Michelle Hibbert LLC

Men think they are funnier than women.

My husband certainly does. He doesn't think I'm funny at all. 🙄

And yet my friends will tell you that my humor is one of the most "me" things about me.

So I'll let them win that argument because here's a joke. I genuinely did not know Machu Picchu was on a hill.

I know comical right? 😂

But that sunrise from the top was absolutely worth every step I did not see coming. Lol

Fortunately…. I do bring that same energy and humor into my coaching sessions with clients. I don't like being serious all the time.

However I do want my sessions to be productive, fun, and results-driven because the best conversations happen when people are actually relaxed enough to be honest and we have a laugh together too.

What is even funnier is I always ask my clients if they know any British people so they're prepared for the dry humor and they always reference Gordon Ramsay.

I am nothing like Gordon Ramsay. Not even close. I have half of his amazing cooking skills! 😂

A few other things that might interest you about me:

I love hosting dinner parties or attending them and I recently got into pickleball. Who knew it would be fun, plus I love there is less running around like Tennis! Lol

I do however want to make a special announcement incase there are other people out there who are suffering like me…. I am terrible at filing paper away.

Yes…. paper is my worst enemy! There are neat little piles of paper all over my house. It really drives me crazy and I try every few months to shred or file things away but it continues to grow.

I feel I just need a paper fairy to move in and sort it out for me. Is there anyone out there??

But the one thing I do love dearly is to travel. It is my kryptonite. It grounds me in a way nothing else does. Exploring the different cultures, meeting different people, eating different food, it's just amazing.

If I could be a nomad I genuinely would as I’m 45 countries down and have one continent left to touch down on!!

Now…. can I share one thing that shocked me with living in the USA……being a wrestling mum. I had no clue what this sport was about and realized this life is not for the faint hearted.

The first time I watched it I was convinced bones were being broken, shoulders were being dislocated or they were great contortionists!!! Lol.

I was trying not to have a heart attack in the bleachers. But the more I understood the sport, and watched my kid start winning matches from all the training he put in, that made every Saturday tournament worth going to even if I would watch him wrestle for a max of 30-45 mins throughout the whole day.

So I’m curious which version of me can you relate to most?

After 18 years in education, here's the thing I can't unsay.

We told an entire generation that success meant grades, high gpa’s, valedictorian, distinctions, top of the class and we said it so consistently, so confidently, that nobody thinks to question it.

I was part of that system. I believed in it too.

But here's what the transcripts doesn't cover.

How to interview for a job and actually get it.

How credit works and what happens when you don't understand it before you need it.

How to walk into a room full of important people and hold a real conversation.

How to read a health insurance document and know what you're actually signing up for.

How to manage money before it manages you.

Nobody taught that. Not in the UK and not in the US.

Not in the private school or the public one.

And parents are doing everything they can trying to cover as much ground as possible before their kid turns 18 and the clock runs out. Working through the checklist hoping something sticks.

But life doesn't wait for the checklist to be finished.

The students I taught who had the highest grades were not always the ones who landed on their feet and the ones who struggled in the classroom were not always the ones who fell apart after graduation.

What made the difference consistently across two countries, across 18 years, was whether that young person knew who they were and whether they had any sense of how to navigate uncertainty. Whether someone had taken the time to prepare them for real life, not just the next exam.

That's the gap and it's not a small one.

It's exactly why I now do what I do.

Grades do matter, I'm not saying they don't but a transcript is not a person and we've spent decades treating it like it is.

If you have a teen or an emerging adult and something in this week's posts has felt familiar- the uncertainty, the unpreparedness, the "we did everything right and it still feels like something's missing", I'd love to talk.

Let’s just have a conversation. Send me a message or drop a comment below.

Because your emerging adult doesn't have to figure it out alone and honestly, neither do you as a parent.

The student who hated PE became one of my best students. I didn't push her harder. I just changed one thing.

She told me she hated PE not in a dramatic way just in a matter-of-fact way because she wasn't athletic.

She felt self-conscious and playing alongside boys made it worse as she spent most of the lessons trying to disappear rather than participate.

I heard versions of that story more than once but she was the one who stayed with me.

