Plenty with Kate Northrup

Last night I sat on my couch, cheeks still wet from tears, soaked in the bittersweet moment of feeling sad that I was closing the cover of a book I’d just finished and that I was deeply moved by. I both wanted there to be more to read and also felt so totally satisfied and changed by the experience of taking it in. We’re 3 months away from the 2020 United States Presidential Election. An election...

If you’re new here, there’s something you need to know about me and this space: I’m obsessed with the body and I talk about it a lot. I love to learn about how our bodies work and how they relate literally and metaphorically to everything, specifically our emotional lives and productivity. If you’ve been around for a while, you already knew that. So many important conversations are missing a MAJOR...

We’ve just crossed the threshold into the second half of the year. Every time I look at this wall we have in our basement of 12 really big monthly planners with a beautiful plan we made for 2020 back before we knew what 2020 was going to be, I chuckle. None of us could have planned for this year, I think that’s clear. This year has been particularly humbling for a planning nerd like myself (who al...

So much of the information we take in as humans is based on this idea that when we do or get x, y, or z, we’ll finally feel better and then we won’t have to feel discomfort anymore. We’ve been told that the whole point of being human is to find ways to either feel less or feel better. But what if that were not the point? What if trying to feel a different way than you feel and popping out when you...

There’s a pattern so many of us have been indoctrinated into that’s depleting our bodies, our relationships, our planet, our innovation, and even our productivity. What makes it so insidious is that we’re celebrated for it, and many of us spend our whole lives in a reward loop that affirms a behavior that’s not doing us any favors. The addiction? Work. Alcohol addiction, drug addiction, sex addict...

There are people called to do the work of pulling people out of the river when they’re drowning. We need these people, and I’m so grateful for them. There are also people called to do the work of going upstream to figure out why they’re falling in in the first place and seeing if something can be done to prevent that. We really need these people too, and I’m extraordinarily grateful for them as we...

For the last couple of weeks I’ve been posting on social media primarily about anti-racism and the collective opportunity we have right now to step into racial healing and liberation. I rarely check my own Instagram stats, but I decided to take a look and found that for the first time in months, I’m losing more followers than I’m gaining each week. These two things coinciding with one another is n...

One of the walls of our basement is covered with 12 poster-sized dry-erase calendars showing a truly stunning 2020 business plan. When I look at it, I chuckle. Because so far, 2020 has been the year that cannot be planned (nor planned for). None of us could have planned for sheltering in place. None of us could have planned for the number of things that have been cancelled. None of us could have p...

When I checked in with myself and listened to our community and the pulse of the world right now, what felt right this week was not to publish a new podcast episode, but to point your attention to one of our favorites from the past that features a black woman whose work is devoted to black liberation. In the summer of 2018 I savored every word of Emergent Strategy: Shaping Change, Changing Worlds...

The world is heavy right now with the increased awareness of violence and injustice against black people that's been going on for over 400 years here in the United States. To the black people in our community, you are in my heart and prayers but most importantly, my actions. As one of my favorite writers and teachers, Adrienne Maree Brown, said: "Things are not getting worse, they're getting uncov...

When the final numbers came in at the end of April, both Mike and I were in awe. Despite working half the amount, having no childcare, not being able to follow through on any of our growth plans, some of our customers having financial difficulty and needing to extend payment plans, and feeling uncertain about the future of our planet and humanity, April was an above-average revenue month. And May...

On Mother’s Day my husband Mike saw several posts from guys about their wives/partners which said something to the effect of: “I don’t know how she does it all.” While the posts were meant to be in appreciation of these women and the way they show up for their families, something about them didn’t sit well with Mike. As we talked it through and he noodled on it over the next day or so, Mike came b...

When you think about something that you want, do you immediately think of all of the different things you’re going to need to do in order to get it? Even if you’re a student of metaphysics and you practice ways of attracting what you want energetically, does manifesting sometimes feel like a slog (or a lie)? The heaviest belief a lot of us are carrying around is: In order to get what I want I have...

The longest chapter I wrote in the first draft of Do Less was the chapter on Asking for Help. It was originally 25,000 words (one third of the contracted total word count) and it ended up becoming both the Receiving Help and Asking for Help chapters. But there’s something super important that I left out of the chapter...because I was today years old when I realized it. Yes, many of us struggle wit...

When we were in the first year of doing The Kate & Mike Show, I made a list of “Podcast Unicorns” who I dreamed of having on the show. TBH, I never reached out to ask this week’s guest onto the show, but I held her name close to my heart on my dream list, trusting that the time would come and that when it did, I would know. Well, my friend, the time came, she said yes, and I’m SO thrilled to b...

Life hands us all kinds of hard things. And when we’re going through a hard thing, we have a choice: Run, numb, or stay. Depending on the day, where I am in my cycle, and which way the wind is blowing, I choose differently. Given the intensity of the moment we’re in globally, though, and the number of hard things coming my way lately (I know you’re undoubtedly navigating your own set of hard thing...

I’m writing this to you as my girls sit on the kitchen floor painting giant pieces of paper that I traced their bodies on. It’s risky, but you and your business’s (and psyche’s) ability to thrive during this time are worth all the paint I’m going to be cleaning off the floor and my babies after. Last week I found myself curious about what some of my friends who I admire in business are thinking ab...

Over here at HQ (aka our house), we’ve got a 4 ½-year-old and an almost-2-year-old and a company to run. Plus many of our team members are in the same boat at their houses. There are so many different permutations of how this moment of quarantine is affecting different households, but for those of you who find yourself with the literally impossible task of working full-time while parenting full-ti...

So, I’m usually someone who recommends not sharing what you’re going through publicly while smack-dab in the middle of going through it. Mostly this is because I think sharing from the messy middle is unearned intimacy and secondly because I’m someone who likes to be useful and usually I don’t have a helpful perspective to share until after a little time has passed. However, this week I went again...

No matter what’s going on in your corner of the world, I want you to know that I’m sending you love. No matter how this global situation has affected you and your family, I want you to know that I’m thinking of you and our entire community. Mike and I are committed to showing up in a way that contributes to this being a healing experience for all of us. So, we recorded a new episode of The Kate &a...

Over here in my little corner of the world in Maine, things are kind of weird and weirdly quiet. I know that’s not the case everywhere in the world, and however this odd global moment is affecting you, please know that I’m thinking of you and sending love, healing, and prayers your way. We’d already planned for March to be an exhale month, so it turns out the slowdown is in sync for the most part....

Whether you’re new here or have been hanging out with me for a while, it’s important to know that I don’t see any parts of our lives as separate. That’s why the conversation about balance rubs me the wrong way, as though we’re trying to create equal space for different parts of our lives rather than learn how to be fully ourselves in an integrated way-- whether we’re working or playing or doing bo...

Two weeks ago I did something I swore I’d never do: I started talking publicly about informed consent, body autonomy, and medical freedom as it relates to immunizations. This message is not about immunizations, though. This message is about navigating speaking up about something controversial, particularly when it appears that you’re on the less popular side. I knew speaking up would mean I would...

We certainly record our podcast every week to deliver education, insight, and hopefully some entertainment to you every week, but sometimes the truth is, we do it for ourselves. Sometimes someone says something that makes us see something really clearly for the first time in a long time, or perhaps ever. When we sat down to record the interview we’re sharing this week, that happened to me. There w...

I just finished leading the first retreat for our 2020 Origin ® Mastermind, and something became so clear to me as I listened to the brilliant women in the group share: Specificity in business is such a turn-on for me! Why? Because when folks are specific about what they offer, who they offer it to, and how people are going to hear about it, they eliminate friction and significantly improve their...