morning ritual. And I

think it was one of the exercises that, again, writing it down and actually saying, you know, I'm going to commit to that is so, so important. So the morning ritual is so important for me as a young mother now because yeah, once the boys are awake, I'm not going to have time for myself.

The work gets on the way, you [00:27:00] know, everything is so busy. And for me, waking up just a little bit earlier and having my morning ritual where I go with a cup of coffee to my lovely greenhouse where I have loads of seeds at the moment. Everything is growing and doing my journaling,

and actually just preparing for the day.

And even if it's as short as five minutes, 10 minutes, I think again, it just, it sets you for the day and it's so important to do. and I'm also trying to implement the evening ritual now as well because I realize, look, if I want to have this beautiful morning ritual that Kristina taught me how to create, then I do have to go to bed and maybe not necessarily watch an endless, you know, TV show or anything like that.

So there are some sacrifices, but again, if you want to change something as a daily habit in your life, you need to maybe make some sacrifices

in terms of like saying, actually you need to go to bed at the right time to actually implement your beautiful morning ritual.

[00:27:58] Kristina: Yeah, absolutely. [00:28:00] And you know, it's, um, otherwise you kind of burn the candle in both ends. And that's why I always en encourage people to really think about a morning ritual that they really love. So, everyone is different if that's journaling, if that's gone for walk, if that's meditation, if that's, reading whatever, whatever it is.

I think the most important thing is that something you enjoyed is definitely to start with. 'cause I often hear people say, I wanna be at the gym at five o'clock. And, and if that's not something that are really exciting, I couldn't think of anything worse and go to gym at 5:00 AM because it's loud music lights and just not that's not for me.

but for some it would be, but it's so important to find one. That is really, really, inspiring for you. And I love my morning ritual so much and that's why I've tried so many different things and I still do just in case there's something out there. But for me that, my morning walk in nature is just so beautiful.

And then my meditation and my journaling and I [00:29:00] absolutely love that. And then my five minutes coffee in silence is like the, the highlight of the whole morning ritual. 'cause I love the coffee so much and I love, um, sitting down and just really enjoy it.

[00:29:10] Anna: I think it's such an important part of your own self-care, And actually, however busy life gets, is to make sure to take those moments just for yourself, because

you have to replenish your own energy.

So you can then share it with your family, your colleagues, your family.

[00:29:27] Kristina: Yeah, absolutely. you know, one of the things that I did when I had young kids was actually starting with my morning ritual. You have started really early 'cause you still have almost like a newborn still. So, um. that's really hard I think, to create that.

So you've done really well doing that. But for anyone listening, I think if you have young kids, if you can get up a little bit earlier, depending on how you sleep throughout the night, that's obviously, depending on, because if you need sleep, sleep should be your number one priority, I believe. And then your ritual.

So it doesn't have to be [00:30:00] an early morning ritual, but if you are able to sleep well and then get up and do a little bit of morning ritual, because sometimes 15 minutes can make all the difference. It really felt like I put myself, I put the oxygen mask on myself first so I can then give to, you know, family.

and then, you know, my business and um, even.

Friends and community, et cetera. And, uh, it just makes such a difference. So I'm glad you have incorporated that. I, uh, you have mentioned, mentioned journaling, a couple of times throughout our conversation. Is this something that you feel like really helps you in terms of, having that sanity in your head?

Because I think for me it is like, if I do journaling, emptying my head has really been helpful for me.

[00:30:45] Anna: I think journaling is so fantastic and there is a lot of scientific research to show that actually journaling helps our wellbeing I think everyone should try it out. There are so many different types of journaling, [00:31:00]

and I'm going to be honest with you, I've been journaling since I was.

11 years old and

I still have all of my journals and it's so amazing to look back and actually see who you've become, how you've changed as a person. And then I had a long, I had like a long pause I think during, becoming a mother. I just didn't have time and only now I'm implementing it back again.

I do two different forms and I mix between them. So either I do an exercise, which is called morning pages,

where you just take and you write out a few pages, just whatever comes first to your mind, which I think you do quite a lot as well. but I also really like guided journaling where you take a question as a prompt and you just answer that question.

I think that helps me a lot as well. On a days where I'm struggling to do free form of journaling, I like to have a little bit of structure.

[00:31:53] Kristina: Yeah, yeah. Absolutely. It's so helpful. We prompt for sure. I'm curious, has there been any [00:32:00] aha moments or tools from the dream life process that really stuck with you or changed the game for you?

