Patti Cotton

Executive Coach & Career Strategist

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Resetting the Energy You Carry into the New Year

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As the year draws to a close, it’s natural to turn your attention to what’s ahead—new strategies, fresh goals, the momentum you want to build. But in your eagerness to prepare for a stronger year, you may skip over something essential:

You can’t step into the new year with clarity or strength if you’re still carrying the emotional weight of this one.

No amount of planning makes up for energy that’s depleted or tangled. Renewal needs room. And making room begins with release.

If you’re like many leaders I work with, you may put off the work of letting go. There’s always something more urgent—another meeting, another deadline, another person who needs your attention. Forgiveness and release get saved for “later,” whenever there’s more time.

But release isn’t a luxury. For you as a leader, it’s a strategic move.
It clears your mind.
It steadies your nervous system.
It brings you back to your center.
It gives you back to yourself.

Before you finalize your direction for 2026, I invite you to pause. Let’s sit with what you might be bringing with you—often without realizing it.

When you’re leading at a high level, energy drains rarely come from the big challenges. Those get your full attention. It’s the quieter things—the ones you tuck into the background—that cost you the most.

Perhaps you’re carrying…

  • A decision you keep replaying in your mind
  • A conversation you avoided
  • A promise someone broke
  • A disappointment you never acknowledged
  • A team dynamic that didn’t improve
  • A moment this year when you weren’t your best—and still haven’t forgiven yourself

These are the small, subtle tensions that cling to you.

They follow you from meeting to meeting.
They narrow your thinking.
They drain your creativity.
They clutter your emotional field.

And they tell stories you unknowingly live out—stories of pressure, resentment, or self-doubt.

You can’t walk freely into a new year without noticing what’s still attached to the old one.

Over the last few weeks, I’ve focused on forgiveness in my articles as a catalyst for greater energy and ease in leading – and frankly, impacting the ROI for your organization. When I talk about forgiveness, I don’t mean pretending things never happened. And I’m not suggesting you simply “move on.”

Forgiveness is something different.
It’s the choice to stop letting an old experience drain your energy or shape your identity.

When you forgive someone—or yourself—you open the door for presence, clarity, and groundedness to return.

Forgiveness is an energy reset.
It helps you reclaim your best self.

And as a leader, that impacts everything you touch.

Here is a simple, compassionate reflection I often share with clients. Take a few quiet minutes and ask yourself:

  1. What weighed on me this year? What moments still stir emotion when you think of them?
  2. What gave me energy? These are clues to where your fulfillment—and your leadership vitality—lives.
  3. What have I been holding that isn’t actually mine to carry? This one alone can shift your entire sense of ease.
  4. Who or what do I need to forgive? Include yourself as you do a mental scan. Forgiveness softens the ground so renewal can take hold.
  5. What one thing, if I released it, would create the most space inside me? That one thing may be your invitation for the close of this year.

This isn’t about judgment. It’s about care. It’s the internal housekeeping that helps you walk into a new season with steadiness.

Here’s a simple ritual to help you let go before January. Choose just one thing from your reflection that feels heavy. Then:

  1. Write it down. Give it shape outside of your mind.
  2. Name how it has affected you. Your energy, focus, confidence, or well-being.
  3. Decide what you’re ready to release. Not the memory—just the emotional tether.
  4. Create a gesture of release. Tear the page. Burn it safely. Place it in a drawer. Or whisper, “I release this so I can move forward.”

Your nervous system recognizes the signal.
Your mind begins to soften its grip.
Your energy starts to return.

Why should this matter to you for the year ahead? The coming year will ask things of you—new challenges, new decisions, new opportunities. To meet them, you’ll need energy that is clear, grounded, and fully your own.

Carrying old emotional weight into January is like beginning a climb with unnecessary stones in your backpack. You may still reach the summit—but you’ll work much harder than you need to.

Releasing the year is how you honor yourself. Renewal is what follows.

So, as you close this chapter, take a moment to breathe, reflect, and let go of what no longer belongs with you.

Your energy is too valuable to drag old weight behind it.
Reset it with intention.
Begin the new year feeling lighter, clearer, and deeply aligned with who you are becoming.

May you find joy and gratitude in this season as you look ahead to 2026.

Cultivating a Growth Mindset: Encouraging Development and Trust

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One of the most powerful ways a leader can transform their team isn’t by adding new processes.

It’s by shaping the mindset underneath them.

A true growth mindset — the belief that abilities and intelligence can be developed through effort, learning, and feedback — changes everything.

It encourages resilience. It fosters creativity. And perhaps most importantly, it builds trust: trust that mistakes are not fatal, that feedback is not punishment, and that everyone, at every level, can grow.

