Happy New Year! Anyone else feeling a little slow as they turn the page on the calendar? In this week's mini-episode, Sharon invites you to stop and wait a second. Don't set your annual goals. Don't commit to your 2018 resolution. Don't dive right in. Not yet. Instead, wait a second. Take a moment of pause before you dive in. Follow your energy. If that takes you to goals and resolutions and plans. Awesome. Go with it. But if your energy is calling you to stop for a moment, this week's episode w...
Jan 01, 2018•5 min
From Sharon and the whole team at PRS, we wish you a very Merry Christmas. To celebrate the holiday we bring you a special mini-episode filled with love, cheer, and a fitting e.e. Cummings poem. Here’s to a strong finish to 2017; we look forward to being with you in the new year. RESOURCES AND LINKS “Little Tree” by e. e. cummings
Dec 26, 2017•9 min
It's the end of the year and the holiday season is in full effect. Today Sharon shares 10 questions designed to help inspire you to move through the holidays with intention and choice. Explore your own answers and hear Sharon’s personal reflections for each of these inquiries. (Hint: What involves crab marching, a refrigerator, and lots of Christmas lights? Sharon's fondest holiday memory this year!) From Sharon and the whole team at Point Road Studios, we are wishing you a peaceful and joy-fill...
Dec 18, 2017•29 min
2017 is coming to close and that is the ideal time to step back and reflect on what this year has taught you - epistolary style. Sharon shares insights and writing from the annual letters of Warren Buffet and Bill and Melinda Gates and then offers up 7 steps to support you in creating your own Annual Letter. From evergreen support systems like setting clear boundaries and clarifying key measures of success to creative prompts like channeling your inner Gabriel Garcia Marquez and writing stream-o...
Dec 11, 2017•30 min
The marking of time is an important and valuable ritual. And this week’s episode will provide you a simple tool to do just that. “Walking around the sun” is a birthday tradition in Montessori education. Every classroom can put its own unique spin on this special occasion, but the core set up is the same. A candle lit to represent the sun, cards with each month named fanned out around the “sun” to create a blueprint of the year. Each birthday child stands up in front of their classmates and then ...
Dec 04, 2017•37 min
As we enter into the end of year sprint, Sharon wanted to bring back one of her very first podcast episodes. In this Encore Episode, Sharon talks about why stepping away from your computer and taking a break is one of the best things we can do for ourselves - and our work too. The end of year often seduces us into a flat-out sprint. It's the last month to get your annual goals accomplished. It's a rush of finishing out current objectives and planning for new ones. And on top of that it's parties...
Nov 27, 2017•36 min
May you each be filled with gratitude and peace as we move into the end of year holiday season. In today’s episode, Sharon shares 10 questions to inspire you to step into your Thanksgiving (and beyond!) week in an intentional way. She also offers up her own personal reflections for each question, just as she did in Episode 22, the original Let Us Give Thanks episode. In additional to having space for your own reflections, you will also learn about the power of repetition and sitting with one thi...
Nov 20, 2017•36 min
Creativity, resilience and a darn good sense of humor are at the heart of Katie Blattner’s story. In this week’s episode we learn the story of the seamstress and entrepreneur extraordinaire behind Three Little Birds Sewing Co., a place that is part fabric shop, part instructional space and part community hang out. It’s not quite the career and life she imagined for herself when she majored in chemistry with plans for med school. And then life stepped in. Through its lovely and sometimes heart wr...
Nov 13, 2017•52 min
Ever found yourself wishing for a job that just felt like you? That felt like you’d found a work home? If you are anything like host Sharon and this week’s guest, Jennifer Bangoura, the answer is yes. We spend so much of our waking life at work that it ought to be an endeavor that feels meaningful - whether in the work itself or what the work creates for the rest of your life - and ideally both. Jennifer shares her own journey from the Peace Corp in Mali to working as a project manager to starti...
Nov 06, 2017•59 min
In today's episode Sharon shares some of her transformational reading experiences and a way for us to think about the things that shape us (be they books, experience or people). Hear what children's book characters have stuck with her and which one actually changed her. (Hint: She's a very skilled teacher!) Listen as she reads from Lydia Davis and talks about why she really appreciates reading prose written by poets. For anyone who loves books or is thinking about their own story (for a job inte...
