Last week’s Pulse was about when it might be worth re-activating an old idea. This week’s Pulse is about pausing or dropping an active idea, project, or routine.

In this case, my decision to pause and/or retire the Weekly Pulse is the concrete example to cash out the idea. Given that we recently celebrated the 500th Pulse, there’s considerable inertia to keep it going.

Let’s start with the historical Why of the Pulse:

1. In years past, we were producing considerably more content: internal podcasts, external podcasts, and multiple posts per week. Readers couldn’t keep up.

2. We didn’t send all new content out to all subscribers. Given #1, I was concerned about content fatigue and being in people’s Inbox with too many long posts.

3. We had a different business model, in a different era of social blogging.

4. I had different views about in-content placement of our offers, at the same time that we didn't have the ecosystem of offers that we do now.

A lot’s changed in ten years.

Here’s where we are today:

1. I’m doing much more deep advising work with more clients.

2. I’m older and don't have the writing stamina and focus that I used to.

3. The topics that I write about now are more complex and nuanced.

4. Our readers have matured along with us, both professionally and personally.

5. The media/content landscape is much louder, jarring, and exhausting.

6. I feel like I’m past the “proving/performing” stage of my career. I’m not trying to get a seat at the table or proving why I deserve to be here/there. I do great work, on work and missions I care about, with people I care about — and my work isn’t my identity.

That last point got more air time because it’s much more of the organizing principle for where I am these days. The honest reckoning I’ve been thrashing with over the last couple of years is that so much of my overproduction and overworking has been tied to deeply internalized socialization around having to be best in class just to get a chance to play.

That’s the shadow side of the era of Black Excellence I was molded in and didn’t know it and thus couldn’t unpack it until I couldn’t carry it anymore. But that’s a much deeper conversation for another day and context.

This summer’s writing has been easy and difficult at the same time. It was easy because I’m closest to my own experiences and thoughts. It was difficult because every week, I’ve wondered whether the content I was sharing fit the content of the Pulse. The more reflective and sharing-what-I’m-living Pulses didn’t feel like they were “enough” (whatever that means) and as I’ve shifted back into my August and fall vibe, the more prescriptive Pulses didn’t feel like they were Pulses because they could’ve been standalone posts (whatever that means).

My thrashing about this simple question — “Is this a Pulse or nah?” — led me down some backways to the destination that the Pulse as a weekly container has outlived its usefulness. It’s displacing other, higher-value work that clients, colleagues, teammates, and my inner muses are hounding me about, at the same time that it’s creating an artificial urgency that's no longer worth the cost.

That we’ve done something more than 500 times doesn’t mean that it makes sense to keep doing it. It could’ve been the wrong thing to focus on for the 500+ iterations before. It could’ve been exactly the right thing to do for those 500+ iterations. Either way, I can’t make a strong enough case to prioritize it over other projects. As I said in Start Finishing: to trade up, you have to let go.

So I’m indefinitely pausing the Pulse and am open to this being the last Pulse. I’m also open to conditions changing and/or getting information that shows that it’s doing more work for all of us and deserves to get back into the project cagematch.

I may end up publishing weekly-ish or may fall into a different cadence that creates some breathing room to work on the books that I’m being hounded about. And a major part of bookwork that I want to get better at is bridging between books and doing a better job of bringing early readers into the journey. This takes a lot of time but is time well spent.

I’ll also keep experimenting with non-performative sharing-what-I’m-living when it serves the work. Last week’s Pulse is an example of what it looks like when I’ve edited my journey out of the content, though the actual impetus of that post was stuff my clients and I were/are grappling with.

I’m looking forward to seeing where this goes. There’s a gift in not knowing.

Over to you:

Is there a project or routine you’ve been doing for years that no longer serves its original purpose? What’s keeping you from letting it go?

~Charlie

2026 Digital Momentum Planner Available Now!

That’s right! Our beloved Momentum Planner Digital Pack is back in its 2026 Edition.

Get Your 2026 Planner Pack Today!

Just like in previous years, the 2026 pack includes yearly, quarterly, monthly, weekly, and daily dated pages — 435 in all — for just $18. (Your purchase also includes the remainder of 2025’s planners at no additional cost.)

We also have available an updated version of the Momentum Planning Bundle, which includes the 2026 Planner Pack, the Momentum Planning E-Course, and the Start Finishing Field Guide ebook — a $54 value at the special bundle price of $39.

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Catch Up on August, Join Us in September

August replays:

• Monthly Momentum Call replay is processing; it will be available next week.

• In case you missed this month’s Leadership Strategy Session, you can check out the highlights here:

September’s sessions are on the books! Join us for:

• Leadership Strategy Session: September 3, 2025, 11:00am PDT

• Monthly Momentum Call: September 17, 2025, 11:00am PDT

Not a paid subscriber yet? Now’s a great time to join, even for the month.

Just because you dismissed or dropped an idea or project in the past doesn’t mean that it’s not worth being a priority in the present.

Yes, that’s obvious, but decision inertia can be powerful. I’ve seen plenty of people and teams overlook an idea, project, or initiative simply because they decided in the past not to do it.

But here’s the thing: dismissing or dropping something in the past may have been the right thing to do based upon the conditions and priorities at the time. Putting it on deck now may be exactly the right thing to do because of current conditions and priorities.

The real work is to articulate to yourself what’s different now that makes the idea worth pushing forward.

If nothing has changed, suspicion is warranted.

If it’s a personal project, though, the fact that it’s a boomerang that keeps coming back to you that you want to do or feel called to do is enough.

If it’s a project that requires teamwork to push forward, it’s important to articulate to your team what’s changed. Teams and organizations have three counterposing habits that are relevant to mention here:

1. Resurrecting pet projects from yesteryear.

2. Increasing scope or complexity, with little reflection about how (or even if) the increased scope and complexity drive strategic progress.

3. Under-acknowledging increased core competencies, assets, and strategic progress.

If it’s #1 or #2, suspicion is warranted. Better to subtract than add.

If it’s #3, though, it may be that you’ve built the readiness to implement an idea that you previously would’ve been unable to do. Celebrate this and put the idea on the board, because even if you decide not to do it, the fact that you’ve built the capability to do it is worth discussing.

What idea, project, or initiative is bubbling back up for you or your team? Why’d you decide to drop or pause it? What’s changed that may make it worth putting on deck now?

Sometimes the smartest move isn’t to chase a new idea, but to reconsider an old one.

~Charlie

2026 Digital Momentum Planner Launches Next Week!

That’s right! Our beloved Momentum Planner Digital Pack, 2026 Edition, will be available next week, Tuesday, August 19. Mark your calendars, and BOLO (be on the lookout)!

On Tuesday, you’ll be able to pick up your 2026 PDF pack — which includes yearly, quarterly, monthly, weekly, and daily dated pages — for just $18. (Your purchase also includes the remainder of 2025’s planners at no additional cost.)

(We’ll also have available an updated version of the Momentum Planning Bundle, which includes the 2026 Planner Pack, the Momentum Planning E-Course, and the Start Finishing Field Guide ebook — a $54 value at the special bundle price of $39.)

Charlie and Team Habits on the Biz Book Broadcast

I was on the Biz Book Broadcast recently, chatting with host Liz Scully about how “Coffee Matters More Than Systems for Teams.”

You can catch the replay on your favorite podcast player:

Apple | Spotify | Audible | and others

You Can Still Join Us in August

Monthly Momentum Call (MMC): Wednesday, August 20, 2025, at 11:00 am PDT:

• Summer Brain Meets Fall Pressure Your creative projects don't snap back to attention just because everyone's talking about "getting back to business." Learn to transition from summer dreaming to fall execution without forcing unnecessary busyness or fighting your actual energy levels.

• And in case you missed this month’s Leadership Strategy Session, you can check out the highlights here:

Not a paid subscriber yet? Now’s a great time to join, even for the month.

“What productivity tip have you tried that hasn’t worked for you?”

Laura Vanderkam’s question for her Before Breakfast podcast had me at a loss for words, which doesn’t happen that often. The Zeignarik effect kicks in really quickly for me and when something doesn’t work for me, I drop and forget it.

After a few moments of thinking about the question, I recalled that earlier that morning, I had an epiphany that removing the whiteboards from my office walls was likely having a large effect on my ability to shift into working on strategic/future-building projects.

Back in January, Angela and I swapped offices as an experiment. We very quickly realized we needed to revert back to our original offices, but I intentionally didn’t put stuff back up on my walls. I had 15 years of add-ons and cruft and it felt nice to have a clean, minimalist slate to work from. The 4’ x 8’ whiteboard I had on the wall also dictated where my chair and desk could go, so not putting it up gave me maximum flexibility with re-envisioning my office flow.

Fast forward a few months and I liked not having the “noise” of multiple whiteboards and corkboards. I got rid of them, with the agreement that if I really wanted them back, I could buy them again. It’s unlikely that I would buy a whiteboard that big since I no longer routinely drew on it for client meetings.

In the meantime, I’d try to replace all that whiteboard and corkboard noise with digital tools.

A few days ago, I realized how hard it was for me to figure out what my actual monthly goals were for the month that was ending. I felt scattered and incoherent, which is unusual for me. I eventually did surface those monthly goals, but only after a minute or two of mentally wading through a stream of activities and fishing them out of the stream.

Needless to say, I didn’t make much progress on the book I started working on in June. It’s been frozen since we went to Glacier National Park. I have lots of idea seeds captured from July, but very little progress on them. This summer fallow cycle is pretty normal for me, so I’m not overly critical about it.

What was different this year was how diffuse my progress was. I typically have a good idea of what significant project I’ve actively paused and, when I have some bonus time, I pick up that project. I may only drive that project a third of the way I normally do, but I’m still intentionally driving it forward and staying in the mix.

