Jody Urquhart

Jody Urquhart Funny Motivational Speakers videos, blogs posted here

We spend more waking hours with our colleagues than with our families, yet most of our conversations never get deeper than 'How was your weekend?'

In times of crisis we don't need more Slack channels or email threads.

09/03/2026

Why Bad Habits Keep Winning

Bad habits don’t win because they’re stronger than you.

They win because they’re easier.

Your brain loves efficiency. It looks for familiar patterns that save energy and keep you safe.

So under pressure, you don’t rise to your best intentions.

You fall back on what you’ve practiced.

You interrupt.
You avoid.
You complain.
You control.
You rush.
You stop listening.

And every time that habit gives you a little reward — relief, certainty, control, comfort — your brain learns:

Do that again.

That’s why changing a habit isn’t just about trying harder.

First, you have to catch yourself on autopilot.

Trigger → Habit → Reward

You can’t disrupt a pattern you don’t notice.

Disrupt autopilot. Lead human.

I’m excited to be speaking at the Alberta Development Officers Association Conference in Olds, Alberta on September 16!D...
09/02/2026

I’m excited to be speaking at the Alberta Development Officers Association Conference in Olds, Alberta on September 16!

Development officers make decisions every day that shape our communities — while navigating regulations, competing priorities, public expectations and sometimes some pretty strong opinions. 😄

And under pressure, we don’t always rise to our best intentions.

We fall to the level of our habits.

How quickly do we react?
Do we really listen — or are we already preparing our response?
Do we assume, defend, avoid or rush?
Do we see the person in front of us — or just the problem we need to solve?

So much of leadership happens on autopilot.

I’ll be talking about how recognizing and disrupting those unconscious patterns can help us communicate better, handle conflict differently and stay human when the pressure is on.

Looking forward to spending time with development officers from across Alberta!

https://adoa.net/conference/

What keeps happening in your life, even though you keep telling yourself you want something different?The same rushed mo...
08/31/2026

What keeps happening in your life, even though you keep telling yourself you want something different?

The same rushed mornings.
The same unfinished tasks.
The same difficult conversations you avoid.
The same phone scrolling when you feel uncomfortable.
The same promises to slow down, speak up, or finally change.

That may not be bad luck.

It may be your habits.

Not just the obvious ones.

What time you wake up.
What you eat.
What you watch.
Where you go.

Look at the habits you don’t even realize are habits.

Perfectionism.
Procrastination.
People pleasing.
Overextending yourself.
Multitasking.
Rushing.
Avoiding.
Trying to control everything.
Reaching for your phone the second you’re uncomfortable.

Research suggests about 43% of our everyday behaviour is habitual — repeated in familiar contexts with very little conscious thought.

That’s almost half your life running on patterns.

And here’s the strange part:

The habits that shape us the most often don’t feel like habits.

They feel like personality.

They feel like circumstances.

They feel like, “That’s just how I am.”

Maybe they’re not.

If you want to change your life, start noticing what you keep repeating.

Your life doesn’t just reflect what you want.

It reflects what you repeatedly do.

We can disagree without dehumanizing.One of our unconscious habits is sorting people.I like you.I don’t like you.You’re ...
08/28/2026

We can disagree without dehumanizing.

One of our unconscious habits is sorting people.

I like you.
I don’t like you.

You’re with me.
You’re against me.

Friend.
Enemy.

Our brains love categories. They make people easier to predict.

But not everybody has to be your friend.

And that doesn’t make them your enemy.

We don’t have to elevate every relationship to the level of deep connection.

We can disagree.
We can have boundaries.
We can decide someone isn’t our person.

And still respect their humanity.

Maybe one of the most important habits we can disrupt is the need to turn people we don’t understand, agree with—or even like—into the enemy.

We can disagree without dehumanizing.

08/26/2026

The 3-Step Habit Loop That Controls Your Life

Most of your habits aren’t decisions.

They’re loops.

1. TRIGGER
Something happens.
Stress. An email. A look. A meeting. Boredom. Uncertainty.

2. ROUTINE
You react automatically.
You check your phone. Rush. Interrupt. Avoid. Overthink. Complain. Rescue. Say yes when you mean no.

3. REWARD
Your brain gets something it wants.
Relief. Control. Validation. Certainty. Distraction.

And your brain says: Perfect. Let’s do that again.

That’s how a reaction becomes a routine.
And a routine becomes how you lead, work, communicate—and live.

