As part of my morning routine, I select a reflection card from a deck I had bought for my business (View Changer cards). One of the cards this week read, "What do I need to let go of to create room for what really matters?" My first reaction was…ooh, that's a really good question so I'm now sharing it with you to consider.

I believe we are meant to love the work that we do. Most of us spend at least 1/3 of each work day focused on our job. That's a huge part of our life. Add in that a big part of another 1/3 is spent sleeping. If we don't love how we spend that 1/3 of our time, we're missing out on fully experiencing our best life.

So often, we might lead with what didn't go well vs. what went right.  As an achievement-focused individual, I always focus on what I could do better or differently.  I want to be the best version of myself or accomplish what I believe is possible.  But I'm working on focusing on what's going right more than what I need to change.

This week has included many conversations about busyness, planning, and the power of the pause. When was the last time you carved out time to reflect on how things are going?

So many leaders I speak with care about their teams and want to help them thrive while driving strong business results. The challenge I see is that those same people-focused, dedicated leaders are tired. Their energy stores are often close to depleted.

We need our energy stores at full capacity so that we can:

Present effectively to a client or customer

Synthesize data and draw appropriate conclusions

Evaluate the health of a project

Identify new ideas or continuous improvement opportunities

How do you make your best decisions? Is it through analysis? Is it by playing out all of the scenarios? Is it by trusting your gut? All of those ways of making decisions are important, but trusting what your gut is telling you often is the best final step.

Have you ever made a decision and then realized it was the wrong one, and you realized you didn't listen to your gut? I know I have.

According to my Google search, success is defined as "the accomplishment of an aim or purpose." When asked what our definition of success is, the answers are varied but may hit some common themes:

How has your first half gone? Probably like many of you, I've had some highs and some lows, sometimes feeling like I'm on a roller coaster stuck when I'm hanging upside down!

It's so important to ensure we are checking in with ourselves on a regular basis, weekly, monthly, and quarterly so we can assess how things are going.

We always have a choice if we want to operate in the box and color inside the lines or if we want to get rid of the box and color the way we think looks beautiful. It’s our choice.

We can start with the blank piece of paper and decide if there is even a box or lines to color within.