Instead of driving one project a third of the way forward, I ended up driving ten projects 3% forward.

Driving ten projects 3% forward is not satisfying and not just because of a myopic imperative to finish a project and/or “be productive.” Given my new vision for how I’m going to publish books, 30% forward on the frozen book would’ve been enough to start sharing it more broadly.

Whenever I end up with so many barely started projects, I know that I’m going to have the cocktail of magical thinking, overwhelm, regret, frustration, and resignation that is my flavor of thrashing.

On the other side of thrashing, I’ll actually start kicking off the rust and rebuild the systems, habits, and routines that help me drive my best work projects forward. But I now know this: keeping all of my goals and aspirations in digital spaces doesn’t work for me.

I need the persistent, external visual cues and reminders so that what matters most to me gets my conscious and unconscious attention throughout the day. Sure, some of what was on those whiteboards and corkboards was noise, but there were more lighthouses and beacons there than mere static. It’s now apparent to me that those boards held my version of the annual, quarterly, and monthly perspectives of the Momentum Planners, with the weekly and daily perspectives being handled by my weekly planning process and calendar.

Our Momentum Planners are built to handle this sort of perspective management in you planning. And we’ve got digital and physical versions to suit your preferred planning style.

You can pick up the 2025 Digital Planner Pack right now for $18 and plan a strong finish to your 2025.

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Or if you prefer pen-to-paper planning, we still have a limited stock of the printed and bound Momentum Planner available.

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So I fumbled through an answer about keeping my goals and projects in digital tools because that’s what hasn’t worked for me. Upon reflection, I could say a few more things, but sharing those aren't nearly as interesting to me as instigating you with the following question:

Did you accidentally pause or eliminate a system, habit, or routine that helped you do your best work?

It’s likely something subtle or seemingly inconsequential like:

• Converting a pivotal focus block into a social or admin block.

• Trying a new bright, shiny object instead of using your go-to tool or app.

• No longer sharing this week’s projects with your teammates or boss.

If you did, there’s no need to have a bunch of head trash about it. It’s already the time of the year to be transitioning back into your normal grooves, upgrading habits, and rebuilding success packs.

I hope this helps you wake back up to what works for you more gently than the long-term consequences of not doing what works for you.

~Charlie

Because it's the end of the month, I'm going to switch from the reflective/journal style Pulses I've been writing this summer to reminding you of August's peculiarity.

Think about it: the emotional part of most seasonal shifts happens in the transitions between months.

August is different in that it pulls us in opposite directions. We're still planning summer fun while also thinking about fall schedules and responsibilities. It's jarring to hold both mindsets at once.

There's also an intensity shift that happens mid-month. The slow summer pace suddenly accelerates as we try to cram in those last summer activities while simultaneously preparing for back-to-work/school demands.

It's not just you. I'm writing this not to snatch your summer away, but in hopes that the weirdness and intensity shift doesn't sneak up on you.

The resources below will help you navigate the shift, whenever it happens.

~Charlie

Navigate August's Intensity Shift

• Your summer schedule likely won't serve you well in the fall. Use August to experiment with new routines and energy patterns before the intensity of September hits, giving yourself time to adjust what's working and what isn't.

• Summer's slower pace might have left some projects stuck in a tarpit. August offers the perfect opportunity to assess what's been stalled and decide what deserves your renewed focus as momentum builds toward year-end.

• August is an ideal time to revisit your Annual Optempo Wheel. As the intensity shifts mid-month and fall ramps up, having explicit conversations about the coming months' pace helps everyone prepare for the acceleration rather than react to it. (Note: This tool works just as well for mapping your individual rhythms and energy patterns throughout the year.)

• August provides a natural reset point to establish consistent communication rhythms before fall's busier season arrives, helping teams stay aligned and individuals stay accountable to their goals.

Free subscribers: now might also be a great time for you to give our paid subscription a try. $10 a month will get you all these resources, our two monthly calls, the full digital suite of Momentum Planners, and more. Cancel anytime.

Join Us in August

Mark your calendars for our August events, open to our paid subscribers:

• Leadership Strategy Session (LSS): Wednesday, August 6, 2025, at 11:00 am PDT
  Reboarding Without the Whiplash August is two months in one — late-summer ease colliding with urgent fall prep. Help your team navigate this transition with steadiness, clarifying priorities and resetting rhythms before September's full weight hits.

• Monthly Momentum Call (MMC): Wednesday, August 20, 2025, at 11:00 am PDT
  Summer Brain Meets Fall Pressure Your creative projects don't snap back to attention just because everyone's talking about "getting back to business." Learn to transition from summer dreaming to fall execution without forcing unnecessary busyness or fighting your actual energy levels.

August Momentum Planners

The Momentum Planners were built to keep your most important work front and center. Download the free version of our August planners to help you determine what actions and ideas are serving you, and which need a retool going into the second half of the year.

Paid subscribers can access the full suite of dated planners below. 👇 If you don’t see them, please make sure you’re logged in to your paid account.

If you don’t have a paid subscription yet, now’s a great time to upgrade.

Read more

Over the winter break, I injured my right forearm while golfing with my siblings-in-law. That’s likely the bougiest line I’m going to write in a while, and I can’t tell if my ancestors would be proud or embarrassed.

My pain levels from the injury have been increasing for the last few weeks. Given that it's a forearm injury, it makes doing a lot of my historical go-tos a much different choice: instead of just "do I want to do this?" it's "is doing this worth the pain?" And that shift in the question has revealed more than I expected.

Because of the injury, I'm not playing video games nearly as much, which has made me realize that I'm unsure if I ever really enjoyed them. They were just an activity I could do with the time, money, and energy I had. I also realized that playing video games came from my childhood of being alone, unable to go anywhere, and bored. It was better than TV, especially since we couldn't afford cable, and there were only so many encyclopedias I could read or books I wanted to read that I could get from the school library.

The gift of pain in this case is that it's helped me drop an activity, and I'm unsure that I'm going back. Pain also flares up when I use my phone for more than a few minutes, which also suits me. I haven't gone back to my previous uses since the Glacier National Park trip in part because it’s not worth the pain to do so.

Working at my desk too long triggers the same pain. Feeling the pain while working is a much better incentive to stop than knowing it's going to catch up with me later. “Later me” is in much less pain and much less frustrated with past me who punted the pain.

Unfortunately, the pain flares can keep me from writing, and writing too much can sometimes create the flares. The interesting point here is that I miss writing and get super frustrated when I can't.

With the other activities, my vibe is mostly "Good. I don't want to be doing that anyway." But with writing, I despair and get demoralized. I don’t just miss the activity; I miss the part of myself that comes alive through it.

The gift of pain in the writing scenario is that it revealed something that matters to me deeply. And choosing to do the other activities I’m okay with not doing can keep me from writing, which I’m NOT okay with not doing.1

Writing is apparently important enough to me to keep doing because, in the case of writing, “later me” is more on board with the “past me” who kept writing through the pain. (To a limit)

My forearm pain hasn't been a limiting factor to road trips on either the motorcycle or in the car, though neck pain can often limit how much I can ride the motorcycle. In those instances, it feels closer to how I feel when I can't write.

While I'd much rather not be in pain, I can recognize the gift of it. I also recognize that I'm in a middle-aged season where I can still appreciate it. In a few more decades, the pain will feel more like a curse I'm ready to be rid of, barring significant medical advances.

I've focused this piece on physical pain, but I've been thinking about how this extends to emotional pain and distress. Just as physical pain shows us what activities we truly value versus what we've merely gotten used to, emotional pain and distress point to something we care deeply about, or, even worse and more meta, they point to something we feel or believe we should care deeply about. To tie in Michael Franti, that’s how life reminds us we’re alive.

Better to care and hurt than go numb and forget how to live.

As I work my way through this injury, I hope I can relieve the pain for good. But I also hope I don't lose the gifts I've accrued from the pain. They’ve helped me remember what’s worth my time, energy, attention, and care.

~Charlie

Take a Moment

What pain — physical or emotional — has helped you let go of something you didn’t really love? Or shown you what you can’t live without?

We’d love to hear what’s coming up for you.

Leave a comment

August Events & July Recaps

Mark your calendars for our August events, open to our paid subscribers:

• Leadership Strategy Session (LSS): Wednesday, August 6, 2025, at 11:00 am PDT
  Reboarding Without the Whiplash August is two months in one — late-summer ease colliding with urgent fall prep. Help your team navigate this transition with steadiness, clarifying priorities and resetting rhythms before September's full weight hits.

• Monthly Momentum Call (MMC): Wednesday, August 20, 2025, at 11:00 am PDT
  Summer Brain Meets Fall Pressure Your creative projects don't snap back to attention just because everyone's talking about "getting back to business." Learn to transition from summer dreaming to fall execution without forcing unnecessary busyness or fighting your actual energy levels.

And, in case you missed our July events or want to revisit the insights, you can find those recaps here:

Not a paid subscriber yet? Now’s a great time to sign up and join us for one or both of these monthly gatherings.

Earlier this week, I helped an elderly woman get up and into her house after she fell while gardening.

Her house is enroute to the coffee shop and I've walked past it thousands of times at this point. We've waved and said good morning, but fell into the social contract of being familiar strangers.

Familiar strangers are people you "know" through repeated encounters, but have no idea who they really are. Most of the time, you don't know their names and they don't know yours.

I’ve been thinking about familiar strangers a lot since then. The concept resurfaced for me when I read Me, Myself, and Us earlier this year, and it's connected to my contemplation about our deepening political animosity, social fabric, and the role each of us plays in the quiet, communal work of rebuilding civil society.

