I don’t like to make people uncomfortable. But I do it quite a lot.
Because one of the questions I ask nearly every client I work with is: when did you last review your foundations? The building blocks of your business that everything else rests on — your purpose, your principles, your people, your positioning, your offers, your pricing. All of it.
And the honest answer is usually: not recently. Or, with a slightly sheepish look: I’m not sure I ever have.
Here’s what I tell them. Your foundations are not a one-time exercise. They are not something you sort out at the start and file away forever. You change. Your clients change. The world changes. And the foundations that were perfectly fit for purpose three years ago may have shifted without you noticing. I recommend reviewing them at least once a year — which means I have to do the same.
This year, when I sat down to do my review, I was sure I’d need to change my products and that some of my positioning would have to be updated. I was clear about my approach to pricing and my new plan. But when it came to the Actually principles my first instinct was: these are fine. Leave them.
That’s the thing about foundations. The ones that need attention most are rarely the ones that are obviously broken. They’re the ones that are quietly no longer true. They made complete sense for the version of you that wrote them, but don’t quite fit the person sitting at the desk now.
I had changed. My year off had made sure of that. And so the principles – the rules by which I run my business – had to change too.
__________________________________________________________________________________
The context for my review this year was more dramatic than most. In 2024 I got sepsis. In 2025 I took the whole year off — not a planned sabbatical but a full stop, imposed by my body, that turned into the most clarifying year of my life. When you are forced to stop, you discover what you actually believe. Not what looks good on a website. Not what you say you believe in theory. What you viscerally, actually live by.
And what I discovered was that my original principles — genuinely mine when I wrote them, and still mostly true — were missing something. Several somethings.
They said nothing about joy. Not joy as a reward, but joy as a condition — a non-negotiable requirement for doing good work and building a good business. They said nothing about the life that exists around and beyond the business. Nothing about spaciousness, or freedom, or the deliberate, sometimes countercultural act of designing a business that serves your life rather than consuming it.
I had been generous. I had been optimistic. I had kept things simple and led from the heart.
But I had not been protecting my joy. And I had not been putting my life first.
So the principles changed. Here’s what changed, and why.
__________________________________________________________________________________
What stayed
Two of the original five are unchanged, because they remain as true as they ever were.
Radical Generosity — the belief in abundance over scarcity, in giving freely and receiving graciously — stays. Although I’ve added one clarification that feels important: I give from fullness, not from sacrifice. Generosity that depletes isn’t generosity. It’s martyrdom. That distinction matters to me now more than it ever did.
Rebellious Optimism stays too, and perhaps feels more necessary than ever. Cynicism is everywhere right now. It’s loud and persuasive and some days it is very hard to argue with. I argue with it anyway. I choose hope — deliberately, daily — because I believe that people inspired by purpose and fuelled by passion can create powerful, lasting change. The world needs that belief. I’m not giving it up.
__________________________________________________________________________________
What changed
The other three have been replaced. Not because they were wrong, but because something more true came along.
Soulful Pragmatism and Intelligent Simplicity have been combined — because I realised they were saying something that could be said better, and more completely, in two words.
Soulful Simplicity captures both. The soulful signals that you are welcome here in your wholeness — mind, body and spirit. Your intuition is as valid as your spreadsheet. Your magic is as welcome as your strategy. The simplicity signals that none of that will come wrapped in jargon or unnecessary complexity. I believe in keeping things beautifully, accessibly simple. Always.
Loving Collaboration has been retired entirely. It was trying to say something about community and heart-led work — and those things remain true — but the framing no longer felt quite right. What replaced it felt far more honest about what I have learned and what I now believe is genuinely non-negotiable.
Intentional Joy is new. The world will tell you that joy is the reward waiting at the end of the hard work. I disagree. Joy is not the destination. It is the condition. I now choose work that lights me up, offers that excite me, and clients I genuinely love — because a business built on anything less is not a business worth building. I ask this question about every new programme, every new offer, every new commitment: will this bring me joy? If the answer is no, it doesn’t make the cut.
Spacious Freedom is also new — and perhaps the principle that most directly reflects what I learned during my year off. A full diary is not a full life. I know this because I learned it the hard way. I have designed a business that now serves my life rather than consuming it — three days a week, long weekends, an August that stays August, the flexibility to say yes to the things that matter. I protect my time, my energy and my spaciousness fiercely, because freedom isn’t something you find at the end of the to-do list. It’s something you build in from the beginning.
__________________________________________________________________________________
The full set
So here they are. Actually’s principles for 2026 and beyond.
Radical Generosity — giving from fullness, not sacrifice. Rebellious Optimism — choosing hope, deliberately and daily. Soulful Simplicity — the whole person, beautifully uncomplicated. Intentional Joy — joy as condition, not reward. Spacious Freedom — a life with room in it.
Five principles. Five promises — to myself and to the people I work with.
__________________________________________________________________________________
Your turn
When did you last review yours?
Not as a rhetorical question. As an actual invitation.
Your principles don’t need to have been tested by a health crisis to deserve a review. They just need to be checked against the person you are now, the business you are building now, the life you want to live now.
Because the only thing worse than foundations that were never right is foundations that were once right and have quietly stopped being so — while you weren’t looking.
If you’d like help reviewing yours, that’s exactly what Actually Foundations is for. You can find out more here.
Big love, Sara x
Totally get this and think reviewing is essential for mind body health. I feel genuinely happy for you. what a great new adventure.