Hello regular readers — feel free to skip this one — it’s not a leadership post.  It’s a 45+ female self-care post, summarizing some of the cool products and habits I discovered that helped me feel better.

Since most people don’t have the  blessing of extra time or the interest in comprehensive data tracking, I decided to document and share my findings in case they are helpful to others.

I get no kickback for any of these products, and [of course] your mileage may vary.

Quick Summary 

First let’s talk about what was working and what I was trying to fix.  My diet and sleep habits were healthy.   I don’t mean to brag, but I am an elite sleeper (why doesn’t Fitbit offer sleep challenges?). I had also been exercising about 2-3x a week (weight training and cardio).

In the complaints category there were several.  Migraines, weight gain, joint pain, severe stiff necks, vitiligo, vertigo, and fatigue (I’m sure I’m forgetting a few).  Generally I’d describe my situation as nothing was seriously wrong with me, and yet I began to feel I was aging a bit too rapidly.

Data capture 

I started my journey with several dr. visits and blood tests.  I also began tracking exercise, food and sleep with Charge2, weight Aria 2 and added two additional tracking apps clue and 5 minute journal.

Doctor uncovered Vit D deficiency and confirmed my vertigo, vitiligo and migraines, but offered no real solutions.   I began a series of experiments to try to see what I could improve. After a little more than a year, I’m happy to report I am feeling really good.  Most of my complaints are either gone or reduced.  The one I haven’t had any real progress on is the vertigo.

So far I am tracking three primary categories

Vitamin deficiencies — I found two products I love.  First, Ritual multi-vitamin.  I love everything about this company.  Although I don’t need separate magnesium anymore, I also really loved this product .   Improvements include mood (vit D), joint pain gone (vit D), lip color back (iron) strong nails, reduced neck pain (magnesium), etc.

Peri-menopause – This one is still a work in progress.  I now have comprehensive personal data to support my perspective that reduced estrogen killed my metabolism.  Or as I like to say, I’m well prepared for zombie apocalypse food scarcity.   Most people will lose a pound with each 3,500 calorie deficit, I require a 8,400 calorie deficit to lose a pound.  Not sure if that goes into #overachiever or #winning category, I’ll let you decide.

I have been toying around with a couple supplements that I do think are mildly helpful (this and this)  but, sadly the only thing that I’m sure has worked is pretty hard core calorie reduction.   Increasing exercise has been very helpful for mood and well being, but working out 5-7x/week for 9 months with moderate diet changes did not move the needle on weight.

Auto-Immune challenges – I’m still in discovery on this one as well.  We are still in the early days on therapeutic probiotics and resolving auto-immune issues have no quick fix.  That said, this is my favorite product.  I like these for high quality ingredients, no need for refrigeration and included prebiotics.

Other Stuff

Face – your friends who are selling R+F are not wrong — this is a great investment.

Eyes – I’ve found Felix Gray lenses helpful for migraine prevention.  While the screen time wasn’t the cause, it was a contributing factor.

Neck Pain – I keep Salonpas in my purse for both lower back pain and neck pain.  I am now also very careful to avoid a chill, especially during a workout (I just tuck a workout towel around my neck).   I have learned that neck pain is a migraine byproduct.

Exercise – There is a lot about personal preference to sustaining an exercise habit.  As someone who loved the results of exercise but not exercising, I’ve come to learn that I required structure and community to increase my enthusiasm.  Things that I love include: Training and dancing with Angie,dancing with SWEAThearts, cycling at Revelry, OrangeTheory and regular walks with friends and family.

Workout Foundations –  I’ve also been stress testing workout foundations, here are my [body specific] picks: Socks, Underwear, Bra

Scale – as I mentioned above, I have been using Fitbit scale, but I think this new product Shapa is probably a better strategy since it focuses on motivation in addition to measurement.

Sleepwear – Now that my nighttime body temp has increased I’ve found I can’t live without this nightshirt.

Massage, Chiropractic, Acupuncture — yup did/do all these — I find them generally helpful, but not cures.  I find chiropractic the hardest for me to recover from, so I do it less.  The cupping my acupuncturist did for me helped a lot with my neck recovery and massage is always great, unless I get it too close to my cycle, in which case I can guarantee a migraine will follow.

Meditation and Relaxation – As a chronically “early arrival” person, I’ve been using the Simply Being app to do 5-10 min meditation breaks in my car.  I like it for the extreme simplicity.    I have also grown to love Yin Yoga.

Workout drink – I don’t do these often, but I do really like this – it’s not a meal replacement, but it can help you cut your pre-workout meal in half, and still give you a bit more energy.   I just use a shaker and mix it with milk, tastes a bit like strawberry quick.