What fascinates me are the choice moments to move from familiar strangers to first-name "neighbors" or "acquaintances." Transitions are fascinating to me; relational transitions, even moreso.

The day I helped Vicky get into her house, I also met Katya, her next-door neighbor. Katya contacted Vicky’s family and checked on Vicky later. I've seen Katya and watched her adorable daughter grow up in timeslices of moments multiple times per month. We'd wave and Katya had let me pass in front of or behind her car as she'd been coming in and out of her driveway.

The reason both are now first-name neighbors is because there was a self-evident reason for us to know each other's names. On the way to the coffee shop, instead of just giving Katya the neighborly wave as she was watering her plants, which we'd done scores of times, I said "Good morning, Katya." And we shared a few Vicky updates.

There's an elderly man who goes on a brisk walk every morning around the same time that I encounter at least three times a week, despite us not knowing each other's schedules. We know each other's patterns, clothes, gaits, and body types, but not each other's names.

For the past few months, I've thought about stopping him to at least get his name. I see him more than I see any of my neighbors or friends; it feels weird not to know his name.

I feel especially called to learn the names of older people in my community, for they're often forgotten about and slowly fade away. It comes from the same impulse as learning Derek's name.

There are a few couples and people at the coffee shop who I've been on the fence with for a few quarters now. I don't want the coffee shop to become a place where I'm negotiating three or four conversations while I'm trying to write. A wave and good morning are plenty good for now, yet I remain curious about when or if the transition to first-name is going to happen and why.

I'll give Jeff, another coffee shop regular, a hi and nod before I leave. I know he comes to sort his email and think about what he's going to do at Mozilla today. And also that this is his refuge from dad-land for a bit, as he has a new daughter to go with the adorable daughter, who I've also seen grow up in time slices. I don't know his daughters’ names or his wife's name because I haven’t wanted to interrupt them during family time.

Perhaps just wanting to know and see his life is sufficient enough reason to ask and trade a few more familiar strangers (his wife and daughters) for first-name neighbors.

At the same time, as I think about what Jeff and I are here to do, I appreciate the unconscious paradigm of familiar strangers and whatever status Jeff and I are in. They allow us to be with and around other people we know we're safe with, without having the standing obligation to engage in a certain way every time we see each other.

We don’t need to make familiar strangers or first-name neighbors more than they are. They don’t have to become friends or projects.

That distance, oddly enough, gives us the space to be different, live life in our own way, and still belong.

~Charlie

Take a Moment

Who are the familiar strangers that create the quiet backdrop of your routine? How do these repeated encounters, even without names or deeper conversation, contribute to your sense of belonging and community?

We’d love to hear what’s coming up for you.

Leave a comment

The Quiet Threads of Community

Sometimes the path to stronger community starts with the smallest gestures — a morning greeting, a moment of presence, or simply choosing to see the people around us.

Events: Catch Up on July, and Join Us in August

Leadership Strategy Sessions (LSS)

• July Session Recap Available: Leading When Calendar Time Breaks — strategies for guiding your team through the mismatch between what the calendar suggests and where your team actually is

• Mark your calendar for the next LSS: Wednesday, August 6, at 11am PDT

Monthly Momentum Calls (MMC)

• July Replay Coming Soon: Navigating the Summer Paradox — we talked about working with July's scattered energy while keeping important projects moving forward

• Mark your calendar for the next MMC: Wednesday, August 20, at 11am PDT

Not a paid subscriber yet? Now’s a great time to sign up and join us for one or both of these monthly gatherings.

"Glacier National Park doesn't have any cell coverage and there's not going to be WiFi in the lodge, either. Is that going to work for the weekend?"

There was a lot underneath Angela's report and question. In most of our recent camping and travel adventures, I'd been integrating work and nature time. That's partially how we've been able to see and do as much as we have over the last two years.

But since our last trip, I'd been investigating the cost of the juggle. In my ideal world, I'd update the principle I shared in 2009 in What We Gave Up When We Gained Abundance: when in nature, minimize clock time and get as disconnected as possible. National park visits are especially catalytic for me if I allow myself to sink into them.

So not only would the lack of cell and WiFi work for me, it also made seeing my intention through so much easier. My devices wouldn't have a job, so I could turn them off and put them away for a few days. Powered off, out of sight, out of mind — which means my attention and wonderings would be focused on being present and experiencing the awe in front of us.

I replied, "That's a feature, not a bug. Almost everything I need to do can wait until Tuesday anyway."

After doing a video session and coordination from the Coeur D'Alene library Thursday afternoon, I put my devices in the work backpack I brought. My cafe bag had my FreeWrite Traveler in it since that's what I journal on. If an idea or reflection hit me, I had everything I needed.

Given how little I knew about Glacier National Park, I was fully ready to experience whatever it offered.

Saturday morning, Angela looked over at me, a bit puzzled and surprised.

"I'm actually able to connect to the WiFi at the lodge."

Saturday's small chance of rain had turned into a long rain starting Friday night. Angela was trying to get an update on the weather and figure out what we were going to do for the day.

The WiFi update came before I had meditated and really woken up. The combination of the sound of rain, a rushing creek, a mist cloud hanging over Lake McDonald, and my body's reminder of the longer-than-expected 6-mile hike the day before made lounging and sleeping at the lodge sound like a great way to spend the day.

Reading Angela's energy, though, I felt my lounging day at the lodge vanish instantly. She was determined to get out, rain or shine.

I noticed a sinking feeling that I misattributed to having to get out in the rain until I looked at my phone. Mentally and energetically, I had made my phone a glorified iPod that had meditations on it since that's all it could do.

I felt the weight of email, Substack, idea capturing, headlines that end up in my attention space no matter what I do, and random liminal grazing as I waited on whatever Angela was doing. Staying up too late because I checked something at the end of the day, fiddling, the whole nine.

It hit like that Macklemore line from “Lost / Sun Comes Up”:

🎵 Scroll. Refresh. Turn it off. Now do it again. That’s the dance now.

(Explicit lyrics. My mom reads the Pulse. Hi Mom!)

That was not what I wanted to be doing anywhere, but especially not at Glacier National Park. I had reclaimed my cognitive sovereignty without having to inhibit habits and patterns.

And since Thursday’s device shut off, I had been contemplating the question of “if this was a vision quest, what would my journey be?” Questions like that are a way of goosing myself into a sacred play space. A common theme in vision quests is considering what you want to leave in the quest and what you want to take from the quest.

The sinking feeling thus not only triggered the burrito in the bathroom feeling, but it also instantly made it clear that my habit of being connected to internet noise was something I wanted to leave with the glaciers, forests, waterfalls, and rivers.

On the one hand, I knew that the only thing that had changed in my relationship with my phone was that I now knew I could have access to the internet. It was available at the lodge the whole time, but I never thought to check. In theory, I could just go on as if I didn’t have it.

On the other hand, habits and muscle memory were working against me. Just touching a tool primes our brains to use the tool the way we always use it. The inverse of “out of sight, out of mind” is also true: in sight, in mind. I’d push it further to be “in hand, in habit.”

Every time we touch smartphones and tablets, we’re battling armies of attention engineers pirates and algorithms that keep us unconsciously touching, scrolling, and buying. Losing hours of the day looking at a screen isn’t an accident. It’s the design.

And it’s not just looking at a screen that’s the real problem for me. It’s how much of the day I’d end up thinking about and feeling what I’d read or seen.

I had lost my easy disconnection and pattern interruption, but I wasn’t powerless.

Because my morning meditation routine (including listening to meditations on my phone) was an important part of my staying in the present/sacred space, attempting a device-free routine would probably throw me off for the next few days. So I ruled that option out. I had also ruled out removing all of the distracting apps from my phone because that would be more likely to get me into messing with my phone. I would’ve done that prior to going to Glacier National Park, but I didn’t think I needed to.

It thus came down to touch and transitions. If I limited how much I touched my phone and was especially careful to interrupt physical and thought patterns in transitions, I could do what I needed and wanted to do without getting sucked in.

My phone’s home screen is set up so that it only has the apps relevant to my morning routine, so that limited how much swiping and touching I needed to do. I finish my morning quiet time by journaling on my FreeWrite Traveler, so I couldn’t just “fall into” grazing. And we had just enough daily adventure prep that needed to happen right after our morning quiet time that it’d keep me busy while I waited on Angela.

So in actuality, it amounted to three choice moments following my journaling for the next three days. I put my phone away before I transitioned to journaling because at that point, all I needed to control my phone was my AirPods. When I was done journaling, I could take my AirPods out and put them away since they also didn’t have a job until the next day.

That was the plan, and it worked. I’m a few days back home and still haven’t gotten back into the old bad habits yet. It seems like the habits may remain with the glaciers, forests, waterfalls, and rivers, if I let them.

And maybe that’s one thing the quest revealed: not what I needed to do differently, but what I was unaware of and ready to leave behind.

~Charlie

Take a Moment

Sometimes what feels like “signal lost” is actually self found. What parts of yourself might you find if you lowered the noise around you?

We’d love to hear what’s coming up for you.

Leave a comment

Lower the Volume

Release the distractions that scatter your attention to discover the parts of yourself that have been waiting to be found.

Our July Events

If you missed our LSS yesterday, we’ll have a recap available soon.

And there’s still time to join us for the MMC next week:

• Monthly Momentum Call (MMC): Wednesday, July 16, 2025, at 11:00 am PDT
  Navigating the Summer Paradox
  Your calendar looks lighter, summer promises slower pace, yet somehow you feel busier than ever. Learn to maintain momentum on important projects when your usual structure dissolves and energy shifts week to week.

