We are all leaders. Are you taking breath? Made the decision to get up and out of bed? Good on you, leader! Every choice we make is cumulative life leadership. We cannot outsource leadership to others or to AI. It is baked into your essence, into your purpose, into you.

What does it mean to be in the balcony of your life? It means the planning part. How do you plan for your day, week, month, year, 3-5 year plan? How do you set yourself up for success? What tools are you laying out the night before next to your favorite outfit? Balcony is about observing, assessing, and setting up the next steps.

Then, you run down the stairs to the dance floor and do the work. This is where you take actions that you planned to take. In both spaces, we can get caught. We can get caught thinking planning is the same as acting and wonder why we aren’t yielding the results we planned for…and it is simply because we convinced ourselves that thinking about the thing is the same as doing the thing. The reverse is true as well. We can get so busy in doing the actions that we lose sight of alignment and outcomes. Sure, I’m doing the thing, but to what end? Why?

As we continue to live this magical life, it is about the space between. When we are on the staircase, can we slow down and pause at the midpoint to monitor both? Can we see that if we prefer planning (oh, I love me a good plan!), we may over plan and not do the thing enough to actually make progress. If we prefer doing, we may not be in alignment with where we plotted out we wanted to go.

In addition, life throws in some mad screwballs that we never anticipated hitting us as we dab and floss. And they are constant. That is why adaptive leadership in our lives is vital to the quality of our lives. What is our motivation? Why are we doing this? Are we losing the plot of our own lives because we are fixated on the outcome, the action, or the screwball?

Oh, and we have to consider motivation as well. What motivates us to plan, do, act, assess, course correct, repeat? Have we planned for the days that just go to shit and there isn’t much we can do? Have we built in rest days? Are we hydrated? Have we planned for whimsy and joy in addition to rain and hail?

I don’t remember our project. I went to look for it and it is probably buried in one of my past google accounts. I do remember how we discussed who loves the balcony, who is a natural dancers, and what the purpose of the stairs really is. The principles matter, how we apply them matter, and at the end of the day? Leg day matters.

The last ten years have been a juggling act for me. I’m sure there is some astrologist who can tell me why, but what matters to me is the how. How did I manage raising two remarkable humans with a remarkable partner, changing jobs seven times, and maintaining a house, friendships, and my sense of self? OH! That’s right, throw a global pandemic in the mix as well!

I hustled. I hustled for my family, friends, and me. I gave much more then I had and then some. I was in constant motion…until I wasn’t. Until I reached the bottom of my energy well and there wasn’t even a drop left.

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We have been trained to answer “Fine” to any polite question. And I get it, not everyone has earned your truth and vulnerability, but man, friends...if we don’t start shedding our “fineness” we are missing opportunities to connect authentically. Emotion identification has been shown to sooth our amygdala and decrease stress in the moment (Chicago Psychoanalytic Institute, 2025). Understanding our emotions and how they show up in our bodies and words makes our brains stronger and more efficient. AND if we start articulating when we are in joy, contentedness, exaltation, and other positive emotions, it helps build up positive brain networks, which helps us move through negative experiences with more clarity and with access to our logical brain (Sood, n.d.).

The world is moving fast and rarely will slow down for you, but you can take moments, small moments to listen to your self and really get clear about how you are feeling. And if you don’t love what you find, remember two things:

• If you take breath, you are worthy.

• Shame and Blame and punitive systems will not “get you right.”

There are people put on this earth to help you. Please seek them out. If you have an EAP, use it.

We need your brilliance, and it turns our brilliance shrouded in “fine” or “good” is dulled and hard to see.

Geoffery Roberts, an Australian pastor, is credited with the version of the feelings wheel used most widely and pictured below.

As I was at a career crossroads, a good friend asked me, “Projects or people?”

“Both?” I asked.

And she said so clearly that both aren’t really an option. People take up a lot more time than projects. Sure, managing a project may include people, but there is less influence on the people doing the work. Project management is colder by nature. You have deadlines and you enforce them. Managing people is more about leadership. You are certainly ensuring deadlines are met, but it is through the lens of the human being. Where are they holistically? Where are they soaring? How do we get them more work that keeps them in flight? Where are they bogged down, how do we help alleviate the weight? It is about centering the person doing the work and collectively coming to an agreement of standard of excellence.

In many of our work cultures we load managing people on top of an already full work load. We promote based on technical skill performance and not on leadership, and the two end up conflated. In the end, we have to consider our own motivation…do we want to lead and motivate people, or do we want to manage projects? They are not the same.

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There is nothing to return to. We are forever changed.

What will it take for us to grieve what was and take collective action to build what is next? How will we human together better?

These are the questions I am grappling with and will have some offerings coming in March so we can stumble forward together. Let’s stay in the deep so we can strengthen our relationship to ourselves.

