Design Yourself: Coaching and Creativity for How We Live, Work and Lead

Welcome to the podcast where we talk about how to raise our collective consciousness about what's possible and bring more ease and delight to the way we live, work and lead. I'm Sharon Lipovsky, host of Design Yourself and founder of Point Road Studios where I guide my clients to get clear on the direction they are headed, create the roadmap for how to get there and then take steps to realize their vision every day. In this podcast, I share the tools and resources that create breakthroughs in my work as an executive coach and team accelerator and in my own life as a creative living with her family on a dirt road in the Catskill Mountains in NY. The way we work and live has fundamentally changed and there is no going back to what was. This is both incredibly scary and exhilarating.The times we live in challenge us to lead towards a brighter future. What matters most right now? How do we set boundaries that serve us and our teams? What skills are necessary in today's workplace? Join us every Wednesday to explore big questions and share tools, mindsets and resources that will guide us as we reimagine what's possible. For show notes visit www.pointroadstudios.com/podcast

Business Unusual | Celebrating 250 Episodes of Design Yourself 01/15/2025

Taking A Break | Podcast Sabbatical Coming 01/08/2025

Shine Your Light in 2025 01/01/2025

Encore: Wintering 12/19/2024

Building a Journal Practice 12/11/2024

Sharon's Annual Letter (2024) 12/05/2024

2024 Letter to Yourself 11/27/2024

Seeing with New Eyes 11/20/2024

Finding Hope 11/13/2024

Take a Break with Three Poems 11/06/2024

Lessons from the Emergency Department 10/30/2024

Finding Joy 10/23/2024

Give Yourself A Break 10/16/2024

Worst Job Ever 10/09/2024

Sitting in the Messy Middle 10/02/2024

Partnering and Productive Conflict | Summer Series 12 09/18/2024

How to Be A Great Listener | Summer Series 11 09/11/2024

How to Be A Great Listener | Summer Series 11 Deep listening can change the world. Listening impacts so many things: Our understanding, our questions, and our connections to those around us. When we listen deeply, we light a spark for transformation. But listening isn't easy. There are habits and culturally accepted practices that hold us back from really listening to understand. The good news is that you can create simple shifts to improve the quality of your listening and inspire others to do the same. This Design Yourself episode highlights 12 habits that prevent us from listening – including rehearsing, daydreaming, and placating. We invite you to see with a fresh perspective where your listening gets derailed and to make simple shifts to bring your attention back to listening to understand. Links and Resources: For show notes visit: To connect on Linked In: To connect on Instagram: Rate, Review & Subscribe to the podcast on & Ideas Shared You can download a summary PDF of the . 12 Listening Blocks Mind Reading – Assuming you know what the other person feels Rehearsing – Planning what you want to say next Filtering – Listening only for what’s relevant to you Judging – Evaluating the speaker and what they say Daydreaming – Getting lost in your own thoughts Identifying – Relating everything you hear in yourself Advising – Listening to solve or direct Sparring – Invalidating the speaker through argument or debate Being Right – Resisting all communication that suggests you are wrong Derailing – Changing the subject Comparing – Trying to figure out how you compare to the speaker Placating – Agreeing too quickly Source: Messages: The Communication Skills Book by Matthew McKay, Ph.D., Martha Davis, Ph.D., and Patrick Fanning Reflection Questions Which listening block shows up most frequently for me? What new awareness am I taking with me about the quality of my own listening as I learn about listening blocks? What’s one listening block that you could pay attention to this week to improve the quality of your conversations? What’s one thing you could pay attention to this week to improve the quality of your listening? (e.g. set aside technology; ask for a colleague to be your listening accountability partner in a specific meeting) Resources and Links /episode/index/show/designyourself/id/33005722

Routines Reimagined | Summer Series 10 09/04/2024

Style from the Inside Out: Throw Back Interview with Natalie Tincher | Summer Series 9 08/28/2024

Building A Home | Summer Series 8 08/21/2024

Marriage and Partnership | Summer Series 7 08/14/2024

Marriage and Partnership | Summer Series 7 Sharon reflects this week on work-life balance – or imbalance. She shares the marriage advice that stuck with her as she nears her wedding anniversary: “Marriage takes 100% effort to be successful, but rarely is it split 50-50. Sometimes it’s 60-40. Sometimes it’s 90-10. But it always takes 100% effort to work.” She shares how this framework applies not just to a relationship with our spouse but to any time we work with others. Summer Series 2024 | Curated guidance and resources to guide and support you in making this season – and what follows – just what you wish it to be. Stay Connected For show notes visit: To connect on Linked In: To connect on Instagram: Rate, Review & Subscribe to the podcast on & Ideas Shared The most inspirational advice I got leading up to my wedding: “Marriage requires 100% effort to work. But rarely is it split 50-50. Sometimes it’s 60-40. Sometimes it’s 90-10. But it ALWAYS takes 100% to work.” Mimi Barringer . Much of the series follows two Brooklyn moms with a tech idea that has the vision and ambition to change what it looks like to be a working mom. But of course, they are dealing with many of the same stresses they hope to solve. Later episodes in the series also check in with the dynamic working parenting duo and . “It’s not that I don’t want to work. I do want to work, but I want to work in a way that allows me to be home much more than a high-level government job would let me do right now.” Anne-Marie Slaughter “We started out like most couples start out, I think a little bit naive, thinking that we are a two-career couple and we will also split the parenting 50-50.” Andrew Moravcsik If you’ve never read , wait no longer. Read it! This week marks the first time in our nation’s history that a major political party nominated a woman for the office of President. No matter your politics, this is a special moment. I loved watching . Finally, below are the two key distinctions that helped me see how I was good at adding things to my life and work and why I was struggling to let things go. I had to start strengthening my emotional muscles to get in shape for those changes. Intellectual Learning – Ability to take on new things (e.g. job, hobby, relationship, etc.) Emotional Learning – Helpful when you are processing how to put things down (e.g. making a move, a job transition, ending a friendship, etc.) Resources and Links /episode/index/show/designyourself/id/32571907