Weekly Badass Mail

I complain about our health insurance every single time it changes. And if you asked me to explain exactly what changed, I’d need to pull up the packet and stare at it for a while. Please tell me I’m not the only one. This came up in my conversation with Gayle Martin on The Balanced Badass Podcast® this week. Gayle spent 27 years working in group benefits before starting TrueNorth Benefits Strategy, so she knows this stuff inside and out. At one point, we started talking about how many...

I found a way to make dinner require one decision instead of 400, and I’m testing it for the next few weeks. Because I’m gonna be honest, the question what do you want for dinner gets under my skin in a way that’s probably unfair to my husband. By that point in the day, I’ve made decisions about clients, content, money, the business, the dogs, the house, and whatever else my anxious Type A brain decided needed a full contingency plan. I would like one part of my life where I’m not in charge...

You may already know you’re ready for something different. But I’m curious about what you need “different” to mean. That can tell you a lot more than another night spent scrolling job postings or thinking up 10 elaborate "what-if" scenarios in your head. A new title can look promising while leaving the original problem untouched. You could change companies and still have no control over your work. You could leave your specialty and end up bored in a different role. Maybe you find a mission...

I can’t remember who I was meeting with when my mom called the first time. I don’t remember what office I was in or what the meeting was about. I only remember that I didn’t answer. My dad had stage 4 esophageal cancer. It had moved quickly. I was in North Carolina and my parents were in Pennsylvania. And I was doing what a lot of high performers do when life is falling apart in the background. I was trying to manage what I could from far away while still being fully functional at work....

I do not like needing help. Like, at all. When I quite my corporate job, I knew the math. Jae (my husband) and I had talked about it. We had a plan. I didn't just wake up one day and decide to blow up our whole life for funsies. But still. There was this part of my brain that couldn't get over the fact that, for a while, Jae was going to be the main source of income in our house. And that felt bad. Not because he made me feel bad. I want to make that very clear. And it wasn't because we...

It's not too late to sign up for The Career Reboot Group Intensive on August 16th! This is a 2-hour live group coaching session for burned-out professionals who are tired of spinning in the same “Should I stay, should I leave, what is wrong with me?” loop. We’ll use my 5 Cs framework to figure out what’s driving your burnout, what’s still fixable, and what kind of next move makes sense for your real life. You’ll leave with language for what’s been happening, a clearer read on your options,...

I was interviewed last week for a podcast opportunity, and at one point the interviewer asked me a question that made my brain do a full record scratch. She asked, basically: Do you believe coaching is your life’s purpose? And listen, I know the expected answer. This is the part where I’m supposed to say, “Yes, absolutely, I was put on this earth to do this work, every hard thing I’ve lived through led me here,” cue the soft crescendo music and the tears. But that’s not what I said. What I...

You’re not staring at one door. You’re staring at four. In this week’s episode of The Balanced Badass Podcast® I break down why your brain keeps blanking when you try to plan your next move, and what to do about the fog before you make any decisions. But there’s one part of the episode I want to go deeper on, because it’s the piece I watch change everything when someone actually uses it. When people picture leaving a job, they picture one thing. The cliff. A single terrifying leap into...

My best friend from high school texted to cancel our girls’ trip only a few weeks before we were set to all meet up in Virginia. Her dad went on hospice, and none of us know how much time he has left. So the group chat conspired without her and decided to cancel this year’s trip and just bring the trip to her. I drove 12 hours to sit in her living room and hug her. Not once did I check whether the drive was a good use of my time. No metric made hugging my best friend the smart play. And...