Defending Lady Macbeth

So often we say, “yeah, but that's the trade-off” like it's BAD thing. Almost as if we're not good enough to do ALL of the things, so we “drop the ball' in advance. But what if the opposite were true? What if we could embrace tradeoffs in our life and our work as a strategy to move us forward in our goals AND to help us experience the kind of life we want to live day to day and hour by hour? Let's look at a tool that can help us identify potential trade-offs we can declare and own, all in the name of growth.

What if what you are doing in each moment is EXACTLY what you need to be doing? As we strive to become the best and juiciest versions of ourselves, we often convince ourselves that there's always something different or better or MORE we ‘should' be doing. Or different ways we should be BEING. Today we're exploring a question that can help you release resistance to the incredible human you are being in each present moment.

Sometimes, to get out of a thought-rut and give ourselves access to answers that feel hidden and inaccessible, we simply need to ask ourselves different questions. Better questions, more valuable and expansive questions. Today we're having a little fun with Wisdom of the Oracle Cards and asking new questions about our circumstances from a whole new perspective.

When you just finished 4 ‘urgent' things in a row and thought you had some ‘free' time to do work that actually matters to you and…BOOM - you have 7 emails that need ‘immediate' attention. On top of that your brain is cranking out ideas and tasks that you simply MUST get done at an alarming rate! Does it ever stop? How do we overcome this? Today we're learning from the book, Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals by Oliver Burkeman on WHY we need to STOP clearing the decks and START deciding what should actually go on our calendars. 

SPECIAL GUEST ALERT! If you've ever stood in front of your closet and thought, “I have nothing to wear”, this episode is for you! Samantha is an award-winning journalist and editor turned Style Coach, aka The Style Editor, who helps female founders, consultants, leaders and women in business leverage their style for success. Having been a woman in leadership in a male-dominated industry, Samantha understands how to create a wardrobe that boosts your confidence. She believes 'I've got nothing to wear' is rarely about the clothes and if your wardrobe isn't saving you time and making you money - it isn't doing its job properly!

What if believing in yourself was no longer subject to needing validation from other people and situations? What if you could experience belief in yourself that comes solely from within? Believing in yourself isn't a product of your achievements and successes. Believing in yourself is simply a decision. Listen in to find out how.

This is a special, very personal update. I'm sharing some very recent developments in my life and the 3 biggest TRUTHS I've had reinforced over the last 6 days. 

When you're going through change in your life, - whether you're growing in one area, leveling up your life or completely transforming upleveling, it usually does NOT FEEL GOOD. It kinda feels like you've climbed up a very tall tree, stepped on onto one of the skinniest branches and shimmied your way all the way to the edge and you're like - OK NOW WHAT??? Who is coming to get me down??? And the answer is…no one. You have to sit in discomfort. And figure it out. Let's talk about how!

Our third installment of The Time Scarcity Paradox is all about consequences. Specifically, the consequences that come up as you start expanding your self-concept by stepping into your self-worth and setting, communicating, and holding new boundaries. 

This week is all about boundaries, one of the 3 framework pillars in going from Time Scarcity to Time Abundance. Learn the 6 steps to setting a boundary and the #1 reason you are NOT setting (or holding!) boundaries in your life.

You're on back-to-back meetings all day and your to-do list is a mile long. You have NO idea how you'll get it all done, even if you worked around the clock. You can feel the time ticking away, slipping through your fingers as you work feverishly to get everything done. Time feels SCARCE and you're afraid that it will always be this way. Join me today as we start to unravel your unhealthy relationship with time and learn the 3 REAL reasons that you're experiencing time scarcity. (and what to do about it!)

This week I'm sharing a transformation I'm going through, how my brain is trying to trick me and how taking baby steps can be MORE powerful than jumping in head first.

In this episode, we're looking at how the overturn of Roe v Wade is about so much more than abortion. I'll be walking you through 4 Supreme Court rulings from the 1960's through 2015 that are now extremely vulnerable to being overturned based on the logic and law the Supreme Court applied in overturning Roe. This is about privacy and freedom. About access to contraception, being able to love who you want to love and marry who you want to marry. I want us all to know the facts and understand what's at stake.