Sending you so much love, resiliency, and energy to find moments of joy.

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Welcome to the closing of the year. I will be offline for the next two weeks cooking up what is in store for To the Deep and Julie Brock Consulting in 2026. JBC turns five in November and I can’t wait to celebrate with you!

Look for more information at the top of the year, but I can let you know that To the Deep monthly calls are starting in January for paid subscribers. These are monthly calls on the 4th Thursday of the month from 11:30 - 12:30 CST to chat about what is on your minds.

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Dear Friend,

As the current year moves toward a powerful close, now is the ideal time to strategically plan for you, your team, or organization’s most impactful year yet.

I am thrilled to announce that the Julie Brock Consulting (JBC) 2026 calendar is officially open to book facilitation, professional development, human-centered systems design, and leadership coaching engagements.

Let’s Align Your Mission

Purpose is the ultimate fuel for unified momentum. When people see their values and work reflected in the mission, they can see their impact come to fruition.

I specialize in designing and implementing human-centered systems to move your mission forward. This means your strategy is built on objectives AND the unique strengths, resilience, and confidence of your people.

Whether you are seeking to revitalize you, an entire team or empower a core group of leaders, I bring a strategic heart and a human-centered approach to ensure every session is customized, actionable, and drives immediate impact.

2026 Services

I’m currently booking engagements across these core areas:

Professional Development & Workshops: Customized training designed to move your team beyond theory into grounded, confident action and sustainable practice. We focus on critical strategic and operational areas including change management, organizational development, succession planning, and leadership training, as well as essential skills like customer service/hospitality training, effective communication, and strategic stress management. The goal is to build resilient, high-impact teams capable of driving mission acceleration.

Facilitation: I provide expert, neutral guidance for your board meetings, retreats, and critical planning sessions. My approach focuses on creating a welcoming, equitable space where every voice is heard. I quickly synthesize shared ideas and translate them into a collaborative strategic action plan that is easy for your entire team to align with, ensuring collaborative creativity leads directly to clearly defined collective goals.

Individual & Team Coaching: Customized 1:1 or group coaching to help leaders deepen their purpose, leverage their unique strengths, and build the resilience required to thrive in a rapidly changing environment. We focus on developing the effective leadership skills necessary to navigate and influence the entire organizational ecosystem—including supervisors, colleagues, and direct reports—fostering productive, positive relationships across all levels.

Human Systems Consulting: Are you ready to implement meaningful, mission-aligned work that may include change, transition, or succession? I come along side you and your team to plan and implement human-centered systems that are mission-aligned and outcome driven.

Ready to Plan Your Breakthrough Year?

Spaces on the 2026 calendar are limited, and early planning ensures we can perfectly tailor the scope and timing of your engagement.

To discuss your organization’s vision for next year and secure your preferred dates, please schedule a brief consultation call or simply reply to this email.

Connect today!

I look forward to partnering with you to make 2026 your most mission aligned and successful year yet. Please feel free to share with others in your network!

With enthusiasm,

Julie, Certified Coach, Strategist, Facilitator, & all around good person

The process of getting quiet is hard for me.

I move fast. One of my strengths-brand images is Bullet Bill from Super Mario Kart - if you know, you know. The only way I knew how to slow down was to work so hard that my body eventually gave out. Then I recuperated, rinse, repeat.

Turns out, it isn’t sustainable. Finally, when generalized anxiety and post-partum depression came to visit me, it turned into an intervention. It started a 15+ year healing journey to address a lifetime of hustling for my worth.

My therapist said, “Just sit, Julie.”
“Say what now?”
“Sit.”
“And fold laundry.”
“No.”
“Watch TV?”
“No.”
“Read a book? Drink a cup of coffee?”
“…”

So I sat; itching to claw right up out of my skinsuit. Ego would start a list of all the things I COULD BE DOING; and sometimes I broke and did a thing or two so I could breathe again.

But I kept coming back.

Because in certain moments, Ego had to take a break from the spew of words. In the quiet, I started to hear a smaller, wispy voice. It would whisper a small giggle when my eyes fell on a gorgeous tree turning in fall. When my own kids brought me their pride, I felt the tug of love and pride as well – on their behalf. When Ego would start up again, I missed the lightness of the other voice. I knew this voice, but I hadn’t heard it over the hustle for years.

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Moral of the story?

Slow and steady wins the race…

But what if the moral is really: don’t make life a race?

Neither Hare or Tortoise are having a great time. Hare picks on Tortoise, runs ragged, burns out while Tortoise plods away never taking a break.

What if life isn’t a race to anything?

