🧠 One of the quiet privileges in my work isn’t the boardrooms… It’s the 15% of time I spend with people right at the start of their careers 🌱🧠
- Olly Bridge
- 7 hours ago
- 2 min read
Most leadership and health work happens once people are already exhausted, reactive, or burnt out.
That work matters deeply. But there’s something profoundly different about getting in early.
Early career professionals don’t need rescuing. They need foundations.
The science
Behaviour science is very clear on this.
Habits formed earlier in adulthood are more likely to persist because they become identity-linked, not task-based.
Research on habit formation shows that repeated small behaviours, when tied to context and meaning, become automatic over time (Lally et al., 2010 - https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2010-22273-010).
Neuroscience also tells us that self-regulation, stress tolerance, and decision-making capacity are highly plastic in early adulthood. In simple terms… the system is still being wired (McEwen, 2017 - https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28856337/).
That means early inputs matter.
Not to create “perfect” humans. But to normalise recovery, boundaries, sleep, movement, reflection, and self-compassion before chronic stress patterns set in.
The practical implication
For early career humans under pressure, this isn’t about optimisation.
It’s about:
• Learning that rest is a performance skill 😮💨
• Understanding that health isn’t reactive maintenance 🚑
• Seeing boundaries as professionalism, not weakness 🧭
• Building habits that support energy, not just output 🔋
Tiny things. Repeated often. Without drama.
Why I cherish this work
Because it feels like prevention with heart ❤️Like helping people never need saving.
And honestly… being trusted at that stage of someone’s life is an enormous honour.
If we want healthier leaders in 10–20 years, this is where the work really starts.
Proud to do this work through @Essentio Health and @Build a Bridge – Live Your Best Life.
Small habits.
Started early.
Compounding quietly over decades.
