PEEK IN MY WEEK #40 – Week 19 of 2026
“The best is the enemy of the good.” – Herbert Simon
Number 40. YES! Forty weeks of Peek in my Week. Showed up every single week. Wrote something, shared something, learned something. Despite the chaos of building a training, a card deck, a podcast. I actually did that. Not perfect, but 40 freaking pearls on a string, turds and all (see last week for context), who cares, but still. I do!
And this week? Shadow Summit done. Booklets sent to the printer. Nearly threw up in a hotel trash can from nerves. A Heroic call with David Epstein. And moments in warm and cold water.
5-4-3-2-1 → Let’s go. 🎬
5 – SHADOW SUMMIT: I DID IT
Saturday night. May 2nd. Shadow Summit day. “It feels like Christmas Eve,” as Ashley who organized it put it.
Barry Michels delivered his keynote. Ten speakers. Nearly 300 people online. And I was one of those speakers!
I had prepared four tools. But during practice with Barry Michels and the team that week, it became clear: four is too many for forty minutes. So it became two. Less is more.
Reconnect: seeing your Shadow. Really looking at the part of yourself you’ve been hiding for years. The part that was formed in your younger years.
And Unleashed: the wild, ambitious, unrestrained part of you. The part that’s done with your excuses. That knows what needs to happen and just wants to go for it. But you won’t let it. Because oh no, what will people think… Too ambitious. Too much. Too big. That part is tired of waiting for YOU to finally get your act together and do the thing.
Working with this shadow gets you to do what needs to be done.
That last shadow especially hit people hard, because it’s less well known. I know that without her I would never have quit a good job, started a practice, written books, started a Tools® School, launched a podcast, created a card deck and so many other things I wouldn’t have dared… because… “who am I to: blah blah blah.”
I only listen to her now. And she’s always right. She helps me get out of my own way, including with the nerves before the presentation. Because yes, those are still there, but so much less than before. I just go!
Of course I ran out of time. Get me started on the Tools® and good luck stopping me 😅.
Afterwards I received messages that stopped me in my tracks. One from a participant in London. He’s been doing the Tools® for three years. Reads the books by Phil Stutz and Barry Michels every day. Every single day. Even if it’s just two pages. And he wrote: somewhere in the back of my mind I have the ambition to become a Tools® coach myself. But Part X/the Saboteur says it’s not a good idea.
I read it and thought: there it is. His Unleashed Shadow. Exactly what we’d just been talking about. The part that’s ready but that you won’t let lead, so you stay stuck. So cool that he’s now taking action and already bought my training with the card deck!
I’m so grateful I got to do this. On that stage. With illustrations by Natalie Elfers. With my own method now. And alongside Barry Michels. Wow!
I made a video presentation of all four tools (in English). Send me a DM if you want it.
4 – NEARLY THROWING UP AT THE PRINTER 🤢
The booklets for the State Shift Training have gone to the printer.
Sounds festive. It wasn’t. I was standing in a hotel room nearly needing the trash can. Recovering perfectionist right here… And then, after everything was sent, I discovered the English version still had some major errors.
Including: “Action in the Taxi.” You cannot be serious… 😂 Read right past it after multiple rounds of checking. I told my boyfriend: maybe I should just claim that phrase in English… speaking of turds in pearls. Flip the switch and move on. Tomorrow the sun will rise again.
Last week I wrote about it. This week I lived it.
3 – DAVID EPSTEIN: STOP STARTING, START FINISHING
A Heroic call with David Epstein this week. New York Times bestselling author of The Sports Gene and Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World. His new book Inside the Box is about how constraints make us better.
He talked about a genomics lab at MIT and Harvard. World leaders in their field. But they were taking on so much that things were falling apart. Losing samples. People frustrated. About to lose the lead they’d worked so hard to build.
So they stuck all their active projects on post-its on the wall. And saw it right away: way too much at once. Duplicate work. Projects nobody could finish because new ones kept coming in.
They created a funnel. The rule: nothing new goes in until something comes out. And those medium priorities? Not a little bit of attention. Ignored completely.
Stop starting. Start finishing.
I loved it because I recognized it. That’s exactly what I did. Writing a new book? I deliberately set it aside. I went all in on the State Shift Training with the card deck. Not because the book won’t happen, but because you can’t do everything well at the same time, and above all because work stops being fun when you try.
Sometimes the best choice isn’t starting something new. It’s parking something.
2 – BIRDS, COLD WATER AND TEARS
Before the summit I spent a few days with my son Jimmy. Just doing fun stuff and taking it easy. Watched Project Hail Mary (great film by the way). Went bowling, did laser tag, explored the woods.
On Sunday I went for a dip. The water is 16 degrees now. Bliss. A year ago I would have called myself crazy. I listened to the birds. And I noticed something. I hadn’t been this still in months. Not still as in: no sound. Still as in: nowhere to be, nothing left to finish. Just standing in the water. Just being.
Tears came. Relief and gratitude. The past few months, almost half a year, have been packed with developing the training and the card deck. It was amazing and a lot. And all of that is allowed.
1 – OKAY, YOU’VE GOT MY ATTENTION
The Spartan Beast is at the end of this month, but my injury still isn’t healed. I can barely run and 21 km of walking with an injury isn’t smart either. It took me a while to admit that. As Michael Balchan, another one of my heroes, once said:
“Sometimes the bravest thing you can do is not do something.”
I find that so hard. It feels like giving up. But it’s listening to your body. And this time, I did. Marja Godvliet signal scan helped me make the decision final. Thank you Marja 🙏
THREAD: GOOD ENOUGH
The Shadow Summit became two tools instead of four. Was enough. The booklets went to the printer. With Action in the Taxi. The book set aside. The Spartan parked. And in that cold water? I didn’t need to be anything. I just let go.
Good enough is not giving up. Good enough is listening to the right voice. Doing what matters. And letting the rest go.
WHAT’S NEXT
🃏 State Shift Deck: Order now. 52 cards, a booklet, a holder and a complete training. 👉 [LINK STATE SHIFT METHOD]
Thanks for reading, dear you. 🙏 May the life force be with you.
💞 Syl
