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We become our lowest standard.

When I get busy, the first things I let slide are often the practices that help me feel grounded.

I miss one morning, then another, and before long I’m living by a lower standard.

Our standards show up in how we live: in what we walk past and in the places we negotiate with ourselves.

That’s what I’m writing about in this month’s ACT On It: the standards we let slide and how gratitude helps me pay attention to what matters. Read the full newsletter on my website. Tap the link in my bio and choose “Read the Latest Newsletter.”

#selfleadership #actmethod #leadershipdevelopment #personalgrowth

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We become our lowest standard.

When I get busy, the first things I let slide are often the practices that help me feel grounded.

I miss one morning, then another, and before long I’m living by a lower standard.

Our standards show up in how we live: in what we walk past and in the places we negotiate with ourselves.

That’s what I’m writing about in this month’s ACT On It: the standards we let slide and how gratitude helps me pay attention to what matters. Read the full newsletter on my website. Tap the link in my bio and choose “Read the Latest Newsletter.”

#selfleadership #actmethod #leadershipdevelopment #personalgrowth

There is a line my son played me recently that has been living in my head: “I didn’t come this far just to come this far.”

I’ve built a career, a body of work, a coaching practice, and a life that I’m incredibly proud of. And somewhere in the middle of this year, I realized I had gotten pretty comfortable maintaining what I had built instead of asking myself what I wanted to build next.

There is nothing wrong with being proud of where you are. In fact, I think we move past that part far too quickly. We accomplish the thing, reach the goal, build the career, raise the family, become the leader, and immediately start asking, “What’s next?”

But there also comes a point when you know you’re ready for another chapter.

For me, that has meant getting curious about what I want to carry forward and what I want to do differently. What still feels like me? What have I outgrown? What do I want to be known for now? And who do I want to be as I walk into 2027?

I don’t want to dismiss the version of me who built everything I have. I’m proud of her. She worked hard, learned a lot, made mistakes, grew, and got me here.

But I also don’t believe I’m supposed to spend the next chapter simply maintaining what I’ve already created.

That’s really what Own Your Image is about: getting intentional about the woman you already are and deciding how you want to carry her into whatever comes next.

On November 6, we’re going to spend time looking at what you want to be known for, how you want to show up, and what you want people to experience when they’re in a room with you.

If you’re heading toward the end of this year feeling proud of how far you’ve come and also knowing there is more you want for yourself, I’d love to have you in the room.

I didn’t come this far just to come this far. And neither did you.

Tap the link in my bio and choose “Own Your Image Workshop: Nov 6.”

#shefirst #womeninleadership #selfleadership #coachapproachtoleadership #personalgrowth #shefirstworkshop

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There is a line my son played me recently that has been living in my head: “I didn’t come this far just to come this far.”

I’ve built a career, a body of work, a coaching practice, and a life that I’m incredibly proud of. And somewhere in the middle of this year, I realized I had gotten pretty comfortable maintaining what I had built instead of asking myself what I wanted to build next.

There is nothing wrong with being proud of where you are. In fact, I think we move past that part far too quickly. We accomplish the thing, reach the goal, build the career, raise the family, become the leader, and immediately start asking, “What’s next?”

But there also comes a point when you know you’re ready for another chapter.

For me, that has meant getting curious about what I want to carry forward and what I want to do differently. What still feels like me? What have I outgrown? What do I want to be known for now? And who do I want to be as I walk into 2027?

I don’t want to dismiss the version of me who built everything I have. I’m proud of her. She worked hard, learned a lot, made mistakes, grew, and got me here.

But I also don’t believe I’m supposed to spend the next chapter simply maintaining what I’ve already created.

That’s really what Own Your Image is about: getting intentional about the woman you already are and deciding how you want to carry her into whatever comes next.

On November 6, we’re going to spend time looking at what you want to be known for, how you want to show up, and what you want people to experience when they’re in a room with you.

