As the New Year hits, most of us turn to recapping the year behind us, then setting goals for the year to come. Goals are fantastic as they help us set a direction. If you don't know where you are trying to go, how do you ever know if you get there?

When I think about resiliency as a goal, I think of being resilient as building a better foundation, so that we are more able to adapt, flex, and grow through the things life brings our way. Being resilient means demonstrating our ability to effectively and easily navigate our lives.

We have all heard the motto; "It is not what happens to us, but how we respond that matters." I am forever working to increase both my own and my children's level of resiliency. I want us to be prepared for those times when we may be knocked around, or even down. I want us to get back up, dust ourselves off, and have a reserve of energy to make what we want happen.

If you wish to take a look at your level of resiliency (or how well you bounce back), try taking a look at some of these aspects of your life.

• How healthy are the key relationships in your life?
• Are you able to nurture a positive view of yourself?
• Do you accept change as part of living?
• Do you see crisis as an insurmountable problem (perhaps it is part of our journey)?
• Do you know your goals and continue to move towards them by taking decisive action?

Try to slow your pace a little. Stop, look, and listen, so that you understand what is really happening vs. what story you have built around the situation. The story is not tangible but will drive our emotions and therefore our actions. Be deliberate in the things you focus on.

Resiliency is a great goal. With a little focus, you can build it and be a better person for having it.

All the best!

Find out more about Jenna here.

 

Are you ready to boost your career...and earnings? 

Learn how the Power of Neuroscience can help.







© 2015 and beyond Executive Coaching University. All rights reserved.

This episode of the Coaching Crucible training is about employing a powerful "Product Pyramid" to help you grow your business. This information is critical, no matter what market you might be in. This hour long training is bursting with helpful information which can help you build a solid foundation for your business. I hope it serves you well!

Warmly,

Drayton

You can find out more about me here.

Here's the link to the complimentary video training on our special YouTube Channel:  

*Due to the amazing demand for the complimentary public service training we do each month, we have created a YouTube Channel where you can access all of the previous training webinars dating back to 2012. These are all complimentary. Please subscribe to our channel so that you will be notified automatically when we post new videos. Enjoy!

You can register for future Coaching Crucible webinars here.

*************************************************************************

Please join Gary Henson and me as we take on the biggest issues in the coaching industry. This is a free public service program we offer each month. It is lively, provocative, and packed with helpful information!

This episode of the Coaching Crucible training is about employing sound business fundamentals to grow your business, no matter what market you might be in. Gary Henson, from BusinessCoach.com, and I presented a version of this to thousands of professionals at the World Business and Executive Coach Summit earlier this summer. I hope it serves you well!

Warmly,

Drayton

You can find out more about me here.

Here's the link to the complimentary video training on our special YouTube Channel:  

*Due to the amazing demand for the complimentary public service training we do each month, we have created a YouTube Channel where you can access all of the previous training webinars dating back to 2012. These are all complimentary. Please subscribe to our channel so that you will be notified automatically when we post new videos. Enjoy!

You can register for future Coaching Crucible webinars here.

*************************************************************************

Please join Gary Henson and me as we take on the biggest issues in the coaching industry. This is a free public service program we offer each month. It is lively, provocative, and packed with helpful information!

Ever said that to yourself?
 

Everywhere you look there are articles, videos, and advertisements stating the need to shut off our negative thoughts and be more positive.  While I am all about viewing life from the perspective of “what you can do” versus “what you can't do,”  I also understand that turning off negative thoughts is not a light switch that can be turned off with enough willpower!

Did you know that?

• Inside the multiple layers of your brain, deep within, is an electrical system so alive that with every thought you are firing and wiring synaptic connections.

• Every time you learn something new you make a new connection in your brain.
  
• Your mind and body are connected by chemical releases we like to call “feelings” or “emotions.”
  
• Most of our actions are taken in order to emotionally feel the same way we did yesterday.
  

So why can’t you just stop being negative?
 

Because you have wired your brain and your body to think certain thoughts and have certain feelings. You have done this so well and for so long that those connections are stronger than ever.

Moving from negative to positive is a physical process.

Start to think of your brain as a garden.

Your job is to plant enough new thoughts, emotions and experiences that your current connections automatically get pruned away.  When your garden is full and vibrant, you will naturally start to remove some of the older, unhealthy plants that don’t serve your garden anymore.

