August 5, 2020 

Serendipity!

For the entire month of July, I have been posting on the many faces of courage, counting my two most recent Blogs and innumerable Facebook posts.  I was just starting to plan a pivot to a related theme for my first Blog in August, when Jackie Acho's Blog, "Choosing Life Over Fear" arrived in my email. 

As soon as I read her piece, I wanted to ask permission to feature her as a guest writer this month. I immediately reached out to Jackie for permission to share her Blog with my readers. Being the open and generous person that she is -- Jackie immediately said, "Yes!" 

I love this Blog for so many  reasons. First and foremost, Jackie writes from the heart and provides a first-hand, up-close-and personal account of what it means to choose life over fear. If you have battled cancer, I think you will hear a kindred heart. In addition, I believe all of us know a family member or friend who has battled cancer and this may help us...

YOUR MIRROR OF COURAGE

July 22, 2020
 

My early July Blog, “Acts of Courage,” was just a warm-up. Let us look a little deeper. In fact, let us stand up and look in a mirror. If you do not have a full length mirror handy, use your imagination to see yourself.  

This is an exercise I love from our Certified High Performance Coaching^™ Program. Stand in front of the mirror and see yourself as your most courageous self. What do you see – in the mirror or in your mind's eye?   

Be specific.

• Are your feet solidly planted on the ground, with your feet shoulder width apart? You are not on your heels – or leaning back, right?
• Are your shoulders straight and your posture erect, like you have an imaginary cord pulling you up to the ceiling? Your shoulders are not slumped, you are not hunched forward, right?
• Are your hands expressive, reaching out, palms open and inviting? Your arms are not crossed, or rigid at your side, or behind...

Total Immersion Retreat:  High Performance Habits 

Held at the Historic Holt Lake House on Catawba Island 

August 6 - August 9, 2020

I am opening my historic Lake House overlooking Lake Erie for a Summer 2020 Total Immersion Retreat, from the evening of Thursday, August 6, through noon, Sunday, August 9^th. 

Experience the joy and confidence of consistently living from your best self. Invest in yourself and learn the tools and science behind high performance habits – the habits that move the needle most -- to get you from where you are to where you want to be. 

This is a small, intimate, intensely energizing 2 ½- days for women to launch positive changes in their personal lives and make rapid advancement in their professional lives. In keeping with the new protocols, registration is limited to five applicants.  

The Total Immersion Retreat in High Performance Habits is designed for women to dedicate the time to go deeply...

ACTS OF COURAGE

July 2, 2020 

“Excessive caution destroys the soul and the heart, because
living is an act of courage, and
an act of courage is always an act of love.”

This is a quote from Manuscript Found in Accra, a captivating novel by best-selling author Paulo Coelho, published in 2012. It is a story of a city under siege, where Jews, Christians, and Muslims live together peacefully and are preparing for annihilation from the armies of the Crusades. The novel is a series of parables as spoken by a Sage about love, faith, friendship, bravery, community and uncovering the sources of human fears and anxieties, written down to preserve the wisdom of the city’s soul.

To be clear, by choosing this quote, I am not talking about the current controversy of whether to wear face masks or not. Coelho is speaking to life and death issues – from the great wisdom traditions.  

Our focus in this newsletter is on courage -- acts of courage to...

What is High Performance?  

March 6, 2020 

What is high performance?

Some people tell me they see it as applying to high achievers in a corporate setting, on a career track. Other people think of it as applying to athletes. As a Certified High Performance^™ Coach, we have a broader definition – one that can apply to anyone, anywhere, at any age – who has a growth mindset. 

In our program, High Performance means succeeding beyond standard norms consistently over the long term. You craft your own specific definition for where you are in your life right now, professionally or personally. Equally important, High Performance is the ongoing feeling of full engagement, joy and confidence that comes from consistently living from your best self. You know it, when you feel the JOY! 

I love to give people options – because we all learn differently, and we have different time and financial constraints. This week, I am want to share a number...

