Gift For The Mind – Mathilde Boyer

Gift for the Mind was created with a vision to democratise access to personal and professional development services, connecting people with coaching experts who can provide a life-changing experience via gift certificates. 

The gift certificate, purchased by a loved one or an employer, is an investment in the recipient’s personal or professional growth and future. With positive mental health being encouraged in all areas of our lives, we believe this is the perfect alternative to a materialistic gift.

You can use each gift certificate with notable hand-selected experts, including business mentors, experienced coaches with expertise in various areas (life, parenting, relationship, mindset, career, performance.) and well-being specialists (who help with anxiety, addiction, eating disorders, and health).

Having dealt with family members who have suffered from exhaustion and need different levels of mental health support, this business is a fantastic way to show your family, friends and colleagues that you care.

We caught up with Gift For The Mind founder Mathilde Boyer to learn more about her impressive new venture.

What inspired you to create this service?

  I am a big believer that the gifting industry needs to be transformed so that it transitions from being rooted in consumerism to encouraging more sustainable behaviours that will benefit humans and the planet. A service like Gift for the mind can help reduce waste volume, which, by the way, can increase by a shocking 25-30% during the holiday season in the UK and the US! Gift-giving is, of course, an essential contributor to that. The idea here isn’t to stop gifting – people love gifting. It gives us a boost of endorphins – but rather to invest in experiences that will have long-term benefits without harming the planet. This is what I wanted to offer through the creation of Gift for the Mind. 

This initiative is also an opportunity to help overcome the cost that is a barrier to entry when it comes to personal and professional development. Many people are happy to spend on clothes or gym membership but investing in their mental strength and well-being isn’t necessarily something they are comfortable investing in. There is sometimes a preconceived idea that we need to have a “problem” to go and see a coach or invest in personal development. Just like Bill Gates says, “everyone needs a coach”. Working on our personal development is a healthy reflective practice that allows us to, over time, become better at understanding our emotions, behaviours, triggers and thoughts whilst making decisions aligned with the kind of life we want to live. This is what Gift for the Mind aims to encourage.

How can the UK’s personal development industry be improved?

There is a lack of awareness regarding the variety of experts that can support us in different areas of our lives. This lack of awareness means people wait until their mental well-being hits a critical point before taking action. An increased awareness about the types of personal development experts that can support us would help prevent these situations and even potentially reduce absenteeism and burnout within organisations and redirect some of the current NHS enquiries to personal and professional development experts. 

What comes in the way of collective awareness is that there are two types of actors on the market: experts who are talented but operate alone and often have minimum visibility and huge directories with thousands of experts that are likely to cause choice paralysis for anyone trying to select someone to support them. There isn’t much in between on this spectrum. What would help is to see more communities of experts gathered around a specific theme or objective, just like Gift for the Mind. These groups have bigger networks to tap into than individual experts and can gain visibility faster; they are also more engaging than big directories due to the limited number of featured experts or specific topics or objectives they have gathered.

4- How do you balance managing your work life with your time?

The key for me has been tapping into the power of coaching to raise awareness about my working methods. You see, I tend to work in weekly cycles: I have weeks during which I enjoy significantly prioritising my work because I have the motivation and energy to do so and others during which I have to take it slow and shift from a productive to a more reflective phase. I used to blame myself or feel guilty during these slower phases and became overwhelmed on multiple occasions. I have had to train my mind to feel comfortable with slowing down and reflecting, and I can now take advantage of my productive phases, knowing that they won’t last (and that’s okay!). 

I have also adjusted my interpretation of the word “consistency”. What I do consistently isn’t pushing myself beyond my limits anymore but rather listening to the physical and behavioural signs that my body gives me to understand when I need to transition from one phase to the next. It also makes me more comfortable setting boundaries, which I struggled with previously. Understanding when I’m in a “slow” vs “go” state allows me to shift my expectations so that I don’t let guilt invade me about the things that aren’t getting done. 

Can you share three ways entrepreneurs can look after their mental health while on their entrepreneurial journey?

Making time for my personal development has benefitted me the most on my journey. For instance, I see numerous crossovers between the insights that I gain when working on my parental skills and what I need to take my business to the next level. Working with coaches has helped me with stress management, build my self-confidence and develop a toolkit that I can use to keep my mind strong throughout the ups and downs of entrepreneurship. 

