Coffee on the
Patio
Pull Up a Chair and Stay a While
The slower conversations, the ones you’d have with a cup in your hand.
Coffee on the Patio is the quieter corner of Breaking Barriers. It’s where I slow down and think out loud about the parts of leadership and life that don’t fit into a quick lesson. Less strategy, more honesty. The kind of conversation you’d have with a friend on a slow morning, with nowhere else to be. Pour a cup, get comfortable, and stay as long as you like.
Latest Reflections
The Work We Shouldn’t Have to Do Alone
A conversation with Wendy reminded me how much women can have in common, and how much we can do together to make the path easier for Lakelyn’s generation.
Unless It Is Blood, Flood, or Fire, It Can Wait
A red exclamation point is not a fire. Learn how a simple urgency filter can protect focus time, reduce leadership guilt, and help your team grow its judgment.
The Comfort of Not Filling Every Silence
A Coffee on the Patio reflection on listening, comfortable silence, and making room for the people we care about to finish their thoughts.
When Everything Finds Its Way Back to You
Some weeks, it can feel like every loose end eventually lands in the same place: your desk, your inbox, your head. The small tasks
Sometimes You Have to Build It Wrong First
A candid Coffee on the Patio reflection about becoming a beginner again, releasing perfection, and letting the first version teach you what comes next.
The Cost of Unnecessary Drama
Most workplace drama doesn’t begin with one enormous mistake. It begins with one small decision, one responsibility left sitting too long, or one conversation
Twenty-Five Years Later, I Still Remember
Twenty-five years later, Sheila remembers the ordinary Florida morning that changed everything—and the people who opened their doors when others needed somewhere safe.
The Middle Is Never Trendy
The middle is messy, uncertain, and rarely celebrated. A personal reflection on fear, exhaustion, faith, rest, and becoming capable of carrying what we are building.
We Had MTV Twice
COFFEE ON THEPatioWe Had MTV TwiceA restless evening filled with family chaos, old music, and Gen X memories becomes a reminder that nostalgia reconnects
Sometimes Growth Looks Like Stepping Back
You don’t always have to be the one holding everything together.
A Saturday Morning With Mom
A Saturday morning filled with coffee, hummingbirds, doodles, laughter, and the wonderfully unpredictable stories that make time with Mom unforgettable.
The Patio’s Always Open
There’s no rush here. Come back whenever you need a slower moment and a place to think. And when you’re ready for the shorter, in-the-moment notes, Sheila’s Notebook is just around the corner.