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  • 186. Orientation Day: When Being a High-Achiever Isn't Enough

    186. Orientation Day: When Being a High-Achiever Isn't Enough
    2026/08/12

    The problem with high-performance coaching for high-achieving women? They're already high performers. That's exactly the problem.

    This episode kicks off something new: a multi-week series Laurie's calling Back to School (of Midlife) — not the pencils-and-Trapper-Keeper kind of back to school, the adult kind. Every week for the next several weeks, she's walking through the frameworks she's built over the years, where they came from, and how she actually uses them with clients.

    Today's episode is the origin story. Before there was a BEST LIFE™ framework, before Learn/Earn/Yearn, before Curiosity → Clarity → Courage → Confidence, there was a certification — an elite one, one of only 1,100 in the world — and a realization that cracked everything else open.

    Laurie walks through exactly what that certification taught her (and still uses in every session), and exactly how "she's already a high performer" turns out to be the whole problem, not a strength to lean on harder. She also gets into two decades of living this pattern herself — first in law, then in commercial real estate — before she ever became a coach.

    What we cover:

    • Why Laurie is kicking off a new podcast series, and why she's leaning all the way into the back-to-school metaphor
    • The "adulting playbook" — school, job, marriage, kids, promotion, retirement — and the homework she gives you about it
    • Why she chose Certified High Performance Coaching, and the Brendon Burchard connection that led her there
    • What the CHPC curriculum actually taught her — and why she still uses those skills in every session today
    • Why "busyness" is often an avoidance technique, including her own real example of over-boarding on volunteer work and marathon training to avoid being home
    • The most important piece her clients kept missing: checking in with themselves
    • Why it wasn't a gap in the curriculum — it was just more of the same
    • The two decades she spent living this exact pattern herself, in law and then commercial real estate
    • What Personal Leadership Development actually means, and why it's not life coaching or executive coaching — it's the umbrella above both
    • A preview of the entire Back to School series: BEST LIFE™, Learn/Earn/Yearn, Curiosity/Clarity/Courage/Confidence, and an honest look at what's happening with the Mastermind
    • The adult "back to school supply list" — a new notebook, a hall pass, an elective, and office hours
    • Why "I just need to work harder" is almost never actually about working harder

    Quotable moments

    • "You have one life. You need to bring all of those pieces of your life instead of compartmentalizing them."
    • "That feeling of having to become someone different depending on which room you walked into — that's not just a career problem. That's the whole thing I coach on now."
    • "The problem with high performance coaching for high-achieving women is they're already high performers... they're missing the most important piece, which is checking in with themselves."
    • "It wasn't so much a gap in the coaching curriculum. It was just more of the same."
    • "Probably 95% of the time, the statement 'I just need to work harder' usually means I haven't asked myself what I actually want."
    • "We use a busy schedule as an avoidance technique."
    • "It's not the work that's leaving you burned out. It's the requirement to show up as a different person in every different role you're asked to fill."

    Resources + links mentioned

    • Episode 183 — "Did You Actually Choose This Life? Or Did You Just Do What Was Expected?"
    • Best Life Planner
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    34 分
  • 185. Untethered: The Retirement Shock Nobody Warns You About

