Stress, work, pain.
Do you take your work issues home with you? Arrive depleted and distracted? In these working from home days that sounds like a stupid question. What I really mean is are you able to forget and/or stop bringing the stresses of the day job into your personal life? If you are saying “of course I can,” you are a rare bird. [Read more…]
Reinventing yourself can be radical, narrow, and specific, or a small shift with significant impact. It calls for change in ourselves as employees, members of a family, citizen of the world, or as an individual. It requires the awareness something is not working, there is more to life, or our current behavior isn’t authentic. Part of reinvention has to do with how you see yourself and the rest with how others see and react to you. Here are areas you might consider exploring. [Read more…]
“It’s not how you come into a crisis …
it’s how you come out and move on.”
“Is this (behavior, action, relationship) helping or harming me?” [Read more…]
I was watching the news the other night. The interviewer was asking a diverse group of individuals how they envisioned the future now pandemic restrictions have been lifted. People said a variety of things ranging from excitement to get back to the office and their colleagues, loving the fact they were continuing to work from home, happy to reduce Zoom time and so on. All very predictable. What caught my attention was a young man who was asked, “What about getting back to normal?” [Read more…]
A longtime executive coaching client sent me a Washington Post article, “Your Ability to Focus May Be Limited to 4 or 5 Hours a Day. Here’s How to Make the Most of Them.” When C and I first met, I asked him what kind of work he did. “I think about the internet fifteen years from now,” he quickly and confidently replied. As I got to know him better it became clear his description was not idle bragging. He had in fact been a major player in the conceptualization and launching of the internet. What stayed with me all these years was the verb he used in his description — think. [Read more…]
The concept of a beginner’s mind comes from Zen Buddhism. The word is Shoshin. “It refers to having an attitude of openness, eagerness, and lack of preconceptions when studying a subject, even when studying at an advanced level, just as a beginner would.” Shunryū Suzuki, author of “Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind,” speaks of abandoning expectations, judgements, and prejudices, and allowing possibilities an expert mind would not be able to comprehend due to the clutter in their brain. A beginner’s mind is as if you are seeing your world and thoughts for the first time though a clean lens. [Read more…]
When first studying to become an executive coach, I was curious to hear what leaders in the field were talking about, encouraging, even hawking. The area that rang true for me was the idea of practicing extreme self-care. Simply stated, it is the belief you can’t help others if you aren’t or haven’t taken care of yourself. [Read more…]
One reason people come to executive coaching is to sort out questions, situations, or inner conflicts surrounding their work, job, and career. We put our heads together to zero in on the real issues, think of alternatives, and weigh the risks and benefits, actions, and decisions. [Read more…]
BJ Fogg is a behavior scientist and the founder and director of the Behavior Design Lab at Stanford University. He is the author of the New York Times bestseller “Tiny Habits: The Small Changes That Change Everything” and Forbes 21 Books to Read In 2021 selection. [Read more…]
Tara Parker Pope is a journalist and author who specializes in health and wellness. She is a frequent contributor to the New York Times and authors the “Well” blog. In a recent article, “For a Healthier 2021, Keep the Best Habits of a Very Bad Year,” she stresses there is much to learn and continue from the pandemic days of 2020. She encourages us to build from them rather than start over in this new year. [Read more…]