Work is Not Your Family

It’s 2016. Welcome back to work. If you’re like me, you spent time with your families over the break. In my life, nobody makes holiday cookies like my sister-in-law. She makes a particularly addictive oatmeal cookie, and I think her special ingredient is heroin. My mother-in-law does an amazing Christmas Day brunch with a favorite…

2016 Resolutions

I always end the year by writing about my accomplishments, failure, regrets and resolutions. Today’s post is about resolutions. I have many resolutions, but I’m not very good at keeping them. Wait, hold up, that’s not true. Some resolutions are over before they began. A few years ago, I wanted to ride my bike more…

2015 Regrets

I always end the year by writing about my accomplishments, failure, regrets and resolutions. Today’s post is about regrets. I have three tiers of regret in life: Basic mistakes and scenarios where I want a do-over, Stupid errors in judgment where I ought to know better, Lazy choices that are made for short-term gains at the expense of long-term goals.…

2015 Failure

I always end the year by writing about my accomplishments, failure, regrets and resolutions. Today’s post is about failure. Yesterday I told you that I’m trying to “get over” classifying experiences as failures. Uh, yeah, ignore that post while I tell you about my biggest failure of 2015, which is my company — LFR LLC. I never wanted to run…

ruettimann lil bub

2015 Accomplishments

I always end the year by writing about my accomplishments, failure, regrets and resolutions. Today’s post is about accomplishments. Let’s not beat around the bush. My biggest accomplishment is that I revisited some of my failures and made them right. I remembered my friend Lance’s birthday. I met Lil Bub. I tried to write a…

Closing Out the Year

Hey, I’m on the road and closing out my fiscal year by forgetting to pack socks, my iPhone charger, and my business credit cards. I am a successful woman despite every attempt to fail. I’m tired and I miss my cats. Otherwise, this short trip is okay. So far, I haven’t been kicked out of…

Mirroring at Work and Life

Nobody gives feedback like a teenager. When I was 14-years-old, my best friend told me that I was copying her too much. Everything she liked, I liked. Everything she did, I did. “You’re driving me crazy,” she said. “Get your own identity.” It was honest feedback, but it made me cry. Yes, I was mirroring…

How to Accept Feedback

A friend of mine just told me that he cannot accept feedback, which is something that gets in the way when you’re trying to grow a company and build cool things. I feel his pain because I’m terrible at accepting feedback, too. But I’m better at taking feedback when I use these tricks. Don’t respond…