Coffee + Chaos + Calm = What leadership really looks like

I woke up at 3 a.m. knowing something had shifted.

First, coffee. Always coffee first.

Then I went to my laptop in the dark morning, needing to process everything swirling in my head. I couldn’t think of where to start, so I started from the beginning. I wrote it all – when I started with this company, what I’d learned, why I proposed the new project, why my team was in place, the hurt from someone stepping away, all the way to yesterday’s deadline change.

It was a LOT. But that’s how I process. Through words. Through coffee. Through the quiet hours when nobody needs anything from me yet.

And somewhere in that 3 a.m. writing, I found this quote and put it on my desktop:

“Your job isn’t to do everything. Your job is to set the strategy and make sure everyone knows what they’re doing.”

I stared at those words and felt something shift.

Because here’s what nobody tells you about becoming a leader: It happens in the crisis, not the calm.

Saturday morning I was in my cozy spot, coffee warmer keeping everything perfect, writing about where creativity is born. By Monday, I was in the fire. A trusted team member in crisis couldn’t show up. A launch timeline shifted by months. Four major projects landed in my lap. Decisions affecting everyone’s livelihood, waiting.

I’ve been in C-level positions before. I know this shift. But as a creative, I’m drawn to being present with ideas, hearing them born through teamwork, being part of the making. The transition never gets easier:

From being the person who DOES everything
To being the person who ensures everything gets DONE

The doer in me wants to write every article. Sell every ad. Fix every problem.
The leader in me has to trust. Has to delegate. Has to let go.

Not because leadership is comfortable.
But because leadership requires a grounded center.

You can’t strategize from chaos. You can’t make decisions that affect everyone from depletion. You need that 3 a.m. coffee. That processing through words. That Saturday morning sanctuary not as escape, but as foundation.

So here’s what the crisis taught me:

• When someone steps back, build with who shows up
  Not who you wish would show up. Not who promised to show up. Who actually shows up.
• Timeline shifts teach you to hold bad news with grace
  Your authenticity isn’t threatened by delays. It’s proven by how you deliver difficult truth.
• When someone trusts you with strategy, not just tasks – believe them
  They see something you’re just beginning to see in yourself.
• Steadfast people reveal themselves in chaos
  Two team members stood solid while everything swirled. That’s who you build with.
• That desktop quote taught me the hardest thing: Let go to lead
  Stop doing everything. Start ensuring everything gets done.

This is what was being born in those dark morning hours with my coffee and laptop.

Not just processing.
Leadership.

The kind that knows: Your 3 a.m. coffee ritual isn’t separate from your leadership. It’s the grounded center that makes leadership possible. It’s where chaos becomes calm through the simple act of writing it all out, from beginning to end.

Because creativity and leadership are born in the same place: In the quiet sanctuary where you’re centered enough to see clearly.

Coffee first. Always coffee first.
Then let the words show you what you already know.

Tracy

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My word stack for today:

Coffee + Chaos + Calm

coffee, [kaw-fee] noun, Origin: Arabic qahwah, “wine of the bean”
The ritual that grounds you at 3 a.m. when leadership calls; the constant companion through every transition from doer to leader.

chaos, [key-os] noun, Origin: Greek khaos, “vast chasm, void”
The fire where leadership is actually forged; when everything happens at once and you discover who you really are.

calm, [kahm] adjective/noun, Origin: Latin cauma, “heat of the day”
The grounded center that emerges when you process chaos through words; the leader’s sanctuary where strategy is born.

These mugs are part of our Coffee Stories collection – word stacks inspired by my personal journey shared in these posts. Each memoir piece becomes a stackable memory you can hold in your hands. Start your own collection and create combinations that speak to your journey.”