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I’m coming to you with a full heart that’s a little heavy and also that’s bursting with excitement for what’s next. This week we released the final episode of The Kate & Mike Show. It’s been 4 beautiful years, and we’re bringing this particular chapter to a close. Last week we sat in a cozy rental cabin in Bethel, ME, where we were having a little child-free getaway (our first break from the kids together for more than about 14 hours since March), and we recorded some final thoughts for you. Listen in to this week’s (and the last) episode of The Kate & Mike Show and hear: • A list of our most popular episodes of all time (you may want to go back and listen to a few that you’ve never heard!) • Reflections on some of our own favorite episodes (even if they weren’t the most downloaded) • An important tangent around cancel culture, perfectionism, restorative justice, and repair on a macro and micro scale • Our gratitude for each other in terms of how the other has shown up these past 4 years • Our gratitude for you for sharing this chapter with us Press play and listen. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for being with us on this particular part of our journey with The Kate & Mike Show. If you’ve listened to 1 episode or all of them, we appreciate you. Know this: With every ending comes an inevitable new beginning. Since the podcast is now complete, you’ll be hearing from me once a week with a blog post offering insights, strategies, and tools to make a life, not just a living, plus other notes on things I think you might find useful or inspiring. Show notes and links for this episode can be found at http://www.katenorthrup.com/podcast.

We’re in the season of endings in the Northern Hemisphere. Autumn is a time of bringing things to a close. The leaves fall off the trees. The year winds down. We let go. We release. Most of us haven’t really been taught how to deal with endings well. I recently gave the Origin Mastermind members the assignment to be in relationship with their relationship to endings. I wanted them to notice what comes up for them around endings and maybe you want to reflect on this yourself. Do you go into disappointment, disapproval, or lack? Do you focus on what you didn’t get or what you did get from the experience? Do you lash out and pick a fight to avoid being with the grief? Do you distract yourself to avoid feeling sad? Or, do you allow yourself to feel grief and then celebrate and digest what was, so you can move forward into what’s next after having fully integrated the experience? I would say I’ve responded to endings in all of those ways at different times. But as we bring The Kate & Mike Show to a close (and Mike and I evolve our business relationship to set ourselves both free for what’s next), I’m committed to staying awake. We had a Kate & Mike Show Wrap Party last week where we circled up with a small, precious group of listeners to get to know them and hear how the show has impacted them over the last 4 years. I cried at least 5 times. It was such beautiful acknowledgement and digestion. And I LOVED what one person said (which I then received in a DM from another listener later on): Witnessing us bring our podcast and business relationship to an end is helping them reflect on the last 4 years of their own life and take stock of where they’ve been, what they’ve learned, and what’s next. I don’t know if you feel this portal of completion in your own life, but if you do, know that I’m right here by your side, grieving and celebrating, too. This week we have our second-to-last episode for you. It’s about the top lessons we’ve learned being in business together for 10 years. Listen in to witness the process of grieving an ending and digesting an experience so that we can do our best to fully receive its mark on us. See you next week for the final episode. Show notes and links for this episode can be found at http://www.katenorthrup.com/podcast.

