Break Week Roundup: Q4 2023
Wow! The end of 2023 is almost here!
This past Friday marked the start of our team’s end-of-year break. In addition to our Break Weeks at the end of each quarter, we take off three weeks at the end of each year so that we can come back in January feeling refreshed, recharged, and reinspired. We just want to call out that all of the blog and social posts that you’ll see over the next few weeks (including this one) were all prepared ahead of time!
(If you are unfamiliar with Break Week, it’s something we do to hold ourselves accountable to actually taking time off as a team. You can read more about how Break Week started here!)
We have a LOT to celebrate this quarter, including the biggest celebration . . . the arrival of sweet Sage McHugh! Huge congrats to Monique, our Chief of Growth, her husband, Tim, and their son, Atlas. Below, the team and I have put together a list of our other wins as well as our biggest challenges and lessons learned from this last quarter. Creating a habit of reflection helps us see how far we’ve come!
We hope that sharing our reflection will inspire you to take some time to pause and think about your own wins, challenges, and lessons learned from the quarter—and from the year! Feel free to share your reflection with us by replying to this email—we would love to see it. Just remember that we won’t see your reply until January 8th!
And now, I present . . . The Q4 2023 Break Week Roundup!
Our biggest wins of the quarter
The arrival of Sage McHugh was the biggest win by far! Monique gave birth to a beautiful baby girl on Thanksgiving night. Mom and baby are doing great! Congratulations, McHugh family!
Another busy and impactful quarter is in the books: I had 8 in-person sessions and 36 virtual sessions. Q4 is traditionally my busiest, and this year, I’m really proud of myself for being really intentional with every event while also prioritizing what I needed to do to be at my best.
We started Q4 together in person! Instead of planning a fancy retreat in a far-away place for ourselves, we kept this year’s team get-together simple. We met up in Gainesville, Florida, where two of our teammates already live, and we stuck to a super relaxing agenda that had a mix of recharge and team connection time. We all felt like we did a great job of balancing work time with relaxation time; it felt nice not to have a packed agenda. We ended the retreat on a really special note: by throwing a mommy shower for Monique! We loved meeting so many of her friends, family members, and neighbors, and it was so special to be there with her to celebrate.
I’m really proud of myself for listening to my gut in my work with clients this quarter. Instead of trying to keep everyone happy, I advocated for the course of action I thought would lead to the best results. This shows me that I’ve come a long way in reframing my limiting belief of “I have to keep people happy,” and I’m feeling more confident in speaking up!
We supported our team’s families in different ways this quarter, from sending flowers and a note to Monique’s family after they put their dog down to including Rachel’s parents at dinners when we were in their city for an event. For us, it’s important that our culture goes beyond our own team and touches the people we care about most.
We focused on cross-training our team so that we can better support each other. Though we do our best to keep everyone in their sweet spots 80% of the time, we’re a small team, and we need to make sure we can jump in and take over someone’s role if need be. This quarter, we spent time learning parts of each other’s roles, such as running breakouts in Zoom meetings and scheduling social media posts.
We had our second-largest live audience for our 9th Human Leadership Program! If you were there: Thank you so much for joining us!
We got clear on the areas we can outsource to help us get to the next level in our growth. This came from our work with our branding partner, and it’s already changing the game for us! Up until now, we hadn’t seen a clear path to outsourcing, but our branding partner connected us with several people who can help. It feels good to be able to head down that path!
And last but absolutely not least . . . We launched a video that we have been working super hard on all year that shows my speaking style and vision for the world. You can watch it here! We also launched a new version of our website. If you haven’t seen it yet, check it out!
Our biggest challenges of the quarter
We realized we need to do a better job of balancing growth on the team with growth for the business. While we have a clear structure around team financial growth, we’re less clear on how we plan to allocate resources to fund projects that allow the business to grow. We’ve started to do this by creating a business growth budget, but we need and want to do more to reinvest in the business.
Our team struggled with working while on the road. They are used to working from home, so they have been trying to figure out the ways they work best when they travel with me. They’re still looking for answers, but in the meantime, we’ve all agreed that we each need to do what feels most authentic to us! I wrote all about this in a blog post, which you can read here.