Oct 30, 2017•52 min
Carpe diem. Live in the now. Heck, even be here now. There are so many expressions out there calling us to focus on getting present. And that probably has something to do with just how easy it is to get distracted these days from exactly where we are right now. In this week's podcast, Sharon offers up her own reflections on different flavors of NOT being present and then shares 10 ways to get yourself back into the here and now. Ideas Shared 4 Different Flavors of Not Being Present Consciously a...
Oct 23, 2017•39 min
We often think of vision as that thing that happens out way in the future. And there is a time for imagining all that is possible; a time for answering where are we headed. But today Sharon offers up a different approach to vision. One that allows you to lead from a visionary stance in the present. From meditation to emotional resilience to asking for help, we will explore tips and resources to help you move towards your vision in the here and now. “Vision glimpses a future state and moves you t...
Oct 16, 2017•32 min
This week Sharon offers up a 10 Step Guide to Creative Living. If you are already jamming on all the ways that you need to be creative, awesome! But if you are like a lot of us and need a little kickstart to your creativity, this week’s episode is for you. Explore options for how to choose creativity over consumption (take a walk!), learn the difference between copying and appropriating (mindset!), discover some of Sharon’s go-to resources to kick a creative slump to the the curb (books! recipes...
Oct 09, 2017•38 min
Special announcement: Sharon is hosting a free webinar series on how You Can Design Yourself this fall. Details can be found at https://pointroadstudios.com/classes/fall-17-webinars/ Itching to try something new, but feeling stuck? Cue this week’s episode. Sharon shares a behind the scenes look into launching the Classes arm of Point Road Studios along with tips and resources for how you too can try something new. Sharon talks about common obstacles to getting started like being afraid or overwh...
Oct 02, 2017•33 min
Joanna Andreae of Wandering Wellness from Episode 62 is back with us for a special bonus episode. Joanna runs a successful business that is as much of her as it is run by her. And as clear as she is on who she is and what she offers, she was struggling with figuring out what to call herself. With permission, Sharon steps into to coach Joanna through this question. This short episode offers a glimpse into what executive coaching can look like and demonstrates the power of having a quiet space hel...
Sep 29, 2017•17 min
What does it mean to live and be well? How can you do so while also fully owning your own sense of creative power? These are just a few of the questions that today's guest Joanna Andreae, the healer behind Wandering Wellness, ponders. You will hear about how Joanna pushed herself to the brink with the intensity and stress of her work and her job before realizing that there was - thank goodness! - another way. Today she works with what she describes as the multidimensional modern woman to help he...
Sep 25, 2017•1 hr 10 min
Visionary leadership isn’t just for corporate boardrooms - it is for everywhere. It can be satisfying sometimes to imagine getting to where we want to go all by ourselves, but that is not reality. To walk through the world is to interact with others - whether strangers or friends, colleagues or clients, skeptics or supporters. Visionary leadership is the essential skill to get us where we want to go, because it allows us to brings other along with us. Today we start with some context setting, ex...
Sep 18, 2017•37 min
Only 19% of girls have a positive association with the phrase “Like a Girl.” Katey Comerford, Executive Director of Girls on the Run of NOVA, is a person out to change that. In today’s show we learn about this international organization focused on making girls strong and Katey’s own story of strong female leadership - where we discuss everything from how to find intellectual frameworks to put behind your work, visionary leadership, how to walk away from job, the value of taking an intentional pa...
Sep 11, 2017•1 hr 9 min
Boundaries on work are increasingly blurring. We can work anytime and anywhere. And sometimes we want to. And sometimes we don’t. In this week’s episode, Sharon explores the question "when does work stop?" She reflects on the changing landscape of work (and how this is not a new phenomenon), provides tips for setting your own boundaries on work (because work stops when we decide to stop it) and offers up questions to push your own thinking about when and how you will choose to work. This is a gr...
Sep 04, 2017•44 min
Emmanuel Yamoah is a person who defies the traditional approach. Not satisfied by what has always been, he’s always pushing for something more. As a young boy you might have found him deconstructing his sneakers to see what made them work. Today he leads a global Research and Development team at Duracell. He is an engineer, an artist, and a problem solver. He understands that to really drive product innovation, you have to start with personal innovation. This episode is a great fit for anyone cu...
