Backpacks and Barbells

I’ve been away from a standard working environment for four months.  Sounds like forever, right?  Shoot — I used to think one week away from work felt like a long time. Four months?  Surely, I would’ve changed the world by now. Or at least traveled it. Started a few businesses. Something substantial. Well, folks, I haven’t. And honestly, I’m still months away from being on the other side of this discovery. Am I making a pretty drastic change? Yes — maybe more drastic than most.  But before my last day, I had several people tell me, “Expect it to take way longer than you think — at least six months.” I brushed it off. No. Freaking. Way. First of all, I move fast and basically had it all figured out before I left (HA!). Plus, I couldn’t imagine going without an income for that long. Two months. That’s all it would take. Welp. This process is taking way longer than I expected. And I say “process” like I fully understand it — I don’t.  I have no idea what co...

I’ve done a lot of experimenting with productivity mindsets and tools. Initially, it was all about producing more in less time—because as an executive and mom of three, there never seemed to be enough hours in the day. But what I eventually realized was that I didn’t need tactics to produce more in less time—I was actually craving space for deeper work . I needed to step out of the constant barrage of urgent-but-not-important tasks and focus on the work that truly moved the ball forward. Emails. Teams messages. Back-to-back meetings. Adding the missed comma in a deck for tomorrow’s meeting. By the time lunch rolled around, my brain was fried—leaving no room for the big rocks that actually mattered. And that includes time with my family. I’ve explored all the strategies. There was even a phase where I took cold showers before big meetings to ride the wave of adrenaline for focus and attention. ( Spoiler alert: I like hot showers, and those meetings weren’t that important. ) I’...

Now that my days aren’t consumed by minute-to-minute activity, I’ll have these moments of “A-HA” and realize many of the confines I’ve been operating in for decades are self-constructed. It’s as if I’m living confined in a narrow hallway and when I finally get the courage to turn one of the creeky knobs …not only does the door open, the entire structure that I thought I existed in fades away—poof. freedom to create, build, work in a way that is freeing. A few of the big ones recently: Relearning weekends are just days. My entire concept of balance was based on not working weekends. But Saturday is just a day. Tuesday is just a day. It’s freeing to work when there is energy to work. Rest when I’m tired and not worry if it’s M-F or between the hours of 8-6. Remembering that I don’t have to be sitting at a computer to be making forward progress. For so long, my entire work life lived in this tiny screen. I recently had this moment of “I don’t have to do that.” I can go have coffees...

For those that have followed me for a while, you know I love #data, especially about health, fitness, wellbeing. Over the last several years I’ve tracked my stress score on my Garmin and made note of the external factors happening at the time. I’ve watched that score after making changes to my exercise routines, sleep habits, work schedule, social media usage, etc. In 2024, the highest average stress score was right around the time I was making the decision to leave Credera - those few weeks when I sat on the fence of stay or go. The lowest was after reworking my daily schedule to create more focus time in my day and prioritize 8 hours of sleep. My average score over the last three weeks exceeded anything in 2024 by a long shot. I’ve shared some of this in a previous post, but as I’ve been deciding my path forward, my mind has been so chaotic - the window completely foggy. While there was without a doubt a pull to continue exploring The Athlete Identity Project, I was also simultane...

I quit my job as a Partner in a global consulting firm. I took a month-long nap, joined the board of a nonprofit I’m passionate about, started a project that truly feels like my life’s work, went to Disney World, and now, I’m only taking on work that brings me energy. Sounds incredible, right? Sign me up. Half the time, I can’t believe this is my life. I can’t believe that Marc and I created this opportunity for me to explore what’s next with as much freedom as I have right now. I thought I had it all planned out. It took me six months to make the decision to leave Credera, and I told my leaders in April of last year. Another seven months passed before I actually walked out the door—because closing a chapter I had invested so much in deserved that level of care. I had time. The business plan was written. Custom domain secured. Microsoft Office set up. A website built. And then, on the other side of it all, I felt this strong pull toward something else. And I couldn’t shake the thou...

