Category: Welcome to Barto’s Basics
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Don’t Be Dumb – Just Start
Early in my coaching career (work and high school volleyball) I started using the phrase ‘don’t be dumb’ as a light-hearted way to correct silly behaviors or remind people to make good/better choices. And the more I used it in the coaching setting, the more it showed up in my daily life and conversations. Before…
Barto
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Who Wants Egg Bake for Dinner?
It’s a crazy week with work, summer camps, graduation parties, family in town and our wedding anniversary! <I’m already tired thinking about it all> So today when I was sitting in the parking lot waiting to pick up my daughter from camp – while being on a conference call – it occurred to me that…
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There Is No Substitute for Repetition. Ever.
Imagine if you stopped trying to walk after the first time you tried… Little toddler you stands up takes a step, falls over and decides in that moment never to try walking again. That would be crazy! Thankfully toddler you had no fear and got back up – to try and try and try again…
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Feedback 101
Did you know there is a good and a bad way to give feedback? After 2 years in leadership and struggling to give and handle feedback well, I sat down with a glass of wine in my little blue house and decided there had to be a better way. And guess what? There was! I…
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Grief & Motherhood
I was 23 years old when I lost my dad suddenly to an aortic aneurysm. He was 56. It was quick. It was a shock. I was frozen in time. My life changed forever. And now 18 years later, I can remember feeling like I was living an out of body experience – I was…
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Basically, It’s Hard
This won’t be an eloquent post…. but I’m going to say it.… We live in a very diverse world and parenting this generation of kids is really different and difficult. There are cultural, social, technological and other hurdles that haven’t existed before that would have otherwise allowed us to lean on our parents/grandparents for direction.…
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It All Came Rushing Back
I Didn’t Want To Do This Part…. 16 yrs ago I stood in the emergency room and answered “yes” to the question “are you next of kin?” My dad was being prepped to go into emergency surgery due to an aortic dissection and at 23yrs old, I had to make quick decisions on my own.…
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Getting Off the Ride
July, 2023 I tapped out today. I got out of line while waiting for the next rollercoaster…. Your girl has been on an emotional thrill ride bender for the last few weeks and today I just had to get off. And I let myself cry. I physically could not push it down any longer and…
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Be a Truth Teller
I’ve spent a lot of my life ‘recovering’ from lies that have been told to me or lies I’ve told myself. I’m not talking about Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy. I’m talking real, life altering, character shaping, generational baggage. The stuff people hide from. The stuff that gets buried with our ancestors. And as…
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Who Will Stay?
June 2023 This might feel funny but that’s never stopped me from sharing before so……if you make it to the end it’ll be worth it. At almost 40, I see a lot of things with much more clarity and I’m starting to understand myself so much better. So it goes, right? When you’re a child…
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