Self Improvement Tips

  There is a song by the musical group, Alabama, “I’m in a Hurry.” All of us appear to be in a hurry. Is that something that benefits us?  At times we are in a season of hurriedness. That is understandable.  But, if your whole life is that way I suggest that you are missing many things. The first verse of the song states: “I’m in a hurry to get things done Oh I rush and rush until life’s no fun All I really gotta do is live and die But I’m in a hurry and don’t know why.”   In today’s world being in a hurry can be equated with being busy.  We are busy because we are striving for greater self-esteem, wealth, possessions and property among other things.  But, in looking at my own life and those of my personal business coaching clients I see that excessive hurriedness because we are always busy is a distraction.  We rush and rush until life’s no fun.  And we don’t either recognize or know why our lives are no fun. Being continually busy never gives me...

  Tugboats and trains perform distinct and separate functions in real life.  Tugboats operate on water.  Their mission is to push, nudge and help direct the barges and large vessels that cannot turn very precisely in the confined areas of a harbor.  Trains are designed to pull and transport heavy loads over steel rails to a specific destination. In business, to be successful, you must have both the tugboat and train.  You need people who are tugboats.  And you need people who are trains.  As a personal business coach in Houston and The Woodlands, I have seen successful businesses. the necessity for both over a forty-year career in business. Let’s look first at the train people.  They set a course, they lay down the processes, tracks and they have a clear destination in mind.  They are usually meticulous and very process-oriented.  They want the most direct and shortest path to achieving their business goals. Tugboat people see the same g...

  With the advent of COVID 19, almost a year ago in the United States, there has been a transformation in how we look at ourselves, our relationships, work, and as a society in general.  Where pre-COVID we trafficked in a currency of confidence and a “can-do” attitude we now use the currency of fear.  Fear shuts down connections.  Fear shuts down conversations.  Fear shuts down moving forward.  Fear isolates us.  As social human beings this last one, isolation, is the one that has wreaked the most mental and emotional damage. Fear causes us to grieve.  We grieve because we have lost our sense of normal.  We may have lost loved ones, our jobs, or our homes.  Grief is the death of something.  And fear triggers grief because we have lost our sense of normal and at the same time, as we move forward day by day, we have no sense of certainty about the future.  In a way we are afraid to step out and move forward. Our fears are legitim...

  Ability is your capability in certain areas.  Motivation determines what you do with your ability.  Attitude determines the quality of your outcomes when you use your ability and are motivated. In my personal business coaching practice in The Woodlands and in Houston I have observed time and again the connection between these three areas and how they impact individual and team performance. Ability is important.  It is a great place to start when looking at what you are capable of accomplishing.  But it is not everything. Motivation, by itself, is not enough.  Motivation gets you going in using your ability, yet it doesn’t guaranty you are headed down the right path. Attitude is what takes your ability and motivation and keeps it on track.  Attitude says that if the track your ability and motivation are taking you on is not working, that you will try something else.  With the right attitude, you are willing to make the necessary adjustments on yo...

  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-  You lo...

  Grief is everywhere! Our experience with COVID 19 has and continues to bring us grief. In my business coaching practice and in my own life grief is at the forefront. Grief is the loss of normal. Grief is the death of something. In the businesses I collaborate as well as many others I know all of us are dealing with grief. What was normal, the way we did things is gone. And when there is a loss of normal it is replaced by fear. We are grieving because we are fearful about the future. In the United States we are grieving as a society because we miss each other. With COVID 19 we are hearing grief in almost all aspects of our society. Why? We are collectively dealing with the loss of the world we knew. And when each of us is grieving it is harder to connect. Why? We have to become vulnerable to the situation that is causing someone else to grieve and reconcile it with our vulnerability in our situation. When we feel vulnerab...

Hope’s power energizes us with excitement and anticipation as we look toward the future. Self Improvement Tips is one of your most valuable possessions. It’s been said that a person can live forty days without food, four days without water, four minutes without air, but only four seconds without hope. If you want to help yourself win, build great relationships, build great teams then become a purveyor of hope & Improve Self Confidence. Self-Improvement Tips.com is for you to discover a starting place for your own journey of self-improvement & personal development. Self Improvement Tips has a variety of offerings to get you thinking and to start you on your way to creating pathways to having the life you desire. 5 key ways to begin self improvement: 1. CREATING TIME TO PONDER 2. MAKE LEARNING A HABIT 3. STOP WASTING YOUR NIGHTS AND GET REST 4. GET TO KNOW THE NATURE OF YOUR OWN DESIRE 5. TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF PHYSICALLY Read more

In the previous two posts we have looked at the fear that is based on indifference and indecision. In this post we will look at doubt. And, like the other fears, doubt has a valid time and place. Yet, if you let doubt rule you, your circle of accomplishment and your feelings of self-worth will be very small. As a  personal development business coach in The Woodlands  and as a  personal development business coach in Houston  I have seen doubt sabotage talented people. When I had businesses of my own, some as large as eighty people, I let doubt creep in and keep me from greater accomplishment. Doubt  is highly personal. It is a fear we generate based on our view of ourselves and our world. It is one the hardest enemies to overcome because it demands that we change our perspective, our reality, on ourselves and our world. If I were to pick one  self-improvement tip for success , it would be to always have  self-awareness  of your doubts. With...