I’ve been sitting at my computer screen looking at the blinking cursor, then typing, then deleting, then typing again, then deleting. As Mike and I bring our podcast, The Kate & Mike Show, to a close (and also our business relationship as it has been for nearly a decade to a close), we’ve had some surprises along the way. Surprise #1: The episode where we announced we were ending the show got more downloads than any episode we’d ever released. Surprise #2: A lot of people thought we were getting divorced (even though we made it super clear so many places that we aren’t). Surprise #3: The episode we released last week with Zach Bush, MD, broke the record that our “we’re ending the podcast” episode set, receiving 4X the number of downloads our average episode gets. It also upset some people. In the last week, I received the question I put in the subject line of this email quite a few times: How do you know the difference between when you need to just let people be upset by what you said, and when you need to change your tune, apologize, and move toward repair? Back in February I spoke up publicly about body autonomy and received some amazing feedback and a boatload of negative feedback. After wanting to curl up in a cave and hide for a few days, I finally emerged from the cave and said: I am not here to please you. I’d done my research. I knew where I stood. I felt confidence in my stance and while I knew that some folks would disagree with me, I was not there to please them. They were welcome to disagree with me. But last week was different. When I read the feedback we were getting about how the conversation had missed the mark regarding the disproportionate affect COVID-19 has had on the Black community, I knew it was true. This was not an “I’m not here to please you” moment. It was an “I screwed up” moment. How did I know the difference? Because during the first interview I had wanted to push back and go deeper around the question, but I second-guessed myself and didn’t. I knew because I just knew. I hadn’t been the best advocate or leader for our community that I could have been. Rather than defend ourselves or pretend it didn’t happen, we apologized to our community members, listened to their concerns, and moved toward repair. I reached out to Dr. Zach to share some of the feedback we were receiving from our community, and even though it was a small percentage compared to the rave reviews, he and I both knew the criticism was important and valid. If we block out all negative feedback, we stop learning. I’m not here to please you, but I am here to listen, learn, and do better. Surprise #4: This week, we have 2 episodes of The Kate & Mike Show for you. A follow-up second conversation with Zach Bush, MD where we go deeper on why COVID-19 has been hitting the Black community the hardest and where he shares equitable, accessible health solutions that will keep more people out of the disease care system. Part 2 of Ask Us Anything where we talk more about how we knew that what happened last week was an “I screwed up” moment more than an “I’m not here to please you” moment, plus I tell my birth stories, we talk about some of the grief coming up around ending the podcast, we share our best sales tips, our best tips on growing a platform, and more. I’ll end by repeating something I said in the Ask Us Anything, Part 2 episode: I understand people talk about how we shouldn't care about what anyone else thinks. But, the day I stop caring what you, our community, feels, that's the day it's over for me. I’ll be over here, staying in the game, being humble and ready to fumble, as the wise Ericka Hines says. Show notes and links for this episode can be found at http://www.katenorthrup.com/podcast.

Our first episode with Zach Bush, MD, "The Solution to the Pandemic You Won't Find in the Mainstream," has been downloaded 4x more than any previous episode we've ever done. We also received some important feedback that we'd missed the mark in going deep enough about the disparity with which COVID-19 is affecting the Black community. We are always listening and wanting to do better, and we knew the criticism was valid. We also knew we wanted to move toward repair, so we asked Dr. Zach to come back for a follow-up interview to unpack the conversation around health solutions (not disease care solutions) that are accessible and equitable related to COVID-19, overall immunity, and optimal health. He was more than willing, so we sat down and recorded, and here it is. Thank you to everyone in our community who took the time to write in, whether your feedback was a rave review of the original episode or an important critique. We're so grateful to be learning and growing alongside you. Show notes and links for this episode can be found at http://www.katenorthrup.com/podcast.

I write this with a little tear in my eye but also a swell in my heart knowing that we’re in the final countdown of The Kate & Mike Show. Thank you if you reached out to tell us you’re going to miss the show. We’re going to miss it, too...and we’re also SO excited for the new possibilities that ending it will bring. (More on that in the weeks to come.) We’ve talked about doing a show where we get to answer your questions for the last 4 years. I know you know how it goes: You think about doing something and then never get around to doing it until the very last minute. (That’s actually my creative process with everything. I’ve learned to not label it procrastination but just the way I work. The energy I’ve saved beating myself up about it has been amazing to reinvest in things that actually pay dividends...like just doing my work instead of judging myself for the way I do it.) We thought it would be really fun to find out what was on your mind and do an “Ask Us Anything” show, and I gotta tell you: I was really surprised to find out what you wanted to know more about! We went a lot of places in this episode, and I know you’re going to get some key takeaways. We talked about: • The story of how Mike proposed (and what really surprised me about it even though I knew he was going to do it) • How to successfully pitch guests to be on your podcast and how to conduct a memorable interview • Our biggest parenting triumphs this year • Our biggest business mistake to date • And so much more! Plus, we had more questions than we could answer in one session, so we’ll be putting out a second bonus Part 2 “Ask Us Anything” episode in the coming weeks. If you don’t hear your question answered, stay tuned! Show notes and links for this episode can be found at http://www.katenorthrup.com/podcast.

