We all have some natural talents.  Combine those with Skills and Knowledge – and watch out world!  We can leverage our Strengths.

To start unearthing your strengths answer the following questions:

• What would you love to be doing more of at work?
• What’s been a BIG DEAL accomplishment for you?
• How were you able to achieve this”
• And how did you know what the right action was to take to do this?

These simple questions will help you discover your unique talents and passions. By working with a coach to combine your strengths with the skills + knowledge you can have a chance to be challenged just the way you like to be challenged, recognized and rewarded for doing your best.   Put your strengths to work and start achieving the success you desire.

Working with a Coach from Orange Slice Training can help you start playing to your strengths.  Contact us today for more information.

How can you bring joy to your campus today?

A life that is best described:  Juicy?

Create Your Juicy Life is a practical, hands-on approach to creating just that – a life that is full, ripe and delicious!

For a limited time, I am offering the first section of this new book online to you FREE.  Simply complete the contact form with your name and email and I’ll gladly send it your way.  I can’t wait for you to start designing YOUR juicy life.

In this book, you will be provided with exercises to create your juicy life.  Take stock of your current reality – and then CHOOSE.  Notice. and Act.

This book is great if you are feeling stuck, need a nudge, or just want to experience more joy in your life.

If you could get more JOY in your life – what might that be like?  Well, now you have some practical tools to use to answer the question – and EXPERIENCE the answer.

SHINY EYES.

Ben Zander created a TED video talking to an audience about leadership. The true essence for leaders in developing “shiny eyes.” A curiosity in their staff, an investment, an interest.

We all get shiny eyes when we have a chance to speak about our Passions or Interests. What to really engage someone in a conversation and see them sparkle with excitement, belief and hope? Ask them, “So what would you love to being doing right now?” or “What did you love most about that?”

It’s not just a great coaching question – it’s a great relationship building tool.

What would you love doing right now?

1. Clarity. Being able to set you aim and focus on something specific helps you to achieve your result.  The more specific, the more likely you are to be successful with achieving your result.  First, What do you want? Get yourself really clear on what this is.  A deeper question that might be helpful to explore is Why do I want it?
2. Chunk it down. Now, I don’t need any study to show me that being able to take bite sized bites of something is easier to swallow than taking one large bite.  When a project is too big, too hairy, to scary – I don’t do anything.  Chunk your goal down into bite sized pieces.  What are you doing every day that gets you closer to your goal?
3. Action. To achieve your results, there needs to be action not just thoughts, not just “try’s”  (i.e. I’m going to try to do it) – but deliberate actions.  What are you doing?

Use the 2Day 2Achieve Worksheet to move you closer to your goal.  Action by action, day by day you will start to see what you are doing to create your own success. You can use this form at the beginning of each day to plan out what actions you will take.  Or, you can use the form at the end of the day and reflect on what two actions did you take today?  Either way you can’t go wrong when you are using this tool.

Just 2 a day.  What do you choose?

More importantly, what are you getting from the actions you’ve taken?

The benefits of regular mediation are endless.  It can come in these short burst, too.  You don’t need to set aside 30-minutes everyday to practice – but, what if you could?  Here are three other ways to get that relaxation and benefit from meditation in your day:

• Close your eyes for 30 seconds. This allows you brain to release the stimulus overload we take in visually.  Better yet, close your eyes and cup your hands over them. Then release after a short break.
• Use a Mindfulness Bell.  It can be a Tibetan Singing bowl, meditation chimes, or a website.  The Washington Mindfulness Community has this page where you can activate a bell when you need the pull to presence.
• Office Yoga.  Get a brief stretch with these simple Yoga techniques you can do at your desk. Opening up your chest and shoulders at work will take away some of the stress you carry at work.

Do what you can to bring a little vacation to each day.

Namaste.

“What if something better than (insert whatever tool you might be thinking of using) comes along?”

The question needs to be more about strategy than tools.

