Heidi Saucier

Energy Givers and Drainers

We’re on to the next of the reflection questions I’ve been sharing.

What gives you energy – and what drains it? This has been a discovery over time that continues to help me find balance not only as a leader, but in all aspects of life. I’ve found for myself that some of my energy givers and drainers have slight similarities and have factors that are key to when certain things bring energy and when they take it away.

One area has to do with interactions with others. When I am involved in small group and one on one conversations, I gain energy during the interaction. I enjoy learning about others and hearing their experiences and insights on various topics. When it’s all done, I have to regroup and reenergize. At the same time, being in large groups and engaging in crowd events will quickly drain energy from me (unless it’s a Foo Fighters concert – that’s one of the rare times I find a balance of energy!). I’ve learned to focus much of my time on smaller interactions. When I am in larger groups, I prepare for the experience then decompress at home as soon as I can!

Learning also brings me a lot of energy. I am truly a learning nerd, always looking for new topics and experiences that bring growth. Whether it’s discovering a new recipe, watching a video on nutrition, looking up steps to use a particular software program, reading an insightful book, or exploring a variety of subjects, I come out excited and encouraged about what I have learned.

On the other hand, an area that is known to drain energy in my world is struggling with change. While able to adapt to change in many scenarios, there are times when I am hesitant to move forward with something new. If faced with a situation that I do not have experience with or feel that there’s not a reason to change because the current circumstances are working fine, my stubborn Taurus nature may flare up and I may first dig my heels in the ground. When this happens, I become exhausted fighting to keep things the way that they are while knowing the change is beneficial to my life. This has occurred in personal, professional, family, and other areas. How have I handled this? In many cases, I take the time to pause and review the whole picture related to the change. From there, as a friend and coworker recently coined, I become comfortable with being uncomfortable. When I take this approach, it may not always be easy but at the same time I persevere and keep moving in the direction necessary to navigate through that change.

Coming to learn some of these contributors to gaining or losing energy, I’ve realized an important lesson. Being intentional to invest my time in the energy givers and being mindful when energy drainers are creeping into my life allows me to change course and point myself back to what energizes me. Where do you find you gain the most energy? What tries to take that energy away from you? Share in the comments!

Heidi Saucier

Joyful and carefree

In the last post, I shared the first of a series of questions my leader sent to our team at the beginning of the year to support self-reflection and preparing for the new year. Here is the next question from that list:

When did you feel the most joyful and carefree?

As I thought about this question, it ties to an area I’m working on – self-care. When I intentionally (and at times unintentionally) make the time for self-care, it brings joy and a carefree sense of living. For leaders, self-care can be the key element in avoiding burnout, increasing engagement in the workplace, and bringing more support to their teams (MacArthur, 2024).

What does self-care look like for me? One example is when I am around music. I have a very eclectic taste in music and while I have favorite genres, there are individual songs that I like in every area of music. Sometimes, it helps me relax. Other times, it helps me let my frustrations out. The emotional pull of music is strong within me whether I am listening, singing, dancing, or discovering how it connects to themes within TV shows and movies. If you were to look at my Spotify playlists, you would see that I have ones set up for different reasons and will alternate between them depending on my mood or if I’m looking to relax or get energized.

Another example of self-care in my life is the gratitude journals I’ve mentioned in a past post. Reflecting on things, people, and experiences that I am grateful for brings joy and the ability to center my energy on the positive. If you haven’t had a chance to read it, feel free to review my December 2025 post for more details.

Reading has also returned in my life as a form of self-care. I recently started my fourth book of 2026 and have already experienced a mix of fiction and non-fiction writings this year. So far I’ve entered the world of a socially awkward woman navigating through personal and professional life, an author’s commentary and viewpoint of the 1990s, the start of a fantasy book series from a new author and now am learning the perspectives on how introverts like me navigate through a world that focuses more on extroverted ways of being. I’m looking forward to gaining more insights and sharing a summary of all the books I finish this year in a future post.