At the very beginning of the pandemic, I somehow came across a podcast episode that introduced me to a person who’s become my favorite thinker/teacher at this time (and up there in my top favorite thinkers/teachers of all time). I have never before gone to the podcast app and typed in somebody’s name and then proceeded to listen to every podcast they’ve ever been on. My family can’t even get me to watch a 3-minute video they text, so listening to hours of content is highly unusual for me...but this person is that good. I have wanted to email you about this person so many times, but I was patiently waiting (actually, I was persistently nudging his team) so that we could interview him ourselves and craft a conversation to serve you. When Mike and I sat down to plan our final episodes of The Kate & Mike Show, this person was the only guest we felt our show would be incomplete without having had on. And I can tell you, he was worth the wait. Today, I bring you a conversation with a man who’s helped me feel profoundly calm and safe during a time in our history when there are a lot of forces pushing in the direction of fear. And he’s affirmed the deep trust I already had in the innate intelligence of nature and how it can be our guide to true healing and collective evolution in our businesses, bodies, communities, and lives. I couldn’t be more thrilled to be sharing what I think is possibly the most important conversation we’ve ever had on The Kate & Mike Show with you today. In this conversation with Zach Bush, MD, which was 2 hours of intellectual ecstacy for me, you’ll learn: • Why the mainstream narrative that we’re hearing about the pandemic is missing the mark and what 30+ years of data shows us is actually going on • What viruses actually are and how they’re critical for our health, survival, and even for our thriving • Why the conversation about either being pro-vaccine or anti-vaccine is completely missing the mark and the new paradigm about immunity that will lead to true health and resilience • About the fact that we’re experiencing an extinction event and what we can do about it • A “hit you between the eyes” perspective on the upcoming election that might push your buttons but also shake you out of a complacent slumber and get you into purposeful action • The crucial information about flu season that you’re never going to hear on the news • How to take hold of the hope embedded in all of this and use it to heal your body and the world using alignment with 3 key elements of life Listen in and allow yourself to stay open to ideas and evidence that’s different from what you may have believed up until this point. Show notes and links for this episode can be found at http://www.katenorthrup.com/podcast.

While a huge part of the Do Less Methodology is about learning to let go and let others do things, there’s one thing that I don’t recommend outsourcing. Ever since I started talking about the power of our monthly energetic ebbs and flows and how tracking them can change your business and your life, I’ve gotten the following question a lot: How do you talk to Mike about your menstrual cycle, and what do you tell him about what you need at different times? The answer is WAY simpler than you may think. This week on The Kate & Mike Show (the 6th-to-last episode of the show), we’re giving you the ins and outs of: • The thing you don’t ever want to outsource when you’re trying to reach peak productivity • How Mike tracks his energetic ebbs and flows and what he’s noticed about his own cyclical energy • Specific examples of what I need at different times of the month • What I do (and don’t) ask for when it comes to support throughout the month and why May this episode bring more peace, joy, and connection to your body and partnership. Show notes and links for this episode can be found at http://www.katenorthrup.com/podcast.

The last week of July I was supposed to be in NYC with the Origin Mastermind on our second live retreat of the year. For reasons that I think are obvious, we begrudgingly decided to have a virtual retreat instead. At first, I was feeling really concerned that I was disappointing the Mastermind members. But then, as we embraced the “is-ness,” as my friend Dr. Shefali says, and surrendered to what was happening rather than wallow in wishing it was different, magic began to emerge. Many of us are finding ourselves needing to lead virtual gatherings—from small meetings to Mastermind retreats to full-on conferences—online this year. Something happened during the event that I did not see coming, and I was thrilled by the surprise. Listen in to this week’s episode of The Kate & Mike Show to learn: • The specific steps we took (with the timeline) to set ourselves up for a glorious virtual retreat • How we used the element of surprise to weave magic throughout • The specific swag we sent, including a small $11 item from Amazon that I can’t talk about without feeling giddy • The questions to ask yourself when being in community online, so you’re not missing out on an opportunity for genuine connection This episode is a must for anyone leading virtual events this year. I’m excited to hear what ideas the episode sparks for you! Show notes and links for this episode can be found at http://www.katenorthrup.com/podcast.

