Design Yourself

Carpe diem. Live in the now. Heck, even be here now. There are so many expressions out there calling us to focus on getting present. And that probably has something to do with just how easy it is to get distracted these days from exactly where we are right now. In this week's podcast, Sharon offers up her own reflections on different flavors of NOT being present and then shares 10 ways to get yourself back into the here and now.

Consciously and Negative – For example I'm mentally planning how to get through a heavy task list while my husband tells me about his day

Consciously and Positive – For example choosing to listen to a podcast while doing the dishes

Unconsciously and Negative – For example a condescending comment at work causes me to to be mentally and unknowingly hijacked

Unconsciously and Positive – A great idea pops into my head and captures my imagination while I'm out for a run

1. Single-task
2. Go for a walk – and only a walk
3. Start a new physical practice
4. Read for pleasure – like a real book that you hold. Stay with the words
5. Honor your (right now) emotions
6. Check in with your body
7. Close your eyes + follow your thoughts
8. Put technology away
9. Listen deeply
10. Speak from the heart

• Praise by Robert Hass
  • I read this poem from this lovely volume: "Picking Blackberries with a Friend Who Has Been Reading Jacques Lacan"
• Note to Self episode on single-tasking
• Bored and Brilliant by Manoush Zomorodi

We often think of vision as that thing that happens out way in the future. And there is a time for imagining all that is possible; a time for answering where are we headed. But today Sharon offers up a different approach to vision. One that allows you to lead from a visionary stance in the present. From meditation to emotional resilience to asking for help, we will explore tips and resources to help you move towards your vision in the here and now.

"Vision glimpses a future state and moves you today." – Sharon Lipovsky

1. Meditate
2. Strengthen Your Desired Emotion
3. Share your vision with trusted partner
4. Ask: What can I do today?
5. Get support

• You can sign up for the You Can Design Yourself webinar series here. Be sure to sign up for all three dates (October 17, November 7 and December 5).
• Other Design Yourself episodes on vision setting include: a) Ep 5 – A Vision Meditation; b) Ep 29 – Go Beyond – PRS Vision Cycle; c) Ep 53 – Visionaries and Finding Voice with Julia Lipovsky
• You may also like this blog post on a Process for Crafting and Unleashing Your Vision

This week Sharon offers up a 10 Step Guide to Creative Living. If you are already jamming on all the ways that you need to be creative, awesome! But if you are like a lot of us and need a little kickstart to your creativity, this week's episode is for you. Explore options for how to choose creativity over consumption (take a walk!), learn the difference between copying and appropriating (mindset!), discover some of Sharon's go-to resources to kick a creative slump to the the curb (books! recipes! friends!) and more. This is a great episode for anyone who wants a reminder about just how much potential for awesomeness is sitting right there inside of you. Go ahead and let your inner kid run wild. "To be alive is to have the potential for creativity." - Sharon Lipovsky

"To be alive is to have the potential for creativity." – Sharon Lipovsky

1. Choose creativity over consumption
2. Be generative not derivative
3. Appropriate at will
4. Don't wait for the muse
5. Create to solve your own problems
6. Create to feed your body
7. Create to feed your soul.
8. Embrace constraints
9. Remember suffering is not helpful
10. Say yes to play + no to judgement

• You can sign up for the You Can Design Yourself webinar series here. Be sure to sign up for all three dates (October 17, November 7 and December 5).
• Morgan West
• A Creative DC
• Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert
• Baby Name Wizard by Laura Wattenberg
• Creative Block: Get Unstuck, Discover New Ideas. Advice & Projects from 50 Successful Artists by Danielle Krysa
• Pick Me Up: A Pep Talk for Now & Later by Adam j. Kurtz

Special announcement: Sharon is hosting a free webinar series on how You Can Design Yourself this fall. Details can be found at https://pointroadstudios.com/classes/fall-17-webinars/ Itching to try something new, but feeling stuck? Cue this week's episode. Sharon shares a behind the scenes look into launching the Classes arm of Point Road Studios along with tips and resources for how you too can try something new. Sharon talks about common obstacles to getting started like being afraid or overwhelmed or simply lacking the know how to even get started. This episode is great for anyone who is ready to stop talking about that new thing they want to do and start doing it. It's also a fun listen for anyone who has been curious about what's been keeping Sharon busy these days.

