Obligation Elimination And The Power Of Saying No
Learn more about the opportunity cost of saying yes, how to figure out which obligations to eliminate, and how to know when to say no.
Latest articles
Preparing For The Long Winter Ahead
The literal and figurative winters of our lives will eventually come. Here are a few things to help prepare for them.
When Is It Enough?
Learn some ways to shift how you think about what it means to be enough, and to feel like you are enough.
How to Motivate Yourself To Do A Thing You Don't Want to Do
Learn some ways to help encourage action when you feel unmotivated.
September Crescendos
Things often get more intense as summer transitions to fall. Learn some things you can do to keep it from getting too frantic.
4 Tactics To Help You Check Your Email Less Often
Email eats up so much of so many people's days. Learn how to set boundaries and spend more time on other, more important things.
My 3 Favourite Productivity Newsletters
These newsletters often inspire me!
Time Is Not The Thief
It’s not that time steals from you; it's that things change, and life is happening all around… and you aren't paying attention.
When You Do Things Matters
If you know your chronotype, you can be intentional about when you plan certain types of tasks, which makes them easier to achieve!
7 Questions To Help You Prepare For A Big Change
Change is hard, but a little self-reflection goes a long way. Learn seven questions to ask yourself to prepare for a big change.
What If Being Lazy Was a Good Thing?
Learn the benefits of laziness and how to be tactically lazy.
8 Signs You Are A People Pleaser (And How To Stop!)
Are you a people pleaser? Learn how to spot the signs and become a recovering people pleaser!
The Only Thing I'm Certain Of
The only certain thing is uncertainty and the choices we make each day to do our best under the circumstances.
Discovering The Right Way to Live
Quiet the noise and be the archeologist of your life: open to discovery and curious.
How to Develop the Skill of Asking for Help
Learn strategies to help develop the skill of asking for help, how to determine who to ask, and how to make the ask when you need it.
11 Ideas To Shift How You Think About Productivity
These are the concepts I share over and over again with my clients to help them reframe how they think about what it means to be productive.
Goals, Video Games, And The Quest Mentality
What if you thought about your goals as quests?
Pay Attention To Your Moments
When you add up all your moments, are you happy with how you spend them?
My 2024 Annual Reflection: Health Matters, Turning 40 in Style, and So Much Fun
A look back on 2024 and my new theme for 2025.
The Most Popular Every Intention Articles in 2024
2024 was a year of trying to resist less, reflecting as I turned 40, and figuring out the right kind of busy. Check out my 10 most popular articles from 2024.
Why Traditional Goal Setting Doesn't Always Work and What To Do Instead
Learn a new way to set goals using growth loops.
How to Winterize Your Life
Winter is here! Learn some ways to help you find joy during a tough time of year.
Let's Ease Into The Holiday Season
The holidays are only a few short weeks away. Now’s the time to start thinking about the stressors you know are coming and do what you can to make them more manageable.
Part 2: Six Strategies to Overcome Impostor Syndrome
Turn your impostor life into impostor moments and become a recovering impostor!
Part 1: Understanding Impostor Syndrome and The Five Types of Impostors
Learn more about what it means to have impostor syndrome, the five subtypes, and the consequences of letting impostor syndrome influence your decisions.
5 Ways For Introverts To Keep Their Social Battery Charged
Introverts need to be thoughtful about their interactions and pay close attention to their social battery, or they will end up completely drained.
The Right Kind of Busy
Learn about the wrong kind of busy and what it takes to find your right kind of busy.
4 Steps to Dispel The Fall Scaries
The fall scaries are the anxiety and overwhelm you feel as summer ends and you anticipate the months ahead. Learn how to set the fall up for calm.
Taking Space, Giving Grace, and Resisting Less
A personal reflection on travel, surgery, and living my annual themes.
7 Rules For An Effective Meeting Culture
Effective meetings are a byproduct of an effective meeting culture.
Debunking The False Promises of Productivity
Learn some mental shifts to prioritize what matters and encourage actual change.
How to Stay Productive When Things Calm Down
It can be hard to adjust to a calmer schedule without looming deadlines and the pressure of jumping from fire to fire. Learn five ways to make the most of it when you can.
A Look Back On Some Old Favourites
A round-up of some past articles I like to revisit when I need a bit of perspective.
How To Keep Up With Your Daily Habits
Learn five ways to stay motivated and consistent in your daily habits, even when it's hard.
40 Days To 40
My 40th birthday is coming up fast. I share some thoughts on the last decade, the hysteria of growing older, and my mission for the years ahead.
How to Set Yourself Up for Big Conversations
Writing an outline of issue is a tried and true process to prepare for challenging conversations or to ask for advice. There's a handy template, too!
Part 2: Our Influence On Other People's Burnout
We all constantly look to the people around us for cues on how to behave. Learn three ways you can influence other people's burnout.
