I thought of the hours he had spent doing drudge work so that later he might be free to do as he pleased, though he never did know precisely what it was he would do when he would be able to do only what he pleased.

~ Henry Miller, Plexus

Famous last words I read during my morning commute by bus on the day my boss announced our Dot Bomb closure.

Navigating crossroads and pivots, you can get to your next chapter that you create. One that inspires and makes a difference.

Gain clarity with the ASPIRE Clarity Tool.

Stand up. Activate your imagination. Get your creative energy flowing. Come along on your beach walk right now. 

webdzine STUDIO is my travelogue, portfolio, and scratchpad established in 1994 in Monterey, California. These days, I am 903 miles north on the Washington coast.

I live and work in Seattle, Washington. I love to spend time on ocean beaches.

I created resource strategies because leadership these days requires a superhero’s attention and intention. Disruption is rapid. Evolution is slow. Sustainable leadership development is the answer.

A few years ago, my can-do, take-it-all-on attitude was no longer sustainable. Eldercare emergencies came out of nowhere, escalated unimaginably, and became so draining that I experienced burnout. Meanwhile, my workplace in a nonprofit organization was deemed an exploitative environment yet the demands continued to build.

The shift from overwhelm to burnout was gradual, until I reached a rock bottom. Being in the weeds limited my vision to take early action.

Feeling stuck, I searched for answers. “Why can’t I think like I used to?” “Where did my spark go?” “Why don’t I care?” I remembered my natural enthusiasm and wanted it back.

As a result, I had to turn my systems-thinking inward.

I learned that cognitive overwhelm and emotional exhaustion are physically real, and that brain science has a lot of answers we simply did not used to have.

Overwhelm diminishes your thinking power until you burnout your creative energy.

Priorities become a free-for-all. Urgency wins. Strategy goes on the back burner.

Burnout is emotional exhaustion, therefore you are not able to do much about it.

Vitamin Sea is the toolkit that I created to give me my spark back. Building up resilience, I was able to innovate solutions again. After a year of COVID’s disruptions, I know that these techniques work to build capacity so you can make a difference.

If you are over-committed, overwhelmed, or already dealing with burnout, please subscribe toVitamin Sea Strategic Self-Care for Leaders. I want you to thrive.

Schedule your strategy call now. Let’s talk.

Creativity is not the clever rearranging of the known. Viola Spolin

[Schedule Your Call]