Masterful Mindsets

“Without gas in your car, it doesn’t matter if you know where you’re going. You won’t reach your destination. Likewise, without mental and physical energy, you probably won’t reach your goals either.” ~MW

Let’s face it, we all have the same 24 hours in a day. But some people manage to get so much more done than others. You look at them and wonder how they do it. Or more specifically, you may wonder how they have the energy to do it all!

See the reality is, often it’s not that we need more time to get things done but rather, more energy.

Do you have enough energy to get everything you want accomplished each day or do you find that you are so tired by mid-day that it’s hard to focus and finish the day strong?  

The best laid plans will not come to fruition if you don’t have the mental and physical energy needed to take action toward achieving them. That’s why high levels of energy are a key element to high levels of productivity and success.

So if you find that you often lose st...

“Each minute is a little thing, and yet, with respect to our personal productivity, to manage the minute is the secret of success.” ~ Joseph B. Wirthlin

How successful you are, can often be equated to how productive you are. It certainly isn’t the only factor to success. But let’s be real here… if you aren’t productive, you probably aren’t going to get far in your quest for success and you’re definitely not going to get there very fast. Of course, it’s important to remember that just being busy, marking things off a to-do list, isn’t enough.

The tasks and actions you choose to focus on need to be in alignment with your ultimate goals in order for that productivity to really be of value. Anything otherwise, is just a distraction or detour from your true path to your desired life.

Sadly though, most people struggle with consistent, high levels of productivity. (And remember if we are making the parallel here that means they are likely struggling to have consistent, high levels of ...

“Happiness is a habit. Cultivate it.” ~ Elbert Hubbard

Last week I shared with you that happiness is a choice and I challenged you to be the sunshine for yourself and others. This week I want to share a few simple ideas with you on how to cultivate more happiness in your life on a regular basis so you can in fact choose happiness and be the sunshine! Let’s go…

Guard Your Energy – Being around negative people who are unhappy with their current circumstances and unwilling to empower themselves with hope and hard work to create a better future, can be a real energy suck and emotional drain. Guarding yourself from that negative energy will help you keep your soul fire burning. Ever heard someone called a “wet blanket” it’s a term used to describe someone who spoils other people’s fun. So, you can see how they’d easily put out your fire. And how can you be the light that shines for others if you’re around people who are always putting out your fire?

Generate Joy – Just as negative en...

“Through discipline comes freedom.”  ~ Aristotle

Summertime is the perfect time for taking vacations. And having free time is important to your overall well-being and happiness. I take a lot of time off in the summer with my family. But the one thing I know is that if I’m not disciplined enough to get my work done, it’s not only hard to get away but also hard to enjoy my time off, knowing that I have pressing projects or to-do’s hanging over my head. Not to mention the fact that if I don’t have discipline in getting things done, I will never achieve or be successful with anything. As Jim Rohn says, “Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishment.”

That’s why this week’s quote, although so simple, is so very profound. It has been a complete game changer for me. Although, I will admit that when I first heard the concept that discipline equals freedom, I had a twinge of dislike because the stigma of the word discipline caught my attention first. Discipline in general tend...

“As I unclutter my life, I free myself to answer the callings of my soul.” ~ Dr. Wayne Dyer

Spring is well in bloom here and before we know it, summer will be shining down on us. This past weekend, having been Mother’s Day, I was able to get my family to do something that probably wouldn’t have happened had they not been wanting to do something nice for me. 😉

See every year for Mother’s Day, they ask me what they can do for me. They know that my Love Language is “Acts of Service”. So this year, I told them I wanted the storage room clean. Oh, the groans! But they were accommodating nonetheless.

What I don’t think they realized was just how important that was to me… And why clearing the clutter is important for you too!

Here's the deal, clutter really bothers me because when you allow too much clutter to fill up a space it can actually cause you to become distracted, lose focus and become less productive. Not to mention the negative energy that piles of clutter can create. So, i...

