Design Yourself

What have you learned this year? And how will those lessons inform your direction in the coming year? In this week's episode we explore the power of looking back and taking perspective. And then look at a few tools to help you do just that. We close with a how-to guide to writing a letter to yourself to reflect on the year. Here's to taking a few moments to look back and learn from what has unfolded for you in 2022.     https://pointroadstudios.com/wp-admin/post-new.php?post_type=podcast

Today marks the 10th anniversary of Point Road Studios! Has anyone ever told you, "No, you can't do that!" - and then you went ahead and did it anyway? That's a glimpse into why we celebrate together in this week's podcast. Join Sharon for a personal reflection and celebration meditation. Learn about the thing that Sharon is most proud of and hear some of the stories of clients she has worked with over the years. Hear her reflections on what being in business for a decade has meant for her personal life. And then reflect on what this means for you. Today's episode closes with a Celebration Meditation (starting at 15:47) inviting you to explore chapters of your own life. What are you celebrating? What are you noticing? What can you see? And at what perspective? Celebrate what you are most proud of. And not just the big milestones. Celebrate those tiny moments that summed together create the magical moments of your life. Because only you can know and navigate how to call forth the whispers of your heart. Listen

Perfectionism is a shadow driver of so many high achievers. It helps us get the job done. But at what cost? In today's episode, we cozy up to the realities of the perfectionism paradigm. We look at its different flavors and the ways we might experience it in our own lives. What standards do we hold ourselves to? What about the people around us? Our family? Colleagues? Friends? Community members? And what about the standards that we inherit from the cultures we live in and move through? The alternative to chasing an impossible standard is simple. We have to set our own. Rather than aligning our actions with an unachievable ideal, we have to connect our focus to what actually matters most. As defined by - you guessed it - you! Which does require that we know what we value. For this reason, we close today's podcast with an invitation to reflect - a chance to be honest with ourselves about our own relationship with perfectionism and to consider what's actually important to us. From the strength of our own convict

"No" is an incredibly powerful tool. It allows us to clear the clutter of our lives and to prevent unnecessary distractions. Behind every yes is a silent no - we just usually don't realize it at the time. It is through creating the negative space that we can dream up of biggest, brightest, happiest yeses. "No" really does create the space. In today's episode we give gratitude to "no" and offer up 4 simple questions to spark your own personal reflection. Host Sharon cozies up to her own answers including how fear and control get very loud when she's saying no - and how it's worse when she is afraid of how her no will impact someone else. We also look at patterns that lead you to avoid saying no and supports to get over it and just do it anyway.     https://pointroadstudios.com/podcast/gratitude-for-no/

To gather - to come together with others - is a deliciously human act. But the experiences are varied. And many of us are out of practice or still adjusting to how it feels to be together. As we step into the season of gatherings, we invite you to consider what makes a gathering good for you. Sharon reflects on some of the wildly different gatherings that she has been a part of recently - from her annual-ish Entrepreneur's Getaway to a Catskills Sister Moon Circle, from  a Vision at Work Retreat to a family routine of playing Dragonwood before bed. She shares what each of these gatherings is, what she appreciates about the experience, what surprises her and more. Through cozying up to these experiences, she draws out 5 lessons that she knows will serve her in the intense season of coming together that lies ahead. And she prompts you to set your own intentions for the gatherings in your life.    https://pointroadstudios.com/podcast/gather-good/

The end of the year is coming. It's that season where we are stretching to the finish line professionally - while simultaneously laying the ground work for what comes next. And our personal lives tend to get fuller too. Holiday celebrations and gatherings. Traveling and hosting. It is a time when we are naturally drawn to sprinting, adding on more responsibilities and generally pushing harder. But today's podcast challenges that way of being. It invites you to get clear on what matters most and then align your actions with these priorities. Particularly as we think about the short timeframe between now and the end of the year. We aren't talking about a laundry list of priorities either. We are talking about what 1 or 2 or maybe 3 things that matter most. That's it. And that's enough. Together, we examine why the time is right to be asking ourselves what matters most, we highlight what tends to get in our way and we offer questions to prompt your own best thinking on how to return to and honor your priorities.

