The Essence of Autumn

Autumn stands apart as the season of culmination, celebration, and creating space. Unlike the frantic growth of spring or the outward energy of summer, fall is defined by a deliberate slowing down and visible transitions. Refreshing cool breezes return to replace the lingering heat, and the fruits of our labor are finally ripe for the picking. It is a time of profound shift: leaves burst into vibrant colors before falling, acting as a visual reminder of Mother Nature gracefully clearing off her branches to prepare for rest.

The autumnal equinox marks the official beginning of the season—a pivot point celebrated since ancient times for its great significance. On this specific day, the length of day and night are exactly equal. Across history, this balance has been honored as the ultimate harvest festival, a time for communities to gather and give thanks for the earth's bounty before the darkness overtakes the light. As autumn passes and the nights grow longer, we enter the most mystical time of the year. These quieter hours have long been recognized as ideal for meditation, deep inner connection, and tuning into the natural cycles we all experience.

Exercises for Exploration and Growth

On the Equinox (first day of Fall):

Go to a place that feels grounding and comfortable. It doesn't have to be a grand gesture—your favorite spot on the couch with a warm cup of coffee or a quiet corner of your patio works perfectly. Take a moment to reflect on the past six months. Jot down a list of things you are genuinely thankful for, starting with the simple, everyday joys. Then, pause and congratulate yourself on the work you've done since spring. Celebrate the real-life wins, whether that means hitting a big goal at work, keeping a new habit going, or just navigating a busy season with grace.

Over the next week:

Take a look at your current routines, your calendar, and your physical space. Are you stuck in the "same-old, same-old"? Identify what feels heavy or out of alignment. Maybe it's a commitment that drains your energy, a cluttered drawer you've been avoiding, or a project that feels more like a chore than a passion. Pick just one or two things to intentionally release. Letting go of the excess isn't about failure; it's about creating necessary space. Clearing out what you no longer appreciate makes room for fresh, new opportunities to come in before winter arrives.

Enjoy the harvest of your efforts! Celebrate, give thanks, and let go of what is no longer your ideal.

"When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be." — Lao Tzu

Finding Our Common Ground

Before last year, I had never traveled outside the Americas. That changed entirely when I packed my bags for seven new countries across Europe and Asia. Beyond the breathtaking monuments and the essential fridge magnets, I set out to uncover the heartbeat of our global teams. What I learned completely reshaped my perspective on how we build our future together.

While we all have beautifully different ways of experiencing the same world, every region brought a distinct, powerful cultural strength to our shared team:

• Munich, Germany: A deep culture of meticulous quality, brilliant design, and methodical problem-solving.

• Milton Keynes, UK: A brilliant, sharp, and witty energy fueled by natural go-getters.

• Lille, France: An effortless, stylish grace and genuine care that elevates every interaction.

• Barcelona, Spain: A passionate, artistic spirit and fierce determination that brings vibrant creativity to the table.

• Milan, Italy: An enduring wisdom rooted in rich historical depth, defined by true beauty and class.

• Sydney, Australia: A fun, cool, and fiercely resilient spirit, complete with an incredible accent.

• Singapore: An electrifying pace defined by fast, agile execution that steps right over challenges others get stuck on.

During our Surge transformation workshops, we partnered with our best and brightest leaders to scale our strategies across EMEA and Asia Pacific. By unifying our global capabilities and standardizing how we work, we didn't just free up time for our associates to focus on value creation—we laid the groundwork for a more agile, deeply connected global future.

Despite the thousands of miles between us, I found we have so much in common—it's what unifies us at Ingram. Across every border, we share a fierce passion for growth, approaching challenges with the grit to fight to win while always stopping to help each other succeed; we continuously set the bar high, driven by an incredible talent pool dedicated to creating authentic value for our partners.

At our global headquarters, whether I’m working with my local team or running into executives in the elevator, I carry our expanded team with me. This unforgettable journey wasn’t just about driving business growth—it was about building lifelong relationships and proving what happens when diverse perspectives align behind one vision. I am immensely grateful for the experience and, without a doubt, a stronger leader for it.

Elevating Your Atmosphere: The Art of the Inspired Workspace

With so many of us carving out professional lives from home, the boundary between "living" and "working" has blurred. Your home office shouldn’t just be a place where you have to be; it should be a sanctuary that draws you in.

When your environment is curated with intention, it elevates your output. By surrounding yourself with a great set of tools, you unlock a higher level of efficiency, a well of creativity, and, most importantly, a deeper sense of joy in the process.

