Sustainable Success Nudge from Your Future Self

💬 “You were never meant to navigate life alone.”
The right people don’t remove the hard moments… but they profoundly change how you move through them.

Hi Melinda,

This past week, our close circle of friends experienced something deeply difficult and traumatic: a house fire.

I don’t want to share details because that’s our friend’s story to tell, but witnessing how our community immediately came together in response reminded me so powerfully of something I wrote about in Chapter 9 of Sustainable Success.

Years ago, I learned from Barbara Huson about the importance of intentionally cultivating different kinds of people around you.

She described five types:
True Believers
Confidants & Colleagues
Way-Showers
Messengers
and even Naysayers

The first time I did this exercise for myself, I immediately saw gaps.

Especially in the Confidants category. At that time, I didn’t have any names listed. Sure I had some colleagues or some “friends.” But to label them as confidants…not quite. 

That realization changed me.

I became far more intentional about cultivating deeper relationships and a meaningful circle of friends and community over the years.

And this week, I watched the beauty and power of that intentional community in real life.

Some people stepped in as Way-Showers.
Some as Messengers.
Some handled logistics.
Some simply sat and held space.
And all of us became True Believers for one another.

It reminded me that sustainable success isn’t just about self-care practices, mindset work, or how you manage your energy.

It’s also about who walks beside you (and who those people are) especially when life takes unexpected turns.

Your community doesn’t need to be huge.

You don’t need dozens of people in each category.

But having even one or two people you deeply trust in each role can change how supported, resourced, and held you feel in both the beautiful seasons and the hard ones.

So here’s something to gently reflect on this week:

Who are your people?

And where might you want to become more intentional about cultivating deeper support, connection, and community in your life?

With presence,
Melinda

P.S. I created a simple “Intentional Community Map” handout you can print and fill out for yourself as you reflect on the people currently surrounding and supporting you. It’s a powerful exercise for identifying both the strengths and gaps within your community. Grab the Community Map.

(And if you’d like to explore this idea more deeply, see Chapter 9: “The Right Community for You” in Sustainable Success.)