In the neuroscience world (like in the gardening world) it is called pruning.  You see, you’re a human being and your nature is to be successful…you’re built that way.  With a little attention you can shift in the right direction.

Start small, chose to learn something new and begin to create new experiences in your life. Here are some ways to do this:

• Read up on a subject matter that interests you.
• Take a different route to work.
• Eat at a different restaurant.
• Start-up a conversation with someone new.

 
As we learn something new, we fire a new synaptic connection. As we experience something new, we get our body involved and feel differently. 

The more you gain new knowledge and experiences, the more you can wire and fire your brain with brand new connections.  The more you repeat your learning and experiences, the more current is sent to these new connections.

If your brain is busy wiring and firing your new thoughts, feelings and emotions, it is not signaling your old ones.

Your job from this day forward is to:

• Slow down.
  
• Pay attention.
  
• Learn, grow and expand.
  

This is how change is made and finally you can STOP being so negative.

To your future!

 

Women are better executives than men. Yep, I just said it. Now, I'll back it up!

• According to Business Insider women rank at 54.5 percent in “Overall Leadership Effectiveness,” with men ranking 51.8 percent.
• According to the same article in Business Insider, “Overall Female Effectiveness” increases significantly after the age of 40.

Yet...

• According to Forbes Inc. women currently hold 4.6 percent of Fortune 500 CEO positions and roughly the same percentage of Fortune 1000 CEO positions.

Hmmm…

So why, if women have a higher ranking in “Overall Leadership Effectiveness,” and they get better with age, are there so few women leaders? 

The answers are varied and, quite frankly, questionable. Anything from the standard work-life balance drivel to the "glass ceiling" for female executives.   The quote that jumps out for me is “women need to perform twice as well to be thought of as half as good.”  

So… are women tired of the battle?  I don’t think so…

The reality is that women are the ones to watch!  With their strategic ability, instinct for collaboration, and ability to invest in the teams around them, their rise is inevitable. 

One of their greatest traits is that women maintain the habit of asking for feedback and taking action to improve which makes them invaluable. Do most men? Not so much.

So for all you women out there…continue your path, take initiative, drive for results, know your worth, and lead on! 

For the men…you may want to make friends with your women colleagues so they remember you when they are at the top.

They are indeed a BIG deal.

To your continued success!

 

Please know that we are here to help!. You can find out how we can assist here.




© 2014 and beyond Executive Coaching University. All rights reserved.

When asked at a corporate retreat to detail his biggest challenge as a senior level executive, an esteemed colleague recently shared with me that he was literally brought to tears of frustration as he described his efforts to connect and inspire his younger workforce.

Turnover from this segment was at an all-time high and it was severely affecting morale, production and leadership.

This scenario is happening all over the world. Millennials currently represent 30% of our workforce and will grow to over 40% by 2020. This issue will only exapand in importance. The press has written about this generation as the “Me Generation.” There are more similarities in values than one may think between generations; it is the order and priorities using these values in their lives that are different.

Here are three suggestions to engage differently with your Millennial workforce. If you want to gain a competitive edge, reduce turnover costs (and your frustration level), keep reading!

• Create a plan. Seek outside expertise if necessary to create a strategic approach to this human capital issue. Address it like a budget issue, capital project, operational issue, or other business system. Also, please include your Human Resource people…and remember - this is a leadership issue, not an HR issue.
• Ask your Millennials to weigh in. Get a better understanding of what the expectations are from your people. Asking during an exit interview is too late to salvage your investment in that person. So be proactive! Many times the solutions are within an organization. All we must do is ask for it.
• This is a worldwide epidemic in business as more boomers retire and Millennials move in to fill the ranks. Coaching as a management style has never been more important than it is right now. Seek coaching training for your leaders.

Transform your culture to create buzz with Millennials as an organization that “gets it.”

This requires a different mindset in how we lead. Having a coaching professional to help you see things differently...asking provocative questions of the entire organization, stimulates new thinking. This shift leads to quicker solutions.

Remember, all business problems are people problems!

It is a new world. It is changing rapidly. It will not be “the way it was” ever again. By acknowledging these things and creating a plan to engage Millennials differently, you will be out in front as the trend setter with this vital segment of the workforce. Your turnover costs will drop and company morale will rise…not to mention your life will get a whole lot better when you are not frustrated to tears.

Are your Millennials bringing YOU to tears? Please leave your comments below. 