[00:32:07] Anna: Absolutely. I think it's planning for your quarters

because it's quite often at the beginning of the year we're all feeling great inspired and we say, okay, I'm gonna have these beautiful goals and achievements that I'm gonna do within a year. But I think there is a, a very high percentage of people, I think it's actually been, uh, investigated that people just don't follow through.

The motivation goes down and a heart that's is like, we actually then forget what the goals were at the beginning of the year.

So you introduced a beautiful system of where you actually have quarterly goals and dreams and then you have these kind of, you have the breakdown of those quarters, what the plans and what actions to do to follow those.

So I think for me that was definitely like an aha moment saying it's a much. Better way of breaking down your year. [00:33:00] And it just keeps you inspired and inspired. And because we do it as a group again, which is a wonderful exercise in my opinion, we then have our goals and then we share it together. So I think for me, it was really a life changer, the way I view my dreams and goals and actions, because I always want to do so many things.

It's also good to have a limit, on those things. But it's, I think it's so, so important on how I manage my time and dreams on a yearly basis now, using this quarterly system.

[00:33:28] Kristina: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I love quarterly because then even if you have a bad quarter, when I say bad, a quarter that didn't go to plan or perhaps something else happened or, you know, even some, sometimes what happens in the world distracts us. and then we don't have to say, oh, we might as well just now write this year off and wait for the next one.

Every quarter. We treat as a little mini year. And I think that is such a game changer because then you always feel optimistic, even, you know, and you of course don't have to wait for a new [00:34:00] quarter. But it's a really great way of, kind of, and it's also it's a good chunk of time to feel like you have enough time to do something meaningful, but also not enough time that it feels like, oh, I can just, I can take my time.

It's gonna, you feel like you need to get on with things pretty quickly because a quarter, as you know, goes so quickly.

[00:34:19] Anna: It's also important to keep in mind that we have different seasons of life.

and even like, you know, nature season, you know, you might have different goals within in winter or versus summer and I think it's so important to then having this quarterly system aligned with that.

and it also really depends on your energy levels as well.

And you know, some people might find winter's a bit harder with their energy levels and it's just so important to keep that in mind and adjust your expectations for each season and for each quarter. So I think that system really like works well around that as well.

[00:34:52] Kristina: Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. And it's really good to, review your morning ritual based on, because obviously in UK in winter and [00:35:00] Sweden, it's harder to do get up earlier 'cause of the darkness, but then it's the opposite in summer, so you can really adapt depending on the season. I absolutely love that as well.

So thank you for bringing that up. is there one piece of advice or encouragement you would offer someone who's standing at the edge of their dreams but feeling a little bit scared to take the leap?

[00:35:24] Anna: Just take the leap. Just go for it. Don't,

[00:35:29] Kristina: I love it.

[00:35:31] Anna: don't overthink it. I think using one of your journals is a fantastic idea, is actually writing these things down. And working through it, but just, I think you can't overthink it. You just have to go for it. And look, at the end of the day, something might not work out, and that's okay, because then if that doesn't work out, you move to the next thing and the next thing.

And I think by trying many different things in your life, you actually realize what you love and that what drives you to [00:36:00] your dream life. You have to trial things out.

[00:36:02] Kristina: yeah. I couldn't agree more. And there's no such a thing as failure until you really give up and, um, we don't give up in the Dream Life coaching program. So I wanna, I actually wanted to ask you, for someone listening?

who's curious but unsure. What would you say to someone wondering if their dream life coaching program is for them?

I love to hear it from you because obviously I'm really passionate about it, but I have seen so many people. you included, doing so many amazing things and a lot of people who joined the program actually comes from the podcast. So I would love to hear from you what you love about the program and for anyone who's thinking maybe they're not sure if it's for them.

[00:36:47] Anna: I would say just go for it because for me I absolutely loved your philosophy and your work. I loved your book and then I attended one of your workshops. I think many people can always try it before they join [00:37:00] it and if they feel inspired and great after those sessions, and I always did for me was I was always, my energy levels were so rise after your workshops.

I just knew that that was for me and I was like, right, I'm just going for it and I'm going to be honest with you, I think it's my second year in the program now

and I just can't imagine my life without it. I love it so much again. It's integrated in my routine. It's also probably part of my identity now as well.

so I think for people who are listening and considering whether to join, I know that even if you join for a month and say, try it out, you won't be able to unjoin. You will love it so much. But if you love Kristina's philosophy, then this program is just so fantastically created. I love that. Every week we do different things.