• get scrappy and see what you can learn
• ask for help
• delegate to someone who does know

• honor the emotion
• ask what emotion would serve you
• cultivate that new emotion

• pick your new thing with intention
• make space for the new thing
• the whole thing doesn't have to be new
• going all in works too
• give yourself permission to fail

• Point Roads Studios launches a Classes arm!
• You Can Design Yourself Webinar Series registration (kicks off October 17th)
• Launch Yourself Course (now enrolling)

Joanna Andreae of Wandering Wellness from Episode 62 is back with us for a special bonus episode. Joanna runs a successful business that is as much of her as it is run by her. And as clear as she is on who she is and what she offers, she was struggling with figuring out what to call herself. With permission, Sharon steps into to coach Joanna through this question. This short episode offers a glimpse into what executive coaching can look like and demonstrates the power of having a quiet space held to see an often asked question in a new light. For anyone who has been curious about what coaching is or who is also struggling to answer the question, "what do I call myself?" or "how do I describe what I do in a simple, easy to understand way?" this bonus episode is for you.

Wandering Wellness

insta: @wanderingwellness

Join her weekly mailing list here

Joanna's cover art photograph was taken by Les Mansour

What does it mean to live and be well? How can you do so while also fully owning your own sense of creative power? These are just a few of the questions that today's guest Joanna Andreae, the healer behind Wandering Wellness, ponders. You will hear about how Joanna pushed herself to the brink with the intensity and stress of her work and her job before realizing that there was - thank goodness! - another way. Today she works with what she describes as the multidimensional modern woman to help her find her own way through a mix of meditation, coaching, nutrition and support. Joanna is one of those special people that can make something unfamiliar feel comfortable. She and host Sharon both worked in sales and marketing at the same professional services firm before wending their way into entrepreneurial ventures of the heart. They both share what they learned from that experience and how they each prepared for making the entrepreneurial leap. Today's episode is a great fit for anyone curious about how to uncover or sustain your own wellbeing. It's also on point for anyone looking for inspiration about how to leave your day job to launch your own dream job.

"I think wandering is an essential part of designing yourself." -Joanna Andreae

"There is so much freedom in discipline" – Joanna Andreae

"We are often holding the key to wherever we are heading and when we can let go of something…[we] create the space for the other thing." – Sharon Lipovsky

"The way we treat ourselves is the way we teach those around us to treat us as well." – Joanna Andreae

• Wild woman project
• Chris Maddox
• Andrea Bocelli – Time to Say Goodbye
• The Advisory Board Company
• Kripalu in Massachusetts
• Plant-based nutrition course from Cornell
• yoga nidra
• Meisner acting technique
• Anthropologie
• Curves
• Abraham Hicks
• Camino de Santiago
• Sharon's blog posts about walking the Camino de Santiago
• The Art of Surrender
• Design Yourself 60: Making Girls Strong with Katey Comerford of Girls on the Run of NOVA

Wandering Wellness

insta: @wanderingwellness

Join her weekly mailing list here

Joanna's cover art photograph was taken by Les Mansour

Visionary leadership isn't just for corporate boardrooms - it is for everywhere. It can be satisfying sometimes to imagine getting to where we want to go all by ourselves, but that is not reality. To walk through the world is to interact with others - whether strangers or friends, colleagues or clients, skeptics or supporters. Visionary leadership is the essential skill to get us where we want to go, because it allows us to brings other along with us. Today we start with some context setting, exploring what visionary leadership is, where is shows up and what happens when it's missing. We then turn our attention to how you can cultivate your own visionary leadership through linking your vision to the past, present and future, getting out of your own way, and tapping into your unique voice to share your vision with others. This week's episode is a great fit for anyone who is looking to amplify his own vision or who is wondering how to take a vision and put it into a systems context.

"We are often the biggest barrier to our own success. Our own mindsets or emotional states can frequently hold us back. But usually we aren't aware of that." – Sharon Lipovsky

• It's not just about waving your hands around wildly
• All leadership styles can work
• It's not always about being a great manager (think Steve Jobs) or people person (think Gertrude Stein)

• What have you learned from your path up until now? (PAST)
• What is true in the here and now (PRESENT)
• Where are you headed? (FUTURE)

• Visionary leadership isn't a special gift of the elite few, it is a learnable skill.
• Not only that, but it is a human trait that allows us both to perform at a high level and feel satisfied by the connections we are creating in the process.

