Many years ago, my late, great friend Hyrum Smith was a member of a team that discovered the Reality Model, a brilliant visual way of describing how people look at life. Hyrum was so taken by the concepts in the model that he published a book about it and spent much of the rest of […]
The 2020 Silver Lining
As we approach December 31, it’s a good time to reflect on this historic year. I’m sure there are many things we’ll all want to leave behind. Yet there may be some things we will want to carry with us into the future. There’s no question that 2020 has taken a toll on tens of […]
Make a PACT to Increase Happiness and Reduce Stress
Now that most of us have a few weeks of quarantine under our belts, it might be a good time to take stock of our individual responses to this stressful situation. I’d like to do it in a way that can help you keep that stress from negatively affecting you both now and in the […]
3 Simple Ways to Master Learning and Make Things Happen
Years ago, a dear friend of mine asked me what my biggest disappointment was with my career. That thoughtful question motivated some real self-reflection. I realized that what bothered me most was that my work was not having lasting impact. While my books were widely read, many people were not following through on the concepts […]
3 Mindsets to Brighten Your Day
I’ve talked a number of times about Norman Vincent Peale and the positive impact he had on my life. I love this quote from him that I often read for inspiration as I enter my day: “We are here to be excited from youth to old age—to have an insatiable curiosity about the world. Aldous […]
Ask Empowering Questions
Most of us—even millennials—have a history of working under guidance and control at school and in our workplaces. Therefore, we tend to think of authority as external rather than internal. The following questions are all too familiar to us: At school: “What does the teacher want me to do to get good grades?” At work: […]
New Year, New Goals: Don’t Go It Alone!
The New Year is fast approaching and here it comes again: New Year’s resolution time. Have you ever made New Year’s resolutions you didn’t keep? My experience is that all of us have had good intentions we didn’t follow through on over the years. We usually start out enthusiastic about the change but after a […]
If You Choose Your Attitude, You Get to Change Your Life for the Better
Does your busy schedule sometimes require you to do one thing when you’d really rather be doing something else, and it leaves you feeling a little grumpy? Once in a while when this happens to me, I think of a story I heard several years ago about the late, great opera singer Beverly Sills. At […]
It’s Time to Commit to Your Commitment—Once and For All
Why don’t New Year’s resolutions work? When I ask people how many have made a New Year’s resolution they haven’t kept, everyone raises their hand. The reason for this is, after you announce your New Year’s resolution, everyone who is important in your life laughs, says, “We’ll believe it when we see it,” and goes […]