    185. Untethered: The Retirement Shock Nobody Warns You About
    2026/08/04
    Why retirement, whether it's the literal kind or one you haven't named yet, doesn't automatically hand you the fulfillment you've been waiting for.There's something in the water lately. Laurie keeps having the same conversation, over and over, with women in their mid-to-late 50s who are planning to retire in 2027. And she loves it for them, genuinely. But there's a question she can't help asking right after she says "bravo" — and it's the question this whole episode is built around.That question: how do you want to spend the rest of your life? Not the checklist version. The feeling version. And almost every time, she gets a blank stare back.This episode digs into why that blank stare happens (hint: decades of fulfillment tied to applause and approval will do that to a person), tells the story of the "laundry pile test," and makes the case for testing your retirement dreams now, in small pieces, instead of waiting for the retirement party to find out if they actually fit.What we cover:Why Laurie's been hearing "something in the water" — a wave of high-achieving women all planning retirement in 2027The question she can't help asking right after she says "bravo": how do you want to spend the rest of your life?Why "everyone I know who's retired says they don't know how they had time to work" isn't actually an answerThe real question underneath it all: how do you want to feel when you're not working, and what does a perfect day look like?Why she's not asking you to build a checklist or a minute-by-minute plan, and what she's actually asking for insteadThe mechanism: why validation and external approval have quietly run your fulfillment for decades, and what happens when that supply disappearsThe laundry pile story: the retired client whose biggest win is that she's finally caught up on laundry, and why Laurie is skeptical that's the win it looks likeWhy "a clean floor and an empty hamper are not a life plan"Why Laurie loves the in-between time: the season where you still have a job, a marriage, a kid at home, but you're starting to ask what's nextWhy literal retirement (a job) and metaphorical retirement (a marriage, a city, a life you've outgrown) run on the exact same emotional playbookWhy we put our dreams and goals on a pedestal for decades, and what that does to them by the time we finally "arrive"The dress-rehearsal idea: testing your retirement dream in small pieces now, before you've quit anythingWhy waiting until "after the retirement party" to start living the life you've been dreaming about sets you up for a shockThe two questions Laurie wants you to ask yourself this week, and the one small thing she wants you to do about themQuotable moments"You can retire from your job, but you can't retire from yourself.""A clean floor and an empty hamper are not a life plan.""It's very difficult to take a hard-charging, high-achieving woman out of a high-stress environment and move her to the point of her day, of her week, of her month that she has no laundry pile.""We've made retirement this very precious season because we've been working towards it with this idea that we'll just figure it out once we get there.""If we don't dip our toe into that proverbial pool we think we wanna be swimming in, then that fulfillment we've been delaying, we might be surprised to find out it's not coming in the way we think it is after we retire.""I feel like you can take the attorney out of the law firm, but you can't really take the law firm out of the girl.""You are a high-achieving, wildly successful woman. You owe it to yourself to make the second half of your life as exciting and as impactful as you have made the first half."Laurie's ask for this episode Laurie wants to know your biggest takeaway from this episode.→ Email here here→ DM her on InstagramResources + links mentionedBEST LIFE Mastermind — Last change to join the Mastermind! Founding member applications open now, launching September (2 in-person retreats: Sun Valley, ID in September + Civana Wellness Resort & Spa, AZ in February)1:1 coaching — Book a call hereConnect with Laurie📩 JOIN MY MAILING LISThttps://www.schoolofmidlife.com/newsletter👉 CONNECT WITH LAURIE:📩 Email Laurie 💻 WebsiteOn InstagramOn LinkedInWork with Laurie
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    28 分
  • 184. Stop Calling It a "Passion Project." How Brooke Amidei Built Babble

