The Rewrite
Newsletter
The Rewrite newsletter by Monique Shaw is a monthly dose of stories, ideas and resources all centred around the theme of creating a career and life that works. It is highly personal and carefully crafted for you each month.
Subscribe here and access the archives below…
The Rewrite Newsletter Archive
JUNE 2026 EDITION
An excerpt from The Rewrite newsletter: June 2026 Edition
Earlier this month, I wrapped up season 3 of The Rewriters podcast with the final episode in my How To series, How To Rewrite Your Story From The Inside-Out.
If I could describe in a single sentence what my business Rewrite does, it’s rewriting stories from the inside-out. This episode is the essence of ALL of the work that I do. I make a case for rewriting our stories from the inside out, and then I outline how to do it – starting with your inside story (getting to know yourself and knowing what you want) and then moving through to your outside story (connecting to others and creating what you need).
I’ve spent years working in this space but it has only been this year that I’ve really been able to articulate so clearly that the fundamental challenge I see in my clients (and myself) is when there is a gap between who we really are (on the inside) and how we show up on the outside. The bigger the gap, the bigger the cost.
If you feel like the gap between those two parts or stories has become too great, do have a listen to the episode. It’s highly practical, includes a mini literature review so you can get a handle on the evidentiary basis for this experience, and (as with all episodes this season) includes a set of Self Coaching Questions so you can directly apply it to your own work and life.
MAY 2026 EDITION
An excerpt from The Rewrite newsletter: May 2026 Edition
In 2016 I was a happily-pregnant work-addicted people pleaser in a job I loved with pretty much Entirely Externalised Self-Worth. I knew the way I worked wouldn't work once that baby arrived and so I set about trying to figure out how to get a handle on my time. I did that (to extraordinary effect) but something else happened too….
I stopped being a people pleaser. Not overnight, but incrementally… and without realising it.
I had set out to deal with the logistics of my boundary-less, work-addicted life - post-baby - and ended up relinquishing a multi-decade long tenure as a people pleaser and finally FINALLY learning how to say NO.
I know, love and work with a lot of people pleasers and it's crazy to me that some of these people never even knew me as a people pleaser. But, people pleaser I was and people pleaser I am no more.
Letting go of the fear of other people not liking you, of their opinions and reactions, is liberating AND doable! My take on people pleasing includes one very important clause though: Don't Be A D!ck About It.
Efforts to stop people pleasing aren't license to never help, to never say yes or never put your wants aside to do the right thing.
APRIL 2026 EDITION
An excerpt from The Rewrite newsletter: April 2026 Edition
This kind of season can feel like a holding pattern - waiting to launch, waiting to exhale, waiting to figure out what the next thing is (project, job, plan, holiday, whatever).
To counter this, I invited the utterly serene Marie Penrose of Penrose Meditation to lead The Rewriters Community’s first ever Special Members event this March. So many of the women in the group are wired for perfectionism so Marie’s focus was guiding us to a practice that was perfectly imperfect. Marie says meditation isn’t about clearing your mind, it’s quite the opposite - it’s to accept it as it is and just be present with it. That’s all.
Meditation has been such a salve for me in times of stress, stuck-ness and overwhelm and it bothered me that so many people ruled it out because they believe they can’t do it ‘the right way’. I know from personal experience that even just a few minutes a day is a powerful and transformative practice.
Scientific evidence backs its efficacy too - it reduces stress and anxiety, lowers blood pressure, improves immune function and (over time) can lead to ACTUAL structural changes in the brain.
If you need some room to breathe in your day, I’ve put a 5-minute morning meditation practice below, that I’ve found doable before my kids wake up and the chaos begins.
MARCH 2026 EDITION
An excerpt from The Rewrite newsletter: March 2026 Edition
Spring arrived here in the UK this week! This week is also Rewrite's 6th birthday!
Asmany of us do around birthdays, a new year or seasonal change, I've been thinking about where I’m at, what I’ve learned and what the coming years could look like in my business.
To mark the occasion, I'm sharing these reflections in the latest episode of The Rewriters Podcast…
LISTEN: ‘How To Start Your Small Business: What I Got Right (and Wrong)
The episode is broken down as follows:
The Origin Story: The back story and what led me to starting my own business.
The Top 5 Things I Got Right (and recommend you do too if you’re starting your own thing).
The Top 5 Things I Got Wrong (so you don’t have to make the same unnecessary mistakes).
5 Steps to Starting Your Own Small Business.
FEBRUARY 2026 EDITION
An excerpt from The Rewrite newsletter: February 2026 Edition
Community and persistence helped me emerge from a pretty tough 2025, feeling strong, energised and ready to go. It wasn’t dogged, white-knuckling persistence (which I’ve definitely done in the past) - it was reflective, considered and purposeful persistence.
