Break Week Roundup
Hi from our holiday Break Week(s)!
As a reminder, I am not working, and neither is the team. We’ve prepared some things for you to enjoy over the next few weeks while we are away, and I’m so excited to share them with you!
If you’re unfamiliar with Break Week: Break Week is something we started in 2021. At the end of every quarter, our team takes a week off to disconnect, refuel, and rest before a new quarter begins. Over the holidays, we add a couple additional weeks to our standard Break Week and take off a total of three weeks. Doing so allows us to truly unplug, holds us accountable to actually taking time off, and helps us come back feeling recharged and refreshed as a team. You can read more about how Break Week started here!
Before we wrap up the quarter (and year), we always take some time as a team to reflect. You may remember that I shared my wrap-up reflection from Q3, and I thought it would be fun to keep the tradition going. I hope you enjoy this version of The Break Week Roundup as we reflect back on Q4!
Biggest wins of the quarter
When it comes to reflection, it can be easy to focus on the stuff that didn’t go well. I know that I have a tendency to focus on the challenges and what could have gone better, so in the spirit of trying to do the opposite of that, I’m starting with the wins! Here they are—drumroll, please . . .
Three of us got to gather in person in Gainesville to kick off this quarter together (we missed you, Amanda and Rachel!)
More than 500 amazing humans registered for our Human Leadership Program in November . . . our biggest class ever! (P.S. We are hosting another program in March. If you are interested in joining us, you can learn more here!)
Just a couple weeks ago, we hosted our largest R&R Retreat to date! We also updated the content, and our surveys tell us it was very well-received, so that feels really good. (We will be hosting another R&R Retreat in December 2023. If you are an early bird and want to go ahead and grab a ticket, you can do that here!)
I facilitated 50 speaking and coaching events, with 11 of those being in person (in-person events are coming back, and I’m so happy about that!)
We launched Focus Parties, which are times when I open my Zoom room in the early morning hours and invite people to join me in focusing on meaningful work. It was such a nice and motivating way to start so many of my days this quarter!
I started reading the game-changing book Be 2.0 by Jim Collins, which has helped bring clarity to our strategy progress and to our mission and vision (you can read more about that in this post)
Monique and I committed to weekly strategy time and spent more time working “on” the business instead of “in” than we have in any other quarter this year
I got to meet one of my coaching clients (and her team!) in real life, after meeting on Zoom for several years (shout out, Charlie!)
I got to bring my mom, whom we lovingly call BOB (Boss of Boss), to a speaking event, and she got asked to sign Permission to Screw Up—a moment I will never forget!
I got to give a speech in Pensacola, which is where Rachel’s parents live (Rachel is our Chief of Content). They came to the event, sat in the front row, and we went to dinner and spent hours catching up. Rachel and I have been working together for more than 11 years, so her parents are like second parents to me. One of the highlights of the quarter for sure!
We hit our internal deadline and sent our book proposal to our agent before taking off for break (and now our agent will continue to give us feedback on that proposal and pitch to publishers!)
I took a chance, got uncomfortable, and led a vulnerable session with a team around human connection. It turned out to be one of the most meaningful sessions I’ve ever facilitated. You can read about that experience here!
Amanda—our Chief of Compassion, who will be transitioning out of our company at the end of the year—celebrated 7 years with our company and got to take a special anniversary trip to one of her favorite places
We closed our biggest year ever in business—and we held to our
“calm company” promise while doing it (meaning we were careful to avoid burnout, we challenged deadlines, and and we grew at a sustainable pace)The team and some of our families got together in Michigan for our end-of-year retreat. I shared more about that in last week's post. If you missed it, check it out here!
We had some special team wins this quarter, too: After an intentional search, Monique and her husband Tim found a nanny that they love to help with baby Atlas! Amanda and her husband listed their house for sale, bought a camper, and followed their dreams of going back to the Pacific Northwest. Cheyenne continued to grow in her rock climbing ability and took on a new challenge of working out with a personal trainer. Rachel took a week off to go home, visit with her family and friends, and help her mom with her booth at an art festival. And I celebrated one year of marriage with my husband, Spiros, and we went to Mexico, which is where we got married, to celebrate!
Even though Q4 is always my busiest season for travel and work, I kept my self-care commitments and prioritized my well-being (you can read about that here!)
I hit 1,000,000 miles on Delta! I wrote a post about it here.
Biggest challenges of the quarter
No quarter is complete without challenges. That’s what makes it human! Here are some of the things that tested us the most—and helped us grow the most—in Q4:
Without a doubt, the hardest moment of the quarter was the decision to transition Amanda and her role out of our company and learning how to live in the “and” together. While we know this decision is the most compassionate one for Amanda and for our organization because it will allow Amanda to find a role that is aligned with her sweet spot, it’s also been really hard for all of us.
We thought we’d have a book contract this quarter, and sometimes we get bummed that we are still on the proposal part of the process. We know it will be worth it in the end because the book we are writing now is so much more intentional than the book we started with, but it’s been a big test of patience at times!
As a team, we are still working on our process for producing content (blogs, social media, book writing, our programs, etc). It used to be my role to set the vision for 100% of our content, but now that we are a content creation company, we want every member of our team to be a part of that process. We haven’t quite figured out the best way to do this and tap into all of our strengths, but every quarter, we experiment and learn more and more. It can be frustrating as a leader because I know that it’s possible for us to all come together on it in a powerful way—I just haven’t quite figured out how! We got closer than we ever have this quarter, and I’m excited to try some new ideas for Q1 to see if we can get even closer.
