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Development

Big News! Introducing LEAP: Leverage Your Experience. Achieve Prosperity.

I have something very exciting to share with you! It’s based on this:

Without doubt, the best decision I’ve made in my professional career was to leave corporate to do independent consulting.

Recently, I realized this: I am uniquely positioned to help others launch their business. I’ve had very large clients and very small clients across industries. I’ve taught a consulting course at Purdue for 5 years. And, helping others make positive change is the hallmark of my work. I can give others an experienced guide, process and tools to help move from working for someone else to working for yourself.

So I’ve partnered up with Katie Workman (social media expert / graphic artist), and I have created LEAP – a 3 step process that helps professionals with marketable skills make the leap from corporate to consulting.

Learn more about LEAP in this exciting announcement!>/p>

Renewal

Outsmarting Overwhelm

I fall prey to feeling overwhelmed more than I’d like. The “to do” list is long and grows like a teenager in a growth spurt. At times there are so many tugs on my time that I can find myself paralyzed, seemingly unable to tackle even one of the hundreds of tasks facing me.

As I consult and coach and teach, I know I am not alone. Many are overwhelmed by jobs that demand them to be available 24/7.

Thankfully I’ve grown wiser about overcoming overwhelm after a lifetime of practice. As such, here are the tactics that I’ve found work to outsmart overwhelm.

Intention

Words Matter

Even 15 years later, I still recall my eye-rolling. My long sighs. My suggestion that we just move on and get some “real work” done. And the rebuke.

The setting was one of those way too long, want to pull your hair out sessions with way too many people crafting a mission statement for the team. We agreed on the big points and were divided on the finer ones – the exact choice of words, their phrasing, and even their punctuation.

Continue reading to find out what happened in this activity that helped me learn an important lesson about words.

Development

Positive Discontent

Positive and discontent. The words don’t seem to go together. For we know, all too well, those times of discontent. When we are out of sorts and at times grumpy. Where things are just not right. When our worlds are not awful but neither are they awesome.

So to describe those times of discontent with an adjective of “positive” jolts us. Far better pairings might use the words dark or disconcerting or uncomfortable. But positive? How can that be?

Learn more about how discontent can be positive and create innovation by reading the rest of this article.

Goals

Pre-enactment: A Way to Create the Future You Want

I am a big advocate of working forward rather than backward. I’ve transformed my life into one of meaning, fulfillment, and joy by using several methods of envisioning what I wanted to create in my life.

As such, I’ve journaled, created vision boards, set HEART goals, and created accountability systems to ensure that I acted unfailingly on those dreams. And, it’s worked.

Yet, as powerful as those techniques are, none are nearly as amazing as a way of envisioning (and then creating) a better future than one I learned from Joanna Taft, director of the Harrison Center for the Arts and visionary community leader.

Her question is this. Rather than reenact, why not pre-enact?

Learn more about pre-enacting by reading the full post.

Learning

Reframing – “Fix Your Face”

Two women leaders recently shared a wonderful story to me that struck at a basic truth. Here is how the story unfolded.

Michelle was commanded (not asked, but told) to participate in a developmental program that required her to be out of her regular work for a day and a half. Her coworker, Kenya, also was asked to participate in the same program; albeit in a more inviting way.

Michelle’s first response was negative. She was angry. She was frustrated. She vented to Kenya about how annoying, unjust and terrible this whole thing was. Kenya’s first response was different. She was curious. What was this program about? How might it help her?

So when Michelle’s email came to Kenya, with all the disbelief and complaining and frustration, Kenya presented Michelle with very sage advice in three short words: Fix Your Face.

Keep reading to learn more about the story of Michelle and Kenya, reframing a situation, and how to “fix your face”.

Leadership

Can Doing Nothing be an Act of Leadership?

Leading seems to us to be an action verb. Visionary. Problem solver. Manager. Fire fighter.

As leaders we can feel compelled to build, to fix, and to organize. Very seldom do we give ourselves the latitude to do nothing. We are busy. We are needed. Others rely on us.

Yet, I would propose there are times when, as leaders, we might do nothing.

Have you ever felt stuck? Here’s my process for getting unstuck and moving forward.

There are times in life we get stuck. We dislike where we are. It might be in our career or in a relationship or in a specific geography. We might not like our current employer, boss or customers, yet we don’t see any other options.

I’ve been there – and I have had plenty of conversations with people who are stuck and want help getting unstuck. What I’ve noticed is that there is a consistent pattern that accompanies the “getting stuck” times both with me and with others.

The good news? You can learn how to break this pattern and move forward when you are feeling stuck.

Development

20 Free Ways You Can Invest in Yourself

In a recent post, I discussed the importance of investing in yourself. In this post, I’m sharing a great list of no-cost ways you can do that. No-cost means no funding required, no need to open your wallet and/or use your credit card.

Of course, there is a cost. Investing in yourself will require time. It will require effort. It will require that you value yourself enough to nurture your growth, and it might require you to take a risk and try something new!

Read my list of 20 free ways you can invest in yourself, and see which ones you could try this weekend!

Development

Invest in Yourself: 5 Things Every Professional Should Do to Develop Themselves

Expanding your knowledge, developing your skills, and broadening your network is a gift that keeps on giving. It improves your job performance, which leads to other good things like plum assignments, new opportunities, and career growth.

Yet in spite of a host of good reasons to invest in ourselves, we can lose sight of actually taking tangible actions.

Today, the stakes are higher. When the best jobs 15 years from now don’t even exist today, when the amount of technical information doubles every two years, when employers are hiring, more and more – for capability rather than competency – it is our duty to own our personal learning, growth and development with focus and intention.

Learn about how capability is now a critical employment criteria, and the five things every professional should do to develop themselves, starting today.

Evergreen Leadership Blog

Big News! Introducing LEAP: Leverage Your Experience. Achieve Prosperity.

Outsmarting Overwhelm

Words Matter

Positive Discontent

Pre-enactment: A Way to Create the Future You Want

Reframing – “Fix Your Face”

Can Doing Nothing be an Act of Leadership?

Have you ever felt stuck? Here’s my process for getting unstuck and moving forward.

20 Free Ways You Can Invest in Yourself

Invest in Yourself: 5 Things Every Professional Should Do to Develop Themselves

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