When your core values align, with your employees, clients, partners and vendors, you can make mistakes. When trust is high, and you’ve delivered on what you said time after time, you can make mistakes. When you go the extra mile, especially when it’s not required or expected, you can make mistakes. When you’ve done none of the above, don’t be surprised if it only takes one mistake to lose a relationship, an…
Do you want solutions? In sessions, I’ll be coaching a team while solving issues and they’ll stray from the topic at hand. They’ll dive into multiple competing discussions piling onto the issue while wasting precious time circling the issue, afraid to say what’s really at the core of it all. A simple process clears this up. When you use it, your time becomes maximized, you solve more, and get to the heart of things. It’s four simple steps: While step…
Over time, I’ve learned that life rewards action over intelligence. Being trapped in a cycle of overthinking, holding back from taking the necessary steps to move forward rarely leads to a better outcome. I’ve come to realize that courage is the missing ingredient that brings intelligence to life. Being smart doesn’t guarantee success or fulfillment. When I step outside my comfort zone and take action, I begin to see real progress. Challenges become a…
How do you change the outcome when you feel overwhelmed, hopeless, or stuck? You need to ask a new question. What a mind-blowing concept. I was introduced to a powerful question from Dan Sullivan. He said when you consider doing something new, ask “how can I achieve this doing nothing?” What? I’m a doer. A question like this has never occurred to me other than this moment. Yet when…
There’s a big difference between inspiration and motivation. As a leader, your job is inspiration. You are the one who has to dig down, find the goodness and communicate it even when the circumstances around you suggest otherwise. Your message is always what’s possible, where we’re going, not where we are and you need to generate an experience of certainty when things feel chaotic and uncertain. Is it easy? Not always, but that’s part of…
We all have competing priorities happen. How do you decide what comes first when everything seems important? Here is some criteria to help clarify, but remember, the best answer is to prepare, plan, and bust up your own procrastination. Most of us believe there’s always more time. There is not. Ask these 5 questions in any order when your priorities are on a collision course: The best answer? …
Discipline. It’s not a popular subject. It often gets confused with punishment. It’s not at all the same. Discipline is closest in my mind to commitment. The kind you make to do something even when it’s challenging; when it’s not convenient; when it’s unpopular; when you’d rather not. It’s a rare thing to witness discipline in action. Ask anyone who’s mastered anything, and they will say it’s about being disciplined, being persistent, being committed to something greater than comfort. It’s the not-so-magic ingredient…
Every situation in life is transitory. We fall into a sort of comfort with life at times thinking it should be occurring according to our plans. When we can embrace and accept the changes with grace, we become nimble, creative, and resourceful. When we bristle, thinking life should occur on our terms, we are disappointed a majority of the time. As…
We’ve all been there — waiting until the last minute to complete a task, thinking it only affects us. However, the ripple effect of procrastination extends far beyond us. Unintentionally, our actions impact those around us, sometimes significantly. When we delay, we unknowingly disrupt schedules, burden others, and compromise the quality of collaboration. The dominoes start to fall. When we do this repeatedly, it will impact the relationship by…
“What can I help you with?” What a great question. It opens the door to learning, partnership, and collaboration. Many years ago, when I was in a state of overwhelm, I called a friend to talk and in the process of doing so I broke down in tears. She patiently listened and when I finished verbally vomiting on her, she asked “how…