Newsletter Second Edition - June 2025

Welcome to this second edition of Knowing your Worth Newsletter!

As the days are getting longer and sunnier, and summer is on everyone’s mind, I started to think about what it means in terms of professional fulfilment, and teams’ dynamics.

Summer is the time of the year most people look forward to – but it can also be stressful, bringing its share of pressures and challenges. I believe summertime is a fantastic opportunity to reflect, recharge and reset, both at the individual, and team levels.

In this edition, I share my take on these infamous ‘3Rs’, how essential they are to fully enjoying your summer, and how empowering this time of the year is.  

I hope you enjoy it!

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Summer means Vitamin D, weekends away, a long-awaited holiday, spending time with family and friends, going on an adventure… It also means wrapping up projects, managing the kids’ schedule after they finish school, being on top of that packing list / handover note… Summer can mean all these things.

Most importantly, summer is about breaking away from the routine and getting some rest. Quite often though, it’s precisely when we aim to relax and make the most of our time off, that everyday worries tend to catch up with us.

Leaving that unwanted extra baggage starts with one simple thing: reflecting. And it goes a long way – helping you to fully recharge, preparing the ground to reset properly… and thrive!

Before taking off: time to Reflect

Heading to the summer holiday is the perfect time to start reflecting on where you are at work and in general.

Reflecting doesn’t mean judging!

Reflecting means observing how the past 6 months have gone: your achievements, how you have felt, what might have been missing. There is no ‘right or wrong’ – just simple facts.

This applies to each of us, but also at a team level: what were the team’s successes, how does the collective and each individual feel, what could be done differently for everyone to thrive.

Taking the time to reflect doesn’t need to be a tedious or painful exercise, and it doesn’t have to span over days. The idea is to simply look back to celebrate your achievements, to be mindful of how you have been feeling, and to identify areas for improvements. And the ideal time to do so is just before the holiday – so you can take stock before your break.

It’s like a handover note to yourself! You know where everything stands, you have full clarity, and you can head to your holiday serene. At the team level, this could be discussed during a special team meeting – with why not some cakes / bubbles at the end?! – and this could even lead to a blueprint for la rentrée, when everyone is back to school.

The well-earned break: time to Recharge

Holidays are essential to recharge the batteries – to regain energy and mental space. But quite often, this extra time at hands can give way to ruminating thoughts – the little ‘hamster in a wheel’.

Hence the importance of freeing your mind before you take off, as this will help you to disconnect – to be fully in the moment, enjoying this well-deserved break.

Disconnecting creates the space to naturally gain new perspectives on your daily life. And as your batteries get in the green, you start getting new ideas. You feel inspired and energised by it all, ready to conquer the world!

La rentrée is not that dreaded moment anymore, but a formidable opportunity to reset, and change things for the better – both individually and collectively.

La rentrée: time to Reset and thrive!

La rentrée is the perfect time to identify and address the challenges that lie ahead.

At the individual level, it’s an opportunity to check whether these challenges still match your aspirations. As the holiday will have been a source of inspiration and renewed perspectives, you have the energy to take actions – actions that are right for you. Whether adjusting your work-life balance, applying for your dream job, or starting your own business.

At the team level, it’s an opportunity to build upon that pre-summer blueprint, to discuss the upcoming challenges, hearing everyone’s ideas and suggestions, establishing clear directions as a collective, and getting everyone on board, motivated, engaged, and happy – the recipe for success.

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Summertime is a wonderful opportunity to nurture our professional and personal fulfilment. We often worry about the future, putting immense pressure on ourselves to do everything perfectly, when everything in life is about timing and being kind to ourselves. The future starts in the now, by creating the space for ourselves, and there couldn’t be a better time than summer to do so.  

Taking the time to reflect ahead of your holiday will help you to disconnect, to fully recharge during your break. You will then be able to reset when back – without any pressure, just naturally and with serenity. As I mentioned at the beginning of this newsletter, summer is a very empowering time – and we all have what it takes, to make the most of it.  

Get in touch

That’s it for this second edition! I hope it offers some inspiration for a most relaxing summer.

And if you need some extra beta-carotene vitamins or after-sun cream: the individual sessions and the workshops and seminars are the perfect pre-holiday prep or a post-holiday boost!

The workshops and seminars, which can last from a few hours to a couple of days, are designed to bring teams ever closer together. By focusing on communication and culture, they help team build an environment with a strong sense of direction, purpose and belonging, where everyone can express their creativity – all key for teams’ success.

As for the individual sessions: we all have the solutions in us, but the pressures we are under generally prevent us from seeing them, leading us to constantly judge ourselves. My approach is all about removing this judgement, to help you reveal these solutions and empower you to embrace your worth and thrive.

