Wiser Ways

Wiser Ways Wiser Ways offers individual & relationship counselling, & executive coaching. Please visit the website or contact us to book an appointment.

I help people realise their goals & strengths, providing them with the tools to reach their full potential. Andrew’s professional journey has been rich and diverse, shaped by experiences in private enterprise, government, coaching, and more. As a counsellor, he draws from these varied roles to support individuals in navigating personal growth and life challenges. Andrew believes that meaningful ch

ange comes from within, and his approach focuses on tapping into clients’ internal resources to help them transform their circumstances in positive ways. Having worked as a senior manager in multiple organisations, Andrew eventually felt drawn to a role that allowed him to give back to his community. His passion for helping others comes from a deep-rooted understanding of the power of self-discovery and the value of investing in personal development. Whether you’re feeling stuck, unsure of your next steps, or simply seeking clarity, Andrew provides a compassionate and respectful space for you to explore your thoughts and goals. Andrew’s extensive experience in various sectors, combined with his strength-based approach, allows him to be flexible and adaptive to each client’s unique needs. His belief in the capacity for individuals to make meaningful change is at the heart of his practice, and he takes great delight in supporting people through their journey of overcoming adversity and achieving their goals. If you’re looking to make a positive difference in your life, Andrew’s empathetic and client-centred approach may be just what you need to spark that change.

11/06/2026

Do you have any sources of ongoing stress in your life right now?

It’s common for most people to have at least a few things in their lives that are causing them stress. They could be worried about being able to save enough money, keep reminding themselves of a doctor’s appointment they should make, wondering where they left their spare set of keys, and much more.

These can range in severity from very mild and only occasionally entering your mind, to those that are deeply concerning and weigh on your thoughts almost constantly.

While removing all sources of stress would be ideal, this is rarely possible. There are some things that will always cause you at least some concern, such as hoping your children make good decisions. But you can feel calmer and have better mental health if you address as many stressors as possible.

Consider the things in your life that are causing you stress and determine which of these you can do something about. Booking a doctor’s appointment or finding something that is missing is often simple and actionable.

Stressors that aren’t so easily addressed and might always exist can also benefit from being recognised. Consider what you could do to make yourself feel better about the situation, such as reviewing your finances or committing to check in with your children more often.

By identifying what is causing you stress and determining which you can address and those that are ongoing so they have to be accepted, you can have less mental strain and be more content.

10/06/2026

Do you tell yourself that you have to be completely prepared and know everything there is to know before making a significant change or taking advantage of an opportunity?

Wanting to be prepared for challenges is a valuable trait, but if you think you need to be a finished product before you can accept these challenges, you’re more likely to experience imposter syndrome. But if you accept that you’ll always have more to learn, you’re more likely to be comfortable with your abilities.

Some people believe that when they begin a phase of their lives, such as entering higher education, starting a new job, or becoming a parent, they must already know all there is to know. Discovering things they didn’t realise where required of them or having different approaches suggested can make them think they were wrong to believe they were prepared.

These types of feelings often lead to feeling that you don’t belong in your role, you won’t be able to do what is expected of you, and others will judge you harshly once they realise how underqualified you are. Known as imposter syndrome, these feelings can be painful and exhausting.

But you can feel like less of an imposter if you accept that no matter how well you prepare or how much you learn, there will always be room to grow and more to discover. You can find teachers and develop your own approaches through experience so you can improve throughout your time in that role, no matter how accomplished you are or become.

A commitment to learning and improvement can ease imposter syndrome because it sends you the message that you don’t need to know everything in order to deserve your position.

09/06/2026

When you’re trying something for the first time, it’s often tempting to ask someone what you need to do or look up instructions online. But experimenting with trial and error is often more effective for learning than receiving instructions.

Discovering how something is done yourself gives you a better understanding of the process because your brain is more engaged. This enables you to remember more of what you learned as well as allowing you to develop your own methods and insights.

Figuring out how to do something on your own can be challenging because many people don’t enjoy making mistakes. They can become frustrated and believe they should give up and ask for help. But making mistakes also helps you learn through demonstrating what doesn’t work in a way you're most likely to remember afterwards.

You can also have more fun with learning if you're prepared to make plenty of mistakes because you don’t have high expectations for yourself. Mistakes don’t have to be thought of as setbacks if they teach you what not to do.

Learning something new through trial and error can take much more time and energy than being shown, but it’s a more effective way to acquire and retain information, as well as a lesson in the value of mistakes.

