Happy New Year, Plus Miracles
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Happy New Year! Like most of us, I've been thinking about what to create in 2017. Here is a sneak peak into my life and my commitments. Join me for miracles, large and small.
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Seven Steps Get Your Mojo Back After the Trump Victory: A Coach’s Perspective
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Donald Trump was elected President and many are having trouble moving beyond feelings of shock, horror and disappointment. Here is a structured approach to help people move forward.
Read MoreWhat is the Core Muscle of Life?
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What is needed for effective leadership, business development, and career trajectory? Discover that extra ingredient that makes your actions really count.
Read MoreWhen is Pushy Not Pushy?
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Are you avoiding asking for referrals or business because you don't want to be pushy? You may be hurting both yourself and your relationships.
Read MoreAre You Swimming Upstream?
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Where are you fighting your nature in an attempt to fit in with professional expectations? Consider the alternative…
Read MoreHow to be Direct AND Improve Relationships
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Direct communication can seem scary and even potentially counterproductive. Here are some tips for getting what you want from your staff or colleagues.
Read MoreDo You Hate Sales? Try the Mango Test
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You don’t want to be one of those pushy, manipulative and annoying sales people. Yet, you need to develop clients. This article provides a solution.
Read MoreReviewing Last Year? Approach it Like a Bullfighter
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Successful individuals and organizations regularly review progress and evaluate how to do better. Here are some tips for improving that process. Plus, it’s more fun!
Read MoreTry this: The “Magic” Behind Discipline
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Recently, my clients have been asking me for pixie dust. Boy, do I wish I had a magic wand or super power that could keep people motivated and effortlessly on track with their goals. Despite my regrettable lack of supernatural powers, that is, essentially, one of the reason’s that people hire me, to help them stay on top of their business development activities. They see themselves as undisciplined. Clients get distracted by billable work, partnership issues, firm management, etc.
Read MoreUsing Support Structures to Make Your Work Easier
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Business development, management and leadership aren’t difficult because of the actual mechanics involved. Sure, there are a lot of variables and no clear answers; but just because there is a learning curve doesn't necessarily make something hard. Consider the possibility that if you are relating to a project or endeavor as “hard” or “stressful” it just means you don’t have adequate support structures. Business development may seem difficult, but if you had a buddy checking in with you every day to compare accomplishments, AND a monthly mastermind group to share ideas, AND a staff person handing administrative tasks, AND a mentor to give advice and make introductions, AND friends to commiserate with when things don’t go as planned, AND a coach to help you to communicate more persuasively… it would seem a lot more manageable, maybe even fun or easy. There has been a lot of research on the impact of social support on the body’s ability to deal with stress.
Read MoreNo-Lose Decisions: Moving Beyond Fear
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A classic paradox of free will is the story of a donkey that is both hungry and thirsty but is equidistant from a bale of hay and a trough of water. It can’t decide between the two choices and consequently starves. Absurd though this example may be, from time to time, most of us are guilty of making no decision, even when any of the available options would be an improvement over no action at all. Failure to make a choice is always disempowering. Yet, this issue comes up all the time.
Read MoreDragons, Fire & Miracles
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Context is everything. The attitude and underlying beliefs with which we approach projects or circumstances determine the outcome far more than any specific words we say or actions we take. When we put on green glasses, the world looks green. Red glasses turn it red. Whether you succeed in your business development efforts (or any other goals you may have) will depend largely on the lens through which you are viewing the situation. Consider this example. The other day, I was talking with a client about her business development plan, and she was terribly uninspired. Sometimes, we can focus on the activities that inspire us, but sometimes we just need to buckle down and take the actions that we would normally avoid like the plague. In this particular case,
Read MoreTurkish Riot, Humor & Business Development
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Turkish Riot is an online video game in which the goal is to send as many tweets as possible before the police beat you up. It was created last summer, presumably as a lark, to mock the role of police violence in the Gezi political protests in Turkey. I’m not usually a fan of video games, but as someone living in the middle of Istanbul at the time, I thought it was hysterically funny. I’ve never made it past 17 tweets. Maybe you will do better. You can try it here:
Tear gas, water cannons, rubber bullets and political intimidation take their toll on everyone, but the Gezi protesters did an amazing job of using humor to stay energized and motivated.
Read MoreWhen Intolerance is Good
/Here we are in mid-summer. It’s hot and humid and as good a time as any to get fed up with the circumstances of our lives and make a change. We get what we are willing to tolerate - not what we deserve, not what we were born into, not what fate gives us. We get what we are willing to tolerate. If we are willing to endure a lousy work environment, or bad relationships, or a schedule that is too busy for exercise, then that is what we will get. One of my favorite coaches describes the difference between coaching and therapy as “therapy helps people to tolerate the circumstances of their lives while coaching helps people to see circumstances as intolerable.”
Read MoreChanging Your Self-Talk: What Would Superman Do?
/Has that post-New Years malaise set in yet? You know, I'm referring to that time period when the initial energy has worn off and that resolution starts to feel more burdensome than inspiring. Rather than just getting resigned or angry with yourself, do what a superhero would do. Look for an antidote. Like so many things, the antidote for the New Year’s blahs is simple but not always easy. The key is to focus on revising how you think about yourself rather than focusing on changing behavior. Human beings resist change.
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