    184. Stop Calling It a "Passion Project." How Brooke Amidei Built Babble
    2026/07/28
    The "anti-influencer" who's been sharing midlife hacks in a weekly newsletter called Babble.Brooke Amidei didn't set out to build a business. She was on a hike with her dog, post-COVID, trying to figure out what to do with the next chapter of her life, when a podcast question stopped her mid-step: "What would you do if you were Oprah?" Her answer was simple...she wanted to spend all day talking with her girlfriends.Three years later, that answer is Babble: a free weekly newsletter that's part magazine, part group chat, and fully allergic to being another influencer account.This conversation goes everywhere a real girlfriend hangout goes. Brooke and Laurie talk about the moment Brooke stopped calling Babble a "passion project" and started calling it her job...and the fear that came with finally saying that out loud. Then it gets into the good stuff: the docuseries that inspired Brooke to rent out a movie theater, the bone density scan she didn't know she needed, and the pelvic floor information that's about to change how every woman in this audience uses the bathroom.It's a conversation about building something real without pretending to have all the answers, and about why the most useful thing you can hand another woman in midlife is just the truth, curated with love.What we cover:How a hike, a dog, and one line from a Rachel Hollis podcast turned into a business called BabbleWhy Brooke calls herself "the anti-influencer" and refuses to fake the polishThe real definition of Babble's "top layer" — and why it's not another deep-dive wellness accountHow a panel of 15 women actually decides what makes it into the newsletter each weekThe moment Brooke stopped calling Babble a "passion project" and started calling it her jobWhy she almost didn't want to admit, even to herself, that this was real work worth being paid forThe docuseries trailer that led Brooke to rent out a movie theater in Boise — and then do it again in Salt Lake CityWhat she learned putting together a health and wellness resource lounge for a room full of midlife womenThe perimenopause "cheat sheet" Brooke built after watching the docuseries and interviewing experts — including the one line an expert had the whole room repeat out loudBrooke's own experience going on vaginal estrogen — and what changed for her after almost two decades of a problem she thought she'd just have to live withThe book and the Instagram account Brooke says are the two non-negotiable resources for anyone starting to learn about perimenopauseWhy women aren't supposed to get a bone density scan until 65 — and why that might already be too lateWhat happened when Brooke and her business partner got their own bone density scans and found out about risk factors they never knew they hadThe colonoscopy prep Babble has covered so many times Brooke jokes she has a "frequent flyer card"The pelvic floor tip about how women are peeing "wrong" — and the small daily habit that might be doing damage without you realizing itHow Babble started monetizing without losing the trust that made it work in the first placeBrooke's manifestation experiment with the Best Life Planner's "10 Dreams I've Achieved" — and the three unplanned massages that showed up after she almost deleted it from her listWhy Brooke and Laurie both push back on being called a "female" doctor, pilot, or scientist — and what that language habit revealsBrooke's current favorite Amazon dupe, and the one product category she says is always worth the searchQuotable moments"I actually call myself the anti-influencer.""Stop calling it a 'passion project'. This is your job.""Every vagina deserves estrogen.""We are peeing incorrectly.""It's the conversation in a newsletter form that you are having with your girlfriends.""Go for it, girl. Just go for it.""It feels kind of like a sisterhood, and I love it."Resources + links mentionedBabbleSign up for Babble's newsletterBabble on InstagramBooks recommended by BrookeThe Perimenopause Cheat SheetThe Bone Health Wake-Up Callhttps://www.babblewithbrooke.com/post/bone-healthThe Korean skincare Brooke lovesThe Anthro Maeve pant dupesThe Vuori dupesThe Best Life Planner — School of Midlife📩 JOIN MY MAILING LISThttps://www.schoolofmidlife.com/newsletter👉 CONNECT WITH LAURIE:📩 Email Laurie 💻 WebsiteOn InstagramOn LinkedInWork with Laurie
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    1 時間 4 分
  • 183. Did You Actually Choose This Life? Or Did You Just Do What Was Expected?

