Happy Independence Day!

This week marks one year since I left my job: my Independence Day. Since age 14 I’ve been an employee. Now I have my own LLC! Today - as I am drafting this - I celebrate eight years since I became a mother. This month also marks forty-two years of Leah Marise Goldman.

When I was a kid, I believed you became an entirely new person every seven years. I thought your cells had all turned over during that time so that you are made up of completely new material. A human Ship of Theseus. While that’s not scientifically true, the idea of seven-year cycles has ancient roots across several traditions and has been embraced by various fields, including astrology, psychology, and philosophy. Thus, I’ve lived six 7-year cycles, and I have been six different Leahs.? It is fitting that I am ready to start my next chapter of my journey.?

The cycle I am completing - these past seven years - has been rejuvenating and reinvigorating. I started this cycle having left strategy consulting and entering a new role leading the Business Transformation team on a user experience program for a technology company. I complete this cycle with one year of reflection and restoration.?

I’ve been working on what I’ve jokingly branded my “graduate studies in the school of life”. I have been fortifying my foundation, learning from established knowledge about historical figures, philosophy, the cycles of life and psychology. I have been voraciously consuming new ideas and drawing connections between these concepts to create my own unique point of view. I’ve spent the last year living my values - connection, authenticity, support, and action - and relearning what energizes me. I made space for the experiences I was longing for.

My Experience Through the VIEW Framework

I developed The VIEW Framework during this past year, but the idea didn’t come out of thin air. These four elements have guided me throughout my whole career.? During this past year of change and uncertainty, the VIEW Framework helped me navigate my path and channel the energy and focus to take on my exciting next chapter.

For the first time in my life, I had a blank canvas, an empty desk, no work emails to deal with. There were a seemingly infinite number of directions to choose between. Here’s how I applied the VIEW Framework to determine my next best move.

V | Value: Understanding my Value(s)nbsp;

I started by defining my values.? Personal values are the core beliefs, principles, and ideals that guide an individual's actions, decisions, and overall behavior. You can think of them as what we would work toward, even if no one else knew about it.??

I knew my value (worth) to others, which gave me the confidence to consider a path outside of the corporate ladder I knew. But I needed to get clear about my own values for myself. What I learned over the last year is that my values at this moment are - connection, authenticity, support and action..? They serve as buckets to fill - when I am not filling my values bucket at least weekly, I am not my best, true self.?

When I am not filling my values bucket at least weekly, I am not my best, true self.?

Identifying the important words or statements that drive you can be challenging, but thankfully many tools exist to assist you in defining your value. Here are two examples that I’ve found to be helpful to get started:

• Brené Brown’s list of values and values exercise?
• The New Happy’s Values Wheel?

Have you used a different technique to define your values? Let me know in the comments.

I | Insight: Direction through Connection

I define insight as perspectives and data to help us determine how we steer for the path ahead.?

Over this last year I have met with so many people. In my end of summer post I said that I had connected with over 50 people. Since then, it has probably tripled. My calendar is full, thanks to Calendly (one of the best tools I’ve used to make the things I want actually happen).

Each conversation I have provides a new perspective on my direction and how I can achieve my intentions. This fills my connection value bucket and energizes me - but I need to be disciplined not to overdo it at the risk of not leaving enough time for ideating and creating.

Leah’s Focus Gathering

I organized a “Focus Gathering” (my very own life focus group) to determine my Next Right Thing.? I highly recommend this investment in self, community and intention:?

• I collected data from all around me to inform my path choices.?
• I invited my trusted community - local women who know me in different facets of my life, for different lengths of time, and (intentionally) did not know each other.??
• We defined what might be awesome in the future through a facilitated workshop, touching on many of the topics I write about in this newsletter.
• I shared where I have been in my life and where I want to go in the long-term future.
• I pitched my options as I saw them for my next right thing (as you might imagine, there are several, and if you know me IRL you probably can guess a handful).?
• They understood why each option was appealing and shared perspectives informed by their experiences.?

This process gave me the confidence to act on my intuition. I can’t do everything at once - this team helped me see what I will do first.

This process gave me the confidence to act on my intuition. Through their knowledge of and experiences with me, plus their own life wisdom, this group read my energy and saw my path to the longer term vision. They supported and bolstered my ideas and gave me the validation I didn’t know I wanted or needed to pursue what is true to me.? I can’t do everything at once - this team helped me see what I will do first - more to come on that, soon!

E | Empowerment: Around and Up through the Empowerment Cycle

The Empowerment Framework is used to intuit personal goals, build the strength to pursue them, advocating for oneself and others, and expanding one’s network and connections to support and amplify these goals.

Honing my Intuition

The first step, one I’ve been very tuned into, is honing my intuition. I’ve been focused on building habits that empower me and have developed a near-daily practice for the following intuition strengthening activities:

• Journaling - specifically, I do my morning pages almost every day (I’ve completed three composition notebooks since September!)
• Meditating - I use the headspace app
• Walking outside
• Playing solfeggio frequencies
• Reading tarot cards

Weekly, I have been:

• Walking by the water (Charles River Esplanade is my favorite, and now that the Public Garden lagoon is filled, I take the long way!)
• Writing

Much of my intuition building has become habit, quite intentionally, and I’m seeing the benefits of this inner sense daily.

