Read
The things you stopped making time for
Most women can name the thing they used to do that was just for them. And then explain why it stopped. Here's ...
Read the essay →Designed to Flow
Your life works on paper.
But something isn't flowing.
I help women in midlife create more flow in their lives, by working out what no longer fits, what they actually want, and redesigning the bits that need to change.
Maybe nothing went wrong
A life can stop fitting without ever having been a mistake.
- the job
- the relationship
- the place
- the pace
- the goals
- the whole life
some chosen. some inherited. some just happened.
now you get to look again.
You probably chose some of it. Maybe you worked bloody hard to build exactly the life you're living.
And some of it you never actively chose at all. You took the next sensible step, said yes, adapted, and one day looked up and realised this was your life.
Midlife is a chance to look at all of it again. What would I choose again? What still fits? And what am I ready to do differently?
Designs expire. A life can work beautifully for one season and stop working in another.
That doesn't mean you chose badly. You just have new information.
The idea
Flow is designed, then found.
Flow is not a practice you perform. It's a condition you build.
Flow means movement. Your energy, attention and intention moving through your life without having to fight it every step of the way.
You don't need to become better at coping with the river. Sometimes you need to change its course.
Capacity
= the waterWhat you actually have available. Energy, attention, time, money, health, support, headspace.
Design
= the riverbedThe shape of your life. Work, relationships, roles, calendar, money, boundaries, expectations.
Friction
= what disrupts itNot "how do I cope better?" but "why does this need so much coping?"
friction is information
Flow
= movementWhat becomes more possible when capacity and design line up, and the unnecessary friction comes out.
You can't meditate your way out of a badly designed life.
How I work →Start here
Where do you want to start?
01
Something doesn't fit
The Free Flow Life Audit
You've got enough in the tank to ask what comes next. You just can't quite name what's off.
Take the Free Flow Life Audit → 02 I am bloody exhaustedThe Burnout + Perimenopause Guide
Redesigning your life is not today's job. Understanding what's happening in your body might be.
Explore the guide →
03
I'm just figuring shit out
Designed to Flow writing
Me too. Read along. Essays on flow, friction, midlife and redesigning a life while you're still living in it.
When flow gets disrupted
Friction doesn't all look the same.
It tends to show up in five ways. Most people recognise more than one, and you move between them.
Blockage
Something is stopping you. You can see the next step. You can't take it.
Leakage
Energy draining away, often invisibly. Always a bit tired, always a bit behind.
Rough Terrain
The ground itself is working against you. You work harder to move the same distance.
Flooding
Too much coming in at once. You respond to whatever's loudest, not what matters.
Stagnation
Nothing's moving. It doesn't feel like pain. It feels like fine.
personality typesdiagnosesquiz resultsfive programmes
just a way of noticing
About Lianne
I changed my life once. Now I'm redesigning it again.
In 2023 I sold most of what we owned, left Cape Town and flew to the Philippines with my three kids and no return ticket. It was the most deliberate redesign of my life, and it worked.
Then life changed again. Which is what life does.
So I'm doing it again, and testing every idea on this site on myself first.
About Lianne →Latest from Designed to Flow
Read. Listen. Think it through.
Read
Read
12 ways to reduce friction and reclaim your life
Life isn't supposed to feel this hard. Not always. Not every day. If you're exhausted, overwhelmed, and vaguel...
Read the essay →
Listen
What Has to Hold Before a Relationship Can Flow
Episode 2, with C. Ann Clark. Why chemistry tells you who you're drawn to, but structure tells you who you can...
Listen →
Listen
Creating Flow in a World of Friction
Episode 1, with Andrea King. Business design and feng shui are two very different disciplines. They keep land...
Listen →When your body changes the rules
Sometimes the first sign isn't a question. It's exhaustion.
Some women arrive too tired to wonder what comes next. Burnout and perimenopause often turn up at the same time, and they're easy to mistake for each other.
- Is it burnout, perimenopause, or both? How to start telling the difference
- The tests you can ask your doctor for
- Nervous-system stabilisation, and when rest alone isn't enough
- Two worksheets included: a symptoms checker and an energy audit
From clients
What people say afterwards.
The way Lianne framed things made me see my year completely differently. This shifted things in ways I didn't expect, across the whole way I look at what's ahead.
I had a focused, safe space to unload my ideas, and together we were able to knit my plan together. I feel so much lighter and in control.
A huge shout out to Lianne and the way she has helped guide me. I'm excited about my upcoming 12 months.
The writing
I think out loud on Substack.
"I don't want a morning routine. I want a life I don't need to recover from."
Essays on flow, friction, capacity and midlife, worked out in public. They land on Substack first, then get a permanent home here on the blog.
No hacks. No 5am club. You can leave whenever you like.
Prefer to browse first? Read on Substack →
Running a business, not just a life?I apply the same systems thinking to founder-led businesses through Flowology.
Visit Flowology →