Hey, everyone! Just wanted to call myself out (hehe) and admit that I haven't been doing the 21-day challenge the last 4 days. Why? Because life got WILD! I went to a fancy wedding over the weekend and have been packing my house for a move this coming weekend. I've also been a bit overwhelmed with all the tasks on my to-do list and have been intentionally taking more breaks and spending more time outside to help myself regulate. Sometimes, being an entrepreneur is stressful. It's OK to not be perfect all the time. We all have those days and weeks. What matters is that you get up, dust yourself off, and keep going. You can't lose if you don't quit. Anyone else feel like they let some things slip lately?

MASSIVE shout out to @Iris van der Stelt, who just got the ⭐ emoji in her name for becoming a TOP 1% community on Skool! That means she is ranked in the top 30 Skools in her category. For reference, there are over 190,000 communities on Skool! She gets to join the likes of @Sam Rathling, @David Iya, @Lydia Wilmsen, @Jason Olofsen, and @Diana Frank, who all have Skool stars as well! We'd love to hear from you—what are your tips for improving engagement and creating a top 1% community?! (P.S. In case you didn't know, Focus Founders used to be a top 1% community but we fell off this year. We're currently #69 (hehe) in the self-improvement category, and we plan to get the star back soon!)

In my opinion, being a leader means taking ownership. And I used to think I was really good at this... Until I realized how 𝗺𝘆 𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗴𝘂𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝘀𝘂𝗯𝘁𝗹𝘆 𝗿𝘂𝗽𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝗿𝗲𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽𝘀, rather than bringing us closer together. In the past, I used to speak in "you" centered language. 💔 “You need meetings too often." 💔 “You don't care enough.” 💔 "You're not showing up the right way." Feelings would be hurt, I'd be misunderstood, and we'd both get defensive. So nothing got resolved. Now, I try to 𝘀𝗹𝗼𝘄 𝗺𝘆𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗳 𝗱𝗼𝘄𝗻 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗼𝘄𝗻 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁’𝘀 𝗵𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝗻 𝙢𝙚. ✅ “I’m feeling anxious because I don’t know what to expect.” ✅ “I’m realizing I need more clarity around timelines.” ✅ “I’m feeling disconnected, and I want us to get back on the same page.” Same situation. Same underlying issue. Completely different outcome. I’ve noticed this everywhere in my life: 💔 Instead of “𝘠𝘰𝘶’𝘳𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘮𝘦,” ✅ → “𝗜’𝗺 𝗳𝗲𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗜 𝗺𝗶𝘀𝘀 𝘆𝗼𝘂.” 💔 Instead of “𝘠𝘰𝘶’𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘦 𝘰𝘶𝘵,” ✅ → “𝗜’𝗺 𝗳𝗲𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗺𝗲𝗱 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗜 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝗮 𝗺𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗿𝗲𝗴𝘂𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗲.” 💔 Instead of “𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘥𝘰𝘯’𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘵 𝘮𝘺 𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴,” ✅ → “𝗜 𝗱𝗶𝗱𝗻’𝘁 𝗰𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗹𝘆 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝘂𝗻𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗺𝘆 𝗯𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗮𝗿𝘆, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗜 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗱𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗻𝗼𝘄.” This shift did two big things for me: 1️⃣ It forced me to actually understand what 𝘐 was feeling instead of outsourcing blame. 2️⃣ It made it way easier for the other person to hear me without feeling attacked. Owning my experience doesn’t mean I never address hard things. It means I address them without making someone else the villain. And honestly? That one skill alone has upgraded my relationships, my leadership, and my inner peace more than almost anything else I’ve practiced. Curious if you’ve noticed this in your own life? Or if this is something you want to work on, too?

I'm… questioning reality. If tomatoes are fruit, is ketchup a smoothie? When you “turn around,” do you ever really go back? And if money talks… what accent does it have? Please advise. 🤔

Happy Monday founders - now let's help each other grow! There are so many brilliant minds in this community, and I bet we can help each other massively with a tiny amount of effort. Inspired by @Matthew Burns, I made this post! As entrepreneurs, we juggle a LOT of hats. That means we often have a massive to-do list and are constantly "doing" things - but it's not necessarily the most effective things. So here's the game: 1. Write a one to two sentence description of your business. Who do you serve, and what do you help them do? 2. Share one spot where you're stuck OR where you're not sure what the most important task is in your business. 3. Comment on at least two other people's posts with one TACTICAL thing they can do to get past their bottleneck or prioritize their task list. Example in the comments. Let's all help each other grow!