Happiness at work & in life

Thursday Thoughts on Thriving: How To Deliver Bad News

Can you imagine receiving a ticket for speeding and actually thanking the police officer? Well, it happens to Elton Simmons in Los Angeles. Amazingly, he has given 25,000 tickets with no complaints. No complaints in twenty years, since 1992! He’s the guy sitting on his motorcycle aiming the radar gun at cars all day. I heard this great story on the CBS news and found it on line via  the NY Daily News. It’s all in his approach. Elton Simmons stated that […]

Thursday Thoughts on Thriving: The Most Impactful Skill for Negotiating Agreement

In my prior corporate business roles I did a lot of negotiating. Both formal business negotiations with a contract for products and services and less formal negotiations of issues with peers, bosses and teams. In reality, a lot of what we all do comes down to negotiating well! We negotiate to decide what movie to watch or where to go to dinner. One of the most impactful skills for negotiating win/win agreements is to listen for understanding first,  before […]

Thursday Thoughts on Thriving: Moving Meetings

Sometimes you can shift into more thriving through a small shift in what you do. One of my favorite small shifts is having a “walking meeting.” Ask your team if they want to go for a walk around the building to talk as part or all of your meeting. Or if you are meeting a colleague, instead of meeting at a coffee place, meet at a local park and walk while you talk. This little shift will make a […]

Thursday Thoughts on Thriving: Thriving in the Midst of Political Mudslinging 1

“One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you wind up being governed by your inferiors.” – Plato How can you thrive and still participate in the political process, in the midst of all the political mudslinging? Here are some ideas: Mute the TV during those commercials (or skip them with your DVR or streaming) Even if it is aligned with your political beliefs, if it is negative or full of fear statements they can […]

Thursday Thoughts on Thriving: Get More Time by Giving Your Time

Harvard Business Review Management Tip-of-the-day, “Out of Time? Give Some Away,” showed up in my in box this week and I loved reading that there was research done on how to be more “time affluent.” It turns out you can feel less pressured and more relaxed if you do something for someone else when you take a break versus mindless surfing of the web. I don’t think that surfing the web is always wasted; it does sometimes pop up […]

Thursday Thoughts on Thriving: Post Traumatic Growth

  In my last post, “Epiphanies & Shifting Habits” I referred to John Haidt’s book “The Happiness Hypothesis.” I am going back to his book again because I had it top of mind with the memorials of the 9/11 tragedy this week. There is a whole chapter called “The Uses of Adversity” that is full of interesting research;  he uses the term, “post traumatic growth” to describe people who grow and thrive more after a tragic event. Of course, […]

Thursday Thoughts on Thriving: Epiphanies & Shifting Habits

In his book, “The Happiness Hypothesis” Jonatahan Haidt explains the challenge with an epiphany that shifts your outlook or even changes your life. After the light bulb goes off, you are often right back in your prior habits three months later. In order to make lasting change you need to retrain your emotional mind and this takes prolonged practice over time to make the shift. This is also the challenge with news years resolutions or a short term diet; […]

Thursday Thoughts On Thriving: Hearts & Minds 2

Our culture is full of “mind over matter” messages that lead you to believe that you can think and rationalize and use brute force or will power to make things happen. Contrary to this belief, there is a lot of interesting research supporting that you need the emotional side of your motivation even more than the logical side and that your level of willpower or energy is limited. So if you do use sheer will power then you can only […]

Thursday Thoughts on Thriving: Going For Gold 1

“Don’t be a spectator on this trip. There’s no death worse than just waiting around. Set your heart on the hero’s gold … And, go.”   – Rumi  (5th century Persian Poet) What is my purpose or what is gold for me? I have had clients struggle with this question and I have had my own struggle with it since  I know that having a clear destination is an important part of thriving with my internalGPS. The struggle comes from […]

Thursday Thoughts on Thriving: Rising Above Misfortune

“Little minds are tamed and subdued by misfortunes; but great minds rise above them.” – Washington Irving The headlines are full of misfortunes, some bigger than others. The tragedy in Colorado is hard to comprehend when you hear the friends and family’s’ stories of coping after their losses. It will take time to heal from this horrible pain. It is hard to believe that it has been over ten years since the terror in New York city on 9/11. Thriving […]