Masterful Mindsets

“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 quality of your life is directly related to the quality of your thoughts, beliefs, and behaviors." ~Michelle Weimer

Something I know I have learned in my lifetime is that life can be uncertain, unpredictable, and out of our complete control at times. So, although I certainly wouldn’t try to predict where the next step of life might take me, I do believe that regardless of any external circumstances, your quality of life can be different, if you commit to shifting what you can control, which are your thoughts, beliefs, and behaviors.

So with this weekend being the first day of autumn, a time when everything is changing – the weather, the leaves, our clothes, and our activities – let’s also use this time of year to change our thoughts, our beliefs, and our behaviors. After all, the quality of your life is directly related to the quality of your thoughts, beliefs and behaviors so just as fall is a time when nature changes and lets go of the old in order to rest and prepare for ...

“Develop a passion for learning. If you do, you will never cease to grow.” ~Anthony J. D’Angelo

I believe that in order to continue to grow and be our best selves, it’s important to be a lifelong learner. It’s also essential to our growth and our happiness that we strive to learn about things we are passionate about. I was recently talking to my youngest daughter about this because she is wanting to grow and improve on something she is very passionate about. Likewise, as our oldest daughter begins her senior year of college, she is loving her classes because they are topics she’s interested in learning.  

Problem is, some people stop being curious or interested. They stop being passionate and consequently, they stop learning, growing, and improving. Or sadly, some people never did enjoy learning (in the traditional sense) so they hesitate when it comes to lifelong learning. And I get it, learning something new is often low on the priority scale. After all, life gets busy. We have...

“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...

“Comfort is the enemy of progress.” ~ PT Barnum

I was in a yoga class recently and the instructor asked us to ponder the question, “Will you choose courage or comfort today?” She left it open ended… and since it was the beginning of the class, it would be easy to assume she was just talking about our physical effort for the class. But of course, you know me… I took it much farther than that. Because the truth is, you could literally ask that question for every instance, decision or action in your life.

As class continued, my thoughts went inward, and I had an aha moment that led to a shift for me, which reignited my desire and passion for progress. So, I wanted to share it with you, just in case you need a little nudge to push you out of your comfort zone too.   

Now first, let me just say that being comfortable isn’t always a bad thing. We as humans are usually striving for comfort in some way. But it’s when being comfortable gets uncomfortable that we must recognize we are stu...

“You don’t have to be a “person of influence” to be influential. In fact, the most influential people in my life are probably not even aware of the things they’ve taught me.” ~ Scott Adams

If you were to think about the people who have been role models to you in your life, I would be willing to bet that the majority of them never really knew they were your role model. So now ponder that for a minute… How many people then, have you likely been a role model to that you have no idea you’ve influenced? Kind of gives you chills, right? I mean, think about how you show up every single day of your life. What are you modeling to others? What energy are you giving out that others are absorbing? What habits or behaviors do you model that someone else is likely learning from you? What mindset or beliefs is someone picking up from you that are becoming their own? And maybe the most important question… Is the model you are being worth modeling?

You might think that no one is watching but I ca...

“Influence is not about elevating yourself, but about lifting others.” ~ Sheri Dew 

Last week I asked you to think about a person in your life that was highly influential to you. Maybe that person was a role model that you followed and looked up to. Someone who led you to the beliefs that you now live by. Maybe they taught you to think about things in new and different ways. Or maybe they were someone who was always challenging you to step up and be your best! Inspiring you to dream bigger and encouraging you to go after those dreams!

It is my hope that you were able to think of more than one person who has been highly influential in your life. I know that I have more than one. Some filling different roles and some coming at different times in my life. And while I am thankful for all of them, I am particularly thankful for the ones who inspire and challenge me! I would not be near the person I am today, if it weren’t for the people who have challenged me to be my best and inspire...

“Don’t adapt to the energy in the room. Influence the energy in the room.”

During difficult or uncertain times, we not only have an opportunity to lead others, but for many, it is our duty to do it. Especially for those who know they have people who look to them for guidance. So how do you really influence people? That’s the topic of this post, as we dive deeper into our series on influence. But first, think about someone in your life that has been highly influential to you. It could be someone in your personal life or your professional life, someone from your past or someone recent. How did they demonstrate influence?

Was the first person that came to mind someone that influenced you in a positive or negative way? Examine that for yourself for a little while. It might have a big impact on how you perceive influence. If the experience was negative, you could see influence as a negative thing. (And it can be for some.) Which might make you shy away from being influential with othe...

“Lead and They Will Follow”

How you choose to show up each day, influences the people around you. Think about that long and hard right now… You may not realize how important it is or how influential you are. But you have the opportunity to influence people in your personal and professional life every single day. That’s powerful and it’s not to be taken lightly. Yet most people never ever stop to think about the fact that their words, energy, and actions are influencing others.

I recently hosted a training for my online community to help them learn how to thrive during uncertain times because the truth is, life is uncertain and none of us are exempt from having to deal with uncertainty in our lives. Through the training I was able to guide and lead others by giving them a new way to think about uncertainty. I also shared tools they could utilize to better navigate through uncertainty when it arises. Then I challenged them to level up and be a strong role models for others in diffi...

“The truth will set you free” ~ John 8:32

As we come to the end of this series on the lies that worry tells us, it’s important to note that worry and fear are two different things. Sometimes fear creates worry and sometimes, worry can create fear. For example, the fear of the unknown can cause us to worry about the future. And worrying about the future can stoke the fire of fear, making it grow out of control and keeping us from ever stepping forward into the future we want to create.

I could go on and on about the differences between worry and fear but that's a much bigger topic, so I won’t get into that today. For now, just keep in mind that there will always be things we fear. And that’s okay. True fear isn’t always within our control, and it is sometimes necessary in order to keep us safe. But worry is within our control and it rarely, if ever serves a purpose. So, if we don’t want our fear to paralyze us and hold us back, then it is to our benefit to keep worry quiet or bett...