Gratitude

It’s hard to believe that the holiday season is once again upon us. The holidays can be the most stressful time of year – not because of what actually is, but what we have been conditioned to expect. Precious few of us have the kind of situations depicted in those Norman Rockwell pictures… and the Huxtable’s exist only on television.

The truth is far too many people have accepted fantasy as the standard. Real people have drama, trauma and uncomfortable stuff to deal with. It’s a part of life. So, with Thanksgiving just around the corner, what is there to be thankful for? Just look around.

Regardless of our circumstances, there is something to be grateful for. It is our responsibility to see the glass not half empty – not even half full. We must always see the glass running over. The way we feel about any situation is directly linked to our attitudes.

When starting your day, don’t pull out that mental list of things to do. Before you even get out of bed, take a few moments to think about things that make you feel good, those things that bring a smile to your face. Then give thanks for all of the good things you have in your life… even if on the surface it doesn’t seem like much.

Before you know it, that gratitude list will get longer and longer and you’ll notice that your day will go a whole lot smoother.

Weather Conditions....

So how’s the weather in your neck of the woods today? No, I’m not asking about tropical storms or sunny skies. I’m asking about how you are feeling on the inside. What’s your mood like right now?

Check your internal weather conditions frequently. Live today like the Weather Channel. What do you notice when you check in? What name would you give to how you are feeling right now?

Why do I ask? Well, because what you are experiencing in this moment is attracting more of the same in the next moment. Like attracts like. Negativity breeds more negativity. Doubt breeds worry and fears. Anger generates rage. Powerlessness facilitates despair. Panic makes bad decisions.

When you mix enough of the wrong stuff together, you get a perfect storm. Your thoughts emotions and speech influence what comes next in your life and how you perceive it. Just like a weather forecast, you can check your internal Doppler radar conditions and predict with a high measure of accuracy what’s coming next.

So if what you are experiencing in this moment is attracting more of the same in the next moment, do you like what you are experiencing? If so, keep doing what you’re doing.

If not, here are some quick tips to get out of that storm path and move into sunnier place.

• Be Thankful - Nothing clears stormy skies faster than gratitude and joy. Identify things in your life that you can be grateful for.
• Listen to How You Speak. - You can move yourself into higher ground just by being powerful in your language. Select words that describe a positive powerful ideal state instead of words that call to mind where you don’t want to be.
• Pay Attention to the Thoughts Running Through Your Mind. - Are you thinking more about what you want or what you don’t want? Just be aware of your thoughts and challenge the ones that come from fear uncertainty and doubts.
• Look at what you are doing - If you were taking action as your most powerful purposeful self, would you be engaging the way you are right now?

Regardless of what the weather conditions look like outside, if you check your weather conditions within, you can enjoy variations of your favorite seasons 365 days a year! Wouldn’t that make you want to go singing in the rain?!

Effective Delegation

Delegation helps develop employees, build team capacity, and free managers to work on key corporate initiatives. Yet many of us still choose to hold on to work that others can do. Take a look at your calendar, to-do list, and project plans. See if there are items you can delegate to others with:

1. A clear objective
2. A deadline for the delegation to be complete
3. Training to do the task or project (if necessary)

As you review your list for work you can delegate, keep this in mind: If you are doing something somebody else can do, it's keeping you from doing only the things you can do.

Get Unstuck!

Get Yourself Unstuck from the Muck  - Somehow you are stuck in some real muck. It doesn’t matter what the muck is, or why you are there, or even how you got there. Put all of that aside for right now. Do not analyze the muck or beat yourself for being in muck in this moment.
The only constructive thing you can do you when you are stuck in muck is to get unstuck.

Here are 5 great strategies to get unstuck from the muck. Any or all five may be needed. You won’t know what works for you until you do it. On any given day, one strategy will work better than another. Be flexible and trust yourself to use any or all these strategies as the circumstances dictate.

1. Revisit Your Why - Why does this even matter to you? How meaningful is the thing you are trying to accomplish. It is so easy to get distracted and tied up into things that are not necessarily meaningful to you. If you are honest with yourself and realize it is not meaningful, this is the time to begin your exit strategy. However, if it is meaningful to you, there will at least be some tiny bit of inspiration, some motivation, and some hope attached to why you want to make this happen. Focus on your why.
2. Write Down a Plan - There are a million thoughts running through your head about this situation. Some useful, some not so useful. Do a quick brain dump and help yourself begin sorting out the helpful ideas and thoughts. Even if the plan is a simple list of projects to do, writing it down helps you to stop trying to work it all at once. It shifts your brain into action mode and away from running in circles fretting. Prioritize your plan of action and get moving.
3. Take 1 Step in the Right Direction - Now that you are operating from your most powerful purposeful self, this one is simple. Ask yourself what makes the most sense for you to do right now. Do it.
4. Be Positive - Once you start moving, you may begin to shift back into thinking and fretting. Pay attention to your thoughts and how you are speaking about this situation and life in general. Challenge any and all negative thoughts and self-defeating statements with positive statements of hope, peace, joy, and success.
5. Do Something Fun - Perhaps the only thing you need to get unstuck from the muck is to allow yourself to have a bit of uplifting fun. Every overachiever needs a break. Be creative. Be simple. Be honest with yourself about what you need right now to feel laughter, fun. It can literally lift your spirits. Getting yourself unstuck from muck can be as simple as allowing a bit more space for you to feel good even for just a moment. Try it.