I’m keeping it short today. Mike and I have some bittersweet news to share, and we recorded a new episode of The Kate & Mike Show to tell you. Here’s the episode. Whatever moment of endings and/or new beginnings you find yourself in, we’re with you. Show notes and links for this episode can be found at http://www.katenorthrup.com/podcast.

Last night I sat on my couch, cheeks still wet from tears, soaked in the bittersweet moment of feeling sad that I was closing the cover of a book I’d just finished and that I was deeply moved by. I both wanted there to be more to read and also felt so totally satisfied and changed by the experience of taking it in. We’re 3 months away from the 2020 United States Presidential Election. An election in the midst of a pandemic and racial justice awakening is an even bigger deal than your average election. And so, here we are, entering a season of even more intensity. Why am I talking about the election? Because the book I finished last night is the manual for how we can come together as humans to heal in what is the most divisive time I’ve ever lived through (though I know that historically there have been more divisive times). 4 years ago, just before the presidential election of 2016, I sat in a huge auditorium in Brooklyn holding a dear friend’s hand and weeping as we listened to the author of this book offer her son’s birth story as a metaphor for the intense time we were navigating then. She asked, “What if this darkness is not the darkness of the tomb, but the darkness of the womb? What if America is not dead, but a country that is waiting to be born?” We passed tissues up and down the aisle to people we didn’t know, yet who were not strangers. Valarie Kaur’s practice of Revolutionary Love is the blueprint we need to heal as a nation and as a world. As hate crimes, xenophobia, white nationalism, and other symptoms of fear increase, now more than ever we need a new roadmap...one guided not only by love but also by the body and joy. This week we’re sharing a new episode of The Kate & Mike Show, featuring activist, scholar, and bestselling author Valarie Kaur, and in it you’ll hear: • Why wonder is the path to true healing • What Valarie experienced at Guantanamo Bay and how it changed her • How to know when to breathe and when to push in the labor of revolutionary love • The freedom in forgiveness and how to do it even when it feels like you can’t • How to love your opponent (including how to know when it’s safe to do so and when it’s time to allow someone else to do it for you) • How to know what your role is in the transition of our country and world This was one of the most stirring conversations we’ve ever had on the podcast. Listen in, get your tissues, and prepare to pick your chin up off the floor. As we enter this pre-election season, may we all learn to practice Revolutionary Love so we can breathe, push, and birth a new world for us all. Show notes and links for this episode can be found at http://www.katenorthrup.com/podcast.

If you’re new here, there’s something you need to know about me and this space: I’m obsessed with the body and I talk about it a lot. I love to learn about how our bodies work and how they relate literally and metaphorically to everything, specifically our emotional lives and productivity. If you’ve been around for a while, you already knew that. So many important conversations are missing a MAJORLY important piece of the puzzle: We all live in bodies, and they impact everything in our entire lives. One important conversation that often completely skips the topic of bodies (ironically, because it’s inherently about the mistreatment of bodies) is the conversation about racism. When I heard the woman I’m about to introduce speak for the first time, my body felt different than it had ever felt before during conversations about race. My body knew the potential for healing immediately because she was one of the first people I’d ever heard talk about race and racism in the context of how it impacts our bodies and why healing racial trauma needs to start with the body, not exclusively our minds. As a facilitator, author, and speaker, Milagros Phillips has been doing racial healing work for over two decades. When she came to speak in Origin last month, I got several messages from members after to the affect of: I’m in a puddle on the floor integrating the beauty that just transpired at the hands of Milagros. WOW. Several members asked if she was taking applications for niece adoptions because we all want her to be our auntie. Her work is powerful. Her heart is huge. She’s hilarious. And brilliant. If you’re ready to heal racial trauma in your body, be it black, white, or brown, so that you can affect healing in the world, this conversation is for you. Listening to Milagros will change you in the most beautiful way. I can’t wait to hear how this one moves you (and your body). Show notes and links for this episode can be found at http://www.katenorthrup.com/podcast.