Not a paid subscriber yet? Now’s a great time to sign up and join us for one or both of these monthly gatherings.

Sometimes it’s hard to tell the difference between being impulsive and something being momentous.

Sunday morning, I wasn’t sure what we might do for the week of the 4th. By Wednesday, we were on the road to Glacier National Park.

Going to Glacier National Park wasn’t something we were planning to do this summer. Two weeks ago, we figured that we’d be heading back to basecamp on Sunday morning.

What changed?

Two things, really. The first contributing reason was that I wasn’t able to sleep well on my sleeping pad in a tent, even though I did just fine last year. I may have endured through it.

The more significant factor was that Angela got sick in the final days of our last outing. Sick enough that we had to get her to a roadside motel the day before we left so she could recover well enough to follow me home in our Telluride as I drove the motorcycle. (I may backtrack and tell more of this story in a future Pulse.)

Whenever Angela gets sick, it starts a three-week cooldown of activities. She has a host of chronic illnesses and is immunocompromised, so she gets sick more easily and stays sick longer. It’s about the same with injuries; she gets injured more easily and takes longer to heal.

This is one of the many reasons we hold our summer plans so loosely. Things could be fine one day. A day later, we’re invoking recovery protocols.

We decided that we’re out on tent camping, though, which is consistent with the Pulse two weeks ago about quitting activities that are no longer fun or relaxing.

But last year, we discovered that we really enjoyed being in places where fireworks aren’t allowed over the 4th. Neither of us enjoys fireworks, but the random pops and mortar surprises on the days around the 4th startle Angela and make her anxious. They’re not great for my PTSD and hypervigilance, especially extra loud mortars at night, and I sometimes wonder if Angela is keyed up because she’s attuned to feelings I’ve disassociated from. (Living with an empath can be like that.)

Sitting at home when we could be out was already bugging us. Sitting at home over the 4th with headphones on for four or five days was even worse. We’d also be in the third week of the recovery cycle, so our range of activities was much more limited.

Additionally, in the background, Angela being sick wasn’t the only thing shaping our summer. We have some friends coming into Portland in the second weekend in July, and they’d like to do the Mount Hood & Falls loop as a day trip. We also have an emergent trip to visit my brother- and sister-in-law in Florida in August; he got reassigned to Guam and is on a fast move timeline.

During Sunday morning’s contemplation, I recalled that last year, we also discovered that road trips can be incredibly rejuvenating for Angela, even when she’s in recovery. A road trip is probably better than whatever gardening or house projects she’d get into here because she’s bored and frustrated. It’s also better for me than having to check on and coax/wrestle her into taking it easy.

Glacier National Park has been on our “check out in the next few years” list since we went to Yellowstone last year and saw how relatively close Glacier National Park was. I had mentally filed it away as a “beat the summer heat” road trip, as well.

So, when I anchored on a road trip being something we could do, Glacier National Park slid back into the picture. I have ChatGPT tuned to help me with our adventure plans, so I went into centaur mode to do some big-brush scenario planning and budgeting for a Glacier National Park road trip and a cabin stay in Mazama Village here in Oregon as a backup.

Everything fit the parameters. In theory, we’d like to have an extra day at Glacier National Park, but we might also be done after the two and a half days we’ll be there. There wasn’t likely to be a better time to do it this year, given how the summer was shaping up.

On our morning coffee walk, I presented the two options to Angela. We were already discussing getting out for a day-long motorcycle ride to the coast, and she mused about making it a two-day ride with an overnight stay. If we were rolling out to either Glacier National Park or Mazama Village, we’d need Monday to prep, and I knew we’d both rather apply the lodging budget to one of those options.

She was instantly in for the Glacier National Park trip. We committed to a local day-long motorcycle ride, in part so we could discuss the Glacier National Park trip and have space to percolate on our respective gear shifts. We talk more, think better, and are more connected on the road.

On the way home from the coffeeshop, I asked which of us was going to be the adult in the decision to go. We’ve both been itching to get out, and just because we could didn’t mean we should. We both gave the energetic “not it!”

We both knew what ‘being the adult’ usually means: saying no, playing it safe, sticking to the plan. But what if being the adult means choosing what’s truly aligned, even if it’s unexpected?

Which meant we had to talk through it via first principles:

• Was going to Glacier National Park consistent with the way we want to live our lives and spend our summers? Yes.

• Was going to Glacier National Park something we wanted to do? Yes.

• Did going fit within our general summer budget? Yes, by pulling forward our August and September budget, which was going to happen anyway with trips.

• Could we make it work without a massive disruption to our lives or work? Yes. I was already going to be as off as a writer and small business owner can be, and Angela’s medical appointments were stacked earlier in the week.

All systems go. Instead of spending time moping about what we couldn’t do, we accepted how the summer is shaping up and rolled with it.

We hadn’t planned that things would work out this way, but how they’re working out is probably better than how we’d planned. That’s the gift you give yourself when you hold your plans loosely and work from first principles.

The decision to go might look impulsive, and it still sometimes feels impulsive. But it was momentous because it came from the life we’re building, not the one we’re trying to escape.

~Charlie

Take a Moment

What decision have you been putting off, not because it’s wrong, but because it doesn’t look like what you expected?

We’d love to hear what’s coming up for you.

Leave a comment

Our July Events

Mark your calendars for our July events, open to our paid subscribers:

• Leadership Strategy Session (LSS): Wednesday, July 9, 2025, at 11:00 am PDT
  When Calendar Time Breaks
  July should feel like a fresh start: second half, new quarter, time to execute. But vacations and scattered availability create chaos. Build a working rhythm that holds through the wobble and sets your team up for a strong fall.

• Monthly Momentum Call (MMC): Wednesday, July 16, 2025, at 11:00 am PDT
  Navigating the Summer Paradox
  Your calendar looks lighter, summer promises slower pace, yet somehow you feel busier than ever. Learn to maintain momentum on important projects when your usual structure dissolves and energy shifts week to week.

Not a paid subscriber yet? Now’s a great time to sign up and join us for one or both of these monthly gatherings.

I rounded the corner to go to the coffee shop and saw a man carrying some bags. He was probably homeless and definitely trying to stay out of the way. He was carrying what might have been everything he owned.

He was looking down and away, trying to avoid making eye contact. I intentionally looked into his eyes. He looked back. It was an energetic, “Good morning. I see you. You’re a person.”

You never know what people are going to do when you actually look at them. I had no idea what state he was in.

I was walking quickly and right before I passed, he said, “Good morning.” Not aggressively, not sadly, just... “good morning.”

“Good morning, man,” I said, caught off guard.

Really? “Good morning, man?” That’s what you’ve got this morning, Charlie?

Prior to rounding the corner, I was deep in thought about the book I’m working on and wondering what I might share in the Pulse today. I wasn’t really prepared for a conversation with a stranger. Even at the coffee shop, I don’t really have to order because they know what I’m going to get, but I’m at least prepared to talk to the crew.

Earlier, I had read a Substack Note about a homeless man who had a PhD. The book I’m working on deals with how to lead through a reduction in force and I’ve been thinking about the many hundreds of thousands of people who are or will soon be jobless because of shifts in political regimes. There’s going to be a lot of good, talented people who wind up on the street as things start to unravel for them.

I had also been thinking about a thesis I’ve had for the last 15 years or so but haven’t talked about much since I wrote History, Luck, and Intention: the shape of our lives is often created by ten or fewer pivotal decisions.

These are the decisions that are the tipping dynamic of change.

I imagined this man as one of the many people who started stumbling in life and couldn't catch themselves before they hit the ground. He had soft eyes, a bright smile, and was clearly doing his best not to be a nuisance. He didn’t appear to be hung over or high.

Maybe he had gotten unlucky. Maybe he made one of those choices that started a cascade of events that he couldn’t get on top of. There but by the Grace of God, go I.

I felt called to get him something from the coffeeshop and since I was already waiting in line, I went out and found him.

“Hey bro, you doin’ alright today?”

C’mon, Charlie?! That’s how you enter the conversation again? Get it together!

He was surprised by the question. He doesn’t know where this is going and I can feel him energetically brace to be told to go somewhere else.

“Not too bad, I guess.”

I'm done with uttering awkward statements or questions.

“I’d like to get something for you from the coffeeshop. Would you prefer a pastry or coffee?”

He’s surprised again.

“Huh? Oh, a pastry.”

“Dope. I got you. I’ll be right back.”

I didn’t ask him which pastry that he wanted. I didn’t have their menu memorized because I never get pastries anymore. I decided to get him what I used to get myself; it was a pastry with an unusual but wonderful flavor.

“Just your usual, Charlie?”

“Yes and I’d like to get the korvapuusti for the guy outside.”

Sam didn’t miss a beat. “I'll put it in a bag so you can take it to him while I make your cappuccino.”

Back outside, I handed over the pastry bag. “I didn’t know what you wanted, so I just got you what I used to get myself.”

“Thanks so much.” I can tell he’s still waiting on something else. Maybe the “I got you food, so move along” pattern that so many people subject homeless people to.

“I hope you enjoy it. I just wanted you to know I see you.”

FFS, Charlie, “I see you?” It’s like you’re trying to make this whole interaction as awkward as possible. You could’ve just given him the pastry and walked off.

After yet another awkward utterance, I turn, but then stop.

Oh no. Here you go again.

I remembered seeing a sign in NYC about how rarely homeless people hear their name. People stop regarding them as people, with a name and a story — just an object on the street.

“What’s your name?”

“Derrick.”

“Derrick. Cool. I’m Charlie.”

Words fail me again. I don’t know an ending expression that’s not akin to “you doin’ alright today?” “Have a good day” seems… off for his situation.