Aug 28, 2017•50 min
Yes, magic exists. Inspired by this week's solar eclipse, host Sharon decided to share what she does to bring magic into her life. Learn her tricks for creating magic in her business from manifesting dream clients to the power of sitting with your palms facing up. Plus, there's poetry! This week's episode is a great fit for anyone to shake off logical thinking and get into the creative practice of tapping into the magic all around you. RESOURCES AND LINKS Dallas Clayton’s books Make Magic! Do Go...
Aug 21, 2017•35 min
This week Sharon shares one of the most helpful pieces of wisdom she’s ever received: “It’s more important to be present than prepared.” Learn how she has come to understand this adage over the years and how she’s added on to it as well. As part of this process, Sharon shares some questions you might consider if you find yourself holding on tightly to a desire to be in control and tips for bringing yourself back to centered awareness. May today’s episode steward you in stepping into your full pr...
Aug 14, 2017•31 min
Making a commitment can be daunting. Sometimes we get swept up in all the research we can do, even for some of our everyday decisions. Is this really THE best restaurant we could eat at on vacation? Is this THE movie we want to see? So when it comes to a longterm commitment, the pressure often rises. Is this really THE right job? THE right person? THE THING?! Host Sharon agrees with Sheryl Sandberg and Warren Buffet: Picking a life partner is one of the most important decisions we make in our li...
Aug 07, 2017•55 min
It’s a great accomplishment to achieve a critical goal. It can be all the more satisfying when that goal is to run a business you care about successfully. But it’s still just one outcome. Today’s episode focuses on for the sake of what. For the sake of what are you working hard to hit those goals. For the sake of what are you running your business. Sometimes our work gets us so heads down that we forget to lift up and make sure that all the effort is driving towards the kind of success that we r...
Jul 31, 2017•35 min
Inspiring others to trust and follow you takes more than great ideas or a stellar product or service. It takes executive presence. Executive presence communicates your authentic spirit in way that allows others to connect to you. It inspires and motivates. And it necessarily takes many different shapes and forms. Executive presence must be varied because at its core is the unique spirit of each of us. In today’s episode, Sharon clarifies what this often misunderstood term means and why it matter...
Jul 24, 2017•36 min
Remember what it’s like to first start out in work? Our guest today doesn’t have to remember. She’s in it. Artist and educator Julia Lipovsky joins her sister Sharon to talk about what it’s like to find your voice and find a job. Hear how Julia paid attention to clues as she moved from a job to pay the bills to a job that inspires her soul. And how she put her art school education to work even when selling donuts. Julia is one of those people is wise beyond her years and this week’s episode is f...
Jul 17, 2017•55 min
We are half way through 2017, which makes now the ideal time to check in on how things are going and get focused for the second half of the year. In this week’s episode, Sharon offers up 9 questions to reflect on how your year is going and shares what’s she been noticing about her own New Year’s resolution to “let rest.” This episode is perfect for anyone who is ready for a quick time out to reflect and refresh before moving through the second half of the year. It’s also a good fit for anyone wh...
Jul 10, 2017•39 min
It’s easy to get caught up in what we are doing, isn’t it? This week’s episode is designed to help you lift out of the daily grind and celebrate your “champagne moment” successes. Whether finally hitting send on a big proposal, getting great feedback from a colleague or client, or finally seeing that passion project come to life, it’s important to carve out time to celebrate. These celebrations can take many different shapes and sizes. The tips offered in today’s show are designed to help you in...
Jul 03, 2017•35 min
Today we close out Season One of Design Yourself with the celebration of the podcast's 50th episode! Leadership Coach Sue McLeod joins host Sharon to reflect on what she's learned after her first year of podcasting and to model a process for evaluating progress. Whether you are wondering how your own passion project is going or are ready to take stock on a work initiative, this week's show offers questions to help you see how you are doing. This is also a great show for anyone interested in what...
Jun 26, 2017•1 hr 14 min
If you’ve ever wondered how you can make not just a living, but a life, this week’s episode is for you. Nate Shearer is a thoughtful, funny guy who doesn’t let work define him. His pursuit of play has led him to race bikes professionally, learn the welding trade, explore skate and surf culture, move out to the country and then return to the city - and the list goes on. He is also one of Washington, D.C.’s great hair stylists; he apprenticed under the world-renowned Orlando Pita. Tune in for insp...
Jun 19, 2017•1 hr 18 min