We’ve just crossed the threshold into the second half of the year. Every time I look at this wall we have in our basement of 12 really big monthly planners with a beautiful plan we made for 2020 back before we knew what 2020 was going to be, I chuckle. None of us could have planned for this year, I think that’s clear. This year has been particularly humbling for a planning nerd like myself (who also sells a planner). But it hasn’t made me abandon my planning practices (not all of them, anyway). In fact, I’m leaning hard on the ones that are bringing me peace and solace...and ensuring that I can still pay our team, pay our mortgage, and show up for the places I feel called to effect change. One of these planning practices is a mid-year regroup and planning session. You may be tempted to curl up in a ball under your dining room table and wait for this year to pass at this point, but, if you’re game, I’d love to invite you to join me in a simple exercise that will bring you more joy and results than acting as though this year is cancelled. (It is not, BTW. We have 5 months and 10 days left to infuse with our presence.) This week on The Kate & Mike Show, we’re walking through how to do a mid-year regroup and planning session so that you can really be here for all that life has on offer for you for the rest of the year. I give you the exact steps, and we’re even taking you behind the scenes to share what we’re gleaning from the last 6 months and how we’re integrating these lessons and infusing our dreams and goals for the next 6 months with them. Listen in for a powerful regroup and planning process. Can’t wait to hear what you think! Show notes and links for this episode can be found at http://www.katenorthrup.com/podcast.

So much of the information we take in as humans is based on this idea that when we do or get x, y, or z, we’ll finally feel better and then we won’t have to feel discomfort anymore. We’ve been told that the whole point of being human is to find ways to either feel less or feel better. But what if that were not the point? What if trying to feel a different way than you feel and popping out when you feel a way you don’t like to feel is thwarting your efforts in business, marriage, parenting, and more? What if we’re making it harder than it needs to be? If there’s nothing else this pandemic has taught us, it’s that we don’t know what’s going on and that so much is out of our control. There’s a gift nestled in all of the confusion and angst, should we choose to open it. It’s an invitation to a deeper experience of being human, which offers a deeper experience of everything that being human includes. (Daunting? Yes. Awesome? For sure.) The most impactful thing that Mike and I have been practicing to allow us to unwrap this gift is expanding our capacity to be uncomfortable. The pandemic is uncomfortable (in a variety of ways, depending on who you are). Talking about race is uncomfortable for many. Not being able to plan past the next week, not knowing if kids are going back to school, or if you can go visit your grandmother, or if you can fly over a border to attend a gathering you’ve been looking forward to for more than 12 months is all uncomfortable. We’ve been sold the idea that the whole point is to learn how to avoid or get rid of discomfort as fast as possible (mainly by companies trying to profit off the promise of relief). But, at least in my life, the greater capacity I build for feeling what I’m feeling (whatever it is), the more meaningful everything becomes. This week on the podcast, we’re giving you 3 specific tips to expand your capacity to be with discomfort. If you find yourself crawling out of your skin from time to time or minute to minute, you’re going to want to listen in. Show notes and links for this episode can be found at http://www.katenorthrup.com/podcast .