Here is how to transform your space into a cockpit of productivity:

Optimize Your Environment

• Design for Flow: Arrange your space based on your natural rhythm. Keep your most essential tools (the ones you use daily) within a single, effortless reach.

• Clear the Static: Clutter is visual noise. Quiet the room by filing away the "someday" items and the "once-in-a-while" paperwork. Give your mind the white space it needs to breathe.

• Curate Your Inspiration: Decorate with colors that invoke creativity and artwork that reminds you of why you do what you do.

Honor Your Craft with Supplies

• The Power of Preparation: Keep your essentials stocked. There is a profound peace in knowing you have exactly what you need when you're in the flow.

• Elevate the Tactile: If you are a writer, don't just use any pen - use the one that glides. Surround yourself with heavy-weight journals and colorful pens. When your tools feel special, your work is so much more fun.

• Nurture the Senses: Create a sensory "anchor" for your workday. Whether it’s a handwritten map for your strategic priorities for the day, the flicker of a signature scented candle, or a productive playlist, these small luxuries signal to your brain that it’s time to create.

Cultivate a Fulfilling Routine

• The Daily Reset: Just as we need a daily shower, a daily dose of inspiration sets the day in the right direction. Feed your need for motivation. 

• Guard Your Priorities: Time-box your deep work. Set aside dedicated "sanctuary hours" for your biggest goals to ensure your energy is spent on what actually moves the needle.

• Prioritize the Refill: You cannot pour from an empty cup. Identify the micro-activities that renew you - a walk, a stretch, five minutes of silence - and weave them into your schedule as non-negotiable appointments.

Your workspace is the laboratory of your life's work. Make it beautiful, functional, and uniquely you.

Spring: The Season of New Growth

Earth wakes up from the long, cold hibernation, anew. The sun returns, the days grow longer, and the weather warms up. The soil is fertile, green vegetation sprouts up everywhere, and flowers bloom. Fresh life is abundant.

Many ancient calendars such as the Persian, Mesopotamian, and early Roman celebrated new year in Spring. It's an ideal time to take realizations from the reflective winter months and set intentions for how you want to grow. Elevate your vision, set goals, and start new projects. The seeds you plant now will grow over the spring and summer seasons to be harvested in fall. 

Exercises for Exploration and Growth

On the Equinox (first day of Spring):
Go to a place that triggers your creativity. Whether it be at a beach, mountain, or your favorite spot at home - create a space that feels nourishing. Brainstorm on what you want. What would make the next 12 months your best year yet? Jot it down, get messy, and don't edit. Have fun and think BIG. Once you're done, reflect on the key patterns you see.

Over the next week:
Take your notes of what desires arose and gather any other lists of goals that you've had recently. Review all of these ideas together and see what rises to the top. Pick just a few ventures to invest your energy into - the cream of the crop - to focus on. Make these goals priority above all the little things that come up each week. Check in on them weekly during your organization session. 

Here's to the most beautiful time of the year!

And Spring arose on the garden fair, 

Like the Spirit of Love felt everywhere;

And each flower and herb on Earth's dark breast 

rose from the dreams of its wintry rest. 

~ Percy Bysshe Shelley

Ancient calendars didn't start the New Year in the dead of January. They waited for today: The Spring Equinox. There’s a biological reason for that. When the Earth wakes up, our energy follows suit. We move from the quiet 'winter' of reflection and strategy into the high-octane 'spring' of new growth. But: if you try to grow everything at once, you’ll harvest nothing. You have to pick the right seeds.

Creating a Weekly Habits Template in your Calendar

Consistency builds momentum. Small consistent steps are more powerful than large sporadic ones; they lead to great achivements. Weekly habits are the best path toward being consistent. Think about the habits you have each week. With a little conscious shaping, you can free up great amounts of time and energy, and thrust your goals forward.  

Creating a weekly habits template in your calendar is a fun brainstorm session that bring clarity and inspires growth. It prioritizes your goals and provides a structure for the "to do's" to go around. These are the steps to creating one:

1. Open up a blank weekly calendar. Open up your electronic calendar and set the view to: week. Skip ahead a few weeks into the future so that its not overly crowded and set up the appointments as recurring starting next week.  
2. Design your time in a way that works best for you.  
1. Think about the typical things that you need to take care of each week and place them where they work best. Consider: prioritizing your day each morning, projects, networking, creative time, working out, personal renewal time, family time, date night, an organization session for the week, grocery shopping, etc. If you're having trouble getting started, leverage AI to help build the initial weekly schedule
2. Place a couple of time blocks for your goals where they fit best.  These are creative sessions where you dig in and drive progress on your most important goals (ex: Wednesday afternoon - 2 hours for goal #1).
3. Build in time for any processes that have recurring tasks. Set aside time blocks on days that will help make those most successful. 
3. Optimize and refine. Step back and review your time. Move things around to optimize. Are there changes you can make to create an ideal flow? Group like tasks together, take care to not overload a particular day, and leave extra flexibility on days you want it most.  