  “Let it go, let it go… That perfect girl is gone.” Fresh off a week-long trip to Disney World, I can’t help but appreciate how far Disney princesses have come. When I was a kid, their stories were mostly about finding true love—Cinderella, Belle, Snow White, Ariel. And trust me, ten-year-old Amanda sang “I’ll Make a Man Out of You” from Mulan more times than I can count. But today’s Disney princesses? They’re on a different journey. Merida, Elsa, Moana, Tiana—they’re not searching for a prince. They’re discovering their own power, their own voice. Their stories are about stepping into their truth and honoring it. And the best part? There’s room for all of them. You can dream of finding your prince. You can dream of leading the way. You can embrace love, courage, or adventure—and be celebrated for any path you choose. Bravo, Disney. Bravo.

In 2018, I read 7 Habits of Highly Effective People for the first time. Actually, I listened to it then promptly bought the physical copy and read it cover to cover. Studied it. It’s dense content that had many times before been recommended to me, but for some reason, that summer, it just all sunk in.  The book is divided into three primary goals with the note that you must master them in order:  Personal Victory – Mastery and discipline over oneself Public Victory – Establishing deep relationships of high integrity Sharpening the Sword – Continuous evolution and improvement The author, Stephen Covey, encourages you to imagine yourself at the end of your life – maybe your celebration of life; maybe your 100th birthday – and to visualize who want in the room and what you hope they would say. For me, this is the perfect North Star for the way I want to define success and a life well lived.  With this vision in place, every year for the last six years, I’ve created personal ...

“One day, you’re an athlete. The next, you’re not. The world moves on, and you’re left searching for who you are without the sport that defined you.” Does this statement resonate deep in your heart—tucked away, unspoken , even to those closest to you? If so, know this: you are not alone. The transition from a life filled with pressure-packed, adrenaline-fueled performances to waking up without a single practice on the calendar is, I believe, one of the hardest transitions anyone can face.  There’s no roadmap, very little support, and for so many of us, it’s a chapter we navigated alone, unable to fully put into words what we were experiencing. I believe there has to be a better way. A way to help future generations of athletes excel in their sport while building an identity beyond it. A way to help young men and women stand strong when the inevitable happens: that last practice, that last game. If you are an athlete,  parent, coach, or sports leaders with a perspective on this...

I’m 58 days into my second-ever career pause, having recently closed out a decade-long chapter with the global digital consulting firm, Credera. My first career break was all about personal exploration. I backpacked across Europe, met incredible people from wildly diverse cultures, and gained a sense of independence and confidence that can only come from being lost in a city where you don’t speak the language. Back then, I didn’t think about my career at all—or what I’d do when I got back. This blog was born during that time, and you can find those stories starting here -  It's All Greek To Me This time feels different, though. This pause is about career inspiration. I’m asking myself: What work will I dedicate the back half of my career to? What will bring me joy and leave a meaningful impact on the world? If I had the answer today, I’d share it with you—but I don’t. Right now, my ideas and potential paths all exist in one big, chaotic bundle of energy. I know, I know. Two months ...

Today, I remembered that Owen, my four-year-old son, had show-and-tell at school. We sat at the top of the stairs, talked about the topic and picked an object, in this case his Avalanche jersey, for him to take. It took all of 3 minutes.  But it’s three minutes that I haven’t had the mental capacity for in the last two years.  Don’t worry, Owen has always had something special to share each Thursday, but it’s because Marc was on top of it. The concept of show-and-tell existed loosely in the realms of my consciousness but always in a fleeting, non-essential manner. Too many other tasks clogging the pipes up there.  It’s crazy to me that just under 6 weeks ago, I was using every productivity tool in the book to maximize output. To ensure that every moment of every day was focused so that the house of cards didn’t fall to the ground. That I was present with my boys in the very specific moments that were blocked “Family” on my calendar. That I never dropped a ball, missed a d...

Who’s heard that it takes 21 days to form a habit? It’s an idea that’s been tossed around for years, popularized by books like   The Power of Habit . It sounds simple, right? Stick with something for three weeks, and boom—you’re a whole new person. As someone who lives a life with very little margin (three kids in two years + and an executive job is no joke – yes, my hair is greying), the big changes just were never truly realistic. Somewhere along the way, I came across the quote “If you can get 1% better every day for a year, you’ll end up 37x better by the time you’re done”, and it gave me SO MUCH PEACE. 1%. I can do that.    Yesterday, as I wandered up to bed at 9:15 PM with my phone plugged in downstairs and my sunset alarm on its daily set time of 5:30 AM, I had this moment of realization that “woah, I’m someone who actually prioritizes high-quality sleep” To understand why this was a grand realization, you must first understand that I am a recovering “sleep is for ...