Tools

Find the line that sounds like you.

Everything here came out of a conversation with someone in the middle of it. A meeting that went wrong. A job they can't decide to leave. A big interview tomorrow. Each one has a tool that helped, written out so you can run it on your own, on your phone, tonight.

These are the exercises I use with clients, the same ones, word for word. Every one is here because it moved something for a person I was working with.

The tools are free for Groundwork subscribers. Put your email in once, on any tool, and every one of them opens.

07tools
2 to 25minutes each
Privatenothing you write leaves your phone

Start with the situation.

Read the first line of each card. When one sounds like where you are today, open it.

Presence is what you take home. Performance is what you can measure. Integrity is which path you take.

01

A conversation went wrong. Someone came at you in a meeting and you didn't meet them where they were. You froze, or you over-explained, or you said the one line you wish you could take back. It's days later and it's still playing.

The Replay
Presence5 minutes
Open the tool
02

You can't decide whether to leave. You've been "giving it until the end of the quarter" for three quarters. "Later" keeps meaning never, and every Sunday night tells you something you keep not writing down.

The Next Move
Integrity25 minutes
Open the tool
03

You've decided to go, or you're close, and every search starts at a job board with a title you're not sure is yours. Two weeks in you're applying for things that look like the last job. The last job is the reason you're leaving.

The Fit Brief
Integrity20 minutes
Open the tool
04

You know you're leaving, or you're already out, and you can't picture what comes next. Every job description pulls you back toward the role you're done with. Or you're worn down and can't tell whether the problem is the work or the place.

The Ledger
Performance20 minutes
Open the tool
05

The drive home doesn't end the day. You walk in and the meeting walks in with you. You wake up at 3am still at your desk. You've told someone you love that you can't turn your brain off.

Clock Out
Presence2 minutes
Open the tool
06

You lead people and you're going through the motions. The caring didn't go anywhere. You've just lost sight of whether any of it is landing, and you've started to wonder whether the role is the problem.

The Impact Log
Integrity1 minute a day, for a week
Open the tool
07

You have a big conversation coming. An interview, a first presentation to the leadership team, the meeting with the title in it. You already know you'll walk in small, answer every question like you're on trial, and leave having proved nothing you know.

The Walk-Through
Performance15 minutes, the night before
Open the tool

Nothing under that pillar yet.

How these work

A few minutes, on your own, then one question.

Each one puts the situation on a page where you can see it, then hands it back to you. You already know the answer. Most of the time it's the noise that's in the way.

Subscribe to Groundwork Book a Discovery Call

One situation and one tool, every two weeks, with a question I want you to answer. Or thirty minutes on a call, if you'd rather talk it through.

  1. 01
    Read the first lineEach card opens with a situation. If it sounds like today, that's the one.
  2. 02
    Subscribe once, then do it one step at a timeThe first tool you open asks for your email and adds you to Groundwork. After that every tool opens on that device, one screen per step. Most take under twenty minutes. Some take two. Do the whole thing before you decide whether it worked.
  3. 03
    Your answers stay with youEverything you write saves on your phone and nowhere else. Come back and it's still there. Print it, or clear it, whenever you like.
  4. 04
    Carry the question outEvery tool ends on one. Sit with it for a day. If you want to tell me what came up, reply to the newsletter.