We have accountability, which is incredibly powerful. It's a chance for us to meet the community members and actually having those little private chats as well. We then do a session where [00:38:00] we do the exercises where we actually get to answer the questions, and I think it's so powerful to have that hour where we just.

With our own thoughts and actually with the group and answering those questions for me, it's really

powerful. It does fantastic things, and yeah, it's just, I think it's so beautifully organized that I would really highly recommend it. I know I'm biased, But if people love the book and they think, gosh, I really, really, really love this philosophy, then I think the program is just the next level of that, which can really inspire you and put you onto your journey over dream life, whatever it might be.

But I always believe that you can't believe in your dream life, but you do have to put a little bit of work onto it, and I think the program helps you guide it and asks the right questions

[00:38:49] Kristina: Mm. Thank you so much. That's so lovely. there's so many things. I agree, of course, because it's, I'm also biased, so thank you. But the one thing [00:39:00] that I. I really needed myself, hence incorporating in the program. I mean, everything that I, I put into the program is things that I do myself or need myself.

And one is to do the work while we actually have the workshop because I was one of those people who joined a lot of things and just listening and, loved being inspired. Doing the work is always harder and it's really hard to do on your own, in my opinion. So that's why I actually make everyone work in the sessions, because at least, even if you don't feel like doing it.

If you do a little bit, you get inspired and then you can continue. Because an hour is never really enough to do everything that we like to do, but at least you get started. And that's why I created a workbook for every single session, when I have a workshop, because then at least you get started because I was one of those people who just consumed, consumed, consumed.

and as much as that's fun and inspiring, it doesn't really get us to where we need to be. Doing the work [00:40:00] on ourselves is the most important.

[00:40:02] Anna: I'm gonna be honest with you, the other week I had like a free half an hour and I was like, I really want to do some writing, but I don't want to do just journaling by myself. So I went into one of your prerecorded sessions that you did with a group before I joined and I just dunno, I printed this beautiful workbook and it just put me in the flow and I started answering those questions and then I was like, oh my goodness, I just feel inspired and great.

Let me now get on with my work. So it's, it's fantastic and yeah, if you miss a session you can always just watch everything back as well.

So I think that's, such a good thing that you've organized as well.

[00:40:37] Kristina: Yeah. I mean, there's a library of three years of, uh, back recordings and workshops and guest speakers. I mean, there's just so many, you know, for anyone who's joining how to listen to Simon Reynolds, he's my favorite, one of my favorites. There's lots of favorites, but you know, if you need a bit of an inspiration, he's a great one.

He's also been on the podcast, so a good start if you're listening and, um, want some [00:41:00] inspiration right after this. But you probably don't need to 'cause you, I am so inspired speaking with you, Anna, and I'm sure our listeners are as well.

So, thank you so much. I wanna ask actually before we get onto a couple of quicker questions, and that is, what is one of your dreams that you are having right now?

[00:41:18] Anna: The dream I'm having right now I think, is to spread my academic coaching methods to as many people as possible globally.

I just want people to not. Struggle with their academic journeys, but enjoy it.

And I always say, even if you struggle a little bit with your academic journey, when you do study well and you know what to do, you can always look back on yourself and be like, I've achieved this,

I've achieved this.

I'm so proud of myself. And I think it's one of actually things I do teach to my students is always look back and see how much you've done. So I think, yeah, my dream is to spread the [00:42:00] message to as many parents and students as possible.

[00:42:03] Kristina: Mm, love that. And how exciting you started a podcast, so that's great. We're gonna link to that so anyone can listen to it. you are gonna write a book eventually, whenever you're ready. And then, you can start speaking around the world when the kids are a little bit older and, hopefully come over to the side of the world as well.

So, so many exciting things for you ahead. I have no doubt that you will make them all happen. Such a ambitious girl. So thank you for sharing that. And I always love sharing people's dream and sharing my dreams. 'cause you never know who is listening on this podcast that could perhaps help you. So thank you for doing that. I would love to hear a little bit more about your morning ritual, so, so I understand that your morning ritual is not the same every day because of the yang children that you have in your home. But for your ideal morning ritual, what would you do?

