The turning point came on March 16, 2024 \u2014 the day my mom passed away.<\/p>\n
In the months that followed, I found myself in unfamiliar territory. I expected to need rest and time to grieve. What I didn\u2019t expect was to feel emptied out for so long \u2014 as if grief had taken even the parts of me I thought were unshakable.<\/p>\n
I wasn\u2019t just sad. I was hollowed out. The energy, drive, and optimism that had always carried me through hard times were suddenly gone.<\/p>\n
For most of my life, I\u2019ve been the one who rallies. I find the silver lining and push forward, no matter what.
But this time was different. Every familiar source of strength felt out of reach \u2014 as if life had quietly dismantled the very scaffolding that held me together.<\/p>\n
So instead of pushing harder, I stopped. I breathed. Slowly, I began to realize that what felt like an ending might actually be the beginning of something new \u2014 not another chapter to power through, but a complete redesign of how I wanted to live, lead, and be.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s when I began to take a long, honest look at what it really means to lead myself by design, not by default.<\/strong><\/p>\n For years, \u201cby design, not default\u201d was both a belief and a practice. It\u2019s how I built my business, shaped my family\u2019s life, and guided others to create their own intentional paths.<\/p>\n But as I put one foot in front of the other this past year, I realized something: designing the next chapter of life is a different kind of leadership journey.<\/p>\n It\u2019s not about chasing what\u2019s next or reaching for the next brass ring. \u201cLeading yourself by design is about living each day in alignment with what you most desire \u2014 not just in service of some future you hope to reach someday.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n In my work, I often talk about\u00a0The Secret to Getting What You Want<\/em>\u00a0\u2014 the\u00a0Know\u2013Own\u2013Choose<\/strong> model. \u00a0It\u2019s a simple but profound way to lead yourself and others.<\/p>\n The KNOW \u2013 OWN \u2013 CHOOSE Model <\/em><\/strong> KNOW<\/strong>\u00a0who you are, what matters most, and what you most desire.<\/p>\n OWN<\/strong>\u00a0your strengths, your stories, and your power to make things happen.<\/p>\n CHOOSE<\/strong>\u00a0the actions that align with the future you want to create.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve always believed that Knowing What You Want<\/em> must come first. Over the past year, I discovered that it\u2019s not just about goals or achievements \u2014 it\u2019s about something deeper: desire<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Not desire as ambition, but desire in how you want to experience<\/em> your everyday life.<\/p>\n Goals point you toward the future. Desire brings you back to the present. You can set goals for what you want to accomplish, but leading yourself by design<\/strong> is about how you want to feel each day \u2014 and who you want to become along the way.<\/p>\n Goals have value. They give direction and focus. Yet they can also keep you chasing \u201csomeday\u201d while missing what\u2019s happening right now.<\/p>\n I learned that the hard way.<\/p>\n In the years before my mom passed, my goals stayed bold. But I ignored the realities of caregiving, parenting, and my own wellbeing. I kept pushing forward, measuring progress by outcomes, not by how I felt.<\/p>\n It caught up with me. The exhaustion wasn\u2019t just physical \u2014 it was soul-deep.<\/p>\n When you build a life around goals without honoring your desires, you can achieve everything you set out to do and still feel disconnected from yourself.<\/p>\n Now I see that Knowing What You Want<\/em> isn\u2019t only about clarity \u2014 it\u2019s about alignment. When you know your values, your natural rhythms, and your season of life, you lead and live with quiet confidence.<\/p>\n You stop performing leadership and start embodying it. That\u2019s what it means to lead yourself by design<\/strong> \u2014 to live the life you want every day, not just someday.<\/p>\n That realization \u2014 that knowing myself needed to come before doing more \u2014 was both liberating and unsettling.<\/p>\n For someone who has always thrived on vision, strategy, and action,\u00a0doing less<\/em> felt uncomfortable at first. My natural instinct was to make a plan, set a goal, and take massive action. But what I needed most wasn\u2019t a plan \u2014 it was space.