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The architect of your success

October 10, 2012

A couple of weeks ago, I was listening to Christian Simpson, the Coaching Mentor for the John Maxwell Team, and he said something so profound I wrote it down.  He said: The architect of your success is not your intellect; it is, in fact, your belief system. The architect of your success is not your intellect; it is, in fact, your belief system. In essence, he is saying it doesn’t matter how smart you are; being smart will not guarantee your success. The key is what you believe about yourself and your abilities.  I grew up in what I believe is actually a pretty normal family (defining “normal” as some level of obvious dysfunction, which I think most of us have; as I don’t believe the “Leave it to Beaver”

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Small miracles, revisited

October 10, 2012

It’s been a week since I said I wanted to start a movement and challenged you to ask the simple question, “If you could have a small miracle today, what would it be?” I wonder, have you done it? I have asked a number of people and have received some interesting responses. Most notably, several people repeated the question, seemingly rolling it around in their mouths to really get the feel for it before responding…and when they did, they typically said they had pretty much what they needed, and didn’t feel the need to ask for anything more.  I got the sense they really appreciated the simple gesture of my asking the question and then truly listening to their response. I did, however, have the opportunity to act in a

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Intent does NOT equal impact!

October 8, 2012

I’ve been teaching communication skills for ten years and this simple fact is one of the key lessons. My hope is for people to become more self-aware, to really think about what they want to accomplish and how they approach what they’re doing, so the impact (the outcome) of their actions is in fact what they hope to have happen. Let’s consider a couple of examples: It’s late evening and you are driving through the dark. There’s not a lot of traffic on the road, and to see better you have turned on your “brights.” As you travel along the road, somewhat lost in thought, your focus is pulled back in full to the road ahead, as there is a driver coming toward you in the opposite lane, flashing his

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I want to start a movement. Will you join me?

October 1, 2012

At my last corporate job, I taped Christmas cards to my office door during the holiday season. When I received a small gift in the office, I taped the gold bow that was on it to my door also. After the holidays, as I was taking down the cards, I decided to leave the bow, as a reminder of my purpose: To be a gift to the people whose lives I touch each day. I know, it may sound corny, but it’s true. And, each morning, while I prepare for my day I talk to God and I ask him for the tools I’ll need to do his work, my job, and fulfill my purpose. Several months after the holiday season, the bow was still on the door when a

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Why bother trying – it’s impossible. Right?

September 27, 2012

I want you to come on an adventure with me (an “expotition” as Pooh would call it). Imagine you are standing near the edge of a cliff. Mere inches from the tips of your toes, the cliff wall drops down hundreds of feet to a canyon. Across the way, some distance from you, you see the other side…and perched there is your goal, your dream (you fill in the name of whatever it is you desire to achieve), just waiting for you to cross over and claim it. As you stand there, first looking with great longing at your goal on the other side, then down into the canyon just in front of you, and consider the chasm that keeps you from just reaching out and grabbing it, you think…what?

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Would you like to press the “undo” button on your life?

September 24, 2012

In 2011, I participated in the Leadership West Virginia program. It was a tremendously valuable experience for me in more ways than I could recount quickly. One of the more memorable experiences was part of a service project my class decided to take on. We connected with the West Virginia College Summit program to act as mentors to high school students preparing for college; many times as the first person in their family to attend college. Essentially, during one of our monthly LWV sessions, we were paired up with a College Summit student to act as a mentor, offering guidance on completing applications, writing essays, evaluating classes and areas of study. I remember so distinctly the young with whom I was paired. When asked what she planned to study, she talked of wanting

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Defining success…and what it’s worth

September 18, 2012

I have a lot of conversations with friends, clients, colleagues, and sometimes even strangers, about what success means to them. These are educated, motivated, hard-working, individuals who would appear — from the outside and based on what society seems to define as success — to be successful. They hold good jobs in interesting fields, earn good salaries, live in nice places, are able to vacation, wear nice clothes, etc… Frequently, however, I find that when I ask them what success means to them, they don’t have an answer. For some, it is money, nice house, nice car, latest fashion, ability to mingle with all the “right” people, attend the “right” events…for others, it’s just the opposite. They want to be successful, but struggle with the idea that it means all

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Who are you when no one is looking?

September 4, 2012

I’ve been thinking a lot about integrity and character lately. I’ve heard it said that the true test of a person’s character is what he or she does when they believe no one is watching. Here are a couple of examples that have stuck with me: I used to live in Central Washington State, in a city comparable in population to Parkersburg. The couple who lived next door moved there from Alaska so the husband could go through a 3-4 year school program, which would allow him to change careers. When he was finished with his program, they intended to sell their home in WA and move back to Alaska. Yes, that’s right — they bought a home in Washington. However, they continued to license their cars in Alaska. It’s

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Hope is not a strategy…make a plan!

August 19, 2012

Last night I was doing a little shopping. As I was making one of my purchases, the sales person asked me where I was from. I responded that while I live in West Virginia now, I am from Washington State. Unexpectedly, his eyes lit up and he asked where I had lived, claiming his dream was to move to Seattle…someday. Make a plan, I said. Hope is not a strategy. Make a plan. Do you have a dream? Do you have a goal you want to achieve…someday? What are you doing to make it your reality? Here’s the thing…if you don’t make a plan, your plan, life has a way of making one for you. Or rather, life happens and it doesn’t always lead you where you want to go.

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Writing to learn what I know

August 14, 2012

I have loved to write for as long as I can remember. I remember dreaming of stacks of beautiful, crisp, clean white paper and a nice pen (oh, yes — a nice pen is critical. Ask anyone who loves to write, and those who write long-hand are very particular about the kind of pen they need to be fully present in their writing, open to creativity, and able to fully channel those words and thoughts to paper) and uninterrupted time to write. I’ve made my living for 20+ years as a communicator for a variety of companies in a variety of industries, and much of that work involved writing; “putting words in a row,” as a dear friend describes it. I have always believed words were important. Remember the saying,

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