Empowerment

"She was a 'what if' personality and because of that she never really happened." ~ Anne Wilson Schaef

For us to be truly living and to feel that aliveness, we must continually invest in ourselves. The quote above reminded me of how much of our lives we live in that "what if" place. Or that "if only" place, or that "someday" place. Lots of us get stuck there and live our entire lives there.

Do you know anyone like that?

In the past I have talked about the GULP factor and what a juicy place…

"A peacefulness follows any decision, even a wrong one." ~ Rita Mae Brown

I have let go of the notion that there are "right" decisions and there are "wrong" decisions. I have learned any decisions I make are the best decisions I make at a specific point in time with the information I have at that one point in time. As time changes, my decisions change.

Even the "wrong" decisions have shown me the many, many ways I do not want to go. They have been some of my most valuable lessons and with …

"Appreciation can make a day, even change a life. Your willingness to put it into words is all that is necessary." ~Margaret Cousins

"Can I give you some feedback?" Why is it when we hear that question, we freeze and tell ourselves something bad is coming?

I have grown to really appreciate feedback...at least the type of feedback that is very constructive with suggestions on how I might change my behavior for the better. I believe we always have the choice to listen to the feedback and sta…

“Don't lower your expectations to meet your performance. Raise your level of performance to meet your expectations. Expect the best of yourself, and then do what is necessary to make it a reality."  ~Ralph Marston

Now that the holidays are behind us and we’re in the depths of Winter, I thought we could use a reminder of some tips on how to lift yourself out of a downward spiral.

Several years ago, I did some post-graduate work on the neuroscience of leadership. While on this journey, I bec…

"Only when the clamor of the outside world is silenced will you be able to hear the deeper vibration. Listen carefully." ~Sarah Ban Breathnach

Let's think about our days. They are made up of meetings, making phone calls, answering phone calls, checking voicemails, reading emails, responding to emails, texting, updating all our social media sites, attending events, blah, blah, blah...

When was the last time you stopped...paused...and reflected on your progress?

I was reminded of Stephen Covey'…

"The greatest need of human beings is for a sense of meaning and purpose in life." ~ Victor Frankel

One of the most valuable lessons I am learning in my life is that I don't need to do it alone. 'It' can be defined as almost anything I do, including developing a new program for one of my clients, running my business, needing help in repairing something and even walking my dog. What's freeing about this is it saves me time and energy, I get to a better end result because of the shared idea…

“It is not only what we do, but also what we do not do, for which we are accountable." - Moliere

“Accountability” seems to be the buzzword lately. This has been coming up a quite bit over the past year, but it seems to be more predominant now than ever before.

I remember working in companies when the question, “Who is accountable for this work?” would bring up fear when the boss asked it. We knew that he was looking for one individual to blame. It was viewed as negative and we were always lo…

I just completed my fourth year co-leading an 8-month Women in Leadership program. This cohort had twenty-four emerging and new leaders who completed the program. We cover self-awareness in the context of the doing and the being of leadership. Much is revealed over this program that changes the definition of what leaders are for these women.

The closing exercise in individual groups of 8 is to look back on their journey and look forward to their new journey being future leaders. We ask them to …

Resiliency is the ability to bounce back from adversity. It’s the ability to stand up after a hard fall and wipe the blood off your chin.

Dictionary.com defines it as springing back; rebounding; returning to the original form or position after being bent, compressed, or stretched; recovering readily from illness, depression, adversity, or the like; buoyant.

I imagine resiliency to be like a rubber band. It can stretch and stretch and when you let it go, it returns back into its original form. …