Here Be Dragons

What if the problem isn’t that we can’t keep resolutions — but that resolutions were never built for who we actually are?

In this episode, Rachel and Clair explore why the annual pressure to reinvent ourselves so often collapses into self-critique, and how shifting from resolution to ritual offers a more compassionate, sustainable path to growth. Drawing inspiration from Suleika Jaouad’s Against Resolutions, the quiet power of daily practices, and Clair’s long-standing Word of the Year ritual, they unpack what it means to move from forcing change to creating conditions for becoming.

Whether you’re exhausted by self-improvement culture, craving a gentler way to evolve, or simply ready to meet yourself with more presence this year, this episode reminds you that becoming isn’t something you achieve — it’s something you continue.

Action Item:

What would it look like to let this year unfold without demanding a version of yourself you haven't met yet?

Keep Soaring with Additional Resources:

1. "Against Resolutions" article in the Isolation Journals substack by Suleika Jaouad
2. The Book of Alchemy by Suleika Jaouad
3. Join the Dragonhood for access to the Time of Dragons reflections
4. Sign up for Dragonhood Coaching or any of our other services! https://www.dragonhood.world
5. "Hold on Loosely" song by 38 Special

Listener Call

We’d love to hear your rituals, your words, or the ways you’re letting yourself become this year.

Share your reflections with us at [email protected] or tag us with #HereBeDragons.

Who decided we only get one version of ourselves?

In this episode, Rachel and Clair explore the art of second acts — how we evolve not by starting over, but by becoming more fully who we already are. Drawing inspiration from Arthur Brooks’ From Strength to Strength, the concept of Wisdomnomics, and the idea of Ancient Grandmother Energy, they unpack what it means to move from proving to being, from speed to depth, from noise to meaning.

Whether you’re shifting careers, identities, or simply rhythms, this episode reminds you that transformation doesn’t belong to one age — it belongs to all of us.

Action Item:

What’s your second act — or the one whispering to you right now?

Share your reflections with us at [email protected] or tag us on social media with #HereBeDragons.

Keep Soaring with Additional Resources:

1. From Strength to Strength — Arthur C. Brooks
2. The concept of Wisdomnomics — Oleg Konovalov
3. Ancient Grandmother Owl Wisdom - Katherine Skaggs
4. In Defense of Witches — Mona Chollet
5. Smack Dab in the Middle of Maybe - children’s book by Jo Watson Hackl
6. Chip Conley's Modern Elder Academy
7. Sign up for Dragonhood Membership and Services

Clair and Rachel explore Bruce Lee’s famous quote, “Be water, my friend,” and how it applies to leadership, adaptability, and emotional resilience. The conversation dives into what it means to stay flexible without losing form — to move with change rather than against it — especially in high-pressure or uncertain environments.

Together they unpack:

• Fluid leadership — how adaptability and boundaries can coexist.
• Resilience through softness — why strength isn’t rigidity, but responsiveness.
• Flow in action — tools for recognizing when to push, when to pause, and when to pivot.
• Cultural and emotional lessons from Bruce Lee’s philosophy as applied to modern workplaces.

The takeaway? Water is powerful not because it resists, but because it moves — and that’s the art of sustainable leadership.

Action Item:

Where in your life are you being asked to “be water”? Where could you use more fluidity (and strength)?

Share your reflections or flow stories with us at [email protected]

Keep Soaring with Additional Resources:

• Dragonhood's Thunder of Dragons Ecomap: map your people, places, and anchors for when the water gets rough
• Buy mentioned books from our Bookshop.org shop!  Emotional Agility: Get Unstuck, Embrace Change, and Thrive in Work and Life by Susan David
• Where "Be Water, My Friend" originated: Tao of Jeet Kune Do by Bruce Lee
• Harvard Business Review's "5 Principles to Guide Adaptive Leadership"
• The Power of the Pause
• The Pivot Year
• SHIFT
• Sign up for Dragonhood Coaching or any of our other services!

Saying “yes” often feels like the right thing to do—being a team player, stepping up, helping out. But automatic yeses can cost us time, focus, and energy. In this episode, Rachel and Clair explore better ways to say yes (and no) using three practices: curiosity, connection, and prioritization lenses.

Together we talk about how to pause before responding, how to support others without overloading yourself, and how to align your yeses with what truly matters.

This week’s takeaway: you don’t have to choose between clarity and connection—say yes wisely, not reflexively.

Action Item:

What’s one curiosity question, one connection, or one lens you’ll try this week?

