Organizational Clients
A few weeks ago, I received a welcomed email from some friends in KC. Back in the day, over a decade ago, these same friends were in a book club. Our club would convene once a month to discuss the book and to catch up about life. It usually involved several bottles of wine and way too many apps that equated to dinner. It was always an eventful and informative evening.
Life happened. People moved, got married, had children, and the book club phased out. In her email, my friend and her husband suggested we bring back our infamous book club, only virtually.
We are now two months into quarantine and two books into our reimagined book club. As an extrovert and a planner, the covid reality is hard, but our current situation has allowed a widely dispersed group to connect again. We have folks in LA, KC, Chicago, NY and DC. Getting that email and reestablishing our routine was a silver lining for me. What a gift.
#gratitude #leadershipdevelopment #reflection #careercoaching #career
#djhreflections
#photographybydjh
#newyorkcity #freedomtower
Such a pleasure being a coach for the Inclusive Leadership class at @nyustern. #inclusiveleadership #leadershipdevelopment #reflection #inclusiveleadership #gratitude #nyustern
My father and I were recently emailing. He mentioned he wished he had not wished for the new year. I understood the sentiment.
But wishing for a better year wasn't necessarily a bad thing. Last year was really hard on a lot of different fronts. This year is surreal and we can't control for it. What we can affect, is how we approach things and our attitude around it.
I'm scared a bit. I bet you are too. I know I don't deal so well with uncertainty. What I'm hoping for is to try to live each day doing the best I can, finding a bit of gratitude, and not letting myself go down a negative spiral. I'll have good days and bad days. I'll have good moments and bad moments. Most of all I'll do my best to be hopeful.
I don't even know what that hope looks like yet. But I hope I'm part of the force that leaves this world in a slightly better place. The alternative doesn't work for me.
#djhreflections #reflection #leadershipdevelopment #coaching #careercoaching #photographybydjh #namibia #spitzkoppe
I know now isn’t an easy time for a lot of people. It is stressful, scary, and incredibly uncertain. I also recognize that things could be far worse for me as I have a lot of privilege. I am able to go to the store and afford to be able to stock up on supplies. I have the luxury to work from home. I am not balancing taking care of children while all of this is going on. The list goes on and on.
I still believe there is a lesson in almost every situation life throws at us. Maybe right now I am supposed to learn more about compassion, community, or calmness. I am not sure yet. I am seeing the good that people are doing during this crisis (follow @tanksgoodnews if you want more). I am hopeful that this might lead to more social programs around paid sick leave for hourly workers. On a personal note, I am feeling the love of my friends and family. So in this topsy turvy world, I'm trying to find the lesson that I am meant to learn from this and every experience.
#djhreflections #reflection #leadershipdevelopment #coaching #careercoaching #photographybydjh #halfmoonbay #bayarea #california
I spent the weekend in KC with my family and decided to do a little volunteering with my Dad. He arranged for us to spend the morning helping provide breakfast to those in the community that needed it. The room was full with a diverse group of people: many races, a range of ages, some people with their families, others by themselves, some able-bodied, some that needed assistance. I kept wondering about the individual stories and what had brought them there that day. It made me want to find out more. It made me want to listen. It made me realize that everyone of us has a story to tell, if only we did a better job of listening.
In many ways, I think that we have lost our way a bit because we have forgotten how to listen to others. We forget that we are all going through our own journey. Some harder than others, but we all have our own story. For me, it reinforced the point that I need to show up for something bigger than myself and for that I am very grateful (and to spend a lovely morning with my wonderful father :). #djhreflections
#reflection
#leadershipdevelopment
#coaching
#careercoaching
#photographybydjh
#newyorkcity
I’m a fairly goal oriented person. Once I know the direction I want to go, I go after it piece by piece. Sometimes the direction isn't so clear. When that happens, my mom calls me a floundering fish. Kind of like a fish out of water, bouncing all over the place, just trying to get out of the situation and back into the water.
And sometimes even when I do know what I want to do, it feels like I'm not doing enough to move myself forward. It can be pretty overwhelming.
How I help myself is to do a little each day to move closer towards one of my goals. It eases the floundering and ensures I am moving a little closer to the water I want to be in.
#djhreflections
#reflection #gratitude #leadershipdevelopment #coaching #careercoaching
I saw someone recently whom I hadn’t seen in a couple of years. She said that I seemed very put together and I laughed out loud. Like a big belly laugh.
I'm not saying that I haven’t accomplished things that I’m proud of, but I’m not sure I would define myself as “put together.” There are lots of people who, at least from the outside, have it more put together than me. Social media epitomizes this as most of the posts we put up are the best things in our lives, not the worst. The perception of me from the outside isn’t exactly how I’m always feeling on the inside and it is so easy to compare your insides to other peoples’ outsides.
How much does this get in the way of building our own self-confidence? Or being empathetic to others if we think everything on their end is perfect? So, here I am, showing you my insides in hopes that it helps you with yours.
#djhreflections #reflection #gratitude #leadershipdevelopment #coaching #careercoaching
In the summer, I had a bit of an intervention with a family member. In February, he was diagnosed with Parkinson's and the prognosis took a toll on him. I recommended that he start doing things that helped give him perspective and made him grateful. He started a daily gratitude list that he sends out to a few people every day. It was easy to advise him, and yet, I know how challenging it is to do the same for yourself during difficult times.
I know we need to experience valleys in order to take advantage of those beautiful vantage points. But you have to take the time through self care to build smoother paths to make the climb out a little easier.
#djhreflections #reflection #gratitude #leadershipdevelopment #coaching #careercoaching
Who would have thought that being kind to yourself was so difficult? I'm learning about gremlins. The little voices in your head that tell you, "You aren't good enough," "You can't do this," "You don't deserve this." They are quite paralyzing and sometimes we don't see them hiding under the bed. The first step is recognizing that they are there and from there learning how to replace unkindness with understanding. I'm slowly learning how to be kinder to myself.
#djhreflections #reflection #gratitude #leadershipdevelopment #coaching #careercoaching