Rocks, Pebbles, and the Fire That Lasts
Newsletter in Brief:
This newsletter explores the power of intentional beginnings—how Monday mornings can set the tone for your entire week and why reflecting mid-year helps realign with what truly matters. It weaves together client stories, leadership insights, and a free reflection workshop to help you lead from within, not just keep up.
This is a bi-weekly newsletter that shares strategies and actionable steps for self-mastery, leadership and my personal reflections and professional updates. Subscribe here!
LinkedIn Newsletter Launch
I launched a LinkedIn newsletter, “Leading from Within”. You can check it out here.
You might be wondering—why two newsletters? Simple: the email newsletter is a little more personal. More behind-the-scenes. More focused on self-leadership, mindset, and reflection.
My LinkedIn newsletter is designed for a wider audience - focused on high-impact leadership that starts from within but shows up in how we lead people, navigate pressure, and scale influence.
In a world where AI and tech are pushing us toward more speed, efficiency, and remote everything. I believe the human side of leadership - presence, centeredness, emotional depth is more needed than ever.
Mid-Year Reflections
July is here and I chose to send this on July 1st for a reason. We’re now six months into 2025. It’s a natural moment to pause, check in, and reflect:
Where are you in your year?
Where are you in relation to the goals you set back in Q1, 2025?
In Q1, I ran a Vision & Goal Setting workshop where we explored three layers of priority:
Big Rocks
3–5 things that truly matter. The non-negotiables.
The “musts” of your year.
If you joined that session, it might be time to revisit:
Are you on track?
Are those still the right rocks?
Has the sand filled your jar in the meantime?
Pebbles
Other priorities and goals that matter, but don’t define your year.
Think of your week as a jar - your rocks must be present.
The pebbles fill the spaces in between. Sometimes they’re there, sometimes not.
Have you been paying attention to your pebbles?
Are you juggling too many and letting them crowd out your rocks?
Or have some fallen through, and it’s time to pick new ones?
Sand
The distractions. The time-fillers.
The tasks and habits that look like movement but often mask avoidance.
The stories we tell ourselves. The busyness that keeps us from clarity.
What sand can you let go of- so you have more space for what really matters?
Summer is a good time to pause.
To take stock.
To get ready for the next season, before the pace picks up again.
I often use fire as a metaphor. The ideas, creativity, and new insights are the spark that ignite it. The pebbles, small consistent actions, keep the flame alive. But it’s our dedication to the big rocks, the things that truly matter, that sustain the fire over time. They’re what create the lasting heat, even after the initial flames die down.
This summer, give yourself a moment to step outside—literally and emotionally. Breathe. Reflect. Reconnect with what matters most. What will keep your fire burning through the rest of the year?
Free 90-minute Mid-Year Reflection Workshop
August 2025 will mark one year since I started building my own leadership development practice. A year of experimentation, growth, and learning.
And I want to mark that milestone by offering something back.
🎁 I’m hosting a free 90-minute Mid-Year Reflection Workshop for my community. This is an opportunity to reflect, recalibrate, and reconnect with what really matters for the rest of the year.
It’s my way of saying thank you for reading, supporting, and walking this journey with me. I hope you will join.
Date: August 9th
Time: 9AM CET
The Monday Morning Test
How do your Monday mornings feel?
Rushed? Reactive?
Like you're already behind before you've even started?Or spacious? Intentional?
Like you're stepping into the week with clarity about what matters?
The way we begin our week often determines how the entire week unfolds. Monday mornings are when we tend the flame - they're our chance to reconnect with our big rocks before the week's momentum takes over.
Most people start Monday morning putting out fires. Catching up on what rolled over from last week. Responding to the urgent. Reacting to whatever landed in their inbox over the weekend.
But what if Monday mornings were different?
What if they were protected time, not for catching up, but for setting intention?
Not for reacting, but for choosing?
This doesn't require a complete life overhaul. It starts with a simple question:
What would need to be true for your Monday mornings to feel spacious rather than scattered?
Maybe it means clearing your plate by Friday afternoon so nothing carries over.
Maybe it means batch-processing emails at specific times rather than letting them dictate your morning.
Maybe it means starting Monday with your most important work instead of your most urgent.
The specifics matter less than the principle:
Monday mornings are when we choose the week's direction.
When we begin reactively, we often stay reactive. When we begin with intention, we create space for what truly matters.
Think of it as tending your fire. You can spend Monday morning frantically gathering whatever kindling you can find, hoping to keep the flame alive. Or you can arrive with the fuel you need - your big rocks - ready to sustain the fire all week long.
I recently helped one of my clients to re-work his way of approaching his work and his schedule to have more time and less rush.
The result? More space for meaningful work, deeper presence with her team, and less time buried under emails and loose ends.
I loved the message I received the following week:
“I have Monday mornings now to spend with my team. Usually, I’m catching up, but now, with my new rhythm, there’s nothing carried over. I get more time doing what I love, not less. I know that may have been obvious from the outside, but your intervention made the difference. Thank you.”
Your Monday morning is a mirror. It reflects how you're managing the rest of your time, energy, and priorities.
What does yours tell you?
Celebrating the Endings, Too
As much as I love walking alongside clients on their journey, I also cherish the moments when we pause to reflect and close a chapter.
Last week, I wrapped up a 6-month coaching engagement with a client. It was powerful to witness the transformation and even more meaningful to celebrate it.
Here’s what my client shared when we reflected on the progress and growth:
From Confusion → to → Clarity of Purpose
From Anxiety→ to → Groundedness
From Hesitation → to → Renewed Energy
This is the magic that happens when trust, courage, and a deep desire to grow intersect.
Now Welcoming New Clients
As I recently closed work with two wonderful clients, I now have capacity to take on two new coaching clients starting in August.
If you’re navigating a transition, feeling stuck, or sensing it’s time to realign with who you are and what you want next, I’d love to connect.
Coaching isn’t about fixing what’s broken.
It’s about creating space to see clearly, lead intentionally, and build forward from a place of inner strength.
👉 Book a discovery call to explore whether we’re a fit.
Your Turn
In a world accelerating with AI, automation, and noise, the capacity to hold space, listen deeply, and lead from within is no longer optional.
It’s essential.
But we can only give what we’ve built within ourselves.
So I’ll leave you with this question:
What are you building beneath the surface that will hold you when the pressure rises?
Takeaway for Leaders:
Mid-year is a natural reset point. Revisit your rocks, pebbles, and sand to course-correct without guilt.
Small patterns often reveal deeper truths, especially in how we lead and relate.
Reflection is not a luxury - it’s a leadership capacity.
Slowing down can be the most strategic move - to align, renew, and step into what’s next with intention.
Be BOLD and GO BEYOND!
Connect with me and my work:
For more articles, tips, and insights, connect with me on LinkedIn.
Reach out to me directly at hello@sanitapukite.com if you have a need for executive leadership or transitions coaching, workshop facilitation or leadership development for your organisation.
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BEYOND is a state of continuous growth and transformation. It’s about stepping out of the ordinary, redefining what’s possible, and leading boldly. Here, we explore leadership fundamentals - self-awareness, presence, mindset, behaviors, strategic decision-making and influence. BEYOND is for those who refuse to lead within expectations and instead choose to go further, think bigger, and make a lasting impact. Subscribe to this newsletter here.