Part 1: Burnout Is A Thousand Tiny Self-Betrayals
Learn how to establish safeguards against the tiny self-betrayals to help prevent and recover from burnout.
My Reflection On 1500 Days of Daily Reflection
After 1500 days of daily reflection, I was able to look back and appreciate how much I've grown and a few things I've learned along the way.
The Pursuit of Calm
Some reflection on being enough, striving, and discovering what it means to live a calm life.
4 Productivity Tools I Use Everyday
Though there is no tool or tactic that will get your life "under control", these are my favourites to help support an intentional life.
How to Stay Motivated After The Shine Of The New Year Wears Off
It's easy to feel motivated to set and work towards your goals at the beginning of the new year, but it gets harder and harder as the days pass. Learn some ways to keep that motivation throughout the year!
My 2023 Annual Reflection: Space for What Matters, Celebrating Wins, and My Successful Year
My annual reflection for 2023 and what I learned to take into 2024.
The Most Popular Every Intention Articles in 2023
2023 was a year of making space and finding grace. Check out my 10 most popular articles from 2023.
New Year, More Intentional You
Instead of resolutions for a New You, consider a more thoughtful, intentional approach to change.
A Tempest in a Teacup
When the storm in your mind is raging, here are some ways to help calm things down.
Give Yourself The Gift of Calm This Holiday Season
Take some time to reflect on what you want out of this particular holiday season at this specific time in your life.
Getting Through The Things You Dread
There will always be things you have to do that you don't want to deal with. Here are a few ways to make them a bit easier.
Advice For My Younger Self
If you could chat with your younger self, what advice would you give them?
Two Years of Every Intention
It's been two years since I started this newsletter and went full-time on my consultancy! Time to reflect on what I've learned along the way.
Let's Combine The Ease Of Summer With The Energy of Fall
September is like a mini-January with a new energy to push to the end of the year. What can you do to hang on to the ease of summer to harness that energy but not let it get frantic?
Letting Go of the Shoulds and The Guilt of Rest
The shoulds are all the things you think you “should” be doing and the ways you make yourself feel guilty for resting. It takes practice, but it's possible to let them go and just be.
I Worked Out 2000 Days In A Row, Here’s What I Learned
It started with my MS diagnosis but became an important daily habit. Over 2000 days of daily fitness later I've learned a lot about what I like and how to keep it going.
How to Have More Effective Meetings - Part 2: Process and Product
Once you know your Purpose and People, you can nail down how you will run the meeting (Process) and what you will produce from it (Product)!
How to Have More Effective Meetings - Part 1: Purpose and People
First things first, for your meetings to be effective you need to know why you are meeting and who needs to be there!
The Tricky Beast of Feedback
Feedback is valuable and powerful for us to learn and grow... but it's also tricky to both give and receive!
How To Be Flexible When Life Gets Chaotic
When your best-laid plans go sideways, learn 4 ways to adjust and keep moving forward.
The Silver Linings of Hard Things
A story of a hard thing in my life, the silver linings I found, and an invitation for you to look for your own silver linings and connect with the people you love.
In a World Full Of Distractions, How Do You Get Your Focus Back?
Sometimes you need to do an inventory of the many things vying for your attention and make sure you give it to the ones that actually matter.
8 Ways To Help You Get Motivated When You Aren't Feeling It
Everyone feels unmotivated sometimes. Learn how to keep moving forward, even when you aren't feeling it.
How to Juggle Priorities: Decide Which Balls Are Glass and Which Are Plastic
You can't keep all your balls in the air all the time but that's ok! Learn how to decide which to drop and which to keep in the air.
Slow Down to Speed Up: The Hockey Stick vs. Staircase Approach
Working harder and faster is often not the answer to achieving your goals and is likely to end in burnout. Try this instead!
How to Live at 80 Percent
When things are smooth, it's ok to be at 100 percent. But when they change, things start to break down. Learn how to live at a more manageable 80 percent.
Sometimes, Quitting is the Best Choice. Learn How to Become a Strategic Quitter
Quitting isn't always a bad thing. In fact, it sometimes it's the best choice.
What Motivates You? Learn the Types of Motivation and How to Use Them
Learn the types of motivation, why it’s important to understand what motivates you, and how to increase your motivation.
My 2022 Annual Reflection: Practicing Resilience and Finding Joy
My annual reflection for 2022 and what I learned to take into 2023.
The Most Popular Every Intention Articles in 2022
2022 was a year of practising resilience! Check out my 10 most popular articles from 2022.
Take Aim: How To Reflect, Set Direction, and Make Progress In The Year Ahead
Set your course for the year ahead by focusing on processes, not outcomes.
This Is The Way: Learning The Things That Matter and Things That Don't
Learn how to shape Your Way by paying attention to what truly matters (and letting go of the rest!).
