How you show up in life is how you show up in leadership. It's true for me as a coach, too. My philosophy... It starts with the body, mind, and soul. It’s the essence of self-leadership.
Without it, stress, self-doubt, and fear will be driving forces in your life. And you’ll struggle to realize your leadership potential. Let me explain…
For nearly a decade, I've led globally remote teams at startups. Now, I lead Boldly Unbounded, a dream in the making for years. And for nearly two decades, I've developed and refined mindfulness-based practices that enable me to live boldly unbounded—achieving my personal and professional dreams, living a fulfilling life, and leading confidently without the burnout.
It’s about understanding that everything is interconnected. And it revolves around a holistic lifestyle. Building remote companies, coaching, and refining my lifestyle design have revealed three truths:
Remote work offers the freedom and flexibility to design a balanced life you love without compromising on your career. I've witnessed this among hundreds of clients, leaders, and coworkers. It creates happier, more productive, and higher-trust teams.
Remote workplace design is the key to nurturing an equitable culture that inspires people to achieve extraordinary results (and love doing it). I've learned how to build people-centric, remote startups from scratch and scale them with intention so teams can holistically thrive and hit business goals.
Self-leadership is often neglected, yet it’s arguably the most important skill set a leader can have. Research shows self-leadership is an opportunity for leaders to redesign how they live and lead to support their team’s, and their own, wellbeing. It improves company performance, too.
Which brings me to Boldly Unbounded. What's it like being a founder—currently a solopreneur—of a remote company? Is it the same as leading at remote companies, or do I just sit at the beach all day? 😉
Today, you're in for an adventure in Barcelona, Spain. I'll show you how I design my day to connect with my unique Personal Power, overcome mental blocks, and make meaningful progress as a boot-strapped, one-person team.
Let's embark, shall we?
The Story of Boldly Unbounded: How I Started A Remote Company
If you don’t know my story yet, here’s a quick recap. In 2015, I made the bold decision to change my career from international education to operations in a globally distributed EdTech startup. In 2017, I made another bold decision. Pick up my life in San Francisco and move to my soul place—Spain.
No job. No plans. Just life.
I started my first coaching business and then started leading the People & Culture function at remote companies. Then in August 2023, I made my most recent bold decision: to start my own remote company.
What started as a side project, quickly turned to full-time work when the tech bubble burst. Little did I know, that this leap of faith would catapult me into the work I had been dreaming of for years. You can see the full story here.
A Day in The Life of A Female Founder
I design the day to prioritize my physical health, nurture my mental health, and nourish my soul. A balanced mind, body, and soul are essential for success and fulfillment. They support higher productivity, better focus, and stronger decision-making.
I’m sharing the habits and practices I developed over the past 18 years. So, whether you’re a founder, a leader, or someone looking for a more holistic lifestyle, they can work for you. They guided the creation of the Boldly Unbounded Blueprint.
Morning Ritual for the Mind, Body, & Soul
So, let’s begin the day. My morning is sacred. It's all about mind, body, and soul awareness. It has been for years—as a founder and as a leader at remote companies.
I start with the body—a run along the beach, stretching, strength training, or yoga for 45 to 60 minutes. Movement helps me get out of my mind and into the body. To check in with my energy level and underlying emotions related to my hormonal cycle and circadian rhythm.
Did you know that females' circadian rhythenggCthrm causes females to be more awake in the morning (males are typically more alert at night)? And females have monthly hormonal cycles, whereas males have daily ones? What females experience over a month, males experience each day. It has a profound impact on how we work because the workday is designed on a daily cycle rather than a monthly one.
Afterward, I move to the mind with a 10-15 minute, seated or walking mindfulness practice. It allows me to become more aware of subtle or gross physical sensations and emotions, as well as thoughts. I bring what I observe into the next step, moving to the soul.
The soul is where I connect deeply with my unique Personal Power—or my Higher Self (the one that is in alignment with who I really am. My truth. My intuition). It’s where I take ownership of the life I create. I journal gratitude and goals, read them aloud, and visualize them as if they already happened.
Why visualize? Visualization relates to cognitive behavioral theory and research shows visualization strengthens focus, improves goal achievement, boosts creativity, and cultivates wellbeing and self-confidence. Visualization has become a popular practice for high-performing athletes and CEOs.
Overall, the morning ritual creates my baseline for the day, so I can:
Offer self-compassion throughout the day. Being a founder or leader is hard.
Confirm what I can realistically achieve in the workday based on my energy and focus levels.
Honor my personal needs (eg., rest if I'm tired, or skip coffee if I feel anxious) so I prevent burnout.
The outcome? I practice sustainable work habits that foster productivity, flow, and enjoyment. Work should be fulfilling (and fun)!
Focus Work Aligned with Energy Levels
Speaking of work habits—I love, love, love mindful productivity topics! I've been obsessed for years because hours worked do not mean high-impact results. I focus on energy management instead of time management, scheduling focus work during my highest energy levels linked to my monthly hormonal cycle and daily circadian rhythm, paired with mindful productivity frameworks.
But first, let's not forget my very real love for (or maybe addiction to) espresso. And the fact I live in Europe, where morning coffee is sacred.