    183. Did You Actually Choose This Life? Or Did You Just Do What Was Expected?
    2026/07/21
    The difference between real choice, and expectations, validation and approval masquerading as choice.This episode wasn't planned.Laurie Reynoldson was out on a hike when something clicked — an idea she'd never quite heard articulated before, about the nature of the choices we think we've been making. She scrapped the scheduled guest episode and recorded this one instead. And it might be one of the most honest things she's put into the world.Two big ideas live in this episode. The first: midlife has no age requirement...and the women who think they've missed it almost certainly haven't. The second: most of the choices we made in the first half of our lives weren't really choices at all. They were expectations, dressed up as freedom.Both ideas are worth sitting with. A lot.What we cover:Why Laurie scrapped her planned episode to record this one — and why the hike that inspired it might be the most productive thing she did all weekThe messages that genuinely make her sad: women in their 50s, 60s, and 70s who think they've missed midlifeWhy age is the wrong way to think about midlife — and why the woman listening to this podcast right now, regardless of her age, is almost certainly still in itThe mathematical midpoint of a woman's life in the United States: late 30s, early 40sBrené Brown's quote about midlife — and where Laurie respectfully disagreesHer 93-year-old mother-in-law, dementia, and what actually marks the end of midlife: the loss of capacity for self-determinationWhy midlife ends not at a number, but when you stop learning, stop having new experiences, and stop being able to make decisions about your own lifeThe woman in her late 50s who wrote to say she thinks she missed her chance — and what Laurie wants her to hearThe big uncomfortable question: did we actually make choices in the first half of our lives, or were we just doing what was expected of us?The appearance of choice: how expectations, approval-seeking, and validation shape what look like free decisionsThe first job example: was it actually a choice, or was it a script installed before you were old enough to question it?The body example: how genes, work obligations, perimenopause, and biology complicate the idea that how we look is simply a result of our choicesHobson's choice: what it means when something looks like a choice but the freedom isn't really thereThe marriage example: choosing a partner at an age before fully knowing yourself, inside societal expectations about timelines and what it means to be chosenWhy none of this makes us victims — but why it might explain why life doesn't always feel like oursWhy asking "is this really what I wanted?" at 2am is not a sign that something is wrong — it's a sign that you're finally asking the right question, maybe for the first timeThe reframe: midlife as the first real opportunity most women have ever had to make actual choices — fully informed, eyes open, from a place of genuine self-knowledgeWhy the woman arriving at this question in her late 50s is arriving with something she didn't have at 35: she knows what didn't work, what she suppressed, and what the yardstick cost herWhat Laurie's coaching actually does — and what it doesn't doA genuine ask: Laurie wants to hear your thoughts on this idea. This one is still forming, and your response matters.Update on The New Midlife — 40,000 words in, still writing, and this episode is part of the processQuotable moments"You've just been too busy life-ing. That's different than missing an opportunity completely.""What closed the window for my mother-in-law wasn't her age. It was the loss of the capacity for self-determination.""So long as you are continuing to learn new things and have new experiences, I believe you're still in midlife.""It's the appearance of choice, dressed up in a lot of expectation.""That choice is cloaked in expectations and validation and approval. It seems like it's really less about choice and free will than living up to a yardstick put in front of us by how we were raised.""'Choice' is generous. Because I don't think it was free choice.""Yes, it looks like a choice — but when you peel back the layers, you realize there was never really any choice there at all. It was made for us.""It might explain why your life doesn't feel like your own.""There is no age limit on asking these questions."Laurie's ask for this episodeThis idea is still forming. Laurie genuinely wants to hear from you:Did the choices you made in the first half of your life feel like real choices? Or did they feel more like living up to expectations?→ Send her an email → DM on InstagramResources + links mentionedApply for the BEST LIFE Mastermind — applications close July 31Book a 15-minute call with Laurie📩 JOIN MY MAILING LISThttps://www.schoolofmidlife.com/newsletter👉 CONNECT WITH LAURIE:📩 Email Laurie 💻 WebsiteOn InstagramOn LinkedInWork with Laurie
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    36 分
  • 182. Why Your Cholesterol, Your Weight, and Your Brain Fog May Be Hormone Problems | Conversation with Tammy Hadfield

