Working With Intention

Looking at LinkedIn Profiles Like a Researcher

Have you ever found someone’s LinkedIn profile or professional bio and immediately felt intimidated? Maybe their title sounded impressive. Maybe their career seemed polished and clear. Maybe you started imagining how wonderful their life must be, how confident they must feel, or how far away you ...

by Erica Mattison MPA JD — Jun 11, 2026 career

Are “Shoulds” and Expectations Diminishing Your Quality of Life?

Sometimes the expectations come from other people. Sometimes they come from old versions of you. You “should” be married by now. You “should” have kids. You “should” be further along. You “should” have a more impressive-sounding title. You “should” have a “stable” job. You “should” feel gratefu...

by Erica Mattison MPA JD — Jun 08, 2026 career personal growth

What Gardening Taught Me About Being Too Tough on Myself

Are you being too tough on yourself? I have been asking myself that question as I work on setting up my garden. For a while, I focused on what had not happened yet. The layout was not clear. The fence was still in progress. Other people seemed to have beautiful, productive gardens already, and I ...

by Erica Mattison MPA JD — Jun 04, 2026 career leadership

A Simple Framework for Clearer Career and Leadership Communication

As a law student, I learned the IRAC method. IRAC is a structured legal analysis method that stands for Issue, Rule, Application, and Conclusion. It is used to organize reasoning and communicate legal arguments clearly. That may sound specific to the legal field, but the framework can be useful i...

by Erica Mattison — Jun 01, 2026 career communication leadership

When Time Management Challenges Reveal Opportunities to Improve Team Workflow

When a capable staff member seems stretched, it is easy to assume they need stronger time management. Sometimes that is part of it. But often, what looks like a time management challenge is also an opportunity to improve workflow, prioritization, communication, and the systems surrounding the wor...

by Erica Mattison — May 07, 2026 career clarity executive coaching leadership development professional development team development

How to Make More Room for What Matters

I was recently supporting a client who has a lot going on right now. Work is especially busy. They have several trips coming up, both personal and professional. They also recently started a passion project that matters to them and is taking up a meaningful amount of time. They were feeling scatte...

by Erica Mattison — Apr 23, 2026 career clarity leadership development life transitions meaningful work professional development

How to Make a Job Search Feel More Sustainable

Job searching can be exhausting. Even when you are doing all the “right” things, the process can still feel uncertain, discouraging, and hard to sustain over time. That is one reason I keep returning to this reminder: a job search does not only need to be effective. It also needs to be sustainabl...

by Erica Mattison — Apr 09, 2026 career clarity career development career transitions job search meaningful work professional development

Get organized at work without doing more

You can be organized on paper and still feel overwhelmed. Your to-do list is full. Your calendar is packed. And yet, the work that matters most does not always get your attention. That is not a failure. It is a signal. This time of year often brings conversations about spring cleaning. Not just c...

by Erica Mattison — Apr 02, 2026 burnout prevention career clarity executive coaching leadership development

When Career Uncertainty Affects More Than One Person

A career transition often reaches beyond the person directly living it. For some people, this season means navigating a job search, a layoff, a career pivot, burnout, or the pressure of not knowing what comes next. For others, it means caring about someone who is moving through that uncertainty a...

by Erica Mattison — Mar 30, 2026 career development career transitions meaningful work

Women’s Visibility, Leadership Presence, and the Joy of Discovery

After speaking with Kimberly Paulk, founder of Purple Thread Strategies, on Conversations with Erica, I kept thinking about the relationship between visibility, clarity, and trust. What stayed with me was not a formula. It was a way of approaching growth. Our conversation was about more than ca...

by Erica Mattison — Mar 20, 2026 career clarity conversations with erica executive coaching leadership development

Are You in the People Business?

After meeting an experienced entrepreneur, wealth manager, and longtime finance professor, Kashif Ahmed, at a Suffolk University event in Boston, I invited him to join me for a conversation on the podcast. What stayed with me was not a tactic. It was perspective. After decades in financial planni...

by Erica Mattison — Feb 19, 2026 career growth entrepreneurship leadership networking

When talents become strengths, progress follows

It’s common to focus on what feels lacking or underdeveloped. That focus can limit how we see ourselves, how we make choices, and what possibilities we allow ourselves to explore. Experienced professionals often reach moments where they question what they truly excel at or how to name what they b...

by Erica Mattison — Feb 10, 2026 career reflection decision-making leadership growth self-awareness strengths-based approach working with intention

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Working With Intention