During a session with my executive coach, it occurred to me that I hadn’t spent enough time working “on” the business and on our long-term vision as a company. I tend to focus on the year ahead, and because the company has been growing so much, I haven’t felt the need to focus too much beyond that. In my meetings with my coach, I realized that I have been lacking in providing a strategic vision to our team that can inform a lot of the decisions we make now to ensure that we are growing the way we want to be. That’s when Monique and I put regular strategy meetings on the calendar. Now, we are ending the year with a three-year vision for our company, which has provided so much clarity! I will make working “on” the business a continuous priority.
I went to Florida for Break Week to visit my parents, and then . . . Hurricane Ian! I wasn’t expecting to spend my week off helping my parents board up their house and evacuate, but I feel so lucky that I could be there to help them during such a stressful time. The hurricane had a domino effect: I had speaking events in Florida the following week that got rescheduled. At first, it felt frustrating, but it became a moment to recenter, find gratitude, and recognize that the challenges were nothing compared to those whose homes and lives were devastated by the hurricane.
I feel like every quarter, I have a moment where I feel overwhelmed (please tell me I’m not the only one?!). This quarter, it happened right before Thanksgiving. I had a lot on my plate at work and a lot on my plate personally, as we were hosting our families for the holiday. In that overwhelming moment, I was reminded of the power of letting others in to help us and to ask for help, and I wrote about that experience here.
I had one internet fiasco of a day that I will never forget! I checked into a hotel for a virtual speech. The hotel confirmed in advance that the internet was the best it could possibly be. Shortly after I checked in, there was an internet outage that was out of the hotel’s control. Unfortunately, all other hotels in the area that weren’t affected by the outage were fully booked, including AirBnBs. What made this predicament even more challenging was that my speech was in the middle of the night, and I would need to figure out a way to access the internet by that time. I always travel with a hot spot for my backup plan, and that worked, but I wanted something more solid. I ended up working with a different hotel that offered to let me use their conference room in the middle of the night and connect to their internet. It took a lot of teamwork to make it happen, but we figured it out! And then, of course, what do you think happened? The internet at my hotel came back on right before my speech! I didn’t even need to use the backup plan. I will always remember this night!
We had a lot of team sickness this quarter. We all had something at some point in time. It can be hard to juggle when we are a small team, but we always support one another and make sure the person who is sick can focus on rest and recovery while the rest of the team keeps things moving!
And speaking of sickness . . . While Rachel was home visiting her family, she had to take her dad to the hospital with a bad case of the flu and pneumonia. Thankfully, he’s doing a lot better, but it was a scary moment. I’m grateful that in that time we could rally around Rachel, help with her workload, and allow her to focus on being present with her parents until her dad was better.
Biggest lessons of the quarter
And now, the lessons that came out of the wins and challenges—my favorite part! These are the lessons from Q4 that I will carry with me as we head into Q1:
The idea of living in the “and”: that it’s possible for something to feel hard and be the best choice at the same time
In times when you are unsure of what to do or the next step to take, look to your values
Team retreats don’t need packed agendas to be meaningful (you can read more about the lessons learned from our December retreat here)
I’m not the only one who can activate our content-generation process
Working asynchronously can help move things along faster, as long as you have frequent touchpoints
It’s better to experiment and learn than it is to wait until things are perfect
Ask for help and allow others the chance to help you
Obsess less (this wisdom came from a participant at our R&R Retreat and I love it!)
Fill your cup so that you can best serve those around you
Be curious: You never know what you can learn about someone
Follow your gut
If you want more intentional feedback, ask more intentional questions
Even when you are growing and fulfilled, you still need a bigger vision to look to
There’s a difference between “tensions to manage” and “problems to solve” (I wrote about this lesson here!)
Favorite reads of the quarter
As a company that helps others become better leaders, we’re focused on becoming better leaders ourselves. Learning is a priority for us: Every week during our team huddle, we talk about what we’ve learned in the last week. Sometimes what we discuss is related to work and sometimes it’s related to our lives outside of work. Here are some of the books that I read this quarter and loved, as well as some recommendations from the team!
My best Q4 reads:
BE 2.0 by Jim Collins
Blue Ocean Strategy by W. Chan Kim
Powerful by Patty McCord
Do Hard Things by Steve Magness
Team’s best Q4 reads:
Maybe You Should Talk To Someone by Lori Gottlieb
Good Inside: A Guide to Becoming the Parent You Want to Be by Dr. Becky Kennedy
Glucose Revolution: The Life-Changing Power of Balancing Your Blood Sugar by Jessie Inchauspe
Fair Play: A Game-Changing Solution for When You Have Too Much to Do (and More Life to Live) by Eve Rodsky
Favorite movies and shows of the quarter
One of my favorite ways to disconnect and recharge is by watching a show or film. Here are some of my favorites of the quarter!
Till (in theaters)
Top blog posts of the quarter
In case you missed them, here are our three most popular blog posts of the quarter!
Top resources of the quarter
These three resources were downloaded the most by our community over the last quarter:
And there we have it! Q4 2022: Thanks for the wins, challenges, and many lessons you brought!
I hope you enjoyed this quarterly roundup and that maybe it inspired you to think about your own reflections of the last three months. I also hope you get to enjoy a slower pace and some well-deserved “you” time this holiday season. Remember: We’ve got posts scheduled every week while we’re on break, so you’ll hear from me again next week!
Big hugs and happy almost end of 2022,
Kristen
P.S. The next Life Outside of Work newsletter comes out this Friday! It’s all about my money mindset. Here’s a link to sign up if you haven’t already!