If you’re heading toward the end of this year feeling proud of how far you’ve come and also knowing there is more you want for yourself, I’d love to have you in the room.

I didn’t come this far just to come this far. And neither did you.

Tap the link in my bio and choose “Own Your Image Workshop: Nov 6.”

#shefirst #womeninleadership #selfleadership #coachapproachtoleadership #personalgrowth #shefirstworkshop

The night my brother was born I was four years old and I asked my mom a question that landed in the wrong category in our house.

In my family there were good questions, bad questions, and stupid questions. I filed that away without realizing it. Nobody told me to be quiet. Somewhere in me I learned it was not safe to not know something, and I stopped asking.

That rule had nothing to do with me. It came from generations back, from my grandparents, for reasons that made complete sense in their time and their context. And it ran my life anyway for decades.

Here is what I know about the image most of us are leading with. A lot of it has a start date. A moment, a room, a person, a season that taught us something about what was safe to show and what needed to stay hidden. We learn those rules so early that we often don’t realize we’re still carrying them into our relationships, our work, and our leadership years later.

And we have been leading from it ever since.

If the image you are putting into the world right now feels more like protection than truth, there is probably a start date on it too. Finding it is some of what we do inside Own Your Image on November 6. Tap the link in my bio and choose “Own Your Image Workshop: Nov 6.”

#shefirst #womeninleadership #selfleadership #coachapproachtoleadership #personalgrowth #shefirstworkshop

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Open post by gretchenhydo with ID 18389476732228649

The night my brother was born I was four years old and I asked my mom a question that landed in the wrong category in our house.

In my family there were good questions, bad questions, and stupid questions. I filed that away without realizing it. Nobody told me to be quiet. Somewhere in me I learned it was not safe to not know something, and I stopped asking.

That rule had nothing to do with me. It came from generations back, from my grandparents, for reasons that made complete sense in their time and their context. And it ran my life anyway for decades.

Here is what I know about the image most of us are leading with. A lot of it has a start date. A moment, a room, a person, a season that taught us something about what was safe to show and what needed to stay hidden. We learn those rules so early that we often don’t realize we’re still carrying them into our relationships, our work, and our leadership years later.

And we have been leading from it ever since.

If the image you are putting into the world right now feels more like protection than truth, there is probably a start date on it too. Finding it is some of what we do inside Own Your Image on November 6. Tap the link in my bio and choose “Own Your Image Workshop: Nov 6.”

#shefirst #womeninleadership #selfleadership #coachapproachtoleadership #personalgrowth #shefirstworkshop

Last month something serious happened with someone I love.

Protecting myself meant making a decision that would change the relationship, maybe permanently. They made clear what that decision would cost us.

And as I sat with it, I realized the real reckoning was not with them. It was with me.

Because if the truest version of who I am was who I had been showing up as with this person, that decision would not have been on the table. Somewhere along the way, there had become a gap between the woman I knew myself to be and the version of myself I was bringing into this relationship.

When I finally made the decision I knew was right, this person said, "Let me meet you where you are. You have done more than your share."

That moment has stayed with me.

Owning your image isn`t about performance or creating a version of yourself for other people. It`s about closing the distance between who you know yourself to be and how you`re actually showing up in your relationships, your leadership, and the choices you make every day.

This month in SheFirst, I`m sharing more about what happened, the steps I took, the fear underneath it, and the questions that helped me get clear about what belonged to me.

If this conversation is where you are right now, I hope you`ll read it. Tap the Link in my bio to read the my latest blog.

And if you`re ready to take this work even deeper, Own Your Image, the final SheFirst workshop of 2026, is happening November 6. I`d love to have you in the room.

#womeninleadership #shefirst #selfleadership #coachapproachtoleadership #personalgrowth #executivepresence

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Last month something serious happened with someone I love.

Protecting myself meant making a decision that would change the relationship, maybe permanently. They made clear what that decision would cost us.

