Leadership and Workplace

How To Ask For Coaching

You Have To Knock If You Want To Enter I recently onboarded a new client who self-described as “super excited” to begin and confessed that he’s “been waiting forever for this opportunity.” Knowing that his organization has invested in coaching for many years, I was curious: “Why have you been waiting?”   His reply: “I didn’t know how to ask for it.”  …

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Leadership and Workplace, Strategies for Personal Change

ThanksGETTING – How do you receive a Gift?

As the saying goes, It is better to give than to receive. But if you pour water into a leaky glass, it won’t slake your thirst. So, let’s look at the receiving end of the process.  Do you have a friend who is impossible to praise? If you say, “I appreciate the work you did,” might they say, “thank you for saying that?” …

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ThanksGIVING – How do you offer it?

As the American Thanksgiving holiday approaches, our thoughts turn to Giving Thanks and the emotion of Gratitude. This emotion is so foundational to the experience of all the Positive Emotions that I believe it is impossible to oversell its importance or speak of it too often.  Gratitude is defined as, the quality of being warmly or deeply appreciative of kindness or benefits received; …

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My Origin Poem

The Origin Poem This second origins exercise (as mentioned in my previous post on Cultural Bio) — a fill-in-the-blanks worksheet — took far longer to complete and required that I decide which memories really define me. ‘twas a mostly positive and joyful exercise. I’ve uploaded instructions here if you’d like to try it (Word file) Why bother? Sharing who you …

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Strategies for Personal Change

ACT HAPPY WEEK 2021, DAY 2: FROM JIM’S KITCHEN, HAPPINESS

I. ACT HAPPY WEEK, DAY 2: FROM JIM’S KITCHEN, HAPPINESS How do you feed your soul?  Do you grab pre-packaged Pleasure from the freezer, microwave it, and eat on the run; or do you cook up your Joy from scratch using organic, locally sourced ingredients? Perhaps you have a saucepan of Gratitude constantly simmering on a back burner? Or do you …

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Leadership and Workplace, Strategies for Personal Change

Lessons Learned From a Pandemic – Part Three

This post wraps up the sharing of lessons learned from a dumpster fire of a year… that despite obstacles and tragedy, still offered learning and opportunity. On Work and Leadership My Ego was in charge before. “I learned I am not needed in the office as much as I was going in; I can better assist in other ways.” BUSY is …

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DUST MOTES OF WISDOM

During my search for past writings on Optimism, I came across this article from 2012, LONG before pandemics and 2020’s turmoil – and I was struck by how much of the wisdom from a “normal” year still applies, but feels different, in a pandemic year. With minor tweaks, I share this from the archives. My ambition for this newsletter was …

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Special Request from Jim – What did you learn in 2020?

What did you learn this year?  In a normal year it is a common practice to look back to reflect on accomplishments before looking forward to plan for the next. Janus, the ancient Roman god of beginnings and endings, represents this duality. As this Dumpster Fire of a year blessedly draws to an end, I’m looking forward to 2021 and …

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Why Listening Is Important

Oprah-Winfrey-Importance-Listening

  Why Listening is Important.  In this interview clip, Oprah – who made her living by listening – describes the insight that informed much of her career: The One Question Every Guest Asked.

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Leadership and Workplace, Strategies for Personal Change

Lessons From The Muck

Muck [muhk], noun, moist farmyard dung, decaying vegetable matter, etc.; manure; a highly organic, dark or black soil; mire; mud. From 1200–50; Middle English muc, muk <<Old Norse myki cow dung Say WHAT?? When we moved to a new home in 2016, we inherited a large, reed-infested marshy pond that had been neglected for 30 years. We mostly avoided it because the area was …

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