... bananas optional

Happy New Year Reader,

I hope that your Christmas break was a well-balanced mix of relaxation, laughter and perhaps a few too many sausage rolls (the vegan ones from Greggs are pretty darn good).

First day back and all that...

Unless you are caught up with inset days for the kids, chances are that today is your first 'proper' day back (although maybe you were heavily tinkering over the holidays... not just me then, eh? ;-)

Perhaps you have that 'New Year, new me'* vibe going on today and your energy and focus are flying high.

Maybe the 'Mind Monkeys' are already paying a visit.

What are 'Mind Monkeys'?

That's my preferred name for the hesitations, the wobbles, etc... the little visitors in our heads who like to whisper things like "you're not ready, you're not good enough, you don't have time, you're going to mess up (in other words, The Four Fears®).

Weirdly, I quite like the monkeys.

When they show up, it means that the thing I was about to do has merit, value... it's important and it's exciting. The monkeys aren't the problem... it's their whispers that are problematic

Beware the bananas!

Much like my favourite equation:

Consider the Monkeys showing up as being part of 'the event'. But what they are whispering – those are the bananas (more appropriately banana skins), ready to trip/slip us up.

The response you give to those bananas is everything.

Wanna talk about it, hun?

The more you talk about those monkeys, the more you normalise the fears and the more able you become in choosing a more optimistic, resilient path avoiding the banana skins.

Normalising fear for as many people as possible is something I very keen to do this year.

It is why I am launching a monthly LinkedIn Live session called: "Mind Monkeys Welcome".

Every month I'll be joined by a guest and, together, we'll talk about the monkeys we have encountered on our journey though business and life, give them names and dig into what we did to embrace them (and so skip around the banana skins).

Episode one

• This Friday (9th January)
• ​Live on LinkedIn​
• 10am (UK)

This one will just be me, as I share the show's ambitions and the value I want it to offer to the audience.

Spoiler alert: it is not going to be super-polished.

Ultimately it will be a valuable, vulnerable conversation that is more about honesty and accessibility than anything else.

It will be deliberately raw because that's how we usually feel when the Monkeys pay us a visit.

I have a number of guests already lined up (with more in mind) for 2026, but if you would like to contribute, do let me know. I'd love to include your own banana encounters in future episodes.

Keep embracing those monkeys and skipping round those bananas!

Mark Franklin, The Four Fears® Guy
​www.markfranklin.co.uk

* As you may know, I have thoughts about 'New Year, new me'. Not exactly supportive ones. You can read about them on my blog.

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