Your Next, Best Step

Here is a fall decision worth making out loud: choosing the one goal that has your name on it this season. But does choosing one really mean you're quitting on the others? Join me the full companion episode "The Second January: Why a Fresh Start Feels So Possible in the Fall" where we walk through why the daydream of a fresh start backfires, what the research says is happening in yo...

There is a second January hiding in late August. You feel it when the light shifts and the school supplies show up: a pull to start over, to finally become the version of you who takes the walk and opens her Bible before the day runs away. And the strange part is this: that warm daydream about your fresh fall start can be the very thing that drains the energy to do it. In this episode, here is wha...

A goal that vague gives your mind nothing to measure, so it can never tell you that you are finished. Here is the fix.  Join me for the full episode we will walk through the September Soft Launch and the one question that tells you which preparation to choose. "The September Soft Launch" (Ep 133) Ready for your next step? FREE 5-Minute Daily Reset (instant download): YourNextBestStep.com...

September is not here yet, and your shoulders already know it is coming. The calendar starts filling in. The invitations arrive. And once fall lands, the holidays come at you fast, one right after another, all the way to January. Here is the strange part. Nothing has happened yet. Nobody has asked you for anything. And you are already carrying the whole season. In this episode, you will find out:...

We tend to treat grace as something handed over after we have earned it. Hebrews 4:16 uses a different tense entirely. Join me for the full episode where we will walk through the “Mercy Margin:” one small practice that changes the order of your morning without arguing with that voice at all.  [Ep 132: “The Voice That Rules Against You Before You Start”] Ready for your next step? FREE 5-Minute Dail...

You have not failed at anything today. Nothing has gone wrong. And there is still a voice inside you that has already decided you are falling short. That verdict tends to arrive early, before the day has produced any evidence at all. It rules on your morning before the morning happens and on your season before the season starts. Most of us have been carrying its weight for years, believing it was...

Structure lovers feel calm when the day has edges. Flexibility lovers feel boxed in by them. Most of us have spent years buying for the type we are not.  Join me for the latest episode “The Planner You Bought Cannot Save You” (Ep 131) With a special feature resource: Planning Personalities Quiz - Prime Time Women Ready for your next step? FREE 5-Minute Daily Reset (instant download): YourNextBestS...

Somewhere in your house there is a drawer with a planner in it. The first three weeks are filled in with beautiful handwriting, and then the pages go blank. If you just pictured the exact drawer, this episode is for you. Most of us have decided that the abandoned planner means something about our character. We are undisciplined. We keep starting things we do not finish. The research points somewhe...

Your mind runs ahead because it thinks it is protecting you. It believes that if it pictures every version of Thursday, Thursday cannot ambush you. Here is what that rehearsal actually costs, and the one move that calls your attention home. Join me for the latest episode where we walk through why the evening sky asks nothing of you at all, and a three-minute practice built on three questions. “One...

It is the middle of August, and you are standing in your kitchen at the end of the day. Your body is here. Your mind is already in September.  And underneath it, a worry that will not settle: I have not rested enough, and life is already speeding up. This episode is one slow evening before the season leans in. Harvard researchers who pinged more than two thousand people at random moments through t...

For the woman everybody leans on. A fortress does not get to rest, and you were never meant to be one. Join me for the latest full episode: "The School Supply List for Your Soul" where we'll walk through the supply list for your soul, and the one item that belongs at the top of it. Ready for your next step? FREE 5-Minute Daily Reset (instant download): YourNextBestStep.com  Weekly e...

There is a supply list for almost everything in August. One for the classroom, one for the dorm, one for the office. There is a list for every person you take care of. And no one handed you one. If you are carrying the thought that you are taking care of everyone else's needs while your own soul is running low, this episode is the list nobody hands you. In this episode you will find: · Why th...

Most of us buy things we already own. Five minutes in your own drawers and closets can cross several items off before you spend a dollar. Join me for latest full episode (Ep 128) "Back-to-School (and the Rest of Fall) Without Losing Your Wallet " where we will walk through the one move that lightens the load before you ever reach the register - if you decide to go shopping! Ready for you...

