Don’t Stop Me Now
In this edition:
- My Word of the Year
- New Year Workshops
- Researching the Problems in Modern Work
- Coaching Themes
- Whiteboards and AI (!!!)
- Free Stuff
Hello Again, and Welcome to 2025
Flourish is my word for 2025. I did one of those “how well does your ChatGPT know you” prompts. It chose Flourish:
“Flourish captures the essence of your season—thriving in life and work, building vibrant connections, and expanding your creative impact with purpose. This word aligns with your strengths and vision: thriving personally, fostering creative community, and growing your work in inspiring and transformative directions.”
The Oxford defines flourish as: “to grow or develop in a healthy or vigorous way, especially as the result of a particularly congenial environment.” So I overlaid this to my vision for 2025 and it’s pretty spot on. What’s more, The Getaway itself is a particularly genial environment!
If you’d like to pick your word of the year and use it to set powerful intentions, please get in touch! Setting an intention for your year can be an igniting and inspiring process. Book a no-cost discovery call to learn more about a Word of the Year session with me: Book Here.
New Year Workshops, Webinars and Freebies
VISION BOARD WORKSHOPS: As part of this chapter of work, I want to increase the ways in which I’m engaged with my local community. I’m excited to be partnering with Westonka Community Education to offer workshops that bring creativity and inspiration to my local community. For years, I’ve loved connecting with others and using creative practices to inspire personal growth. This is my first time offering workshops through community education, I’ll learn a lot and will do more in 2025.
Join me for one of my New Year Vision Board Workshops at Westonka Activity Center! In this two-and-a-half-hour session, you’ll use provided materials to craft a vision board that reflects your goals and dreams for 2025. Whether you’re focusing on personal wellness, career growth, or meaningful connections, this workshop will help you start the year with clarity and inspiration.
Upcoming Dates:
- Wednesday, January 15 | 6:00 - 8:30 PM
- Monday, January 27 | 6:00 - 8:30 PM
These workshops are an important milestone for me and reflect my dedication to fostering creativity and growth in my community. I hope to see you there! Learn more here.
NEW YEAR VALUES WORKSHOP: I’m also really excited to announce a collaboration with Jen Zenz-Olson from Laughing Lotus Wellness. Together, Jen and I are hosting “Life by Design: Navigating the New Year Through your Core Values”. Some of you know I’ve been deeply exploring personal and societal values and values system. This free online workshop is an opportunity to refresh your core values and receive a personalized visual values compass to help you navigate decisions in 2025.
Friday January 31: Register here
NEW YEAR VISION PRINTABLE: Alternatively, get your own visioning worksheet designed by yours truly. I made this Best Year Ever Visioning Activity just for you! Download here.
Modern Work: What’s Going Wrong?
You know that feeling in Office Space where Peter realizes the system isn’t broken, but later realizes it’s working exactly as it’s designed?
I’m thinking of building a survey to dig into these questions, but I want to start with you first. Let me know:
- Is it just me, or is modern knowledge work hosed?
- Why do you think no one wants to fix it?
- What would you fix first in your organization?
- What small change could a leader make tomorrow to kick off real momentum in their sphere of influence?
No answer is too small or too outrageous. I want to hear it. Hearing your stories helps shape my perspective and gives me energy to change things!
Just Say No
One of my go-to coaching questions is, “What will you say no to?” This week, I took my own advice. Inspired by Brene Brown and her thoughts on boundaries and capacity, I decided to cancel my January New Year Reset. It wasn’t a comfortable decision, but I said no to take unnecessary stress out of my holiday break. I feel a weird mix of guilt and shame when I say no. Part of sharing this decision more publicly is to get more used to doing it. (Luckily, I hadn’t promoted this event widely. The other thing I need to work on in 2025 is event promotion 😆.)
Breaking News: Nevermind, I rescheduled it to January 18th. Limiting to six spots! This is an in person event focused on creating clarity and proactive planning for the beginning of the year. Register here. IYKYK
Common Threads in Coaching: Clarity, Control, and Survival
My coaching practice is well underway. Since November, I’ve conducted 20 coaching calls across 10 clients. One thing that’s been a surprise is the topics my clients bring to me are quite similar! Here are some themes I’ve been noticing:
- Fulfillment Over Hustle: People are shifting from “how to get the next promotion” to “what is the next role for me that is fulfilling, balanced and aligned to my purpose”. This has me thinking about how roles get filled and I wonder if, in a less scarce job market, will candidates have more leverage, or will job shaping be more of “a thing”? (If you want me to help you envision your next professional chapter, reach out!)
- Prioritization and Focus: “I just need to prioritize and get it done”. I’m hearing this a lot from solopreneurs who have many interesting options to explore, but need to make traction and progress in the near term. (If you want to learn more about my Solopreneur’s Retreats, let me know.)
- Navigating Uncertainty: More and more people are accepting the reality that our world is unpredictable, brittle, anxious and non-linear, and using that reality in the design of their own near term choices. This is true for individuals, leaders, teams and entrepreneurs. (If you want support building a resilient personal vision, hit me up!)
Book a Call with me if you want to learn about the different kinds of coaching I offer!
ChatGPT x Whiteboards = Gamechanger
Quick story: When I led the technical project management team at Walmart.com (2000-2004), I worked with software engineers from Russia, India and China. This is when I discovered whiteboards were my power tool for conceptualizing with and aligning a group - getting everyone on the same page. That’s when the term “summerize” was coined and was the impetus for the brand Let’s Summerize.
I use whiteboards a lot - but I always dragged my feet on taking the great thinking off the board and turning it something easy to understand and digest once we left the room.
But now, ChatGPT (and presumably other AIs) is able to do this pretty well - and my work turns into a few minutes of reviewing and adjusting its work. I AM REALLY EXCITED ABOUT THIS.
The image above is a whiteboard capturing a two hour dump session, and ChatGPT’s first pass at making sense of it. This approach alone will save me tons of time AND turn information around to clients faster than ever.
Ok, so, yes. You have to have somewhat legible handwriting. (Heck, let’s throw another plug in here - I’d be down to host a personal or team Whiteboard Tips and Lettering session for you!)
To recap (this unhinged email):
- Best Year Ever Visioning Worksheet: Get your own vision worksheet right here. (It’s free!)
- 2025 Vision Board Workshops: January 15th and 27th; 6-8 pm. Register here.
- Life by Design: Navigating the New Year with Values: January 31st at noon. Register Here. (Also free!)
- Coaching Packages: Start your year with clarity and direction. Book Now.
- Reconnect / Pick My Brain: 30 minutes, me and you, catching up. Book here.
Thanks for Reading (and Flourishing with Me)
If you’ve made it this far, thank you for being here. This newsletter is as much about sharing ideas as it is about starting conversations. Reply and let me know:
- What’s your word of the year?
- What’s one thing you’re saying no to in 2025?
Here’s to a year of growth, creativity, and making things work better.