You don’t break a habit by trying harder.

Keep the trigger. Find a better routine. Get the same reward.

Start noticing the loop.

Because once you can see the habit, you finally have a choice.

What you reward gets repeated.And sometimes, as leaders, we’re accidentally rewarding the exact habits we complain about...
08/24/2026

What you reward gets repeated.

And sometimes, as leaders, we’re accidentally rewarding the exact habits we complain about.

We say we want ownership — but jump in and rescue.
We say we want balance — but celebrate overwork.
We say we want thoughtful decisions — but reward whoever responds fastest.

Quietly Disruptive Leadership™ is about noticing those patterns — and interrupting them.

Because culture isn’t just what you say matters.

It’s what you reinforce every day.

08/18/2026

Why is it so much easier to see someone else’s habits than your own?

You can spot it immediately.

They interrupt.
They over-explain.
They avoid conflict.
They need the last word.
They check their phone every 30 seconds.
They get defensive the second they feel challenged.

And you think…

How do they not see this?

Meanwhile, someone is probably thinking the exact same thing about you.

That’s the strange thing about habits.

Other people’s habits are visible to us.
Our own habits feel like us.

We don’t think, I’m getting defensive.

We think, I’m explaining.

We don’t think, I’m avoiding conflict.

We think, This isn’t worth getting into.

We don’t think, I need validation.

We think, I just want to make sure everyone’s okay with it.

A habit practiced long enough stops feeling like a behaviour you’re choosing.

It starts feeling completely reasonable.

That’s why self-awareness isn’t just knowing who you are.

It’s getting curious about the things you do automatically—especially under pressure.

Because everyone around you is experiencing habits you may not even realize you have.

Your intentions are private.
Your habits are public.

I just finished a virtual seminar with a group of high-level property managers, and one of our conversations was about a...
08/14/2026

I just finished a virtual seminar with a group of high-level property managers, and one of our conversations was about a habit we rarely admit to:

Seeking validation.

It doesn’t usually look like insecurity.

At work, it can look like:

Over-explaining a decision you’ve already made.

Asking three more people what they think—even though you already know what you think.

Re-reading an email five times because you’re worried about how it will be received.

Softening a clear message until nobody knows what you’re actually asking.

Getting defensive when someone questions your decision.

Working harder than necessary because you want people to notice how much you’re carrying.

Saying yes when you really want to say no.

And my personal favourite: asking for feedback when what we really want is agreement.

These habits make sense.

Our brains like certainty. And other people’s approval can temporarily give us that.

But leadership sometimes requires being able to tolerate the discomfort of not being validated.

Not everyone will agree with you.

Not everyone will understand your decision.

Not everyone will think you handled it perfectly.

The question is:

Can you still trust yourself enough to move forward?

08/13/2026

The hidden reason your brain repeats bad habits?

Because at some point, they worked.

Interrupting.
Overthinking.
Avoiding conflict.
People-pleasing.
Checking your phone every 30 seconds.
Getting defensive.
Taking over because “it’s just easier if I do it.”

Your brain didn’t create these habits because they were good for you.

It created them because they solved something quickly.

They reduced uncertainty.
Avoided discomfort.
Gave you a little hit of relief.
Helped you feel more in control.

And your brain loves anything that works fast.

So it remembers:

Oh good. We survived. Let’s do THAT again.

The problem?

A habit that once protected you can eventually start limiting you.

That’s why changing a bad habit isn’t just about having more discipline.

You have to notice what your brain is getting from it.

Because we don’t repeat habits for no reason.

We repeat them because somewhere in the loop… there’s a reward.

This September, I’ll be in Toronto as the Closing Keynote Speaker at Women in Payments Canada. I love speaking to ro...
08/11/2026

This September, I’ll be in Toronto as the Closing Keynote Speaker at Women in Payments Canada.

I love speaking to rooms full of smart, driven women—especially about the very human side of leadership.

The pressure. The expectations. The habits we fall into when we’re moving too fast. And the little things we do every day that have a much bigger impact than we realize.

We’ll laugh at some of it.

We’ll probably recognize ourselves in more of it than we’d like. 😂

And hopefully, we’ll leave thinking a little differently about how we show up.

Can’t wait

Address

Calgary, AB
T3H3S8

Telephone

1(403)540-4055

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Jody Urquhart posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The School

Send a message to Jody Urquhart:

Shortcuts

Featured

Share

Category