There’s a pattern so many of us have been indoctrinated into that’s depleting our bodies, our relationships, our planet, our innovation, and even our productivity. What makes it so insidious is that we’re celebrated for it, and many of us spend our whole lives in a reward loop that affirms a behavior that’s not doing us any favors. The addiction? Work. Alcohol addiction, drug addiction, sex addiction, shopping addiction, gambling addiction, and more are recognized as problematic behaviors for which treatment and healing can and should be sought. Overwork, however? We just throw each other a parade for that. Today on the podcast Mike and I are talking about our collective obsession with work and how it’s killing us on multiple levels. If you suspect that your addiction to work is holding you back in more ways than one, you’re gonna want to listen in. This episode is likely going to get under your skin in a way that’s simultaneously uncomfortable and necessary. And just in case you think we’re being righteous on our “we’ve already figured this thing out” high horses, we’re not. We share our recent foibles with slipping back into overwork and how we tend to those old patterns on a daily basis so that they don’t get the better of our souls. Can’t wait to hear how this one lands with you. Show notes and links for this episode can be found at http://www.katenorthrup.com/podcast.

There are people called to do the work of pulling people out of the river when they’re drowning. We need these people, and I’m so grateful for them. There are also people called to do the work of going upstream to figure out why they’re falling in in the first place and seeing if something can be done to prevent that. We really need these people too, and I’m extraordinarily grateful for them as well. I recently met one of these people, and his mission is as deeply inspiring as it is practical. (The Maine girl in me loves the practical.) Anu Gupta asked the bold question: Can we live in a world where people—regardless of their identities—feel like they belong everywhere? His answer came in the form of adapting cutting-edge scientific evidence to design a science-backed, compassion-based way for people to break bias, racial or otherwise. Anu realized that at the root of the institutionalized and systemic issues that hold people of different identities back is bias. And he knew that if he could figure out a way for people to break that bias, he could make a huge dent in creating a world where everyone feels like they belong everywhere. Listen in to this week’s episode of The Kate & Mike Show to hear: • How bias is formed in the brain and why it’s critical that we learn to break it • How Anu’s own journey of battling other people’s assumptions and judgments about him informed the creation of his company • How he overcame being suicidal and turned toward hope and transformation • How stepping more into the spotlight has been critical for his company’s impact (as well as his own personal growth) • What the PRISM framework is and how you can use it to break your bias in a measurable way within 6-8 weeks of regular practice • How breaking bias can become a spiritual experience You’ll also hear a particularly human and hilarious moment during the episode where we got to meet Anu’s family! Press play and listen. Anu’s work around breaking bias is a HUGE part of the solution that we need right now. I’m so excited to be able to share his message (and heart) with you today. Show notes and links for this episode can be found at http://www.katenorthrup.com/podcast.

For the last couple of weeks I’ve been posting on social media primarily about anti-racism and the collective opportunity we have right now to step into racial healing and liberation. I rarely check my own Instagram stats, but I decided to take a look and found that for the first time in months, I’m losing more followers than I’m gaining each week. These two things coinciding with one another is not just a coincidence. I don’t know why each person is specifically unfollowing (and on a personal level, though it makes me sad for them and the world, I’m good with weeding out the folks who don’t want to be part of the conversation. They’re obviously not my people...at least not right now). However, what I do know is that talking about race is uncomfortable. That’s why people don’t want to do it. That’s why my family didn’t talk about it growing up. That’s why my school didn’t talk about it much. Yet, just like with anything uncomfortable, if we avoid it, it festers. Ignoring discomfort does nothing to relieve the discomfort. It simply ensures it will come out in some other, likely much worse way later. Mike and I have been on a journey of doing anti-racism work internally, within our company, and within our communities for several years, and as more and more people wake up to how necessary this conversation and work is, we thought we’d talk about it on the podcast. Disclaimer: We are in no way anti-racism teachers or experts. We are simply two people talking about what we’re doing, what we’re thinking about, who we’re learning from, what it’s been like, and how we’re navigating this work. Listen in to this week’s fresh-off-the-digital-recording-device episode to find out: • What the natural world and our bodies have to teach us about diversity and healing (yep, biomimicry applies to everything!) • The life-changing encounter I had that shifted my relationship with my privilege, especially as it relates to shame and guilt • How doing the work feels now as opposed to several years ago when we were just getting started • How we’re ensuring that our anti-racism work is sustainable, so we can show up for the long haul (i.e., forever) • Who we’re loving learning from • How to access the hope and healing available for all of us right now Press play and listen in, especially if you’d rather not. I love you. Thanks for being here with us. Show notes and links for this episode can be found at http://www.katenorthrup.com/podcast.

