I love the Memories feature on Facebook. I see moments that I treasured as my kids were growing up, favorite race memories, and sad moments. This week, I saw a memory from many years ago where I captured the sadness of my kids when my parents’ dog died…" but he was part of our family."  My daughter was surprised that I shared those kinds of moments on Facebook.

Fast-forward to today as I write this. One of my memories from last year was a trip to Austin, TX, for my first business retreat. I remember a coffee outing with two of my old Accenture HR colleagues. Catching up with them was so fun, but it also translated several months later into creating a small group of ex-Accenture HR leaders who have gone out on their own and want to stay connected so we can support each other.

This may sound like an easy question to answer, but I think it's one of the harder ones if we think beyond the immediate moment.

🤔 What do I want from my life?

🤔 What do I want from my job/career?

 🤔 What do I want from my relationships with family and friends?

We are often triggered to shrink back to who and what we think we should be. 

Are you fading into the fabric or standing out?

Are you a connector naturally, or is it something you want to work on?  We can be better at being a connector by listening to the people around us and consciously looking for opportunities of who or what we can connect them with.  It requires us to be intentional in our desire to help someone else find what they’re looking for, maybe even before they recognize it.

Is there a balloon it's time for you to let go of? To give yourself the time and space to figure out the next leg of your career or life journey can be a powerful gift.

Leading ourselves is the foundation for being able to lead others. And, sometimes, the right next step in that leadership is letting go and finding the next balloon when the right one comes along.

Do you run your calendar or are you letting it just happen?

🤔Does your calendar look like overlapping meetings from the time you start your day until it's time to stop working?

🤔Are there important things that aren't showing up on your calendar - upcoming days off, times to plan and reflect, time to eat lunch?

🤔Can you clearly see if your priorities (assuming you know what they are) are showing up on your calendar in the right proportions?

On Thursday evening, I had the opportunity to listen to renowned negotiation expert and Wharton Professor Emeritus, Stuart Diamond, author of the international best seller "Getting More. How You Can Negotiate to Succeed in Work and in Life" share his views on what most of us are doing wrong. His strategies work from getting your young child to take a bath to negotiating business deals to resolving political conflict.

Have you ever been driving and realized you had not been paying attention to where you wanted to go and were driving on auto-pilot? This has happened to me more times than I'd like to admit.

What kind of person are you usually - winging it or uber-prepared? Neither one is better or worse if they get you the desired outcome; they are just different ways of operating. However, if the way you operate causes you stress, that may not be your most successful mode.

As the saying goes, when one door goes, another opens, and that has been my experience, though we don't always see it that way initially.