Connect the Dots - Lead the Way
by Heather Balcerek
Are you trying to be a better leader, change industries, reset after a layoff, or looking for ways to bring your whole self to work? Connect the Dots - Lead the Way is focused on helping you through these situations and more by sharing real life stories and practical tips. Heather is here to support you through coaching and mentorship, along with some amazing guests along the way. thepolkadotdesk.substack.com
Episodes
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Goal Setting Reloaded: Working Smarter, Not Harder, with SMART Goals
Send us Fan Mail Are you ready to harness the power of SMART goals? Join me, Heather Balcerek, as I take you on a refreshing journey, dispelling the complexities of goal setting and transforming it into an exciting, rewarding endeavor. I guarantee that by the end of this episode, you'll master…
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Words for the Workplace: A Deep Dive into Emotional Communication at Work - Day 5 - Gratitude
Send us Fan Mail Ever wondered how you can bring more gratitude into your workplace? As we wrap up our enlightening mini-series on words for the workplace, we shed light on the importance and methods of expressing appreciation to colleagues. From casual verbal acknowledgments to more formal...
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Words for the Workplace: A Deep Dive into Emotional Communication at Work - Day 4 - Connection
Send us Fan Mail Get ready to revolutionize the way you navigate the digital communication landscape in your workplace. We promise you an insightful conversation about the power of clear language, the underestimated value of punctuation, and yes, even the strategic use of emojis in our digital...
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Words for the Workplace: A Deep Dive into Emotional Communication at Work - Day 3 - Burnout
Send us Fan Mail Ever felt that choking burnout at work? That desolate feeling of exhaustion that seems to suck away all your energy, making the simplest tasks feel like a mountain? This is the episode you need. We've taken a deep dive into understanding burnout, investigating the roots of these...
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Words for the Workplace: A Deep Dive into Emotional Communication at Work - Day 2 - Creativity
Send us Fan Mail Want to supercharge your creativity at work? This episode promises to take you on an enlightening journey packed with fresh insights. We delve into the world of emotions, exploring how they ignite and fuel creativity in our professional lives. Discover how emotions like…
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Words for the Workplace: A Deep Dive into Emotional Communication at Work - Day 1- Happy
Send us Fan Mail What if there was a more profound way of expressing your emotions at work beyond just being "happy"? Let's get into a stimulating chat about harnessing and articulating emotions more accurately within the workplace. Drawing valuable insights from Mark Brackett's book, 'Permission...
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S4E9: Unlocking the Value of Learning and Development in Business - Part 3
Send us Fan Mail In this episode, we continued exploring the world of learning and development in the business realm. Here are some key takeaways from the discussion: Understanding how change impacts where our focus lands. Importance of telling a data story. Setting your intentions, then…
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S4E8_Unlocking the Value of Learning and Development in Business_Part 2
Send us Fan Mail Hello Connect the Dots community! Welcome back to our 3 Part series, titled "Unlocking the Value of Learning and Development in Business," previously we dove deep into the importance of individual and collective efforts in impacting learning and development within organizations....
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S4E7: Unlocking the Value of Learning and Development in Business - Part 1
Send us Fan Mail Hello Connect the Dots community! In our latest episode, titled "Unlocking the Value of Learning and Development in Business," we dive deep into the importance of individual and collective efforts in impacting learning and development within organizations. This is the first of a...
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S4 E6: Creating Purposeful Connections in Virtual Environments w/Dave Stachowiak
Send us Fan Mail This episode is a really exciting one because we are welcoming in a guest that has made more of an impact on Heather’s journey than he probably knows or will ever know. Today we are talking to Dave Stachowiak (STA-HOE-VEE-AAK) the host and founder of Coaching for Leaders, a...