One of the walls of our basement is covered with 12 poster-sized dry-erase calendars showing a truly stunning 2020 business plan. When I look at it, I chuckle. Because so far, 2020 has been the year that cannot be planned (nor planned for). None of us could have planned for sheltering in place. None of us could have planned for the number of things that have been cancelled. None of us could have planned for the racial justice revolution that’s sweeping the world right now. So what about those of us who use planning as a coping mechanism? What about those of us who find safety and calm in calendaring? I started planning as a way of life when I was about 7. It started with a little hand-drawn schedule for playdates after school, evolved into my school agendas where I’d write down my homework, developed into my Daytimer system that became Filofax, and now has made its home squarely with the Do Less Planner system (by far the best I’ve experienced, obviously ;)). Someone asked in the Do Less Facebook group (it’s free - search it and join us!) the other day how to use the Do Less Planner system (or any planner system) during this time when we can’t plan in the ways we used to. I realized that though the planner system I developed can certainly be used in the expected ways of mapping the year and looking months in advance, it was actually really created for times like this when we come right up against our humanity. If you’re a planner and are struggling with feeling out of control because you’re not able to use your normal strategies of planning to cope, I’m so glad you’re reading this. Listen in to this week’s episode of The Kate & Mike Show about How to Plan When You Can’t Plan to learn: The difference between planning as a trauma response and planning from a place of wholeness What the only consistent thing we have to lean on right now is...and how to use it as a touchstone for safety and calm How to optimize your time right now specifically so that you can still get done the things that need to get done while finding space for everything else that matters to you The 3 elements of the Do Less Planner system that I’m leaning on right now for my sanity Press play and listen. We may not have any idea what’s going to be happening 6 months from now, but we are here, right now, today. That much we know for sure, and it turns out it’s a grain of truth upon which an entire beautiful life can be built. Show notes and links for this episode can be found at http://www.katenorthrup.com/podcast.

When I checked in with myself and listened to our community and the pulse of the world right now, what felt right this week was not to publish a new podcast episode, but to point your attention to one of our favorites from the past that features a black woman whose work is devoted to black liberation. In the summer of 2018 I savored every word of Emergent Strategy: Shaping Change, Changing Worlds by Adrienne Maree Brown. (She’s since published Pleasure Activism, which became a NY Times bestseller and is also incredibly powerful.) Adrienne dances the intersection between spirituality and social justice work in a way that feels really necessary right now. If you’ve noticed spiritual leaders (especially white ones) jumping directly to unity and oneness without first acknowledging the 400 years of oppression that needs repair, and it doesn’t sit well with you, listen in. If you’re feeling immobilized by the reality of the profound limitations of society and our history around race and what it means for you and your people, and you’re grappling with how it could possibly be at all connected to spirituality, listen in. Adrienne’s words, laughter, and ideas are medicine. In this episode that first came out January 1, 2019, but is no less relevant today, you’ll hear: • How Adrienne practices time bending (and how feeling good is part of it) • How she finally answered her calling to be a Doula despite being freaked out by blood • Who she writes for (and who she does not) • How to organize your life around the “YES!” • How to join your spirituality and social justice work together • How to know when to coast and why working hard all the time isn’t the way to go • And so much more! Press play and listen to her brilliance (and prepare to laugh!) Thank you for being here in this community. Over the last week it’s become ever more clear to me that not all communities are places where people feel safe to be themselves and, even more so, affirmed for all of who they are. While I will never get it perfect and I will continue to be humble and ready to fumble (quoting Erika Hines), you have my commitment that you matter to me and you are welcome here. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for continuing to show up. I’ll continue to do the same. Show notes and links for this episode can be found at http://www.katenorthrup.com/podcast.

