Season 2 kicks off with intention, clarity, and momentum. Kristi welcomes listeners into the new year by sharing her 2026 Word of the Year—Action—and reflecting on how tracking, planning, and consistency only create change when they lead to movement.

This episode, also, sets the tone for the season and introduces a foundational communication tip on how to use breath effectively, not just take it in, so your voice carries authority, ease, and connection in the courtroom.

LISTEN HERE...

In this episode, you'll learn:

1. Why tracking without action can quietly stall growth

2. How “functional freeze” shows up in high-performing professionals

3. What choosing Action actually looks like (and why it doesn’t require perfection)

4. The difference between having breath and using breath while speaking

5. Why breath must participate in sound for vocal stability and presence

6. How inefficient breath use leads to vocal fry, fatigue, and tension

7. A simple low-stakes practice to coordinate breath and voice

Key Takeaway:

1. Growth doesn’t happen in planning or tracking alone—it happens in doing.

2. When breath is allowed to fuel your voice instead of being held back, your communication becomes clearer, calmer, and more compelling for everyone listening.

Favorite moment:

The realization that tracking had become a place to hide from decision-making—and the shift from analysis to assimilation that inspired the 2026 Word of the Year: Action.

Links & Resources:

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This season is all about movement, curiosity, and practical application. Tune in next week for the next communication tip, and practice using your breath in low-stakes moments as you move into high-impact leadership.

Until next time—keep fostering your voice.

TRANSCRIPT:

Hellooooo!!! Hello Foster Fam! Welcome to the kick off of Season 2 and welcome to the start of 2026. 2025 was a difficult year for lots of folks, so I pray that your time of reflection bore some good fruit and some happy memories and that you're eager and excited about what's to come in this new year.

As we forge ahead into Season 2, I want to welcome any new listeners and share the standard format for each episode. I always start with a Point of Interest, a POI if you will. These are taken from articles I've read, reels I happened upon, or even just life exchanges that caused me to ponder, or challenged my thinking in some way. These usually are along the lines of learning—the neuroscience of learning, that is, and the process of building new neural pathways—or goal setting, tracking, reviewing. These are constants in MY life, because I hold learning and curiosity as core values, so I like to share what I'm thinking on and invite you to think with me. So if you ever wonder why these episodes move between mindset, neuroscience, and practical communication tools—this is why.

The second part of each episode centers around a communication tip which is the theme for the week. You'll see that theme on my social media posts, and as a focus for my LinkedIn article, and blog as well. These tips will cycle through what I consider to be my 4 main content pillars — breathwork for storytelling and for nervous system regulation, vocal technique specifically around pitch, pace, melody, volume and tone (the 5 Building Blocks I teach), nonverbal communication which is how you deliver your message in the courtroom and beyond, and the neuroscience of learning so i can help you become a better teacher and storyteller based on HOW jurors are geared to learn and listen to you.

So, point of interest and communication tip.

Today's point of interest is the Word of the Year. As promised, I've thought and prayed long and hard about this so I would be ready to tell you my 2026 word on this episode. 2025 was the year of Consistency. I spent a good amount of energy trying to develop consistency in my life and in my business.

1. Consistency of posting online with consistent messaging that was consistent with my content pillars

2. Consistency with my exercise. I really wanted to be able to confidently say that I was a walker, and specifically, and outdoor exerciser. I recognized that the folks that just get outside, regardless of weather, and just get their body moving, those are the folks that I held in high esteem and "I wished myself amongst them."

3. And consistency with my goals — setting up scorecards and tracking systems to be able to accurate record what I was and was not doing.

And, not to toot my own horn, but I'm really good at tracking things. I've got charts for everything — what I'm eating, how much water I'm drinking, sleep I'm getting, household chores I'm doing, types of activity, gratitude & contributions, moods & hormone changes, projects, creativity, weight fluctuations, how many times I'm flossing. I even keep a chart of the categories of excuses that come up each month.

So, i"m a tracking QUEEN!!

BUT...and here's what feels kinda dumb to say out loud...BUT....even though I've been faithfully and CONSISTENTLY tracking, I haven't been actually DOING anything about the tracking. Like, i'm collecting the data, but then not USING the data. At some point, tracking stopped being a tool for change and became a place to hide from making decisions. It seems like I should now actually let the data move me towards ACTION.

