A "judgeable" person is someone who is easy to perceive accurately and is less likely to be misunderstood. Someone who is judgeable is open, transparent, and easy to read, as opposed to someone who is closed, hard to read, and enigmatic.

While misunderstanding might seem like one of those things that doesn’t require a definition I believe there’s benefit to it. For example, it reminds us that misunderstandings take place on a two way street. So often when we feel misunderstood it creates feelings of isolation. We tend to retreat because we feel unknown or unseen.

We’re all tired of the shouting, polarization and unwillingness to listen that dominates our current politics and news. But what’s worse is how these things are seeping into our culture’s own communication practices.

First impressions - a concept we all know so well. Just thinking about making a good first impression probably brings on feelings of stress and anxiety. The situations that create first-impression scenarios tend to be high-stake already. It's no wonder we feel pressure at the thought of needing to appeal to others when we're already nervous.

The spotlight effect is when we overestimate the amount of attention people give to our outward appearance or behavior. It creates a climate that misunderstandings can thrive in. There are very real consequences in our day-to-day life, and professional opportunities alike, if we don't keep the spotlight effect in check.

The transparency illusion is the belief that what we think, feel, desire, and intend is obvious to others. We feel like we're expressing more than we truly are, so we don't make as much effort to communicate as clearly as we should. Transparency illusion often takes place when we feel uncomfortable, insecure or vulnerable.

Bricolage is a fun and fancy word that essentially means "to make do with what's at hand". What makes it special is that the root word of bricolage means "to tinker" and so the idea is that tinkerers are always creating and innovating in a playful way.

Bricolage is the positive state of 'making do with what's at hand'. Instead of focusing on the resources you lack, bricolage forces you to rely on your breadth of knowledge and skills to create something new--something unique to you. It is at the heart of creativity and innovation.

Would you be surprised to learn that many of the female business books that are popular today are quite similar to those that were popular in the 60s? I sure was surprised when I learned that! From an academic perspective, the conversation around women and business has already evolved enough that there are different 'periods' to describe the differences.

Vision boards have been the topic of a few conversations I've had recently. I always thought of vision boards as a fun, inspirational craft. Mod Podge and magazine scraps came to mind quickly, but I didn't see vision boards as the intentional mindset tool they can be.

Many experts and successful business people attribute at least partial credit for their success to intuition. This sounds fancy. A bit magical or whimsical even. Intuition is something that’s difficult to wrap our head around, and therefore it can easily be the end of a discussion.

Intuition gets a lot of credit for leading people to make healthy, aligned decisions. There is a lot of talk in health and wellness circles about intuitive eating, exercise and self care. But does the data behind intuition-based decisions align for bigger life decisions?