To combat the Coronavirus outbreak, experts are saying the number one thing you can do is wash your hands. Here are the guidelines from the CDC: Wet your hands with clean, running water (warm or cold), turn off the tap,  and apply soap. Lather your hands by rubbing them together with the soap. Lather the backs of your hands, between your fingers, and under your nails. Scrub your hands for at least 20 seconds. Need a timer? Hum the “Happy Birthday” song from beginning to end t

Those that know me well will laugh that I’m writing this, as I am chronically late. But, I recently heard the quote, “all the good things in my life I can attribute to being early.” I wanted to test the impact being early could have on my life. I showed up 30-minutes early for a 10-minute interview, and the interviewer and I were able to chat about my business for 10-minutes before, doubling my time. Getting to a party right when it started meant that I was able to spend qual

When picking your new resolutions, starting small is key. Pick something that feels laughably easy. Don’t try to meditate every day for 15-minutes. Start with one. Then build. Pick the ‘minimum viable effort’ that makes you feel like you are succeeding. As James Clear says in his incredible book, Atomic Habits: “The idea is to make your habits as easy as possible to start. Anyone can meditate for one minute, read one page, or put one item of clothing away. And, as we have jus

Every year, I steal a page from Gretchin Rubin and do a “20 for 2020” (or whatever the year is). It’s a list of things I want to do for the coming year. This is my third time, so I’ve learned a few best practices: One-off work better than recurring. If you miss a recurring one upfront, it’s really hard to get back into it. Have a mix of small and big Action items work better than results (e.g., “work with a doctor” vs. “fix my gut”) Make it measurable (e.g., “do a Whole30” vs

Every Sunday morning I spend 15-minutes journaling about the past week and the one ahead. First, I ask myself four questions about the past week: Why will I remember it? What did I do well? What do I want to do differently? What did I learn? Then looking ahead, I have a list of areas in my life that I check-in on—kids, my relationship, health, and social. I set two or three intentions for each: What few activities with the kids will make this week special? When will Joe and I

You know me. I love traditions. So, enter a new one for Uplift—Weekly Wins Wednesday. Each week (either here or on our Instagram), we’ll celebrate all of our wins. Call out the little (or big) things in our life that are going well. So often, it’s easy to focus on the negative versus everything going right. So for me: All of our pilots at companies are converting to bigger deals! Joe and I have had some really great recent dates (both at home and out) I’ve been slipping in a

I’m insanely impulsive. I want. Things. Now. A simple trick has slowed me down—setting a 10-minute timer. Every time I feel that impulsive feeling (to eat that extra snack or send that emotional email), I turn on my phone’s timer. At the end of 10-minutes, I am free to do what I want. However, I’ve found that usually what I want has changed. I’m a big believer in controlling what you can control, and sometimes we can’t control our impulses. But, we can control whether we set

Inspired by Cal Newport’s new book, Digital Minimalism, I’m seven days into a 30-day digital detox of no podcasts, social media or blogs. It’s amazing. I even have started going on evening or morning walks—by myself, sans headphones. These 30-minute sessions with just my thoughts made me recognize how rarely I just think. Guess what? Thinking is good. I’m finding myself making better decisions and being less stressed overall. So today, risk being bored a bit. Put away you

Inspired by Cal Newport's new book, Digital Minimalism, I'm doing a 30-day digital detox. I've found myself tightly wound recently and want to gauge the effect of detaching from my phone. Here are my rules: No podcasts. Audiobooks are OK No blog research (huge time suck for me!) No Facebook or Instagram (except for work, accessed on my computer) No Whatsapp (except for work) I'm 24 hours in. I've found that I've checked off all the annoying things on my todo list just to

I work out of an incubator in Georgetown that supports social entrepreneurs, Halcyon. Every morning I walk by their gratitude board, a white board where people can visually thank people that have helped them that week. I love seeing this grow over the week. On my hardest days, it reminds me that the world is full of people who want to help. The board serves as a physical reminder to be both thankful and helpful. What value do you want to instill in your team or family?