“Take care, Derrick. Be blessed.”

Seriously? Be blessed? You’re DJ Khalid all of a sudden? And are you implying a forking pastry is a blessing? Ugh. STFU and go write.

I’m rarely awkward and bumbling in this way. I hope Derrick gets some joy from the pastry and laughs at my expense, too.

A pastry doesn’t solve any of the larger challenges Derrick is facing. But perhaps there’s some solace in knowing at least one person cared enough to acknowledge his humanity and didn’t see him merely as a nuisance to be walked around.

That’s what I would want and need if bad luck and a few pivotal choices got the best of me. And it’s a way to reciprocate the many ways that others have, are, and will catch me as luck and choices are getting the better of me.

~Charlie

Tools for a Mid-Year Reset

Whether or not now is one of those 10 decision points for you, mid-year is a great time to resurface some of our best tools and resources, right at the point where you might need a reset / regroup / realignment / … (you get the idea).

Free subscribers: now might also be a great time for you to give our paid subscription a try. $10 a month will get you all these resources, our two monthly calls, the full digital suite of Momentum Planners, and more. Cancel anytime.

• If it’s been a while since you’ve assessed your 10 dimensions, the midpoint of the year is a great time to use this tool to figure out which dimension (or maybe two, one per quarter) you want to focus on this next half-year.

• Your life (personal and professional) might look different at the mid-year mark than it did in those early days of January. Use this guide to see all you’ve already accomplished where you’ve drifted, and what that drift might be telling you. And then plot your course for the second half of the year.

• For most teams, Q3 is push time. It’s when the year’s objectives get REAL: either “yes, we’re doing these!” confirmation, or “maybe we need to adjust?” — because we were too ambitious, or perhaps not ambitious enough. The OKP framework can give your team the structure it needs to take right action on your Q3 and Q4 objectives.

• As your crew is in and out for the summer, weekly touchpoints are even more important for keeping the ship headed in the right direction. Use these two tools in concert to keep everyone informed about objectives, projects, status, and resources during these next six weeks of summer, and into the fall.

Join Us in July

Mark your calendars for our July events, open to our paid subscribers:

• Leadership Strategy Session (LSS): Wednesday, July 9, 2025, at 11:00 am PDT
  When Calendar Time Breaks
  July should feel like a fresh start: second half, new quarter, time to execute. But vacations and scattered availability create chaos. Build a working rhythm that holds through the wobble and sets your team up for a strong fall.

• Monthly Momentum Call (MMC): Wednesday, July 16, 2025, at 11:00 am PDT
  Navigating the Summer Paradox
  Your calendar looks lighter, summer promises slower pace, yet somehow you feel busier than ever. Learn to maintain momentum on important projects when your usual structure dissolves and energy shifts week to week.

July Momentum Planners

The Momentum Planners were built to keep your most important work front and center. Download the free version of our July planners to help you determine what actions and ideas are serving you, and which need a retool going into the second half of the year.

Paid subscribers can access the full suite of dated planners below. 👇 If you don’t see them, please make sure you’re logged in to your paid account.

If you don’t have a paid subscription yet, now’s a great time to upgrade.

Read more

If you’ve been reading the last couple Pulses (505, 506), you know that Angela and I left to work and live in the woods for an indefinite amount of time this summer.

By the time you’re reading this, we’ll be breaking camp and going back home. Leaving so soon wasn’t in our plans, but staying longer wasn’t either.

This week, the “indefinite” part of our summer outings struck. We stay out as long as we’re feeling good, the weather’s nice enough, and we’re enjoying it.

With all-day cold and rain in the forecast and Oregon’s mercurial June weather, we’re choosing to head home. Today marks two weeks since we went out, and we know we won’t enjoy cold and rainy weather at this point. Angela has a handful of medical appointments and I have an in-person strategy session Friday.

We’ll probably be out in the woods again a few days after my in-person session, assuming the weather looks like it’s going to be in an enjoyable zone and we feel like being in the woods again.

Could we stay out until the day before I need to be in town? Sure. But when the whole point is to be out having fun and rejuvenating, we would be muddy, cold, and frustrated for no reason. We’re past the days where we enjoy overcoming needlessly hard stuff.

Another example: we’ve already missed a few great riding days because I was tired or in body pain from business travel. Riding while tired and in pain is neither safe nor enjoyable.

Similarly, we went to Bend over the weekend to get some gear and intended to go on a hike near downtown. The starting point for our hike was near some protests happening and it was going to be a pain to navigate the crowd.1 The “fun” idea of hiking turned into swimming through too many people when we’d been in the woods for ten days already. Instead of forcing it, we chose to nope! it and had a more chill evening at camp.

Consider this a reminder to assess your “fun”/”relaxing” activities and get real about whether or not it’s time to stop doing them because they’re neither fun nor relaxing. They could be personal, professional, or a 🤷🏽 mix like what we’re doing. Or perhaps you don’t need to nope! the whole thing, but instead remove some parts that change the juice:squeeze ratio so that you get more of whatever you wanted out of the activity.

And, if you’re still at the point where it does something for you to overcome whatever analogous challenges the cold, rain, and questioning of your life choices are for us, have at it. 🙂

~Charlie

Take a Moment

Consider your own “fun and relaxing” activities: are there any you no longer find fun nor relaxing, that either you can stop doing altogether or change to something you would find more generative?

We’d love to hear what’s coming up for you.

Leave a comment

Related Resources

Events: Catch Up on June, and Join Us in July

Leadership Strategy Sessions (LSS)

• Check out some highlights from this month’s call: Turning Disruption into Strategic Insight

• Plan to join us for the July and August sessions, where we’ll cover:

  • July: Leading When Calendar Time Breaks

  • August: Reboarding Without the Whiplash

• Mark your calendars for the next LSS: July 9, 11am PDT

Monthly Momentum Calls (MMC)

• The recording from yesterday’s MMC will be out next week.

• Mark your calendars for the next MMC: July 16, 11am PDT
  

Not a paid subscriber yet? Now’s a great time to sign up and join us for one or both of these monthly gatherings.

“But what about work?”

That’s always the first question when people learn Angela and I are camping in the woods indefinitely in the summer. Their faces scrunch up, processing the concept.

A weekend camping trip they understand. A scheduled vacation makes sense. But staying out with no set return date doesn’t compute.

The question reveals how deeply we’ve all internalized certain beliefs about what “real work” looks like.

Real work happens in dedicated spaces.

Real work follows fixed schedules.

Real work looks like sitting at a desk, in meetings, typing on laptops.

But in the woods…

I’m advising better. Client solutions emerge during motorcycle rides, my mind free to explore possibilities instead of forcing answers. And I can do my meetings from our basecamp.

I’m solving problems better. Hours by the river aren’t “time off” — they’re when the thorny challenges untangle themselves; when strategy becomes clear.

I’m thinking better. Without artificial constraints around when and where work should happen, my brain finds its natural rhythm.

I’m writing better. These words came together while I was tending our morning fire, not during a scheduled writing block.

Yes, we’re camping under trees and spending afternoons by the water. But while I’m doing those things, I’m turning over client scenarios, prepping for upcoming sessions, working through proposals, and shaping the next book.

I have one in-person strategy session this month. Beyond that, none of my work requires me to be in a particular place.

What unsettles people isn’t that I’m working in the woods; it’s that I don’t need to come back and that I don’t know when I will.

That’s the part that breaks their mental model of work because this isn’t a pause or a temporary escape.

It’s just us working from one of my summer offices and being in nature while the weather and conditions are fitting.

I realize that owning my own business and doing this work for decades means I have a lot more autonomy. I also know that plenty of people with knowledge-work jobs and hybrid work arrangements could do their own version of working from places where they come alive. They’re not because of how they’ve framed where real work happens.

Which raises two questions:

1. Where do you do your best work?

2. And what assumptions about “real work” might be keeping you from working that way more often?

~Charlie

Take a Moment…

… to answer the two questions above for yourself.

Where do you do your best work? And what assumptions about “real work” might be keeping you from working that way more often?

We’d love to hear what’s coming up for you.

Leave a comment

Best Work Resources

A few of our many resources on doing your best work — wherever and however you choose:

In Case You Missed It

“Stingy Compassion, Quiet Misery, and High Achievers” by Todd Kashdan (read more from Todd in his newsletter, Provoked)

There’s Still Time to Join Us This Month

Leadership Strategy Sessions

• Check out some highlights from this month’s call: Turning Disruption into Strategic Insight

• Plan to join us for the July and August sessions, where we’ll cover:

  • July: Leading When Calendar Time Breaks

  • August: Reboarding Without the Whiplash

Monthly Momentum Calls

There’s still time to join us for the MMC next week:

• Monthly Momentum Call (MMC): Wednesday, June 18, 2025, at 11:00 am PDT
  The Power of Creative Incubation
  June’s natural slowdown creates perfect conditions to step away from constant distractions and let breakthrough insights emerge. How can you use this seasonal rhythm to protect your natural incubation periods? What’s the difference between productive stepping back and avoiding the work?

Not a paid subscriber yet? Now’s a great time to sign up and join us for one or both of these monthly gatherings.

Since we’re on this side of Memorial Day, it’s summer for me. I grew up in Arkansas, and in the South, summer starts with Memorial Day and ends with Labor Day, sun cycles be damned.

While I’ve always shifted energetically in the summer, in years past, my shifts were driven or mediated by external projects and circumstances: returning to school, deployments, seasonal marketing campaigns, book-related deadlines, and so on. Tending to aging pets also kept us at home, as well.