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S4 E5: Embracing Resilience: Conquering Layoffs, Coping with Loss, and Celebrating Life's Blessings
Send us Fan Mail *****I do want to start with a quick disclaimer today. This episode may touch on mental health topics. I am not a doctor or certified mental health professional. If you are or someone you know is in crisis, please call 988 if you are in the US. If you are outside the US, there is…
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S4E4: The Importance of Recognition in and out of the workplace
Send us Fan Mail Over the past week, I have seen such an outpouring of recognition, both personally and across the posts on LinkedIn. It has made me think about the importance of showing recognition in the moment in and out of the workplace. Today I’m diving in on why it is so important and…
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S4E3: Three Questions
Send us Fan Mail No man really becomes a fool until he stops asking questions. - Charles P. Steinmetz When I met with my mentor yesterday, she had me answer 3 questions about the lay off situation. These questions really made me stop and think so I wanted to put them out there for you. Asking...
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S4E2: No Regrets
Send us Fan Mail It’s Day 1 of this new world where my job is to job hunt. Oh the life of a layoffee... Since I left Apple for Amazon in November 2021, I have been asked if I regret the move more times than I can count. So sitting here now, the day after the layoff, I wanted to answer this…
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S4E1: Open to Work
Send us Fan Mail Well now...here we are... together again. It's Season 4 of the podcast and this season is all about bringing all of you to work. I will say I had a different plan to start this season but it seems I have more time on my hands now. Today I was laid off from my job. Ouch. Me and...
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Just Checking In
Send us Fan Mail Hey All! I just wanted to check in and let you know what’s been going on since I haven’t released a podcast in the past month. All is well. I’m just working through some things that I committed to. I’ll be back soon. I promise. --- Support this podcast:...
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S3E17: Wine with Me: Talking Student Loan Forgiveness
Send us Fan Mail Disclaimer: This video/podcast contains explicit language and covers topics that might cause you to use explicit language too. I might hurt some feelings and make folks mad. These are my own thoughts and opinions and do not reflect the views of my employer/previous employers. I…
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S3E16: Do a New Thing w/Christa Hutchins
Send us Fan Mail After almost 3 years, Christa and I finally got to sit down for a conversation. We met at Blissdom in late 2019 and I was instantly drawn to her passion for helping others. She is a project manager by trade, then was called by God to help His girls. Christa started to volunteer...
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S3E15: Book Review - How to keep house while drowning by KC Davis, LPC
Send us Fan Mail After seeing so many people online recommend the book, “How to keep house while drowning” by KC Davis, LPC, I decided to pick it up and read it. I really enjoyed her approach to cleaning and organizing. I had a lot of things marked in the book to mention but did not get through...
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S3E14: Unscripted Fun - Deep Thoughts on Nothing
Send us Fan Mail Today’s episode is all about nothing. I mean it’s not dead air, but I just had some fun talking about the random things going on in my life. It’s just some unscripted fun catch up from the last few weeks. I cover mocktails, sunscreen, the account that might make me get TikTok…
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S3E13: Talking Creativity w/Martha Arrington
Send us Fan Mail On today’s podcast, I welcome Martha Arrington. She is a painter, a certified zentangle instructor, educator, and amazing human. I met Martha on Instagram awhile back and instantly became a fan of her work. It’s truly beautiful and unique, just like Martha. Through our...
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S3E12: Masking & ADHD
Send us Fan Mail Masking. When I started to research ADHD, this was a term that came up quite a bit. Masking “involves hiding symptoms or overcompensating for them. When you mask ADHD, you try to act like you do not have the condition” (PsychCentral). I knew that I had some masking tendencies but...
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S3E11: Reversing the Rachel Hollis effect (Deconstructing Toxic Positivity - Part 2)
Send us Fan Mail This is part 2 of the “Reversing the Rachel Hollis effect - Deconstructing Toxic Positivity” podcast set. I am sharing a few YouTube videos that help explain the concept more and offer insight on how to overcome it. When it comes to things like this, we have to own the mistakes…
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S3E10: Reversing the Rachel Hollis Effect (Deconstructing Toxic Positivity Part 1)
Send us Fan Mail Toxic positivity is something that I had not really heard of until the last year or two. But it’s something I am extremely familiar with. For me, Rachel Hollis was the influencer that pulled me into this way of thinking and being. Positivity on it’s own is not a bad emotion and...