    182. Why Your Cholesterol, Your Weight, and Your Brain Fog May Be Hormone Problems | Conversation with Tammy Hadfield
    2026/07/14
    What if everything you thought you knew about menopause was either wrong, incomplete, or decades behind the science?Tammy Hadfield has been a women's health nurse practitioner for over 35 years — 25 of those as a hormone specialist. She was in the field in 2001 when the Women's Health Initiative scared an entire generation of women away from hormone therapy. Instead of backing down, she leaned in. She spent years being called one of the "crazy gals" giving hormones to women when most of the medical community said not to. The science eventually caught up. Her patients were better long before it did.This conversation covers everything you've been wondering about perimenopause and menopause — bioidentical versus synthetic hormones, why your cholesterol and your weight might have more to do with estrogen than your diet, what the hormone cascade actually looks like, and why the annual Pap smear is not the appointment to bring up your hot flashes, your mood changes, or your missing libido.But this episode also becomes something deeply personal. Tammy attended the BEST LIFE Retreat in Sun Valley in October 2025 — and what happened in the months after, including a planning meeting where she took a black Sharpie to her patient load and crossed out the number she'd been chasing, is one of the most honest things Laurie has heard in a recording studio.What we coverTammy's origin story: from postpartum nursing to military service in Alaska to hormone trailblazerWhat happened on the Today Show in 2001 — and how a single news segment derailed decades of women's healthWhy Tammy was considered "crazy" for giving hormones to women — and what the data eventually showedBioidentical versus synthetic hormones: what the difference actually means and why it matters for dosing and side effectsPremarin — the story behind the name, and why Tammy tells patients "I'm not a veterinarian and you're not a horse"Why all your hormones come from cholesterol — and what that means for women who are told their cholesterol is too highWhy your body holds onto fat when estrogen is low — and why estrogen is not making you fat; excessive estrogen isThe full hormone picture: estrogen, progesterone, testosterone, and DHEA — what each does and why all four matterWhy women who've had a hysterectomy are often wrongly told they don't need progesteroneThe difference between progestin (synthetic) and progesterone (bioidentical) — and why they are not the same thingADHD in menopause: why symptoms spike when estrogen and testosterone declineAlzheimer's, brain protection, and why 70% of new Alzheimer's cases are womenWhen hormone deficiencies actually start — and why Tammy says mid-30s, not menopauseWhy your annual Pap smear is the wrong appointment for this conversationTammy's biggest pet peeve: the male testosterone formulation being prescribed to women with instructions to use "a tenth of the packet"The four cornerstones that support hormones: nutrition, sleep, movement, and connectednessWhy Tammy closed her brick-and-mortar practice, stopped taking insurance, and launched Only HormonesHow to work with Tammy — including insurance, labs, FSA/HSA, and what the process looks likeThe BEST LIFE Retreat: what shifted for Tammy, the planning meeting with the blank calendar, and why she took a Sharpie to the patient number she thought she wantedRedefining success: from 30 patients a week to 12 — and why that's the better versionPermission to dream again — and why wanting what you want is not selfishWhat Tammy loves most about being a midlife womanWhat she'd tell her 20-year-old self: glimmers, breathing, and relaxingQuotable moments"I'm not a veterinarian, and you are not a horse — so we're not going to use this for your hormone replacement therapy.""All of your hormones come from cholesterol. Every single hormone.""Estrogen is not going to make you fat. Excessive estrogen will. But we need some estrogen so that our body can actually get rid of fat.""I just do hormones. I love hormones. That's all I wanna do.""Your appointment with me should be the easiest appointment you ever have.""I'm just your girlfriend on FaceTime.""We are taught as little girls not to be selfish — over and over again. And it's not selfish. It is figuring out what kind of life I want.""I took a freaking black Sharpie to that number of patients and said, 'Screw it. I'm gonna see 12.'""It's a redefinition of what I think success is. That's probably the bottom line.""I don't have to accept a smaller version of what I want my life to look like.""I would just tell myself: take a moment for yourself and breathe, girl. Just breathe."Resources + links mentionedThe Menopausal Brain by Lisa MosconiOnly Hormones — Tammy Hadfield's practiceApply for the BEST LIFE MastermindBook a 15-minute call with LaurieConnect with Tammy HadfieldWebsiteEmailInstagram📩 JOIN MY MAILING LISThttps://www.schoolofmidlife.com/newsletter👉 CONNECT WITH LAURIE:📩 Email Laurie ...
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    1 時間 16 分
  • 181. You Keep Saying "Someday." Here's What That's Actually Costing You

