When a dance floor in San Francisco taught me more about success than a decade of striving Perfection crazed much? Well, something about being in your 40s forces you to look back on your life. The mistakes, the missed opportunities, the things that slipped away versus...
I go crazy each holiday. I have multiple bins of Fourth of July, Valentines, Easter, Halloween and Christmas decor that would make Santa's workshop jealous. After each holiday, I carefully wrap each decoration like I'm tucking babies into bed, lovingly placing them...
Sometimes your future is written in your goodbyes. “Two days after she told me she loved me, she shouted that she couldn't stand me and so I kicked her out of my house and slammed the door. For good,” my friend Karl said, processing a heavy breakup. Do you have fiery...
Lately, I’ve been subtracting....also known as saying no. Not because I’m burnt out (though I’ve been there). Not because I’m chasing “balance” (whatever that means). But because I want more meaning. I want to FEEL the purpose inside every minute. For years, I ran...
The Overworked, Underthought Executive Do you actually have time to think? 🤔 Or are you just bouncing from Zoom to Zoom, Slacking mid-meeting, and holding your pee until 6pm? That used to be me—in the “before” era. When my calendar looked like a losing game of Tetris...
Can you learn microproductivity from piano lessons? When my 7-year-old daughter Vivi first tackled piano, each new song overwhelmed her. Sight-reading notes while grasping rhythms and mastering hand placements simultaneously felt impossible—because it was. Let's be...
Judgement Yoga I go to hot yoga at 9 AM, where we sweat out our Bay Area neuroses onto our mats, twisting our limbs into accomplishment. Fifty of us pack into a 105-degree room, arranging our mats just far enough apart so we don’t drip sweat on each other. It’s a...
“Your network is your net worth!” Debbie Landa told me that years ago when we were advising startups. Debbie, one of Silicon Valley's best-connected individuals, shared this wisdom, but I didn't fully grasp it at the time. How do relationships translate to monetary...
I’ve spent much of my life on autopilot, barreling forward—until one day, I looked up and thought: Wait, am I even on the right train? Am I leveraging my true superpower, or am I just coasting on some mediocre “bleh” journey? What if there’s a more fulfilling track?...
Yoga, mediation, breath-work, Reiki, Woo woo? Or a powerful recharge in a much needed liminal space. After working non stop I went to Tulum Mexico to recharge. I am not the only way that finds creativity in liminal spaces, so did Steve Jobs, JK Rowling, and many others.
Culture is as important at home and in the office. When my daughter Vivi returned from her two-week adventure out east with her dad’s family last summer, we both felt the "missing" deeply. But we turned that longing into something positive by creating a list of all...
🎂 Tomorrow is my birthday. 🎂 No I am not going to go off and get botox... As I get another year “younger”, I’m deeply reflecting on how I want to evolve. It’s never too late for reinvention or growth. In fact, continual change can help signs of aging more than botox....
I stared at the blank page so long I started to see Rorschach figures in the white. I had writer’s block bad. There was nothing to write about, nothing to say. My life was either too confidential for mass consumption OR it was too boring. (likely the latter as the...
Everyone is time stressed. Waking up earlier just borrows time from the evening. I’m on a mission to focus more but even focusing requires time on the calendar. Afterall, I need a good 30 minutes to get into “Flow state” for anything whether it’s playing with my...
I'm a Type-A success fueled being. But over the years that desire for success has meant I try to do 100 things at the same time. Deep down I knew I was taking on too much. I was trying to balance taking care of my amazing almost-4-year-old with A very busy career...
My friend Carrie had escaped cancer. (hurrah!) However during the surgery and wait to find out if the mass was malignant or benign there was time, too much time, to think. Legacy. Purpose. Love. All the things we question when we face our own inevitable mortality....
My stomach lurched, my head felt light. I wanted to run into my bedroom and bury myself under the covers. No, I didn’t have a weird covid variant. I was about to present work to our CEO. Imposter Syndrome rushed through my body. “You don’t belong here,” my brain told...
Where should I do? What will fulfill me? I moved to San Francisco in 2004 to be a writer. Within two months of trying to pay rent, I became a management consultant. It was known as the great Heidi corporate sell out. To counterbalance corporate Heidi, Writer Heidi...
I'm a suburban mom. Many scoff that I was really a socialite. I mean, was I really photographed at the San Francisco Opera opening night along with Gavin Newsom? Um no. But I did weave in and out of parties at the top of the Fairmont’s penthouse and across white...
Everyone told me that once I had a baby, my brain would turn into jello pudding and I’d be as productive as a sloth on mushrooms. “Don’t try to get anything done,” they urged me. “Because you’ll fail.” I was determined to prove them wrong. The new me was going to...
“Oh, do I have some feedback for YOU,” Donna said. Donna had just been promoted to manager at a beverage firm and felt it was time to wield her managerial power. She was ready to tell her direct report, Jon, how he was messing up in ‘real time’. Jon, you see, had...