Today I'm talking about a new concept I created related to the 12 Houses of Self Leadership, specifically the 12th House - I Surrender. This is the place you go to lick your real and metaphorical wounds. To cradle yourself in warm blankets, release the pressure valve and heal, rest, review and release. But sometimes, we cross into the unhelpful side of the 12th house where we can isolate ourselves, get lost and create our own undoing. Join the conversation to learn more about how you can support yourself in your own surrender without losing yourself by staying too long.

Have you ever stopped and thought about all the rules you live your life by? When did you, or DID YOU EVER choose to follow these rules deliberately and intentionally? Probably not. Let's talk about WHY we follow rules, how to identify the rules that might be holding you back so you can decide what you're going to do about it! (next round of the Immersive Adventure Mastermind is OPEN and starts the week of July 18th! Head on over to http://www.tracyoswald.com (www.tracyoswald.com) for details and to schedule a call.

We're taking last week's episode on pleasure vs. power and we're digging into a few advanced self-coaching tools that will help you close the gap between where you are and where you want to be.(so you can access more pleasure, happiness, ease, creativity and joy!)  You'll learn how to use these tools for your personal and professional growth and to sit in the discomfort that will come whenever you try something new.

When was the last time you put PLEASURE, or FUN, or PLAY on your calendar FIRST, then scheduled your other stuff around it and actually STUCK to the schedule? Are you able to take a day off to goof off and have an amazing adventure with your own damn self and not obsess and check your emails every 15 minutes? If not, this is the episode for you.

We put a desire or want out into the world and then we stand in active disbelief that we will ever have it. And this is the EXACT thing that's standing in the way of getting the thing that you really want - YOUR RESISTANCE to it. Today we're talking about vibrational energy, quantum physics, and how you can actually release and soften the resistance you have to your desires so that you can allow them in. For more information on the Immersive Adventure Mastermind, visit: https://www.tracyoswald.com/immersive-adventure-mastermind (https://www.tracyoswald.com/immersive-adventure-mastermind)

We are either thinking about the past (what happened yesterday, last week, 5 years ago) or thinking about what's GOING to happen in the future (later today in that meeting, at dinner tomorrow night, or on the vacation you have planned for August) and so RARELY are we actually fully present to what's happening right in front of us. Today I'm teaching a simple activity to become more present in your everyday life and WHY it's CRITICALLY important. For more information on the Immersive Adventure Mastermind, visit: https://www.tracyoswald.com/immersive-adventure-mastermind (https://www.tracyoswald.com/immersive-adventure-mastermind)

We are SOOOO good at getting it done! For high-achieving women, to-do lists can serve a powerful purpose. But they can also allow us to give our lizard brains the perfect place to vomit every random thought and task in a way that makes them seem incredibly important and urgent! This week I'm sharing my recent experience with the allure of my ‘to-do' list, how I caught it in time (mostly) and tips for you to be aware of how you over-do your to-dos. For more information on the Immersive Adventure Mastermind, visit: https://www.tracyoswald.com/immersive-adventure-mastermind (https://www.tracyoswald.com/immersive-adventure-mastermind)

I want to introduce you to an advanced concept I teach inside the Immersive Adventure Mastermind, about Decision Making. So many women come to me and have a lot of drama around making the best, right decision for themselves, and spend so much time in ‘deciding about the decision'! I'm going to introduce you to a mind-blowing concept that will crack open possibilities about the decisions you make.

You know that thing you have really wanted to do or create or become for so long now that it weighs heavy on your heart? And you can't seem to make progress despite having so much passion for it? Today we're talking about the 6 reasons you're not taking action on it and what you can do to actually begin.

Working harder and longer is NOT producing the results and breakthroughs you wanted. It's only producing more of the same. Let's talk about WHY that is, what you can do about it, and how you can feel on the other side of the very real threshold you are facing right now.

The third pillar of Agency inside The Art of reINvention is Emotional Agency. We've been programmed, especially as women and people who identify as women, to not SHOW our feelings, so much so that we have learned to not even FEEL them. And this limits our growth and keeps us small, playing inside the preordained boxes that society has created for us. I want to offer a way out of that box, an entry point to your own reINvention, and feeling your feelings is a critical component.

What stories are you telling yourself that are dimming your own light and limiting your agency in this world? Today we're talking about the running narrative in our head and how it can either help us grow OR limit us in ways we can't even see. Join us on this journey of The Art of reINventon!

