I am telling you this not to brag, but because the story behind it is what I want you to carry into the rest of May with you.

I set this as a goal back in 2025. I did not hit it in 2025. I procrastinated. I doubted myself. The whole thing felt heavy, and so I put it down again and again. When I finally got approved to sit for the exam, I made a different decision. I went all in. I enrolled in a paid study program. I asked for help. I told the people closest to me what I was working toward, and they gave me grace when I disappeared for an extra thirty minutes or an extra hour of study at a time. I gave up some things that mattered, temporarily, so I could give my full self to this one.

Here is what I learned. When you set a big dream, sacrifices come with it. You do not get to skip that part. And the people who love you, when you let them in on what you are building, will usually rise to support you instead of resent you for the time you are spending on it.

I also had a lot of people, well-meaning ones, who told me, "Think of the first attempt as practice. Most people do not pass the first time." That kind of seed is so quiet it sounds like advice. It is not. It is somebody else's ceiling being placed on top of your head.

My coach Brendon Burchard says, "Honor the struggle,” because it is in that struggle that you really see what you are made of, that you grow, that you learn, that you advance and move forward.

I honored the struggle. I passed on the first try. And I want you to know that you can do hard things, too, especially the ones the voices in your life have told you might be too hard for you. Even if it’s your voice.

That is the lens I am bringing into this month's recommendations. Both of them are about the same thing — the power and the danger of what you let into your mind.

Watching... 

Trust Me: The False Prophet (Netflix)

In this true-crime documentary, a cult expert and a filmmaker infiltrate a polygamist sect to expose a self-proclaimed prophet and bring him to justice.

You already know I am a documentary nerd, so of course I was going to watch this one. It follows the FLDS polygamist sect that rose up after Warren Jeffs was arrested, and the self-appointed prophet who attempted to take his place. Two things stayed with me.

First, how the women in the sect were not allowed to be educated and what that does to a person's ability to question anything at all. Second, how easily people followed a man whose words they fundamentally knew, in their hearts, to be wrong.

After he could no longer harm them, some of the women came to their senses. Many of them still believed he was their messiah. That part shook me. It is a powerful reminder of how much of what we believe was handed to us and how rarely we sit down and actually question it.

If you love documentaries and are interested in how people very different from us live and believe, watch this one.

Reading...

Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know by Adam Grant

I love the way Adam Grant invites us to use our minds. It seems to me that people have lost the ability to think openly and unbiasedly about almost anything. Pick a topic and watch how fast a conversation goes from curious to combative.

In Think Again, Grant teaches the power of rethinking. Not just what we think, but how we think. He uses stories and research to show what critical thinking looks like in real life and what it costs us when we stop doing it.

With everything happening in the world right now, this is one of the most important skills you can develop. Knowing what you know. Knowing what you do not know. Knowing how to evaluate what other people are telling you. I highly recommend this book.

You can purchase the book on Amazon. 

The thread... 

That is May in one breath. The exam reminded me that I have more authority over my own mind than I sometimes give myself credit for. The documentary reminded me of what happens when we give that authority away. The book offers a practice for taking it back.

You own your mind. You decide what gets in. You decide what stays. You decide what gets questioned.

That is everything.

One more thing... 

Now that the ICF certification is official, I am opening up a small number of complimentary discovery calls for the people on this list. If there is a big goal you keep circling, a dream you have been talking yourself out of, or a "too hard" thing you have been quietly carrying, this is the conversation for you.

Pick a time. Bring the goal. Let's see what it actually looks like to move it.

All the best,