So there you have it — all my oversharing and best recommendations in one post.  What else should I try?  What helps you feel your best?

In 2017 I had the good fortune of doing my first ever job search.

While I’ve been professionally employed for more than twenty [mumble] years, my past job acquisition process can be most accurately described as: occasionally agreeing to go work for someone else.

Before I start my next big opportunity (more on that later), I want to take a moment to reflect on what I learned and share one big idea that anyone can do to help with a friends job search.

For context, here are some stats and observations on my funployment

• 14 months to find a fit that both excited me and wanted to hire me — this probably shouldn’t have been a surprise… but it was.
• I met/called/connected/engaged about 400 people
• I had coffee/meetings 2-3 times a week
• I pursued about 40 awesome jobs
• Bias is alive and well and shows up in very subtle ways
• My network is amazing — I had more than 75% response with LinkedIn messages I sent out asking for leads
• Many people went way above and beyond with helpfulness — brainstorming, connecting and recommending me

In retrospect, the smartest thing I did was to create structure, community and accomplishment into this unstructured time.  I shifted my energy to improving my positivity and health, and as a result, I came through both mentally and physically stronger.  Huge shoutout to Angie at I Am Fitness and all my Sweatheart friends at DanceSweatSmile for making this fun.

Of course, every kind of help is appreciated in a job search: encouragement, coffee, lunch, brainstorming, job leads, etc.   But I learned that one thing a few people did had an outsized impact, reminding me of my unique strengths.  

This helped in two ways

1. Gave me words to describe my work.
2. Helped me stay positive in a time of waiting, rejection and extraversion overload.

Some amazing things people took the time to say:

• you were tough, intelligent and had vision – I miss that
• you have a great understanding of dependencies and how they are designed and deployed
• you are such a bright, dynamic and interesting person
• transformational leadership is your strength
• you are always looking at how to create, disrupt and build the most effective organizations and teams
• When you were leading we were at “peak collaboration and cohesiveness”.  I appreciated that we were always working towards a strategic goal.
• I am a huge fan and I would love to work for you again
• Superpowers include pioneering new things, thriving amidst uncertainty, taking risks and building great teams

It is with great gratitude and humility that I wrap up this chapter, and extreme excitement that I begin my new impactful journey.

To all my friends, associates and colleagues, I am blessed to know you. I  would be honored to have a chance to share my observations of your uniquely awesome superpowers.  Put me on your list of people to alert when you are searching for your next job.

Last year I was inspired by Melinda Gates New Year tradition of picking a word and building a deliberate practice around it, to focus the year.

Taking a full year to focus my thoughts and energy around generosity was not easy, but it was very rewarding. I found myself much more resilient, with higher levels of positivity, and that was both needed and helpful in 2017.

In 2018 I’m turning up the heat on action. I believe that now more than ever, the world needs us all to do our part, to show up and do the work.

2018 is about getting sh*t done, personally, professionally and most importantly, in service of others.

Generosity in action = impact

Watch out 2018, you have no idea what amazing things you are in for, because words are powerful.

Cross Post: LinkedIn

I was inspired by Melinda Gates New Year tradition of picking a word and building a deliberate practice around it, to focus the year.

Unlike Melinda, I’m far from ready to focus on “gentle” but I am all in with generous in 2017.

Generous

Per Merriam-Webster*

a : characterized by a noble or kindly spirit

b : liberal in giving

c : marked by abundance

You will remember, in 2010 I had decided to focus on giving back which is one type of generosity. That single goal was transformational to my personal and professional growth. Seven years later, I’m still reaping benefits from that single intention.

In 2017, I hope to continue to be generous with my time and talents, while adding more generosity of thought. I must admit, that it’s often hard for me to have true empathy and to subscribe the best possible intention to the actions of others.

I feel that it would be a noble goal to practice this more. I intend to focus on making 2017 a year of unparalleled generosity. I look forward to seeing where this journey will take me.

Like Melinda, I’ll be happy to lend you my word, if you find yourself in need. How about you, what word are you bringing into focus for 2017?

*beautiful metaphor that I had to look up how to spell that (…twice)

Cross Post: LinkedIn

I’ve been listening to the audiobook The Innovators by Walter Isaacson and pondering Digital Disruption.

While great companies require customer centricity — great innovations often get hamstrung when the only input is customer feedback. What you need for innovation to thrive in the disruptive digital age, is a combination of deep customer empathy and a healthy paranoia that you are probably wrong.