<\/em><\/p>\n So, I gave myself permission to slow down. To not have all the answers. To let the fog be there until it began to lift.<\/p>\n The quiet work of redesigning didn\u2019t happen in one grand moment of clarity. It happened in the smallest of choices \u2014 going for a walk instead of diving into email, sitting by the ocean with a journal, saying no to opportunities that didn\u2019t feel aligned even if they looked \u201cgood on paper.\u201d<\/p>\n It was in those quiet, ordinary moments that I began to hear my own voice again.<\/p>\n Over time, I started to see the outlines of what my next chapter might look like \u2014 not as a business plan, but as a\u00a0life design.<\/em>\u00a0One built around how I want to feel and contribute every day, not just what I want to accomplish next.<\/p>\n I realized I didn\u2019t want to start over. I wanted to\u00a0start anew. <\/em>Not by erasing what came before, but by honoring it \u2014 and allowing it to evolve into something deeper, simpler, and truer.<\/p>\n That\u2019s when something unexpected happened.<\/p>\n One day, while sharing about my journey with a client, she looked at me and said,<\/p>\n \u201cWould you ever consider doing a mastermind on this \u2014 and finding a few others to join us?\u201d<\/p>\n That question lit a spark. \u00a0It was the beginning of what became\u00a0Next Chapter by Design<\/strong>\u00a0\u2014 not as a replacement for\u00a0Fire Up Your Leadership\u2122, <\/em>but as a complement to it.<\/p>\n Because\u00a0Fire Up Your Leadership<\/em>\u00a0continues to be my core work \u2014 helping women rise, lead with authenticity, and get recognized for the difference they make. But\u00a0Next Chapter by Design<\/em>\u00a0was born for a different moment \u2014 for women who have already led, achieved, and contributed deeply, and are now ready to reimagine what fulfillment and purpose look like beyond their current chapter.<\/p>\n Both are about\u00a0leading yourself by design, not default. <\/strong>They just meet you at different moments in your journey.<\/p>\n Coming back to writing feels like coming home.<\/p>\n This blog has always been a space where I could think out loud, share what I\u2019m learning, and connect with people who care about\u00a0leading and living with intention.<\/em><\/p>\n So, as I step into this new chapter, I\u2019ll be writing again \u2014 about leadership, purpose, visibility, and designing a life that fits who you\u2019ve become (not just who you were). I\u2019ll share stories from my clients, lessons from my own journey, and practical ways to use the\u00a0Know\u2013Own\u2013Choose<\/em>\u00a0model in everyday life and leadership.<\/p>\n Because I\u2019ve learned that the next chapter doesn\u2019t begin when something ends \u2014 it begins when you choose to\u00a0know yourself again.<\/em><\/p>\n If you\u2019ve been feeling that tug \u2014 that quiet sense that something in your life or work wants to evolve \u2014 you\u2019re not alone.<\/p>\n Maybe you\u2019ve accomplished everything you set out to do, yet something still feels unfinished.<\/p>\n Maybe you\u2019re ready to move from chasing what\u2019s next<\/em> to choosing what\u2019s truly yours to create next<\/em> \u2014 the chapter your heart keeps whispering about.<\/p>\n If that sounds familiar, I\u2019d love to hear from you.<\/p>\n This isn\u2019t a launch announcement \u2014 it\u2019s a reawakening.A different Kind of Leadership Journey<\/h3>\n
It\u2019s about listening \u2014 to who you\u2019ve become, what truly matters now, and what you\u2019re no longer willing to compromise.<\/p>\nLeading Yourself by Design: Begin with Knowing<\/h2>\n
![\"Know\u2013Own\u2013Choose](\"https:\/\/randomactsofleadership.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/KnowOwnChoose_Model_RandomActsOfLeadership_SusanMazza.png\")
<\/p>\n
\u2014 the foundation of leading yourself by design.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\nShifting Focus from Goals to Desires<\/h3>\n
You stop chasing what used to matter and start creating what truly does.
You honor your desires because they bring out your best.<\/p>\nThe Quiet Work of Redesigning<\/strong><\/h2>\n
From Reflection to Reimagining<\/h3>\n
Why I\u2019m Writing Again<\/strong><\/h2>\n
An Invitation<\/strong><\/h2>\n
An invitation to begin your own process of leading yourself by design<\/em> \u2014 one intentional choice at a time.<\/p>\n
![\"Susan](\"https:\/\/randomactsofleadership.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Susan-Mazza-and-AnnaMae-Ernst-scaled.jpg\")