Abundant Living Inc.

People think the fix for “I don’t have time” is a better conversation with more empathy, more listening, and a gentler approach.

Here’s what’s actually true: you can have the most skilled, most compassionate conversation of your career about someone’s workload, and it will not fix anything, because a conversation can’t surface information neither of you has.

You've got two people with two narratives and no shared facts.

That’s a data problem often mistaken for a communication problem.

The leaders who solve this aren’t the ones with the best conversation skills.

They’re the ones who stopped trying to talk their way to an answer and asked for the data instead.

The conversation that happens after the data exists is a completely different conversation because for the first time, there was something real to talk about.

If this resonated, the full picture is in Issue #15 of The Permission Slip: https://debbielawrence.ca/2026/07/01/what-i-dont-have-time-is-really-telling-you/

Plus, there's a free time audit resource waiting for you.

Not yet a subscriber? www.debbielawrence.ca/signup

Early in my career I had a full schedule and no idea where my time was actually going.

Not really. I had a story I told myself about it including the meetings, the priorities, the things that kept pressing.

But if you had asked me to account for my hours with any precision, I couldn't have done it.

It wasn't until I started tracking my time on projects that I understood how off my sense of it was. The only way to get accurate was to have real historical data. And the only way to have it was to track what I was actually doing.

That habit changed more than my proposals. It changed how I lead. And it changed how I coach.

Because here's what I know now: when a team member says she doesn't have time, she's usually telling the truth about how it feels.

But how it feels and where the time is actually going are often two very different things.

The time audit makes that visible. For her. For you. And for the conversation that follows.

If you'd like to access the template I use to audit my time and the AI prompt to later help analyze what's happening, click here: https://debbielawrence.ca/resources

Issue #19 of The Permission Slip is live.

It's about a new hire everyone was excited about, who tried hard for an entire year and never delivered the work the clients needed.

Instead, I kept fixing it myself instead of sending it back.

If you've ever confused effort with results and paid for it yourself, this one's for you.

Read it here: https://debbielawrence.ca/2026/07/29/effort-≠-results/
Listen here: https://open.spotify.com/episode/0FdsCvStRs5WnVHLyfzYso
Not yet a subscriber? www.debbielawrence.ca/signup

People say making a decision without full team consensus is risky.

Here's what's actually risky:

👉️ A team that's been waiting three weeks for a call that was yours to make.

👉️ A staff member who slows down and hedges because nobody knows what's been decided.

👉️ A leader who has gathered every piece of input, scheduled every follow-up, and still hasn't moved because moving requires ownership she hasn't fully claimed.

👉️ A team that stops trusting the leader to lead.

The fear of friction is real but the friction of deciding is almost always smaller than the cost of not deciding.

The full picture is in Issue #13 of The Permission Slip: https://debbielawrence.ca/2026/06/17/are-you-being-collaborative-or-waiting-for-permission-to-lead/

Not yet a subscriber? www.debbielawrence.ca/signup

A question from yesterday's issue that I want to ask you directly:

Where does the family framing show up in your leadership?

Was it something you inherited, something you chose, or something you've never really questioned?

Tell me in the comments. I read and respond to every one.

Read Issue #18 of The Permission Slip here: https://debbielawrence.ca/2026/07/22/are-you-building-a-close-knit-family-or-a-high-performing-team-heres-why-you-cant-have-both/

A few months into my role as a Vice President, I started asking myself a question I didn't love.

Which of the people I'm working with are bumping against my ceiling?

It's uncomfortable. The honest answer requires admitting that the constraint might be me. My range. My thinking. What I haven't developed yet.

What I changed was how I stopped treating my own development as something I'd get around to when things slowed down. The week doesn't slow down so I made the development the work instead.

I started being deliberate about whose thinking I was in proximity to. Whose books I was reading, not just that I was reading. I became strategic about which rooms I was willing to walk into where I wasn't the most experienced person there.

Growing up there was a saying in our community: "You are who you do be with." You are a reflection of the company you keep.

As a leader, your capacity is a direct reflection of what you're taking in.

What are you taking in right now?

Yesterday, a community of women who lead read about a senior leader who looked checked out and wasn’t.

What was actually happening had nothing to do with her skill or her willingness.

Her nervous system was in crisis mode, and no amount of accountability could reach her there.

Miss the written issue? Read it here: https://debbielawrence.ca/2026/07/15/the-missing-ingredient-in-your-mindset-work/
Prefer to listen? The podcast episode is live on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and all major platforms. Search: The Compassionate Leader School

Where have you been applying mindset work to a problem that’s actually about capacity, not willingness?

She looked checked out. She wasn’t.

Her nervous system was in crisis mode, and no amount of accountability was going to reach her there.

Today’s issue of The Permission Slip is about the missing ingredient in mindset work, and why you can’t think your way out of a nervous system in crisis.

Read it or listen to it — both are available now.

Read it: https://debbielawrence.ca/2026/07/15/the-missing-ingredient-in-your-mindset-work/
Listen to it: https://open.spotify.com/episode/2idqJTr5kimWT88hjz4kmf
Not yet a subscriber? www.debbielawrence.ca/signup

Here are the 4 most common things leaders say when a hire isn't working along with my honest read on each.

1. "She has so much potential."
Potential is real. The problem is it doesn't service your clients, fill your calendar, or meet your deadlines. Someone who might be great in eighteen months leaves you doing their work for the next eighteen months.

2. "She's a quick learner."
Possibly true. Quick learning still takes time. If you need results in 30 days, six months of development isn't a plan.

3. "She reminds me of myself when I was starting out."
This one is the most dangerous. Your younger self had you alongside her. This person doesn't. Your growth took years, mentors, and mistakes she won't get to skip.

4. "I liked her so much in the interview."
Interviewing well is a specific skill. Some of the best performers I know are terrible interviewers. Some of the worst hires interview brilliantly. Liking someone is useful information but it doesn't predict whether she can do the work.

None of these four answer the only question that matters: Can she do this job, right now, at the level you need?