I recently worked with a CEO of a technology services firm who faced a familiar challenge: her team was smart and capable, but they had become risk-averse. Innovation stalled, collaboration suffered, and people hesitated to speak up unless they were absolutely sure they were right.

As she described it to me: “They’re capable of so much more, but it’s like they’re afraid to even try.”

It wasn’t a capability problem. It was a mindset problem!

Growth Mindset: The Foundation for Learning and Trust

When people operate in a fixed mindset — the belief that abilities are static — trust erodes quickly.

In a fixed mindset environment, mistakes become evidence of failure. People protect themselves. They avoid challenges. They hide weaknesses rather than seek help.

But when leaders cultivate a growth mindset, the atmosphere changes. Mistakes are reframed as part of the learning process, challenges are embraced as opportunities to develop, and feedback is seen as a gift, not a threat.

In my client’s case, we started with her, because mindset shifts begin at the top.

We worked together to identify where she might be unintentionally reinforcing a fixed mindset. Examples include praising only outcomes instead of effort, rewarding perfection over progress, and hesitating to share her own lessons learned.

She quickly realized that by only celebrating success stories, she had unintentionally created a culture where people were afraid to fail.

We made a plan:

  • She would begin modeling growth mindset behaviors in visible ways.
  • She would share not just wins, but also the messy process it took to get there.
  • She would openly acknowledge when she was learning something new, and celebrate when others stretched themselves, regardless of immediate results.

Modeling Growth Creates Permission for Others

Change didn’t happen overnight, of course. But small, steady shifts began to take root.

She started team meetings by asking questions like, “What did you try this week that didn’t go as planned, and what did you learn?”

When someone shared a mistake and the lesson it offered, she praised the learning, not just the fix.

Over time, the team’s energy changed. People began to speak up more freely. Brainstorming sessions became more creative, and even fun! Feedback was not only more easily given, it was more easily received.

Trust grew, not because mistakes disappeared, but because mistakes were no longer feared.

The team understood: “We are trusted to learn. We are trusted to grow.”

The Payoff: Resilience, Innovation, and Trust

Today, that same team is leading bold new initiatives that would have once felt too risky to attempt. They are more resilient in the face of setbacks. They collaborate more openly. And they move faster — because they aren’t stuck in cycles of second-guessing or blame.

A growth mindset isn’t just about positive thinking. It’s about creating an environment where people are free to develop. By doing so, they can contribute at their highest level.

Leadership isn’t about expecting perfection. It’s about creating the conditions where people can become even better than they believed possible.

Where could you invite more learning — and strengthen more trust — by cultivating a growth mindset on your team?

Three Shifts to Help Your Team Make Better Decisions

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Three Shifts to Help Your Team Make Better Decisions
Image Credit: Shutterstock

Do you ever feel as though your team has the potential for better decision-making power, but it’s just not happening?

Are you and your team stuck in autopilot and missing out on sharpening your creative edge?

What can you do when you need to help your team make better decisions?

Help them to up their game through shifting their mental, emotional, and physical space.

Shifting Mental Space

You will need to pull your team members out of auto mode. Decisions are made two ways: the first is automatic, instinctive and emotional; and the second is deliberate, slow, and logical. Teams, like individuals, can hit a comfort level in their performance and slide into autopilot when making decisions. This is dangerous, because sliding into autopilot does not require our full attention and this means drifting into limited, biased thinking and missing some pretty important stuff.

When I work with teams to sharpen their competitive edge, I often find that they are stuck because of biased thinking. This is not unusual – we all have biases. These biases are formed by making sense of our world so that we can navigate with a feeling of safety and security. But these biases also get in the way of our best thinking – our out-of-the-box, creative, innovative thinking – that allows us to develop a competitive edge.

What is a tip-off that your team suffers from biased thinking? Language.

Statements like, “That won’t work because…” or “We’ve always done it that way…” “We just don’t have the workforce/budget/green light/(fill in the blank with your own) to be able to do that…”

A simple shift in language may be all you need begin stepping into better thinking. Instead of asking the question, “What should we do?” ask the question, “What could we do?”

What if the limiter did not exist? What if the budget problem was not there? Step outside the box for a moment and start brainstorming. Then, only when you have come up with the “what,” do you back into the “how.” Ask the question, “How might we accomplish this with a limited workforce? Other?” Get creative.

Shifting Emotional Space

Personal agendas and turf issues may interfere with best team thinking. However, once your team is in “brainstorming mode,” its members will be less likely to call themselves out on any personal agendas they have which are holding the team back from its best decisions. A case in point is with a recent client’s top executive team that could not seem to arrive at a decision regarding how to proceed with plant expansion. Arguments for over-extension, no budget, and other deterrents kept coming up in conversation.

Finally, I asked the following question: “If these things were not an issue, what would you need in order to feel comfortable about expanding?”

