The last two weeks have been a whirlwind of fun, growth, and connecting! I kicked things off by channeling my inner J.Lo with Wendy at a daytime dance party and wrapped up my breakdancing course—don't worry, all bones intact! Escaped to Graham, NC, for our second weekend of disc golf tournaments with my hubby. Our digs? An adorable cabin that's pure magic, and where I had a bonanza of a Design Day. I crafted two podcasts and blog posts, worked on website edits to refresh our site, hiked nature trails, and dove headfirst into Dr. Peter Attia's enlightening book, "Outlive." Celebratory vibes were in the air on Sunday. Lisa, RaderCo's backbone and my BFF of 19 years, marked her 3rd work anniversary! Our winning formula for besties in business? Crystal-clear communication, where we use ClickUp and Voxer for work-related tasks and phone or text for personal messages, guardrail-setting, and embracing bottlenecks to swiftly nip them in the bud! This week, I spoke on Managing Well Remotely and Time Power-Ups to our fearless leaders at the United States Treasury Inspector General's Tax Administration office at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center. It was quite a campus, and I wish I could have had more time touring it. One thing that resonated with the group of leaders is that they acted like Siri or Alexa. Responding immediately to instant messages & emails when people had questions or comments at the expense of getting their own work done. Several committed to setting up time to work offline or not going straight to email as their first task of the day. While I was there, I had excellent service from Marcus at the Fairfield Inn. Part of my 50 by 50 priorities list is to recognize five people with outstanding customer service and write a handwritten note to them and their manager and also send a gift card. In my panic about not being able to find a ride-share car at the early hour of 5:45 a.m., Marcus hooked me up with a taxi and paid for it! I'll be sending him a card within the week. Then, I headed straight from the airport to Greensboro, NC, to speak at the NCACPA Professional Women's Conference on Focus Power-Ups. I challenged them to find one thing that they could do analog, without a device. I never use my device in my infrared sauna. It wouldn't be good for it, plus, it's my sacred space. You might choose to eat a meal, watch your kid's sports, or go to the bathroom (what? People can go to the bathroom without their phones?). Or maybe you might decide not to double-screen....look at your phone while you're watching a movie. We appreciate everyone who completed the Weekender Snapshot survey to let us know what you like and what you want more of. Congratulations to Anne Pham, Executive Assistant of the Oklahoma Blood Institute. She won the Kiva gift card to invest in someone's small business. As you read this, I'm powering up folks at Horizon Farm Credit to escape from their to-do lists. And a shoutout to Manager Matt Findley, a trailblazer of walking meetings. Fun fact: a simple walk can skyrocket your creativity by up to 60%! What's on tap for the weekend? Two dinners/fire pit soirées, a soul-refreshing hike, and grooving to my husband's musical collab with the amazing Rachel Hirsch on Sunday. On with the Weekender! p.s. Need help figuring out how to plan and prioritize? Check out this 4-minute video to win your day! |
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I've worked remotely since 2002. Led a team of up to 18 people globally, with no Zoom, no cameras on our laptops or phones, and managed to stay and feel connected. So yes...I've got some street cred ;) Here's what two decades of remote work actually taught me: you can optimize all you want, but you need to relentlessly prioritize first. Why it matters: Remote workers tend to work more hours than in-office peers, not because they're more productive, but because the transition doesn't exist....
Two packed (and awesome) weeks over here... I spent most of them rebuilding my speaking catalog from the ground up. I love burning things down to ashes and rebuilding. What started as a refresh turned into something bigger. I retired one topic entirely, moved another into a different home, and reworked all of them. Some had been Frankensteined together over the years. I wanted each one to have a clear outcome and reflect what I'm passionate about teaching now. The bigger driver was making...
Reflections, Prioritization, and Planning At the end of each quarter, I do reflections: pull out my Powered Path Playbook pages, look at wins, lessons earned, smartest decisions, and start planning the next quarter. This round happened all over the place. Another round of Playbook Quarterly Reflections with Wendy! Wendy and I've been doing quarterly reflections together for about a decade. This time it was Yemeni coffee at Haraz Coffeehouse. My friend Lilly and I did an abbreviated version...