This program will help you become an even better leader!

     Coaching In The Workplace



© 2014 and beyond Executive Coaching University. All rights reserved.

 

John F. Kennedy said: "There are risks and costs to action. But they are far less than the long range risks of comfortable inaction.”

It is only by being “in action” that we can create the results we want in life, including the creation of an extraordinary life experience and results.

What keeps you from taking action?  

Generally it's because you try to be reasonable. You think it through.  You stick your toe in the water.  You check out how others react.  All very reasonable steps to take and I'm certainly not advocating that you do dangerous things.  It's just that by being reasonable you run the risk of being distracted by events that have more enjoyment or short-term importance and you get off the track toward what you really want to create.

The shift to commitment!

When you are committed you deal with what's most important to you in your life.  As my young adult children would say … DUHHH!  It’s so obvious!  

For example, imagine knocking on a house door and getting no response, though you feel certain someone is home. You wait a reasonable amount of time, then leave.

Now imagine there is a raging fire being wind driven across the yard towards that same house.  Your urgency, your compassion and demand for a result is engaged.  You bang on the door while shouting, "Fire! Get out!"  Your level of commitment brings action that brings the occupants quickly to the door and their lives are saved.

But what if there is no emergency in your life? What if no external force shouts you into action consistent with your priorities? Then where does your commitment come from?  

Creating an extraordinary life requires a 100% commitment. Not 99%. 

In practice, 99% is the same as zero.  Only 100% commitment will actually bring you the results you want in life.  Find a purpose, vision and the actions that deserve a 100% commitment and your entire experience of life will change.  Helen Keller said “Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all.”  I suggest that her life is clearly a model of an extraordinary life we could all learn from.

A less serious metaphor is that a woman is either pregnant or not pregnant.  There’s no such thing as 99% pregnant.  In our lives, we are committed 100% or we are not.  There’s no “half committed.”

My commitment to you includes asking some pointed questions so that you can put these ideas into action:

• What are you committed to this month, this year, in your life?
• What life purpose or vision is so important to you that it engages you at physical, mental, emotional and spiritual levels? 
• What promise would cause you to tingle with excitement and anticipation? 
• What idea would not let go of you until you figured it out? 
• What action would automatically bring forth overwhelmingly positive feelings of joy and satisfaction? 
• What commitment would mean so much that it would resonate within you at a very deep level; wake you up in the morning; engage you fully?

Comment and let us know of your commitments, your process and your results!  Doing so will help you get more clear, acknowledge yourself and inspire all of us!

Robert White is a Transformational Architect for business executives. Founder and CEO of Lifespring, ARC International and Extraordinary People, He’s an experienced entrepreneur, professional speaker, and leadership team trainer.


Want to learn more about gaining powerful leadership skills?

This program can help! Coaching In The Workplace



© 2013 and beyond Executive Coaching University. All rights reserved.

One can have no smaller or greater mastery than mastery of oneself.
~Leonardo da Vinci

Remember recent experiences of excitement and childlike joy with new experiences, such as with nature, traveling to a new country, or engaging a new idea.  

Mastery retains the spirit of our beginner’s mind, as we experience things in childhood with an openness, a first time freshness without preconceived ideas and developed notions influenced by others, when we were totally receptive to new information.  

One of the ultimate impediments to creativity is when a successful process becomes a paradigm, an established procedure. Subsequently, the paradigm and a lifeless set of techniques are followed that then move from new and vibrant to conformity and rote procedure.

The desire to fit into the needs or wants of others, to accumulate all the voices internalized from others, including parents and significant others without amalgamating and transforming them into your own voice creates conformity.

To consistently oppose positions or authority, to counter convention or rules, are an antithesis of mastery, as each embody an external point of reference.

Both opposition and conformity occupy the same prison.

Creating a new story can reengage that beginner’s mind.  We do that by remaining open, asking questions, embracing childlike excitement and playful approach, and thinking beyond words and limitations.  This creative reverie accesses preverbal and unconscious forms of mental activity that generates surprising ideas and creativity. 

We must sustain the risk of failing and the anticipation of being criticized in order to expand beyond the familiar and habitual way of thinking.  Hindrances to this process include a pressure to produce results, a need to generate profits, or a fear of inadequacy or non-productivity.  

