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Dear Reader,


I was visiting one of our lovely mountain towns this past weekend (Salida – check it out!) to refresh and renew. Unencumbered from work, family, and a schedule, I was able to hike for hours each day, simply enjoying the climb, Colorado bluebird sky and mountain views.

Often when I’m hiking my time is constrained and I’m worried about getting back for the next obligation, which often ends up dictating my route and mind-space. Typically, an hour and a half in, I feel a tug to turn around and get back to what I’m “supposed” to be doing. This time, however, I recognized the tug, acknowledged it, let it go and kept going.

This pull to get back to what I’m “supposed” to be doing made me reflect on how often we feel this same pull in the social sector. A need to visibly demonstrate our hard work and prove our efficacy to various stakeholders – donors, colleagues, supervisors, board members, etc. The problem is that we often get distracted by what we are “supposed” to be doing and choose and focus on ineffective metrics like efficacy or productivity. This leads us to prioritize others’ requests, such as completing misaligned grant requirements, which pull us farther and farther away from the work that is essential to the people and communities we are trying to serve. We become overworked and stressed, which distracts us from showing up as our best selves in order to truly help others.

The challenge comes back to being able to recognize that misplaced pull.

My experience in Salida reinforced the important, but often forgotten, lesson to make time to slow down and reflect on experiences because it does wonders for the mind, especially when it comes to creativity and learning***. But the more profound learning for me was to recognize and ignore the internal pull – the pull to be “productive” and to go back to what I’m “supposed” to be doing. I won’t automatically practice ignoring the pull very well, because I know myself and I like to move quickly into action, but I’m committing to listening longer and reflecting more for the health of our team, our clients, my family, and me.

I encourage you all to intentionally reflect on those moments when you feel that internal, perhaps misdirected, pull. Is what’s pulling you away a priority for you or someone else? Stop and reflect on what the trade-offs are. Does it really matter to you, your family, your work and the communities you serve?






Founder & CEO
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ResultsLab is a woman-owned social enterprise that propels organizations, communities, and networks to the next level of impact through quality design and effective use of data. We are reinventing impact management by providing strategic design and capacity building for data informed decision-making to organizations and networks that exist to drive change for our communities.


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