14 years ago, I was:

• newly back from mat leave AND
•  in a new role with a steep learning curve.

It was an extraordinarily busy time in my life. There were some rough moments and huge personal and professional highs. I remember it with great fondness and gratitude.

This team is a huge reason why my memories are so positive. What made this team so GREAT?

Every individual in it was committed to bringing their best to work AND we had clear goals and intentions.

We accomplished a LOT and celebrated those successes.

Of course, we weren't perfect and we made mistakes. We didn't all get along, all of the time. And yet, this team stands out in my memories of one of my favourites!

In fact, many of us are still in touch regularly!

Q - What do YOU believe makes a team GREAT, based on your experience?

I'm personally feeling pretty tired today. Feeling like I need to go slooooooooowly.

For me, that's a very tough feeling - wanting to rest but telling myself I can't or don't have the time. My inner critic would have me believe that time is scarce and I am never doing enough.

The good news is that I recognize the inner critic's nagging voice more frequently than I used to. When I do notice it, I like to stop and ask myself this question:

How can I reframe this message? Flip it? See another perspective?

And today's answer was this: I have been working very hard, at a sustained pace, for a few months now. The mental energy I've been exerting has been enormous. And today, my body is telling me it needs more down time to counter-balance all that activity. More time to refuel and recuperate.

So! I will listen to my fave guided meditation for 15 minutes FIRST.

From there, I will pour myself an ice cold glass of water and maybe make some tea.

And finally, I will sit down and be focused on...

Simplicity. Joy. Presence.

This photo encapsulates all three elements for me. My tall teenager with his 5-year old cousin, shining with happiness and connection after an hour in the sun and snow.

Weekdays are busy, full of tasks and things to accomplish - they are days when I find I NEED to (and do) schedule in time to just BE.

My weekends are precious tidbits of time that I relish and protect. These are the days where deliberately spending time on simple pleasures fills me up and prepares me for the busy week ahead. Sometimes those simple pleasures involve organizing a messy drawer (so satisfying!), visiting Home Depot for the millionth time with my husband to look at tile options, tackling a new recipe, or making hot cocoa for my nephew (WITH marshmallows!).

The laundry still gets done, the meals get planned and the groceries get purchased. But it's the simple, joyful moments of presence that stand out in my mind and heart and FUEL me for the weekdays ahead.

Fatigue. A sense of heaviness. Restlessness.

Have you been grappling with any of these lately? Me too. It’s also a theme with many of my clients and friends.

It’s easy to dismiss inflation’s effect on us - the guilt over feeling crappy when so many are struggling to pay rent or buy food.

The reality is that you feel what you feel! When you try to fight it or engage in comparative suffering, you lose.

So what can we do when life feels so hard?

One idea is to remember to stop taking yourself so damn seriously - to seek humour around you, to find reasons to be silly and laugh. Unfortunately we tend to be unaware when we have become too serious. Prompt yourself each day to look for the humour and joy around you. For instance, I take regular cuddle breaks with my dog Jessie and giggle at her attempts to get another cookie. These moments offer lightness and a brief respite from feeling weighed down.

Another tactic is to simply stop DOING for a little bit, and just BE....

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

That’s how many days it took to move...

FROM:  “I don’t even know why I need to learn to drive.”

TO: “This is pretty fun!”

It took my son one week to go from having never been behind the wheel...

...to having:

 Completed 50% of in-class training hours

Experienced his first driving lesson with me in a parking lot

Passed his G1 knowledge test on the first try

Driven me home on live roads

Was it all smooth sailing?   

Nope.

In-class training was “the most boring thing ever.”

Parking lot training was fun but pulling into a parking space is still a bit elusive.

Doing the test was easy but waiting for the clerk was also “the most boring thing ever.”

Driving on real streets was both exciting and terrifying and involved one very close call.

But he did it.  My beautiful 16-year old son is a driver now!   

