No, that is not a typo. It reflects the fact that many of us feel the need to start fresh with our lives at the start of a New Year. My last message provided a few keys for setting you up for success in the New Year with your resolutions. How are you doing thus far? Around this time in January, many have already given up on their resolutions. It isn’t easy to make change and …
Last week’s message focused on Saying Power. That is giving your goals deeper meaning and commitment by saying them out loud. Here’s how it works. One of my goals in 2011 was to spend more time with my family, specifically my mother, my sister and her family. We are a close family in terms of relationships, yet distant geographically as they live in Indiana. A little background – my sister relocated to Indiana for her …
Happy New Year! I do hope you had a relaxing, restful and reinvigorating time with friends and family over the holiday season. Did you do what most of us do and make some of those New Year Resolutions? If you didn’t and would like to, now is always the time. See Resolute Resolutions for tips on how to give your goals true staying power. If you did make some New Year’s resolutions, did you share …
The holiday season is upon us and I hope you are prepared: prepared for the joy the season brings; prepared to share time with family and friends; prepared for a little down time before we start a new. There are just a few days left before we are completely sucked into the holiday time zone. I am sending this message early so you have the opportunity to prepare and plan for some time to reflect …
In the last message I described how my horse instinctually views our relationship as prey (him)/predator (me). Being made aware of our different viewpoints has also led me to learn a different method of communication…one in his language. Far more efficient for me to learn his, don’t you agree? How could learning the language of your co-workers, employees, supervisors or spouse impact your communications? Not much you say? We all speak a common language (let’s …
The Five Love Languages by Gary Chapman is a book I heard mentioned frequently in the past few years so I purchased a copy for summer vacation. It was my attempt to diversify my reading from all the business and self development books I so thoroughly enjoy. Little did I know I had so much to learn, and self-develop, in this department! The book is eye-opening and mind-opening. Much as we like to think we …
As we are now boot-high and egg-nog deep into the holiday season, allow me some of your time for the timeliest of topics…time.“What time is it?” “Do you have the time?” “May I take just a moment of your time?” These are some of the many phrases we hear associated with the ticking of the clock. Most cause us some level of anxiety and a reaction of “Oh, my goodness, look at the time!” or …
Language that is! Last week I shared with you about rebuilding my dressage seat and refining the connection between my horse and me. Just think of the implications of that. We absolutely do not speak the same language. In fact, if we consider nature, my horse and I should not even have a working relationship. Horses are prey animals. That is, they are food for other animals. Think mountain lions, cougars, wolves, etc. That list …
Succeeding at a goal brings wonderful feelings of accomplishment. Celebrate! Enjoy the moment! Success can also create an opportunity for us to recognize that the skills and qualities that got us to our goal will not take us to the next level. This is something I have faced head-on this year in my riding and training in dressage. If you haven’t met us previously, know that my horse Usache and I compete (Adult Amateurs) at …
We are conditioned as youth to expect forward, upward linear progress in life. When we are young our parents chart our growth on the door jamb with pencil marks chronicling our progression. We go through school passing through one grade and then onto the next in a steady forward progression (for most). This continues through college and likely our first one or two (or more) jobs. But for many of us, somewhere along the way, …
You have likely heard the quote “Knowledge is power”, commonly attributed to Sir Francis Bacon. I would like to submit to you an alternative version “Knowledge is only potential power”, from author Napoleon Hill. Why is knowledge not power? Unless something is done with that knowledge (action taken!) it simply fills your head, a book, a library, Wikipedia or some other resource. It does not do anything. It is not that knowledge does not serve …
How do I know I am on the right path when I undertake something new as an adult? Given our experience growing up in this world, we have learned that not everything we undertake is a rip-roaring success from the first move. Remember the story about the bike? As adults, we become more cautious in our approach to new things. We remember the scraped knee or broken arm, the temporary failures. Rather than truly committing …
Isn’t it funny how little things can spark a major change? A recent project to improve the view in our home involved washing the exterior windows. One should know that undertaking such a project involves washing not only the exterior but the interior of the windows as well. Once the outside is clean it reflects how dirty the inside is! Completing the entire project meant sliding the front bedroom bed away from the large window …
Let’s play a game! I am thinking of a four-letter word that begins with “F”. No, not that one! The word I am thinking of is “fail” and its commonly used counterpart “failure”. What does it mean to fail? We typically think of failure as being unsuccessful in our efforts to be or do something. In last week’s message, we recalled our first unsuccessful attempts on the bicycle. Mastering the art of riding a bike …
How can you increase your confidence? Is there a book or course “How to Increase Confidence in 30 Days?” More than likely there is, yet I challenge you to set your own course for increasing confidence. As a young person, and still to this day, I would love to have the ability to give the gift of confidence to people. Yet that is not possible. I cannot bestow on anyone that level of faith in …
Recall from the recent message Life by Choice, I stated that the real surprise was the boost of confidence that came from handling the situation in a positive manner, a choice that I made.What is it about this confidence thing and how can you have more of it? Confidence is defined by Merriam-Webster as “a feeling or consciousness of one’s powers or of reliance on one’s circumstances”.This definition is expounded by stating that this confidence …
In a departure from the usual message from me, I would like to share with you some of the insightful comments that the last blog (Life by Choice) provoked from readers: “Thanks for sharing your experience. Every day life does happen to all of us, sometimes in strange and inconceivable ways. At the moment something unexpected occurs, most of us go straight to panic mode and what plays out is rarely productive or beneficial. Your …
Here is a real world example of how the choices we make, make us. How do you choose to be happy about an unfortunate circumstance? On a recent Saturday my car was broken into and my purse stolen. Yes, I know… there is never a “safe” place to leave your purse in plain sight in your vehicle. Once I got over the initial shock of the discovery, I made a choice as to how I …
So how does Perspective (previous blog) relate to our feelings of happiness? Let’s dig a little deeper and look at the perspective that we bring to things. Life happens to all of us. Substitute another four letter word for life (hint – starts with an “s”) and the phrase takes on a completely different meaning. Life happens…yet we are at choice as to how we deal with it. My dear friends from Tokyo embraced the …
Living in Tokyo taught me many things, yet one of the greatest lessons came through something seemingly simple. It is hard to describe living in a foreign country, yet I think most of you can relate on one level or another. Just take your world, turn it upside down and continue to go about your daily business. As you rise to the challenges of living in a foreign environment, you begin to wonder how other …