Her name is Pippa Joy. I put "Joy" in her name on purpose.
A Q1 report. Three months, one thread, and a few things I'd been avoiding admitting.
There’s a particular kind of clarity that comes at the end of a quarter, when you stop long enough to look back.
I’ve been doing that this week. What I found wasn’t dramatic, exactly, but more connected than I expected: not three separate lessons, but one thread winding through three months.
These are the three things it taught me.
January: Name what brings you joy. Then act on it.
We got a puppy at the end of last year, and January was our first full month with her. Her name is Pippa Joy. I put “Joy” in her name on purpose, because I’m at a stage of life where I’m paying deliberate attention to what actually brings joy into my life. This puppy sure does.
Refocusing on joy might sound small. It isn’t. Most of us in the more senior stages of career have spent decades making choices based on what’s smart, strategic or expected. Asking “does this bring me joy?” can feel indulgent. I’m here to tell you it’s not.
Pippa is exhausting and wonderful and has completely upended my sleep schedule. She is also, unequivocally, a joy. Starting the year with her changed something. That intentional emphasis on joy set a tone I didn’t expect to carry all the way through Q1.
My takeaway: Name the things that actually bring you joy. The ones that genuinely do, not the ones you think should. Then look at how your choices stack up against that list. You’ll probably see some misalignment you can start to fix.
February: Work can be redesigned. Really.
Back in October, I started planning a shift in how I work. By February, that plan had evolved into something better than I imagined: less operational stress as a business owner and more focus on the coaching work I love and on building my content creation skills.
The shift was less about adding things than letting go of them. I’d been carrying more operational weight than was good for me or the business, and it was crowding out the work I’m actually here to do.
What I know now: You can redesign your work at any stage, including in senior career, even if it takes longer than you planned and looks different than you expected. The work life that comes from honest reflection and a willingness to make hard choices is often better than you imagined.
If your current situation is no longer working for you, don’t be afraid to reimagine what you’ve built. It may be time to renovate. Or to build something entirely different.
March: Honest accounting matters more than ambition.
This one took the most courage to write.
For about two years, my family has been navigating health challenges, including some of my own. Everyone is stable. We’re OK. But I’ve finally admitted something I’d been resisting: being present at home when challenges arise takes energy. A lot of it. And I no longer want to run as hard professionally when my personal reserves are depleted.
That’s not a shortcoming. It’s just an honest reckoning with reality. It completely changed how I’m thinking about what comes next.
The culture most of us built our careers in celebrates stamina. Saying yes to all the things, working around the clock, staying ahead. At earlier career stages, that trade-off may be worth it. At more senior stages, I’m not sure it is. You don’t get more energy by pretending the drain isn’t there. You get less.
What I’d offer: Do an honest energy audit. Not just your calendar, but what’s actually drawing from your reserves. You need less of that and more of what fills you up. Even if that means working less. You’ll be more effective, and more sustainable, in the long run.
What Q2 looks like from here
I’m heading into Q2 with more clarity than I’ve had in a while. Not because everything is sorted, but because I stopped pretending it was.
The thread running through all three months is the same: honesty first. Honesty about what brings me joy, what work actually fits, and what it costs to carry the things I’m carrying. That’s the foundation. Everything else gets built on top of it.
A note: This is one of my most-read posts from the past year, and it’s part of a small collection I’m sharing ahead of the official launch of More Than Work, my new newsletter for professionals at every career stage figuring out what comes next. If what you read here resonates, the newsletter is more of this, every week. I’d love to have you on the list.