And as I sat with it, I realized the real reckoning was not with them. It was with me.

Because if the truest version of who I am was who I had been showing up as with this person, that decision would not have been on the table. Somewhere along the way, there had become a gap between the woman I knew myself to be and the version of myself I was bringing into this relationship.

When I finally made the decision I knew was right, this person said, "Let me meet you where you are. You have done more than your share."

That moment has stayed with me.

Owning your image isn't about performance or creating a version of yourself for other people. It's about closing the distance between who you know yourself to be and how you're actually showing up in your relationships, your leadership, and the choices you make every day.

This month in SheFirst, I'm sharing more about what happened, the steps I took, the fear underneath it, and the questions that helped me get clear about what belonged to me.

If this conversation is where you are right now, I hope you'll read it. Tap the Link in my bio to read the my latest blog.

And if you're ready to take this work even deeper, Own Your Image, the final SheFirst workshop of 2026, is happening November 6. I'd love to have you in the room.

#womeninleadership #shefirst #selfleadership #coachapproachtoleadership #personalgrowth #executivepresence

There is something different about a woman who knows who she is.

It doesn`t mean she walks into every room with complete confidence or never second-guesses herself. It doesn`t mean she always knows exactly what to say or makes every decision without hesitation.

It means she has gotten clear enough about herself that she has something to come back to.

She knows what matters to her. She knows what she brings to the table. She knows what she wants to be known for and how she wants people to experience her. And when something happens that shakes her confidence or makes her question herself, she can come back to those things instead of letting the moment define her.

I think that`s an important distinction because owning your image isn`t about creating some perfectly polished version of yourself for the world to see. It`s actually the opposite.

It`s knowing yourself well enough that you don`t have to work so hard to manage how everyone else sees you.

You can walk into the room and contribute without wondering whether you belong there. You can communicate what you need without rehearsing it ten different ways first. You can make a decision that feels right for you even when someone else might have made a different one. And you can allow people to experience more of who you actually are.

That`s the kind of confidence I`m interested in.

Not louder, not tougher, not more impressive but clearer.

That`s what we`re going to work on together inside Own Your Image on November 6. If you`re ready to get clearer about who you are, what you want to be known for, and how you want to carry that into 2027, I`d love to have you in the room. Tap the link in my bio and choose “Own Your Image Workshop: Nov 6.”

#shefirst #womeninleadership #selfleadership #coachapproachtoleadership #executivepresence #leadershipdevelopment

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Open post by gretchenhydo with ID 18110639411269949

There is something different about a woman who knows who she is.

It doesn't mean she walks into every room with complete confidence or never second-guesses herself. It doesn't mean she always knows exactly what to say or makes every decision without hesitation.

It means she has gotten clear enough about herself that she has something to come back to.

She knows what matters to her. She knows what she brings to the table. She knows what she wants to be known for and how she wants people to experience her. And when something happens that shakes her confidence or makes her question herself, she can come back to those things instead of letting the moment define her.

I think that's an important distinction because owning your image isn't about creating some perfectly polished version of yourself for the world to see. It's actually the opposite.

It's knowing yourself well enough that you don't have to work so hard to manage how everyone else sees you.

You can walk into the room and contribute without wondering whether you belong there. You can communicate what you need without rehearsing it ten different ways first. You can make a decision that feels right for you even when someone else might have made a different one. And you can allow people to experience more of who you actually are.

That's the kind of confidence I'm interested in.

Not louder, not tougher, not more impressive but clearer.

That's what we're going to work on together inside Own Your Image on November 6. If you're ready to get clearer about who you are, what you want to be known for, and how you want to carry that into 2027, I'd love to have you in the room. Tap the link in my bio and choose “Own Your Image Workshop: Nov 6.”

#shefirst #womeninleadership #selfleadership #coachapproachtoleadership #executivepresence #leadershipdevelopment

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