I do daily planning at a neighborhood coffee shop, after taking 5-10 minutes to have a meaningful connection with my “coffee community,” the baristas, neighbors, and fellow coffee aficionados. I cherish this part of my day because living abroad can be incredibly lonely. If you’ve been living abroad for a while, you might understand the feeling of no longer having one home.
Lacking a sense of true belonging.
A universal human need we all have.
Why does it matter? Having human connection—a community—is critical to your wellbeing. It affects your leadership, from the energy you bring into interactions to the trust you build through connection.
So, how do you connect?
How does it make you feel?
How do you want your community to feel?
Okay, back to planning. My philosophy is to focus on impact first. Before diving into focus work, I review the # 1 priority for the day, related tasks, coaching sessions, and other operational to-dos.
Then, I make my way to my nature-infused coworking (check it out below!) and get into flow state using binaural beats. Writing articles and social posts, working on projects for remote companies, or strategic planning and program design.
When I look up, it's lunchtime. I bike home to eat with my significant other. We reserve an hour for each other. To eat. To Connect. To rest or take a short walk on the Rambla de Poblenou.
This break helps reduce context switching and creates a natural break in the day before synchronous work, coaching and meetings.
Afternoon Ritual for Connection
Coaching is all about holding safe space at the right energetic frequency (beyond coaching skills) for clients so they can experience meaningful breakthroughs. I set aside 30 minutes post-lunch to move into a coaching mindset. It includes:
Rereading past coaching sessions' notes for the day's clients,
Clearing, calming, and centering the mind to be fully present with my clients, and
Reconnecting with my unique Personal Power and the energetic space I want to hold them.
This ritual flows into 2-3 private coaching sessions from my home office, followed by learning, analytics tasks, and an end-of-workday wrap-up on the terrace.
Evening Ritual for Mind, Body, and Soul
If your mind is anything like mine, it's really hard to mentally disconnect from work. I love the work I do, and I'm ambitious. I want to see Boldly Unbounded influence a new generation of leadership. To make people’s lives better.
This love-ambition combination can lead to stellar work, but it can also lead to overworking. Lying awake at 3AM thinking about how to solve the latest challenge. Sound familiar?
So, I carve out 30-60 minutes to disconnect, relax, and recharge. Even if the only thing I want to do is sit on the couch and watch a TV series, I still do it. I leave my phone at home and get out of the apartment.
Some days, I go to the beach, take off my shoes, and walk barefoot in the sand. It's a simple way to physically ground myself—moving back into the body instead of living in my mind. Plus, it's a nice foot massage!
On other days, I may do something that I love just for fun. Surf skate. Snorkeling. Gaming. Gardening. Hanging with friends. Something that invites play into my day.
After returning home, I like to give the apartment a chill vibe. Opening the windows for fresh air. Dimming the lights. Diffusing essential oils. Listening to music—right now I’m into Spotify’s Background Blues playlist—while I cook dinner. Another mindfulness practice where I can be fully present, and curious without judgment.
These small details can transform a space into a sanctuary for relaxation and rejuvenation. Do you have any tips? What makes your space feel like a sanctuary for you?
After dinner, I start my bedtime routine. Can be an episode or two of TV, followed by playing with Raymond 🐈, getting ready for bed, and reading fiction.
Before I fall asleep, I do a body scan and self-compassion practice (see below for a guided version to try). It's the perfect way to end the day and clear out any residual stress, self-judgment, and difficult emotions so that tomorrow can start fresh. So, that’s it! That’s my typical day.
Access Your Unique Personal Power in Mind, Body & Soul
You might have noticed that lifestyle design is all about returning to the body, mind, and soul. It creates consistent access to your unique Personal Power. To align with your values, listen to your inner guidance, and act in integrity with yourself.
It contributes to a healthy body. A healthy mind. To higher life satisfaction. To self-leadership.
And the good news? It's always available to you.
All you need is to design your lifestyle to unlock it. It’s a gradual process that takes time to find what works. But it's always there waiting for you.
So, how can you start? I recommend starting with designing simple lifestyle experiments. Here are four tips to help you experiment with lifestyle design:
Start small. Don't try to change your entire day or life at once. Pick one thing and when you've integrated it, move to the next experiment.
Use design thinking frameworks. They help explore new, radical ideas you normally would never think of. This is where the magic lies.
Develop hypotheses. How do you expect the experiment to affect your life? Your leadership? Write down your hypothesis, and as you experiment, record what you learn.
Take time to listen to yourself. Lifestyle change isn't how about measuring numbers (though it can help at times). It's about learning to listen to yourself. What is your body telling you? Your emotions? Your thought patterns? Take time to interpret and reflect on them.
Experiment A LOT. One of the best ways to find out what works for you is to find out what doesn't. It’s not about getting something perfect. It’s a gradual process and each experiment will offer clarity.
You’ll see that lifestyle design creates ripples throughout various aspects of your life. It’s a beautiful process that elevates your leadership. Especially, self-leadership.
If you’re embarking on this journey and you're feeling stuck, set up a free, one-hour clarity conversation with me.