So...that's my word of the year: ACTION.

I want ACTION to move me through the planning stages to the doing stages. From the tracking to the assessing, and from analysis to assimilation.

Also, I don't know if it's part of the perimenopausal brain fog or what, but this year, I have found myself in functional freezes. Meaning, i still look like I'm functioning, but I'm not making any progress; there's no forward momentum. i'm essentially frozen all while jumping from tab to tab, scrolling on my phone, doing busy work, but not taking meaningful steps. And even if that specific experience isn’t yours, most high-performing professionals recognize some version of this. So, ACTION will be a theme of movement instead of freezing.

But the thing I really like about choosing the word ACTION is that it doesn't have to be perfect. I think of directors yelling out "Action!" on movie sets and everyone does their best and maybe it's exactly what it needs to be, but the director then usually reviews what was just done, and they decide if little tweaks need to be made, to the camera angle, or lighting, or maybe they prompt the actor to try a different delivery. With "Action!" everyone moves forward, doing their best with the knowledge and resources they have, but it doesn't mean they have to achieve perfection on the first go. That’s the kind of action I’m committing to—even if it's a little risky, vulnerable, and kinda messy—and I want to invite you into this kind of action this year as well.

I've learned in this Year of Consistency that meaningful learning happens in the doing, not in the planning. So, i'm ready for the Year of Action...well...as ready as I'll ever be. I don't want to plan too much. It's time to DO.

—BREAK—

Let's kick of this year with a tip about BREATHING. Well...not exactly HOW to breathe, but how to USE the breath once you've taking it in.

I suppose we should just cover, quickly, that the best kind of breath for a public speaking situation is one that is low, and slow. You have maybe heard the term "belly breathing" or "breathing from your diaphragm." That's the kind of breath mechanism that will support a calm nervous system and create muscular freedom for your vocal cords.

So, okay, you've been working on getting a nice low breath. The mechanics are working, and yet...

You still sound constricted, you get that vocal fry sound to your tone, your nerves are still pretty shaky, and your voice still feels uncertain. And before you know it, you feel tense, the room feels tense, you're out of breath, and everyone just seems more agitated than they should be.

This is because you are not USING your breath. The breath is present, but it isn’t participating in the sound. Essentially, you're still holding your breath and making the muscles do all the work. That's why you get that vocal fry. It's just cord on cord friction. AND, because you've been unknowingly holding your breath, you have to exhale before you can inhale again which throws you into an aerobic pattern—that's why you feel out of breath.

That's also why your nerves are running high and there's tension in the room—that aerobic, high breathing is keeping your sympathetic nervous system (your fight or flight) revved up. And juror's mirror neurons are keeping them in high breathing as well. So...everyone's stressed.

Reset. Low breath. And another.

Now, as you're beginning to speak, get the air flowing first. Speak as you exhale.

This will take some practice. Not in the courtroom or in a hearing or mediation or depo. You have to practice this in LOW STAKES—alone in your car, read the street signs or restaurant names that you pass. Read them out loud with extra breathy tone, just to get breath and tone happening at the same time. It'll be too much air. This is NOT how I'm promoting that you speak once you get to highstakes moments. Think of it like strength training for coordination—not performance. This is only a disciplined, practice drill.

Arby's

McDonald's

Chipotle

Evergreen Hwy

Columbia St.

Practice at different pitch too. But get LOTS of air flowing. Make sure you breath low, but then make sure you run out of air quickly, with each phrase you read out. You should need a new breath.

For your vocal cords to work properly, they need an equal mix of breath and muscle. Breath coming up the breathing column creates a vacuum effect and draws the vocal cords towards each other, and the muscles begin their vibration.

You have likely been eliminating the breath aspect all together and making the muscles do all the heavy lifting. That's why you get vocally fatigued at the end of a long speaking day. That's why you get locked into monotonous vocal patterns that make the jury tune out.

Keep practicing your low breathing, but ALSO practice USING your breath.

We've got a great season of learning, curiosity, inspiration, and action ahead. So, tune in next week. Until next time...keep fostering your voice.