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As the oldest of four children, there were two rare luxuries that I did not take for granted growing up: dining out and flying in planes.
Consequently, as an adult, I still tend to relish an opportunity for either of these experiences, even though they are often more quotidian than magical. But now that both restaurant meals and air travel have been eliminated from my life during the pandemic, I find myself dreaming of them just as I did as a child.
Read MoreOnce upon a time, it was so easy to say that I had no time. It might have even been true.
I would wake up before dawn to get out on the road before the traffic picked up, only to find that thousands of others had done the same and I’d be stuck in traffic anyway. Work was a constant flow of meetings and conversation and collaborative activity, punctuated by precious moments of alone time in which I tried to chip away at the ever-growing to-do list.
Read MoreI will never forget the night I realized that the pandemic was going to ruin life as we knew it.
It was March 16, 2020. Having made the decision on that notorious Friday the 13th that we would bring our two Atlanta schools online, my team and I had successfully done it. I had just completed a series of exhausting Zoom meetings when my husband got the word that his apprenticeship program, which had closed for the day as a precaution, would be closed all week.
Read MoreI remember the realization, years ago, that I wasn’t sure how I was going to make payroll two weeks later.
Sort of. Honestly, it’s happened so many times that it all sort of blends together now. But I do remember the feeling of the raging storm in the pit of my stomach, walking through the world with a tremendous and constant sense of distraction, unable to focus on work, my daily routine, or anything other than the fact that I was a huge failure.
I learned from the experience. I learned how to ask for help. I learned how to look at exactly what is happening in my business right now instead of letting the future be vague and hopeful. I learned how to run a leaner organization and not say yes to everyone I liked and wanted to hire.
Read MoreThe 50th anniversary of the moon landing has come and gone. Nothing has changed as a result of marking that moment. In fact, the argument is that not much changed as a result of the moon landing itself.
That may be true for the moon itself, cold and still and untouched since the Apollo missions. But we are still reaping the benefits of the technological advancements that were required to achieve Kennedy’s ambitious goal to put a man on the moon before the end of the 1960s. Many decades of research and development were compressed into just over eight years. That is the benefit of a clearly defined, time-bound objective.
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