Design Yourself

Sharon reflects this week on work-life balance – or imbalance. She shares the marriage advice that stuck with her as she nears her wedding anniversary: "Marriage takes 100% effort to be successful, but rarely is it split 50-50. Sometimes it's 60-40. Sometimes it's 90-10. But it always takes 100% effort to work." She shares how this framework applies not just to a relationship with our spouse but to any time we work with others.

Summer Series 2024 | Curated guidance and resources to guide and support you in making this season – and what follows – just what you wish it to be.

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For show notes visit:

https://pointroadstudios.com/podcast/marriage-and-partnership/

To connect on Linked In:

@Sharon Lipovsky

@Point Road Studios

To connect on Instagram:

@pointroadstudios

Rate, Review & Subscribe to the podcast on Apple & Spotify

• The most inspirational advice I got leading up to my wedding:

"Marriage requires 100% effort to work. But rarely is it split 50-50. Sometimes it's 60-40. Sometimes it's 90-10. But it ALWAYS takes 100% to work." Mimi Barringer

• Taking the Lead is the series from the podcast Note to Self. Much of the series follows two Brooklyn moms with a tech idea that has the vision and ambition to change what it looks like to be a working mom. But of course, they are dealing with many of the same stresses they hope to solve.
• Later episodes in the series also check in with the dynamic working parenting duo Andrew Moravcsik and Anne-Marie Slaughter.

"It's not that I don't want to work. I do want to work, but I want to work in a way that allows me to be home much more than a high-level government job would let me do right now." Anne-Marie Slaughter

"We started out like most couples start out, I think a little bit naive, thinking that we are a two-career couple and we will also split the parenting 50-50." Andrew Moravcsik

• If you've never read Anne-Marie's influential Atlantic article Why Women Still Can't Have It All, wait no longer. Read it!
• This week marks the first time in our nation's history that a major political party nominated a woman for the office of President. No matter your politics, this is a special moment. I loved watching this video overviewing her career narrated by Morgan Freeman.
• Finally, below are the two key distinctions that helped me see how I was good at adding things to my life and work and why I was struggling to let things go. I had to start strengthening my emotional muscles to get in shape for those changes.

Intellectual Learning – Ability to take on new things (e.g. job, hobby, relationship, etc.)

Emotional Learning – Helpful when you are processing how to put things down (e.g. making a move, a job transition, ending a friendship, etc.)

• Original podcast episode "There is No Such Thing as 50-50"

Every moment offers us a new choice. Will we be guided by the momentum of what has been or carve a new path forward? In this episode of Design Yourself Sharon discusses five tips for how to choose your own adventure and highlights what this guidance looks like in practice as she shares an adventure unfolding in her life right now.

Stay Connected

For show notes visit:

https://pointroadstudios.com/podcast/choose-your-own-adventure-2/

To connect on Linked In:

@Sharon Lipovsky

@Point Road Studios

To connect on Instagram:

@pointroadstudios

Rate, Review & Subscribe to the podcast on Apple & Spotify

1. There is no, singular "right" way.
2. Be clear on what matters to you.
3. Take aligned and inspired actions.
4. Tilt towards the good kind of scary.
5. Be present

• What is a 46er?

Summer is a season of rapid growth – in our gardens, our home lives, and at work. What is your relationship to this season? What transformation might you like to spark in the weeks ahead? Join Sharon as she shares five prompts and personal reflections inspired by this season.

Summer Series 2024 | Curated guidance and resources to guide and support you in making this season - and what follows - just what you wish it to be.

Stay Connected

For show notes visit:

https://pointroadstudios.com/podcast/bottling-up-summer-2024/

To connect on Linked In:

@Sharon Lipovsky

@Point Road Studios

To connect on Instagram:

@pointroadstudios

Rate, Review & Subscribe to the podcast on Apple & Spotify

1. What emotion or energy does summer inspire in you?
2. What is your present experience with Summer?
3. What are some sweet memories of this summer?
4. What would you like to call into the remaining weeks of summer?
5. What parts of summer would you like to bottle up to take with you into fall?

