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.

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 via phone since she moved to Austin, another we've kept going for years. I shared it with my friend Geraud, a professional speaker, over a biscuit breakfast.

On the 4th of July, I hiked Umstead with my friend Tatyana, then drove to meet Megan, a young woman who saw my TEDx talk a couple of years ago, and could see herself in my story.

We did reflections at Bean Traders over my favorite drink in the world: chocolate habanero coffee. Sunday, during our weekly meeting, my husband and I did ours together (again... over chocolate habanero coffee) and planned the quarter's projects and travel (hello, Boston, and rebuilding our screened-in porch). Tomorrow I finish the round with Lisa, RaderCo's Marketing Specialist.

I get so much out of this. Hearing what other people are working through shapes my own priorities more than almost anything else I do. Check out my podcast playlist with loads of episodes on Reflections, Prioritization, and Planning.​

One big win from the quarter: finishing The Right Things First: A Pocket Guide to Relentless Prioritization, launching September 8 (my birthday!).

Smartest decision: hiring Collabo XD to move me into Claude.

Lesson earned: Include a QR code for credit card payments (not just Venmo or PayPal) when I'm selling my book at conferences. Duh.

Q3 priorities: better sleep, for one. I bought a new clock for my bedroom, so I don't have my phone there at all. I have a silly habit of checking my Crossrope and Peloton apps at night to pick which workouts I'll do in the morning, and I end up scrolling through fitness classes! Why is it silly? Because I'll end up choosing (again) the next morning after I review my health data via my Oura ring.

For RaderCo, one top priority is updating every keynote and service now that the book is done. One training gets retired, one gets consolidated, and a brand new one launches: The Right Things First.

This week was full of client coaching, prep for speaking at Delta Air Lines later this month, and Coffee and Connections with the Morrisville Chamber of Commerce. If you want to hear how I actually keep up with people like Annie, who I meet for roasted cauliflower once a quarter, check out my podcast episode Meaningful Connections. It's the how-to behind half the names in this email.

When you get this, I'll be wrapping up a ride through Umstead State Park and starting a solo design weekend: blocked time to re-evaluate every keynote, write new descriptions, and rough out outlines. Expect a lot of mountain biking in between.

On with the Weekender!

Three anchors for getting into deep focus Environment. Mind. Energy. Miss one and the other two carry more weight than they should...

In this clip: the cathedral effect, why writing your focus intention by hand beats typing it, and why the exhale matters more than the inhale. One thing you can do now: Before your next focus block, write down the one thing, not five, you're working on. By hand. On paper. WATCH HERE (4 min)

Your workday back, one session at a time... Reclaim Your Workday Action Club is open for the fall. On Tuesdays (one Wednesday, September 9), 45 minutes each, August 25 through October 13.

Built around real coaching on your actual workday: a 10-minute lesson, 30 minutes of live Coaching Spotlights, and 5 minutes to commit to one change before you log off. $379 to join. Bringing a few people? The Team Pack is $299 each for groups of 3 to 5. Reply for details. GRAB YOUR SEAT

What I'm Loving Right Now: Better ZZZZZZZs.

To help with my sleep, I bought the DreamSky Wooden Digital Alarm Clock, and I love it. I sleep with blackout blinds, so having any light in the room was a dealbreaker. This one solves it: on the right setting, it just sits there looking like a block of wood. No glow or numbers staring back at me when I can't sleep at 3:00am. Touch the top, and a dim light comes on for a few seconds, at whatever brightness I set, just long enough to check the time.

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P.S. What's one lesson earned from your quarter? Hit reply and tell me. I read every one.