Refuse to Let Your Past Limit Your Future

I meet with people every week and a good percentage of them set fairly serious limitations before we ever speak. They even ask me, “What’s possible for me given my background and experience?” While it is important to know your strengths and gaps, this is not to limit yourself – but to help you build

Feedback: Friend or Foe?

I was reading a book recently and it talked about feedback. It focused on why some feedback makes the person receiving reject it and other feedback is accepted and used to create positive growth. This resonated with me as I recalled a time when I received the same feedback from two different people. With the

The Answer to: “What am I here to do?”

“What am I here to do?” is a question I hear from friends, people I coach, and more. I have asked myself that question more than a few times in my life. For me, the answer has been close to the same for a long time. I believe that I am here to learn and

Go Already

“Go Already!” While no one has said this to my face, I wouldn’t be surprised if more than a few of my friends think that I should drive my ideas to the market faster than I actually do. Those of you who know me are aware that I love to come up with creative, innovative,

Finding the Energy for Hope

I was with a group of friends yesterday evening. I would say this is an upbeat group of individuals. About ten minutes into our zoom gathering, one of the people shared about how he was struggling to find a way to make a positive impact when the problems of the world feel overwhelming, discouraging, and

The Power of Encouraging Yourself

I will admit it – I want and need encouragement, early and often. This may sound a little needy and maybe it is. Having been on the giving and receiving of support and encouragement, I know that both parties benefit a lot. So perhaps I am doing a service – could be. That said, over

Maxed Out Your Potential?!?

I was chatting with a friend who told me he felt he had maxed out his potential and capacity. Inside, I wanted to join him in the joke I thought he was making. Then I realized he wasn’t kidding. “That’s interesting you say that. What makes you think so?” His reply was not uncommon. Despite

The Courage to Set Boundaries

One of the scariest things for me to do is set boundaries. Could be an issue of fear of rejection or abandonment – or that I just don’t know how to do it. If this sounds like you, we’re not alone. I have made a bit of a study of how people do or do

Be an Active Optimist

Do you even hear someone almost making fun of optimists in the midst of the world as it is? I do.  Yet I think those individuals have a limited view of what optimism means. They may be definite optimism as “think good thoughts and things will work out” or (even worse) “hope someone will take

How Does Your Network Perceive You?

I was recently having a conversation about personal and professional success. Not surprisingly, the topic of one’s network came up – which can be controversial. One person was frustrated  about his traction on getting funding for his company. Another person mentioned they had a ton of LinkedIn contacts and rarely received a reply when asking