As I mentioned last week, my daughter moved into her new freshman dorm last week and is getting acclimated to this new chapter in her life journey. As I've been following Facebook posts in a parents group for students, I've seen a lot of messaging about children who are struggling with making the adjustment to a new environment. I had a sense my daughter was doing ok from the quick texts she had sent, but I finally got a chance for a live conversation on Thursday.

I mentioned what I was seeing, and she was pretty blunt as she often is with her perspective.

This week brings another change in our household. Both of our kids have finished their summer jobs at the beach and have transitioned into their new "homes" for the year. The good news for me is that they'll actually be closer while in school than they've been this summer which means I may get some ad hoc meals with them throughout the semester.

Who do you want to be when you grow up?

If you’re not sure, that’s ok.  No matter what age you are.  I know I still ask myself this question on a regular basis.

I want to know the mark I’m going to make on the world around me.  I want my life to have made an impact.

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: