Tamu Thomas joins Claire for a rich, unhurried conversation about what it actually means to build a sustainable, well-rested life and business.
They explore toxic productivity, the cost of following rules that were never designed for women, and why your nervous system is not a mindset problem to fix.
Substack’s evolution from cosy oasis to noisy feed weaves through the second half, along with a genuinely beautiful reframe about content timing and showing up on your own terms. This one will resonate deeply with those of you feeling into soulful work, anyone neurodivergent and give you more focus to be burnout-aware.
A former social worker with16 years experience, Tamu blends the science of human safety, connection and behavior change to translate complex human dynamics into clear, actionable leadership strategy. Her approach centres nervous system safety, belonging and joy as essential foundations for sustainable high performance.
You can connect with her on her popular instagram channel here;
https://www.instagram.com/tamu.thomas
and on linkedin too
https://www.linkedin.com/in/tamuthomas/
Favourite Quotes
On attention as currency:
“You’re already paying me something with your time, with your energy, with your attention. And I cherish that. We can make money again. We can’t get our energy back.”
On not chasing perfection before starting:
“People want to have the exact formula before they do something, which means they spend a lot of time ideating, thinking, procrastinating, trying to be a perfectionist, and it doesn’t give them the real world data. So I treat it as a science experiment.”
On building for abundance not scarcity:
“We need to get out of this intensity addiction, scarcity mindset where we actually build a business for scarcity rather than abundance.”
On time scarcity:
“The root of it is always a feeling of not enoughness. So if I approach time in a way where I’m working with time abundantly, it reduces that sense of not enoughness.”
On the nervous system:
“We don’t get to escape being human. We cannot outsmart our biology. Even the most guruified guru who does stadiums of self-help talks doesn’t get to escape being human.”
On content timing:
“Unless you are talking about a perishable good, there’s no expiry date. As long as you are in integrity with yourself, you are speaking in alignment with your values, it’s always going to be trending.”
On sustainable business:
“It’s important that you create a business that doesn’t break if you take a break.”
On Substack as sacred writing space:
“Writing is a place where I go and seek solace. It’s a place I cherish. And so putting pressure on that takes away from the beauty.”
On breaking invisible rules:
“Following the rules often means denying our inner knowing, our intuition, denying what we know is best for us so that we can look good, because we’ve been taught it’s okay for us to feel bad, but it’s not okay for us to look bad.”
Watch our conversation here…
We’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.
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