And I didn’t do it alone. Community was EVERYTHING. These are some of the ways I accessed community in 2025:
I began weekly accountability sessions with a dear friend who is also self-employed. We share our priorities for the week, gently keep each other accountable and offer a space to release the burden of running your own business in a company of one.
I started a book club with beautiful women in my local area, all of whom are busy juggling work, family and the stresses of the world; and all of whom are open-minded, supportive and ready to be vulnerable.
I joined a local gym and began to prioritise group classes over solo exercise. Being in rooms of people doing something together is useful when you're an extrovert who works alone.
I became a Professional Member of the EMCC and started regularly attending their members events. I also re-engaged with my coaching school, Animas Centre for Coaching, attending more of their alumni events.
JANUARY 2026 EDITION
An excerpt from The Rewrite newsletter: January 2026 Edition
The latest episode of The Rewriters podcast is out now and it feels like the perfect topic to dust off that residual 2025 baggage and welcome in a replenished approach for the year ahead. I'm exploring something that each and every one of us knows all too well: our inner critic. In the episode, I explain why I believe the common advice to "silence" or "erase" your inner critic is destined to fail. Instead, I make a case for listening to, learning from, befriending – and ultimately transcending – that critical inner voice.
You’ll learn:
The psychology of the inner critic: What it actually is and why it’s trying to protect you.
Identifying limiting beliefs: How to spot the hidden assumptions holding you back.
Actionable tools & techniques: Methods for managing the inner critic in-the-moment and longer-term.
A deep-dive case study: I unpack the personal experience of a Rewrite Newsletter subscriber's relationship with their inner critic.
Self-coaching framework: Questions to help you befriend and move beyond your critic, starting today.
Whether you're struggling with confidence, imposter syndrome or negative self-talk, this episode provides guidance and techniques to help you turn your inner critic into your inner ally.
DECEMBER 2025 EDITION
An excerpt from The Rewrite newsletter: December 2025 Edition
This week I'll be winding down work and thinking about my end-of-year closing rituals. I wanted to share some of them with you in case you find them helpful and hopeful too…
A free resource I turn to each year is the Year Compass. I rarely get through the whole thing, but sitting down with a cuppa and having a good crack at it always feels like an important pause. I can spend more time on screens than I like to admit to myself so anything that takes me offline and helps me connect pen to paper and attention to the present moment is golden.
The Year Compass is something to complete and then keep to revisit again next year, it provides a record over time of your hopes, dreams, reflections and direction of travel.
2026 Journaling Questions…
Journaling isn’t for everyone, but it is definitely a very good friend of mine and my self-connection and reflection tool of choice. If journaling works for you too, here are the simple journal questions I like to reflect on at the close of each year:
What did I learn about myself this year?
What do I want more of in 2026? What do I want less of in 2026?
What can do to make that happen?
NOVEMBER 2025 EDITION
An excerpt from The Rewrite newsletter: November 2025 Edition
TIt's a simple question but a big one… does your career drain you?
In an ideal world our careers would energise us, at least some of the time. But too many of us are drained by our careers – exhausted and uninspired in lives that don’t work and jobs that don't fit.
The problem is: creating a career and life that works takes time.
Even if we know we need a change, it's hard to find the time and space to figure out what that change should actually be. Not to mention doing so in a job market that is stagnant and depressed.
If this all sounds familiar, you're not alone and it’s not hopeless. Transformational change is possible if you control what you can control, play the long game and surround yourself with people who ‘get it’,
It's why I created The Rewriters Community.
The Rewriters Community is the dedicated time, space and village support you need to move from where you are to where you want to be.
OCTOBER 2025 EDITION
An excerpt from The Rewrite newsletter: October 2025 Edition
Maybe it’s the moodier weather, the change of season or the need to be indoors more, but I’m definitely more introspective and reflective this time of year. It's time to go inwards, get cosy and stay close to home.
Recently I’ve returned to a simple practice that I’ve done (and shared) many many times before; it’s the minutes-long morning task of asking myself two very simple questions – How am I feeling? and What do I need?
If you’re inclined to retreat a little this time of year and want to reconnect to what you really need, this practice will be a friend. The key is to write your answers down – and whatever you say you need; you must commit to meeting that need.
This practice will settle your nervous system, keep you grounded, and help you build deep self-trust over time.
