We’re always selling ideas. Where to go on vacation, how to celebrate a birthday, whether to get a dog. You say “Let’s go to Italy” and see sunlit piazzas and leisurely lunches. They hear “Let’s go to Italy” and see a ten-hour flight

I don’t ask for much. That was my first thought when the models and projections I’d asked for still weren’t done. I was working 70-hr weeks with my reputation and all my money on the line. The least they could do was get

When a key employee started a competing firm and took one of our clients with them, I was furious. They’d signed a non-compete and an NDA, so as far as I was concerned, they were clearly in the wrong. I knew I had

I heard the same criticism in employee surveys, exit interviews, and even from people on my senior leadership team. I was too critical.Hard to please.Rarely satisfied. And each time I heard it, some version of this thought went through my mind: But am

Would people still respect me if I said I didn’t know?  I didn’t think so.So I rarely said it.  I believed my business was growing and profitable because I knew things other people didn’t know. My expertise helped me win clients and earn

They’re great.They’re impossible.And you can’t afford to lose them. At least that’s what you keep telling yourself. You have lots of evidence for the “great” part: They’re reliable. Everyone likes them. They know where everything is and they’ve been with you for years.  Then there’s the other part. The part about

There is always more to do. That’s what makes the voice in my head so convincing. It’s technically right. And the voice isn’t new. When I was ten, as soon as I finished my Frosted Flakes, it would start urging me to make the bed, read

My husband loves to tell the story about something I said when we first met. “I’ve created my reality by thinking a certain way and if you challenge it, everything could fall apart. I have to believe what I’m doing is right and stay focused

Every founder I know makes some version of this bargain: I’ll feel good when I hit the number. I’ll relax when the deal closes. I’ll rest when the team is solid. I’ll stop pushing when I’m sure it’ll work. But we’re not just postponing feeling