7 Ways to Reduce Overwhelm and Set your Holiday Season up for Success
Reduce your stress this holiday season by setting boundaries, planning ahead and prioritizing the things that matter most.
4 Ways to Reconnect to Your Habits and Reset Your Boundaries When They Slip
Take my advice... I'm not using it! A story of forgetting my own advice, and the 4 ways that helped me remember it again.
The Gifts You Don't Know You're Giving
You can't know how others will react to the things you share, but the gift is in the sharing of YOU.
The Ultimate Guide to Prioritization, Part 2: How To Decide What To Do... And Do It!
Once you know what NOT to do, you can prioritize what's left. Learn 5 ways to prioritize what’s important and get it done!
The Ultimate Guide to Prioritization, Part 1: How to Decide What NOT To Do (When Everything Feels Important)
To get clarity on what to do first, you need to get clarity on what not to do first (or even at all!). Become a good procrastinator.
How to Manage Time Anxiety and Narrow the Cycles of Life
Learn to think about your time in terms of output, not outcomes, and make space in your life for the things that bring you joy.
True Time Management is About Deciding What Not To Do
When you say yes to something, you are saying no to an endless list of other things. Are you intentional about what you say no to?
What I Learned After a Year of Publishing The Every Intention Newsletter Every Week
A year after launch, here are some of my reflections on doing what I love while weathering the ups and downs of life.
Taking Back "Lifestyle Business"
There are a million ways to build a business and be an entrepreneur. Don't let others define what it means for you.
Exercise is a Productivity Tool Part 2: How to Add Daily Exercise to Your Productivity Toolkit
Learn 8 strategies to help make daily exercise a go-to in your productivity toolkit!
Exercise is a Productivity Tool Part 1: Breaking Down the Untrue Stories We Tell Ourselves
Exercise is one of the best tools in your toolkit to boost your energy, motivation, and overall productivity.
How To Redefine What It Means To Waste Time
What does it really mean to waste time? It's not what you think.
Another Hard Loss and Using The Tools of Resilience When Life Happens
A reminder that all the reflection, self-care, and intentional time management are in service of building resilience.
A New Phase of Life and the Gifts of Time
Some reflections on the bittersweet nature of getting older.
Why Overplanning Is a Trap And How to Stop
I love a good plan but it can easily become a crutch that prevents you from just doing. Learn 5 strategies to stop overplanning and get started!
Ask Ashley: How do I set my vacation up for success?
Learn 5 strategies to follow in the weeks leading up to a vacation to set it (and your return!) up for success.
How to Set Boundaries When You Work From Home
Working from home can blur the boundaries between work and everything else. Learn 5 strategies to set those boundaries!
A Slight Change of Plans, an Entirely Different Direction, and Coming Full Circle
Life is complicated and often messy, but there are opportunities to find our way back to pieces of old dreams or discover new ones we hadn't even considered.
9 Ways to Get More Out of Networking by Being Intentional
Networking events don’t have to be terrible. Learn how to take a more intentional approach to how you spend your networking time.
Ask Ashley: How do I look after myself when there are other important priorities?
Everyone needs me but putting myself first makes me feel guilty. How do I look after myself too?
How to Recover From Burnout and Prevent Burnout From Happening in the Future
Learn 4 ways to recover from and prevent burnout.
Why Does Burnout Happen? You Do It To Yourself
Burnout is the misalignment of expectations, priorities, and boundaries-with some fear-based decision-making added in.
Work-Life Balance is a Myth, Aim for This Instead
There is no such this as work-life balance. Life is too complicated for that. Learn a different way of thinking about it and what to do instead.
Ask Ashley: How do I figure out what to focus on, delegate, or hire for?
My team is overwhelmed and I am being pulled in too many directions. I don't know where I should focus my time versus delegate versus hire. Help!
The Exciting Beginning, Messy Middle, and Getting Back to Basics
A story of two trips and getting back to basics to keep moving through the messy middle.
You Don’t Need to Have a Near-Death Experience to Change Your Life
Why does it have to take a near-death experience to jar us out of our passive, reactive, approach to life? It doesn’t. Try this instead.
Get Your Gmail Inbox Under Control Using Multiple Inboxes and Stars
Learn how to use built-in Gmail features like multiple inboxes and stars to triage your emails and get your inbox under control.
Are You The World’s Worst Boss?
The most important boss that each of us answers to is ourselves but sometimes we don't do a very good job. Learn 8 ways to be better!
Ask Ashley: How can I teach young new employees basic soft skills?
What resources do you have to help teach young new employees some basic soft skills?
Feeling Rough and Not Getting Anything Done? Take a Minimum Viable Day
Reframe “I didn’t get anything done today” to “I took care of myself today so that I can do better tomorrow” by taking a Minimum Viable Day.
How to Manage Perfectionism with A Daily Reflection Practice
The cost of perfectionism is high. Learn why and how to use a daily reflection practice to help notice and manage your perfectionism.