Fostering a more purposeful and harmonious life

Jan 8

Greetings! I am Meichle Latham. After a nearly 30-year career in the non-profit human services field, I chose to pivot and create, design and operate my own business as a Coach and Counselor with a mission to guide others along their journey to achieve greater purpose, harmony, and impact. In addition to my coaching and counseling, I am honored to team with Mary Beth and Program Savvy Consulting through which I serve as Facilitator and Content Analyst. Mary Beth- Thanks for the opportunity to offer this blog; publishing a blog has been one of my aspirations!

I am a self-proclaimed “yearn-to-learn” enthusiast and a “shed the extras” strategist. It has served me well and I know that I am not alone in some of the challenges I have faced. I offer two books which I highly recommend as a resource and for encouragement for those who might be rethinking the use of their time and energies.

In February 2018, I read a book that fueled my investment in personal and professional wellness. I highly recommend this easy, thought-provoking read with digestible realistic action steps to systematically design your days, choose what you want to focus on, build the energy to do it, and break the default cycle so that you can be more intentional about the way you live your life.

Make Time: How to Focus on What Matters Every Day by Jake Knapp & John Zeratsky. The framework that Knapp and Zeratsky present is a simple four-step (Highlight, Laser, Energize, and Reflect) daily framework that includes tips, effective tools, and strategies for creating sustainable rhythms and habits.

This book was the trajectory to a transformed me! I recognized (just as my Executive Coach at the time had highlighted) that I was inadvertently stealing time and energy for me and my goals because I was investing more in others and making accommodations that were singularly serving them. Making time for what matters most, I’ve since shed the extras- the extras that caused distraction from the activities that were my true joys, my places of peace, and my sources of fulfillment. A clearer perspective, habitual “book ending” my days with my priorities and preventing obstacles, and improve - laid the foundation for my later career pivot.

In January 2023 I discovered another book that I read in one day. (see irony in the title?) AMAZING book- super relatable, “makes sense” concepts, and realistic action steps.

John Mark Comer’s The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry: How to Stay Emotionally Healthy and Spiritually Alive in the Chaos of the Modern World, highlights that our consumer-driven, rat-race culture leaves us stressed, sad, and disconnected. Comer promotes being present, grateful, and narrowing our focus down to what truly matters to us. Comer introduces slowing down, living simply, savoring silence and solitude, and spending time with others (and God). Similar to Knapp & Zeretsky. he encourages creating space, while rejecting clutter and harried pace that comes with the endless accumulation of “more”.

Like many of those I guide in their personal and professional development experience, my personal well-being, values, priorities, and preferences existed in spaces, with people and in an organization that no longer aligned. The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry confirmed for me that I had outgrown the organization in which I had given my all. I humbly recognized that I had been sacrificing my priorities and routinely made accommodations for the comfort/benefit of others leaving me less fulfilled. I needed to leave; do something new. Bring more harmony into my life.

Defining my own purpose and desired impact, crafting my approach, respective goals, activities, steps and necessary resources for a more calm, harmonious life, propelled me to my career pivot. I now help others via coaching [private pay] or counseling [health-insurance or private pay] define their purpose and desired impact, and craft their harmonious approach, respective goals, activities, steps, and necessary resources.

As a Coach and Counselor, I treasure opportunities to guide others along their journey. Testimonials like those shared here https://heal.me/practitioner/meichle-l-latham reaffirm my bold pivot to coach and counsel.

I encourage you to think about your purpose and the impact you desire to have, and the conditions in which you create for yourself- what’s contributing to your feeling fulfilled? How else could you modify your habits and rhythms to foster more harmony in your days?

Connect with me on LinkedIn @ linkedin.com/in/meichle-l-latham-lcsw-pllc-l-l-c-241952135