• Don't underestimate how powerful vision can be for motivating action
• Your vision should get you really excited
• When feeling stuck, try something completely new (don't sit in front of a computer screen!)
• See the details
• Remember that vision is always evolving – just like you

• Get cozy with what is true right now
• To move forward with integrity you have to begin with an honest look at where you are

• Our stories lead the way to the future
• This means we to make sure that the story of where we have been aligns with the story of who we are becoming

• Cultivate self-awareness
• Identify what you need to amplify your vision
• Always be learning

• It's about connecting to your own unique voice. Back to my friend who thought that visionary leadership must look a certain way…remember it just has to look and feel like you to work.

• Other Design Yourself episodes on vision setting include: a) Ep 5 – A Vision Meditation; b) Ep 29 – Go Beyond – PRS Vision Cycle; c) Ep 53 – Visionaries and Finding Voice with Julia Lipovsky
• You may also like this blog post on a Process for Crafting and Unleashing Your Vision

Only 19% of girls have a positive association with the phrase "Like a Girl." Katey Comerford, Executive Director of Girls on the Run of NOVA, is a person out to change that. In today's show we learn about this international organization focused on making girls strong and Katey's own story of strong female leadership - where we discuss everything from how to find intellectual frameworks to put behind your work, visionary leadership, how to walk away from job, the value of taking an intentional pause from work and power of donating - both money and time. For anyone who has wondered how to marry impact and work or looking for inspiration on how to take a leap into the unknown, this episode is definitely for you.

"I didn't take for granted that I would be able to find a job. I did take for granted that I would find my way. And I definitely trusted in that." – Katey Comerford

"I have a strong appreciation for the complications behind that laser focus. Because it is never as easy as the impact you want to drive. That impact comes with implications. Some are really positive implications and some of them aren't." – Katey Comerford

"I am in a place where I am living and working my values and that is a place of privilege." – Katey Comerford

• Tom Cruise in Magnolia

Katey Comerford

Girls on the Run of NOVA

Girls on the Run International

Boundaries on work are increasingly blurring. We can work anytime and anywhere. And sometimes we want to. And sometimes we don't. In this week's episode, Sharon explores the question "when does work stop?" She reflects on the changing landscape of work (and how this is not a new phenomenon), provides tips for setting your own boundaries on work (because work stops when we decide to stop it) and offers up questions to push your own thinking about when and how you will choose to work. This is a great episode for anyone who might be looking for a reprieve from the demands of work, who might be leading an enterprise and looking for support for colleagues wondering how to find more balance or for anyone out there with the freedom (or desire!) to create your own schedule. Ultimately work stops being work when we stop seeing it that way. May you enjoy the process of choosing what you see.

"Now, more than ever, we are 'designing' our everyday lives to keep up with the hectic pace of modern life, while hoping to realize our dreams in new, colorful ways." – Minna Kemell-Kutvonen, Marimekko

1. Stay fit
2. Get in the right mindset first
3. Listen to your inner voice
4. Share your voice
5. Change things up

Questions to push your own thinking about work:

• How do I prefer to work?
• What conditions best support my optimum work environment?
• What emotion will best serve my work today?
• What do I want to contribute?
• What is my vision for myself at work?
• How does work fit into the rest of my life?
• What does your "Work Roadmap" look like?
• What am I known for?

• Marimekko Voikukka Fabric was designed in 1997 by Kristina Isola
• Design Yourself 15: Play Isn't Just For Kids
• Design Yourself 29: Go Beyond – PRS Vision Cycle

Emmanuel Yamoah is a person who defies the traditional approach. Not satisfied by what has always been, he's always pushing for something more. As a young boy you might have found him deconstructing his sneakers to see what made them work. Today he leads a global Research and Development team at Duracell. He is an engineer, an artist, and a problem solver. He understands that to really drive product innovation, you have to start with personal innovation. This episode is a great fit for anyone curious how to go from idea to tangible product. His career also illustrates how you can create tremendous opportunities and growth for yourself working at the same organization. "It's a constant iteration. It's pushing and using those starting materials that you have and really figuring out how do you bring them all together. And there is no end solution because you've got to constantly evolve." - Emmanuel Yamoah

"I can launch a product and then put it into the marketplace but it has to evolve to stay relevant…the needs of the world change so then how do you evolve – how do you design who you are – to continue to keep up with the needs of the world." – Emmanuel Yamoah

"It is always important to have people around in your life who can reflect things for you. Who can give you a different viewpoint of who you are as opposed to who you think you can be." – Emmanuel Yamoah

"You are who you are…So how do you bring everything of who you are to everything that you do." – Emmanuel Yamoah

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Emmanuel has kindly agreed to answer any further questions that you all might. He can be reached directly at [email protected].