The last of our ancient cats, Petie, died last March, so it was the first summer as adults where we didn’t need to be at home. There’s a lot to catch you up on from last year, but the short story for today is that we figured out that I could do most of my work while doing road trips and basecamping.

Not only could I work in those scenarios, I was actually a better advisor and teacher. Clients noticed, gave feedback about it, and asked what changed.

The answer was simple: I was being truer to my nature.

We’re heading out this week again. By the time you read this, we’ll already be in the woods. Rather than keeping these shifts and what we’re doing behind the scenes like we have been for the last few years, I’ve decided to tell you and, depending on how interested y’all are, to show you more.

I’ve historically been allergic to doing the performative lifestyle influencer thing, but what my clients and inner circles have told me is that what I’m doing — and why — has inspired them to think bigger and differently about how they spend their days. If sharing serves the mission of helping more people thrive without getting in the way of how Angela and I want to be, then it’s worth sharing.

One shift that I’m going to be more explicit about this year is that instead of feeling the pressure to publish at least one new post a week as well as the Pulse, I’m only committing to the Pulse every week. If and as I finish some of the other pieces that have been percolating for a while, I’ll publish them. The cadence may be slower, but what I publish will be better.

I'll still be doing Leadership Strategy Sessions and Monthly Momentum Calls with premium subscribers (see below) and will probably be sharing daily-ish Notes on Substack (and maybe LinkedIn). This shift will also give me some more space to get more words in on my current book project.

Consider this the first official Get Busy Living post. More coming on this as it’s ready, but in the meantime, I hope it helps you consider what you might shift so that you can get busy living, too.

~Charlie

Take a Moment

A prompt to pause and reflect.

How might you embrace thinking bigger/differently about how you spend your days? What’s one small change you could make right now that would help you better align your days to your true nature?

We’d love to hear what’s coming up for you.

Leave a comment

Join Us This Month

If you missed our LSS yesterday, we’ll have a recap available soon.

And there’s still time to join us for the MMC in two weeks:

• Monthly Momentum Call (MMC): Wednesday, June 18, 2025, at 11:00 am PDT
  The Power of Creative Incubation
  June’s natural slowdown creates perfect conditions to step away from constant distractions and let breakthrough insights emerge. How can you use this seasonal rhythm to protect your natural incubation periods? What’s the difference between productive stepping back and avoiding the work?

Not a paid subscriber yet? Now’s a great time to sign up and join us (even just for the month/for the call). If you got the answer to a pesky problem that’s been stymying you, would that be worth $10 to you?

I had planned to lead off today with one of my favorite lines from Start Finishing but I didn't expect to have a crockpot creativity moment right before sitting down to write this post. (Thanks universe!)

You want to avoid the pressure-cooker pattern where everything is due all at once followed by a period of recovering from being exhausted, only to have everything due all at once all over again. Crockpot creativity leads to better work and a better life than pressure-cooker creativity. —Start Finishing, Chapter 4

I was out for a walk in the park, giving myself dedicated time off mid-day, still navigating the game of time-zone hopscotch I've been playing since moving to Europe last month. I’d planned to wander and maybe read a book. But as I walked, thoughts about a post I’d been mulling over for weeks suddenly connected. A snippet here linked with an idea there. I found myself sitting on the first bench I came across, quickly adding to a note I’d started weeks ago as new connections emerged.

The crockpot metaphor is pretty self-explanatory (slow, steady cooking versus intense pressure), but what’s happening here is what Charlie calls creative accretion: where ideas build on each other when you give them space to play and connect. It happens when things slow down, when inspiration and insights finally have room to bubble to the surface.

Last month, we talked about preparing for summer’s different rhythm. Now that we’re in it, the question becomes: how do you manage through the slowdown and leverage what might come of it?

When we discussed this shift during our recent Monthly Momentum Call, the conversation revealed just how challenging this transition can be:

• An entrepreneur struggled with taking things slower — it was wanted and needed but they still felt like they should be doing more.

• A leader who’d spent years building team readiness and processes, now wary of the slower conditions those very systems had created.

• Someone needed permission to rest and catch up on smaller projects after navigating significant ones in the first half.

As Steve shared in last week’s Pulse, we get to choose what we optimize for, and it doesn’t always have to be output. We’re so socialized to optimize for efficiency that we forget: stepping away from the constant beeps, buzzes, and urgent requests is exactly what allows breakthrough insights to emerge.

June’s natural rhythm isn’t a disruption to manage — it’s a strategic advantage waiting to be leveraged.

June Tips: Creating Conditions for Breakthrough

Whether you’re working solo or leading a team, the principle is the same: transformation happens in the spaces between the doing.

Think about it: you (and your team) have been accumulating six months of experience, data, and insights. The constant pressure to execute, respond, and deliver has kept everyone focused on the immediate. But just like ideas need space to connect and accrete, learnings need breathing room to surface and link together.

The individuals and teams that leverage June’s different pace (rather than fighting against it) often discover:

• Patterns in first-half challenges that reveal new solutions

• Connections between projects that seemed unrelated

• The ability to step back far enough to see the forest, not just the trees they've been staring at for months

• Learnings that can fuel a stronger second half

This isn’t about slowing down for its own sake (though you or your team may need that, too). It’s about recognizing that when you allow yourself or your team to step away from urgency, and protect your ability to do so, you’re creating conditions for creative accretion that can transform six months of doing into wisdom for moving forward.

Some tips to do that:

• Consider keeping an open document to capture insights about the first half of the year as they bubble up.

• Use some of our review tools (Mid-Month Review, AAR) to assess where you are, where you came from, and what you learned along the way.

• Protect time for processing what's been learned, not just what needs to be delivered. Set aside a “crockpot” block (focus block) for this kind of slower thinking / planning / processing, and encourage your team to do the same.

• Determine what habits and routines need to change based on your learnings.

Use June’s natural rhythm as your strategic advantage, and let your second half be fueled by the wisdom of your first.

~Maghan

Take a Moment

A prompt to pause and reflect.

Looking at the first half of this year, what patterns or connections are starting to emerge that you haven’t had time to fully process? What might bubble up if you stepped away from the urgency for a moment?

We’d love to hear what’s coming up for you.

Leave a comment

In Case You Missed It

Sacred Business Flow

Sacred Business Stories w/ Charlie Gilkey: When Business Finds You - Accidental Entrepreneurship and Sacred Work

Today's Sacred Business Stories conversation with Charlie Gilkey revealed a powerful truth: sometimes the most meaningful businesses aren't planned—they emerge organically when we stop arguing with the opportunities life presents…

Listen now

a year ago · 8 likes · 4 comments · Carolina Wilke, Phil Powis ❤️⚡️, and Charlie Gilkey

Join Us in June

Mark your calendars for our June events, open to our paid subscribers:

• Leadership Strategy Session (LSS): Wednesday, June 4, 2025, at 11:00 am PDT
  Creating Space for Team Learning and Insight
  What if June’s “disruptions” (changes to schedules, capacity, and focus) could be your team’s strategic advantage? How can you use this time to let insights from the first half-year naturally surface and connect, becoming fuel for an even better second half?

• Monthly Momentum Call (MMC): Wednesday, June 18, 2025, at 11:00 am PDT
  The Power of Creative Incubation
  June’s natural slowdown creates perfect conditions to step away from constant distractions and let breakthrough insights emerge. How can you use this seasonal rhythm to protect your natural incubation periods? What’s the difference between productive stepping back and avoiding the work?

June Momentum Planners

The Momentum Planners were built to keep your most important work front and center. Download the free version of our June planners to help you determine what actions and ideas are serving you, and which need a retool.

Paid subscribers can access the full suite of dated planners below. 👇 If you don’t see them, please make sure you’re logged in to your paid account.

If you don’t have a paid subscription yet, now’s a great time to upgrade.

Read more

In yesterday’s MMC,1 in response to a question from an attendee struggling to choose among all the possible options on their plate, I asked a question I’ve been thinking about since:

What are you optimizing for?

We can apply this question to any segment of work or life: a task, a project, a relationship, a workflow or process… even a season, like summer. And “optimizing” doesn’t need to be some productivity buzz word here, either, solely focused on efficiency or effectiveness or profit or some other “hard” measure.

Maybe it’s:

• I want to optimize my work so I can spend two afternoons a week out in nature / with my kids / volunteering / writing my book / planning my next move.

• I want to optimize my project load so I can take a vacation to rest and regroup.

• I want to optimize my environment to better serve my needs this season.

• I want to optimize our family schedule so we’re not running from activity to activity like we did last year.

• I want to optimize the way my team works together so we’re all able to enjoy a more smooth and flowful summer.

Because like we talked about yesterday, “optimize” is about two things: priority and permission. Where are you putting your priorities today, this week, this month, this season? What values / life dimensions are you emphasizing, and which others are you downplaying?

And what permission do you need to put your focus where you want, instead of where you feel you should? Consider this your permission slip if you need one. 🙂

~Steve

Take a Moment

A prompt to pause and reflect.

What are you optimizing for now? What do you WANT to optimize for? If those are different answers, how can you bridge the gap between them?

We’d love to hear what’s coming up for you.

Leave a comment

More on Priority and Permission

A few resources to help you with one or both of these areas you might be struggling with right now. (Hint: for most of us, permission is the more difficult one.)

Charlie Live on Substack Tomorrow!

Join Charlie on Substack tomorrow, May 23, at 1:00 pm EDT.

He’ll be in conversation with Phil Powis of Sacred Business Flow about building a business that aligns with your deepest truth.

NEW! PFPC Catalyst Sessions

If you need a little help optimizing your summer — gaining clarity on how you want your summer to go, or on the actions you might need to take to get there — our new Catalyst Sessions might be just the right fit.