A few years ago I created a podcast episode about this practice, I've popped a link to it below for you…
SEPTEMBER 2025 EDITION
An excerpt from The Rewrite newsletter: September 2025 Edition
There are SO many different examples, stories and experiences you can draw on when writing and talking about workplace jerk behaviour - it was hard finding a way to fit everything in without making it 5 hours long. Here's where I landed…
The episode covers:
The Different types of jerks at work ~ essentially the 3 key jerk archetypes as I see them
Tools for dealing with jerks at work ~ the approaches and interpersonal skills that can help you manage most kinds of jerks
And Different jerk scenarios ~ including when YOU are the jerk (which I definitely have been at times)
What if your direct report is a jerk?
When listening back I realised I missed a clanger - what to do when your direct report is a jerk. This type of jerk can be a little easier to manage given the power dynamic, but beware a major blind spot - when they manage UP (to you) but treat their peers and juniors badly.
I've experienced this and can definitely say that building trust in your team and having a safe and open dialogue will help you avoid these kinds of jerks pulling that behaviour on your watch.
JULY 2025 EDITION
An excerpt from The Rewrite newsletter: July 2025 Edition
July has felt really busy in our house – how has your month been? Maybe it’s that final push before the summer holidays that took it out of us, but across all areas it's felt like a lot. Lively, fun, busy, relentless, exhausting, entertaining – and a lot.
We are all ready for August to be a bit more chill (or as chill as it can be when you're a person with little to no chill).
It might surprise you, but one area that has felt like a sanctuary is work-related. On the Rewrite front I’ve been quietly working away on Season 3 of The Rewriters podcast. Yep, it’s back soon (finally)! Working on this content has been both creative and nostalgic as I contemplate just how much I’ve learnt about life and work since I started Rewrite back in early 2020.
On Monday 1st September, the first brand new episode of The Rewriters podcast will be released. The new season is called The Rewriters ‘HOW TO’ Series.
I’ll be sharing practical lessons filled with knowledge gained from my coaching work, running a business, and shaping (and then quitting) a successful corporate career – everything from living in harmony with your inner critic, dealing with jerks at work, surviving redundancy and getting over people pleasing for good.
JUNE 2025 EDITION
An excerpt from The Rewrite newsletter: June 2025 Edition
The big news in our house was a school move for my son. There were a number of reasons driving it, but fundamentally it came down to culture and environment.
It wasn’t the right fit.
And the transformation since we’ve moved him has been startling. He's thriving.
By day two he was more comfortable in his new school than he had been in the school he’d attended for years. He’s happier, runs in each morning without a fuss, has a great new group of friends and is performing better academically. I keep marvelling at the difference and repeating to myself – thank god we moved him; thank god we moved him. It really couldn’t have gone better.
Same kid, different environment = school experience totally transformed.
Which makes me think a lot about workplaces and work culture. Sometimes it’s the job, sometimes it’s you – but sometimes it’s the environment. Sometimes it’s just not the right fit.
Culture is one of those things that can’t be changed (necessarily) by a single pupil or employee – it’s bigger than them. It requires wholesale change (and the appetite to create it).
MAY 2025 EDITION
An excerpt from The Rewrite newsletter: May 2025 Edition
One of the biggest barriers to change? The negative stories we tell ourselves about who we are and what we are capable of. I call this running ticker tape of inner critic put-downs our Inner Critic Commentary, and a big part of my work is inviting clients to objectively analyse and interrogate it.
In a recent session someone posed a question: Is this story about myself untrue and wrong, and therefore I need to change it OR is it actually true and therefore I need to accept it? While I can’t share their specific story, I can share an example that illuminates why this question was so powerful… Let’s say the story you’re telling yourself is “I’m too sensitive.”
The answer to the question Is this story true or untrue is that it's both - it's true AND untrue.
The part that is true is “SENSITIVE” and the part that is untrue is “TOO”.
The untruth is within the value judgement applied to Sensitive by using the word Too. What needs to be rewritten here are all of the stories that tell us sensitive is weak and fragile; sensitive is the opposite of strength and power.
What if instead of I’m too sensitive we said I AM SENSITIVE. And because I’m sensitive I can … [now insert all the incredible things that being deeply perceptive, empathetic and emotionally resonant allows you see and do, that insensitivity and indifference misses every time].
APRIL 2025 EDITION
An excerpt from The Rewrite newsletter: April 2025 Edition
I ran a workshop on Presentation Skills with the icanyoucantoo guys at my old stomping ground in Canary Wharf, and the current cohort of Rewrite Your Career Story met for our 2nd group coaching session.
One of the things that always strikes me about the Rewrite Your Career Story group sessions is how generous and connected people become when they are having a shared experience.