Secondly, I have seen huge benefits in focusing on the small steps. I can be a bit of an idea box and love thinking through the big vision associated with a concept, but sometimes it gets overwhelming so focusing my mind on the initial small steps I need to take gives me a sense of calm and inner peace. The mental fitness exercise of bringing our minds back to something we can control when things get hectic or overwhelming is a good way to learn how to develop self-command over our minds so we can progressively start feeling more in control.

Lastly, human connections and relationships can be a mental health saviour in challenging times. Hearing what others are going through brings a perspective on our reality and can also be a great source of support, so building up our network can be a valuable way to look after our mental health whilst on our entrepreneurial journey.

What challenges have you had to overcome since starting your business?

Looking back, the most significant challenges I have faced have been mental ones. I had to become comfortable with what I used to call “my weaknesses” (they are now my areas of growth), fear of failure (I learned to forgive myself when mistakes happen and keep making steps forward instead of “giving up”) and fear of rejection (I learned not to reject myself and the business when the external engagement isn’t what I hoped it would be). 

Balancing the juggling act of being the founder whilst switching hats between product, creative, technical, and marketing has required a high level of rigour to ensure that each role is completed at the highest standards.

Lastly, trusting my energy hasn’t been easy, but I noticed such a shift when I finally unlocked this piece of the puzzle. I have learned to trust that I will attract the right people at the right time, which has helped me reduce stress levels. I accept that I can leverage the resources and time challenges I face to move forward with the business instead of becoming show-stoppers. 

Can you share three moguls or entrepreneurs who have inspired you on your entrepreneurial journey and why?

Chris Forbes and Julie Chen, the founders of Cheeky panda. I love how they have disrupted a $200 billion industry by creating replacements for everyday paper products. It’s ecologically inspiring, and the branding is spot on: they have thought about everything down to the finest details. They combine practicality, quality and attractive branding with solid values and ethics. It’s an inspiring success story for Gift for the mind, whose aim is to disrupt the gifting industry.

Dan Ariely, Israeli-American author and professor of psychology and behavioural economics. I became a fan after reading his book “Predictably Irrational” and found myself admiring how he manages to build storytelling around complex topics to make them easy to grasp by all. The outputs of investment in working with a coach are intangible and sometimes hard to comprehend, so Dan’s approach to simplifying complex concepts is certainly something I can learn from to explain and promote the benefits of Gift for the mind. 

David Laroche, Entrepreneur and Coach, has done the world’s most viewed French Ted Talk. He started his entrepreneurship journey from nothing with low self-confidence. He built a successful business, gaining insights from hundreds of famous athletes and business and personal development leaders (including Richard Branson, Brian Tracy, Lisa Nichols, and Les Brown) thanks to perseverance and mindset work. I keep his journey in mind when things get challenging. His approach to developing a performance culture within his teams and providing a work environment that supports each employee’s well-being and fulfilment is also inspiring.

Looking back, what is the most important lesson you learned about life?

 The most important lesson I gained through my entrepreneurship journey is the importance of the way we communicate with ourselves through inner dialogue and thoughts. It has allowed me to increase my confidence and resilience, which in turn, completely transformed how I approach work and business challenges. I believe that confidence is a key to the success of any entrepreneur and having a coach to work with me through the ups and downs of my confidence level has been a real game changer.

What is your message to the world?

Many people don’t have the life they want because they lack the awareness, support or confidence to make the decisions that would propel them to reach a new level of happiness and fulfilment. My message to the world is to invest in personal development (even if you don’t have the financial resources right now, there are lots of free ways to get free support online). This will help you understand yourself better and reveal your talents which, in turn, will empower you to live a fulfilling life that inspires you. The insights you gain by working on one specific area of your life will enable you to level-up other areas, too:

  • Your relationships will improve.
  • Your confidence will increase.
  • You will feel less anxious and more optimistic. 

 My wish is that more people experience the benefits of personal development. I am convinced that if we could collectively raise our awareness, it would solve many of the world’s issues.

  • We would be able to unlock our potential to solve challenges at all scales,
  • We would be kinder and more understanding to one another,
  • We would be better at recognising when our egos kick in and drive our behaviours, reducing conflicts and much more.

 In short, make time for self-discovery. It will give you invaluable insights and surprising “aha moments” that could genuinely change your life!

Where can we find you online? 

 For those interested in gifting a personal and professional development experience, our website: www.giftforthemind.com, is the place to go. We also share the Gift for the Mind journey online on LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram

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