We have enormous aptitude for thinking. But not all of our thought habits serve us. Frequently a thought that served us for one season of life gets in our way in the next. "I am a hard worker" may have given you the focus and discipline to rise into your current station in life...but it is also contributing heavily to your sense of burn out. Being able to break from your current thought habits is an incredible life and leadership skill. It requires both that you can see your current thoughts, discern if they are working for you and then shift them if they are not. In today's episode, we explore the Thinking Path model as a tool to help you do just that. Learn from real life examples and consider for yourself what thoughts you are ready to challenge and reimagine.

The things we carry can get heavy, fast. And we have a choice. Keep holding the weight. Or set it down. To move through the world with levity, unburdened by the weight of our mental loads, requires us to both see what we are holding onto and then decide consciously what to do with it. As our work and lives take on a new shape, we are once again revamping the rhythms and routines of how we give shape to our days. And this means we are taking on new mental loads. In today's episode we create space to take perspective on why many of us are experiencing a sudden uptick in our mental loads. We then explore what mental loads we are holding so that we might see with fresh eyes the things we carry. We close the episode with 4 moves you can make to get relief.   https://pointroadstudios.com/podcast/mental-loads-getting-relief/

Your attention is a precious resource. But one that is all too often wasted or ignored. Annie Dillard speaks to this beautifully: "How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives. What we do with this hour, and that one, is what we are doing." You can choose to focus your attention and the minutes of your life on what matters to you. Or not. The act of focus may seem small in the moment, but its ripple effects are wildly consequential. In today's episode we draw inspiration from David Foster Wallace's commencement speech and emphasize the importance of choice when it comes to where we gift our attention. We then invite you to reflect on 4 questions to spark your own best thinking on how to put the ideas shared into practice in your own life.   https://pointroadstudios.com/podcast/gifting-your-attention/

You are in charge of your reactions to the circumstances around you. As for the circumstances and people around you, not so much. Yes, you can motivate, negotiate, influence and inspire those things. But you can't control them. But your reaction? Absolutely yours to decide. Yet we know it doesn't always feel like it's our choice. We get so triggered in the moment or so habitual in our response that we forget that we do actually have a choice.  In today's episode, we help you remember that the choice is always there. We begin by looking at why centering matters and then share tools for three ways of centering: Tactics to come back to center when you are  triggered; practices to build up your centering stamina so that you are less likely to be triggered in the moment and practices for how to center with your team - whether with your colleagues around the board room table or on a zoom call or at home with your family. Enjoy!  https://pointroadstudios.com/podcast/finding-center/  

We've been 2020ed and there is no turning back. That has a lot of us feeling adrift. Untethered. Unmotivated, even. We can't unsee or unexperience these last few of years. This new consciousness has sparked lots of change in the workplace.   For some of us, this new awareness has spurred us into action. Perhaps seeking a new job (hello, great resignation) or reimagining the one we already had. For others of us, we have scaled way back - perhaps exiting the workforce or re-evaluating how much we are willing to give (#quietquitting). And our employers are following suit. Return to office plans are rolling out, flexible work plans are being established (or not) and generally speaking, the next normal is coming into focus.   In today's episode we cozy up to how we are feeling in the face of multi-years of near-constant, collective change. At a time when so many of us feel like things are beyond our control, we explore the choices we do have that might help bring us back to center.  Sneak peek: All paths forwar

Get pumped! Starting October 5, the Design Yourself podcast is coming back to spark inspiration and share practical resources for how to imagine what you really want and figure out how to lead with your vision each and every day. In this sneak peek episode, learn about the fun personal project that led Sharon to put the podcast on hold (hint: you can read about it in the NYT and Dwell!) and why she is recommitting to the Design Yourself podcast now (hint: it has a lot to do with offering support amidst the unprecedented demands and choices facing professionals today).

A is for Actualize. B is for Brainstorm. C is for create. Okay, just kidding, that's not quite the structure of today's podcast. In this week's episode, Sharon does share some key terms for breaking apart the big idea of vision. She says a more linear set of distinctions that can move us along that path by exploring terms like strategy, goals, milestones and tactics. And also shares a magical pathway to vision through the lens of words like surrender, release, be, listen and move. The idea is not that there is a single or better pathway to realizing and stepping into what you really want. Instead these are distinct ways to break down something that can feel big into simple concepts and structures. This episode closes with some questions for you to consider as you wend your way down your own visionary path.

The podcast is back! Listen to Sharon read Frank Bidart poems, share what she's been up to over the last 4 months and talk about the power of not forcing things. She discusses how being still can be uncomfortable and yet why that's important. She shares how to drop in and listen to the voice within you (and not just the mental chatter) and lead and act from that space of wisdom. And finally, when you are just itching to sprint to action even if it doesn't feel right, she reminds you to just breathe. And see if you can't tilt into a deeper sense of presence over action.