Hitting goals is not enough. Don't get me wrong: I love to run after a bold and audacious goal. But goal achievement can't be the end aim. Goals naturally come and go. They are a way to focus our energy and attention on something. This episode of Design Yourself explores the guiding question: "For the sake of what?" For the sake of what are you working hard to hit those goals? For the sake of what are you running your business? Sometimes work gets us so heads down that we forget to look at the big picture and ask if our energy is driving towards the kind of success that we want. Using the lens of running a business, Sharon offers up questions to ground you in your for the sake of what and then offers how you can cascade this foundation into the way you run your business. This episode is a great fit for anyone who runs a small business or dreams of starting one. It will also speak to those who seek more alignment between your actions and your dreams.

Summer Series 2024 | Curated guidance and resources to guide and support you in making this season - and what follows - just what you wish it to be.

Stay Connected

For show notes visit:

https://pointroadstudios.com/podcast/for-the-sake-of-what/

To connect on Linked In:

@Sharon Lipovsky

@Point Road Studios

To connect on Instagram:

@pointroadstudios

Rate, Review & Subscribe to the podcast on Apple & Spotify

• What is it that you are after in this life?
• What are your values?
• What is your deepest held conviction?
• What do you want to offer into the world? What is your unique contribution that you and only you can make?
• What do you want?

• Guided vision meditation in Episode 5 of Design Yourself
• Original Episode Show Notes with photos from family hike

Have you ever found yourself in a place where your head keeps spinning on the same question (or set of questions)? But no matter how much energy you expend thinking about it, you can't seem to come to a confident conclusion? You are not alone. We often get stuck on "unanswerable questions" because they are rooted in a way of seeing the problem limiting our ability to move forward. In today's episode, Sharon shares a simple process for moving from question to action. Learn what it means to "live in the question" and why this practice is powerful for helping us shift from stuck to transformation.

Summer Series 2024 | Curated guidance and resources to guide and support you in making this season - and what follows - just what you wish it to be.

Stay Connected

For show notes visit:

https://pointroadstudios.com/podcast/living-in-the-question/

To connect on Linked In:

@Sharon Lipovsky

@Point Road Studios

To connect on Instagram:

@pointroadstudios

Rate, Review & Subscribe to the podcast on Apple & Spotify

Let us all remember to be in the practice of resilience together.

1. Write down the unknowable questions
2. Capture the questions underneath each question
3. Probe Deeper
4. Gather information
5. Watch your questions evolve
6. Give yourself grace

• It makes big, important questions more accessible
• It promotes a growth mindset
• It empowers you with actionable steps

• Podcast on grief that I reference in today's show.

• Here is the Jimmy Kimmel clip that brings a spirit of humor to the grief that half of the country is feeling in the wake of the election.

To lead a life of intention asks us to connect to what we desire. Simple in concept, but often hard in execution. Many things will grab our attention: Competing priorities; jampacked schedules; and people-pleasing habits - to name just a few. Many of us will falter on this path because we have been trained to act. When something is missing, we feel compelled to do something - anything! - to find a new way forward. Today's podcast offers an antidote to that restless pacing.

Learn to listen to yourself. What is it that you really want?

In this episode, you will be guided to think about:

• What kind of a vision is meaningful to you right now? What type of vision? What time horizon?
• What parts of your story are you proud of? What parts do you want to keep holding? What parts are you ready to release?
• What do you look like when at play?
• When you imagine yourself in your desired future, what do you sense? Feel into the details.
• What steps could you take today to start moving you on this path?

Summer Series 2024 | Curated guidance and resources to guide and support you in making this season - and what follows - just what you wish it to be.

Stay Connected

For show notes visit:

https://pointroadstudios.com/podcast/where-am-i-now/

To connect on Linked In:

@Sharon Lipovsky

@Point Road Studios

To connect on Instagram:

@pointroadstudios

Rate, Review & Subscribe to the podcast on Apple & Spotify

We are halfway through the calendar year and officially into the summer season. It's a natural time to take stock of how your year is going. What's working? What's getting in your way? What do you wish for? Do your answers inspire you to make any shifts as you head into the second half of this year? Let's explore these questions in "Where Am I Now?"

