𝗣𝗹𝗮𝘆 𝗶𝘀𝗻’𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗼𝗽𝗽𝗼𝘀𝗶𝘁𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗶𝘁𝘆. Another lesson these kittens keep teaching me: 𝗣𝗹𝗮𝘆!!! Not productivity. Not efficiency. Not optimizing every minute. Just… play. Watching them has been fascinating. A crinkled piece of paper, a feather, a cardboard box, or a tiny ball can become the greatest adventure. They chase, tumble, wrestle, explore, invent games,…

Posted in: Choice, Emotional Intelligence, Forward Momentum, Leading through Change, Professional Development, Resiliency through Change

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝘂𝗻𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽 𝗹𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗼𝗻 𝗰𝗮𝗺𝗲 𝘄𝗿𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝗻 𝗳𝘂𝗿. For a couple of years after my 22-year-old cat passed away, I couldn’t imagine having another pet. She had been with me through many chapters of my life. Career milestones, amazing moments, heartbreak, endings and new beginnings… Losing her left a space I wasn’t ready to…

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You can be successful, driven, and still feel completely disconnected from your life. I know because I lived it. I had goals. I had direction. I even had a reasonable sense of what success looked like on paper. But purpose? That was something else entirely. Something deeper than achievement. Something beyond the next milestone, the…

Posted in: Choice, Emotional Intelligence, Forward Momentum, Goal-Setting, Leading through Change, Professional Development, Resiliency through Change, Top of Your Game: Emotional, Physical, Social Fitness, You Successful in Life, Love and Work

𝗛𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗶𝗴𝗴𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗯𝗲𝘁𝘄𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗹𝗶𝗳𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘄𝗮𝗻𝘁… 𝗺𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗯𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘀 𝘆𝗼𝘂’𝘃𝗲 𝗯𝘂𝗶𝗹𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗳? We hear the phrase limiting beliefs all the time. We know, intellectually, what it means. But I like to think of them differently. I see them as walls. Some walls…

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𝗦𝗮𝗺𝗲 𝘀𝗮𝗹𝗮𝗿𝘆. 𝗛𝗶𝗴𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗱𝗲𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗱𝘀. Over the course of my corporate career, I lived through multiple economic cycles. Hiring freezes. Budget cuts. Reorganizations. Pressure to do more with less. I understood the business rationale behind those decisions. Most professionals do. What I didn’t fully appreciate at the time was the psychological impact. Recently, I’ve noticed a…

Posted in: Choice, Emotional Intelligence, Forward Momentum, Goal-Setting, Leading through Change, Professional Development, Resiliency through Change, Top of Your Game: Emotional, Physical, Social Fitness, You Successful in Life, Love and Work

Somehow we spend a lot of our lives believing we have time.  Deferring important people and actions that will most positively impact our lives to the next day, to next week, to some other time. There will always be something demanding your attention keeping you from what truly matters. And one day, it will be…

Posted in: Choice, Emotional Intelligence, Forward Momentum, Goal-Setting, Leading through Change, Professional Development, Resiliency through Change, Top of Your Game: Emotional, Physical, Social Fitness, You Successful in Life, Love and Work

𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗻𝗱 𝘆𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘀 𝗰𝗹𝗶𝗺𝗯𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗴 𝗺𝗼𝘂𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝘀𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗹𝘆 𝗯𝗲𝗰𝗮𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗮𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗹𝗮𝘂𝗱𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗹𝗶𝗺𝗯. The hardest decisions often come down to one question: Are you choosing for yourself or for everyone else? I see so many people stuck at a crossroads because they’re trying to solve for everyone else’s definition of success at…

Posted in: Choice, Emotional Intelligence, Forward Momentum, Goal-Setting, Leading through Change, Professional Development, Resiliency through Change, Top of Your Game: Emotional, Physical, Social Fitness, You Successful in Life, Love and Work

Do you have a plan or are you helping other people fulfill theirs? Not having a plan in life makes you vulnerable to spend years (yes, YEARS) working on someone else’s plan, making their vision come to life. And of course we get some incentive out of it, be it money, prestige, or a feeling…

Posted in: Emotional Intelligence, Forward Momentum, Leading through Change, Professional Development, Resiliency through Change, Top of Your Game: Emotional, Physical, Social Fitness, You Successful in Life, Love and Work

𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝘄𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗻𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗮𝗸 𝘁𝗼 𝗮𝗻𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗮𝘆 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲𝘀 𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗮𝗸 𝘁𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗳. Yet somehow, we’ve normalized it. That’s the gap Accurate Self-Assessment is designed to close. The Institute for Social and Emotional Intelligence defines it simply: 𝗸𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗴𝘁𝗵𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗹𝗶𝗺𝗶𝘁𝘀. But if we’re honest, how accurate are we really when we…

Posted in: Choice, Emotional Intelligence, Forward Momentum, Goal-Setting, Leading through Change, Professional Development, Resiliency through Change, Top of Your Game: Emotional, Physical, Social Fitness, You Successful in Life, Love and Work

Very early in my career, I reported to a CEO who set a standard I’ve rarely seen matched since. He ran a manufacturing facility and he knew every single person by name. He’d sit in the cafeteria at lunch, not to be seen, but because he genuinely wanted to connect. He was present. Curious. Authentic….

Posted in: Choice, Emotional Intelligence, Forward Momentum, Goal-Setting, Leading through Change, Professional Development, Resiliency through Change, Top of Your Game: Emotional, Physical, Social Fitness, You Successful in Life, Love and Work