So, if you’d welcome some help setting yourself up for a relaxing holiday and a smooth rentrée, do not hesitate to get in touch.

Finally, and as ever, please feel free to share this newsletter with anyone who might be interested, and to add comments on LinkedIn if you wish!

Do look after yourself, have an amazing summer, and I look forward to hearing from you and keeping in touch.

Warmly,
Marie
mariecletienne@gmail.com 

📆 Date: Thursday, April 24, 2025
⏰ Time: 13:00–14:00 CEST (Paris)
📍 Location: Zoom

Fantastic participants and great discussions, for this first webinar!

I especially enjoyed diving into how self-worth opens a third way, removing binary choices:

• you do not have to say yes or no — you can ask for help,

• you are not abdicating or fighting anymore — you are doing what’s right for you.

Many thanks again to everyone for making this first session a moment of happiness and success!

Newsletter First Edition - April 2025

Welcome to the first edition of Knowing your Worth Newsletter!

The launch was a proud and defining moment for me, and I’m excited to share with you more insight into this venture and what’s ahead.

🌱 Knowing your Worth, the genesis

We lost my Father at the end of 2022, after he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. He was only 63, and very much looking forward to retiring.  

This was a wake-up call. We all know and hear this, but it really hit me: every single day should be enjoyed to the fullest – as opposed to being ‘OK’ and looking forward to the weekend, the next holiday, retirement.

I joined the European Commission Energy Task Force in November 2022, less than 2 weeks after my Father’s passing. My first 6 months at the Commission coincided with the first 6 months of grief. A time where I felt like I was in a vortex, lost, and just about ‘floating around’.  

The London Marathon in April 2023 was a turning point. Training for 3 months, raising £4K for the Pancreatic Cancer Charity, and crossing the finish line just over 5h: this was more than numbers and a race – it was the start of new phase: healing and moving forward.  

I began to realise that, as incredible as it was to be part of the Task Force, something was not quite there: I started to feel I didn’t fit anymore, that it was not the right place for me.   

Finding your right place is deeply connected to one essential element: knowing your worth.

It was precisely during my time at the Commission that I truly, and for the first time ever, became aware of my worth. This opened the door to a very empowering reckoning, and was followed with the decision to leave the Commission and launch my own venture.

Figuring out what this venture would be about took a bit of time, until I was struck by the obvious: helping people recognise their worth and find their happy place at work, to fully thrive!

✨ Knowing your Worth, the essence

Once I became aware of my worth, I realised how empowering it is:  

The way you see yourself – and the situations you are living – changes completely. You begin to see what belongs to you, what’s someone else’s baggage, and where egos come into play.

The decisions you make no longer come from a place of fear, resentment or anger. Which means no more ‘abdicating’ or ‘fighting’. You’re doing what is right for you.

You become the Creator and the Master of your Happiness. The sky is your limit!

That is how I’ve been feeling since embracing my worth. And that is what I want to share!

Looking back, I would have been so grateful for someone to tell younger Marie:

‘Hey, relax, everything is fine! You don’t need to prove to yourself that you can prove to others that you can prove to yourself’.

Or

‘Yes, it’s important that your boss appreciates what you are doing and shows it, but you do not need his/her recognition to be fulfilled: this should come from you first’.

These are just a couple of examples – and that would have certainly avoided me experiencing a burnout in my late twenties, and shocking low confidence levels until my mid-thirties.

This is why I created Knowing your Worth: to be that very hand, that person who offers fresh perspectives, new angles, and the keys to unlock solutions we all carry within us – but that sometimes remain just out of sight.  

📆 Knowing your Worth, upcoming event

On Thursday, April 24, I’m hosting a free lunchtime webinar: Knowing your Worth : the Path to Success and Happiness.

In this session, I'll share how self-worth transforms both daily life and team dynamics, helping people reconnect with:

• Their aspirations – unlocking their potential and creativity.

• Each other – fostering environments where everyone can lean on and learn from one another.  

All leading to success and happiness!

I’ll also share more about my unique approach – whether through 1-1 sessions, workshops or seminars – built on deep listening, fresh perspectives, and practical suggestions, always free of any judgement, and with a caring energy.  

I’d love for you to join! Registering takes less than two minutes, and you can just click here to sign up. I’ll be sharing more about this on LinkedIn, so feel free to join the conversation there too.  

✨ Thanks for reading!

That’s it for this First Edition!

Please feel free to share this newsletter and the webinar registration link, with anyone who might be interested. And don’t hesitate to get in touch – it would be lovely to read you.

Do look after yourself, and I look forward to hearing from you and keeping in touch.

Warmly,

Marie
mariecletienne@gmail.com