These 90-minute focused sessions with Maghan are designed to address specific challenges without committing to a full coaching package. Whether it’s selecting projects or creating a schedule that honors your summer energy, get the targeted support you need.

Maghan has spots available now, so book them before they fill up, take advantage of the $300 introductory pricing, and get the support you need to craft your just-right-for-you summer.

Reach Out to Maghan

In Case You Missed It

When I read Charlie’s latest post on chronotypes, I had a moment of recognition and relief. For years, I’ve known I’m what he previously called an “afternoon emu” — never an early riser, but not a true night owl either. Now I understand I’m among the approximately 50% of people that Dr. Michael Breus calls “bears,” hitting our stride during traditional working hours rather than at dawn or midnight.

For years I’ve worked to organize my schedule around this natural tendency, doing all I can to avoid the pervasive messaging telling us to get up earlier, “early bird gets the worm,” and all the other advice that doesn’t fit the majority of people in this world.

But now, I find myself living in chronotype chaos. Since moving to Vienna, six hours ahead of my previous East Coast home and up to nine hours ahead of my PF teammates, I’ve been thrust into an entirely different rhythm without the luxury of natural adaptation.

In essence, I’m a bear temporarily swimming with the dolphins, those roughly 10% of people with erratic energy patterns. Between managing my business, PF work, and exploring a beautiful new city, I’ve been playing time zone hopscotch, functioning across time zones in ways my natural rhythms never prepared me for.

In that loving way he can constructively frustrate, Charlie warned me this adjustment might take up to a year, and (&#%!@?!) he was right. Rather than fighting this reality, I’m learning to prepare for and adapt to it, creating flexible focus blocks that acknowledge when my energy naturally rises and falls in this new context. It’s an ongoing experiment — some days I get it right and other days… not so much.

This experience has me thinking about summer’s approach, which can cause its own version of chronotype disruption: longer daylight hours, kids home from school, travel plans, outdoor activities, and social gatherings that shift our usual patterns. Just as I’m adjusting to Vienna time, you might need to adjust to “summer time” — not just clock changes, but energy changes.

As we move deeper into May, consider how your own rhythm might shift in the coming months. Which dimensions of your life will demand more attention? How might your peak productivity periods change with the season? Instead of clinging to your standard schedule and fighting the natural transitions, perhaps this is the perfect time to prepare for adapting with intention.

After all, sometimes circumstances require us to temporarily operate outside our natural chronotype. The question isn’t whether we can prevent these shifts, but how gracefully we can adapt to them.

~Maghan

Take a Moment

A prompt to pause and reflect.

What seasonal or life changes are currently affecting your energy patterns or will soon be shifting your rhythm as summer approaches? How might you prepare now to adapt your schedule to work with these changes rather than against them?

We’d love to hear what’s coming up for you.

Leave a comment

Summer Rhythm Resources

As you prepare to adapt your energy patterns for summer's different beat, these resources can help you understand and work with your natural rhythms even during times of transition.

NEW! PFPC Catalyst Sessions

If you need a little help gaining clarity on how you want your summer to go, or on the actions you might need to take to get there, our new Catalyst Sessions might be just the right fit.

These 90-minute focused sessions with me (Maghan) are designed to address specific challenges without committing to a full coaching package. Whether it’s selecting projects or creating a schedule that honors your summer energy, get the targeted support you need.

I have spots available now, so book them before they fill up, take advantage of the $300 introductory pricing, and get the support you need to craft your just-right-for-you summer.

Reach Out to Maghan

In Case You Missed It

May Monthly Momentum Call Next Week

There’s still time to join us for the May MMC!

Monthly Momentum Call (MMC): Wednesday, May 21, 2025, at 11:00 am PDT

Designing Your Summer Rhythm: As summer approaches, our work requires intentional shifts in structure and pacing. How might you adjust your project timelines for changing energy patterns? What systems can you establish now to support your work through seasonal disruptions? Join us to explore creating a more sustainable relationship with your creative practice during this natural transition.

Paid subscribers get live access to the MMC and LSS (Leadership Strategy Session) each month, plus extras. Free subscribers, consider upgrading your subscription for invitations to attend live next week and in the months ahead.

I was just talking with a friend about time perception, and we came around to discussing the summers of our youth, and how they seemed to last forever. We covered the whole “three months as a percentage of your whole life at the time” effect, which I suppose is some part of it. But I argued to him, and I’ll argue to you, that part of what made the summers feel so expansive and lush was how we as kids could and did spend our time.

Summer was about freedom from school schedules and activities, instead embracing play and friends and outdoors and rest. Sure, we did a lot, but in many ways summer was less about doing and more about being. It’s something as adults we strive and sometimes struggle to recapture.

As kids, our lives were simpler, and so staying in tune with our being was easier without all the distractions (we call them responsibilities1) of adulting. These days, though, we sometimes need a little help to realign ourselves toward the being and thriving side of our life equation, and less on the productive and doing side.

Now, on the cusp of the summer months, is a great time to reevaluate: to think about which of the areas of our lives we’re going to lean into and which ones we’re going to ease up on.

The 10 Dimensions framework and Wheel of Life worksheet2 are great tools to help do just that. With those in mind:

Consider which of the 10 dimensions you want more present in your summer.3 Pick one (max two) you want to emphasize, like:

• Family (vacations, kids home from school)

• Community (holidays, neighborhood gatherings, visiting friends)

• Physical (getting out in nature, trying new activities)

• Play (kid summer, right?)

Next, pick two or three dimensions you’re purposely going to downplay during the summer months, like:

• Professional (if your job’s or company’s situation allows)

• Financial (maybe you put the savings plan on pause for a bit to fund some of your adventures, or perhaps you saved during the rest of the year for just these times?)

On both sides, choose the options that best serve you and the summer you want to create.

~Steve

Take a Moment

A prompt to pause and reflect.

What’s one life dimension you want to embrace more wholeheartedly this summer? What’s one life dimension you’d be okay to set aside for a while to put that TEA elsewhere?

We’d love to hear what’s coming up for you.

Leave a comment

Summer Supports

Some additional resources and tools for creating a summer that aligns with what you want to do and who you want to be.

May Events

Our May events are all about preparing for the Summer Rhythm Shift.

[Notes coming soon!] Leadership Strategy Session (LSS) from May 7, 2025
Topic: Preparing Your Team for Summer's Rhythm Shift

Monthly Momentum Call (MMC): Wednesday, May 21, 2025, at 11:00 am PDT
Topic: Designing Your Summer Rhythm

Paid subscribers get live access to the MMC and LSS each month, plus extras. Free subscribers, consider upgrading your subscription for invitations to attend live this month and in the months ahead.

Upgrade Your Subscription

NEW! PFPC Catalyst Sessions

If you need a little help gaining clarity on how you want your summer to go, or on the actions you might need to take to get there, our new Catalyst Sessions might be just the right fit.

These 90-minute focused sessions with Maghan ($300 introductory pricing) are designed to address specific challenges without committing to a full coaching package. Whether it’s selecting projects or creating a schedule that honors your summer energy, get the targeted support you need.

Maghan has spots available now, so book them before they fill up, and get the support you need to craft your just-right-for-you summer.

Reach Out to Maghan

In Case You Missed It

I got tagged in to write today’s Pulse and I’ve been struggling with what to say, because the number 500 doesn’t mean a whole lot to me and honestly felt like a forced milestone. I just do what I do and it adds up over time.

But it’s when I thought more about what 500 Pulses meant that its significance hit me:

500 weekly digests means we’ve consistently been shipping a weekly drop for over ten years if you count intentional pauses. (I’ve been publishing since 2007, but didn’t start a weekly newsletter until later.)

That’s ten years of grappling with the doubts and uncertainties about whether the form of the Pulse is right and if it’s worth doing weekly — but showing up anyway.

That’s ten years of experimenting, adding, subtracting, switching, and wondering — but showing up anyway.

That’s ten years of having enough people read, respond, like, save, bookmark, share, and fund the work — and showing up with us as we try new things with the Pulse.

That’s ten years of the Pulse being the steady heartbeat of connection between us.

People have told me over the years that, for them, the Pulse is a weekly moment to be reminded that they can show up and do their best work, today and this week, even if they don’t read anything but the subject line. The wiser part of me knows to pay attention to that reader feedback more than the number of comments, likes, and engagement with the Pulse that we can see via the backend.

When I think about these aspects of the Pulse, I can find that wonder, excitement, and appreciation about 500 of them being out there in the world. I’m not sure if we’ll always have a Pulse — or if it even survives the year — but I look forward to having some kind of at-least-weekly connection for the next few decades.

The Pulse thus parallels a broader principle: I may never really know the best way to show up, but I know the best way to do anything that matters is to show up consistently.

You each have your own version of the Pulse. I hope our showing up continues to help you show up, too.

It adds up over time.

~Charlie

Take a Moment

A prompt to pause and reflect.

What’s one thing that matters to you that you keep showing up for? What’s one thing that matters to you that you want to show up more consistently for?

We’d love to hear what’s coming up for you.

Leave a comment

May Events

Our May events are all about preparing for the Summer Rhythm Shift.

Leadership Strategy Session (LSS): Wednesday, May 7, 2025, at 11:00 am PDT
Topic: Preparing Your Team for Summer's Rhythm Shift

Monthly Momentum Call (MMC): Wednesday, May 21, 2025, at 11:00 am PDT
Topic: Designing Your Summer Rhythm

Paid subscribers get live access to the MMC and LSS each month, plus extras. Free subscribers, consider upgrading your subscription for invitations to attend live this month and in the months ahead.

