Have you ever known you need to leave for a meeting at a certain time, and yet thought there was enough time to send one more email, only to now find yourself running late? Or have you ever ran out the door now that you are late, and forgot to bring something important like your phone? We all do this at times. We know better than to squeeze in one more email, and yet we forget this. My 13-year old often says “But Dad, I can’t remember to remember” when she forgets something she knows she needs to do. The irony is that, as I get frustrated that she forgets things and I lose my patience with ..read more

What if You Could "Own Your Day"? You know that amazing feeling you get when you wake up in the morning when you are on vacation, you feel rested, and you have that sense that the whole day is stretched out in front of you waiting to be experienced?  You aren't tied to other people's demands and the day is yours.  Wow - what a feeling! What if we could create that exact same feeling of "owning our day", even when we’re not on vacation?   The Challenge A lot can get in the way of us owning our day when it comes to the usual grind. Busy mornings, doddling kid ..read more

You don’t have to listen hard to hear it.  Behind the resignations, the overwhelm, stress and mental health, and behind the numbing out, there is a common under current.  After two years of pandemic restrictions, uncertainty, change, societal change and climate angst there is a background feeling of “a lack of control”.   As a result, people are looking to regain control in their lives in some way, which is part of the increase in career change, relationship change, and numbing out.  It also includes anger, frustration and resistance, as this too gives p ..read more

I hope you had a wonderful break over the Holidays and feel ready for 2022!  The New Year is a time where people often pause to reflect: "How am I doing?", and "I'd like to do more, or be more _____ this coming year." Which often starts to look like goals for the year.   While setting goals works for some people, for most people their New Year's goals tend to dim quickly as they return to the normal bustle of life, defaulting back to their old ways before the end of January.  Myself included. Daily Intent Versus Yearl ..read more

Image Source: Sylvain Mauroux, Unsplash How’s your motivation these days?  Checking in with organizations, it is still common to hear that many people are tired, stressed, overwhelmed and unmotivated.  This is easy to understand, given that there are many factors at play that make it hard for people.  November is by its nature a harder month (darker, colder and greyer).  While we have more freedom than in the past, we continue to feel the drag of the pandemic.  Many organizations are struggling with higher turnover, and this creates more work f ..read more

Email. Meetings. Tasks. Conversations. Zoom. Teams. Appointments. Commuting. Problem solving.  If this sounds like your day, you are not alone.  Not that any of that is necessarily a bad thing. The problem is when it piles up on top of itself, like ice on the river in Spring break up, to the point where it feels constricting, constraining and well, overwhelming.   What's missing in days like this is some form of stillness to balance the busyness.  The space between the notes, if your day was a piece of music.  When music has note upon no ..read more

Time Magazine has deemed their voyage "the most storied epic of survival".  The story is that of Sir Ernest Shackleton and his crew of 27 men on The Endurance in a 1914 attempt of a Trans-Antarctic Expedition.   Various books and movies have been made of this harrowing failed expedition.  Due to unexpected wind conditions, The Endurance became locked in pack-ice early in their voyage (despite being the Antarctic ‘summer’) and remained there for nine months (including the Antarctic winter).  The crew made repeated desperate attemp ..read more

Speaking with various executives, senior leaders and HR leaders lately, it is clear that these continue to be challenging times for organizations and the people who lead them.  The many challenges include: managing return-to-office expectations, managing conflict around vaccine mandates, keeping an eye on retention, embracing Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, and now a fourth wave of the pandemic. At times, it starts to feel chaotic and overwhelming. Leaders may react to the stress themselves, and at times add to the chaos.  At other times they may hunker down, becoming rigi ..read more

My summer has definitely had its moments of frustration. A wrist fracture in June prevented me from riding on my family mountain biking trip in early July. Then too much trail running on the vacation resulted in a knee issue that has limited me further, while I’m also still healing the wrist!  We all prefer it when things go the way we like.  Yet life is filled with small and big inconveniences and frustrations.  There is so much in life that is out of our control and can surprise us in unsettling ways: health setbacks, changes at work, unforeseen home repairs, challen ..read more

Leading With Agility You’d think it would be easier by now.  Leaders have just navigated a dynamic, uncertain, and challenging time.  And many have done it very well.  Now that COVID case numbers are dramatically decreasing and COVID restrictions are easing, you’d think it would be easier to transition into something more stable.  But as I listen to employees and the people who lead them, this isn’t happening in the way we might have expected. Ongoing and New Challenges  Here are a few issues that I’m hearing: After a more than a year of ada ..read more