ACT HAPPY WEEK, DAY 4: I WROTE THIS FOR YOU

I. ACT HAPPY WEEK, DAY 4: I WROTE THIS FOR YOU I wrote this especially for you, because after the past year I know you need it: 75 happiness exercises that take anywhere from a minute to a lifetime. E-book requires a download. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ II. An Offer: Dance Differently with Stress and Confidence This is a … Read more

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 … Read more

IT’S NOT YOU

WHAT JUST HAPPENED? Since mid-March, every conversation touches on the pandemic, at least for a second. But the topic’s been consistently held as a temporary situation. Then last week happened. Plans for return to work in July shifted to year-end 2020. Conferences in 1Q21 started getting the “let’s go virtual!” treatment. Three months is temporary. A full year is, … Read more

What Can You Control?

Stress is Mostly Self-Created Happiness Principle** #7 says, Choose to Respond: What happens is going to happen, regardless. Accept constant, discontinuous change as reality and instead of reacting, respond with curiosity. Wow, when I created these principles, I had no idea how useful they’d be 17 years later during a pandemic! Let’s take a moment to … Read more

Slow Down Or You’ll Miss It

  This month’s post was inspired by a blog from one of my favorite mentors in the consulting world, Alan Weiss. This short excerpt sets the stage and my thoughts follow: An asteroid three times the size of the Empire State Building shot by the Earth last week, “only” three million miles away and traveling … Read more

I. Which Came First, the Chicken or the Egg? Does It Matter?

Which came first, the chicken or the egg? When I was a kid, this question always pulled me into a philosophical mindset, and I can remember many conversations and/or debates working it from both a logical and emotional point of view. What I most remember about those sessions is that we’d often end in either … Read more

DO THE HOLIDAYS MAKE YOU STRESSED? FOCUS ON THE GIVING.

Do The Holidays Make You Stressed? Next week in the United States we celebrate Thanksgiving, a holiday rooted in our agricultural past, when all would gather to give thanks for a good harvest that would see the community through a harsh winter. I confess that, for all the holiday’s focus on gratitude, I am not … Read more

Four Clever Things Leaders Do to Reduce Stress at Work

  When you are a key influencer, leader, or manager in a work unit, however you show up affects your team. Like water, your mood flows downhill and across flat areas, always seeking to level the space. Whether you show up happy or stressed, it spreads. Use these four quick tips to change the energy … Read more

Stop Stress Before It Stops You

I live in the United States, and everyone I speak with recently seems incredibly stressed. Mixing a contentious political environment with a high degree of uncertainty about our workplaces and economic and social environments has pushed many people to the far edge of anxiety. And this is a global issue. A little stress keeps you … Read more

We will destroy it with our lasers…

So I was checking out my Klout score today — having received an upbeat message about how I’m showing so much IMPROVEMENT since I signed up for my account.  Go, me! — and the site froze.  This was their error message: I laughed out loud for several minutes.  I am ever so grateful to the … Read more