The concept was born out of frustration of how hard it is to create positive change, whether in your personal or professional life. There is no shortage of personal development books, coaches, and courses. But ten years ago, I saw a gap in the market for practical tools to apply those concepts to daily life.
Dailygreatness has evolved to be so much more than just a planner; while on the surface it looks like a normal planner, it has a big focus on mindset – based on positive psychology, peak performance principles and the unique format and structure that empowers users to practice personal growth that leads to actual results over time.
We say it’s ‘personal development for smart people’ as it’s all about turning knowledge into applied knowledge – because it’s not just about listening to a podcast or going on a course. Those notes are going to be tucked away in a drawer and forgotten about because life gets in the way, work becomes busy, personal things arise, pandemics happen – and then we are no closer to practising those concepts in our actual lives.
I was previously in the entertainment industry. As an entertainer, a singer; I ran corporate events travelling around Australia, doing acting and all sorts of TV presenting work. I had travelled to the UK to pursue a career in entertainment, but when I got there, a few months later, I found myself burnt out and at rock bottom in my London flat. What is most surprising though is that for a decade before this, I’d been a self-help junkie. I’d read all the books, done the courses, listened to all the gurus, listened to all the CDs (Podcasts weren’t quite around then) – and I was shocked to find myself at rock bottom and burnt out.
I’d been pushing so hard in a difficult career for ten years, and the truth was I wasn’t practising all those concepts in my life consistently enough and I didn’t have the foundation for the size of my goals and ambition and so eventually I crashed. Stress, anxiety and burnout is a common scenario for many people now. According to Gallop, 23 percent of employees report feeling burnt out or experience burn out at some point during their career and I’m sure it’s a similar number for entrepreneurs and business owners.
At that point, I chose to leave the entertainment industry and pursue a career in my passion which is personal development. Having spent more than a decade researching and studying personal development and human potential concepts, from spirituality and productivity to mindfulness and positive psychology, I made it my mission to bridge the gap between knowledge and action and create a series of practical guided tools that could help people apply these concepts. And that’s when Dailygreatness was founded.
Today, 11 years later, we ship to over 130 countries and our products (particularly our business planner and professional focus tools) are endorsed by psychologists, university professors, CEOs, life and business coaches and leadership trainers.
Two of our most popular products are Dailygreatness Business, and Success at Work. Dailygreatness Business is particularly popular with entrepreneurs and business owners to empower them to manage their mindset and execute their goals and vision. HR professionals and People and Culture Managers immediately see the value of a tool like our Success at Work edition for improving performance and engagement in the workplace. Business is difficult, whether you’re just starting a business or you’re an experienced business owner or founder we all need to create a shift in our mindset each day – that’s where our tool really shines.
Our methodology is really effective in three ways: for mindset, using positive psychology to wake up and start each day in a resourceful state, to handle stress and overwhelm by providing daily clarity for what to focus on, and self-awareness and personal development which is important because unless we are reflecting and understanding what’s working and making the difference, we will never grow and neither will our business. We have a saying that ‘your business can only grow as much as you do’.
We also offer Onboarding and Implementation training of how to use our tools and ongoing monthly or quarterly coaching to individuals and teams.
We have been really happy with Haines Watts since we’ve incorporated in the UK; the team has been helping us keep our book-keeping and accountancy really efficient – which is really important to us. And as a global business, we are incorporated in five countries and with five firms globally for our accounting, so we have some experience with what is good and what’s not so good. Haines Watts is one of the best. They are a great fit for our business because they’re really great to work with. They’re personal and keep our accounting so efficient and lean – which as a business with many other moving parts, the one thing you do want to be efficient and lean is your accounting.
So in this past year, we have become more focused on the B2B market. In January, we launched our Dailygreatness Success at Work edition and we have companies all over the world utilising our tool, such as banks, insurance companies, law firms, charities and marketing agencies to help align their teams in terms of their vision, their goals and values and to help with engagement, performance and productivity. And particularly with COVID-19, as people are working remotely, this tool that aligns people to be on the same page, quite literally, and has been an important product for us to launch in the last year with such a big focus on team wellbeing during lockdowns.
Are there any particular products you would advise for Haines Watts customers? For business owners and entrepreneurs, our Dailygreatness Business Planner or our Vagami Success Planner are great tools; and our Success at Work which is more suitable for teams and those working in an office environment with team leaders. But if people are looking more at their wellness and wellbeing, which many entrepreneurs and business owners do because it’s a key foundational piece to executing their visions and goals – we also do a Wellness Planner that helps people with the mindset behind achieving wellness goals. Obviously, throughout this year, being in lockdown, health and wellbeing and mental wellness have been highlighted. Depending on your lifestyle or goal, we have a range of products to help fit those needs.
What gets you up in the morning? Do you have a particular routine? I like to be up early, be meditating and doing my morning mindset questions, and exercise – I always start every day by working through my Vagami Business Planner, of course! I also have two small children, a three-year-old and a six-year-old, so a big part of our home is playful parenting. And when working at home with kids, it‘s a great strategy as a business owner to keep things flowing. It’s a bit of a secret of mine to utilise that during my day –during the week I make sure to keep myself in a peak state through playful parenting so when I sit down at the desk, I don’t have to do extra work to boost myself back up there.