Mumbling somewhat, two of the executives questioned who would be overseeing the process and the new plant. Then one finally said, “Well, it doesn’t feel good knowing that this might pare down my area of responsibility. If that happens, my career track will slow down tremendously.” The other executive nodded in agreement. And there it was – the real issue. The fear of losing political ground and potential for greater leadership was getting in the way.

I’m happy to say that we figured out that situation to everyone’s ultimate satisfaction. But how do you get in front of this kind of scenario so that it doesn’t slow down or interfere with the group’s best decision-making?

Ask the following at the beginning of the process: “What are the concerns each of you has that we will need to take into account as we explore options?” And give time for each of them to explore their thoughts with the rest of the group. This will uncover limiters that even they didn’t know they had until given the opportunity to reflect. Once you have everyone’s feedback, you’ll want to let them know that if they will just face into some out-of-the-box thinking with you, you’ll then make every effort to make the decision a win-win for everyone.

Shifting Physical Space

Take your team out of the office. Get them into a different physical environment.

Let’s face it – it’s tough to change ways of thinking overnight, and you will need to incorporate the approaches I’ve outlined above over time to realize greatest gains. Meanwhile, work calls and decisions must be made now. To get your team members to begin thinking more creatively and with greater attention, get them out of the office and their work attire.

Book a space at the beach, mountains, or other location that removes them from “office think.” Start your time by asking each of them how life is right now, whether they are renovating a home, planning a vacation… In other words, connect on a personal level before business. Then, frame the meeting with a fun exercise to foreshadow creative decision-making before you get into the meat of the meeting.

One exercise for this that I like a lot is Karl Duncker’s Candle Problem exercise. Duncker was a psychologist who developed this exercise in the first part of the 20th century to test functional fixedness and cognitive bias.

Subjects are given a candle, a box of thumbtacks, and a box of matches, and asked to fix the lit candle to the wall so that it will not drip wax onto the table below. Because the objects are so familiar, this makes it difficult for the subjects to think past using them in abnormal ways.

If you would like to learn more, and discover the solution, see this YouTube video or this short Wikipedia write-up that explains it.

The next time you and your team have some important decision-making at hand, try these three shifts, and let me know how this worked for you.

When You Need More Focus

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Focus

A 5-Point Checklist for the Executive’s Brain

One of the requests I often get from clients is to help them gain more mental clarity. They complain of suffering from poor or cloudy decision-making, or an inability to move forward with projects. When they come to me, they may be worried that they are losing acuity, and have often already invested in various kinds of brain games, or rearranged their schedules to focus on bigger projects at certain times of day – but these haven’t worked for them.

If you are noticing you need more focus, or that you are finding it difficult to concentrate, it’s likely you are experiencing an imbalance somewhere in your work or life. I am not talking about work-life balance (that’s another topic!), but about a habit or approach that doesn’t support the brain’s larger operating system.

Now, I’m a proponent of working smarter and not harder, and like many of you, happen to love those brain games and methods of project management. But before you go out and invest large sums of money on programs, I suggest you review the short five-point checklist below, to see if you are missing anything foundational to supporting better mental clarity.

Just one of these five points, if overlooked, can foil focus in the most experienced and talented professionals.

 

  1. Get a physical checkup!

Let’s just get the obvious out of the way here. Your body is designed to work for you – and it will also work against you if something is out of kilter. If you inform your physician that you find it difficult to concentrate, she will look for high blood pressure, an absence of B-12, review your list of medications, and check for other physical imbalances that can lead to a lack of focus. She will also most likely talk with you about your health habits, such as eating the right (or wrong!) foods, getting enough sleep and exercise, and if there are any toxins in your home or external environment that might cause a loss of focus.

Coaching tip:  I’ve heard my colleague J.J. Virgin, foremost nutrition and fitness expert, talk about the terrors of simple carbohydrates. Remember that one fall-out of embracing this kind of diet is that it can result in clouding your focus. Check your labels, all you granola bar aficionados!

 

  1. Look for hidden energy drains.

What is causing your stress levels to rise at this point? Is there an unresolved conflict or unspoken conversation that is eating away at your mental energy? Or do you carry around mental “to do” or grocery lists, instead of writing down the items on paper? Both of these situations will take up brain space and diminish your focus. Stop using the brain as a storage tool, and allow it to be the processing tool it was designed to be.

Coaching tip:  Make a paper list of those things causing you stress or that you need to remember. But, hold on – we aren’t done, yet. Now, write down, by each item, the next step you need to take in order to resolve the question or problem. This last step helps you to see the way through problems to solving them, and can even help lower stress levels immediately.

