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...

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 look for ...

  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...

  If you are looking for the magical concept, the short course that will turn your life around or, to create in a few short days or weeks your escalator to success then this is not the place for you. Self improvement takes the creation of a vision. And, it takes time. With your vision you how have a map for your journey of self improvement. The journey of self improvement demands that you develop new skills and disciplines. If we keep the same skills and disciplines, nothing changes. Self improvement takes time. Thankfully, all of us have 24 hours in a day. Rich, poor, happy or unhappy all of us have 24 hours in our day. The choices we make will either move us forward in our self improvement or hold us back. Self improvement takes effort. There is a story of a man sitting in a small cabin on a cold night. He has a wood stove that is not giving him any heat. He looks at the stove and finally shouts at it, “Give me the heat. Then I’ll give you the wood.” Like the wood stove, in orde...

A fantastic beginning for each day, like a life compass getting you started in the right direction each morning. A positive way to start your day to help you find your Wings To Fly. Wings To Fly provides daily encouragement for you to take the steps to become the person you wish to be and to have the life you desire. There are 365 different daily topics, that will take you 2 minutes or less to read. These topics are designed to move your self-improvement forward. Self-improvement and the process to becoming more accelerate when you have a daily focus. Your mind is a muscle and feeding it with steps for action and positive thoughts are the fuels that are needed to run the engine of your self-improvement. In Wings To Fly , Your Daily Lift Off To Soar To New Heights, my wish is to bring you something to think about every day that can and will improve your life. Your life will not be measured so much by what you accomplish. It will be measured more by what you had to overcome in o...

To be a successful people self improvement is really very important. Self improvement is your own personal elevator. As you rise to the top you will have to let some people off. You will have to let go of ways of thinking and ways of doing things. In fact, self improvement is about letting go. You must let go of the old to have success at bringing in the new. There cannot be any self improvement without letting go. Self improvement does not change things overnight. It is about small things. You develop a new skill here or a new discipline there. And it is the accumulation of these over time that yield a positive harvest in the field that is life. In Wings To Fly , Your Daily Lift Off To Soar To New Heights, my wish is to bring you something to think about every day that can and will improve your life. Your life will not be measured so much by what you accomplish. It will be measured more by what you had to overcome in order to accomplish. Only when you let go of your old think...