Taking time out brings about mixed emotions for a lot of us. We know we'd like to, but how to balance what needs doing with the desire for taking a break. We've talked in the past on this podcast about the importance of taking breaks and how they can be fun. But what about when we don't choose the pause? What about when it feels like it is out of our control? That's just what we dig into this week. Inspired by an extended power outage on the home front, Sharon discusses key distinctions about the kinds of pauses we take, recent lessons she has learned and some questions to prompt reflection about your own relationship to the concept of pause. From the disruptive nature of stopping to how we react differently to short, medium and long-term breaks, prepare to see with new eyes the power of pause.

This week's episode shines a light on the important role that our stories play in our lives and works. Not just as a reminder of what has been, but as a signal for what's coming next. To step into what we really want, we have to own our stories. This podcast will help you along this path. Sharon begins the episode with some personal updates, which include east coast spring break adventures, the kick off of building her dream home and how she missed three Thursdays of hitting publish on the podcast. She shares how her own story about being a failure if she missed publishing the podcast weekly was wrestling with her story that there is a way to do the podcast in her own way, with ease. She then shares how the podcast schedule is evolving. The episode builds from Sharon's own stories to reflections and actionable tips for both how to see the stories you tell and how to create shifts in your stories.  "It's not just about changing your stories. It's about choosing them." - Sharon Lipovsky Ideas Shared How To See

Raindrops on roses / And whiskers on kittens / Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens / Brown paper packages tied up with strings / These are a few of my favorite things...or so the song goes. This week Sharon is inspired by the feeling of Spring in the air and wants to share a personal update about how things are going at this very transitional and transformational moment in her life. She shares a behind the scenes look at what's happening with her home and her work and how her intention setting process is evolving this year and this season. This is a great episode for anyone who's been wondering what exactly Sharon's been up to in her cottage in the woods. It's also excellent for those of you looking for some reflection and inspiration as you contemplate or move through a transition of your own. Ideas Shared Sharon's monthly intention setting from 2018 has been shifting to be more seasonal. Simplicity continues to be the focus in 2019. In the transition from the winter focus on clearing to something

Meet Bill Goulding in this week's episode. He's finishing up his PhD at MIT's Sloan School of Management. His research interests include Empirical Asset Pricing, Financial Intermediation, and Market Microstructure. If that sounds confusing to you, don't worry, we break down his deep financial expertise into human terms and also discuss his own unexpected path to his nearly finished PhD. We talk about the stresses and benefits of professional development through higher education and Bill's own journey. Bill is insightful, open and funny and makes complex topics accessible. This is a great episode for anyone curious about finance, economics and the impact of both on your average human being. It's also lovely for anyone whose ever gone through or thought about pursuing a PhD. 

When we our energized, it's apparent in the way we lead, act, and feel. This week's episode offers up ideas for how play with and grow your energy - and makes the case for why prioritizing how you feel is critical our role as leaders. We discuss how your energy is impacted by your priorities and values, your emotions, and the health (or lack thereof) of your body. We talk about how to quiet your mind when busyness and stress surges. And we close with a discussion of how critical it is to write your own rules for how you structure your time. This is a great episode for anyone teetering on the edge of burnout (or managing/supporting someone else in this position). It's also great for anyone looking to summon the courage (and energy!) to make a change. In taking care of your energy, you are taking care of not just yourself, but all the people around you too. Take good care!

What money mindsets or limiting beliefs are getting in the way of what you really want? That's what we are cracking open in this week's episode. Sharon shares how to pull apart our money mindsets and simple ways we can all make small shifts about our approach to money today. Explore together the difference between "bad scary" when it comes to money (e.g. spending beyond your means) and "good scary" (e.g. changing your spending habits to align with your values). Investigate 6 money mindsets that could be getting in your way and then learn a practical process to help you move past these roadblocks.   Ideas Shared There is Good Scary and Bad Scary when it comes to money Bad scary are triggers for true concern; the modern day saber tooth tigers showing up on your living room. Good scary are ways that you are really aligning with what you want, but maybe feeling nervous about the change it prompts. Money Mindsets that Get In Our Way "I'm not good with money." "People with money are bad." "Money will change me."