“Professional development” is a term that so many people talk about but which so few people get right. In theory, it’s the practice of upskilling yourself, closing your knowledge gaps, and exploring new challenges. In practice, however, it can often quickly devolve into something much more transactional. Something, in my experience, that looks like a checklist of things you need to accomplish or improve to secure that next raise or promotion. When you ditch the checklist, however, authentic professional development can be a powerful tool for developing confidence, inspiring creativity, and learning new skills. Here are three ways to reclaim authenticity in your pursuit of new challenges and to practice non-transactional professional development.

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I'm back from 10 days of PTO and I’m not just feeling refreshed: I have a level of clarity about my top priorities at work and at home (and how I want to manage those concurrently). It’s a level of clarity that I haven’t had since I came back from maternity leave 5 months ago and something I didn’t even realize I was missing. I also have fresh ideas for achieving my goals. As Memorial Day nears so does summer vacation season and it's not too late to carve out some time for yourself to recharge. Here are my five tips, accordingly, for rethinking your vacation time before summer comes and goes.

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I was kicking butt, taking names, and changing diapers. Still, even when I logged back on at night or had live email exchanges with the other three women as early at 6am (a regular occurrence), I couldn’t shake the feeling that people viewed me as less committed. The comment, while innocuous, felt like confirmation of what I had feared.

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Full disclosure: This was not the blog that I had planned for this week.

I’m typically a believer that when life gives you limes, you make margaritas. What I’ve learned this week is that when you’re a career coach, when life gives you a busy week you write a blog about it.

This past week I was overwhelmed by everything on my to-do list.

Adding insult to injury this past weekend was Passover and we were hosting a Seder. If you’re not familiar with this Jewish tradition, all you have to know is that it’s a lot of work (like Thanksgiving-dinner-level preparation). And if you’re observant, like I am, it’s not just preparing for dinner and buying some matzah. There is a whole ceremony around “cleaning your house.”

Let me be clear: you haven’t seen Spring Cleaning until you’ve seen someone clean their house for Passover.

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This past week I went to London and New York for work. While I was away, my son crawled for the first time. Once upon a time that would have crushed me—but it didn’t. That's because I’ve learned mom guilt doesn’t fit in a FAA-compliant carry-on bag. Here are my four tips—ditching mom guilt included—for taking on work travel as mom.

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Things go wrong at work.

When they do—if you’re like many of the women I work with, coach, or know personally—you probably apologize and say, “I’m so sorry. It won’t happen again.”

Learning from your mistakes is one of the best ways to upskill yourself. That’s why how you handle those missteps when they happen is so important. While apologizing can be an almost automatic reaction, it’s often the wrong reaction.

Friends don’t let friends make bad situations worse. You will mess up again at work. When that happens, I will not allow you to say “sorry” before considering these three things.

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