    181. You Keep Saying "Someday." Here's What That's Actually Costing You
    2026/07/07
    What if the real midlife crisis isn't running out of time — it's living like you have more time than you actually do?In this episode, Laurie gets personal. She shares the story of her dad, who spent decades saying "someday when I retire" — only to die five months after his retirement at 66, having collected exactly five social security checks after a 46-year career. That story cracked everything open for her. And it's the reason so much of the work at the School of Midlife is built around one urgent question: what are you waiting for?This episode isn't about panic. It's about clarity. It's a compassionate but honest look at the habit most high-achieving women share — perpetually deferring the life they actually want — and a practical reframe for how to start living it now, not someday.Laurie also introduces one of her favorite coaching tools, the Best Life Top 100, and explains why it is fundamentally different from a bucket list — and why that distinction matters more than it might seem.What we coverWhy Laurie doesn't believe in the "midlife crisis" — and what she believes is actually happening insteadThe story of her dad: 46 years of work, five months of retirement, and the lesson that changed how she looks at everythingThe "someday when I retire" trap — and why there is always one more reason to waitWhy the conditions will never be perfect — and what happens to women who keep waiting for them to beThe south of France thought experiment: what happens when you finally get to retirement and the life you imagined doesn't feel like yoursThe women who thrive in midlife versus the women who keep living the same year on repeatThe BEST LIFE Top 100: what it is, what it isn't, and why it's not a bucket listThe difference between a list built around doing things before you die — and a list built around how you want to live while you are aliveWhy the Top 100 women actually end up with looks almost nothing like the list they thought they'd write — and why that's exactly the pointThe quiet dreams versus the big bold ones — and why they belong on the same listThe question that cracks everything open: of the things on your Top 100, how many actually require you to wait?Why the direction matters more than the destination right nowThe challenge: write down one thing this week — and DM Laurie to tell her what it isQuotable moments"The real crisis in midlife isn't buying a sports car or having an affair. It's believing that you have more time than you actually do.""Dad had so many plans for retirement. Someday never came.""He worked 46 years of his life and was rewarded with five months of retirement.""There is always another reason to wait. There is always another something that comes up. Which means you keep deferring your dreams.""Life always has a way of life-ing.""The Top 100 is not about doing things before you die. It's about how you want to live while you are alive.""It's dreaming with intention. It's your living blueprint. It's your permission slip to stop waiting.""The list they end up with looks almost nothing like the list they thought they'd write.""Stop treating your best life like it's something that exists somewhere in the future, waiting for you to earn it or arrive at it or be ready for it.""The women who are the most fulfilled in midlife aren't the ones who have the most things on their list completed. They're the ones who started.""The real midlife crisis isn't running out of time. It's living like you have more time than you actually do."The challenge from this episodePick one thing you would put on your BEST LIFE Top 100 list. Something that would make you feel more alive, more aligned, more you. Write it down. Then, DM Laurie on Instagram and tell her what it is.Resources + links mentionedThe BEST LIFE MastermindBook a 15-minute call with LaurieInstagram: @laurie.reynoldson (DM Laurie your Top 100 item)If this episode landed for you, share it with the woman in your life who needs to hear it. Subscribe, leave a five-star review, and know that Laurie reads every single one.📩 JOIN MY MAILING LISThttps://www.schoolofmidlife.com/newsletter👉 CONNECT WITH LAURIE:📩 Email Laurie 💻 WebsiteOn InstagramOn LinkedInWork with Laurie
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    33 分
  • 180. Dream Job, Perfect Life...and Still Feeling Like Something Was Missing. Here's What She Did About It | Conversation with Hillary Dater

