I knew we were dear friends, but this sealed the deal. Have you ever stopped by without planning to at a friend’s house? For me, this is the definition of dear friends. When you can stop over unannounced, knowing it may be a bad time or not work for whomever you’re seeing. Carla Anderson did this recently and it reminded…
Maybe is messy. It’s just like being in the middle of anything; the messy middle. When you are clear, yes and no are your answers. Both yes and no free energy, space, time, and momentum begins again. Maybe ties up your energy, creates complexity and confusion and leaves incompletions in its wake. When you’re in the maybe zone, everything stagnates…
Follow through is tiring for me. What pushes me to finish is maintaining our reputation and keeping my word. It’s easier for me to keep my own promises than to work with others to ensure we’re communicating well enough to deliver what we agree to collectively. Working in teams requires us to coordinate actions, agreements and focus on clarity in…
“If you don’t have time to do it right, when will you have time to do it over?” – John Wooden The discipline of doing things well takes practice. This way of living was instilled in me as a kid from both my parents who were not big fans of repeating mistakes. The same way my husband was raised with…
I like to plan and be efficient. When I look at my actions and patterns, I’m driven to consistently improve and simplify those things I repeatedly do. When we travel, we plan things and enjoy our time together regardless. Yet, when I reflect on the most memorable, vibrant and enjoyable times in my life, they’re almost always spontaneous. We wake…
Perturbations, interruptions and challenges are signals to us. When I’m irritated or experiencing friction, my feelings tell me to react, my thinking prompts those feelings. Wisdom over time is learning to pause when the feelings happen, learn to observe yourself in the moment, evaluate your response, and then act. All self care practices enable this wisdom. Without them, we learn…
When feedback is offered, ensuring people are prepared to do it well is important. If those people observing offer feedback to balance and improve the outcome, it’s most helpful. The framework of working and not working is useful if you spend equal time in both categories. Often, people offer more ways to improve than the wins column. When offering this…
Recently I was redesigning some training to make it more interactive. I knew it would be messy. It was. When it came time for feedback, we followed our pattern of asking “what worked and what didn’t work.” We waited until the end of a 15-hour day to exchange feedback. The day ended with ratings from the participants of 9+ on…
Early in my career, a co-worker had a sign posted on her cube. It was a simple phrase and it stuck with me. Part of the reason it stuck was she took great pride in referencing it when people entered her space with their “emergencies” tossing them into her lap hoping she’d embrace the concern and fix it. She was…
Communication is an art. Most of us operate as if others understand the world exactly as we do. This is the problem. No one else sees, experiences, and feels the world exactly the same as you do. Ever. This is what gives our world texture, grit, beauty, and richness. When we forget this, we think it gives our world pain,…