What Are You Doing to Stay Active?

What do you do to stay active throughout the day?

You have your daily routines, but what are you doing to shake it up a bit.  "Active" isn't just about movement, but rather diversity of movement with your emotions, thoughts, and actions - moving your spirit, your mind, and your body.

• How will you think differently today?  
• How will you think into your results? 
• What will you get excited about or show more empathy?
• Will you take the stairs instead of the elevator or park a little farther away from the building?

Share your ideas on how you could shake it up a bit.

YOU Matter!!

Are You a Critical Thinker or Do You Think Critically?

Are you a critical thinker?

Do you have an insatiable appetite to learn, understand, ponder..... are you curious?  There are many definitions of critical thinking.  I like "thinking about one's thinking in a manner designed to organize and clarify, raise the efficiency of, and recognize errors and biases in one's own thinking."

My feeble attempt to define critical thinking for me is a continuous awareness of one's thinking with the purpose to remain open to unconventional answers in seemingly conventional situations. 

Critical thinkers typically look for why things are the way they are or even look for ways things can be accomplished.  The similarly sounding, but very different thinker is the one who thinks critically.  This is one who looks for why things can not be done or is always looking for what's wrong with individuals and the world.

Be a critical thinker, but don't think critically.

YOU Matter!!

The Bridge From Ordinary to Extraordinary

Journeys of any significant distance will require us to cross at least one bridge along the way.

Bridges help us to navigate tough terrain that would normally be too difficult to cross.  We enjoy the convenience of the bridge, but the bridge itself was not convenient to build.  Many bridges take years to complete, but are worth the effort.

The bridge we must construct to navigate life's tough terrain is made out of GRIT. On October 10, Linda Kaplan Thaler, Chairman of Publicis Kaplan Thaler will be speaking at a live simulcast event called L2: Learn-Lead on the topic of GRIT: Guts, Resilience, Industriousness and Tenacity. How ordinary people become extraordinary.  Linda will share some of her personal experiences, inspiring stories and anecdotes of both well-known and everyday individuals, along with scientific evidence about the power of GRIT. Linda has grown a start-up to a multi-billion dollar public listed company and that took a lot of GRIT!

In this simulcast, Linda will be joined by world-renowned leadership expert, Dr. John C. Maxwell and internet pioneer, Tim Sanders.  If you are in Austin, TX, join us for this powerful simulcast event at the Moviehouse & Eatery, in West Austin on RR620 right across from Concordia University Texas.

For more information and to reserve your seat, visit our site at L2Austin.

The Challenge of Leadership

The challenge of leadership is to 
be strong, but not rude; 
be kind, but not weak; 
be bold, but not bully; 
be thoughtful, but not lazy; 
be humble, but not timid; 
be proud, but not arrogant; 
have humor, but without folly. 
~ Jim Rohn

You've read it, now what will you do with it?

YOU Matter!!

Are You Listening?

In every complaint, there is a request.

You must LISTEN, in order to respond.

Otherwise, you are only reacting, making matters worse.

Today, CHOOSE to listen.

Stay fully present, fully focused on what is being said
rather than trying to figure out what you will say next.

Curiosity Kills Ignorance

How often are you curious?

Curiosity can build connection with others.
When is the last time you asked someone to tell you about themselves?  I'm not talking about, "What do you do?"  When have you taken the time to show real interest in someone by asking them to tell you their story?

Curiosity can spur you personal growth.
When is the last time you asked yourself reflective questions?  One of my mentors, Scott Fay, always asks four reflective questions at the end of each day:

1. What should I start doing?
2. What should I stop doing?
3. What should I do more of in my day?
4. What should I do less of in my day?

Are you curious?
Questions require curiosity.  Curiosity unlocks possibilities where there seemed to be impossibilities. BUT, you must stay in an inquisitive / curious state.  The problem is that many do not stay curious long enough and will just accept the first set of answers that they receive.  Instead you need to stay in a mode of questioning until you have sufficiently fleshed it out.  THEN, end with the question, "What are we missing" or "What am I missing?"

I've heard somewhere that "Curiosity killed the cat, but for humans, curiosity kills ignorance."

Stay curious..... ask questions of others and yourself.

Try it today.

YOU Matter!!

No One Rises to Low Expectations

What are you doing to stretch yourself?

When you stretch yourself, others will be inspired to do the same.

What do you expect of yourself?

What do you expect of others?

No one is perfect, you can always do better....

But, you will never get better until you stretch.

YOU Matter!!