Fall turns the spending faucet back on — and the list in your head grows faster than anything you actually buy. One folder becomes ninety dollars. Here is why that weight is real, and the one-minute move that lightens it before you reach the register. Back-to-school is the loudest example, and it reaches far past the women with backpacks in the house. The heating bill climbs. The wardrobe stops ma...

That drop you feel on the drive home after a concert or retreat is more normal than you think. A 60-second word on why the comedown happens, and why the mountaintop still counts. Then join me for the latest episode where we walk through a small move I call the One-Song Bridge, so the nearness you feel in the big moments has a way home. “When Worship Feels Easier at a Concert Than in Your Kitchen”...

Ever felt God so close during a worship night you could barely breathe, then stood at your own sink the next morning and felt nothing at all? That gap between big-moment worship and ordinary-day faith is one of the most common things women in this season carry, and it does not mean something is wrong with your faith. In this episode, you will find: Why closeness with God comes easily in some place...

Picture the woman you will be one year from today. What does she thank you for? A 60-second reflection on planting one small thing now.  Join me for the latest episode on Your Next, Best Step where we walk through another simple reflection you can return to every birthday from here on: “Another Birthday, Another Honest Look” (Ep 126) Ready for your next step? FREE 5-Minute Daily Reset (instant dow...

Your birthday arrives with a question you did not ask for: by now, I thought I would be… If a birthday has ever left you measuring your life against where you expected to be — or wondering whether this past year counted at all — this episode is a gentler way to look back. We walk through why the same year can leave you feeling behind or feeling at peace, and the one thing that makes the difference...

That instinct to grab your phone at a beautiful moment might be about something other than the picture. Join me for the latest episode on the podcast where I share one small change that hands the moment back to you, without putting your camera away for good. (“The 400 Photos You Will Never Look At” Ep 125) Ready for your next step? FREE 5-Minute Daily Reset (instant download): YourNextBestStep.com...

You have a phone full of photos from this summer. So why do so many of those moments feel like a blur? If you have ever come home from something wonderful with forty new pictures and almost none of the feeling of having been there, you are in good company. This week we look at what the camera does to a memory, and the one small change that helps you actually keep the good days. In this episode: •...

In rodeo, the score is split between the rider and the animal he drew, and nobody is graded on looking smooth. A quick reframe for any week you are barely hanging on. Join me for the latest episode on Your Next, Best Step (Ep 124): “From Rodeo Dust to Daily Grace” Ready for your next step? FREE 5-Minute Daily Reset (instant download): YourNextBestStep.com  Weekly encouragement + practical tips: Yo...

Why do I feel like life keeps throwing me around lately?  If the last few weeks have knocked you sideways, this short episode is for you. You do not need to handle a hard season gracefully. You need a faster way back up.  In about eight minutes, you will hear:  Why bouncing back is the most ordinary, most human thing you will do all week What resilience researchers found about how most of us actua...

Your mind is already running previews of the hard parts of fall. Hand some of that screen time to something worth looking forward to: a simple shift backed by how affective forecasting works. Join me for the companion episode where we walk through why your brain runs ahead like this, and one forward-looking kindness you can hand the woman you will be in August. “The Back-to-School Dread That Start...

It is the last day of July, and somewhere in the back of your mind, August has already started making its list. If you are bracing for the fall before it arrives, this episode is for you.  In this episode, you will: Understand why back-to-school dread shows up a full month early, and why it feels so convincing See the gap between the fall you are imagining and the fall you will actually live Leave...

 Most of what we call a messy pile is just objects that never got an address. Here is a 10-second test to find the real problem — and one small fix for your week.  Join me for the latest episode where we look at the Great Summer Stuff Explosion and the one small spot that can absorb most of it, no marathon decluttering required. “The Great Summer Stuff Explosion” (Ep 122) Ready for your next step?...