At the time, I was Head of PE and one of the decisions I made was to split classes in high school boys and girls separately.

It sounded simple but it wasn't as it would affect scheduling for other classes in the building but our administrators made it a work for us and it changed everything for my student.

Without the dynamic of performing in front of the boys, she showed up differently. She tried things she wouldn't have attempted before.

She stopped shrinking and slowly, the girl who had written herself off as "not sporty" became one of my highest scoring students in class.

I also started paying closer attention to what actually engaged the girls in my classes, bringing in activities that connected with their interests rather than defaulting to the traditional sports played in the USA.

Movement that felt relevant to their lives because the participation followed quite easily.

That shift taught me something I've never forgotten.

You don't get engagement by demanding it. You get it by removing the thing that's blocking it and then building something in its place that actually makes sense for the person in front of you.

She didn't need more encouragement, she needed a different environment.

That's true in PE and it's true in coaching.

The young people I work with now aren't so different from that student. Capable, but blocked. Not by ability by the conditions around them.

Sometimes the most important thing isn't pushing harder it's changing the environment so they can finally show up as themselves.

If you have a teen or emerging adult who keeps telling you they're "just not good at" something, it might be worth asking what's actually in the way.

Drop a comment or send me a message. Let's figure out the next step together.

The capability is usually already there it just needs the right conditions.

People assume better schools create more prepared kids. Eighteen years of teaching in two countries told me otherwise.

I've taught in East and North London and in Atlanta.

Same subject. Very different classrooms.

In the UK, I was in public schools and a further education college (community college).

Lower income areas, real behavioural challenges. Some students genuinely wanted to learn others were there to make sure nobody else did.

I had to follow the national curriculum, it told me exactly what to teach and when.

Therefore little room to find activities the kids actually connected with. And at 16, when all student have a choice to either continue studying or to get a job the class split roughly half.

Some went straight into work and the rest moved on to complete A Levels, BTECs, trade programmes, or to a further education college to study something else.

In Atlanta, I was at an international private school. Parents were paying serious money. Students were engaged, motivated, health-conscious.

Behavioural issues were rare. I had flexibility in what I taught, I could actually find activities that resonated with the kids in front of me. And when they graduated at 18, the expectation was clear: you go to college.

Most of them did.

Two different systems. Two different levels of resource. Two very different rooms.

And yet.

In both classrooms, on both sides of the Atlantic, the majority of those young people left without a real plan.

Not because they weren't capable. Not because they hadn't worked hard but because nobody had ever slowed down long enough to help them figure out who they actually are.

At 16 in London or 18 in Atlanta the uncertainty looked exactly the same.

That realisation never left me. It's a big part of why I do what I do now.

The gap isn't about money or postcodes or which school you attended.

The gap is that we move young people through systems designed to get them to the next stage without ever helping them figure out what they actually want from life.

One system was stricter.

The other was better resourced. Neither one solved for that.

If any part of this sounds familiar a teen heading into a big decision without real clarity, or an emerging adult who graduated and still can't answer "what now?" that's exactly the work I do.

Drop a comment or send me a message. Let's figure out the next step together.

Tomorrow: a student I'll never forget and what they taught me.

I dropped everything to move across the pond.

I spotted a job advert in a teaching newspaper and moved to a different country four months later.

No husband. No plan B. Just an interview in April and a one-way flight booked for August to Atlanta.

The USA was not my first go at moving abroad.. I'd tried to teach in Canada first but a teacher exchange fell through. Then I was ready to head to New Zealand, but their school year runs January to December. So having to give my notice in October without the guarantee of a job was logistically impossible.

So Atlanta was my third attempt at teaching abroad and by the time the interview came up, I was ready to make this role mine and move.

Plus Atlanta wasn't completely unknown to me as I had already visited during the Olympics in 96. Plus I even had cousins already living there.

In some ways, it felt like going back somewhere I already knew.

What I was excited about?

Having more space.

The shopping.

The sneakers shopping.

(Clothes and trainers are so much cheaper in the US, it's not even close.)

And the chance to travel, to see more states, and be near family.

What I was nervous about?

Making friends at 30 in a foreign place as a foreigner.

