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Habits that work in real life

You know what you want to do. You've tried. More than once.

But it just doesn't stick.

That's not a discipline problem. 

Most habit advice was never designed for the life women are actually living.

Islands of Sanity is a four-week course for women who are done blaming themselves and ready to build something that actually fits their life.

4 weeks · 1 session per week · Online · €40 excl. VAT

Does any of this sound familiar?

You start the week with a plan. By Tuesday it's already behind. By Friday you're in survival mode - getting through the day, cancelling the things you'd set aside for yourself, telling yourself you'll try again next week.

You've read the books. You've tried the routines, the apps, the accountability buddies, the morning rituals. Some of them worked for a while. None of them worked when life got complicated.

And the complicated part is always there. The mental load. The interruptions.

The days when you start five minutes late and it cascades into everything.

The version of you who planned the habit isn't the version of you who has to keep it.

So you conclude: I'm just not someone who sticks to things.

That conclusion is wrong.

"This course changed my view on myself and made me more considerate and kind to myself."

— Antje

Here's what's actually happening.

Most habit advice was designed for a 24-hour testosterone cycle, a life with clear boundaries between work and rest, and conditions that stay stable. That describes very few women's lives.

When you're managing a high mental load, absorbing other people's needs, operating on hormonal cycles that shift your capacity week to week, and trying to hold your own plans inside a world that keeps making demands. The problem is not your willpower. The design was never built for you.

Habits break when conditions don't cooperate. That's not a character verdict. It's information.

The question worth asking isn't why can't I stick to this? It's what would it take to design something that actually holds?

This course is built on a specific observation.

The women who struggle most with habits are often the ones carrying the most.

  • The ones who hold things together for everyone else while their own plans get quietly cancelled.

  • The ones who look fine from the outside while running on empty.

  • The ones who've tried every system and concluded the problem is them.

It's not them. It was never them.

Islands of Sanity starts from that premise. Not as a consolation, but as a design principle.

If the conditions you're working with are genuinely harder - more interrupted, more variable, more weighted with invisible load - then the design needs to account for that.

A habit that needs ideal conditions isn't a habit. It's a wish.

This is a calm, practical course. It won't motivate you or push you harder.

It will help you understand what's actually going on, choose who you want to be with more clarity, and build something small and real that holds even when the week doesn't.

WHAT THIS COURSE IS (AND ISN’T)

This course is not about fixing yourself.

It is about:

  • understanding why things feel harder than they should

  • taking responsibility without self-punishment

  • choosing who you want to be under real constraints

  • designing habits that work on imperfect days

You won’t leave with a perfect routine.

You will leave with:

  • a calmer relationship to change

  • clarity about what matters to you

  • one small area of life that feels more coherent

  • a way to keep going without forcing

Four weeks. One shift at a time.

Week 1 — Why your struggle makes sense

Orientation instead of self-blame.
We look at why common habit advice breaks down in real life and reclaim a more honest starting point.

Week 2 — Choosing who you want to be

Responsibility without heroics.
You define identity anchors you can actually stand behind, even when things get messy.

Week 3 — Designing habits for bad days

No motivation required.
You design one or two habits explicitly for low energy, limited time, and imperfect conditions, including how to repair instead of restart.

Week 4 — Building your first island of sanity

Integration, not escalation.
You map one small area of life that feels calmer, clearer, and more intentional, and learn how to protect it going forward.

"This idea of designing for bad days and getting rid of hard SMART-goals language to replace with soft and loose.... Just WOW 🤩!!! Also, not restarting (once again) but returing! Great wording makes such a difference."

— M., Islands of Sanity participant

What you leave with

  • A habit named loosely enough to survive any day, and small enough to hold on the hard ones.

  • An identity anchor that keeps you connected to who you're protecting, not what you're achieving.

  • A repair plan for when things break. Because they will, and that's fine.

  • One island of sanity: a small area of life that is yours, on purpose.

These are not tools for the good days. They're tools for the real ones.

"Sticking to a habit was always hard for me, but with Jo's approach, I realised why I couldn't stick to anything I wanted. It's not only building a habit - this course changed my view on myself and made me more considerate and kind to myself."

— Antje

HOW WE WORK TOGETHER

  • Live group sessions (once per week)

  • Gentle practices between sessions

  • No pressure to share or perform

  • Designed for real life schedules

  • Calm, reflective, practical tone

This is a starting point, not a demand for change.

"It was a really safe space and it was nice to hear everyone's experience with habit building."

— Islands of Sanity participant

WHO THIS IS FOR

This course isn't for everyone right now.

If you're looking for a rigid system, a motivation boost, or a quick fix, this probably isn't your moment. It won't tell you what to eat, when to wake up, or how to optimise your mornings.

This might be the right place:

  • If something has shifted, a quiet recognition that the way things have been going isn't sustainable.

  • If you're not in crisis but you're tired of the same cycle.

  • If you want to take responsibility without punishing yourself for where you've been.

If you're reading this and thinking this is what I've been trying to say. This is your signal.

"This course is for all women who think they cannot build a habit — at least not one which is working for THEM."

— Antje

  • Four weeks

  • One online session a week

  • Small groups

  • Price: €40 (excl. VAT)

You don’t need to change everything.

You need one place where things make sense.

This course helps you build that.

THE TRAVELLING COACH

Sarah Will

C/ Jose Manaut Viglietti 3

46024 Valencia