Today's tip is simple. When you set out on a new goal, take a before picture. Yes, for some tasks this is easy. You can photo your messy closet pre-konmari. Or, take body photos pre-diet. But, get creative. Could you journal about how you felt mentally before kicking off a meditation habit? Or do some type of assessment before taking a course to show how much you learn? It's so easy to focus on all of the things that you still need to do that often we forget to celebrate

Rowan hates school. It's heartbreaking. Every morning I leave a screaming kid to head to work. Talk about mom guilt. As a Type A mom, I've been trying to troubleshoot all year. I finally figured out the root cause by looking at a bright spot—what was working? When was he on his perfect behavior? At my in-laws. Then I asked myself what was different there versus at school (and frankly, often, at home). Attention. Because my in-laws only hung out with him one night a week

I'm a big believer in making the behaviors you want to do as easy as possible. This works with your kids, too. My newest hack: leave a Costco-sized bag of baby carrots in between our car seats. Now instead of demanding gummies or rice rollers, my kids help themselves to carrots. They love being independent and are now eating veggies for breakfast. I've been known to sneak a few on my way home from work, too. Everyone wins. What behaviors can you make ridiculously easy? C

Gretchen Rubin introduced a fab idea on her podcast this week: Me-time Tuesday. One day a week, you designate a night for you—no childcare, no work, no responsibilities. I live by my calendar, so having scheduled 'me-time' means it actually happens. What would you do? My list is endless: gymnastics class, massages, drinks with girlfriends or wandering around a new neighborhood. Some ideas on how to make this happen: pick different days from your partner or switch-off e

One of the most significant shifts, when I moved from NYC to DC, was my decrease in walking. Driving all the time has cut my steps in half. Each week, I'm trying to add one daily activity to increase my steps: Week 1: Park a block further away. Week 2: Two blocks. Week 3: Start walking when I brushed my teeth. Week 4: Take one of my meetings each day while walking. Week 5: Walk around my living room while watching TV if my steps are low. (Hey, it's cold out there.) I've go

Who here has ever felt impostor syndrome? It's the feeling that you don't deserve to be where you are, and even worse, being afraid of being found out. Yep, my hand is definitely raised, but so are 70% of all people's. If you are pushing yourself out of your comfort zone, most likely you'll encounter these feelings. The first step in overcoming impostor syndrome is to catch and name it. There are five types: The perfectionist: Sets extremely high expectations. Even if sh

I am a bit type A, continually looking for ways to make the most of small moments in my day. (Hell, my entire coaching app for Uplift is built on this premise.) My favorite new addition is multi-tasking while I floss and brush my teeth. To get more steps in, I now take care of my pearly whites while walking around my room. The NY Times suggests doing a simple 2-minute toothbrush meditation to ground yourself. The book of awesome even lists "Multitasking while brushing

As you can tell, I'm proud of reinstating my meditation habit. (92% of days in the past 3 months—yes!) One of the main ways I've kept my streak alive is using alarms on my phone. If I can't do my session right when I wake up, I set an alarm for when I can do it later. If I can't do it then, I create another alarm. Eventually, I get so sick of bells that I cave. Alarms for me work better than blocking time in the calendar because they are harder to ignore. So, give it a sh

Over the past year, I have gained 15 pounds. I suffered from the stress of starting a new company, back issues preventing workouts, and experiments with different food choices for my gut. I am committed to losing this. I started looking at before and after photos online for inspiration but wasn't connecting since situations and bodies are so different. Then I realized I could be my own inspiration. I lost over 45 pounds after the birth of Rowan. I could lose 15. I crea

It's that time of year where many of us start creating goals and resolutions for the new year. Today is a small addition to your process to make these more powerful: List three actions you can take for each. Who here is thinking about their goals for 2019? One of my favorite part of the end of the year is the optimism about the next. Here is a quick tweak to my goal planning I've made this year that is already making an impact: List 3 actions you can take right now to mo