When I was doing some research on the framework of doing, being, and becoming, this quote popped up in my research: “No one else has the capacity to know us as well as we can know ourselves. It is in the awareness of ourselves that our strengths lie. And awareness of...
Self Awareness
Social Introverts
Conversations about introverts are often confusing. Many people believe that introverts are shy. Or don’t like being around people. Anti-social. While extroverts are seen as the life of the party. The true difference between introverts and extroverts is how they...
Does Society Promote Jugglers?
I continue to love gaining new insight about myself. A great source of ideas often comes from statements Gretchen Rubin makes. While I feel like I know many of her observations, this one was new to me: “One thing that comes up in the workplace a lot is jugglers and...
Daily Reading List
Information is coming at me from every direction. Newsletters. Books. Blog posts. White papers. Summaries from ChatGPT. I want to consume it all. Yet time is limited. Precious. A New Strategy So, I’m trying something new. Daily reading time. This isn’t for books; I...
Own Your Response
Life is full of challenges and changes. We plan and then the plans go awry. We go into conversations with one intention and they drift somewhere else. Amidst all the change, we can only control our own actions and emotions. In 2004, Jack Canfield came up with this...
Make a Chuck It List
On a recent episode of The Retirement Wisdom Podcast, Joe interviewed Valerie Tiberius. She mentioned during the episode that her father suggested a “Chuck It List”. Many create Bucket Lists – for their life, their year, even their summer. However, I think we would...
Book Review: Big Trust
In my work, I spend a lot of time thinking about how people move from feeling stuck to feeling in control of their lives and careers. That lens is what drew me to Big Trust: Rewire Self-Doubt, Find Your Confidence, and Fuel Success. I first heard Dr. Shadé Zahrai on a...
Caring for Our Soul
The other day, I came across a quote that really resonated: “It is never too early or too late to care for the well-being of the soul.” - Epicurus Our soul. What is it? This quote got me thinking deeply about this question. When we reference our soul, we are talking...
How Do You Feel?
Last night I got sick. It came on quickly around 6pm and by 8 I was in bed. This got me thinking about how our energy (and plans) can be thrown off in a minute. In many ways this happens every day. Some days we are full of energy and others we wish we could just sit...
How Do I Want to Feel?
When we think about our lives, we may think about our feelings. How we feel about our relationships. Our job. Our home. Our health. Or any other area of our life. Often, we are hard on ourselves. We feel things aren’t where we want them to be. We feel bored,...
Intellectual Humility
The other day, I heard the term “intellectual humility”. This was unfamiliar to me, so I went in search of information. The quick realization was that there was a LOT published. Intellectual humility is the space between stubbornness and gullibility. We engage this...
Are You Anxious?
Anxious is an interesting word. There are two meanings that are quite different. Anxious can mean “uneasiness of mind” = worried. Anxious can also mean “earnestly wishing” = eager. Worried is dreading while eager is anticipating. My Story Historically, I’ve tended to...
Who Am I?
This is a question we don’t ask ourselves very often. Especially once our adult life begins. We start defining ourselves by education, school, work, and family. Yet, under the surface, all these answers are just titles. They don’t really tell anyone anything about us....
Do. Be. Become. Belong.
In 2022, Occupational Scientist Ann Wilcock wrote a paper that suggested: “We are all in a constant loop of being, doing, and becoming.” Her work also including a 4th element – belonging, that was explored further here. The framework suggests that health stems from...
One Idea
Have you read The Let Them Theory by Mel Robins? I read it about a year ago and continue to think about the beginning of the book – her story. She talked about her path and how she came to write this book as well as her prior books. What struck me is the succinct...
Shared Improvement
I had the opportunity to be part of an author talk with Dan Coyle, author of the newly published book Flourish: The Art of Building Meaning and Fulfillment. I reviewed the book a couple weeks ago and found the questions and conversations in the book talk to be equally...
Understanding Our State of Mind
Over the years, I’ve realized the importance of naming what I’m feeling. I have used the feelings wheel to dig into the specific emotions. However, what I didn’t realize was that feelings can lead to states of mind. A feeling happens in the moment while a state of...
7-Year Cycles After 50
Last week, I wrote about 7-year cycles and my experiences with them. The background of this idea ranges from philosophical to biological. The beauty of the cycles is that it suggests life is not one long beginning, middle, and end. Rather, we have multiple cycles of...
Live. Work. Play.
For 15 years, my personal email signature has ended with a simple three-word line: Live. Work. Play. I liked the simplicity. It felt balanced. Me. But recently, I’ve started to wonder if I was missing something deeper. We often treat these as separate parts of life....
7-Year Cycles
There’s an idea that life moves in seven-year cycles adding rhythm to our lives. Across history, people have noticed that roughly every seven years, something shifts. Identity. Priorities. Direction. Relationships. Energy. It’s not scientific certainty, but a lens to...
The 4 A’s Framework
The book Big Trust by Dr. Shadé Zahrai introduces the "Four A’s" framework: Acceptance, Agency, Autonomy, and Adaptability. A description of each is below. Acceptance: Embracing current realities Agency: Recognizing our power to influence Autonomy: Cultivating...




















