Be the Light in the Darkness

 

Sometimes despite our best efforts, things go awry.  

Be the source that raises the level of energy of those around you. Utilize Desire, focus and courage to help yourself and others. 

Watch this video for tips on becoming the light in darkness for those around you.

If you would like to learn more about building confidence, being authentic, and moving beyond old patterns that keep you from fully enjoying your life, check out my book, The Pinocchio Principle: Becoming a Real Leader, available at Amazon.com or BarnesandNoble.com.

 

Want to step up your game? Watch my latest video to learn the single most important prerequisite for busting through your limits.

How to double (or triple) your productivity in just ten minutes a day

Do you ever start your day feeling like you are already behind?  Even though its morning, you wake up feeling stressed out, overwhelmed and itching to get a jump on things so you can bust through them. 

Did you know that when you start your day in that state, the chances that you’ll accomplish much are slim at best?

There is a better way to access your best work that will allow you to not only get more done, but enjoy yourself in the process.  And it can take as little as ten minutes a day.  Watch this video to find out how.

Want more?

Check out the The Integrated Leader’s Guide to Freedom and Flow, a four week pilot program I am kicking off on May 2.   

The program is designed to help high achieving leaders break out of feeling stressed, overwhelmed, and feeling at the mercy of their environments so they can access an optimal state where they can think more clearly, get more done in less time, access their best performance, and feel a greater sense of satisfaction and fulfillment with their work and lives overall.

Spaces are limited to 15 participants, and registration is closing on Friday, April 29.  So be sure to act quickly!

Dead Plants and Other Missed Opportunities

Sometimes life’s greatest lessons come to us in simple, yet profound ways.  This week’s video is about an insight that hit me during a rather lame attempt I made with gardening.  I hope you enjoy it!

 

 

 

Here’s what I said in the video:

See this? I bought it two weeks ago. I was so excited when I saw it. It was beautiful! These flowers were pink and vibrant with the just the perfect graceful little curve. And I couldn’t wait to get it home and put it in my garden.

So I bought it, I took it home and I didn’t have time to plant it right away. I left it on my patio and then I went and did all the things I thought I needed to do.

The next day I thought “Oh! My plants!” But I didn’t have time to plant them that day either. So I turned the hose on them and watered them and made sure they still looked beautiful and vibrant.

And the next day came and went.

And the day after that — “Aagh – oh no! My plants, my beautiful flowers!” I ran out to the patio and they looked like this.

And I realized something. When you get an idea — something that’s bursting in your head and blooming and beckoning, you’ve got to take action on it — when it’s in the prime of its life. Because if you don’t, those ideas, they fly right out of your head and they go somewhere else.

So, if you have something that’s blossoming, plant it now.

Plant while you’re blooming.

Simple Solutions for Getting Out of A Funk

Have you ever found yourself stuck in a lousy place, just not sure how to pull yourself back up?  When we get that way, often times we tend to focus on things that will just bring us further down – evidence that supports why we have good reason to feel lousy.  But every once in awhile, we open our eyes to find simple gifts that have the power to snap us out of it and bring us back to a better place.  This week’s video is about my experience with a dear friend, who did just that for me many years ago – in a way that I will never forget.

 

 

 

Here’s what I said in the video…

 

There was a time in college I remember coming home just so down – in a really bad place. I had just taken an exam and I was sure I just totally blew it. And I think I was behind on several papers… and the guy I had a crush on didn’t even know I was alive… and I just felt terrible!

I came back and my roommate was there and I thought “oh this is great – I have somebody to unload on”. So I just pounced.

“Oh listen to what happened to me today, and then I did this, etc., etc., etc.” And I was just in my thing.

My roommate turned around – and I wasn’t sure what she was doing, so I just kept talking at her. And she turned around [with a hanger wrapped around her head and a perfectly serious face] and just said “oh yeah, I’m sure that was really hard, yeah…”.

To this day, when I get all hung up in my stuff, I think back to my little hanger head roommate and I realize that when we think everything is falling apart and nothing’s going to get better, there’s always something somewhere that will make us smile – and sometimes it’s just right in front of us.

Make the most of what is right in front of you.

Shifting From Sabotage To Success

It has been said that every thought you have has an impact on something.   And I believe it.  What about the thoughts that fly randomly through your brain – the ones you have little or no awareness of?  And what about the thoughts that get stuck in your head, repeating themselves over and over and over…?  That’s what this week’s video post is all about.  I hope you enjoy it!

