Real You Leadership

Never have I ever been an early sleeper and riser in the entirety of my life. Even since I was a child, I struggled to sleep and get up at the times I should have.

My last job, I had an 8am standing team meeting Monday - Friday and begged my boss to change it to 8:30am because I just couldn’t deal, when everyone else seemed just fine.

Some of my best ideas or sparks of inspiration come in the still of the night.

I need a couple hours for my brain to really wake up and be at its best.

And I no longer feel guilty or weird about it. That’s just who I am. It doesn’t make me less impactful, less of a leader, or less successful.

What I’m most proud of is building an intentional business for 9 years that is in relationship with my life, that aligns with my natural energy and pace — and not what people who have lived I don’t even want tell me I should do to optimize my day and be more productive.

It comes with choices, but if you’re building something from scratch that you’re the captain and the crew of—why wouldn’t you build a business and life that looks and feels like it’s truly yours?

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algorithm bring in the people who don’t believe the myth of waking up at 5am is the only way to be successful. I want the brujas and the baddies who are night owls that watch the eclipse at 10:22pm, make messy sushi at midnight and eat it standing over rich convos with their lover, and enjoy the full moon in all her glory at 1:20am, knowing full well this is also a version of richness and a successful life.

Dreaming is free and a practice of being free, and I had to learn how to feel safe to dream unapologetically in a world where adults get our sense of imagination beat outta us by capitalism.

There are so many reasons I was taught dreaming bigger than stability and surviving wasn’t “logical” — but I know the truth is that systems want us stagnant and hopeless, and I refuse to let my ability to simply dream go quietly.

In my quest to resist urgency culture, I no longer throw away dreams that feel like they take too long or will be too hard to achieve. I finally learned how to give my deepest yearnings and dreams the space and time they deserve.

Don’t get it twisted, friends—you ALWAYS should not just speak for your work, but name what you want to see on your career growth out loud.

There are so many reasons your work doesn’t speak for itself:

Everybody else is just as busy as you are and simply don’t have the capacity to see your work and impact.

Bias, discrimination, and mediocrity really do block people’s vision for noticing and recognizing good work from many people

Even if your excellent work speaks for itself and gets noticed and recognized with kudos, praise, and affirmations—that doesn’t always mean you’re next in line and top of mind for a pay increase, a promotion, or that next step of growth you might be wanting.

If you want something, say it.
Invite people in to support you in making it happen.
Keep making yours asks and taking steps to bring it to life.

2 weeks off of work and now I’m packed with client sessions my first week logged back in — sharing one of the biggest gems and common threads across 5 hours of coaching sessions, while I’m still buzzing from back-to-back calls.

Being “perfect” is an illusion. Stop striving for it.

Your brain will trick you into feel like an imposter, into self-silencing, and minimize how great you are because you don’t trust yourself enough to handle any outcome.

Some folx are scared the outcome is full of failure, shame, harm, and retaliation.

Some folx are scared of success and actually getting what they want.

Either way, you can learn to grow trust with yourself when you feel safe within yourself, and one way to start doing that is to stop being your biggest bully.

It’s okay to be kinder and nicer to yourself.

It’s okay to give yourself tenderness and forgive yourself for not knowing all the answers, being perfectly imperfect, making mistakes (even as an expert), and learning as you go each day.