Today we're dipping our toe in the water of what it can mean to reinvent yourself and how to BEGIN. I'm creating these concepts in real time and doing this right along WITH you, which means you are getting my most cutting-edge strategies as I am creating and experiencing them. Join me on this exciting and sometimes scary journey to the next most delicious, juiciest version of YOU! We begin with 2 building blocks of reinvention - Freedom and Uncertainty (which can cause powerful cognitive dissonance) and the Three Tenets of Agency: Traversal, Narrative and Emotional.

I'm back! Today I'm sharing all about my (unintentional) pause these last few months, what I learned and how I'm creating my way back AND forward to where we are taking this conversation in 2022. The conversation about women, agency, ambition, power and how we can play with our relationship to all of it, in order to deepen our understanding and REINVENT how we are showing up in the world. This is our year of REINVENTION. Join me on our epic adventure!

Today I have a quick episode that outlines EXACTLY how to have a difficult conversation. Whether it's with your team, your boss, your partner or your child, this technique will allow you to have ANY difficult conversation even when you are afraid. I've used this technique for years and it works, full stop.

New Years Eve is one of the ultimate portals, or doorways to the NEW. We shed the old, in favor of the new and we celebrate what's possible in the year ahead. But what it we could do this all the time? Shed old information and ways of being in order to make room for what we want to accomplish and who we want to become? Today, we're talking about “The Doorway Effect”, the science behind it and how to use it to create the life you want.

It's that magical week between Christmans and New Year. As you're thinking about your 2022 goals and plans, I want to offer 5 things I'm focusing on in 2022 and offer them to you as my wishes for your incredible New Year!

As high achieving women We are TAUGHT to value what we GET vs. what we NEED. We never even stop to consider what it is that we WANT. Today we're talking about AGENCY, what it is and the 3 most common ways we avoid our own growth because we're waiting for “permission.”

 If you're struggling to make something happen, hit your goals, or create some kind of change in your work, life our BOTH, our first go-to strategy is to simply take more ACTION. Work harder. Be more productive. Just. Do. More. uggghhhh! And while taking action has gotten you success before, it could be the very thing that's NOT working right now! Join us as we talk about the funny way that ACTION can work against us, and learn what you can do to create a different and better outcome! 

Fear of FAILURE is a BIG one for high achievers! And the funny thing is that our brains don't even allow us to SEE when we're 'doing it again', and curtailing our own growth. Learn WHY this happens to high-achieving women, and how to spot it for yourself. So YOU can decide what to do next (and not leave it to your brain.)

Suspension of disbelief is a skill we all have and use almost every day: watching movies, reading books, listening to stories. It allows us to actually suspend, just for a little while any ‘disbelief' we might have about what's actually happening in the story, so that we can experience the emotions that come with BELIEVING. Today, we're talking about how we can apply this very honed skill to our LIVES so that we can create completely new stories and realities for ourselves.

As high achieving women, there is a LOT that we want to accomplish. But we don't always necessarily want to FEEL things. Our brains have a sneaky way of giving us very reasonable and buttoned up reasons why the thing we REALLY want to experience or do or accomplish is NOT a good idea. Maybe it's taking on a new, exciting project at work. Starting a book club in your neighborhood. Or going for that promotion. Volunteering at a non-profit that you love. Our brains will serve up all of the logical reasons why you simply CANNOT. Tune in today to learn what's REALLY happening!

What does urban planning have to do with self-development and boundaries? Join me today to learn about Urban Growth Boundaries and my 2 key takeaways as I plan my OWN self-development for 2022!

BOUNDARIES: Why it's SO hard for us to set AND keep them! UGH. This is THE most common thing I get asked, especially from *high-achieving women*: "How do I set boundaries that will help me grow, without hurting my career?" This question is LOADED and weighed down with thousands of years of gender role expectations and conformity. And we are going to talk about it! The biggest thing that women want to know is how to set boundaries for themselves WITHOUT making anyone mad, or hurt. And the short answer is...that's not always possible. (this is NOT a popular answer) Join us to get clear on WHY you need boundaries and how to start taking small steps TODAY.

42% of women say they have been often or ALMOST ALWAYS burned out in 2021 compared to 32% in 2020. This is a powerful stat from the 2021 Women in The WOrkplace Report by McKinsey & Co. and Leanin Org. Today we're talking about some of the major obstacles that high achieving women face that can cause this kind of burnout and how we can start to chart a new way.

