Real Talk: You're Not Just Busy - You're Drowning.

Let’s keep with the water/hurricane metaphor…

Raise your hand if you’ve heard (or said to yourself) “Just make time to think” or “Just hire a consultant” whenever you have lamented being too busy solving problem after problem? Most advice for overwhelmed leaders assumes you have a life raft: time, money, people, spacious thinking, a life coach, free childcare, etc.

But what if you’re:

• The primary decision-maker?

• Creating slide decks at midnight and answering emails at 6 a.m.?

• Too tired to even imagine a “better system”?

You’re not lazy, disorganized, or doing it wrong.
You’re doing too much. That’s not a reflection of your failure, but of the conditions you’re working in.

You have the power to change that.

Whew. Ok. Let’s breathe.

Take a listen to this episode of Coaching Real Leaders by Harvard Business Review if you need some great quotes like “We don’t need to run the marathon. We need to be able to run the 5k.”

Framework: What Keeps You From Sinking?

When you’re underwater, you don’t need a five-year plan.
You need a buoy — something small and simple to hold onto today and get us into tomorrow:

1. One clear priority: What’s the one thing I must do today to stay aligned with my purpose?

2. One stabilizing habit: A micro-practice (2–5 minutes) that helps regulate your nervous system — a breath, a walk, a boundary. You can do anything for 2-5 minutes.

3. One grounding connection: Someone you can tell the truth to — no fixing, just witnessing.

   Shameless plug — we can help you with this!

These aren’t fixes. They’re floats. Enough to help you breathe and consider the future.

Why Strategic Thinking Feels Impossible

Strategic thinking is a muscle. It responds to exercise, nutrition, and wellness just like any other part of your body. When you struggle with strategic thinking, it’s in your body — in systems that are activated, depleted, and wired for short-term survival.

This past year I was certified as a yoga instructor. Since I started my yoga journey, I’ve discovered that my type-A personality and INTJ have kept me in a space of perfection seeking. In the past, the stress I have put on myself in the need to seek perfection had negative consequences on my ability to be visionary. Instead of being proud of progress and getting some ideas down on paper, I was kept up in the need to see something completely visualized and ready for production.

This isn’t a competition with yourself. You can turn your thoughts into action today.

Be gentle with yourself. We need you to stay in the work!

What helps?

• Don’t wait for inspiration. Write fragments, not plans.

• Use voice memos or bullet lists. Lower the barrier to entry. Personally, I like to journal and collect ideas visually!

• Schedule reflection with someone else — externalizing helps unstick the fog.

Final Word: You Can’t Rebuild the Boat from the Shore

If you're in the middle of the ocean, you don’t need to paddle back to shore to fix everything. What can you use to keep you afloat?

• A tool you can use to keep you in motion - try out the bouy and name one thing you need to do to advance your mission, set a 2-5 minute boundary, and find a thought-partner

• A reminder you're not alone - partnership comes in different forms and if consulting makes sense for you, reach out and let’s chat!

• A moment of truth to name that this isn’t sustainable — and that matters.

More on sustainability in our next issue….

Looking for Leaders to Highlight!

During this series, we’re highlighting leaders in the field who have strategized and led in challenging times. We want to learn more about the key features of leadership that they have hung their hats on to weather the storm.

Nominate a leader you think should be featured in a future newsletter as part of this series! If you nominate a leader, we will thank you in an upcoming newsletter and you will be put into a raffle for a free subscription to the newsletter when we launch our paid version! Reply to this newsletter or message us on LinkedIn!

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