As an expert in my version of Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD), I will fail in both roles. Hare ramps me up and whisper screams “Faster! You aren’t doing enough! Life is moving and YOU AREN’T!” Tortoise stresses me out as my busy Intellection mind does not understand going slow when there is a DESTINATION on the line! In my twenties I only understood the pace of Hare. In fact one of my roommates told Randy, my partner then and now, “Julie is only happy if she is doing something.” I tried to deny it but my three jobs, multiple hobbies, and volunteer coaching kept me quiet. Fast forward to my thirties, when I got my GAD diagnosis, and one of my first assignments in therapy was to sit on the couch and “flip through” a magazine.

Flip. Through?

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It is the first step to fully embracing a culture of acceptance and continuous improvement. Because we don’t offer a required course on humaning, we get into our adult worlds with a lot more questions than answers, which throws us on the defensive.

We are fed the lie that you have “arrived” at adulthood and will have “all the answers.”

Lies

There is no arrival. If you have arrived, you have died — either literally or figuratively.

The concept of arrival creates a fixed mindset. One steeped in defensive. One looking for threats to their way of life.

It is easier to defend than learn.
To fight than listen.
To dig in than open up.

To be asset based does not mean we will be the same, assimilate, or compile. To be asset based means we trust those around us enough to say when we’re not at our best and how we can still contribute to the collective goals. Essentially, you can still show up authentically on your worst days and trust that those around you will be supportive.

It isn’t over sharing.
It isn’t weak.
It is shared respect and compassion.

Asset based is complex and hyper personal. The steps are customized to your particular brand of leadership, but there isn’t a manual to follow, instead, you are creating the manual of you so you and others understand how your operating system works, how to maintain it, and how to troubleshoot when it isn’t working the way you expected.

No one else can accurately write your manual, no one else can. It is a gorgeous way to live, and it starts with you.

I grew up in a west coast Missouri Synod rural Lutheran church located in a transformed barn that once belonged to the family of my Catholic uncle. “In” is a funny word. To grow up in a church versus attending or as a member asks for context. “In” meant running around on Saturday afternoon as my mom practiced the hymns on the organ and put me to work finding the plastic numbers for each and sliding them into the display. “ In” meant sitting in the front row nearest the organ and piano during services until my grandparents came and then I moved to the second pew back, on the aisle, in front of the pulpit. “In” meant teaching Sunday school, attending confirmation classes, and then making the decision, will I join the church? Will I become a member of this organization?

And I took pause.
I started to wonder.

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I asked a group the other night to share their favorite rainy day activity. The answers ranged from, “stand out in it and let it wash all over me,” to “bake/cook something comfy.” Growing up in the pacific northwest brought many a rainy day. We have so many words for rain. Spitting, drizzling, pouring, beating, pounding, well, you get the point. But rains bring a pause. Do I have what I need to move through this weather? Do I need a raincoat, an umbrella, or a moment to allow it to cleanse my soul and reset my spirit? Some people said, “Read. Though I read all the time, there is something more cozy when reading and listening to the rain.”

Perhaps the rain symbolizes release, pause, reflection.

For some, the rain isn’t any of those things. It amplifies that they feel unprepared, unsure if these waters will ever end or turn into flash floods. For some, rain symbolizes fear, foreboding, and insecurity.

When the rains come, what kind of leader are you? Are you the one that puts people on edge or are you the one that reflects, sees the rains for what they are and can explain them to your team? Not all rains are gentle (another descriptor) and not all rains are torrential (see what I did there?). Rainy day leaders can clearly articulate to their team what kind of rains they are facing, see each of their team and how they are reacting, and help each one fill in what they need to experience the rains in a way that creates hope and clarity.

Sometimes we need to remind people the rain is welcomed and it is okay to snuggle on the couch with a book and let it pass. Other times we need to supply the rainboots and buckets, because we need to go in and help out.

Cheers to my rainy day leaders out there!

For today:

Rainy days and Mondays

I Can’t Stand the Rain

Umbrella (Jay-Z)

Midnight Rain

Blame it on the Rain (heh)

Next

When I was a kid, I couldn’t wait to grow up and be an adult. Be old enough to make my own choices and live my own life. When I got there, I realized how hard it really is. Do I feed my body good food or do I grab what is fast and easy yet again because I can’t seem to schedule time in a way that works? Do I make my money stretch to cover my bills or do I buy a new shiny on my credit card? Do I do the “adult” thing or act like a “kid”?

What people don’t tell you is that you are constantly your 4 year old self, your 13 year old self, your 67 year old self, all the time in every version of your body. So our choices, our decisions are fresh, every day and who knows which version of ourselves holds the lever. Is it my wisdom? My playfulness? My impulsiveness?

We aren’t fixed in our personality or identity. We are ever changing, ever flowing, and never truly in control. The sooner we can let go of marching toward some statue version of our perceived greatness, the discovery of our truth will become brighter, easier to observe, and delightful.

You are a delight to be observed through loving curiosity.

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