THE MOST POWERFUL STORY IS THE ONE YOU TELL YOURSELF...... ABOUT YOU. I've done a LOT of work around this myself this past year. Getting REALLY clear on what I believe to be true about ME, about the WORLD, and about WHAT'S POSSIBLE. I've had to shift and reconfigure my beliefs about SO MANY THINGS. And it's been UNCOMFORTABLE, but SOOOO worth it! And as we move into December, we know that this time of year involves a LOT of self-reflection as we look at personal and professional GROWTH for 2022. Today we're looking at what makes up our SELF-CONCEPT, how it informs the stories we tell ABOUT ourselves, and how to start expanding YOURS as a high-achiever.

Let's talk about how and why high-achieving women avoid resting, the power of negativity bias when we're trying to GROW and 3 simple (but not always easy!) steps to consciously celebrating yourself.

Today we're going a bit deeper on how to lean into the Self-Leadership houses that sit adjacent to the ones inside The High-Achiever's Loop (I DO, I ASCEND, I HAVE). We're also going to talk about what your BRAIN is going to do when you start to break out of your narrow productivity loop, so you can start to OWN the responsibility for your own SUCCESS and GROWTH.

The High Achiever's Loop is when we spend almost all of our time DOING the work and tasks so that we can ASCEND and succeed in our career in order to HAVE all of the things we want (money, possessions, worth). We think that we're going to be able to cash in on all the imaginary ‘credit' we believed we've earned by staying inside this High Achiever's Loop. That every time we kept working much later than we had to, every time we sacrificed our own needs for the job at hand, every time we got the job done and done PERFECT (at work and at home) that someone out there has been keeping score.And that we're banking some kind of High Achiever Credit we'll be able to spend at some later date.But no one's keeping score and that payday never comes. So how do you break this cycle?

Today we're talking about THE most common pattern I see high-achieving women get stuck in - The High Achiever's Loop. Join us to get an overview of The 12 Houses of Leadership, The High Achiever's Loop, and how to start gaining awareness of it so you can make better choices for yourself.

We're doing something NEW on the show today: looking at one of Macbeth's most powerful soliloquies (and it's NOT Lady M!)  and digging into the irrefutable GENIUS that is Shakespeare. We're talking about the famous ‘Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow' lines, the complexity and nuance inside them, and how they've helped me think a bit differently about TIME. Buckle up!

Gearing up for 2022? Have you started planning yet? Then this episode is just for you. Today we're talking about how high achieving women can get caught up in the phenomenon I call Shadow Planning - creating plans and goals that they THINK are stretching them when in reality are keeping them safe and small. Learn the 6 things to be on the lookout for when you sit down to plan your month, quarter or year.

There are 5 very specific ways that trees are MUCH better at connecting, networking and collaborating than we are. If you are looking for an inspiring way to think about how to motivate yourself to start collaborating with more women in your network, to grow your network, and to give more VALUE to your circle, this is your lucky day!

I took a time-out. Not a vacation, a straight-up TIME OUT! Today I'm sharing the very cool places I went, the incredible things I experienced and the 3 huge life lessons I CREATED for myself during this trip. When was the last time YOU said - I'm taking a time-out?

How much (or little) do you honor the real women (or people) in your life that came before you? I realized, through an interesting convergence of events, that starts with the season 2 finale of Ted Lasso and flows into a comparison between Queen (Bloody) Mary I and Queen Elizabeth I that I haven't been doing such a great job. Join me in a conversation that invites you to lean into the fact that no one is all good or all bad, and that how we remember things is not always how it was.

Sometimes it can feel like we're in a rut when it comes to embracing our own power as successful women.This week we're talking with Vanessa Judelman, sought-after author, coach and leadership expert. We have a great conversation about WHY women tend to shy away from standing in our power AND she gives us 4 clear steps to grow our confidence.

This week I'm sharing a real-life behind the scenes thing that's happening for me right now: being diagnosed with ADHD. This episode is not intended to be medical advice, it's simply me, sharing my story with you, in hopes that it can help one of you, or someone you know. I share how I realized I should get tested, how my symptoms manifest for me, the treatment plan I'm on and the results I'm seeing 30 days in.

Jake Ruhl and I do a deep dive into the real life Paisley Witches, how they're echoed inside the McKittrick and where there's crossover into Rebecca. Jake also gives us insights into the Salem witch trials, too! Just in time for Spooky Season!