[00:42:58] Anna: I think my ideal morning ritual [00:43:00] would be wake up an hour earlier before the

boys and the family wakes up and have my beautiful cup of coffee, take my dog on a walk. Journal, meditate, maybe do a bit of yoga, and then set the day. I think it might be a bit too much, al always a little bit over ambitious, but having that peace and quiet and also reading our lovely personal development books.

Let's drop yoga, let's go for a personal development book as well. I think I, because I find, um, I love my personal development books, I think we'll do in our group, but I think it's difficult to find time during the day. So I think to help you be inspired, I think even if you read five to 10 pages of the personal development book even used, I think a very good exercise is to read a book and then actually journal after that.

So what have you learned from the book? How can you

implement into your life so people can actually, or maybe it sounds very good. I might, I might implement that myself now.[00:44:00]

[00:44:01] Kristina: It helps talking out loud, doesn't it? But I wanna, I wanna challenge you here because I actually think you can fit all of that in because you don't actually, in the morning, it's not about doing. Obviously it's up to you, but if you feel like you want to do all these things, if you think about it in an hour, you can get up and, um, depending on what, what the order is.

But you can start with a five minute meditation. Like yesterday when we had our, um, session with Dr. Elise Eu, who is the founder of Mindful in May. She, um, has been on the podcast. So you, for anyone listening, you can listen to her. But she was doing a short meditation first for us in the program yesterday, but also a 10 minute one.

So just to say that you can find a really good run for five minutes. So that's the first five minutes. Let's just say that you go up. Get up and wash, your face maybe and brush your teeth. So that's maybe five minutes. And then you have five minutes of meditation and then you might move on to just move a little bit.

So [00:45:00] sometimes just doing a bit of a stretch and a little bit of yoga, you know, you can do that for 10, maybe 15 minutes. And then you can do, your coffee and reading at the same time. And then you've got your journaling and that's a good hour, I reckon spent in the first part of the day.

[00:45:18] Anna: Let's call it dreamer morning ritual. It depends how energetic you are. The

[00:45:24] Kristina: Walk. You need to put the walk in as well.

[00:45:26] Anna: Walk, walk the dog. a little struggle of mine is that I'm not a morning person,

so usually we kind of divide people into morning bird or, a late bird, an owl.

I've actually just learned that there is actually a middle bird as well, and I've just realized that I am a middle bird.

So for people who are interested, it's very interesting to see the schedules that are recommended around these, chronotypes they're called. But so yeah, I think that's a dream life.

But what is interesting is that you can actually shift your sleeping patterns to feed your morning rituals as well. So

that's what I'm trying to do. But you [00:46:00] have to do it gradually to train

your body, but it can be done. And I think morning ritual is probably even more powerful than even in ritual because it sets you for the day.

[00:46:09] Kristina: yeah, Absolutely.

an evening ritual is also really much harder because you've got other people, you know, in your house perhaps, so you have friends over or you have family and, so there's much more competition. That's why I love getting up early before everyone else. So you actually have that space for yourself.

But, it's not the right time for you to perhaps have that hour because you probably need sleep. That's more important than your hour of morning ritual. But it's something to look forward to perhaps. And I was never a morning person either. I worked in hospitality my whole teenage early twenties, so I was the opposite.

So I have taught myself to become a morning person, and now I love my morning so much that I happily skip anything at night. So you can change if you want to, but that's, you know, it's obviously up to, you know, you don't have to have a morning ritual [00:47:00] really early. It's not really about that. It's about finding that space whenever that works for you.

 I'm curious, have you got a favorite book? I know this is gonna be really hard for someone like you who reads so much, or if that's too hard, a book that had a really big impact on your life.

[00:47:18] Anna: Am I allowed to bring your book, Kristina? I know this might sound very biased, but I was thinking about, what is my favorite book? And you know, I have so many books in my background all the time, and I invest a lot into my personal development books. I love loads of them, but truly the one that changed my life was your book.

Because that kind of encouraged me to say, okay, you want to have your business? Just go for it. Don't wait for it. And at the moment it still remains, the most, gifted book because I got so obsessed with it. I bought it to all my friends, and I just kept giving them around for, birthdays and Christmases.

So I try [00:48:00] to, share the philosophy as well. But I think currently it remains like the one that had the most impact on me as well.

[00:48:06] Kristina: Oh, that is so nice. Thank you. I've, I'm so happy to hear that. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Is there any, any other books? Just because people who are listening here, would hear about my philosophies all the time. So the dose effect is one that you recommended, which I absolutely love.

there another one?