Also navigating a completely different system as a single woman and the practical things nobody warns you about.

Because the surprises came fast once I arrived.

The apartments were enormous.

Strangers said hello on the street unprompted and that genuinely took me months to get used to.

People assumed I was American until I opened my mouth.

Then they thought I was faking the accent. How dare they!!

Even the weather surprised me as I flew back to the UK in December and it was 72 degrees. Unheard of in the UK.

What did shock me was the food.

Cheese on everything. Why???

How sweet bread can be.

How much sugar was in juices.

But the thing that really caught me off guard was that my credit didn't transfer from the UK. Years of good history in the UK meant nothing here. in the USA. I had to start from zero.

Getting a driving license, a social security number, a bank account….. none of it was simple. Buying a car without credit meant knowing the right people.

Nobody tells you that part when you're packing for a fresh start but I had to figured it out.

I think about those early months often because the young people I work with are navigating their own version of that exact feeling.

A new chapter.

Unfamiliar systems.

Trying to build a life without a manual.

The disorientation is real and it to shall pass eventually.

But it passes faster when someone's been through it and can help you see what's actually happening.

If any part of this sounds familiar…. the uncertainty, the figuring-it-out-as-you-go, the wishing someone had just told you what to expect, that's exactly the work I do with teens and emerging adults every day.

Drop a comment or send me a message.

And if you've enjoyed this story, I'll be sharing more this week.

I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life.

None.

I sat with my school counsellor and told her exactly that.

No big dream.
No grand plan.
No clear direction.

I was actually planning to just get a job.

Doing what?

I hadn't got that far.

She looked at me and said, "Well, you like PE. Have you thought about becoming a PE teacher?"

That was it.

One conversation.
One suggestion.
One decision that ended up shaping the next 18 years of my life.

The funny thing is, my own PE teacher wasn't the reason I chose teaching.

In fact, quite the opposite.

I often felt like she picked on me despite being one of the more athletic students in the class. Looking back, that experience stayed with me.

When I became a teacher, I made a quiet promise to myself.

Every student would feel included.

The sporty ones.
The reluctant ones.
The ones who would rather be anywhere else than in a PE lesson.

I wanted them all to feel seen.

That philosophy followed me throughout my teaching career.

And it still shapes the work I do today.

Because the young adults I coach now are often standing exactly where I once stood.

Unsure.
Overwhelmed.
Wondering what comes next.

The uncomfortable truth is that many young people believe they should already have all the answers.

Most don't.

I certainly didn't.

Sometimes all it takes is one person who slows down long enough to help you see what's possible.

That's the work.

And, when I think about it, that's always been the work.

I'd love to know: Did you know exactly what you wanted to do at 18, or were you figuring it out as you went?

You wont believe what college counselors won't tell you this as a parent??

Over half of graduates never work a single day in their major.

That's not a gap year problem that can become a $100,000 mistake.

Only 27–46% of college graduates work directly in the field they studied and 42–52% of new graduates start underemployed, working in jobs that don't even require a degree.

Most students choose their major before they truly understand themselves. They choose based on what sounds practical, what feels safe, what other people expect, what seems like the "right" answer at the time.

Sofia did exactly that.

Economics sounded smart.

Her parents liked it.

It felt like a responsible choice.

Halfway through her degree, she realized something important.

The classes that energized her weren't economics.

They were research, statistics, and coding.

For the first time, she could see a different path.

But changing direction suddenly meant more tuition, delayed graduation, and some difficult conversations.

So she stayed.

She graduated.

She got a job.

By most measures, she's doing fine.

But there are still days she wonders:

Who might I have become if I'd figured this out earlier?

What if someone had asked the right questions before I chose a major?

What if I'd had the chance to understand myself before making a four-year commitment?

Before students choose a direction, they need something many of them have never been given:

The opportunity to understand who they are, how they think, and what kind of environment brings out their best.

That's the work we do inside the College Clarity Program.

Not a personality quiz.

Not a list of careers matched to a test score.

A coaching process that helps students understand:

their strengths

how they naturally think

what energizes them

what environments help them thrive

what kind of future genuinely fits them

Because direction becomes much clearer when it starts with self-understanding.