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S3E9: Finding Harmony with Work & Life
Send us Fan Mail Finding harmony between work and life is hard. This week we are navigating the workplace as we talk about work/life harmony. So what’s that all about. When people talk about work/life balance that brings up this image of the scales of justice. Balancing your time between the two…
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S3E8: The Power of Telling Your Story w/Michael Rix
Send us Fan Mail You know those people that you see online and you are drawn into their story because it’s powerful. Maybe it’s a story of change or survival or triumph. That’s what Michael Rix did when I first started following him on Instagram. Through the strings of his banjo and the words of...
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S3E7: Do I have ADHD? My Neurodiversity Journey Update
Send us Fan Mail It’s the second week of the month so we are talking about neurodiversity. Today, I’m going through an update on my neurodiversity journey. I am still at the beginning stages of my journey and there is a lot to learn. I want these types of conversations to be helpful to anyone…
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S3E6: Did Elizabeth Holmes set the clock back for women?
Send us Fan Mail Recently I watched “The Dropout” docuseries on Hulu, which is about Elizabeth Holmes and Theranos. So many questions came to mind as I watched this story. But the one that kept nagging at me was focused on the impact Elizabeth Holmes had for the women that come after her. On...
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S3E5: Badges We Carry: Burnout, Perfectionism, & Workaholism
Send us Fan Mail Today I’m going to dive a little deeper into a topic that was brought up in episode 74 of the 100 days of podcasts. When I talked about burnout and I made the comment that I had turned in that badge. This got me thinking about what other badges we carry in regards to the…
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S3E4: Know Your Worth w/Lori Thorn
Send us Fan Mail On today’s episode I’m welcoming one of my dearest friends. Lori and I became friends while working at Apple together. We both left the company last year but get together for coffee or cocktails a couple times a month. One of the things we realized in leaving our last company was...
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S3E3: Imposter Syndrome w/Tim Thorn
Send us Fan Mail In one of the last episodes of the 100 Day Challenge, I talked about imposter syndrome. More specifically, I asked if men suffered from imposter syndrome and if they did, do they talk about it. Whenever imposter syndrome comes up in, it seems to be focused on women and how we…
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S3E2: History of Neurodiversity
Send us Fan Mail It’s the second Thursday of the month so we are talking neurodiversity. Since this is the first one, we are going to start with the history of Neurodiversity. In doing the research for this episode, I found some good information but also some missing information. As I continue to...
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S3E1: Deep Thoughts on Ruby Wax
Send us Fan Mail I recently read the book, How to be a Human by Ruby Wax. There were a good bit of things that made me go, "What???" so I had to dig a little deeper to understand Ruby and the background behind the book. Join me as I talk through my thoughts on the book and Ruby. Links Referenced:...
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Day 100: We made it!!!
Send us Fan Mail It's the last day of the 100 day challenge. Can you believe it? I would say I'm speechless but then you wouldn't have a podcast to listen to. LOL! Today we are celebrating the accomplishment of 100 days of podcasts and talking about what to do after you accomplish a big goal.…
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Day 99: Looking back over the last 98 days
Send us Fan Mail One more day...I am so incredibility proud of myself for this. Today I actually attended a workshop called "I am remarkable." This workshop is focused on helping you learn how to self-promote. It's something I definitely struggle with. Take al listen to the podcast and check out...
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Day 98: 2022 Podcast Topics
Send us Fan Mail If you want to know what I'll be covering in the months to come, listen up! I've spilling all the beans today so you can get excited about what's coming up. Laughter, Love, and Blessings, Heather Social Links @msheatherbdot @connectthedots_podcast @polkadotdesk…
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Day 97: Wishing you a blessed weekend
Send us Fan Mail Today I'm just sending out well wishes to you as you go about your weekend. Happy Easter! Laughter, Love, and Blessings, Heather Social Links @msheatherbdot @connectthedots_podcast @polkadotdesk thepolkadotdesk.com --- Support this podcast:...
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Day 96: Let's plan
Send us Fan Mail Today we are talking through the plan for what happens next after the 100 days is over. I'm covering the new day for the podcast and the date it will start. Laughter, Love, and Blessings, Heather Social Links @msheatherbdot @connectthedots_podcast @polkadotdesk…
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Day 95: How can I get a TED talk?