One of the most important things in planning is to remain flexible.  Remember that moving planned items around when needed is not only okay day-to-day, it's encouraged. Reviewing this template every quarter or so is a great way to reflect on what's working well and identifying opportunities to improve. 

The Art of Managing Up

Managing up is the practice of building your relationship with your boss and consistently elevating the output you achieve together. It includes learning their preferences and desired outcomes, asking thoughtful questions to understand nuances, keeping them informed of progress, and elevating results.

Build trust they can count on you to deliver

• Manage expectations. Understand what outcome they’re looking for, when they expect to see results, and any requirements they have. Let them know when to expect what.
• Proactively update them on progress. Set up cadences to provide consistent visibility into status and review important milestones. Minimize the need to require their involvement while giving them an opportunity to shape the work that you do.
• Renegotiate when necessary. If plans change, communicate early to provide opportunities to adjust commitments. If you run into an issue they should be aware of, show up with a proposed solution that has been well-vetted by SME’s.  

Set the bar for high performance

• Communicate their way. Understand their preferences for communication methods and styles. Senior executives are busy; summaries that they can easily scan, with additional detail attached typically work best.
• Put yourself in their shoes. Understand their desired outcomes. Think through how they would approach it and what questions they would ask.
• Add a golden touch to everything you work on.  Always elevate the quality and value of the output. Make each item that you deliver simple for all who consume it.

Always increase value

• Actively seek feedback. Welcome their input and listen intently when they give it to you. Capture the critical points and follow up to ensure you solve for them.
• Use their time wisely. Minimize the need for urgent distractions. Use 1:1’s for strategic alignment.
• Take great care of everything assigned to you. Make it easier to work through you than to do it themselves. Identify how you can help them more and continue to pull work from them as much as possible.  

Those who have mastered the ability to manage up add incredible value to the work that their team delivers. When you focus on how you can provide the best service as well as increase value provided, you take a different level of ownership over the work that you do.  

My Favorite Life Hack: Weekly Organization Session

Taking one hour to organizing your week makes the single biggest impact on your results.  Pausing to look from a big picture perspective, you can elevate your experience in the ways that are most meaningful to you. Create a blueprint for your week by thinking about your goals and the next best step forward, prioritizing your to do list so that you are highly focused, while making sure to carve time for things that fill your cup.  

A weekly organization session carves out space to review, reconnect, and readjust, where necessary.  Prioritizing goals and aligning them with actions helps take large strides forward consistently. This allows you to see and develop opportunities that you otherwise wouldn't have. It also makes sure that taking care of yourself is truly a priority. Having a structure that guides you through the details creates a natural ease and therefore more presence in your daily being.

Weekly Organization Session:

Steps

Pick one day per week and set up a recurring appointment with yourself in your electronic calendar (with a reminder) for your weekly organization session. Carve out an hour or so to align, sync, refresh, and renew. I recommend doing this on Friday or Sunday for the upcoming week. That way on Monday morning, you can dig right in and feel well prepared. 

Integrate life into your schedule

1. Schedule the “rocks”: appointments and things that can't move around

2. Add in time for goals: timeboxes for key priorities

3. Add in time for relationships: setup memorable moments

Review your current items

1. Connect with everything that is going on: check your 'inboxes' and make decisions to clear the clutter

2. Schedule time for tasks: block out time for items that need focus this week

3. Wrap up: close out, let go, or delegate items

Be flexible

1. Be open to move things around: if things pop up, adjust your time blocks a needed

2. Be sure to fill your cup: regularly fit in time for activities that re-energize you

3. Don’t overdo it: leave plenty of room for preparing your day and typical things that pop up

There have been many times where I have entered my organization session feeling fragmented and chaotic. By the time I finish, I feel relieved to know that everything I want to get done has time carved out and will get done in an optimal way. I feel more grounded, clear, and ready. Being selective helps ensure we experience our ideal levels of fun, growth, and accomplishment.

Other Favorites:

• My Favorite Time Management Trick
• My Favorite Organization Trick
• My Favorite Trick for Feeling Truly Fulfilled
• My Favorite Daily Mindset Practice