I recently returned from a summer break with a clearer mind and a renewed appreciation for something we often explore with coaching clients: before we focus on performance, we need to pay attention to the conditions that make performance possible. In a recent coaching session, one client put it perfectly: “You need to sort the soil that helps you grow from the soil that doesn’t.” That simple observation captures much of what we believe. Some of you reading this newsletter have worked with us....

As I write this, I can hear my son’s guitar in the next room. I’m checking LinkedIn. Thinking about the holiday. Remembering emails I haven’t answered, actions I haven’t done. Nothing unusual. And that’s precisely the problem. Our attention has become our most valuable resource, yet we spend much of the day fragmenting it. Author Cal Newport argues that deep work is becoming increasingly rare at exactly the moment it is becoming most valuable. I suspect the same is true of deep conversations,...

If you’re reading this in the Northern Hemisphere, I hope summer is giving you a chance to slow down a little. If you’re in the Southern Hemisphere, you’re in a different season, but the principle is the same. Nature is always responding to its conditions. This year I’ve found myself learning as much from plants as I have from psychology. Each morning I spend a few minutes with the tomato plants. I water them, tie in the new growth and remove the small shoots that take energy away from the...