    180. Dream Job, Perfect Life...and Still Feeling Like Something Was Missing. Here's What She Did About It | Conversation with Hillary Dater
    2026/06/26
    Hillary Dater came to a BEST LIFE Retreat a few years ago -- not because she was in crisis, but because her work brought her there. She had what looked like everything: a dream job in the nonprofit sector, family, community, a life that rang all the bells.And still, something wasn't quite right. She just hadn't stopped long enough to notice.What followed the retreat was a series of genuinely bold moves: a move to the mountains, leaving a career she'd spent decades building to pursue something that actually lit her up, a fly fishing trip to Argentina with her son -- her first international travel in thirty years -- and a year spent intentionally, deliberately, scheduling fun back into her life.In this conversation, Hillary and Laurie talk about what it actually looks like to stop living on the sidelines of your own life...even when the life you're living is already pretty good. They talk about joy as something that has to be practiced, not assumed. About asking for help as a skill. About the moment Hillary's father, in hospice, looked at her and said: "I've got all the time. I've got the money to do anything I want. And I don't have my health. Don't make that mistake."This episode is proof that you don't have to be in crisis to deserve change. You just have to decide the life on the other side of the investment is worth more than the comfort of staying put.What we coverHow Hillary came to the BEST LIFE Retreat for work -- not because anything was wrong in her life -- and what happened after she leftThe light fixture epiphany: the moment she realized she couldn't answer the question "what do you like?" and what that revealed about how far she'd drifted from herselfWhy being in a room of women you barely know can be more liberating than being with your closest friendsThe "scared-cited" feeling: what happens when you share a bold idea with the wrong people first...and what happens when you share it with the right onesHow Hillary's dad's final words from hospice changed everything: "I've got all the time and the money, and I don't have my health. Don't make that mistake."The Hardy reel, the screaming line, the fish she stopped counting, and the moment she realized she hadn't known what fun felt like in decadesMoving to the mountains: the guilt, the fear, the grief...and what she found on the other side (her daughter making her breakfast in pajamas)Argentina: fly fishing with her son, thirty years without international travel, and what happens when you know the what and trust the universe with the howThe year she color-coded her calendar to schedule fun — and how 2026 became the year fun stopped being scheduled and started being just who she isAsking for help as a skill: how fly fishing taught her to say "I don't know this, but I want to"...and trust that willing teachers would show upThe belief she'd been carrying that she was difficult and unpleasant to be around — and what the retreat helped her see insteadWhat it means to leave a legacy while you're still here — and why watching mom live her best life is one of the greatest gifts she can give her childrenThe long arm quilting machine, the 55th birthday sand dunes, the riding lawnmower coveralls...and what it means to finally say yes to yourselfQuotable moments"I'm in a great place. I was in a great place, but I'm in an even better place now — and I feel more authentically myself than I ever have in my entire life.""When you're all there for the same purpose, even if everyone's path is different — it just becomes a game changer.""When you've got a dream and you're aligned with it and you're leaning into it, the path opens up for you.""I just had to get really comfortable with being bad, asking a lot of questions, asking for help...none of those things are like me.""I've got all the time. I've got the money to do anything I want. And I don't have my health. Don't make that mistake." — Hillary's father, from hospice"This is fun. This is what fun feels like." — the moment on the river that changed everything"The idea of not taking the risk and always wondering, if I had just let my life pass me by, if I had just remained sitting on the sidelines...that was way more scary than the idea of doing it.""Don't let life put you back on your heels. Lean into it." — Hillary's grandfather"Get in the game. It's never too late to make a change. It's never too late to be your authentic self.""Every time that I've leaned into something, even if it felt a little scary or overly indulgent, the reward and the return on that investment has just paid off in spades.""Every time I see you, I'm living my best life — and I have you to thank for it."Resources + links mentionedDie With Zero by Bill Perkins — referenced in conversationThe BEST LIFE Retreat Book a 15-minute call with LaurieIf this episode moved you, share it with the woman in your life who has a pretty good life — and deserves to know it can be even better. Subscribe, leave a five-star review, ...
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    1 時間 2 分
  • 179. There Are Only 15 Summer Weekends. Are You Wasting Them...or Ruining Them Trying Not To?