Connecting with others is also a form of self-care that brings me joy. As an introvert, large gatherings are not my first choice. At networking events, I am able to find opportunities to have either one-on-one or small group conversations that often bring new insights and new connections that I would never have had if I decided to steer clear of those events. Some people I’ve met have become key partners at my company, while others are connections from other industries that bring fresh perspectives on the field that I work in. Even in smaller settings, maintaining connections inside the workplace is a key factor in avoiding isolation, can lead to being more engaged at work and brings an increased commitment on both team and organizational levels (Rutgers article). At the same time, individual connections that I have through mentoring relationships and those between close family and friends also bring joy and reduce worries and anxious feelings.

What things make you joyful and carefree? Share in the comments!

Heidi Saucier

Worth Remembering

As the new year began, my leader shared some thought-provoking questions to reflect on. I’m going to share some of those questions over the next series of posts along with my responses. I hope that these are questions that you too can reflect on and help you move forward in your goals for 2026.

Here is the first question: What is worth remembering from 2025?

As I thought about this, I realized that through the challenges that the year faced, there were many key lessons and accomplishments that I want to remember as I work on this year’s goals. Here are a few examples:

  1. I learned how to handle candid conversations: While still a work in progress, having candor is critical to developing yourself and those you lead. If we avoid giving honest feedback to others, we become a barrier to their growth. I’ve mentioned the Johari window in the past, which references blind spots individuals may have that can only be discovered when others reveal them. Over the last year, I have been both the giver and receiver of candid feedback. As the giver, I had to find balance between honest feedback that may come across as harsh while still having empathy and care for the person I was giving that feedback to. I’m not perfect at it but am committed to developing this skill. As the receiver, it was hard to have honest conversations that would result in changes and challenges that I would face individually and on a team level. At the same time, I appreciated the willingness of leaders to be up front with information to prepare me for change and to look at where I could improve as a leader. Want to learn more about leading with candor? I recommend Kim Scott’s Radical Candor. There’s also a quiz you can take that gives a simple assessment of your current approach and comfort levels with radical candor.
  2. I’ve improved in shifting priorities to support business needs: Each year, our team sets specific goals for courses that we want to develop to support our learner audience. Early on, we meet with stakeholders and key subject matter experts not only to review existing courses for updates but also to identify new learning opportunities. Once this is in place, I tend to be a person that strives to stay on the path laid out and avoid detours as much as possible. Last year, there were initiatives that our organization asked us to focus on that affected my team’s core audience. As a result, we had to look at all our existing projects and determine what could be shifted to meet the need. This meant that some projects had to be paused for later in 2025 or revisited in 2026. Having flexibility and support from my leader and team brought positive outcomes and training opportunities that better served our learners and helped align them with new processes and programs.

What are things that you want to remember from 2025? Why are they important for you? Share in the comments.

Heidi Saucier

2026 focus – My word and buckets

We just got through the first month of the year, but it’s not too late to talk about goals. While many organizations put their goals in place prior to the start of the year to hit the ground running, others take January and February to look at the enterprise objectives and determine how they can do their part on their respective teams to contribute to the success of those goals.

Whether personal or professional, we can always put goals in place at any time of the year to get us to the next place on our journey. For my goals, I have an approach that I gained from different leaders and mentors to shape the direction I want to go in a particular year. One of the first things I do, which I’m getting back to this year after a brief hiatus, is pick a word of focus for the year. One of my past leaders brought this to our team to encourage us to identify a theme that our goals could tie to. This year, I picked the word enhance. As I took 2025 to decompress from my doctoral journey, I looked at my goals and determined that I wanted to take some things I had in place to the next level. Some goals needed to be refined while others needed to be replaced in the areas I center on each year.

For my goals, I put them into six categories, or buckets. This was something I adopted after hearing mentors refer to this concept and reading articles that further defined a great way to consider goals. Typically, you identify one – no more than two – goals for each of the buckets that you want to achieve that year. Here are the definitions of those buckets with hghlights of the goals I have in place for 2026.

Personal: This bucket can go hand in hand with the professional one that I’ll share about later. For me, I pick things that I want to do that are enjoyable for me and sometimes self-care related. For 2026 I’m getting back to reading more with a goal to finish at least nine books. I also aim to read a professional related article weekly and determine where I can tie it to other goals in my life.

