Hi Reader,

How much money and time do you waste on self-development that you never integrate?

It's been a week since I returned from an intensive retreat - four days without phone or access to the external world. I joined with the intention to look inside for insights on how I can better align my intentions and vision to my daily reality. For the first time, I am investing time and money in the integration: I purchased a six-weeks online course and am spending an hour per day on just that.

While I knew - I preached to clients - that the work starts after the work(shop) and that integration is the real work, it's only now that I realise what that means. The retreat is the easy, the glamorous part.

My retreat is just an extreme example of any call, meeting or workshop. The moment the group interaction ends is when the work begins. But rarely do we make time for it. Each interaction invites us to integrate learnings, insights, or very simple action items. When did you last block 15 minutes after a (team) meeting to sit with what was said?

And within one week of actually doing the work, I notice how much I fail to reconcile my intentions with my reality: Leaving the phone untouched every first and every last hour of my day? Maybe 4 out of 5 times. The impact: I forget about my own priorities over other people's as I read their emails, messages, social media posts. Is my agenda reflecting my priorities? Maybe 1 out of 5 times....

But the beauty is that with the time I am taking for the integration, I am actually noticing the mismatch and have the opportunity to improve. That's the work. That's what deserves space in our agenda. Not the meeting, the workshop, the retreat. But the time after.

🎤 Waiting for you on the Unprofessionalism podcast:

Speaking of doing the real work: this week's guest knows what that looks like in the startup world. Founder and investor coach Rotem Kazir has spent a decade standing with CEOs through the messy middle: the downturns, the $100M wins, and the moments they had to admit defeat in order to succeed.

We talk about what happens when she chose to remove professional distance from her coaching, why she starts meetings by asking "What's hard?", and how trust requires dropping the mask.

If integration is about sitting with what's uncomfortable rather than rushing past it, Rotem's approach to coaching is a masterclass in exactly that.

🎧 Click here to listen to the interview

📥 Download my 1-page summary

​UP_005_Summary.pdf​

🎧 The workshops work Podcast Club

In January, we gathered for the first time around two workshops work podcast episodes and the topic: polarities in facilitation. I was surprised, touched and excited to see our two featured guests Benjamin Taylor and Jo Nelson among the participants. For some it was 4 am for others it was late in the evening already. The conversations were rich and reflective, weaving threads and marking differences between the two very different episodes we'd listened to as preparation.

If you want to join the February edition on group dynamics, all you have to do is to subscribe to my free Substack.

​Click here for more information and to sign up for free.

That's it from my side. I hope you find insights and courage in my podcast conversation with Rotem. I wish you time and space for integrating all the conversations you are having. Hope to see you next week!

Myriam