What’s Your Theme?

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Boldness

I declared that one word my theme for 2004.  Interesting impact!  In fact, whenever I’ve created a theme, whether it coincides with the beginning of a new year or with a certain project on which I’m working, it always has an impact.  This one “BOLDNESS” declared itself so, the word itself on display at my desk inside a picture frame.  It weaved its way into my days and into my mind.  Very often, as I made decisions during the year, it invited me to go for it, rather than play it safe. Read more

The Year I…

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Accomplishments… Are You Celebrating?

Since the last issue entitled, Accomplishments: Celebrate Yours, some of you have shared the year’s highlights with me and others have told me that your list is in the making.  I encourage you to carry through with this exercise, by writing it down and also reading it aloud to someone else.  This helps you to really feel the celebrating part. Read more

Accomplishments: Celebrate Yours

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What You Focus On, You Enlarge

Periodically, I give my clients the assignment of tallying their accomplishments.  Sometimes they groan a little.  After all, goal-oriented people tend to look ahead.  So I usually need to explain that it’s not just a feel-good exercise and it’s not so they can rest on their laurels. Read more

To Don’t List…Get One

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Early Morning Conversations

I walked into my friend’s office to pick her up for our morning ritual: a quick cup of coffee before our busy days took off.  With pen in hand, she seemed quite pleased with what she had just written.  “I’ll be ready in a minute.  I’m just finishing my To-Don’t List.”  I looked at her curiously. Read more

Underpromise and Overdeliver…With a New Twist

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Customer Service 101

The plaque on the wall of our senior vice president’s office had three words: UNDERPROMISE AND OVERDELIVER.  It was a reminder to salespeople and others within our organization to estimate conservatively when making commitments.  The point was not to simply avoid trouble or to shy away from challenges and aim low.  Rather it was to increase the likelihood of meeting and even exceeding customer expectations, so that a reputation of consistency and integrity could be cultivated. Read more

What’s the Plan Today?

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With Gratitude to Christopher Reeve

His Legacy

The report of Christopher Reeve’s death was the first news item I heard yesterday morning.  The newscasters said his legacy was not his acting career, but the way he championed the crusade to find a cure for paralysis.  I recalled hearing Christopher Reeve speak at a seminar I attended four years ago.  He said he had discovered that “you can do a lot more than you think” and that it’s amazing what inner resources we have that we don’t even know about.  He came to understand that our relationships are “more important than doing stuff.”  I believe his openness to these lessons and his very decision to live are the heart of his legacy. Read more

Hit the Reset Button

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True Story

One weekend, my husband and I were in the car on our way to run errands.  We had tried to fit too much into our weekend and were out of sorts.  I was so cranky that I was cranky about feeling cranky but just couldn’t pull myself out of it.  Then, while driving, he leaned over and pressed his forefinger to my forehead.  “What are you doing?” I asked.  “Hitting the reset button,” he replied with a smile.  I pressed his forehead in return and we had a good laugh.  I appreciated his willingness to restart the day with me, and in fact, he had essentially given me permission to do just that.  We did and it made all the difference that day. Read more

Confidence Recipe

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Write Down the Ingredients

A financial services professional wanted to increase his confidence level when giving presentations to his prospective clients.  I asked him, “When you are confident, what do you notice?”  He began to list the conditions for confidence: Being relaxed, having a conversation that is natural and not forced, making a real connection with the person, keeping eye contact, being expressive, enjoying it, having good posture and standing tall, breathing, fully listening, and believing that I am giving a gift to the other person. Read more

That’s History

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What I Needed To Hear

At the end of this year, I’ll be celebrating one of those ‘big decade’ birthdays.  A goal I have is to arrive at my birthday in the best physical condition ever.  Part of what this means to me is taking my exercise routine to the next level.  I’m on track now, but a couple of months ago this wasn’t the case.  I heard myself lamenting to a friend about how disappointed I was in my efforts for the first half of the year.  I was mid-sentence when he interrupted me and said, “Yeah, but that’s history.” Read more