Anna is a certified Life & Business Coach based in the UK. She’s an accredited HR professional and founder of The Happy Mum Project. Following a successful career that led Anna to head up the Learning & Development function at a large, global company, she set up her own coaching practice, which is committed to helping mothers achieve career-family balance. Her mission is to empower women to become strong and confident leaders while having fulfilling relationships with their children and enjoying their family life. Anna believes that as mothers, we have the potential to be extraordinary leaders if we embrace our divine femininity and understand the strength and power that lies within.
Anna Darlington, Life & Mindset Coach
Please tell us more about who you are, what drives you, what your mission is, and why you do what you do.
My name is Anna, I have 2 wonderful children, a loving husband and a very cute cat! Besides my family, I love herbal teas, a good true crime podcast, and I recently discovered kickboxing as a great way to let off steam.
I love working, always have, it fuels me – and if it’s the right kind of work, it gives me purpose! Throughout my life, I have felt happiest when I was able to work with people, help them discover their true potential, and give them support in growing and developing.
I have an HR background and have worked for over 17 years in the corporate world. I’ve always been very passionate about helping and enabling others to be successful and achieve a state of fulfilment. That’s what drives me! So, I guess, becoming a coach has always been the path I was meant to take.
Two years ago, I decided to do it and set up my own coaching practice. The reason I am dedicating my work to mothers is very simple: I believe mothers have the potential to be extraordinary leaders. A mother who sets her mind to something can be incredibly resourceful, driven, and powerful. The problem, though, is that we often don’t allow ourselves to be great and to be seen.
Tell us about The Happy Mum Project, who is it for and what does it offer?
The Happy Mum Project is my signature coaching program that I’ve developed to help busy mums gain back time, energy and headspace so they can pursue the things that are important to them and create the life they want to have. This includes career progression and healthy relationships with their children, their partners, and themselves.
There are many women out there who desire a successful career. They want to have an impact, add value and earn good money. They find fulfillment in their work and are happy to work hard, but they also want to enjoy motherhood and their family life. They want to know they are doing what’s best for their children whilst also feeling successful.
Way too often, though, a mother becomes this person who does everything for everyone all the time. She tries to meet the high expectations society has put on her of being a perfect mum, and at the same time meet all demands at work and compete with men or childless colleagues. And before she knows it her mental capacity is maxed out and she loses focus of what she wants for herself and how she is going to get it. That’s when she starts feeling stuck and unhappy.
This is why career-driven mums find The Happy Mum Project so helpful. It offers a space to reconnect with yourself, tune into your true desires, set goals, and implement new habits that actually serve us as mothers to be happy and balanced. It has helped the women I work with gain back confidence, make structured plans to get promotions, and feel secure enough to say: “I’m a good mum even if I don’t do all the things I’m supposedly should be doing.”
How did your personal experience in the corporate world inspire you to create The Happy Mum Project?
When I had my first child in 2014 it was a bit of a shock to the system, as motherhood turned out to be so different to what I expected. I think a lot of first-time mums experience that. I had totally underestimated how hard it would be to continue at the same pace and with the same drive and energy.
There is nothing that can fully prepare you for the transition back to work after you had a child, and sadly, most companies don’t offer anything remotely sufficient. There is a big gap in supporting mothers to ensure they are successful at their jobs and have a fulfilling family life – and that very often is to the detriment of their mental well-being.
When we’re in an environment that is fast-paced and requires us to demonstrate immense resilience every day, where pressure on performance, revenue, and results is high, being a new mum is extra tough. But whether you just had a baby or have multiple kids at different ages, it remains a struggle. With each developmental stage, the kids and the whole family enter new terrain. With each promotion or new role, we take on responsibility and expectations increase.
In the last 17 years, I have met many mothers and incredibly talented women, all telling the same story that you can’t have a successful career without sacrificing the happiness of your family life or vice versa.
But it doesn’t have to be this way! I believe in the power of female leadership and the resourcefulness of mothers. I know firsthand that if we give the right support and tools to mothers, they can overcome their challenges. If we can aid their overall well-being, they can step into their full potential. No mother should ever have to think she had to sacrifice something because she decided to be a mum.
In your experience, what are some common misconceptions about Life Coaching?
A lot of people confuse coaching with mentoring or counselling. People think a coach has all the answers, like a mentor would or that it’s about spending time on the past, healing our pain or trauma, which falls more in the category of counselling. And while coaching also requires you to look at your past to understand where certain blockers might come from, we must be willing to let go and focus on our future.
The key role of a coach is to hold space for us, to facilitate and encourage so we can explore what we want, formulate a plan to get it, and then be held accountable for achieving it.
Coaching enables us to gain a self-awareness that will allow us to implement healthy habits, thoughts and behaviours through which we can transform our life and achieve a true state of happiness. It is all about discovering what we truly want and exploring what our future can look and feel like once we’ve achieved our goals. It’s about looking ahead and moving forward.
Most of the time, we have the answers within us, but we just don’t know how to access them. With the help of a coach who doesn’t judge us, who asks the right questions, and who challenges us to overcome our own limiting beliefs, we can do things we didn’t think were possible.
The power of coaching is incredible and most successful people use coaches to create the life they want.
For readers inspired by this conversation and eager to start their journey, what first steps would you recommend?
Know what you want! I say that if you are not clear about what you really want, you can’t be happy. Happiness isn’t something you find or is given to you; it’s something you create for yourself, and for that, you need to have clarity on your own needs and desires.
Spending time with yourself and your thoughts is crucial. And I know this is hard, especially for busy, hardworking mums. But imagine waking up in the morning, energised and motivated to start the day, leaving the house stress-free, smashing it at work because your head is clear and in the game, you’re just in flow and you don’t care what others think! When the kids come home in the evening, you’re fully present without thinking about work, and you go to bed knowing you had a good and productive day!
It requires intention, action and commitment to create the life we want to live but it is the greatest act of self-love and it’s totally worth it!
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