Financial: This may seem like a straightforward bucket. It can be goals that improve your current financial situation or explore new financial opportunities. I have traditionally put goals in this bucket that tie to paying off debt and have done that again this year. It’s helped me get in a better place financially, and I’m grateful for that.

Relationship: This bucket can apply to friendship, family, workplace, dating, or any other relationship you’re looking to focus on. This year, I’m working on having better communication with my parents and finding one way to communicate with each of them on a weekly basis.

Professional: In this area, many look at goals that help with their career or professional organizations they are a part of. In 2026, I’m hoping to participate in a lean certification program and learn more about board budgets related to my role as treasurer on the national board I serve on.

Health: There are many goals that you can put in this bucket. Diet, exercise, stress management, and many more. These goals help you maintain and improve your overall well-being. My goals in this area are around weight loss and exercise. One of them is to participate in more virtual 5K walks. I invest in many of these events to keep myself accountable to walking. Because of my current limitations, I break each 5K up into a series of walks. Once I have completed enough walks that total 3.1 miles, that 5K is complete. This year, my goal is to complete at least one 5K in less individual walks than I ever have.

Spiritual: Goals in this bucket can vary for each person, depending on what spirituality looks like for them. For some, it could be more involvement or attendance at church. For others, it’s increased prayer. For another, it could be practicing mindfulness. With where I am in my life now, one of my spiritual goals this year is to spend an intentional 5 minutes of silent reflection each day. It allows me to pause, get away from screens and people, and refocus.

I have other goals that are continuations of my 2025 focus. But these six buckets are my primary focus as I look to enhance my learning and well-being to bring me to the next level of development, improved relationships, and better health in 2026. I encourage you to consider the six buckets if you’re looking for a new way to approach your goals. I’d also love to hear other approaches on your goals. What has helped? Where have you adjusted? Share in the comments!

Heidi Saucier

Looking back 14 years – part 3

Over the last few posts, I’ve been reflecting on the lessons learned over my 14-year career at the company I currently work at. I’m wrapping up that series today by sharing with you the last two that have made a difference and helped me continue down the path of growth as a leader and all-around as a person.

  1. Be willing to take risks
    • If you needed a spokesperson for being risk adverse, I’d probably be at the top of the list. Over the years, I’ve learned that risk is necessary for growth. Some of the biggest risks I have taken led to new doors and successes that I never would have known if I had avoided the risk. This included entering a doctoral program where statistics was not my forte. I was grateful for a professor that took the time and provided tools and videos to help us through analyzing quantitative data. This was a key factor in being able to successfully perform quantitative research as part of my dissertation. When I first became a manager at my company, I moved to an area that I was not as familiar with. Not only was I being stretched as a new leader and the responsibilities it entailed, but I was also being stretched to better understand the audience I was tasked with developing training for. I implemented tactics I had used on other training teams to learn about the audience and worked with stakeholders to uncover their learning needs. These are just a few examples, but ones where had I decided the risk was not worth it, I would not be where I am at in my career journey.
  2. Never stop learning
    • Those that know me shouldn’t be surprised that this is on the list. As a learning nerd, I am always looking for new knowledge. Whether it’s reading a book, watching a video, engaging in a conversation, or taking some sort of class, I crave the chance to learn more every day. There are many quotes out there that reference the importance of learning. One of my favorites is from Jack Nicholson, who said “The minute you’re not learning I believe you’re dead.” A bit dark, but he’s right. Learning should encompass every moment of our lives. In the last year, here are some things I’ve learned:
      • How to use SecureGPT
      • How to create scene changes in a video software we use for learning
      • My son is amazing at math – he most likely gets that from his dad!
      • Having mentors is important
      • Adversity is inevitable – it’s how you respond to it that determines what happens next

I hope that the lessons shared were insightful and helped you reflect on your own career journey. In the next post, I’ll share how I’ve identified goals for 2026 and new ways I’m holding myself accountable. I’d still like to hear the reflections from your journey. Share in the comments!