Here’s what I said (and sang) in the video:

A SONG OF SABOTAGE:  “I cannot help but feeling that I have so much at stake. So I lock myself inside my head and I just run in place.  So many directions, I don’t know which way to go. I’m so busy doing nothing, that I’ve nothing to show. I’ve got a new LOW…”

Lyrics from A New Low by Middle Class Rut

 A SONG OF SUCCESS:  “When a problem comes along, you must whip it.  Before the cream sets out too long, you must whip it. Now whip it, into shape. Shape it up.  Get straight.   Go forward.  Move ahead.  Try to detect it.  It’s not too late – to whip it.  Whip it good.“

Lyrics from Whip It by Devo

 

 “I can’t help feeling like I have so much at stake so I lock myself inside my head and I just run in place.” Do you have a song like this running through your head?

We get songs stuck in our heads and before we know it, they’re playing over and over. It’s really similar to the negative beliefs and doubts and negative things we say to ourselves all throughout the day. And we may not even have any idea what it is we’re telling ourselves until we recognize that we’re just feeling lousy.

When that happens, we can get conscious of what’s at the root of that.  And often times, it’s something that we can easily adjust. The only way that I know of to get a song out of my head that won’t go away is to replace it with another song.

So, if you think of that in terms of what we’re saying to ourselves, what’s the song that you need to play inside your head right now?  What’s the song that you can play that’s going to make you turn your view around and help you show up in a whole new way?

For more on Shifting From Sabotage To Success:

The Pinocchio Principle: Becoming the Leader You Were Born to Be

A Strategy for Overcoming Fear

The Tyranny of Should: Chore vs. Choice

Beyond Boundaries

Lightening Your Load: Mind Over Matter

Image by digitalart.

Skiing Into (and Through) Fear

Have you ever found yourself in a situation where you suddenly realized you were in way over your head?  Maybe you weren’t sure you were ever going to get through it and had no idea what to do.  This week’s video post is about an experience I had like that – on the ski slopes.  It’s something I remember whenever I find myself in a jam, or consumed by fear or worry.  I hope you enjoy it!

 

Here’s what I said in the video:

A few years ago I had the opportunity to go snow skiing, which I love to do and hadn’t done in years. I couldn’t wait to hit the slopes, and I knew I needed to start slowly because it had been a really long time. So I started off with easy runs and it wasn’t long before I said, “The heck with this, I’m going straight for the black run.”

I picked a run and got to the top of the hill. After pushing myself off and getting about a third of the way down I realized, “Oh my God, this is SO over my head!” There were moguls everywhere. I’m talking about three foot in diameter and about three foot high little hills — all next to each other.

To make things worse the slope of the hill was almost vertical. It was awful. I got about a third of the way down the hill and realized this was a mistake. I looked up and knew I couldn’t climb back to the top. And just at that moment this fog rolled in — fog so thick I felt like I could grab it and hold it in my hand. I couldn’t see more than three feet in front of me.

I panicked. All I wanted to do was get down the mountain. So I thought, “OK. I’m just going to go for it.” I pushed off and plop, came smacking down to the ground, skis flying in different directions. And then it took me 20 minutes to find them because I couldn’t see anything. I finally got my skis back on and tried it again and thwhap — same thing.

I thought, “I just have to figure this out from where I’m at.” I realized just about all I could see was the mogul in front of me and if I could just ski around the edge of the mogul and bend my legs in such a way that they absorbed the shock, I was able to get around that mogul and stop. Then I could look at the next mogul, ski around the edge of that and stop. I was making some progress. And then I looked down toward the end of the mountain and guess what? Totally wiped out again.

I realized,  “If I’m ever going to make it down this mountain I’m going to have to forget about reaching the bottom and take one mogul at a time and trust that I’m going to know exactly what I need to know how to make it — one mogul at a time.”

What I learned from that is to get out of fear you can’t go back into the past, and you can’t get preoccupied with what needs to happen in the future. You have to stay right in the moment and take it one moment at a time. And when you do, you will have everything you need to get through it.

You have everything you need in this moment.
You’ll have everything you need in the next moment too.
BE where you are.

 

Mountain photo by Sarah Nicholl from Dreamstime.com.