Building Strength

My strength building work has also been habit-based.? I’ve been working with my fitness coach in a new arrangement that’s working well for me. He designs workouts that fit my routine, preferences, and goals. My recipe for the last few months has been:

• Yoga 1x/week
• Peloton 1x/week
• Fitness class 1x/week (Barry’s Bootcamp, Barre3, Pilates, etc.)
• Strength training 2x/week at the gym (I’ve completed 100 home workouts in the Everfit app we use for programming)

I found a workout buddy and we use ClassPass to sign up for fun classes together. Nothing gets stale or too routine. It’s social and I made a new close friend, complete with post-workout chats that feed my connection bucket.

Advocacy in Action

I’ve been practicing using my voice to speak up for what is important to me. The best examples came to me when I felt that things were not as I wanted them to be, and I was feeling angry, frustrated, helpless or irritated. Using my strengthened intuition, I knew that these feelings meant that I had to take action to influence the direction. These were often big situations that were outside of my control. However, I knew that if I stood by silently without acting, my feelings would amplify.

To me, the risk of inaction (me feeling bad) was greater than the risk of action (“what’s the worst that could happen?” I determined the answer to that was “no influence resulting from my actions”).?I made an appointment to meet with my City Councilor to share my perspective on her actions and my recommendations. I extended an offer to the leadership of my daughter’s school to discuss my point of view on executing their strategic plan.

The risk of inaction (me feeling bad) was greater than the risk of action (“what’s the worst that could happen?”)

In one case, I was able to get my concerns off my chest and hear my City Council member’s perspective on a complicated situation. In the other, I was invited to share my expertise and demonstrate my Results Management and strategy execution skillset to help the leadership team define and act on their intentions. We’ve set some energizing OKRs and I know the school ecosystem will start to see results of their strategy in the next months.

Expansion Fueled by Connection

From the start, my goal has been connection, and that is the root of expansion. The network I’ve built and nurtured over the past year grew through freely sharing my ideas and letting my creativity flow. I’ve been open and authentic about my interests and thoughts with the people I’ve recently met, known for a long time, and everywhere in between. This authenticity is different from how I’ve acted in the past - this newsletter is evidence of my evolution. Through this expansion I’ve received more support, encouragement, enrichment and energy than I would have ever imagined.??

I realize the value of this expansion through actual evidence, like LinkedIn posts and messages. Knowing that these conversations that I’ve found so energizing and enlightening are also helping others is incredibly motivating. I now see how my values of connection and support, paired with my lived experiences can help others find their ways and land amazing opportunities.?

Through this expansion I’ve received more support, encouragement, enrichment and energy than I would have ever imagined.??

Being tagged in New Job posts on LinkedIn with messages of gratitude for being a part of finding the new path has been the most rewarding evidence. Seeing friends find their way professionally - finding fulfilling work, renewing their sense of purpose and intention - is a blessing. I am proud of so many friends who have made big changes during this year. I am proud that these changes reunited us through fresh and renewed aspects of old and loose connections.

W | Wisdom: Acknowledging and Remembering Wisdom

I have recognized my own wisdom - lived experiences that have taught me so much - that I can now connect in interesting and creative ways. I’ve discovered wisdom that I didn't even know I had until I was asked by a friend about my writing practice. I realize that I have wisdom and lived experience in the thing I wanted to be - a writer - and now, TWENTY(!) Substack posts in, I unapologetically own the title ’Writer’.??

I am also tapping the wisdom of those before me: stories from my heritage, universal archetypes from global traditions, experts who share their lived leadership experiences in books, podcasts and coaching. I channel wisdom through sensory reminders, such as my jewelry. Seeing traditional imagery on the rings on my fingers, feeling my grandmothers’ necklaces on my skin, and hearing the sounds of my mother and grandmother’s bracelets rattling - these are all reminders of the love, lessons and support surrounding me in space and time. Representations of the woman I am because of the wisdom I’ve gained, entrusted in me through my mother, father and all generations before me. As I write this on my daughter’s birthday, it is not lost on me that I have a responsibility and honor to pass this wisdom on to the next generation and all those that come after us.

The woman I am because of the wisdom I’ve gained, entrusted in me through my mother, father and all generations before me. I have a responsibility and honor to pass this wisdom on to the next generation and all those that come after us.

A View to the Future

I look ahead to the next chapter and recognize all I’ve learned and accomplished in this last year. I remind myself that everything I am creating is new and different and am kind to myself about how much time it takes to make progress and the ways I measure success. I prioritize what is truly valuable, my values, and continue to build a foundation of habits that will enable my future success. My intentions are more clear and the results I seek are being realized sustainably.?

My intuitive sense is stronger and I act on it, recalling how my recent actions have led me to phenomenal experiences. My feelings are a lens to my intuition and I say yes to what I feel is right. Because I have put in the work to focus my VIEW, I now have the clarity and energy to confidently move forward on my path.

My intuitive sense is stronger and I act on it, recalling how my recent actions have led me to phenomenal experiences.

Cheers to the next trip around the sun, for my daughter, myself, and my ventures. I’m so grateful to have you along for the ride as we explore what’s on the path ahead.