If your teen is approaching college and still feels uncertain about what comes next, don't wait until they're halfway through a degree to discover they've been building toward someone else's version of success.

One conversation now could save years of second-guessing later.

Book a call and give your student something many graduates wish they'd had earlier:

The chance to understand themselves before choosing their direction.

Link is in the comments.

I changed my major 5 times.

A student told me that recently.

She laughed when she said it.

Her mom didn't.

Her mom talked about the extra years, the extra tuition, and the stress of watching her daughter feel completely lost about her future.

That's the part of the story most families don't talk about.

Many students don't struggle because they're lazy or unmotivated.They struggle because they're being asked to choose a future before they understand themselves.

Here's what most parents don't realize:

Around 80% of college students change their major at least once.

Many change multiple times.

Changing majors isn't automatically a problem.
But frequent switching often means more time in college, higher costs, more uncertainty, and a greater risk of graduating without a clear direction.

What often sits underneath all of this is a lack of clarity.

Students choose majors based on:

what their friends are doing

what sounds impressive

what they think will make money

what parents suggest

job titles they barely understand

Then somewhere in year two or three, reality catches up because choosing a major is difficult when you haven't yet discovered your strengths, values, interests, personality, or the kind of environment where you'll thrive.

This isn't just a college problem. It's a self-awareness problem.

It's one of the biggest reasons so many students feel lost.

That's why I created the College Clarity Program.

I don't tell students what major to choose. I help them understand who they are before they make decisions that shape years of their lives.

Because the goal isn't simply getting into college. The goal is helping young people graduate with confidence, direction, and a future that feels like their own.

If your teen or college student seems stuck, uncertain, or overwhelmed by decisions about their future, now is the time to start the conversation.

The earlier they gain clarity, the less likely they are to spend years and thousands of dollars trying to figure it out by trial and error.

Let's talk about whether the College Clarity Program is the right next step for your family. Book a call.

Link is in the comments.

Is Your Young Adult Qualified… Or Actually Prepared for Adult Life?

A college degree can open doors.

But it no longer guarantees success after graduation.

That doesn't mean education isn't valuable. For many careers, a degree remains essential.

What it does mean is that academic achievement alone is no longer the strongest predictor of whether a young adult will thrive independently.

Your child earned the degree.

They passed the exams, completed the assignments, survived presentations, internships, and years of academic pressure.

But can they confidently:

• Schedule a doctor's appointment?
• Understand their health insurance?
• Refill a prescription or question a medical bill?
• Create and stick to a budget?
• Communicate professionally with a supervisor?
• Handle rejection without shutting down?

For many emerging adults, the answer is still no.

And that's the gap no one prepares parents for.

We've spent years preparing young people to succeed academically.

Far less time preparing them to navigate adult life.

We celebrate grades, acceptance letters, and graduation ceremonies.

But many young adults leave school without learning:

• Financial literacy
• Emotional regulation
• Professional communication
• Decision-making skills
• Time management under pressure
• Healthcare navigation
• Self-advocacy

This is the missing piece.

A young adult can be intelligent, capable, and highly educated while still feeling overwhelmed by everyday adult responsibilities.

That's not laziness.

It's not a lack of potential.

It's a lack of structured life-skill development.

The years between 18 and 25 are often when young adults are expected to:

• Manage money
• Navigate workplaces
• Make important decisions
• Solve problems independently
• Take ownership of their lives

When those skills haven't been developed, we often see avoidance, anxiety, self-doubt, and dependence taking their place.

A degree can open a door.

But adult capability is what helps them walk through it.

The goal isn't simply graduation.

The goal is confident independence.

These are the kinds of skills we develop through the Launch Method.

Helping young adults build career clarity, communication skills, confidence, decision-making ability, and practical life skills so they can navigate adulthood with greater independence and self-trust.

Because success after graduation requires more than academic achievement.

It requires knowing how to navigate life itself.

If you're watching your emerging adult look accomplished on paper but overwhelmed by the realities of adult life, you're not alone.

If you'd like to learn how the Launch Method could support your family, send me a message or book a call. Link is in the comments.

Let's help them move from qualified to truly prepared.