Going Further: The Coaching Newsletter

Welcome to the 8th Issue of our newsletter: Going Further!

After a few days coaching the best team in Denver, I’m back home and I’m sharing my reflections (”Laurence'-isms”), tips, and tools on how we can all go further. If there is anything you’d like to see more of, leave your feedback with the form below!

Laurence-isms 🗣️: “Build Your Dam”

I coined the phrase “build your dam” after a conversation with a friend who shared with me that some days her mornings will start with a text from either her employees or her mom…and it can often be something negative. Not intentionally, just heavy. A complaint. A problem. A worry. A reminder that the day hasn’t even started and she’s already absorbing stress that isn’t hers.

I told her:
You’ve got to build a dam.

Before the flood of other people’s energy, expectations, or emotions rushes in you have to build something strong enough to hold your peace.

For me, that dam starts with my mom too, but in a different way.
Most mornings, before I walk into a client session or a room where I know I’ll need to be steady, calm, and present, I call my mother. We laugh. We talk. Sometimes it’s short, sometimes it’s deep. But it’s always grounding.

That first call fills me up. It reminds me who I am before the day starts asking me to be everything to everyone else. It’s not about avoiding what’s difficult, rather it’s about preparing for it.

That’s what building your dam really means: creating space in advance that keeps you from being swept away.

In business, I see this every day.
Leaders who wake up reactive. They start their day with Slack or Teams messages, crisis updates, or someone else’s problem. They’re already knee-deep in the current before they’ve found their footing.

The best leaders I’ve coached?
They build their dam early.
They start with intention, not information.
They choose clarity over chaos.

That might mean:

• Ten minutes of silence before you open your inbox.

• A workout at Barry’s, a spin class or pilates and a gym.

• Writing down three priorities before your team starts listing theirs.

• Starting your morning with someone who reminds you of peace, not pressure.

Because the truth is:
You can’t control the flood. But you can control how ready you are when it comes.

Build your dam before the day builds its demands.

~LA

Tips to Go Further: One step you can take to go the extra mile.

It’s no longer optional for me. Stretching is how I seal the work I just did.

I think of it like closing a meeting with intention, or ending a call with clarity. You don’t just leave the gym, you transition. You stretch to support recovery, prevent injury, and give your body a moment to breathe after stress.

Even 5 to 10 minutes of focused, intentional stretching helps flush the muscles, reset the nervous system, and keep you from waking up stiff and sore the next day. And for me, mentally, it also signals: “You showed up. You’re done. You did what you said you would.”

Some folks alternate between hot and cold showers. This is a great tool too. I love a good cold plunge. However, lately I’ve been embracing the stillness of stretching. I get to lengthen, breathe, and stay with the discomfort a bit longer.
Because recovery is part of performance too.

Tools to Go Further: The Reflection Loop

Between appointments, events, and internal work, every day looks really different for me. However, I want to know how everything I’m doing contributes to my larger goals. I like to end my days with a quick reflection loop, where I jot down some short answers to these three important questions.

What energerized me?

What drained me?

What did I learn?

Over time, these reflections reveal powerful patterns: where your natural energy peaks, what environments or tasks deplete you, and how you can continually refine your habits and mindset. I know to try to engage in more of the activities that bring the most joy, explore ways to streamline those processes or outsource the work that drains me, and keep track of my progress as a lifelong learner.

This small ritual closes mental “open loops,” reinforces wins, and converts experience into insight. Leaders who practice reflection loops make sharper decisions, recover faster from setbacks, and build self-knowledge that compounds—turning daily life into a feedback system for personal and professional growth.