Gill Keogh: 25 Years at Barclays, Then 4 Months Frozen

From Brett Trainor Unplugged · 38:38

Show by Brett Trainor

If you're a few weeks out and nothing is happening, this is the episode.Gill Keogh spent 25 years at Barclays and left happy, by choice, at 49. Then she sat frozen in front of a laptop for three or four months and couldn't work out why.Her words: I skipped out the door thinking this is it, I'm going to build the dream. And then I was just stuck.Most escapee stories jump from the decision straight to the business. Gill walks you through the dead months in between, which nobody talks about and almost everybody has. She didn't see it coming, because this was a decision she made on purpose, and nobody tells you that the freeze doesn't care whether you chose it.She did CBT, not because anything was broken, and found out how much of her life had been built on safety. The salary, the badge, the building full of people. Fight, flight or freeze, and she's a freezer.Her first move out of it was the one most of us make: go get another qualification. A piece of paper that says you're allowed. She did it, then worked out that 25 years across the UK and offshore is not a thing you can put on a certificate.A year on she runs her own coaching practice, picks who she works with and who she doesn't, has no revenue target for the first time in her life, and is leading the Escapee Collective here in the UK.The line I'm stealing from her, on why networking never worked until it did: it's about connecting, not collecting.In this episode:Bleeding Barclays Blue, and what happens when that stopsLeaving a job you liked, which nobody prepares you for eitherFour months frozen, and why choosing to leave made it worseWhat CBT turned up about safetyThe qualification trap, and what to do insteadNobody asks for your credentials. They ask whether they get you.Getting rid of the guiltConnecting, not collectingAbout GillGill Keogh is the founder of Gillian Keogh Coaching, working with senior leaders, business owners and teams on executive coaching, leadership development and change. She spent 25 years in corporate at Barclays, in the UK and offshore, before leaving in October 2025 to build her own practice. Connect with Gill LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gilliankeoghcoaching/Year one, as it actually wentOctober. Takes the package after 25 years. Leaves happy.Three months off. Gardening leave. Gym at six, volunteering at a dog shelter, a holiday, time in the garden. Her only regret: she did all of it feeling guilty.Then the freeze. Three or four months. Laptop open, nothing moving.CBT, out of curiosity. Surfaces that the freeze was her brain protecting a safe zone that no longer existed.The qualification detour. Useful, and also the thing you reach for when you want permission.January to March. The business actually starts.A year out. Narrow idea gone wide. Says yes to work she didn't plan for. No monetary target. Her own days, without guilt.Quotes"Some people get fight, some people get flight. I clearly get freeze.""Twenty-five years of experience, working in the UK, working offshore. You cannot write that on a bit of paper.""People said, should you really be having a nice holiday when you've just been made redundant? The only person saying that was me."

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