Stay Connected

For show notes visit:

https://pointroadstudios.com/podcast/where-am-i-now/

To connect on Linked In:

@Sharon Lipovsky

@Point Road Studios

To connect on Instagram:

@pointroadstudios

Rate, Review & Subscribe to the podcast on Apple & Spotify

1. What's True: How am I doing right now? You think specifically about: Mood? Energy? Emotion? Fulfillment? In the whole of your life and in key parts of your life (e.g. work, family, health, finances, creativity)?
2. What's Working: What am I most proud of right now?What brings me most delight in my daily rhythms and routines?
3. What's Missing: What am I wanting? Consider something that you might be missing or wishing that you could amplify
4. Lessons Learned: What do I notice (without judgement) as I answer these questions?
5. Taking Action: What changes will I commit to making?

Consensus is not an evergreen goal. It is neither realistic nor a worthy goal to chase everyone agreeing all of the time. How can we promote productive dissent? How can we move forward as a team when we don't all have the same opinion on what the path forward ought to be? Tune in to this Design Yourself show to discuss how to disagree and commit.

Stay Connected

For show notes visit:

https://pointroadstudios.com/podcast/disagree-and-commit/

To connect on Linked In:

@Sharon Lipovsky

@Point Road Studios

To connect on Instagram:

@pointroadstudios

Rate, Review & Subscribe to the podcast on Apple & Spotify

• Expertise and authority sit with a functional leader
• Time requires us to move swiftly
• Team is at an unresolvable impasse
• Experimenting with HOW to do something based on more options than you have capacity to do right now
• Team can do so in a way that honors or vision, mission and values
• Watch For: Disagreeing on core teaming tools: Vision, Mission, Values, Goals, Measures of Success

Creating conditions for Productive Disagreement

• Team Lead listens only
• Ask powerful questions instead of making declarations
• Art of empathetic summary
• Practice in a low risk way
• Get clear on what the team is doing and how we will use the commitment in the rest of our work

• Lack of clarity on what your focus is, if there is a decision being made and if so how that decision is being made quickly deteriorates trust.

I love a big-picture strategy, but sometimes the most important place to focus is right where you are. What supports us in being able to keep our heads down - with purpose? What gifts are received when we commit to immediate tasks? Explore together in this week's Design Yourself Focus on This Effort.

Stay Connected

For show notes visit:

https://pointroadstudios.com/podcast/focus-on-this-effort/

To connect on Linked In:

@Sharon Lipovsky

@Point Road Studios

To connect on Instagram:

@pointroadstudios

Rate, Review & Subscribe to the podcast on Apple & Spotify

• Be clear on sense of direction – but not fixated on it
• Have trust with key stakeholders
• Understand the connection of this effort to the larger picture

• Mental fitness and resilience
• DIg in and learn what's needed now and next
• Momentum building

"I guess I do subscribe to the joy being the journey, not the destination (especially when the journey has tracked milestones)." – Vision Coaching Client

Weeds happen. In life and the garden, we confront valueless things that encroach on the priorities we want to cultivate. What lessons can we learn from digging in the dirt and listening to the birdsong? How can we move with intention as we remove what is undesired and create space for our visions to flourish? Join me in this Design Yourself episode to discuss weeding in the garden.

Stay Connected

To book your 1:1 Vision Reading:

https://pointroadstudios.com/product/vision-reading/

For show notes visit:

https://pointroadstudios.com/podcast/weeding-in-the-garden/

To connect on Linked In:

@Sharon Lipovsky

@Point Road Studios

To connect on Instagram:

@pointroadstudios

Rate, Review & Subscribe to the podcast on Apple & Spotify

1. Stay Present to the Task at Hand – It's easy for me to get lost on my plot of land thinking about the many things that I can and want to do. But – even with a team of support – my wish list won't happen overnight. I've been ruthless in the garden this season about the task that needs doing right now.
2. Pay Attention to Your Mindset – I can get caught in the "not enough" trap. I have so many ideas that I want to tackle the "what about this other thing I ALSO want to do." Shifting from a focus on taking action on the full vision to focusing on a small piece.
3. Find moments to rest. Take breaks. Enjoy the baby groundhogs and fireflies. Sip a hot beverage.
4. Get help. Invite others to join. Hire values-aligned collaborators. Many hands make light work – and light hearts.
5. Savor each step. Hands in the dirt. Pulling the weeds. Loosening the soil. Transplanting.