 

  1. Give your brain a regular break.

There are physical, emotional, and mental reasons why your brain can only focus for a set amount of time before it fatigues, and this time can vary with circumstances. Suffice it to say that your brain needs regular breaks to stay energized and focused. A good rule of thumb is to break away from whatever you are working on each hour of your working day.

Coaching tip:  Set your alarm to go off every hour during your work hours. Get up each time, stretch, walk down the hall. If you can’t get away from your office, turn on some soft music, and take a look out on the horizon to give your eyes and brain something else on which to focus.

 

  1. Your brain craves water and oxygen to work at its best.

A tired brain can indicate that it needs water or more oxygen. When your water intake is inadequate, your brain cells become dehydrated. This results in synapses between cells not functioning as they should. Your brain needs oxygen, and breathing regularly doesn’t always do it. Oxygenate with some gentle exercise to get the blood flowing.

Coaching tip:  Save time!  Take a break, hydrate, and oxygenate – all at once. When you take your brain break (step 3, above), get a glass or bottle of water to drink as you walk down the hall. Upon returning to your office, and before sitting, try doing some modified squats or “in place” rowing, for 1-2 minutes. You’ve just given your brain a powerful boost!

 

  1. Develop the mental flossing habit.

Your brain never stops processing, and accumulates thought remnants and bits of dreams that float around in your head until you clear it. This “dross” can keep you from your greatest clarity.

Coaching tip:  Upon rising, free-flow journal for about five minutes to get rid of the bits and pieces of thoughts your brain has stored overnight. Let the pen take you where it wants to go, and write down what comes to mind – don’t force thinking. My clients report that this one morning habit changes their whole day, giving more clarity, focus, and productivity.

 

And a bonus coaching tip:

Stop trying to multi-task (which is really just jumping back and forth between various projects). This habit fragments the brain’s ability to focus and to get things done most effectively. If you want to enjoy greater mental clarity and heighten your productivity, pay attention to each item on your project/activity list one at a time. Decide on the next step for it, then schedule or delegate that step. Pick up the next folder and do the same. If interrupted during this process, care for the interruption, then come back to the same folder you had in your hand prior. This one shift in work habit has been studied, and is reported to have saved executives many hours weekly!

Three Tips for De-stressing On the Go…

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Whenever I engage with a new client, one of the first gifts they receive from me is David Allen’s book, Getting Things Done.  This is because when you have decided claim more of your potential, greater personal discipline is required of you.

 

If you don’t harness the power of personal discipline as you undertake adopting a new mindset and actions, you can experience a lot of stress and overwhelm.

 

David’s book teaches you how to go about accomplishing your projects and activities in the most productive and rewarding way, addressing both mindset and organized actions. His system in itself can avoid a lot of stress when it comes to the actual work you must do to produce.

 

One of the philosophies he teaches is to develop a “mind like water.”  

David writes:

 

“Imagine throwing a pebble into a still pond.  How does the water respond?  The answer is, totally appropriately to the force and mass of the input; then it returns to calm.  It doesn’t overreact or underreact.  Water is what it is, and does what it does.  It can overwhelm, but it’s not overwhelmed.  It can be still, but it is not impatient.  It can be forced to change course, but it is not frustrated.  Get it?” (p. 12)

 

But David’s method is just part of what we need to restructure how we undertake initiatives, and to learn to approach life and work in a way that is less stressful and more fulfilling and at ease.

 

The way you start out your morning is very important to how you shape and create the rest of your day.  If you haven’t yet received my training on “Your Morning Success Routine:  3 Steps for More Clarity, Focus, and Productivity,” click here.

 

But you also need tools to de-stress “on the go” for those times when you weren’t able to go through your morning routine, or you hit a particularly tough situation.

 

Here are 3 steps that, when followed, serve well as a booster shot of “calm, cool, and collected” to help you work through those stressful moments:

 

1. Stop.  When faced with a stressful situation, your immediate impulse is probably to react. Instead, begin to consider this type of condition as a signal that you need to pause for a moment to collect your personal resources.  If the building isn’t on fire, you can stop for a moment.

 

2. Breathe.  In your moment of pause, take 3 deep cleansing breaths.  In through the nose, softly out through the mouth.  Try to feel your intake breath travel up through your nostrils, down your throat, into your chest and deeper lungs, release slowly and evenly.  This has a great calming effect on your body, and prepares you to take better control of the situation.

 

3. Think.  Instead of reacting, respond.  This means to think carefully before you reply to the situation.  What is the ultimate outcome you desire?  How can you get this?  Who are the key players, resources, tools you need?  This approach will take you from triggered to in control as you work through steps to resolve the source of stress.

 

If you find that you continue to face the same stress on a regular basis, then you know deep inside that it is time for a change.  The stress isn’t worth your health or happiness – and the world needs the gifts you can contribute when you are no longer leashed to those things that keep you playing it small.