We made the tough decision to end one of our monthly mastermind groups. In the end, I knew it was a necessary ending because of my capacity and bandwidth. I am going to miss this group dearly. They supported and understood our decision, which means the world!
It was hard for me to find time to write. I used to do most of my writing on the road, but that’s not working for me as much anymore. I’m learning to restructure the way I work so that when I’m home, I can do more writing.
Preparing for Monique’s maternity leave took up a lot of our capacity. We are a four-person team, so being without one person for even a short time has a big impact. But, of course, we want Monique to be able to truly disconnect and be with her family during such an important time! It was a big challenge trying to decide which of Monique’s projects and responsibilities to prioritize, and it really challenged us as a calm company. We had to realign our expectations and ask ourselves whether certain things really needed to get done within a certain timeframe.
We let go of a favorite yearly tradition. This quarter has been so busy that we had to make the hard decision to skip writing acknowledgements this year. It’s hard to let go of something that’s so meaningful, but we decided that it’s more important to us to honor our capacity than it is to do something just because we’ve always done it and cause unnecessary stress.
We had a hard time choosing between keeping up momentum and holding onto things until they’re perfect. A few times this quarter, we had to remind ourselves that progress means putting something out there—whether you think it’s as good as it can be or not. We’ve had to be realistic about our capacity and focus on keeping up momentum instead of spending time nit-picking the less-important details.
Our biggest lessons of the quarter
We learned that an outside perspective can help you see your goals more clearly. Our branding partner led us through a strategy session for 2024, and it was so much more effective than it would have been had it been just our team.
Sometimes, we think that in order to grow, we have to add more to our plate. But we’re learning that often, it’s better to do less and focus on making what you’re doing already even better.
It’s okay and normal to outgrow systems that used to work great. Sometimes, we hold onto things just because we’ve always done them a certain way, but there is power in asking, “Is this still serving us?” And if the answer is no, how do we evolve it so that it works with the company we are today?
Take ownership of what you need to be at your best. One of my biggest learnings is that I need to make sure I have enough fuel in my body during events. I used to just suck it up and eat whatever they had at the event, even if it wasn’t what I needed. Now, I go grocery shopping and get what I need so that I show up prepared. On multiple occasions this quarter, I brought a cooler full of snacks to events!
Be ready for anything—like when a little dog joins you on stage! (One of my favorite memories of the quarter)
Before you say yes, ask if it’s worth your time and energy. We’re growing in making decisions with that in mind.
You really can’t over-communicate. The clearer things are, the more misunderstandings you prevent.
Be intentional in connecting with people. This quarter, I’ve made connections with people on planes and at speaking events that I wouldn’t have made if I hadn’t been open to new people and experiences. Those connections have led to even more connections and positive experiences. It’s a reminder of what’s possible when you reach out and meet someone new.
Always ask: Is this something only I can do? And if the answer is no, seek support from someone who can help. It’s saved us a lot of time and headaches this quarter!
When you get advice, it doesn’t mean you have to follow it exactly. It’s okay to do things in the way that works best for you.
Favorite reads of the quarter
1. The Spark Factor | 2. The Puma Years: A Memoir | 3. Outlive: The Science and Art of Longevity | 4. The Retention Revolution | 5. Rituals Roadmap | 6. Mind Shift | 7. Lessons in Chemistry | 8. Bring Your Human to Work
9. Greenlights | 10. The Woman in Me | 11. Find an Old Gorilla | 12. Fascinate | 13. Breath | 14. Heart Breath Mind | 15. The Messy Truth
Favorite movies and shows of the quarter
1. The Bear | 2. Live to 100: Secrets of the Blue Zones | 3. Big George Foreman | 4. Lessons in Chemistry | 5. NYAD | 6. The Crown: The Final Season | 7. Breaking Bad
Top blog posts of the quarter
In case you missed them, here are our three most popular blog posts of the quarter!
And that’s a wrap on Q4 2023! We hope you’ll enjoy the posts we’ve prepared for you while we are away.
We are wishing you the happiest holiday season. We can’t wait to do next year with you!
Big hugs,
