Happiness at work & in life

Transform Your Ability to Navigate to Success With the Tipping Point of 3 to 1. 2

Three positive emotions to one negative emotion; this is the scientifically proven tipping point to go from floundering to flourishing.  It sounds easy enough but unfortunately studies consistently show that 80% of us have a ratio of 2 to 1.  Think about the number of times that you feel impatient, angry, frustrated or fearful versus curious, joy, amusement, or grateful.  This ratio is over a period of time (a week or more), not just one day.   A key factor for […]

Coaching Your Strengths: Delegate or Outsource For Success 5

If you have a real “can-do” attitude and strong work ethic then you may be tempted to do it all.  In order to navigate to success with less stress, know your strengths and then delegate or outsource the other tasks as much as possible.  The site for myinternalGPS was outsourced to Sprout Strategies; they specialize in creating web site and blog designs and did a great job.  I could have learned how to program a custom template myself but […]

Coaching to Create Space for Success with Less Stress 2

What does coaching have to do with creating space?  Well, I have found that creating space both physically and mentally will enable you to be more innovative and productive.  I tend to create small paper piles on my desk (sometimes they grow to be big piles).  When I look at the pile I get the nagging feeling that I need to go through it and decide what needs action or just filing.  This nagging feeling is subtle yet persistent and it […]

Coaching Through the Holidays: Presents of Prescence 4

The holidays can be a joyous time and a stressful time or a stressful time with no joy.   It is so easy to get caught up in all the things we feel we must do: shopping, wrapping, year-end tax decisions.    My holiday coaching challenge is to stay present in each moment.  Focusing on the current moment sounds easy but it is not something that comes naturally.  Our brains automatically start going through all the items we still have on […]

Coaching For Navigating to Success: It’s the Little Things 1

I’m not a big fan of New Year’s resolutions.   Do you remember yours from last year? Are they the same ones you made the year before?  It is better to have annual goals than not have any at all, but I have found more success by focusing on daily habits versus annual goals.  If you want to transform your life then change the little things you do every day.  They add up and compound.  Understanding and transforming daily habits are a […]

Technology Thanksgivings in China 4

I am thankful for so many things; this is a list of a few technology items that are especially apparent to me in this fifth week of my time in China. Skype This is by far the internet technology I am most grateful for today; I can not say enough positive things about the skype application.  It has allowed me to have video calls for free around the globe.   I have had consistently good connections almost every day.  The […]

Coaching Common Challenges in China 4

Things are so different here in China and yet there are so many things that we have in common.    There were some common themes from my coaching sessions with the young Chinese women this week.   I think we can all relate to them, so I thought I would share them along with some tips.   How do you balance a lot of pressure and feeling tired from too much studying and work? -Focus on staying present.  Focusing on the current task and […]

Stretching for Leadership Growth & Success 7

Can you picture one of those medieval machines used to stretch and torture?  Periodically I picture this terrible device and although I am in no physical pain whatsoever I still feel like I am being stretched on it.   The level of suffering in my mind is consistent with the level of torture I imagine.  Of course, this is all in my mind but if you have had a “stretching” project or task recently then you can relate to this […]

Are You an Energetic Leader?

I read this blog post earlier this week and loved it, “Three Tips for Becoming an Energizer” by Rosabeth Moss Kanter for Harvard Business Review.  She emphasizes the importance of this overlooked leadership quality and lists three characteristics of energetic leaders (see the link for more): A relentless focus on the bright side. Redefining negatives as positives. Fast response time. Energizers don’t dawdle. People with these qualities light up a room and other people are naturally attracted to them.  […]

Keeping Perspective for More Success with Less Stress 2

Last week I wrote about having strong commitment and letting go of our attachment to the outcome.  Having a strong commitment can become stressful and serious, especially if the deadline is coming more quickly than you anticipated, or other unplanned events take your time away from the work required.  I am working on a couple of deadlines right now and in the midst of this work my cell phone connector stopped working and subsequently my phone died as I […]