Self Improvement Tips

  As of today, November 17, 2020 the political climate is very unsettled in the United States.  The business owners I collaborate with in my business coaching practice in The Woodlands and Houston are moving forward.  But for each it is different.  Some are striding forward with confidence and a “we shall overcome” attitude.  Others are moving forward with less certainty.  In Texas, where I live and work, the economic situation because of the pandemic has been hurtful but overall, we are doing well. The question is, depending on who wins the election, what are the policies regarding COVID 19 and the economy moving forward.   In Texas, with a great emphasis on oil and gas there is a great deal of uncertainty.  Millions of lives and livelihoods could be affected over the next few years.  Employers and employees feel unsettled. And the business owners who are not in oil and gas feel unsettled, too.  One thing has become clear during th...

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...

Confidence is must to achieve success in your life. You need the courage to face your fears and to conquer them. Believe in yourself – faith in yourself means trust in yourself. Self Confidence is closely related to self esteem. It is an external behavior that stems from a high self esteem. Self-confidence means believing in yourself that you can be effective in the world, feeling able to cope with the world's challenges to attain goals. Here are 7 ways to improve your self confidence:- Believe in Yourself:  First step is believing in yourself. It is your duty to take duty for your own values and self-concept, trust in your ability, skill, capacity and interest. Affirm Yourself:  We appear to act as per our own picture of ourselves. Adjust how you see yourself, to make this permanent! These are optimistic & uplifting remarks that we tell ourselves to make. To get your brain accept this quickly, phrase your affirmations as questions such as “Why am I s...

In the previous post we looked at some factors that can take your networking to not working.  Lack of soft skills, people skills is the biggest challenge in today’s fast paced world.  For networking to work we must be effective with others which means being truly interested in them and willing to listen. One of the keys to success in your networking is the culture you bring into every interaction.  Your culture is a reflection of how you think and care about yourself.  Remember, the goal of networking is to build deeper relationships.  If the culture you are bringing is toxic that will not happen. As a personal business coach in The Woodlands and as a personal business coach in Houston I have witnessed with clients the impact their culture can have on relationships.  The first thing you must bring in your culture to others is a sense of safety.  If people sense you are turbulent, angry, totally into your own opinions they realize this is not a...

Let’s assume that you are out and about and networking regularly.  What that means is that you consistently attend the same meetings.  That is good.  It is not possible to build deeper relationships without being consistent in your networking. Yet, things aren’t coming together.  You are spending the time, but you are not getting to have deeper relationships.  As a business coach in Houston and The Woodlands I have had clients who get frustrated.  In fact, over my career I have become frustrated, too.  I join a group and believe that good things are going to happen, and they don’t. The first thing you may do is start questioning yourself.  This starts to bring in doubt.  Doubt, if you are broadcasting it, is not fertile ground for building deeper relationships.  Looking at yourself is a good idea, but over the years as a personal development business coach in The Woodlands and as a personal development business coach in Houston, I ...

“Low self-esteem is like driving through life with your hand brake on.” — Maxwell Malt Do people possessing high self-esteem achieve greater success in life? You may have heard from many people that they want to increase their self esteem. They believe that once their confidence and self esteem is high, they’ll be able to achieve more and greater successes. While that’s a valid fact that high self esteem assists you in achieve all you want in your life, the mistake most of the people make is how they think about self-esteem. It’s not a thing to be increased or decreased! Instead, self esteem is the process of esteeming yourself. In other words, the process of boosting your self esteem starts with thinking of how valuable you are and treating yourself the same. Self Confidence is closely related to self esteem. It is an external behavior that stems from a high self esteem. Self confidence means believing in yourself that you can be effective in the world, feeling able to han...