ISSUE 70 21 JANUARY 2026 | READ ONLINE Hi Reader, Most people think the problem is that they don’t have clear goals. In reality, what I see far more often is this: they have goals, but they’re disconnected from what they actually want. And when that happens, motivation starts to feel like effort, discipline becomes a daily negotiation, and progress gets strangely inconsistent even for people who are very capable. I remember, during my ICF coaching course, the trainer asked the class: Tell me...
13 days ago • 2 min read
ISSUE 69 14 JANUARY 2026 | READ ONLINE Hi Reader, If 2025 was brutal, I’m not going to try to silver-line it. Some years simply don’t feel like "growth". They feel like pressure. Like loss. Like the floorboards cracking under a life you worked hard to build. And if that was you, I want to help reframe this for you into something more practical: 2025 may have been a stress test. Not because the universe is handing out lessons. But because life applies force, and force reveals the true...
20 days ago • 2 min read
ISSUE 68 7 JANUARY 2026 | READ ONLINE Hi Reader, This week, I caught myself doing something that I hate to admit is becoming a bit too familiar. I opened my laptop to write. And somehow, I ended up living inside everyone else’s priorities. A reply here. A quick check there. A calendar shuffle. A tiny decision that became five more. By the time I got back to my original thought, it had gone quiet. And it made me realize something: It’s not always that we’re busy. It’s that we’re being pulled....
27 days ago • 1 min read
ISSUE 67 24 DECEMBER 2025 | READ ONLINE Hi Reader, It’s New Year’s Eve (heck, it might even be New Year's Day by the time you read this). And if you’re waiting to feel “clear” before you move into 2026, then you might be waiting a while. Because clarity doesn’t usually arrive first, it follows action (you might have read this in my book, Clarity in Chaos: Lead with Purpose in Disruptive Times). Stop negotiating with 'ready'. Here’s the leadership trap I see every January: Smart, capable...
about 1 month ago • 1 min read
ISSUE 66 17 DECEMBER 2025 | READ ONLINE Hi Reader, If leadership feels heavier than it used to, it’s probably not because you’ve become less capable. More often, it’s because you’re carrying too much. Whether that's too many expectations, too many frameworks, too many competing narratives about what good leadership should look like, all while navigating situations that are far more human, ambiguous, and emotionally charged than any model ever accounts for. A useful question sits underneath...
about 2 months ago • 2 min read
ISSUE 65 10 DECEMBER 2025 | READ ONLINE Hi Reader, I picked up a dog-eared 2011 copy of Flourish for $2 at my local library book sale this week (plus a 1,500-piece puzzle for the family to work on over the holidays). The book has bent corners. Underlines. Someone else’s notes tucked into the margins. I expected it to feel dated. It didn’t. It feels uncomfortably current. Because as I closed the book, it made me think of something. Why can things be going so well and still not feel as alive as...
about 2 months ago • 1 min read
ISSUE 64 3 DECEMBER 2025 | READ ONLINE Hi Reader, I’ve been quieter here the past few weeks. London, then drifting through Europe by plane and train, then suddenly it was Thanksgiving, and without much ceremony, we were right at the doorway of December. What I didn’t expect was how different everything felt once I slowed down. Wandering along the waterfront in Stockholm. Watching landscapes blur outside train windows in Switzerland. Standing in unfamiliar streets in Italy, with nowhere I...
2 months ago • 3 min read
ISSUE 63 7 NOVEMBER 2025 | READ ONLINE Hi Reader, I’ve been sitting with my Q3 retrospective this week. Six goals. Three green. Three red. It looks satisfyingly symmetrical in Notion. My inner overachiever, however, had some questions. Part of me wanted to call it a 50 percent success rate and move briskly on. Another part wanted to zoom in, interrogate every red, and start rewriting my system. And then there was the slightly smug voice that whispered: “Maybe Q4 should be easier. Fewer reds....
3 months ago • 3 min read
ISSUE 62 29 OCTOBER 2025 | READ ONLINE Hi Reader, It’s Wednesday. And I’m staring at my Notion page. It's where I set my weekly goals. Usually, I do this on Sundays. I write a few intentions for the week, anchor them to my quarterly themes, and start Monday knowing what matters. But this week, the page is still blank. Did I mention it's Wednesday? It’s not that I’ve been avoiding it. I’ve just paused. Because every time I sit down to write, nothing feels quite right. And it’s made me wonder...
3 months ago • 2 min read