Latest news with #KasiaSiwosz
Wales Online
10-07-2025
- Business
- Wales Online
These are the top days to book annual leave in 2026 according to an expert
These are the top days to book annual leave in 2026 according to an expert She provided top hacks on how to use your annual leave for 'guilt-free relaxation while career momentum is maintained' A life coach has offered tips on when to use your annual leave in 2026 (Image: Getty Images ) A life and productivity coach has looked ahead to 2026 to provide top tips on how to secure your preferred annual leave dates and make the most of your time off. The eCommerce marketing specialists at NOVOS have interviewed Kasia Siwosz, who shared the days employees should book their annual leave to maximise their holiday. Kasia's number one tip for making the most of annual leave in 2026 is to book extra days around bank holidays. She explained: 'In 2026, we're gifted with eight bank holidays that fall conveniently near weekends, like Good Friday on April 3 and Easter Monday on April 6. Pairing those with additional days off gives you nearly a week on only a handful of annual leave days. "If circumstances allow, arrange them to coincide with less frenetic project periods or following deal closure. This is guilt-free relaxation while career momentum is maintained.' She explained how one of the best hacks is to 'bridge' public holidays with annual leave days. For instance: Take annual leave on Tuesday, May 5 to Friday, May 8, right after the early May bank holiday on Monday, May 4. You'll get nine days off for the price of four, since it spans two weekends. Another big win is the Christmas to New Year period in 2026. Since Christmas Day (Friday, December 25) and Boxing Day (Saturday, December 26, celebrated on Monday 28) create a long weekend, you can book off 29, 30, and 31 December off and enjoy a whole ten-day reboot into 2027, starting fresh on Monday, January 5. New Year's Day falls on Thursday, January 1, therefore taking Friday, January 2 off equates to four consecutive days. Another is to consider, she said, was taking off Monday, March 16 to Friday, March 20. Article continues below The coach said: "This is the middle of a slow month early in the spring and is perfect for refilling your tank before Q2 stress begins to build. You can also use "micro-holidays" half days or even scheduled digital detox weekends to maintain your reservoir of resilience throughout the year. 'Always unplug, don't half-holiday by staying connected to Slack. Establish boundaries, hand off the baton, and give your brain a reset. It will be worth it when you return with enhanced productivity. I'm also seeing a rise in 'location-lite' working, people who will take annual leave that blends seamlessly into work-from-abroad setups. "A popular trend among tech professionals and consultants is to take a long weekend off in a destination like Lisbon or Dubrovnik, then work remotely for a few days to extend the experience without using extra holiday days. I also hope to see more professionals place mental health at the top of their agenda, going for solitary retreats or digital detox holidays in off-peak times like mid-September or late February.' The days NOT to book off in 2026 The coach added: 'I'd generally recommend against single mid-week days like Wednesday, March 11 or Tuesday, June 23 unless you're booking them for personal milestones. "Single days disrupt work flow and are rarely worth it to take enough rest to balance out the admin of leaving. "Also, don't book off during industry-critical windows for example, lots of law firms close time off during quarter-end closings (late March, June, September, and December). Scheduling around those times can put pressure on your employees and make it harder to fully disconnect. 'Look for potential longer breaks (e.g., around May 25-29, post-late May bank holiday) when the 2026 public holiday calendar is released. Besides assisting you in coordinating with teams and clients, it also gives something to look forward to, which research has proven can enhance mood and drive. "The added transparency helps your teammates plan workloads and avoid conflicting key absences.' Operations director at NOVOS, Olivia Royce, said: 'We underestimate how much our environment impacts our performance. A few days off can do wonders for your mental energy... and that energy always finds its way back into your work. Article continues below "At NOVOS, we design our benefits around that philosophy- including our unlimited holiday policy - whether it's spontaneous summer Fridays or planning time off around the bank holidays, we encourage our team to actually enjoy the flexibility we offer. We would always take happy, recharged employees over burnout any day.'
