In the blink of an eye, we’ll be in April.
My gosh this year has gone fast. And I know I’m not the only one saying it.
The first quarter has moved fast. Really fast.
For me, it’s been full. Productive. A lot of forward momentum… but also a lot of delivery.
Group mentoring launched. Boardroom Collective launched. Our first Lead.Her Collective™ dinner hosted. A week in Brisbane at conferences. Time in my own mentor’s room.
All good things. All intentional.
But if I’m honest… I’ve been deep in it. Head down. Delivering. Supporting. Showing up.
And sometimes that’s exactly what’s required. There are seasons where you lean in and execute.
But here’s the part I don’t ignore.
When I zoom out… I know I haven’t been as strategic as I want to be.
And that matters.
Because leadership, especially self-leadership, isn’t just about how well you deliver. It’s about how often you lift your eyes and choose how you’re operating.
I’m a big believer in walking my talk. So I’ll be honest with you.
I’m a time optimist. I genuinely believe things won’t take as long as they do. Buuut…..they often do. And that gap, between what I think I can fit in and what actually fits, is where the wheels slowly come off.
I’m tired. And while I will always do what I need to do to show up as my best for my clients… I haven’t been doing that for the people closest to me. My partner. My friends. My family.
I’ve been giving everyone else the best of me, and handing them the rest.
And I swore I wouldn’t do that again.
So it stops here.
That’s not just a personal admission. That’s a leadership decision. Because how you lead yourself sets the standard for everything else.
High stress and burnout is at an all-time high. The only person who can control that is you. And the people who pay the biggest price? The ones closest to us.
We’re not burning out because we’re not resilient. We’re burning out because we never pause long enough to lead ourselves.
I keep coming back to something Martin Beam said on my podcast.
“Today is the slowest day you will ever have again.”
Let that land. Because if that’s true… and I believe it is… then speed isn’t the problem.
Unconscious speed is.
We don’t need to slow everything down. We need to get smarter about how we’re moving. More deliberate. More intentional. More aware of where we’re spending our time, energy and attention.
This year has been described as the Year of the Fire Horse. A rare, 60-year cycle. Forward momentum, energy, movement. But with fire as the fuel.
And you can feel it. Everything is moving faster. Expectations are higher. Decisions are quicker. The pace isn’t easing off anytime soon.
Which makes this even more important. Momentum without direction just creates noise.
So this is your moment… and mine.
To pause long enough to check:
- Where am I actually heading?
- Is how I’m operating aligned with where I want to go?
- Or have I just been caught in the pace of it all?
Because this next quarter will move just as fast.
The question is… will you move with it? Or will you lead it differently.