Archive for the ‘Managing Stress’ Category

In Crisis, There’s No Time For Nonsense

Sunday, April 12th, 2020

In difficult times, there’s no time for nonsense. Forgive yourselves everything from the past, but right now there is no time for excuses. There is no time for whining and complaining about what doesn’t work. There’s no time for gossip, whether you spread it or are receiving it. In fact, that should be a non-negotiable at all times, because that makes for an unsafe work environment.

Instead, this is the time to bring your highest and best self to work every single day, to also find ways to do things that you never thought that you could. Listen, everything that someone’s a master at, they didn’t use to be a master at it. So why would you be different? If you’re not good at grammar and spelling, use these challenging times to go home at night, read a couple of books, get online, take some testing, learn grammar and spelling, become a master. If you’re not good at marketing copy, go figure that piece out. If you’re not good at sales processes, go decide to be a master of it. Whatever it is that is your profession, step in, get good at it, and allow no-nonsense from yourself or from anyone else in your organization.

These are the times where everyone wants to be a leader, and if you’re waiting for someone else to say, no, we don’t do things like that around here, let me assure you that that nonsense will be the reason that layoffs will happen and that your salaries will be frozen. So step in and be a shepherd of your culture right now.

Now Is The Time To Massively Increase Your Results

Friday, April 3rd, 2020

Challenging times require substantially changed behaviors.  Everyone knows the story of the 110-pound mother who can lift the car off of her child because there was a need, and there was no one else around to do it.  Well, think of yourself as being that 110-pound woman who there’s no way in regular times you could lift the car, and that’s how you should approach your job every single day. So if you were producing five widgets, the question you should ask yourself is, seriously, how do you produce 500 a day? If you were able to have other projects that you are doing or different impact on customers, how do you raise that impact by a hundredfold?

These times require massive action that’s the right action. If you don’t know how to be in the mastery of the work that you do, Google it. Go home, read a couple of books. Come to a different person, because these kinds of times require those who step in all-in every day. Be that person.

Challenging Times Reveal Character

Friday, March 27th, 2020

We’re living in different times right now, and they are very challenging. But challenging times are when character is revealed. So how do you decide the right kind of actions to take during a time like this to really make an impact for your clientele, your career and also your organization?

Number one, start with the spirit of help. Make sure that everyone knows that you are game on, all in, stepping in to make a difference in everyone’s lives every day. And that doesn’t just mean reactionary things, it means proactive things. It also means that you’ve never had more of a need within your organization to have compassionate listening skills to find out what’s needed and wanted by your clientele and also from your team members.

These are not the times to sit and wait for someone to tell you what to do. These are the times instead, to take the right actions in the right order and to find out how resourceful you can be.

Lastly, make sure that you’re choosing joy. Yes, there’s a lot to contemplate that’s not good. There’s a lot of problems that are about to hit and a lot of it can be rather ugly. But here’s the reality. We’ve been through world wars, we’ve been through other recessions, we’ve been through the Great Depression. Life goes on and it’ll get good again. The one thing that we can choose is our attitude, so choose joy, and spread it around your organization and to your clients as well.

Now is a time when you’re really needed to bring your highest and best self to work every day.

Gratitude for What IS

Monday, March 23rd, 2020

Are you grateful for what is?

I’m grateful for the air around me. I’ve been to China, and I couldn’t see across the street in the middle of the day due to smog! I’m grateful for the trees and the beauty that they bring, and the blue sky and the beauty that it brings. The friends that I have in life, and the opportunities that I have.

Being grateful is one of the ways that we bring sanity into our lives. Sure, my life is just like yours—there’s a million things I could complain about. There are many things going wrong, there are people with challenges, friends who have health issues, friends who have died of cancer, and so on. I could spend my energy being consumed about that. But, although I do have concerns, I choose not to be consumed. Instead, I choose to have an attitude of gratitude.

What if you looked around today and you were grateful for your feet and grateful for your hands? And grateful that your heart is pumping, and grateful that you can take in that next breath of air? Because the reality is, every one of those is a gift, and when we live in a state of acceptance of the gifts that we have and gratitude for them, we have a better outlook about life. When we live from a place where we give gratitude for what is, we create better things because our spirit is one of joy, and with joy, we attract even better circumstances.  

Bring Your Higher Self

Monday, March 9th, 2020

We’re all angels on the good days, aren’t we? Sure, it’s easy to be nice when everything’s working perfectly. People are patting you on the back. You’re ahead of your work. You’re feeling on top of your game.

But, what about those times when things aren’t working so well? That’s when we must choose to bring in our higher selves—especially when we feel least justified in having to do that.

Sometimes we feel like getting even or hurting another because we’ve been hurt. That’s when we’re called to rise above it all and choose to bring our highest and best selves.

Choose wisely whenever something isn’t going well. Take a deep breath and ask yourself: “What would my highest self do in this situation?” I promise you—you’ll never regret those actions.