by Caroline Leach | Jul 2, 2023 | Work/Life
What are your favorite ways of having a chill summer weekend? 😎 One where you feel relaxed, refreshed, and reenergized?
Not necessarily so you can be ready for the work week ahead, but to fully enjoy and savor your life in the moment.
A few years ago I visited Vancouver to speak at the IABC world conference for communicators.
While I was there, I took a solitary stroll through the stunning Stanley Park (pictured).
Since then I’ve been captivated by the research that shows spending time in green spaces (among trees) and blue spaces (near water) is invaluable to our health and well being.
To that end, here are a few weekend ideas. Some can be combined and done together …
💕 Spend time with cherished family and friends
🌲 Get out in nature, for some forest bathing
💪 Move your body with a walk or a workout
📚 Exercise your mind with a book, a podcast, or a curious conversation
🎨 Spend time on a hobby you enjoy and lose track of time
🎢 Do something fun for the sheer joy of it
🍦 Help others through volunteering
🖊️ Reflect on what’s most important to you and what’s next
😎 Do nothing at all, and just BE!
What makes a great weekend for you?
by Caroline Leach | Jul 1, 2023 | Careers, Leadership
It’s the middle of the year and a long holiday weekend. 🇺🇸 What better time to reflect on where you are and where you want to go?
Here are 7 reflection questions to supercharge the rest of your year …
👉 What are you proud of so far this year?
👉 How are you performing on the annual goals you set?
👉 What’s working well?
👉 What would you like to do better?
👉 What are you excited about?
👉 What’s one action that would increase your leadership impact?
👉 How can you make the most of second half of the year?
Sometimes it’s all too easy to focus on what’s NOT working well. That’s how our brains work. We go right to the negative. (And this week’s news cycle certainly lends itself to that.)
Yet when you take the time to reflect on what you’re proud of, it’s easier to see how much progress you HAVE made.
And what you’re EXCITED about is what gives you energy.
That energy is so necessary to navigate daily challenges, bounce back from rejection, and keep going toward your biggest and most exciting goals.
How will you make the most of the second half of the year?
by Caroline Leach | Jun 28, 2023 | Careers, Social Media
Get your Social Media Success Roadmap workbook, newly updated for 2023!
You’ll find 50 questions, actions, and ideas to build and 
boost your career through social media.
The workbook now includes a LinkedIn profile checklist, to make the most of your digital presence and help people find YOU.
It’s a companion piece of my book, What Successful People Do on Social Media: A Short Guide to Boosting Your Career (available on Amazon).
Here’s to your success![Download not found]
by Caroline Leach | Jun 6, 2023 | Careers, Work/Life
With all the news about return-to-office policies, a middle ground of hybrid work seems optimal in many cases.
This gets the best of collaboration and culture building with a few days in the office, balanced with a few days of remote work for better focus, productivity, and work/life integration.
As an example, I’m working in Mammoth Lakes, California this week, a five-hour drive from my home base in Los Angeles.
My dad is visiting from the East Coast to attend meetings in Mammoth. While he’s a pretty active 80-something-year-old, I jumped in as the driver and travel companion.
How is this working out?
🔴 Coaching and consulting client meetings continued on as usual via Teams and Zoom
🔴 New client proposals got created and delivered as usual
🔴 Admissions committee work for the graduate program I teach in continued on
🔴 Event and catering inquiries for my family’s Redondo Beach restaurant Pacific Standard Prime got responses
🔴 Driving from LAX to Mammoth, my dad and I met my son for lunch at UCLA between his classes
🔴 My dad and I spent time together and caught up on each other’s lives
🔴 The change of scenery in the stunning and still-snowy Eastern Sierras brought new perspectives and ideas
Overall, it’s been an integrated and effective way to combine work and life.
Of course, having my own coaching, consulting, and speaking business The Carrelle Company means I can work wherever and whenever I need and want to.
Doing restaurant-related work remotely was a bit trickier, however, and more limited in scope.
There are many ways to do great work from anywhere. There are many ways to combine the best of being in the workplace at times and being remote at times.
What works well for you?
by Caroline Leach | Apr 28, 2023 | Social Media
And they’re off and running! Congrats to the talented students in my final project capstone course.
During the spring semester, they designed and developed websites, apps, and topical content series including podcasts. To promote their work, they created digital marketing campaigns.
Soon they’ll graduate with MS degrees in Digital Social Media from the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. Can’t wait to see the amazing things they’ll do in their careers and lives.
In a recent class meeting, I shared my 10 career lessons as a Fortune 100 VP turned entrepreneur.
⭐ Just start. You don’t have to map out the whole journey to take the first step.
⭐ Look for hidden opportunities. Do what needs to be done that no one else is doing.
⭐ Meet hiring managers before a job is posted. How? Build and nurture a network over time.
⭐ Always be connecting. Every time you meet someone new, connect on LinkedIn.
⭐ Keep in touch and be of help. Share info and insight, connect people, and encourage them.
⭐ Be patient. Success takes time. Take steps every day and build momentum.
⭐ Think of every project as an audition to do more. Great work leads to more opportunity.
⭐ Know your worth, expect it, and ask for it. Ask for more in every salary negotiation.
⭐ Savor every day. Enjoy your life right now, while you’re on the journey.
⭐ Make the world a better place by how you show up. You can lead from any position.
What’s your career advice?
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