Checking your biases, purposefully breaking your filter bubbles and diversifying your team can help you more easily find the path to insanely great disruptive innovations. The important thing to recognize is that your expertise can work against you.

We live in an age where the ability to recognize and process patterns has never been better. We have more analysis tools and more data points than ever before. We also have faster innovation cycles, that shorten the window of opportunity for great ideas to impact the market at large.

When you know that timing is the most critical component for startup [disruptive] success, you begin to realize that the best thing you can do to prepare yourself, is to create the conditions that help you succeed before you need them.

Building good habits into your ideation framework, can help you avoid missing an opportunity.

So the next time you are tempted to just end a customer feedback session with the what (or how) and not the why — check yourself. The next time you look around the room and notice that everyone thinks, acts and looks the same — check yourself. The next time you find yourself overly confident of your analysis — check yourself.

Insanely great is rarely incremental, and disruption is inevitable. Making it work for you is the hard bit.

Cross Post: LinkedIn

In the past, I’ve brought forward the importance of being a visible role model.  How each of us standing up and being seen, can help make it easier for others around us to do the same.

I’d like to add a few more thoughts on how we can all #StandUp.

I believe it’s important to celebrate progress of others.  Every time we see progress for women, wherever that progress might come —  corporate, nonprofit or individual, society benefits.

I also, believe we should all lend our voice of dissent to important social, human and legal events that happen around us.  From the scourge of rape culture, to the embarrassment of sexism in Olympic coverage, not being a silent bystander, is a critical part of standing up.   We are the authors of our lives and a positive example for others.

I want to give a shout out to Cindy Gallop for connecting an important point to this topic for me.  The reason #EqualPay is important, is not just about you getting what is fair. In a work context, equal pay makes sure you are compared properly against the rightful peer group.

If you allow yourself to be paid less than your male counterparts, you not only hold back your own earning potential, you diminish your overall perceived value [against the scorecard measured in US dollars].  When you overlay this against the behavioral economic principle of relativity you begin to see how this can become a recursive problem.

All respect to Archie’s “Rib Theory,” I think a compelling case can be made that we all need to do our part.  I’m not suggesting that we need to all be motivated exclusively by money or power but, we must not allow ourselves to give permission to others to diminish the value of our work.  We must do our part to find and fix this for others when we are in a situation where we can.

Happy #WomensEqualityDay with sincere gratitude for all that you do, to stand up for all women.

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about careers and luck.

I do believe there is a healthy element of luck in most career success stories.  I also believe, that many people misinterpret luck as their own capabilities (perception and data are often misaligned).

If we agree that luck is important, then we should learn to invite luck into our lives.

I believe you can absolutely attract or repulse good luck with your focus and your actions.  I’m not saying it’s magical, I’m just saying it’s logical.  The more you engage and work toward an outcome, the more likely that outcome will happen.

Or in internet meme form

So what are some practical tips i have seen that work to bring professional luck your way?

• Share your goals – the more you talk about your goals with others, the better your odds of finding someone who can help you achieve them. Warning: if you only share to feel good about yourself, you miss the point (and the results) of this one.
• Keep your head up –pay attention to what is going on around you.   You are likely to see opportunities that bring luck your way, if you you are actively looking.
• Embrace failure – Mindset matters here — knowing that “yet” is the vocabulary of progress.  We all have a CV of failures critical to our visible career success.
• Invest in your network – Having a strong network is the most common source of career luck.  You build a strong network by giving (not taking), so invest in your luck karma, by being generous and helpful to your network.
• Practice saying yes – Give yourself permission to get outside of your comfort zone, saying yes to things that stretch you toward your goal.

Preparing for success invites success.  Not overnight of course, but taking steps in the right direction, consistently, purposefully, intentionally moving yourself toward your goal.

More on the topic here.

Authors note: After a blogging break of more than a year, I began a blog today I titled “Creating luck” only to find I had an unsaved draft of the above titled blog from 4 years ago.  Note sure if this is an observation on the importance of this topic to me, or how long it takes to complete a thought.

I’ve said this a few times covering different pieces and thoughts, but I feel like it’s worth repeating.

To define your role as the executive in charge of a topic, talk in the language of the audience and not in the language of your team.

Putting yourself in the shoes of the audience and using their vocabulary takes more work — but it yields far superior results.  Not only in increasing the likelihood that real communication happened (vs. multiple people saying things) but also in making you be perceived as more knowledgeable and more helpful.

It takes practice and it takes time, but this is a habit you will want to build sooner than later.   Understanding that people are doing this for themselves gives you clarity on why it has such a big impact.  Driving up your own social sensitivity increases not only the impact you have personally, it can set the stage for a more effective team as well.