Happiness at work & in life

How Do I Give Powerful Feedback & Inspire Them to Change?

One of the most common challenges that I hear from my clients is about how to give feedback for accountability that will result in a change of behavior. In her book, “Daring Greatly” Dr. Brené Brown explains that both giving and receiving feedback is an act of vulnerability. It is very tempting and easy to “armor up” with protective anger, self-righteousness or threats when giving  feedback and unfortunately this rarely results in the desired change in behavior. I know I […]

Your internalGPS Cannot Function Without This!

No matter who you are, what you do, or where you want to go, you absolutely cannot do it alone. You need relationships. And if you want to have a journey that is more successful, fulfilling, smoother and more enjoyable, then you need to have great relationships with the people all around you. At work. At home. Even in the line at the store or in the car next to you on the backed-up freeway. Yes, even those strangers […]

Coaching & Programming Your internalGPS for More Creativity & Innovation

How are you programming your internalGPS to be (more) creative and innovative as we go into this new year? Every one of us is creative; I used to think this was reserved for my very talented Mother and Sister who always had (and still have) a creative project going. I’d say, “Oh I just didn’t get that gene.” What a bunch of crap, I have just as much creativity as the next person and this idea of not being […]

Putting the Happy in Happy Holidays!

This time of year can bring up so much comparison. Comparing what is to what was in my own past, comparing what is versus what I see on those holiday commercials, comparing to my friend’s pictures of their holiday cheer on Facebook, comparing to what our friends or family are planning and doing and how their houses look or don’t look, there is no shortage of comparison! And it can take the happy right out of this time of […]

Three Ways to Undermine Trust in a Personal or Business Relationship

1. Try and make them feel better by giving an example of how much worse it could be.   Business Example: “The failures of your product on our manufacturing line are causing us large increases in scrap costs.” A horrible reply would be, “Well it could be much worse, we could not be delivering at all” or “The failures are even worse over at company B.” Personal Example: “I am so upset, I just found out that my friend […]

A Great Tool If Your internalGPS Has You Lost

A common way that I get lost and my clients get lost is in feeling confused or overwhelmed with large amounts of data or many different options. One of my favorite tools for cutting through the confusion is a mind map. I found this great mind map (pictured below) of all the different benefits and uses of a mind map on Flickr, click on this link to see the detail,  The Mind Map by Zapckr on Flickr. The simple process […]

How My Experience As a Cashier Has Made Me Happier & More Productive 3

I know from experience that a lot of people don’t even look you in the eye, let alone talk to you, when you are a cashier. I see it now, when I watch people in the coffee place or at the store, they’re too busy talking to their friend, looking at their phone or just somewhere far away in their mind. It is easy to not even notice them. My prior years as a cashier gave me the gift […]

What Compelling Image Is Pulling You? 2

“Real motivation is that drive from within, you have a compelling image inside, not a travel poster on the wall.” – Dennis Waitly I coach and speak about creating a vision. A big clear and compelling vision that gets you (and your team) excited. It may start with a poster on a wall or a challenge from a customer or boss or something else externally but it will take flight if you internalize it so that it is truly […]

What Routines Help You Find Your Way to Success? 3

I admit that I am a sucker for a good headline, this one especially appealed to me because I am such a morning person: “5 Things Super Successful People Do Before 8 AM” And then I got even more affirmation because I do 4 out of the 5 things a lot of the time (wish I could say every day). Just this morning, I went on a walk, ate a good breakfast, meditated/visualized, reviewed my day’s to-do list and […]

Diving In To Change 2

I heard this great metaphor in the movie, “The Great Exotic Marigold Hotel”: Change is like a big wave, resist it and you will get knocked down, dive into it and you will swim through to the other side. The changes you resist in your industry, in your organization or in your life are the ones that stress you out and sap your energy. If you can figure out a way to dive in and deal with the changes […]