Plenty with Kate Northrup

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...

Ever find yourself getting all fired up about something and loving the part of yourself that you access when you get all feisty? I have found myself in this place A LOT lately, and based on our sudden spike in podcast downloads and Facebook live views, you’re on board, too. Thank you for being my feisty friends who are ready to shake sh*t up with me. I’ve always been a stationery enthusiast. Blank...

One night last week after I’d gotten the girls to bed and washed the 350 dishes piled beside the sink (why did I decide to make a dinner requiring like 6 different bowls when Mike was out of town and it was just me and the girls - and they ate virtually nothing, I might add?), I put my sweats on and cozied up by myself in the basement to do something I’ve never done before: Record a solo episode o...

It was a sleepy Monday in a sleepy town in Maine. We had our panties in a wrinkle because we found ourselves feeling short on time and long on pressure. And yet again, because old habits die hard, we realized we didn’t need to push so hard. We could give ourselves more space. Then we walked into a random restaurant and...BOOM. There she was. One of the most iconic people in the world. In Maine. 20...

It was March in Boston. The weather sucked, as it does in New England that time of year. This thing that happened had happened to me only one time before. I saw a woman I hadn’t seen in years for the first time, and without much warm-up or fanfare, something inside me knew I had to hire her. It was as though my body said, "She’s what’s next for you." It happened with the coach I worked with in 201...

When I was a senior in college, Tim Ferriss came out with the first edition of The 4-Hour Work Weekand I was fascinated. As a productivity junkie since the age of 14, I couldn’t get enough. I devoured it. One of the concepts in particular changed something in me forever. The school system had taught me to become well-rounded. The college application process had groomed me to fill in all of the are...

Have you ever had something about yourself that you don’t think is that big of deal, but when you share it, everyone else seems to think it is a big deal? That’s Mike and me with drinking. Or not drinking, as the case may be. Our most popular episode of The Kate & Mike Show of 2019 BY FAR was the one we did about Sobriety, Substances, and Choosing to Live Awake (episode 137) in which Mike shar...

Wondering if you have a drinking problem? Yeah, I know. That first line is intense. Well, here’s what: Today is the first day of a new year. The first day of a new decade, in fact. Can you think of a better time to talk about the most widely-used, (abused), and normalized drug on the planet (responsible for more deaths than all of the other drugs combined) and your relationship with it? I can’t. I...

You’re out there serving your people (your clients, community, kids, family, etc.) and making sure they’re living their best lives...but there’s also you. How are you taking care of you? One of my favorite things to learn about leaders is how they take care of themselves because I get inspired with new ideas to enhance my own wellbeing, capacity, and performance. This week on the podcast, we have...

Last June I had the absolute pleasure of standing in the back of the room watching my husband Mike share his heart and wisdom on a panel of incredible men at the BirthFit Summit. I was so freaking proud of him. Mike shared the stage with a man who spoke about something that really touched me. This man was raised as a woman and transitioned to being a man in his early twenties. He shared that he wa...

At Thanksgiving dinner last week around a big table with chosen and biological family alike, we went around and shared something we were grateful for that we couldn’t have said we were grateful for last year. At least 50% of us cried. (That’s how I know I spent the holiday with my people.) A few days later over dinner, my dad noted that almost everyone had gone through some pretty intense turbulen...

There’s a little trick I started using in my twenties to determine whether or not I should do things, especially things I was afraid of doing: I would project myself into the future and ask if my 80-year-old self would be happy that I’d done that. Somehow adopting the mindset and life experience of a well-experienced lady crystallized exactly what my not-so-experienced current self should or shoul...

I just saw a meme today talking about how November just feels like this crazy month with 13 looming deadlines and holiday family stress and endless to-do lists...plus it’s DARK. I get that this time of year can be really hard. Maybe you’re approaching the holidays solo for the first time in years after a breakup. Perhaps you’ve overscheduled your promotional calendar, and the pressure of the deadl...

I’m the kind of person who sometimes isn’t sure what she thinks until I’m talking to someone else. Not because I’m looking for their opinion or reaction, but because I’m an external processor and there’s something about being witnessed that helps me understand myself better. Last week Mike and I sat down to talk about something that I’ve been working on since November 2016 that’s finally ready for...

I love the smell of new office supplies. Going back-to-school shopping at Staples was my heaven. And I love planning so much that I plan my planning. How about you? Do you use an intersecting system of 3 different color-coded calendars, or are you holding on tenuously to your "keeping it all up here" [points to brain] system? Either way, I’m glad you’re here. We officially have 7.5 weeks left, not...

When one of the women who joined our high-level program told me that the reason she’d joined was because she was sick of being the smartest person in the room, I absolutely loved her honesty. It also made me think of the rooms I’ve been in over the years and the rooms I get on airplanes to be in these days. Why do I wrangle childcare and leave my family for 4 days to go stay in a hotel across the...