Not a perfect driver.   A progressing...

I felt so alone.

Early in 2020, I was 3 years into running my business.   

It was going well, yet I found myself at an inflection point.  I wanted a partner!  I was tired of being on my own so much.

Now - not a romantic partner - I’m doing AWESOME on that count :)

What I wanted was an accountability partner.  

Someone I genuinely liked spending time with.

Someone I could trust implicitly.

Someone who would listen when I needed to cry - or celebrate something.

Someone who would let me do the same for them.

I found her in June 2020!  And we still meet [almost] every week and have a quarterly retreat day - a day to share, laugh, plan, dream.  

Together.

This is my piano.

 Why am I sharing it with you, you ask?

Well, I’ve been thinking about the concept of PRACTICE. 

Practice is one of the themes we discuss inside The Talent Trust.. 

Now, my piano is beautiful - I recently painted it so I would love it more. 

 But you do NOT want to hear me play it.

 I am out of practice by about 30 years!

Can you imagine paying for a ticket to go see the Toronto Symphony Orchestra , and they haven’t practiced recently?  

Or going to see the Blue Jays when they’ve all skipped practice for a few years?

Nope.

The truth is, we all expect and accept that professional musicians, actors and sports professionals spend 80-90% of their time practicing, rehearsing.  And only 10-20% of their time actually PERFORMING.

But what happens in the corporate world most of the time?  

TELL or SAY > Now DO!

There’s a gap in the middle there.   

And it’s a gap that...

I moved to France.

Nice, France, to be exact.  Not recently - more like decades ago (see hair in photo).

You see, I decided to become a French teacher when I was in high school.   

So I:

Competed for a placement at Université de Nice. 

Finished my B.A.

Finished my B.Ed. 

Attained my French specialist certificate

Got a job teaching.

And found out I LOVED the kids but hated the job. 

After 2 years, I left.   Adrift.  

Who would want me?  What was I qualified for?   

Turns out my thirst for learning and perpetual development translated well.  

Since leaving my first career, I’ve worked as a:

Bilingual CSR 

PAP Queen (Supervisor of Pre-authorized Payments, natch)

Trainer

Project Leader

Manager

Director

VP

Business Owner

Along the path - so different from what I'd envisioned in high school - I continued to support my own AND other people’s growth and development. 

In some ways, I...

This is Patrick. 

Patrick is my miracle, my “baby bean” as we called him when I finally stayed pregnant after several agonizing losses.  

He turned sweet 16 this past weekend and I couldn’t be more proud! 

Every day, this boy reminds me that life is about learning and that we are never ‘done’ developing.  

Developing and learning are about being in awe of the NEW and the FUN:

New music (80’s rock!)

New skills (enrolling in driver’s training)

New interests (CHOOSING to look up articles and videos about key WWII battles after History class)

Developing and learning are about being open to the TOUGH lessons:

Feeling discouraged by cruelty in the world, then getting clarity around personal values 

Making mistakes and falling hard - only to learn what habits work and don’t work

Putting yourself out there - and learning you CAN live through the sting of embarrassment

As adults working in...

How much did you get done today?

That’s the question that puts a chokehold on me some nights as I try to go to sleep.

I’m drawn to the idea of MORE. 

Get MORE done.

Be MORE efficient.

Start MORE new stuff. 

Finish MORE old stuff.

It’s a powerful want and sometimes causes me to lay awake,  re-processing my day, wondering if I got enough done.  How I could have accomplished MORE - and why didn’t I?!   

In my client work, I often see this same pattern of focusing too much on output.  It leads to unhealthy behaviours such as:

• Not spending enough time on rest and leisure
• Not being present with friends and family
• Not moving our bodies

So what is the antidote?  

DECIDE TO TRUST YOURSELF.

• Trust that you know what you need and make choices in line with those needs.   
• Trust that it’s a practice over time and you won’t always get it right.   
• Trust that you can make new...