The women on this programme are at different places in their lives and careers, live in different parts of the world and have different goals and ambitions – but still, they all ultimately want the same thing. They want to do good work in the world. They are ambitious for themselves AND they are ambitious for each other.
Seek out people who are quietly and loudly clapping for you.
People who light up when you have a good day and spur you on to go for it even when you don’t feel like you can.
These women have literally only met twice (via Zoom no less) and they are already rooting for each other and thinking of ways they can help each other to succeed.
I really do have the best job.
MARCH 2025 EDITION
An excerpt from The Rewrite newsletter: March 2025 Edition
I mentioned in last month's newsletter that I had recently started meditating again (thank you Soph!). I only do 5-10 minutes in the morning (plus a sleep one each night) and I cannot overstate how transformational it continues to be – both day-to-day and cumulatively.
If you’re interested in having a go, check out Insight Timer. It’s my go-to app because it’s packed with free guided meditations and suggests popular ones based on the time of day you’re searching. It also has oodles of topics to explore, like gratitude practices, self-compassion and breathwork.
There are a few other things I’ve done this month that helped make it a good month…
I’m reading a book my friend Charlotte bought me for my birthday and it is quite possibly THE best ‘self-help’ book I’ve ever read.
It’s called Mind Magic by James Doty and I’ve been describing it (to anyone who will listen) as manifestation for sceptics. I’d recommend it if you want to get in your own corner and back yourself to create positive change in your life. How it has altered my interior world and mindset has been nothing short of profound.
FEBRUARY 2025 EDITION
An excerpt from The Rewrite newsletter: February 2025 Edition
Winter has had me taking some things back with this last month seeing a few small but significant developments…
Taking back my time – Our youngest returned to childcare after a false start a little while ago when he was essentially fired (Yep, fired. It would be funny if it wasn’t true). I was grateful Rewrite afforded me the flexibility to have him around for longer than I did my first son, but I’m also glad to have more of my time back.
Taking back my focus – I’ve remained logged out of Instagram and Facebook for over a month now. It started as a bit of a trial but I haven’t felt tempted to reinstate them. Save for the occasional link people send me, I haven’t been on there and don’t miss it a bit. I’ll probably return eventually but on desktop only, ensuring the experience is as clunky as possible.
Taking back my rituals – After a big hiatus, I’ve returned to meditation. Hallelujah! This practice – once a cornerstone of my daily routine – evaporated during my last pregnancy. Just last week a friend asked me if I meditated which sparked something. I realised my reasons for not doing it weren’t there anymore, I was just out of the habit. I’ve practiced daily since.
Here are a couple of free guided meditations I’ve enjoyed recently
JANUARY 2025 EDITION
An excerpt from The Rewrite newsletter: January 2025 Edition
January is such an unpopular month in the UK, but it’s a big birthday month in our house so always brings a sense of excitement and celebration 🎉
I’m feeling really excited about the year ahead. Come March, I’ll be celebrating Rewrite’s 4th birthday and entering my 5th year as a business owner.
I've had the pleasure of working with so many smart, talented and experienced people from around the world, who are ambitious and passionate about their careers – but who feel disconnected, disengaged or uninspired at work. Helping frustrated professionals to find career clarity and a practical way forward remains absolutely central to the work that I do.
But… In 2025, I’m also turning my attention to their employers.
I know what the most passionate and talented people in the business want and need because they’ve told me. Each story is unique and personal (and private) – but the broad-brush strokes of their challenges are remarkably consistent across companies, industries and even countries.
DECEMBER 2024 EDITION
An excerpt from The Rewrite newsletter: December 2024 Edition
It's the first time in years that my husband Greg and I will be staying home for New Year’s Eve. Years ago when I was in the throes of workaholism – and pre-kids – I’d insist on us going through our achievements for the year and mapping out our goals for the year ahead (I was pretty intense about work, needless to say :)).
In the years since I left traditional corporate life behind in favour of self-employment and a slower pace, I’ve continued to check in with myself about where I’m at and where I’m going in life and career. It has been a long time, however, since I've sat down with Greg and reflected very intentionally on where we are and what we want in the coming year. I’m looking forward to catching our breath and taking some proper time to reflect, savour and dream, rather than just do do do!
At the close of October, I ran a gorgeous Life Pie Workshop for just over 20 of you. If you were there, thank you! – I love working in that format, and I hope you enjoyed it too. The Life Pie tool is so foundational to my career coaching work, and I return to it personally again and again. What I don’t talk about as often though is how useful it can be to do with a partner. It’s so easy to get into the grind of work, life, family, repeat. Taking time individually to do your Current Life Pie and then coming together to do your Ideal Life Pies is an illuminating, practical and structured way to align on the things that matter most to you both.