Keep Soaring with Additional Resources:

• Working Genius assessment, part of our transformative Dragon Dossier toolkit.
• Listen to the Chronic Apologizing episode for my easy swaps at work!
• Paid memberships have access to webinar recordings (both video and audio here on the podcast stream). Join today! Listen to The Balancing Act episode for more great information!

Double, double, toil and trouble… or just powerful women being themselves? Join Clair and Rachel as we reimagine the wicked witch and uncover why her story still casts such a long spell.

Why are so many powerful women in our stories cast as villains? From fairy-tale stepmothers and cartoon witches to Baba Yaga herself, we dig into how culture punishes female autonomy, why the “ugly = evil” trope is so sticky, and what modern re-tellings are doing to complicate the narrative.

We talk about how these stories shaped us, why witches remain magnetic figures of independence and rule-breaking, and what it means to rewrite the endings.

This week’s takeaway: notice the shorthand, expand your bookshelf, and let characters—and people—be more than two boxes.

Action Item:

We’d love to hear the witch stories you grew up with—and which characters you were most drawn to. Share your reflections with us at [email protected] or in the comments.

Keep Soaring with Additional Resources:

• The Thursday Murder Club series by Richard Osman
• In Defense of Witches: The Legacy of the Witch Hunts and Why Women Are Still on Trial by Mona Chollet
• From Strength to Strength: Finding Success, Happiness, and Deep Purpose in the Second Half of Life by Arthur C. Brooks
• Maleficent movie (2014)

In this episode, hosts Rachel Inabinet and Clair Poletti reimagine leadership through the lens of curiosity. Instead of focusing on always having the answers, they emphasize the transformative power of small questions. Thoughtful, everyday questions can deepen trust, spark creativity, and shift workplace culture in ways that grand strategies often cannot.

Action Item:

Pick one small, curious question to ask this week — in a meeting, with a friend, or even yourself.

Keep Soaring with Additional Resources:

• Buy the book! The Big Book of Beautiful Questions by Warren Berger
• Sign up for Dragonhood Coaching or any of our other services! https://www.dragonhood.world

In this episode of Here Be Dragons, your favorite Dragons, Rachel Inabinet and Clair Poletti, explore the radical power of rest in a culture that glorifies hustle and burnout. From personal reflections to practical strategies, they unpack how pausing intentionally can fuel creativity, strengthen leadership, and model a healthier way forward. Rest isn’t a reward — it’s resistance.

Action Item:

Think of your dream rest activity if money, time, and guilt weren’t factors.

Keep Soaring with Additional Resources:

• Previous conversations referenced include our Sunday Serenity episodes, our Sunday Serenity video compilation, and our paid memberships to get the archive of any of our webinars in our Member Webinar Library.
• The effectiveness of micro-breaks, as referenced in this NIH study.
• Elizabeth Gilbert's Letters from Love Substack.

New Season, Fresh Guests!

What does it really look like to live with full authenticity? To stay curious, lead with acceptance, and take up space like you belong there?

In this episode, we talk with someone who lives the Dragonhood mantra out loud. Donald reminds us what it means to awaken your inner dragon—and live boldly, bravely, and fully you.

Our guest: Donald C. Shorter Jr., is an educator, an artist, and a "queer artist committed to glitching the system."

Action Item:

Think of one part of the Dragonhood mantra and how you connect to it.

Keep Soaring with Additional Resources:

• Discover more about Donald
• Join our thunder of Dragons at the Dragonhood

Clair and Rachel chat with the first unofficial Dragonhood graduate, Katie Roberts! In this conversation, they chat about the benefits of coaching and how their lives have changed since embracing the core Dragonhood concepts.

Action Item:

Think about environments where you find yourself shrinking. Notice those moments so you can practice taking up some of the room in those same spaces.

Keep Soaring with Additional Resources:

• Dragonhood coaching and other services
• Working Genius
• Dawna MacLean, Conscious Living Coach and Founder of Agents of Way

Clair and Rachel explore how glimmers, or small acts of positive interaction, can affect our lives. Listen as they chat about the power of Emotional Intelligence and micro-moments in leadership and work life.

Action Item:

How will you practice creating glimmers? What small steps will you take to create a more connected and authentic environment in the spaces you share with others?

Keep Soaring with Additional Resources:

• Soul Science
• Richard Branson
• Emotional Intelligence Network
• Gary Vaynerchuk
• Amer Nizamuddin
• Kim Scott
• If you missed our webinar, check out Little Moments, Big Impact: Building Psychological Safety and Supporting Inclusivity