The Root of Change: Pulling the Weeds and Planting the Seeds
October 2025
Hello Community — I hope you’ve been soaking in all the magic of spooky season! My October has been what I like to call full (not busy 😉 read here to learn more about the difference)—a mix of travel for speaking engagements and offsites, plus back-to-back weekends celebrating friends’ weddings.
Everywhere I went, the changing season made itself known—the leaves turning, the air crisping, fall flowers bursting in color. I even got to visit my parents a few times and see my dad wrap up another year with his community garden. For over 40 years, he’s tended that space with love and care, growing an abundant harvest of tomatoes, peppers, squash, and more.
It reminded me how much coaching—and leadership—is like gardening.
The Root of Change:
Pulling the Weeds and Planting the Seeds
In coaching, the first step toward change isn’t planting something new. It’s noticing what’s already growing. You have to get clear on where you are before you can create a path toward where you want to be.
We all have weeds in our gardens: limiting beliefs, self-doubt, perfectionism, people-pleasing, overworking, or outdated systems that no longer serve us.
And sometimes, those weeds even look attractive. They might even earn us praise or results for a while—a company culture that rewards constant availability; a leader who prides themselves on never taking a day off; a person who’s admired for always saying “yes.”
However over time, those same patterns can become invasive. They take up space, choke creativity, and suffocate the healthier plants trying to grow.
I often see clients finding ways to cope or manage these behaviors, which can work in the short term, though they aren’t sustainable. In Energy Leadership™, the framework I’m certified in, this often creates a never-ending loop between Levels 1, 2, and 3—where energy is reactive, controlled, or rationalized rather than consciously directed.
The real work isn’t just trimming the weeds back; it’s pulling them out by the root. That’s the deep internal work of awareness and reflection that coaching supports.
Once the soil is cleared, we can begin to plant what we intentionally want to grow—habits, beliefs, and actions that align with who we’re becoming. This allows us to move more freely through Levels 4, 5, 6, and 7 where energy becomes collaborative, innovative, intuitive, and fulfilling. Ultimately creating more joy, satisfaction, and sustainable success.
A thriving garden needs more than seeds. It needs the right conditions for growth.
Rich Soil: The foundation. In life and work, this is your mindset, values, and wellbeing practices. Without a strong base, even the best ideas struggle to take root.
Seeds: Your goals, intentions, and dreams. Be intentional about what you plant. Not every seed needs to be planted right now. Spacing them out allows you to nurture growth without burnout.
Water: Consistency and nourishment. In leadership, that might look like regular check-ins with your team—or with yourself. What’s thriving? What needs support?
Sunlight: Perspective, inspiration, and connection. Exposure to new ideas and honest feedback helps things grow stronger.
Attention: Presence and care. You can’t plant something and walk away expecting it to flourish. Growth requires tending—daily or weekly moments to reflect, recalibrate, and respond.
When these elements are working in harmony, you create an ecosystem that’s sustainable, not just successful.
Just like any garden, this kind of growth work is both external and internal. It’s one thing to know what helps things grow. It’s another to roll up your sleeves and actually do the tending.
I recently finished a three-month coaching engagement where I was the client. My intention was to identify the “weeds” in both my business and personal life that were quietly draining energy—overcommitment, perfectionism, deeply rooted limiting beliefs, even certain routines that looked productive but weren’t aligned anymore.
It was humbling and freeing. I realized that growth requires pruning, not just planting.
All this doesn’t just apply to individuals. I’ve seen organizations and teams go through this same process.
A company might discover that their “high-performance” culture is actually an invasive weed—creating burnout, turnover, and fear instead of creativity and collaboration. Once they name it, they can start replacing it with healthier soil: trust, clarity, and psychological safety.
That’s when new growth—innovation, engagement, authentic leadership—finally has room to take root.
As we move deeper into fall, a natural season of harvest and release, I invite you to take a few moments to reflect:
*What “weeds” are showing up in your personal or professional garden right now?
*What might you need to pull out by the root rather than just trim?
*What seeds—habits, goals, boundaries, beliefs—are you ready to plant next?
*How can you create the right conditions for them to grow?
Growth takes time, patience, and presence. Though the effort is never wasted. Each moment you pause to tend to your garden—to water, prune, replant, or simply notice what’s there—you’re shaping the landscape of your future.
Just like my dad visiting his garden each day, growth isn’t about perfection; it’s about devotion. The more we nurture what matters, the more we have to harvest. Not just for ourselves, but for those around us as well.
P.S. If you or your team are ready to cultivate deeper authenticity, resilience, and clarity—I’d love to support that growth. Through 1:1 coaching, leadership development, and team facilitation, I help individuals and organizations clear what’s no longer serving them, plant new habits that align with their values, and create sustainable success rooted in awareness and trust. Let’s connect and start tending to what truly matters.