04/06/2026

Self-awareness is an often-celebrated quality as it enables you to better understand yourself. But having insight into your thoughts and how they impact behaviours isn’t the same as feeling capable of changing them.

Self-awareness can be very valuable for painful emotions that don’t always have an evident source, such as stress and restlessness. When you understand your challenges, you should be able to know how to fix the problems you face.

But understanding the cause of painful emotions is only the first step to resolving them. Once you’ve identified the cause, you typically have to take action, but not everyone feels capable of this. You could be keenly aware that you’re lonely, but still feel too nervous to approach people. Identifying the source of your stress as being over-committed won’t reduce the number of demands on your time.

Taking action is very intimidating for many people. Self-reflection can be challenging and demand that you admit to uncomfortable realties, both about yourself and your situation, yet it still often feels safer than challenging yourself and/or making changes to your life.

If you want to truly benefit from self-awareness, it’s almost always necessary to act on the personal discoveries you make. This could be a largely internal process that requires changing your thought patterns, such as reminding yourself there’s no benefit in feeling stressed over distant world events. Or you could have to do something, like make better decisions about your health.

While understanding what is causing painful emotions is an important tool, it doesn’t replace the need to then address what is causing those emotions. Some people feel accomplished once they’ve reflected on their emotions, but you have to do more than understand your feelings, you have to act on them.

Without changing your situation – only your level of insight – it’s unlikely that you will feel better in the future.

03/06/2026

Some people think they need to know everything before they enter a role and will insist – to themselves and others – that they have nothing to learn. But this mindset is likely to make them less effective than those who are willing to learn and develop their skills.

A mindset that discourages learning is especially likely for people who think of themselves as experts because needing to learn more could be perceived as a threat to their identity. But even if you’re incredibly experienced and an expert in your field, you’ll always have more to learn.

Improvements to best practices are being made across almost every industry and innovations can create new and better methods. Yet some people struggle to accept changes and are resistant to learning from others because they won’t accept this isn’t necessary. This puts them at risk of maintaining ineffective approaches and defending questionable positions.

But people who think of themselves as life-long learners are less likely to have these challenges. They’re comfortable asking questions and are even willing to be taught lessons from people will less experience than themselves.

They recognise their talents and utilise the vast amount of knowledge and experience they’ve acquired, yet remain open to reassessing what they believed. When they discover that they were wrong about something or not using the most effective approach, they’re happy for the opportunity to improve themselves.

A commitment to growth is incredibly valuable and the humility to admit when you have more to learn can allow you to be even more effective, as well as relieving you of the pressure of thinking you can’t ask questions or make mistakes, making a growth mindset positive and healthy.

02/06/2026

For many people, trust from their employers plays a strong role in their productivity.

In an attempt to ensure that employees are being productive, many organisations, especially those with remote workers, use what could be considered high levels of surveillance. But this shifts the priority from being productive to seeming productive while sending workers the message that they’re untrustworthy.

When workers know what metrics are being used to monitor their productivity, they’ll often find ways to meet these expectations, such maintaining the necessary amount of keystrokes and screen activity, attending meetings, and sending lots of emails. But this doesn’t always mean they’re getting a great deal done.

Additionally, heavy levels of surveillance can bring out the worst in people; anyone who isn’t trusted can start to act untrustworthy. Employees who might have been hard workers if they’d been trusted can instead look for ways to underperform without being caught. Few people will rise to their full potential when they’re being treated as someone who won’t work unless they’re being monitored.

When workers are trusted, they can choose to abuse that trust by doing less than what is expected of them, or prove that they will work hard even when no one is monitoring them to make sure they’re being productive. Those who choose to work hard will often produce better results and get more done than those who only attempt to meet productivity expectations.

Organisations can be concerned that productivity will drop if they lessen their surveillance, and for some workers this will be true, but it’s also possible that many more will respond to the trust they’re given to prove that they deserve to be trusted.

28/05/2026

Is there anything, possibly something major, you regret about your life?

Having ongoing regrets is common. Sometimes you can act on these regrets to resolve the painful emotions they cause, such as reaching out to friends you regret having lost contact with.

But some types of regrets, such as wishing you’d pursued a different career, are much more difficult to act on. Changing careers can be an option for some people, but for many it’s deeply impractical. The time and cost required could be more than what you could commit, and you can’t be certain that changing careers would be fulfilling as you imagined.

In these circumstances, it's often best to accept that you wish you had done things differently but you didn't and you'll be happier if you stop regretting your decisions. You can also consider what your life might have been like if you had made different decisions and measure the pros and cons compared to your life now to have a better idea of what you’re missing out on and what making a different decision could have cost you.