How Do You Manage Your Time? 

February 14, 2020

I am going to continue the theme from last month on productivity by asking, “How do you manage your time? 

One might take this question in many directions – it is a deep and complex question. For now, my focus is quite specific and will use the MBTI^® Personality Type framework.  We will focus on the 4^th letter in the 4-Letter Personality Type, the “J” or “P” preference. 

There is often some confusion and misinterpretation about this 4^th letter – our preference for how we organize our life and manage our time – where the “J” is Judging, and the “P” is Perceiving. A note of caution: “J” does not mean judgment and “P” does not mean perception. There are no right or wrong, good or bad preferences in this framework. Rather, we all go about organizing our life and managing our time differently. The population is...

My Top 5 Productivity Breakthroughs 

January 20, 2020 
 

Is your year going according to plan?  My honest answer … is Yes… and No. Overall, things are not exactly smooth and going according to my plan! 

We are 20 days into 2020… the start of a new year, the start of a new decade. How can plans and good intentions get off track so quickly? Cripes!!

Personally, I am working on my energy levels – physically, mentally and emotionally. I am stretched – in a good way – and working on how I dig deep to persevere, and how to take my productivity habits to the next level.

So, let’s talk perseverance and productivity!

Here are my Top 5 Productivity Breakthroughs culled from years of experience in the corporate world, the lessons in my Certified High Performance Coaching Program^™ and the insights from my From Stressed To Best^™ practice:

1. Create Your Own Morning Ritual: This morning ritual is a 3-part...

Now Is The Time

November 17, 2019

Now is the time of year that many of us ask:  

1. Have I accomplished what I set out to do this year?
2. How can I salvage the year with the time remaining?
3. What am I grateful for in my life?
4. What are my plans and goals for the coming year?
5. What are my dreams for the next 5 years?
6. How can I stress less and get through the upcoming Holiday season? 

“Not so fast my friend,” as Lee Corso would say. Whether you are a sports aficionado or not – I believe you get the point. While these are totally appropriate questions -- when we start here, we might miss the most important first steps.  

In my opinion, the first and most important questions to ask are: Am I fully Present? Do I… will I … can I …. fully accept myself…. just as I AM… in this present moment? Have I let go of some of my negative, limiting beliefs and emotions and started to accept that “I am good...

Personal Freedom: Part II 

August 30, 2019

I had an unexpected opportunity 2 weeks ago to participate in an online Masterclass by Marie Diamond, “How to Instantly Apply Feng Shui in Your Life”, offered by MindValley. For the last 25 years Marie has been a Feng Shui Master and coached hundreds of thousands of students worldwide, top public speakers, international best-selling authors, celebrities in the music and movie industry, and top athletes. I can only say, WOW! This class took all the energy work I have been doing to a higher level. I spent 10 days learning from the 8 Videos and applying the lessons of de-cluttering, energy flows and rearranging furniture, pictures, etc., in my entryway, living room, dining room, bedroom, and my office Loft. I was caught up in an energy vortex and totally immersed in flow and change. That is the short version of my story for the unexpected hiatus in my regular Blog schedule. 

More on what I learned to come in future...

Personal Freedom

August 3, 2019  
 

What does the phrase “Personal Freedom” mean to you? 

Let’s ease into this conversation. Here are a few of my favorite insights by world renown authors, spiritual advisers and personal development coaches: 

1. Viktor Frankl, an Austrian psychiatrist, survivor of the Nazi concentration camps and author of “Man’s Search for Meaning":
   
   “Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms – to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.” 

2. Deepak Chopra, M.D., co-founder of the Chopra Center for Well Being, the founder of the Chopra Foundation, world-renowned pioneer in integrative medicine and transformation, and author of over 85 books. This quote is from the “Oprah & Deepak Miraculous Relationships 21-Day Meditation, Day 18: I Cherish the Freedom to be Myself” 
   
   “The...