Summertime brings back memories of neighborhood softball games, Hide and Seek, “Tag- You’re It”, and many more. I can smell the grass, feel the sun and see that big fly ball coming right at me in center field that I somehow managed to catch in a co-ed softball game; what a moment! Hours flew by before we all had to run home for dinner. Have you ever had this feeling at work? I am grateful for having this experience […]
As we in the US celebrate our freedom this summer I have been thinking about freedom as a state of mind. It is a way of looking at our choices. It is easy to forget that we have choices. We automatically think that there is no choice but to set that alarm, get up and then go to that workplace that is draining our life energy a bit more every day. Sometimes it just takes a small shift in […]
There has been a lot of press about Apple’s big milestone in May of becoming the largest technology company in the world at $50 billion plus (and only second in size to ExxonMobil in the U.S.). Recently a friend sent me Steve Job’s commencement speech from 2005 (linked). His messages are timeless; I am focusing on a just a couple of them below. Failure As I contemplated my departure from the corporate world to Entrepreneur it was a […]
To celebrate this year of blogging I reflected back on some of the obstacles I faced in writing it and hope that sharing these lessons will help you navigate to success (toward your dreams). Daunting This is the best word to describe how I felt as I looked at my new site with zero blog posts in June 2009. As I created my site, I had fun looking at different blog sites to clarify what I liked but I […]
It is unfortunate that one of our American idioms- curiosity killed the cat- is fear-based and encourages us to stay put. There is so much power and enjoyment in shifting to an inquisitive attitude that encourages new discoveries and an open mind. It is possible to grow your inquisitive skills through practice and shifting of your thoughts to become more curious. Use of these skills will make your path to success more interesting and enjoyable and may even shift […]
I read a couple posts this past week about keeping things simple and not grinding away at things (see links below). It is such a powerful (and simple!) message. I sometimes catch myself making something more complex that it needs to be or inviting struggle into a situation that does not need it or keeping stress levels higher through the constant checking of new e-mails on my phone during any moment of silence (or even sitting at a traffic […]
It is so powerful to use your gut instincts in pointing you in the right direction for success. Using your gut takes practice and is a bit of a challenge if you are used to using your logic or head to analyze and then re-analyze which way to go. This is my typical mode or logical process: look at all the pros and cons and set up a list of criteria and rate each criterion. Then logically review which […]
I scrapped my original topic idea this week due to something I witnessed. I was in the bulk food section of a local grocery store when it happened. An older woman, nicely dressed, lifted up the lid to the bulk cashews, scooped some nuts out into her hand and then proceeded to snack on them while she pushed her cart toward the deli section. I was amazed. The voice in my head began chattering: “Does she realize she just […]
We were all told, “Be good, share your toys” and many of you probably say this all the time to your kids. But, how often do you hear this advice in your business? And I’m not talking about sharing your marketing information with your customers or sharing your latest accomplishments with your boss. How about sharing your potential business with your competitors? Does this make you cringe? It is counter-intuitive but if you really want to grow your business […]
I continue to work on catching myself in offering up my opinion about something before I am asked for it or before I ask permission to give it. This was a good lesson in my coach training; let the client work through and decide based on what is best for them and hold back on my opinion unless they clearly ask for it. This is a big distinction from consulting where the client is paying you for your opinion […]
