Tag Archives: Demp Coaching

“Success today requires the agility and drive to constantly rethink, reinvigorate, react, and reinvent.”

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“Success today requires the agility and drive to constantly rethink, reinvigorate, react, and reinvent.”

—Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft

Image from wordpress

Imagine you are Aladdin with a magic lamp and three wishes to dramatically enhance your life. How many of your wishes would be extrinsic rather than intrinsic in nature?

What internal qualities and personal characteristics would you seek to more fully realize your vision of a brighter, more fulfilling future?

EXERCISE:

Consider that you already have your own internal magic lamp within you. Where will you begin, today, to use it to rethink, reinvigorate, and reinvent whatever aspect of your world you choose?

Friday Review: Persistence

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FRIDAY REVIEW: PERSISTENCE

What is your level of stick-to-it-ness? Here are a few posts about persistence you may have missed. Click the links to read the full messages.

 

“A jug fills drop by drop.”

 

 

 

 

“In the confrontation between the stream and the rock, the stream always wins – not through strength, but through persistence.”

 

 

 

“Elbow grease is the best polish.”

 

 

 

 

 

“What you do today can improve all your tomorrows.”

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“What you do today can improve all your tomorrows.”

—Ralph Marston, 20th Century professional football player

Image from Unsplash by Glen Carstens-Peters

The critical word in today’s quote is “can.”

There is, of course, no guarantee that today will improve all, or perhaps more realistically, most of your tomorrows.

With the right attitude, planning, and of course, inspired effort, the likelihood of a more positive and successful future is inevitable.

EXERCISE:

What attitude-enhancing efforts will you bring into your day today?

What planning did you do yesterday, or this morning, to assure you are working on your top personal and professional priorities?

What inspired and committed actions will you take today to guarantee many better tomorrows?

“I’m breaking the habit of being myself.”

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“I’m breaking the habit of being myself.”

—Dr. Joe Dispenza, lecturer, researcher, consultant, author

Image from All American Speakers Bureau

Describe your best future self.

What personal qualities and characteristics do you intend to develop in the years ahead?

If you find this exercise challenging, consider looking to the people you most admire and respect. You can also look to the past for individuals who set an example you wish to emulate or build upon.

EXERCISE:

Who are the people you identified?

What are their most favorable and inspiring qualities?

What current habit do you plan to break to more fully realize an even better version of yourself?

“Happiness cannot be traveled to, owned, earned, worn or consumed…”

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“Happiness cannot be traveled to, owned, earned, worn or consumed. Happiness is the spiritual experience of living every minute with love, grace, and gratitude.”

—Denis Waitley, American motivational speaker

Image from Unsplash by Constantinos Panagopoulos

Did you know that Harvard University has a course on happiness?

Think about it.

The students of one of the most prestigious universities in the world want to learn what’s involved in living a happy life, and don’t want to wait for some day down the road to begin their journey.

The fact that extrinsic recognition, rewards, and accomplishments alone never seem to do the trick is surprising to many people. It is our inner journey and the pursuit of intrinsic factors that provides the fulfillment we all seek.

EXERCISE:

Please pick up a copy of the book Happier, by Tal Ben-Shahar, PhD, which provides the backbone information for Harvard’s most popular course.

You can also look into the work of Martin Seligman, PhD, author of Authentic Happiness, for additional guidance into living a happier life.

“I need to take a sacred pause, as if I were a sun warmed rock in the center of a rushing river.”

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“I need to take a sacred pause, as if I were a sun warmed rock in the center of a rushing river.”

—Dawna Markova, consultant member of the Society for Organizational Learning

Image from Unsplash

To what degree is your life like a rushing river of endless “to do” items? How often do you feel swept away, pulled under, perhaps even drowning in the commitments and urgencies of life?

How often do you experience peace of mind or a sense of calm centeredness throughout a typical workday or weekend?

If you are like many of us, your answer may be, “Not nearly enough.”

EXERCISE:

Consider the importance of adding a few more “sacred pauses” to your day to regain your footing and catch your breath so that you may fully experience a more satisfying life.

Consider meditation, prayer, walks in nature, exercise, power naps, and digital fasting as some potential strategies. Please reply to this post with some added suggestions you have found helpful.

“Work hard in silence. Let success be your noise.”

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“Work hard in silence. Let success be your noise.”

—Frank Ocean, American singer/songwriter

Image from Unsplash by Glenn Carstens-Peters

I hope you love your life. I hope all your personal and professional efforts are rewarding in themselves, and that there is no need to brag or boast to call attention to your successes. After all, tooting your own horn can often backfire in our world of considerable judgement.

Ask yourself the following questions regarding your current work efforts:

  • How much impact, influence, and say do I have in my work?
  • How much am I learning, growing, and bettering myself through my work?
  • What difference, contribution, and purpose does my work provide to others in my various communities?

EXERCISE:

Take one minute tonight after you brush your teeth to look in a mirror and reflect on all your silent successes. You may notice how others in your world often toot your horn for you.

“It’s hard to see your own face without a mirror.”

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“It’s hard to see your own face without a mirror.”

—Phil McGraw, American TV Personality “Dr. Phil”

Image from Unsplash by Laurenz Kleinheider

I recently facilitated a team-building workshop with one of my favorite clients. Half of the twelve participants had worked with me before. The other six were with me for the first time. The senior leader has been coaching each of them for more than a decade and he wanted to boost his efforts with this session.

We discussed a variety of topics, and did a strength/weakness exercise, which is fairly standard for such meetings. Surprisingly, the feedback and comments from their colleagues made an even bigger impression on the participants than most expected.

EXERCISE:

Where are or could you more fully use the people in your personal and professional communities as a mirror, to realize more of your fullest potential?

“Happiness held is the seed; happiness shared is the flower.”

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“Happiness held is the seed; happiness shared is the flower.”

—John Harrigan, writer, director and performer

Image from Unsplash by Yuriy Garnaev

Did you know that Norway is considered one of the happiest places on the planet? The CNN special Chasing Life, hosted by Dr. Sanji Gupta, recently highlighted a small town 200 miles north of the Arctic Circle.

Despite the frigid temperatures and the complete darkness November through January, most people interviewed described themselves as a 9 or 10 on the Happiness Scale.

A critical component to their happiness was the focus on the level of family and community engagement.

In Norway, after the birth of a child, a parent receives 80% of their wages and a full year off of work to focus on raising the child. If they choose to take off only ten months, they receive 100% of their wages.

EXERCISE:

Where can and will you plant the seeds of happiness in your community gardens, so that you can share the flowers of happiness with those you care about and love?

Friday Review: Optimism

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FRIDAY REVIEW: OPTIMISM

Are you an optimist or a pessimist, or a little bit of both? Here are a few optimism-related posts you may have missed.

 

“The optimist already sees the scar over the wound; the pessimist sees the wound underneath the scar.”

 

 

 

“Complaining is Draining.”

 

 

 

 

“I have hope and I’m not afraid to use it.”