Sarah > Recent Status Updates

Rethinking cycle:
1. Humility
2. Doubt
3. Curiosity
4. Discovery

Confident humility: have faith in my capability while appreciating I may not have the right solution nor addressing the right problem

Confidence: ability to achieve goal while questioning if I have the right tools in the present

Scientist: seeking truth
1. Run experiments
2. Test hypotheses
3. Ask “what might I be missing?” and “where might I be wrong?”

Mindsets that can lead us astray:
1. Preacher: sacred beliefs are in jeopardy -> deliver sermons to protect ideal
2. Prosecutor: recognize someone else is wrong & “marshal arguments” to win our case
3. Politician: seek to win over an audience

Interrupt overwhelming emotions & inaccurate stories by
1. Recognizing emotional “hooks”
2. Recognize stories I’m making up, likely with incomplete or inaccurate info
3. Recognize body’s response & feelings - narrate
4. Identify what else I need to know about the situation, another person, or myself
5. Respond with courage

Integrity: choosing courage over comfort through BRAVING
1. Boundaries
2. Reliability
3. Accountability
4. Vault
5. Integrity
6. Non-judgment
7. Generosity

Self-trust follows BRAVING principles

Leaders live their values & are never silent about hard things.

1. Select two values
2 Operationalize them: identify behaviors that support each value, identify what might make the value slip, describe a time when I embodied the value
3. Speak up about hard things
4. Practice giving & receiving feedback: listen, ask questions, take ownership

Practicing empathy looks like:
1. Take others’ perspectives
2. Avoid judgment
3. Understand another person’s feelings
4. Communicate that understanding
5. Mindfulness
6. Practice self-compassion
7. Recognize shame & its triggers

Shame shows up in cultures as: perfectionism, favoritism, gossiping, back-channeling, comparison, self-worth tied to productivity, harassment, discrimination, power over, bullying, blaming, teasing, cover ups.

The antidote to shame is empathy.

Social support matters during & after traumatic events

Kara’s perspective on women in tech is incisive - and I wonder if anything has changed

Steve Jobs seems to be a favorite of Kara’s - someone who earned her respect

As a woman, Kara was bold in the tech space. Respect.

Kara got in from the ground floor of the latest tech revolution, so her perspective is fascinating

1. What’s the big idea?
- Deep work (focused, concentrated on high-value tasks) is valuable in this economy where knowledge workers need to learn complex things quickly and perform well. Worth prioritizing during work day.
- Skillfully managing attention contributes to professional value & a life well-lived.

I am a sum of what I focus on. Attention is finite: choose what to focus on, what to ignore.

“Deep work”: professional activities performed in distraction-free concentration; push cognitive capabilities to limit; effort creates new value, improves skill, hard to replicate.

Choose one day per week and do a special act of kindness

Isolated Scottish house, children who might be possessed 💀