Upgrade Your Subscription

In Case You Missed It

We often think of preparation as something we do before accelerating. But what about preparing to slow down? After all, the shock of going from 100 to 0 is just as jarring as going 0 to 100.

I experienced my own version of this recently after successfully moving from the US to Europe. The months leading up to my international move were exactly what you’d expect: hectic, mentally taxing, with endless to-do lists and logistics to manage. What I didn’t anticipate, though, was how jarring it would be to suddenly enter a slower pace, both externally and internally.

As Steve noted in last week’s Pulse, “Spring Groove to Summer Smooth,” we have about “six focus/groove weeks to make progress on our important work and personal projects” before summer’s different rhythm takes hold. Rather than simply trying to maximize productivity in these remaining weeks, let’s use this time to prepare intentionally for the transition ahead.

May sits at a pivotal transition point in our year. In the Northern Hemisphere, we’re moving from spring’s renewal and growth toward summer’s different cadence, one traditionally marked by tending rather than planting, maintaining rather than building. While most of us may not be tending fields, these natural rhythms still influence our energy, focus, and capacity.

This transition isn’t always smooth. Many of us look at our January goals, notice we’re not where we thought we’d be, and try to cram as much as we can into these final weeks before summer shifts our schedules. Or we ignore the coming transition entirely, planning summer projects with spring-level energy expectations.

This May, I invite you to try something different: intentional preparation for summer’s shifting rhythms.

Understanding the Transition

To prepare effectively, you need to first understand what you’re working with. Consider your:

• Energy patterns: May typically brings full days of light and warmer weather. How does your physical and mental energy shift during summer months?

• Environmental factors: For many, summer means more time outdoors, different sleeping patterns due to extended daylight, and changes in physical comfort due to heat. What environmental shifts might you intentionally create to align with summer’s energy?

• Structural changes: Summer often brings schedule disruptions: kids home from school, vacation plans, team members taking time off. What predictable structural changes will affect your rhythm?

• Historical patterns: Look back at previous summers. Were they periods of creative flow, rest, or frustration? What worked well? What didn’t?

For Good Teammates

Summer’s rhythm, and the shift into it, affects how we collaborate with others. Initiate a conversation about how to best work together during this slower season. Consider suggesting alternative meeting formats that embrace the season, like walk-and-talk sessions instead of conference rooms. A simple “I’ll be scaling back my hours on Fridays starting in June” gives colleagues the information they need to adjust their expectations and timelines accordingly.

For Leaders

Your approach to summer sets the tone for your entire team. Taking a family vacation without checking email sends a powerful message, but be explicit about your expectations. Don’t assume your example alone communicates permission. Try scheduling a team discussion in mid-May specifically about summer work patterns and openly acknowledge that capacity will likely decrease. When team members see you planning for this reality rather than fighting against it, they’ll feel empowered to work with summer’s rhythm rather than against it.

As we move toward summer’s changing cadence, remember that preparation isn’t always about doing more. Often it’s about creating the space to be more fully present in whatever the season brings.

~Maghan

Seasonal Transition Toolkit

To support your transition to summer's different pace, here are some insights from our archives that might help you prepare:

Take a Moment

A prompt to pause and reflect.

Take a moment to consider what summer typically means for you. Beyond vacations and warmer weather, how does this season feel different? How would you like it to feel? What qualities of presence and experience do you hope to cultivate this year?

We’d love to hear what’s coming up for you.

Leave a comment

Join Us in May

Mark your calendars for our May events, open to our paid subscribers:

• Leadership Strategy Session (LSS): Wednesday, May 7, 2025, at 11:00 am PDT
  Preparing Your Team for Summer's Rhythm Shift

  The transition to summer brings predictable changes in team capacity, energy, and availability. Leaders who anticipate and prepare for this shift create conditions for sustainable productivity rather than fighting against natural rhythms. How might you model a relationship with work that honors both productivity and seasonal energy patterns?

• Monthly Momentum Call (MMC): Wednesday, May 21, 2025, at 11:00 am PDT
  Designing Your Summer Rhythm

  As we approach summer’s different cadence, our projects and creative work require intentional shifts in structure, pacing, and expectations. This seasonal transition offers an opportunity to reimagine how we engage with our most important work. How can you use this natural transition to create a more sustainable relationship with your creative practice?

Smooth Your Transition with Tailored Support

If you’re struggling to balance your goals and projects with the realities of this seasonal transition, whether for yourself or your team, let us help.

Reach out to us (via our interest form) to discuss how we can co-create the right mix of approaches to create your smooth and flowful summer.

I'm Interested in Tailored Support

In Case You Missed It

Monday’s Post

Daily Campfire Chats with Charlie

Charlie’s been on Substack each weekday chatting with subscribers about leadership, team habits, productivity, self-care, and more. Check in each day for a new “campfire question.” It’s one more benefit of a paid subscription to Productive Flourishing.

May Momentum Planners

The Momentum Planners were built to keep your most important work front and center. Download the free version of our May planners to help you determine what actions and ideas are serving you, and which need a retool.

Paid subscribers can access the full suite of dated planners below. 👇 If you don't see them, please make sure you’re logged in to your paid account.

If you don’t have a paid subscription yet, now’s a great time to upgrade.

Upgrade Your Subscription

Read more

We’re midway through April already, and about six weeks away from the US Memorial Day holiday, that unofficial start of the summer season.

We’ve got about six focus/groove weeks to make progress on our important work and personal projects, before we need to contend with the merry-go-round of holidays/vacations, family outings, kids home from school, and maybe even our own seasonal energy shifts.

Here are some ways to use the next six weeks well:

1. If we’ve got our Q2 plans dialed in and we’re already running on all cylinders, keep going. Appreciate the groove and use it to get done as much as you can now, without dipping too much into Dunkirk spirit.

2. If, in the first-quarter scramble, we didn’t get a good handle on Q2, now’s a good opportunity to review our own and our team’s plans to make sure we have enough capacity to push those projects to the finish before summer, or if we need to replan (rescoping some projects, adjusting success levels, or perhaps subtracting some altogether).

3. It’s also a good time to get ahead of our plans for the summer months, to be sure we’re realistic about our own and our team’s capacity and readiness, keeping in mind that both of these will likely be lower with folks either out of office or focused on family and fun instead of just work-work-work.

4. Finally, let’s use that time as we’re thinking about the seasonal change and this next three or four months to consider both the goals we want to achieve and the identities we most want to emphasize and prioritize, whether they support those immediate goals or some longer-term desire or way of being.

Use these tips to get the best (quality) and not just the most (quantity) out of the next six weeks, and set yourself up for, as we used to say as kids, “the best summer EVER!”

~Steve

Take a Moment

A prompt to pause and reflect.

What are you hoping to groove through during these next six weeks? How can you set yourself and/or your team up to make the time most and best productive?

We’d love to hear what’s coming up for you.

Leave a comment

Resources

April Monthly Momentum Call Next Week

There’s still time to join us for the April MMC, now rescheduled to Wednesday, April 23, 2025, at 11 a.m. PT.

Monthly Momentum Call (MMC): Wednesday, April 23, 2025, at 11:00 am PDT

Clearing Space for What Matters Most: After recognizing drift in your creative projects or personal goals, the next step often involves both letting go and becoming. What parts of your current approach or self-concept might be creating unnecessary resistance? We'll discuss practical approaches to releasing what no longer serves your important work and embracing the identity that aligns with where you want to go.

Paid subscribers get live access to the MMC and LSS (Leadership Strategy Session) each month, plus extras. Free subscribers, consider upgrading your subscription for invitations to attend live next week and in the months ahead.

Upgrade Your Subscription

Support Your Groove and Your Smooth

Productive Flourishing service offerings might be just what you need to support your groove-into-smooth this summer.

Reach out to us (via our interest form — button below) to discuss how we can co-create the right mix of approaches that can help you and your team both strive and thrive.

I'm Interested in Tailored Support

In Case You Missed It

Charlie’s recent note had me thinking about leadership postures and modes, particularly the tension most leaders feel as “doer (bootstrapper),” “manager,” and “executive,” and how to switch among them.

As I thought about it more, I see this pattern of three all over:

• Executive, Manager, Individual Contributor (most corporate structures)

• Project/Product Owner, Project Manager/Scrum Master,1 Project Team (software development for sure, but other projects, too.)

• Visionary, Designer, Creator (from our Momentum Quiz)

These three roles/functions are why we set up the Momentum Quiz the way we did; to help you understand each of the three aspects of Project World: visioning, planning, doing/making/creating. Whether it’s a personal project, a team project, or a whole business, you and the members of your team or success pack will need to dance with each of these roles at different times.

Selecting which hat to wear can depend on:

• the nature of the project or activity, including purpose, complexity, and urgency

• the composition, capacity, and readiness of your team

• your team’s workways and habits

• our preferences, because we (and our teammates) tend to gravitate to certain modes of work based on our strengths and natural rhythms

There’s more to this idea, but I’ll leave you with this “homework” for now: observe these three modes in action in your own work, and think about the following questions.

• Which one is your default way of being/doing? (Mine is most often planner, which generally suits my role here at PF. But not always.)

• For one of your current projects, which mode are you operating in most, and why? Would a different mode serve the project (and you) better?

• Are all three modes covered on your project(s)?

• Does everyone know which mode/role is theirs? And do they know when it’s okay and/or necessary for them to decide to switch?

~Steve

Resources

Some resources as you’re thinking about modes, roles, and their activities.

Get Tailored Support

Productive Flourishing service offerings provide even more tailored support to meet you or your team’s specific needs.

Reach out to us to discuss how we can co-create the right mix of approaches that can help you and your team evolve and thrive during times of uncertainty.

I'm Interested in Tailored Support

In Case You Missed It