29 | QUIET

Anna Foat loves the power of possibility and the passion of entrepreneurs. She’s worked at a start up, grown with one of the most famous Canadian scale ups (and subsequent crashes) and now works for a major financial services firm in Canada advising the chief transformation officer on digital transformation.

The Burnt Out Experience

About a year ago, Anna was working with a startup up. They circled and circled around how they could get the business model to work and to scale. She spent months working at it. She felt like there was so much noise in her head that the answer was there, she just couldn't hear it. 

As hard and as much as she worked at it, she felt like she wasn't getting any closer to the solution. She felt like she was just circling the drain. 

How did she deal? Quiet Your Mind

Anna went up North for a few days and took a long walk on the beach to clear her mind. 

Suddenly, she had a genuine epiphany!

While she was enjoying her surroundings, it ALL came to her. Why the work they were doing wasn't working, why their approach wasn't going to work moving forward, and what they needed to do to fix it. 

The point is, you need to let your brain relax sometimes and become quite. Sometimes, we are working as hard as we can, as much as we can, and as smart as we can, but things still aren't working. Let your brain become quiet to help you understand that there are external factors that are holding you back. It's out of your control. 

Exercise

Just like her quite time on the beach, Anna loves to go to hot yoga. It's great exercise, it's meditate, and it's good for your brain. 

Self Advocate

When you're working hard, delivering great work, and bringing it all to the table, the people who benefit from your good work have a hard time remembering that you're grinding yourself to the bone. 

You have to TELL them you need a break. You're probably the go-to person if you're doing good work, but you have to self advocate for time off, self care practices, and taking on less work every once-in-awhile. 

Leadership

Focus on the people first, not the goal
Lead from the back
Take all the part and make a recipe, not the other way around

Notable Quotes

“Sometimes you just need to shut up so that insight can whisper in your ear."r

"It took a long time to be okay with doing the things I want to do and not the things people were asking me to do.”

Anna Foat loves the power of possibility and the passion of entrepreneurs. She’s worked at a start up, grown with one of the most famous Canadian scale ups (and subsequent crashes) and now works for a major financial services firm in Canada advising the chief transformation officer on digital transformation.

The Burnt Out Experience

About a year ago, Anna was working with a startup up. They circled and circled around how they could get the business model to work and to scale. She spent months working at it. She felt like there was so much noise in her head that the answer was there, she just couldn't hear it. 

As hard and as much as she worked at it, she felt like she wasn't getting any closer to the solution. She felt like she was just circling the drain. 

How did she deal? Quiet Your Mind

Anna went up North for a few days and took a long walk on the beach to clear her mind. 

Suddenly, she had a genuine epiphany!

While she was enjoying her surroundings, it ALL came to her. Why the work they were doing wasn't working, why their approach wasn't going to work moving forward, and what they needed to do to fix it. 

The point is, you need to let your brain relax sometimes and become quite. Sometimes, we are working as hard as we can, as much as we can, and as smart as we can, but things still aren't working. Let your brain become quiet to help you understand that there are external factors that are holding you back. It's out of your control. 

Exercise

Just like her quite time on the beach, Anna loves to go to hot yoga. It's great exercise, it's meditate, and it's good for your brain. 

Self Advocate

When you're working hard, delivering great work, and bringing it all to the table, the people who benefit from your good work have a hard time remembering that you're grinding yourself to the bone. 

You have to TELL them you need a break. You're probably the go-to person if you're doing good work, but you have to self advocate for time off, self care practices, and taking on less work every once-in-awhile. 

Leadership

Focus on the people first, not the goal Lead from the back Take all the part and make a recipe, not the other way around

Notable Quotes

“Sometimes you just need to shut up so that insight can whisper in your ear."r

"It took a long time to be okay with doing the things I want to do and not the things people were asking me to do.”