Don't Give Up.......

Now is NOT the time to give up or give in. You are purposeful and wonderfully made. This moment may be terrible. It may be the worst that you ever thought it could get. This is a temporary situation. There is always hope and you’re stronger than your current circumstances.

Yes, of course it’s difficult. It may even be terrifying. And that’s okay. There is always hope and you are stronger than your current circumstances. You’ve made some terrible awful horrible choices to get to where you are right now. And guess what? We all have. Do you know what we have learned from making terrible awful horrible choices?

There is always hope and we are stronger than our current circumstances. So are you. We learned that at any given moment, we can choose to make better decisions. So can you. We can choose to learn enough about how we made this bed to know how to lie in it just long enough to get up out of it. So can you.

You’re not the first person to royally utterly and totally fail. I know that doesn’t help because right now where you are, it seems like this is the most hopeless situation that ever was. You have no clue how to get up or if there is any way to make things better. You’re over your head and clearly in need of a miracle.

It’s a good thing there is always hope and you are stronger than your current circumstances, right?! Just take a moment from beating yourself up or looking for someone else to blame and just…breathe. Really, it’s okay. Just enjoy some deep cleansing breaths right now. Allow yourself to relax just a bit.

There is always hope and you are stronger than your current circumstances. Say that with me: There is always HOPE and I am STRONGER than my current circumstances.

So what if you allowed yourself the possibility of being in this mess without judgment – just for today. Consider it a temporary reprieve. Remember that time you realized there was hope where you saw no hope? Remember that time you proved to be stronger than those circumstances? Yes, remember how awesome that felt? Remember how great it was to move past that place?

So what could you do in this moment to begin making better decisions? Don’t look behind you. Look ahead. Focus on where you want to be and how you want to feel. Get up out of your own issues for a moment and look to see what you can do to help someone else. You might just find that helping others, in a strange way, helps you in ways you didn’t imagine.

Guess what. There is always hope and you are stronger than your current circumstances.

Detox Your Mind

     We hear a lot about detoxing our bodies and how there are chemicals in our food that can be harmful, certain hormones and bacteria that can build up, even pesticides in the air. Many people don’t realize their bodies are full of harmful toxins and that’s what is causing them to feel bad. Most experts recommend you go through a deep cleansing where you put yourself on a fast and then eat a certain diet, staying away from things that are harmful. They say over time you’ll rid yourself of those toxins and begin to feel better.
     In the same way, there are all kinds of toxins that can build up in your mind. When you dwell on what you can’t do and the hurts you’ve felt and the challenges you face, you are focusing on toxic thoughts that can do as much damage as toxins in your body.
     Toxic thoughts build up and become like toxic waste that will eventually contaminate your whole life. They affect your attitude, your self-esteem and your confidence. They become part of who you are. Above all else, guard your heart for everything that you do flows from it. You probably know someone who is bitter, cynical and has a sour attitude. They expect the worst. Why is that? They’ve allowed toxic thoughts to take root. These negative thoughts are poisoning their future.
      Make guarding your mind a priority, put it at the top of your to-do list. If your mind is polluted, your whole life will be damaged. If you ignore toxic thoughts and keep your mind filled with thoughts of hope, thoughts of faith, then those toxic thoughts will be starved and will grow weaker, and before long they won’t have any effect on you.

What is Leadership?

When asked which employees they would keep when it comes to leadership skills, employers say, "The ones who are willing and able to assume a leadership role and take charge when necessary and appropriate." So, what is leadership in today's organizations? Traditional organizations of the past had "bosses" who told their employees what to do. Then these bosses found that employees would do just that and nothing more!

In today's organizations, most "bosses" have taken on new roles. They realize that "bossing" others can destroy an employee's sense of ownership and pride. Today's organizations need leaders rather than "bosses".

♦ A boss possesses a title. A leader sets an example.
♦ A boss demands respect. A leader earns respect.
♦ A boss tells employees what to do. A leader inspires action in others and demonstrates the right way to do something.
♦ A boss focuses on "I". A leader focuses on "we".