Recognising the regrets that you could technically act on but doing so would be too difficult is valuable. Instead of thinking that the alternative is a possibility you aren’t taking the initiative to pursue, you acknowledge the effort that would be required and determine that this isn’t what you want.

Not all regrets can be acted on – some need to be accepted. And knowing the difference is important.

27/05/2026

I believe that one of the healthiest responses to discovering someone has a very different opinion, especially if it’s in an area that’s impactful, is curiosity.

When you’re having conversations with people, especially those you don’t know very well, it’s common to find topics you have very different opinions about. Based on your beliefs and principles, their position might seem wrong, or even offensive, but to them it’s perfectly acceptable.

To avoid being judgemental and have the best chance of forming accurate opinions of others, it’s important to learn about them and their views. Because everyone has had different experiences that shaped their perspectives, we aren’t always capable of understanding others unless you ask them to explain their reasoning.

To understand someone, it’s important to stay open and curious when you disagree. Even if they seem to have beliefs that are counter to your values, you can still aim to learn from them. They could suggest perspectives that hadn’t occurred to you or scenarios that support their position.

It’s also common to have the wrong impression of someone’s beliefs. Some people overstate their opinions or you could have made assumptions about what they were saying. By asking questions you can discover more nuance and flexibility than they initially suggested. They can admit that what they stated is only true some of the time and that there are different explanations than the ones they suggested.

These conversations can be valuable as they can give you more insight into people you’re getting to know. Thinking that someone has beliefs you find immoral often affects how you interact with them, so by learning about their position, you could discover that although you don’t agree with each other, you can accept their reasoning.

When people do have beliefs you find unacceptable, taking the time to confirm this is still valuable so you can be confident that you're justified in using what they shared with you to inform your opinion of them.

By being curious when you disagree with others, you're choosing not to be judgemental and giving them the opportunity to more fully explain their position. It’s possible that how each of you feels about the topic is very different, but you could also discover common ground or gain insight that helps you to be more sympathetic.

26/05/2026

Have you ever given up on a goal or building a habit because you temporarily stopped trying? This can be a difficult experience, but if you think of making mistakes and getting off track as an inevitable part of personal development, you're likely to be much less affected by them.

Expecting yourself to accomplish a goal or build a habit without making mistakes or missing any days is unrealistic. There will be times when you can't do as much usual or meet your standards, either because of unexpected demanding events or simply having less motivation and interest than usual so you don’t feel as invested.

If you believe that you shouldn’t make mistakes and that you must be consistent in your efforts, missing days and falling short of your expectations can seem lie a major setback. You could think this is evidence that you're not capable of what you want to accomplish and give up.

But these incidences, even if they’re preventable, shouldn't be thought of as consequential or as negative reflections of who you are and your ability to succeed, but as setbacks everyone will encounter when they're trying to accomplish something.

When you make a mistake or miss your objective, reminding yourself that this was unavoidable can help you get back on track more quickly. It's valuable to ask yourself why it happened and determine if you should make any changes to your approach, but it's also important to be understanding and forgiving with yourself.

Thinking of mistakes and missed days as part of the process, rather than failures, means that you can get back to your usual routine more quickly, possibly wiser and more committed.

21/05/2026

When I catch myself hesitating before acting, I like to realistically think about the consequences of taking action versus doing nothing.

It’s very common from people to hold themselves back from trying something that seems like taking a risk. This includes applying for a job, reaching out to a friend, trying on a project they aren’t sure they’ll do well at, and much more.

Often their hesitation is because they’re afraid of how they’ll feel if they don’t get the outcomes they hoped for: never hearing back from the job could make them feel unqualified, being ignored or turned down by a friend could make them feel needy, and failing projects could make them question their skills.

But these consequences are self-imposed and only exist if you choose to think that way. You might not get the results you wanted, but without trying you’ll never know if you could have gotten what you hoped for. And if the consequences are only thinking that you were wrong to have attempted, then you have control over the costs.

It’s possible you’ll regret acting when you were unsure it was the best decision, but you can also feel regret for choosing to do nothing. Inaction doesn’t have the potential to give you rewards, but acting does.

Address

Adnar Street
Wishart

Opening Hours

Wednesday 8am - 8pm
Thursday 7am - 8pm
Friday 8am - 8pm
Saturday 8am - 1pm

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Wiser Ways posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Practice

Send a message to Wiser Ways:

Shortcuts

Share