A powerful combo to get unstuck: slack + support

This post is part of our Monthly-ish Tips series.

This is my second tip in as many weeks, following a choppy cadence for a year, and I am 10 times more confident than I have been in months that a more consistent future lies ahead. Reflecting on what’s different, I’ve uncovered a combination of enablers that are worth sharing for anyone aiming to create any kind of personal change—including the kind of change required to walk the talk of trusted advisorship.

How to stay in touch without completely burning out

This post is part of our Monthly-ish Tips series.

I got an email from a client-turned-colleague-now-also-friend not long ago. It was a spontaneous reach-out and she really nailed it in terms of balancing competing priorities, like how to stay in touch in a genuine and meaningful way without inflicting more video call fatigue—or just plain fatigue—on either of us.

I’ll call her “PJ.” Here’s what PJ wrote:

Please think twice before you ask this question

This post is part of our Monthly-ish Tips series.

There’s a particular question that I have come to hate being asked, starting in about March of 2020. I resist it slightly less now, but only slightly. I’m sharing my further reflections on the matter, not because I like to divulge my idiosyncrasies on these pages (though there is that), or because these Weekly Tips are sometimes my public therapy journal (that, too), but because I think it really matters in terms of how we’re connecting with each other these days—or not.

The (new) 80/20 rule for virtual relationships

This post is part of our Monthly-ish Tips series.

I’m just back from several weeks of staycation. I am refreshed. It’s a new year. Some things have changed. And yet lo and behold: our virtual working reality persists! Colleague Noelle Mykolenko and I did some thinking in late 2020 about how best to build trust under our collective circumstances. I’m thinking a recap that includes all the best practices we came up with would be helpful as everyone’s new normal continues.