Hi, hey, hello there! 👋 Quick question before you do one more “productive” thing today: how much energy is actually in the tank? Because if you’re running on fumes, your current investment strategy probably looks like: avoid discomfort, survive today, repeat. (Very relatable. Not a long-term plan.) Let’s call it: you don’t need another habit tracker. You need a receipt. Your life is already an investment portfolio. You’re investing time, attention, emotional labor, money, and stress capacity...
30 days ago • 2 min read
February is a strange little corridor in time.The sun stays longer, technically — but your nervous system hasn’t received the memo.The headlines are loud. Your calendar is louder.It’s light out for an extra 17 minutes and somehow that changes nothing.Everything feels… compressed. Last week we wrote about the thaw — about coming out of the darkest weeks of the year and what that transition asks of us. (You can catch up HERE.) This week feels like the practical side of that conversation. Here...
about 1 month ago • 2 min read
Good Morning Reader! This month, we’ve been talking about core values—how they guide us, ground us, and sometimes quietly conflict with the realities of work. And as the universe often does, a real-world conversation surfaced in our extended ecosystem that landed squarely on this very topic. A raw, honest reflection on values friction at work. The kind that sits in your chest. The kind that makes you question who you are, what you’re willing to bend, and what you’re not. With permission from...
2 months ago • 1 min read
January has a way of asking quiet but important questions. Not the loud “new year, new you” kind—but the subtler ones: What actually matters to me right now? Where do my values show up in my decisions? Where might they be getting lost under pressure? That tension between personal values and professional priorities is something we see constantly in our work with leaders and teams—and it’s what inspired our latest blog: Aligning Personal Values with Professional Priorities A thoughtful look at...
3 months ago • 2 min read
🌿 Leaf It Alone: The Management Personalities Thriving (or Dying) on Your Desk There comes a moment in every leader’s life when you look at the wilting plant on your desk, sigh theatrically, and think: “Same.” The plant world and the people-leading world share one cosmic truth: everyone is just trying to grow without being emotionally overwatered, dramatically under-watered, or placed in direct sunlight without permission. Houseplants are basically coworkers who can’t talk. Leadership...
5 months ago • 1 min read
Hi, hi. Tech Week in Grand Rapids has been a blur of caffeine, conversations, and too many hours in the wrong shoes. 🫠 If you were out there with us—you know the drill: ideas buzzing, calendars crammed, introverts maxed out. Here’s what we got up to while surviving (and thriving) in the chaos: ✨ Coffee Circle: Monday kicked off with a packed room of powerhouse women in tech + allies, co-hosted with The Right Place and Array of Engineers. Sharon Gillenwater reminded us you can scale a $25M...
7 months ago • 2 min read
Hi Reader, Perfectionism isn’t some quirky personality trait. It’s a thief. It sneaks in, steals your time, drains your joy, and convinces you it’s doing you a favor. And here’s the kicker: research shows that perfectionist tendencies are on the rise. So whether you identify with perfectionism personally or not, you should educate yourself about it because it is highly likely that you will find yourself grappling with perfectionist tendencies in your life, even if they aren’t your own. The...
7 months ago • 1 min read
The year was 1995. I was 10. No cell phones. No email. Not even dial-up had made its way into most homes yet. The only way to find out what teacher you got (and which friends made it into your class) was to wait for the list — taped to the front doors of Southwest Elementary. Every. Single. Day. that August, I’d ride my bike up to school, hoping those white sheets of paper had finally been posted. And every day, nothing. Just empty glass doors reflecting my hopeful little face back at me....
8 months ago • 2 min read
💾 A Gen X/Millennial Crossover Crisis Wrapped in Paperback Nostalgia and Existential Workplace Dread If you were an 80s baby like me, your first taste of free will wasn’t your boss handing you “full autonomy” or a life coach telling you to “step into your power”—it was a flimsy paperback with a holographic dragon on the cover and instructions that read: “Turn to page 84 if you want to fight the sorcerer. Turn to page 112 if you want to crawl into a suspiciously glowing cave.” Naturally, I...
8 months ago • 1 min read