Daily Mail
10-06-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
Kasia Siwosz on why success can trigger self-doubt, and how to lead through it
The call came from a private number. On the other end was a woman leading one of Europe's most prominent fintech firms. She had just secured her third major acquisition, topped an industry power list, and was celebrated in both business media and investment circles. But the question she asked was disarming: 'Why do I feel like a fraud?' Kasia Siwosz hears this question more often than many would imagine. As a life coach to high-performing individuals — from corporate leaders to former Olympians — she has built her practice around a rarely discussed issue: the contradiction between outer success and inner doubt. 'What people rarely admit is that achievements can magnify insecurity,' Siwosz says. 'The more you accomplish, the more you fear it's been a fluke.' Success and the Quiet Crisis It Triggers Recent data supports her observation. A 2024 study by the British Psychological Society found that 68% of senior executives experience persistent self-doubt despite sustained success. Meanwhile, the life and executive coaching market in the UK has grown by over 10% annually since 2021, with demand rising most sharply among CEOs and founders. The paradox is gaining traction across boardrooms, creative circles, and elite sports. Public accolades rarely silence internal questions. For some, the gap between how they're perceived and how they feel becomes a source of chronic pressure. Siwosz adds, 'Once you've achieved what you were chasing for years — a title, a valuation, a win — the fear shifts. It's no longer about whether you can get there. It's whether you can stay, or whether it was ever real to begin with.' A Career Forged Across Contradictions Siwosz's own story doesn't fit the typical narrative. She grew up in post-communist Poland, trained relentlessly to become a professional tennis player, and competed on the WTA tour until the age of 18. She ranked in the top 400 in doubles, 700 in singles — impressive by any measure, especially considering her limited financial backing. When she could no longer continue competing, she rerouted entirely. Through athletic scholarships, she attended three universities, ultimately graduating from the University of California, Berkeley. She then broke into investment banking in London, a path she says felt as punishing as elite sport — but less fulfilling. Later, she launched a restaurant that closed after three years, worked in venture capital until the pandemic shuttered her fund, and, in the middle of that upheaval, discovered coaching. 'Every chapter added another layer of understanding,' she explains. 'Not theory — lived experience. That's what my clients respond to.' Patterns Beneath the Surface Siwosz's current work focuses on what she calls 'hidden blocks' — deep-rooted narratives that keep high achievers stuck in cycles of over-performance and under-confidence. The stakes are often invisible from the outside: personal relationships that erode, health that declines, an identity that collapses when public markers of success shift. She describes one client, a prominent entrepreneur, who admitted that each business milestone brought not relief, but a sense of impending collapse. 'He was terrified of being exposed,' she says. 'Not because he wasn't qualified — but because he thought someone else would eventually notice what he believed about himself.' Her sessions are intensive and personal. Unlike traditional performance coaching, which often centers around productivity or tactical goals, Siwosz guides clients toward clarity about what they're running from — not just toward. Rebuilding Confidence Without the Mask Key to her process is the dismantling of performance-based identity. Clients are often so used to being measured by numbers, promotions, and public recognition that they no longer know who they are without those metrics. 'They've built their whole adult lives around external validation,' she says. 'So we ask: What's left when you take that away? And then we work from there.' Her work involves storytelling, pattern recognition, and what she refers to as 'calling out the distortion loop.' She challenges clients when they downplay their own abilities or inflate imagined threats. One of her techniques involves helping clients build what she calls internal reference points — a system for self-assessment that isn't reliant on applause or awards. Another involves direct confrontation of beliefs formed during earlier career stages, many of which no longer serve them. What Leadership Now Requires As more executives burn out or quietly resign despite external success, Siwosz argues that leadership today demands a different kind of stamina — not just strategic, but psychological. 'If you're leading people, and you're driven by fear, you will pass that fear down,' she says. 'If you're leading from unresolved shame, you will infect your culture with it.' Her clients don't advertise their coaching publicly, and she prefers it that way. Confidentiality and depth matter more than branding. 'This isn't a performative exercise,' she adds. 'It's for those who are tired of the act.' As professional success becomes more accessible to those willing to chase it, the internal work becomes harder to ignore. Kasia Siwosz offers not reassurance, but recalibration — a return to self-trust in environments that reward only performance. The pressure to achieve isn't likely to ease. But as she sees it, those who learn to examine their own success — and the beliefs it challenges — are the ones most likely to lead without losing themselves.