[00:48:26] Anna: I do love those effects. I think it will be your contestant for how, uh, many I'm going to give to my friends as well. At the moment. I got quite a few gifts and those as well. I do love those effect. the mindset, I think plays an important role for me. mindset, by Dr. Carol dw,

is the idea of gross mindset versus fixed mindset. So the idea of gross mindset versus the fixed mindset.

Gross mindset means that you believe that you can learn anything and we can always improve in what we do. And I think it's so [00:49:00] important if you pursue your career or your academic or your live dream journey to know that whatever you do, you can improve, you can grow, even if you think, gosh, I'm not very good at piano, but just knowing that with a little practice on a regular basis, you can.

Become much stronger and much better. And I think for me, it really shifted the way I think about any activity I do. if I find something difficult, I know that that puts me out of my comfort zone and it actually makes me grow as a person.

I, on top of everything, of me being a mother and running my business, I was like, I need some time for myself.

So normally people would be like, yeah, let's go for a spa weekend or something. I decided to sign up for a Cambridge language school where I decided to do French.

I was like, I think I was seven months pregnant and my teacher said, gosh, this is the first time I had a [00:50:00] student who was pregnant in the class. And I, but I loved it so much. It was a two hour session every week and I found it difficult, but I just enjoyed it. And like my brain clearly craved more learning and it wasn't as nice being a student for a change, but I knew that that put me in a discomfort zone.

So it made me grow as an individual. So whenever you have any hardships or any activity that you might find hard, it means you are always growing it as a person. And I think for me, it was such a powerful shift in the mindset that came from Dr. Carol Wes book that I was like, this is what I believe in as well.

Massively.

[00:50:40] Kristina: Yeah. Amazing. Thank you so much. Yeah, I love that book as well and it's, um, it's such a good one for anyone who feel like they need to change their mindset around that and believe that anything is possible, which you truly demonstrate. So thank you for sharing that. The last question I have for you [00:51:00] is, knowing what you know now, what kind of advice would you give to yourself, say your late teens, your early twenties.

[00:51:09] Anna: I think having the power or visualization and believing in your dreams, so. I think I had it pretty well sorted, but if there were any difficulties on the way on my academic journey is knowing that with the hard work, but the right hard work, you can turn anything around.

And just believing in your dreams and knowing that anything is possible.

And I think it's such a strong mindset for anyone to help from childhood and teenagehood and knowing that, and I think just, again, my mother was very good at instilling that into me, that I think then I could really achieve what I wanted to do.

[00:51:52] Kristina: Yeah. And oh my gosh, have you not demonstrated that so much? It's so, it's been so amazing to have this [00:52:00] conversation. Thank you so much for first taking your time. I know that you are, you have a very full life with your children and your business and, and your learning, and your French now as well. So, I just wanted to say thank you for coming on the podcast, but also for being the most.

Enthusiastic, excited person to have part of the program. I absolutely love seeing your face and uh, uh, what I love is that you always share and you always are so generous with your, with your knowledge and your tips and ideas, and your Contributions. So thank you so very much, and, uh, I will, for anyone listening, I will link to everything that Anna has mentioned, her, her business, her podcast, and we will definitely have you back, Anna, when you release your first book as well.

[00:52:53] Anna: That's so kind. Thank you so much for all your kind words. It's been such a pleasure and I absolutely love chatting to you. [00:53:00] Um, this has just been like a lovely chat

[00:53:03] Kristina: I know, I know. It's like, and you know, that's what, it's so amazing with a, a podcast, isn't it? Because I, you know, the people that I get to chat to, it's just unbelievably exciting, stimulating fun, and I just love it. So thank you.

[00:53:20] Anna: Thank you so much and I'm hope, you know, I've said some good words of wisdom for people to take on board. So yeah, always like to talk.

[00:53:28] Kristina: Absolutely. You have so much wisdom to share, so I know our listeners will absolutely love it. So thank you.

Wow, what an inspiring conversation. I hope you are as inspired as I am to continue learning and making the most of our one precious life. I will link to everything we spoke about In the show notes, I would love to hear what you got out of this inspiring episode. Please share with me in your Dream Life podcast Facebook group.

I will link to that in the show notes as [00:54:00] well.

 As always, I will be back on Monday with another Monday morning motivation episode. I'll see you then.

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