“Flourishing goes beyond happiness, or satisfaction with life. True, people who flourish are happy. But that’s not the half of it. Beyond feeling good, they’re also doing good-adding value to the world.” ~ Barbara Fredrickson

As I shared with you last week, each year around my birthday I take time to reflect on my life. And again, this year was no different. I journaled and reflected on those three questions that one of my mentors, Brendon Burchard always asks, "Did I Live? Did I Love? Did I Matter?"

But then, I decided to move from reflection of the past year to asking a few questions of myself in a future focused manner. And this is where I embraced the ideas from another mentor of mine, Brian Johnson.

Brian is the founder and CEO of Heroic Public Benefit Company. And I had an opportunity this fall to spend several days with Brian, his wife Alexandra, his right-hand man Michael, and an amazing group of other Heroic people.

You see, Brian has a mission. His mission is to help ...

“The eyes are the windows to your soul.” - William Shakespeare

It has been said that the eyes are the window to your soul. Yet unfortunately, so many people wear masks to hide who they are that no one ever gets to see their true beautiful soul. And sadly, not only does no one else get to know the real them, but they often go through life wondering who they themselves are because they have lost touch with their own selves from spending so much of their lives wearing a mask and pretending to be someone they are not.

Has this ever been you? What mask are you wearing?

You may have begun wearing a mask for protection but who are you really protecting yourself from - the world around you or your own self? Are you trying to hide who you are or how you feel? Maybe you feel like you’re not enough as you are or won’t be accepted as you are. That can be tough, and I understand that sometimes it really does feel safer to put on a mask and pretend to be something you are not. But life was no...

“My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humor, and some style.” ~Maya Angelou

By now most schools are back in session and autumn is starting to whisper, “I’m on my way…” So as the smell of sunscreen is being overtaken by the scent of pumpkin spice, so too are our carefree feelings being overtaken by a sense of overwhelming tension.

This year being an election year there is a special weight coming with the changing of the seasons. I don’t think I need to tell you that the weight of all the “heaviness” our world and nation has faced over the last nearly 10 years, it can be a lot for many people to manage on their own.  

Combine all these emotions with the usual feelings that most people face as the last quarter of the year comes tumbling in and it’s no surprise that so many people are feeling a crushing sense of exhaustion, hopelessness, and negativity. I mean, aren’t we supposed to be starting new and fres...

“Balance doesn’t exist but proportion and harmony do.” ~ Danielle LaPorte

Your work. Your relationships. Your inner life.  – David Whyte calls these “the three marriages”. Each of these three marriages are nonnegotiable. They cannot be balanced equally against each other. A little taken from this and a little given to that – to balance work with relationship and with the self means we only work harder in each marriage, while actually weakening each of them by separating them from one another. These fundamental components of our existence must work to support one another, not to vie for constant attention.

We frequently and unconsciously structure our lives so that our work, our spirit and our significant relationships are set against one another in a competition of importance. Someone or something is bound to lose in this equation. When you deny one of the fundamental values of your life the attention it’s asking you for, your whole life is affected. I see it all the time, someo...

"The journey to joy begins with acceptance." ~ Margaret Feinberg

Ever have one of those days when nothing seems to go right? Kinda makes you cranky, doesn't it? But what if you just accepted it and laughed it off? Could it be possible to find joy even when life seems to be unraveling?

Let’s get one thing straight about this week’s quote, it does not mean that you should settle for whatever or wherever you are in life. But rather, I believe it means that once you face where you are with acceptance of the situation – whether good or bad – you can put your energy into adapting and advancing. In other words, instead of wasting time and energy staying stuck in the problem, you just acknowledge it and then you can begin to shift your focus to the solution and moving forward into a more joyful life.

Let’s face it, life does not always turn out exactly as we’d like. There are plenty of mistakes, disappointments and failures all along the way. The secret to being content is accepting tha...