A Simple Little Shift

What’s not working in your life right now?  Does it have you spinning into a bit of a tizzy?  This week’s video features a story that might provide insight and inspiration to finding the solution you seek – by simply looking at your challenge again, with new eyes.  I hope you enjoy it!

 

 

 

Here’s what I said in the video:

This clock belongs to a dear friend of mine, and she told me a story the other day that was just so enlightening to me. She gave me permission to retell it.

She loves this clock, just loves it. It matches her office beautifully. She has a couple of brushed steel lamps [that match], and it’s the perfect size, and she loves to look at it. But one day it stopped working.

So she went to put in new batteries and to her incredible disappointment, after she put the batteries in it, the clock still didn’t work. She wanted to have something in her office that was as beautiful, if not more beautiful, than this clock. So she did what any of us would do when we really love something enough that we want to replace it or replicate it. She drove all over town looking for a clock that was like this one — store after store after store. And finally she found one that wasn’t quite the same, but it would do.

So she brought it home and put the batteries in, and guess what — that clock didn’t work either! So she opened it up to take the batteries out and she realized, wait a minute – a light bulb went on in her head.

She went she got her old clock that she loved so much and thought she would try this again. So she opened the clock and put the battery in the opposite way – lo and behold it worked again.

I love this story, because it is so representative of we tend to do when something isn’t working. We run all over the place, rack our brains, and sometimes go to great lengths and great expense trying to come up with a solution, when all we needed to do was make a simple little shift using what we already have right in front of us.

Sometimes all you really need is a simple little shift.

 

Broken glasses picture by Edward Phillips from Dreamstime.com.

A Strategy for Overcoming Fear

This week’s post features a video that I initially didn’t equate with getting out of fear.  In fact, I originally titled the video From Self Absorbed to Self Empowered.  But after writing last week’s post, A New Way to Look at Fear, I realized that this video is actually a demonstration of one of the best ways I know to get out of fear.  It’s simple, easy and powerful.  I hope you enjoy it.  And I encourage you try it for yourself.  Let me know how it goes, will you?

Here’s what I said in the video:

One of the things I’ve found that helps me get out of my self – meaning out of my head – out of my self-absorbed preoccupation with worrying about how I look, how I come across, whether or not I can do something is to think about what I want to experience.

So one day I was playing with this affirmation or intention of what it was that I wanted.  It started with “Let me see love.” Wouldn’t that be great to see love everywhere you look?  That if even when the face of things don’t seem very lovely that I could see love.

Then I thought what would be even better is if I could feel love.   So I could say “Let me feel love.”  And how great is that?  That I could relax in this comfort and feeling of just love everywhere.

And then I thought, “Well, how about if I give love?  So let me give love.”  How much better would that be because if I’m giving love, surely I’m feeling it!  And if I’m feeling it,  surely I’m seeing it.

And then it hit me that what I really want more than anything else is to be love.  Let me BE love.

And I think with that intention, there’s probably nothing I can’t do.

 

For more on overcoming fear:

 

The Pinocchio Principle: Becoming the Leader You Were Born to Be

Just Let it Rip – The Problem with Polished

Taking Your Leap, Part II

Motivation vs. Inspiration

The Power of a Story

Photograph by Fritz Langmann from http://www.dreamstime.com/free-stock-image-young-woman-appalled-rimagefree1828966-resi3423159.

Can You Take a Compliment?

Do you remember the last time someone gave you praise?  Did you let their compliment land?  Or did you feel the need to deflect it?  This week’s video post was motivated by an observation I had about my own behavior and a surprising insight that came when I stopped to really think about it.

If you like it, pass it on. Tweet

Here’s what I said in the video:

I don’t deserve that. What’s this?  This is SO not true. Oh, this isn’t for me – this is for her. What are you giving me this for?  I don’t want that!  I don’t deserve that.

You think I’m good?   I’ll give you ten reasons why I’m not.

Do you have trouble taking a compliment? A lot of us do. You know, we were brought up to thinking that it’s not good to toot your own horn and that you shouldn’t draw attention to yourself. But the thing we don’t realize is that when we don’t take people’s compliments, we’re basically telling them that their opinions don’t matter. Telling them that what they think has little, if any, impact on us and that we really don’t care what they think.  Most of us would hate to tell anybody that.

So, the next time someone gives you a compliment, realize, it’s a gift.

 Good things are always coming your way.  Are you willing to receive them?

Thumb photo by Craig Hill from Dreamstime.com.