Blog Archives

What Matters to You?

2/19/2018

January has come and gone. If you’re like most people your New Year’s resolutions are waning.

Not to worry. Those resolutions don’t matter! Why? Because they were probably based on “should-do or have-to” thinking which comes from a place of not measuring up.

Let go of any resolutions you haven’t followed through on.
Now is the time to let yourself off the hook. Yup!
Let yourself off the hook!

Instead, find something energizing and exciting that you want to do for your own personal reasons—based on becoming more of who you really are.

An example

My daughter is creative and artistic. She sees things that others don’t see and she takes action. At a recent high school gymnastics meet, her teammates wore tie-dyed socks. She had a creative idea and had her teammates put their colorful feet in a circle, then took this photo.

We all have amazing talents and a beautiful light inside that the world needs. When we access that light, it brightens our life and the lives of everyone we interact with.

Powerful and Inspiring

At a recent session of the Executive Women’s Change Leadership Roundtable, we had a conversation about how powerful and inspiring it feels to be told we are valued--especially when this message comes from our manager.

Everyone--children, grandchildren, managers, direct reports, peers, etc.--all need to be reminded of why they are valued and what we admire in them. It can be difficult to stay connected to our own value without having it reflected back to us by caring people around us.

Being acknowledged and noticed for our strengths inspires us and fuels us to keep moving forward with energy and enthusiasm. These affirmations open our minds to better ways of thinking and more creative ideas.

Our stress goes down and joy and engagement go up when we know what people appreciate about us.

Try this
Make acknowledgment natural and easy. In your next conversation with someone you work with or are close to, simply say: “You know what I admire about you?” Then tell them with a clear, direct sentence. That’s all there is to it.

Watch their eyes light up. You’ll feel good, too! Let me know how it goes!