Question and Answer with Seamus
What was your motivation for undertaking postgraduate study?
I spent the bulk of my career in the IT industry at various different roles, and that led me to founding my own company in 2018; a company called Powering Health, focusing on driving awareness of the impact of modern lifestyle, aspects of modern lifestyle, the diet, the exercise, the stress, the sleep, and helping people just to connect and slow down essentially, and really connect with themselves and drive awareness of where there are small tweaks and tunes that they could make in their own lives to rebalance and live a happier, healthier life.
Without being too dramatic, it was a journey of discovery; I was interested in learning more about human thought and psychology, specifically in the area of our beliefs. had a real passion, a real trigger. That's what I felt, actually: “Do you know what? This makes so much sense to me”, and it was just resonating with me about what I was reading, what I was learning. And that was the real trigger. I was looking for a course, a Masters course that I could develop that, that's what really sat with me about what I wanted to do, and what I wanted to learn, and search, and find, and that was the Masters in Health Psychology.
How can postgraduate study fit around your busy life?
I chose distance-learning PG courses as a strategy to restore balance in my life and it worked incredibly well for me. Once I selected a course I had a true passion for, then the pieces literally fell into place.
I found distance-learning just perfect for me. I've spoken to many people who would state: “Oh, I could never do that. You need to be disciplined, this, that, and the other”, and people have all sorts of perceptions, maybe in their own minds. But for me, it was the perfect formula because that allowed me to study when I wanted to study.
I didn’t need to be in a class on Wednesday or Thursday or Friday. There was the odd class where I had to attend, but that was very infrequent and just a little bit of flexibility of being able to manage my work and being able to do the study when I wanted to, and when I could fit it into that schedule. So for me, it was a perfect blend of managing work and doing something that I was, again, had a passion for.
How can postgraduate study help build your career?
Life has changed pretty dramatically. Within the first six months of starting the Masters, I had a real wake up of “Oh wow, this is actually something that’s badly needed from my experience”, and I could see how the skills I was learning on the Masters could be blended in a practical way to help people. So it was the ideal combination of my own story, my own journey, now, with the skills I was learning through the Masters, to be able to build that into what has now become Powering Health.
I have ultimately niched down on helping people better manage stress responses and now specifically, I have a passion for helping people (when they are ready) to seriously contemplate what REALLY matters in their lives. Everyone is different and may be only ready to explore this question at specific times and stages in their lives. When people are ready to explore and navigate that authentic-to-self path, I love supporting them on that part of their journey.
I am currently launching a “Step away for a day” service that runs for small groups of people who are ready to explore that path in their life journey. Without postgraduate study, it is hard for me to imagine how I could have managed to follow this path myself and follow my heart-felt path in life.
What advice would you give to those considering postgraduate study?
The advice I would give to someone considering Postgraduate Study really is, to allow yourself to follow your own heart, and select a topic that really resonates with you.