Self Improvement Tips

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...

Self confidence means believing in yourself that you can be effective in the world, feeling able to handle the challenges of the world to achieve goals. So, how to build confidence and self esteem ? Here are some ways to do so! Believe in Yourself: The first step is to believe in yourself. It’s your responsibility to take charge for your own beliefs and self-concept, belief in your talent, abilities, potential and your worth. Affirm Yourself: We tend to behave according to our own self image. To have this lasting, change how you view yourself! These are positive & uplifting statements we say to ourselves. To get your brain accept this quickly, phrase your affirmations as questions such as “Why am I so good in cooking?” instead of “I am so good in cooking” Do one thing that scares you everyday: Overcome your fear by facing it! Do something that scares you! You’ll see your self confidence soar! Get out of your comfort zones and face your fear! Question Your Inner Critic:...

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...

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 t...

For your self-improvement to benefit you for the long term you must be regularly evaluating your performance. Here are some tips on self improvement. One Down, Three to Go! The first quarter of 2018 is gone. In today’s world, danger awaits those who wait for the once-a-year performance review. Before the second quarter gets too far away from you, I strongly recommend that you evaluate your current performance and associated results. Right now, yes, right this second: ask yourself these very important questions to set up your personal development goals: 1. Concerning my year to date performance, how am I doing? 2. If I continue along with my current strategies and performance, how will I be doing at the end of the second quarter? 3. What am I going to do starting today to get myself back on target? 4. What new strategies and habits must I implement in order to improve my performance? The reality is that at this very moment, you are in one of these three positions – ...

In the previous four posts, we have looked at the fears that are based on indifference, indecision, doubt, and worry. In this post, we will look at timidity. And, like the other fears, timidity at times can certainly be appropriate. Yet, when you are overcome with timidity it will keep you from advancing. As a business coach in The Woodlands and as a business coach in Houston I have seen and experienced timidity. What is timidity? Quite simply, timidity is overly cautious. Timidity or over-caution will keep people on the sidelines when they need to be in the game of business and life. Interestingly, timidity can hold back talented and nice people. Why? A timid person will not take a risk. They always want to have both feet planted firmly on the ground. If you think about it, when you take a step forward, you get out of balance. Timid people love balance. Yet, when you are totally in balance, you cannot move. Very often-timid people although qualified will not get the promotion o...

In the previous three posts we have looked at the fear that is based on indifference, indecision and doubt. In this post we will look at worry. And, like the other fears, worry has a valid time and place. Yet, when you are consumed with worry it robs you of the energy and focus to accomplish what you have set out to do… As a business coach in The Woodlands and as a business coach in Houston I have seen worry take people off course and actually make things worse than the worry itself. In my businesses, when I started to hire people and had to make a payroll, I definitely had a great deal of worry. After all, cash flow in the beginning my businesses was not predictable. And sometimes it meant paying everyone except myself. In turn, that created another set of worries. Worry, like doubt is highly personal. In some ways it is easier to manage. Where doubt is about how we feel about ourselves at the core, worry, very often, comes from external circumstances, people and things. The poin...