Send us Fan Mail Doing a TED talk is on my bucket list so today we are going to google and find out how I can do that. :) Laughter, Love, and Blessings, Heather Social Links @msheatherbdot @connectthedots_podcast @polkadotdesk thepolkadotdesk.com --- Support this podcast:...
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Day 94: My Website
Send us Fan Mail Today we walk through my website together. It's a mess. Goodness me! If you know someone that is good at websites, please send me a DM on Instagram with their information. I need some help! Laughter, Love, and Blessings, Heather Social Links @msheatherbdot @connectthedots_podcast...
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Day 93: Who shall I interview?
Send us Fan Mail Today I'm running down the list of individuals that I would like to interview on the podcast. It's a semi-long list but I think I can make this happen. 😉 Love and Blessings, Heather Social Links @msheatherbdot @connectthedots_podcast @polkadotdesk thepolkadotdesk.com --- Support...
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Day 92: Topics Part 1
Send us Fan Mail Today we are doing a little breakdown of the topics covered and some feedback I got from yesterday's question. Laughter, Love and Blessings, Heather Social Links @msheatherbdot @connectthedots_podcast @polkadotdesk thepolkadotdesk.com --- Support this podcast:...
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Day 91: Questions for you!
Send us Fan Mail As we start to wind down the 100 days of podcasts, I need your help in figuring out the next steps. I have 5 questions for you (see below). Please got find my post from 4/10/22 on IG and you can comment back or DM me with your answers. I want to make the next version of this...
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Day 90: Sharon Says So
Send us Fan Mail I'm a huge fan of "American's Government Teacher" on Instagram. Sharon does such a great job of making government, politics, and news very easy to understand. Check her out! @sharonsaysso Website Laughter, Love, and Blessings, Heather Social Links @msheatherbdot...
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Day 89: Funny Accounts I follow
Send us Fan Mail Here are 2 of the accounts I follow that never cease to make me smile and laugh. Chunk the Groundhog OMGItsWicks Laughter, Love, and Blessings, Heather Social Links @msheatherbdot @connectthedots_podcast @polkadotdesk thepolkadotdesk.com Episode analytics --- Support this…
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Day 88: The Bird's Papaya (Sarah Nicole Landry)
Send us Fan Mail I have been following Sarah on and off for a long time. I recently started following her again on my @msheatherbdot account and I'm so glad I did. She spreads joy, body positivity, and real life. I'm thankful for her in my feed. @thebirdspapaya Website Laughter, Love, and...
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Day 87: Be there in Five (Kate Kennedy)
Send us Fan Mail Today I'm sharing one of my favorite longe form podcasters, Kate Kennedy. She has such a good way of deep diving and explaining things. Really enjoy her take on things. Check her out! @bethereinfive bethereinfive.com Laughter, Love, and Blessings, Heather Social Links...
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Day 86: Carmeon Hamilton
Send us Fan Mail Today I'm talking about one of my favorite interior designers on the gram. Carmeon has inspired me in so many ways. I am thankful for everything she brings to this world from her designs to her style to her love of people. Check her out! Website Instagram Laughter, Love, and...
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Day 85: Jenny, Candace, and Shut the Should Up
Send us Fan Mail Today I'm talking about 2 of my favorite ladies on IG and their podcast. Here are all the links.... Jenny Randle Candace Payne Shut the Should Up podcast Laughter, Love, and Blessings, Heather Social Links @msheatherbdot @connectthedots_podcast @polkadotdesk thepolkadotdesk.com…
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Day 84: The Home Edit
Send us Fan Mail Today I'm getting ready to start watching Season 2 of Get Organized with The Home Edit so I figured I would chat about these awesome ladies. The Home Edit really became a house hold name for me after Season 1 of Get Organized came out on Netflix. I am a big fan of how they…
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About this show
Are you trying to be a better leader, change industries, reset after a layoff, or looking for ways to bring your whole self to work? Connect the Dots - Lead the Way is focused on helping you through these situations and more by sharing real life stories and practical tips. Heather is here to support you through coaching and mentorship, along with some amazing guests along the way.
thepolkadotdesk.substack.com
Hosted by
Heather Balcerek
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