    179. There Are Only 15 Summer Weekends. Are You Wasting Them...or Ruining Them Trying Not To?
    2026/06/23
    15 weekends of summer. How are you spending them?Laurie counted them. There are 15 summer weekends this year — and the moment she did that, something shifted. Not because it changed anything. Because finite time does something very particular to high-achieving women: it turns enjoyment into management.This episode started as a thought on a walk and became something much bigger: an honest look at busyness as a drug, the habit of earning rest before allowing it, and why the discomfort of doing nothing might be the most useful information you get all summer.Laurie shares what she's been working through in real time: the Sunday she spent doing absolutely nothing while Mike was out of town, the guilt that followed, and the moment a quote from a keynote at Craft + Commerce hit her in the chest and put language to something she'd been feeling her whole life.Practical, honest, and a little uncomfortable in the best way. This one is for any woman who has ever felt like she needed to earn the weekend before she was allowed to enjoy it.What we coverWhy counting the summer weekends changes the way you experience them...and not always for the betterParkinson's Law: why finite time makes us cram instead of savor, and what that costs usThe two problems with finite time: cramming it full, or feeling guilty for not cramming it fullThe pattern Laurie has been running her whole life — Saturdays off, Sundays working — and why she never questioned it until nowThe Sunday she did absolutely nothing, felt guilty about it, and what that revealedJay Papasan's keynote at Craft + Commerce and the quote that stopped her cold: "If busyness is your drug, rest will feel like stress." — Ian SimpkinsWhy busyness works like a drug, and what the cost of that addiction actually isBusyness as a hiding place: why staying in motion postpones the questions, the decisions, and the version of yourself that has things to deal withThe empty calendar question: if every obligation disappeared tomorrow, what would bubble up for you in the quiet?Three things Laurie has been doing this summer — imperfectly — to practice actual restWhy rest is a skill, not a rewardThe question underneath all of it: who am I when I'm not busy?The three practices1. Name it when the pattern shows up. Not out loud, not dramatically. Just notice: I'm reaching for my laptop because I feel like I should have something to show for this afternoon. That's it. See it.2. Give the guilt somewhere to land. The guilt isn't about the rest. It's about the belief underneath: I'm only as valuable as what I produce. When the guilt arrives, get curious. Ask it: what are you trying to protect me from? What do you think will happen if I just sit here?3. Start smaller than you think you need to. Not the whole weekend. Twenty minutes. No phone, no task, no optimization. Just twenty minutes with no agenda. Then notice: how long after those twenty minutes does it take before you reach for something to do?Quotable moments"The moment something becomes finite, you stop enjoying it and start managing it.""At some point the weekend becomes a production — and the question becomes, is this still a weekend, or is it just a different kind of work?""If busyness is your drug, rest will feel like stress." — Ian Simpkins, shared by Jay Papasan at Craft + Commerce"The rest was always conditional. The play was always something I had to earn first.""The discomfort of being unproductive feels worse to me than the exhaustion of being overworked.""Busyness isn't just a habit. It can be a hiding place.""The busyness feels productive. But what it's actually producing is distance...from the questions, from the stillness, from the version of yourself that knows things you're not ready to deal with.""The rest isn't indulgent. It's information.""Rest is a skill. The first few times you try it, it's probably going to feel awful.""Who am I when I'm not busy? That's one of the most important questions a woman in midlife can ask herself."Resources + links mentionedLast week's episode: Shoot Your Shot — Even When You'd Rather Look AwayApply for the BEST LIFE MastermindBook a 15-minute call with LaurieIf this episode resonated, share it with the woman in your life who needs to hear it. And if you haven't already — subscribe, leave a five-star review, and know that Laurie reads every single one.📩 JOIN MY MAILING LISThttps://www.schoolofmidlife.com/newsletter👉 CONNECT WITH LAURIE:📩 Email Laurie 💻 WebsiteOn InstagramOn LinkedInWork with Laurie
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