Self Improvement Tips

  Self-improvement is your own personal elevator. As you rise to the top you will have to let some people off. When you focus on self-improvement you are always in transition. As you rise, you must let go of those relationships that no longer serve you and the new person you are becoming. If you don’t, you will end up feeling stuck which eventually robs you of energy and happiness.  Look at your relationships.  Ask yourself, “Who do they have me becoming?”  And then ask yourself, “Is this acceptable?”   If the answer is no, let that person off your relational elevator so you may continue your self-improvement and rise to greater heights. In your personal world, this is easier to do.  But if you take the same approach to self-improvement in the business world you will discover some benefits even though things are more structured, and you have less input into who you are going to be working with. In my personal business coaching practice in The Woodlands and ...

What hat are you wearing when you think?  Years ago when I was studying what makes an effective team I came across a book, The Six Thinking Hats by Edward DeBono.  One of the premises was that for effective teamwork that it was important to have different perspectives.  And, as a team leader it is important to have a variety of prisms in thought in order to be able to move forward on a project or task with greater confidence. First, it is important to understand that each team member has preferred ways of thinking.  As a leader, you may be able to discern what is the best hat for someone to wear. 1. White Hat Thinking- With this thinking you focus on the data available. You analyze from past trends and extrapolate from historical data. 2. Red Hat Thinking-  You look at problems using your intuition, not reaction and emotion. Your goal is to understand others’ response intuitively, even if they don’t know your reasoning. 3. Black Hat Thinking-  Y...

There is something I do know. The two most important concepts for a civil, peaceful society to function are to have a clear definition of “what is okay” and “what is not okay. In your own life you determine “what is okay” and “what is not okay.” For society, “What is okay” has laws, customs and guidelines. “What is not okay” creates its own law, which in truth is the rule of men and their decisions at the moment as to “what is okay,” not law, along with their own special customs and guidelines. When “what is okay,” is not enforced, then “what is not okay” takes over. This is when lawlessness becomes the law. Fear sets in. And people when people see and feel this, they become scared. They are not themselves. They will pander to the fear in hopes of pacifying it and that the threat that is causing the fear will go away. In reality, nothing is being done to curb the source of the fear. There is no pushback. Without pushback, what is unreasonable becomes reasonable. And this...

At twelve years old I didn’t have a good attitude. I didn’t understand input, output and reward. On this particular day I had a bad attitude. It was normal for this day every year. As a young boy who loved to play there were other things I would rather be doing. Work around the house was not for me. Every Spring my Dad and I would go out on our half acre and clean up the property after the Winter storms. There were always many tree limbs and sometimes fallen trees. We did not have a chain saw and I had to chop all the limbs and trees with an axe. It was very hard work. And here was the worst part. My Dad always picked the first nice weekend day in Spring when all of my other friends were out playing. Oh, did I mention, I hated chopping wood. And once we finished chopping and stacking the wood we had to rake the yard. This particular Spring day was no different than in past years. I wanted to play with my friends and here I was in work prison. This particular morning the more I ...