The world is heavy right now with the increased awareness of violence and injustice against black people that's been going on for over 400 years here in the United States. To the black people in our community, you are in my heart and prayers but most importantly, my actions. As one of my favorite writers and teachers, Adrienne Maree Brown, said: "Things are not getting worse, they're getting uncovered." I also shared the following words from writer, producer, and performer Sarah Jones on Instagram the other day: Rather than sharing a new episode of The Kate & Mike Show as we’d originally planned this week, we’re talking about anti-racism, healing, and liberation. There’s no other conversation I can imagine having right now. This week I’m directing your attention to a conversation we had two years ago almost to the day with Rachel Cargle, activist, public academic, writer, and lecturer. If you’re new to anti-racism and liberation work, welcome. Listening to Rachel is a great place to start. If you’ve been actively engaged with this work for a long time now, I’m glad you’re here. This episode is for you, too. In this conversation about Unpacking White Feminism you’ll learn: • What’s particularly important for white women to know when it comes to showing up for the movement toward racial healing and liberation • Why it’s so important to take your anti-racism work offline into your real life relationships as soon as possible and as often as possible (and how to do that) • Where capitalism started and how to navigate entrepreneurship in that context • An incredibly important yet often overlooked consideration we need to make when we’re researching who to vote for • How to find out if your child’s school is racist • And so much more Please note that this conversation was recorded 2 years ago and while the salient points are just as relevant today, some of the details about Rachel and our lives have changed. If we were to have recorded this conversation today I would have asked things differently and not said certain things, but we’re sharing anyway because perfectionism and being afraid of messing up can be a bastion of white supremacy that can silence us and can perpetuate violence in some cases.  Show notes and links for this episode can be found at http://www.katenorthrup.com/podcast.

When the final numbers came in at the end of April, both Mike and I were in awe. Despite working half the amount, having no childcare, not being able to follow through on any of our growth plans, some of our customers having financial difficulty and needing to extend payment plans, and feeling uncertain about the future of our planet and humanity, April was an above-average revenue month. And May is shaping up to be the same. I’m not telling you this to brag. I’m telling you this because I still remain in awe that this whole “do less, achieve more” thing actually works. These past months have been reminiscent of our first year as parents from the standpoint of contraction. It was the pressure of sleepless nights, caring for a sick baby, riding the ups and downs of postpartum anxiety and insomnia, and a total shift in identity that birthed the “Do Less Method” in the first place. And now we’ve been given an opportunity to practice what we preach in an even more devoted way because, once again, Life has given us an opportunity gift-wrapped as a challenge. (Please know that as I write this, I’m aware that there are billions of people not faring well right now from a physical, financial, and emotional standpoint. That’s why I’m even more committed than ever to sharing how we can do less and have more. I would never propose that I have the solution to the global challenges we’re experiencing, but I’m definitely here to put in my shift and add the medicine that I know I’m here to add.) There are 5 key things that we’ve been practicing that have made a huge difference for us these past 2.5 when it comes to keeping our revenue above average, serving our customers, and remaining sane and healthy. (And even thriving on some days!) We outlined them for you with examples in this week’s episode of The Kate & Mike Show. Listen in to 5 Ways to Make Running Your Business Easier (and Even Improve Your Results) to hear: • The simple thing you can put first every day that makes a HUGE difference in your work output for the rest of the day • The counterintuitive approach to our offerings that we’ve been using to increase our revenue • Why creativity can be a huge time-waster (and how to make sure you don’t fall in that trap) • The 2 things we do more of in our business so that we can do less of everything else Running a business isn’t easy. But a lot of us are making it harder than it needs to be. May this week’s show ease your path on multiple levels. Would you, or a company you know, be a good fit to sponsor The Kate & Mike Show? If so, let’s talk! You can email mike@mikejwatts.com regarding current sponsorship opportunities. Show notes and links for this episode can be found at http://www.katenorthrup.com/podcast.