A powerful sense of purpose and passion can sustain setbacks and failures.  A deep-rooted interest sustains the rigors of hard work to get to creative action.  It allows you to surpass doubters, critics, non-believers.  

Creative brainstorming, to allow imagination to soar, catalyzes imagination and intuition.  Deduction and logical thought are components of a different mindset, not to be interspersed with this creative time.  Each is valuable, yet each is a different state of mind, much like creative writing and editing. 

Read more about Dr. Dave Krueger here.

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One can have no smaller or greater mastery than mastery of oneself.
~Leonardo da Vinci

Our uniqueness is a seed planted at birth that seeks growth, transformation, and flowering to its full potential. This innate force, an intrinsic motivation to be effective, is the bedrock of our driving force as humans.

I have observed videos of direct infant observation studies by Psychoanalysts Virginia Demos and later Joyce McDougall showing that infants as early as three months old have an intrinsic desire to be effective in their environment. When they do, they experience pleasure at mastery. This fundamental motivation permeates everything we do, and extends for a lifetime.

When Albert Einstein was five years old, his father gave him a compass as a present. Its needle that changed directions as he moved the compass about instantly transfixed him. The idea of an invisible magnetic force touched him to his core. He would later wonder about other forces in the world similarly invisible and equally powerful. This simple question of hidden forces and fields became his life's work. He acknowledged often thinking back to the compass that sparked his initial fascination.

John Coltrane experienced spiritual and emotional longings that he did not know how to verbalize. As he drifted into music as a hobby, he played saxophone with his high school band. He later heard the great jazz saxophonist Charlie "Bird" Parker perform live. The sounds he heard touched Coltrane's primal core. Coltrane desired to find a way to effectively express his uniqueness to give voice to these deep emotions. As he focused on this form of expression, his personal mastery was to become one of the greatest jazz artists of his era, and of all time.

These are the kinds of discoveries that James Hillman speaks of in The Soul's Code as the spark that ignites a life calling.

At times we may disregard or lose touch with these signals from our central core. When we listen or we connect with this primal core, this visceral reaction resonates with our authentic self. Perhaps even a life's purpose.

At times, we may be attracted to a false path for the wrong reasons: conforming to directives from parents, social pressures of conformity, focusing on money, attention, or fame. We ultimately recognize this as an ersatz effectiveness, a false mastery. Results can include dissatisfaction, burnout, a sense that something is missing, or even a blatant resentment.

One of the common features of those who have become true masters is the awareness of experiencing the world differently than others and finding a way to express that uniqueness.


Read more about Dr. Dave Krueger here.

I excitedly retrieved my monthly auto magazine from the mail this afternoon.

For me, the contents usually represent nothing but eye candy, machines I will never have the opportunity to enjoy.

Until today that thought never really bothered me, but it is a sad, sad commentary on where I find myself…

My mindset stinks!  I suspect yours might too…

Here I am, someone others engage to help with their mindset – to lead them through the process of overcoming their self-created obstacles, which I do exceptionally well (he says humbly). I have a file full of amazing client success stories to validate this. Yet, I suddenly became aware that I was buying into a thinking small mindset—something that I help others work on each day. What???

As I looked through that magazine and felt the guilt, remorse, and disappointment of never actualizing some of my dreams, I realized that at present, I was not worthy of my dreams. Something had to change…and I knew it started with my thoughts.

While I know that my core is good, solid, dependable, and full of love and joy, I was not realizing my full self with this kind of thinking. I realized that I was going to have to think much bigger to support my dreams. I knew that I had to focus even harder on working from the inside out.

There was a time in my life where this was not the case…a time where I felt worthy of anything. I saw no barriers…only opportunities. How did I let that slip away?

It’s high time I find that mindset again.  Not only for me, but for those whom I serve as well.  I must be worthy of the faith and trust they have in me to assist them along their journey. I need to lead by example again.

Right now, my mindset is not worthy of my dreams.  I have a discipline level that is not worthy of my dreams.  With this awareness I know how to make the changes I need to.

Do you need to change your mindset? Are you playing small? Is it time to actualize your dreams?

I’ll be working extra hard to make sure the following quote won’t ever apply to me again.  Will you?

“Long before you reach the limits of your skills, you’ll come up against the limits of you!” – Pace Klein.

I now anxiously await next month’s issue knowing that my recalibrated mindset will view each page through a “possibility” lens.



©2013 and beyond Executive Coaching University. All rights reserved.