1. Decide whether or not to play in the Social Media sandbox.
2. Determine your purpose for answering Yes or No.
3. Then let’s look at tools to use.

Too often times the conversation shifts to using Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn without any clear purpose.  And then it’s tainted by our personal filters for how we engage – or not – using these tools.

The exercise I did with the board two-fold.  The first part was to have them take a flip chart paper and divide it into 2 columns.  On the left hand side:  How are we communicating to our clients today? The second column:  How do they want to be hearing from us? These simple questions led to a productive conversational shift in how to best get the message to your audience.

The second part of the exercise is here.  Download the  
to use with your group.

I typically start my workshops off with some sort of goal setting by the participants.  I’ll ask individuals to set a goal they have for themselves as a result of attending the session.  My intention is to have them answer the dreaded what’s in it for me question.

I have the participants write this down on a 3×5 card or a giant post-it. Something they can keep in front of them during our time together.  After they have completed this, I then follow it up with these simple instructions:

“Now, listen for this as the content of the workshop starts to unfold.”

This simple instruction can create a filter, a perspective, a point of view in which to hear everything from.  It’s the easiest – and quickest – way for me to get learning to stick for individuals and tie back into the goal they have created for themselves.

When we start to LISTEN FOR something, we start to make connections.  We also start to be engaged as learners.  As learners we start creating meaning for the content that is being shared.  It’s when learners can create context and relationship where real change in performance can occur.

So, what are you listening for today?

I’ve been reading lately about positive psychology and coaching and came across something I thought was quite interesting in helping to determine how satisfied with life I am. Seems there’s a correlation between the five following ingredients and one’s overall satisfaction with the life you’re leading.  Whaddyathink?

1. Capacity to love and be loved – the idea here is that relationships matter.  Most of all, who do you surround yourself with?  Do you have a close circle of friends or many acquaintances?  I look in my own mirror and see a small, tight circle.  This is something that gives me a connection and a joy for life.  It seems that once you reach adulthood it’s tougher to make new friends.  Sure, I pal around with my tennis buddies – and tennis has been that great connector.  Work is another place.  As an adult, I find that I need to have that common connection with someone to even start the relationship.  Not like riding my big wheel down the street and just looking for someone else to ride with, it’s a bit different as an adult. 
2. Curiosity. My mom used to say it killed the cat when I’d utter, “but why?”  Well, to live a life of connection and passion – curiosity is the soul that nurtures each of the nine lives of a cat.  The quest, or thirst, for more knowledge.  A new way to look at things.  Being open to possibilities – and not allowing oneself to “get stuck” can have an impact on the quality of life.
   
3. Zest for Life. This is the overall vigor you have.  Do you leap out of bed, full of energy and can’t wait to experience what the day is about to bring?  I don’t. I usually need a couple cups of coffee before I can jump and leap anywhere in the morning.  But, this doesn’t mean that I don’t have the enthusiasm for what the day brings.  And I’m not necessarily saying this is everyday – but most day, YES!  What’s the other choice, really?  If I truly get to choose, why wouldn’t I want to choose enthusiasm (more to come on this in Attitude!
4. Gratitude. A simple “thanks” for what’s been given.  Now Oprah made her Gratitude Journal quite popular a few years back – okay maybe 10!  What 5 things are you can you express gratitude for today?  (sunny day high of 70 degrees, no traffic on the way to work, a large skim latte with 2 Splendas).  By doing this regularly, I start to become even more intone with what’s happening around me.  Sometimes it starts small and other days – life altering events make the list.  Big or small, just acknowledge them all.
5. Hope. Simply put – is it half-full or half-empty? Each answer elicits a different response or mood.  I choose to be on the optimistic, future-forward side of things.  Why? Because I choose to be. Simple. The idea of having hope and looking forward gives me purpose and a sense to keep moving.  In a workshop I delivered yesterday, I heard one of the guys say, “Well, it’s not going to work why should I even give it a try?”  I was thankful I didn’t leap from my skin and scream “why not?” because the person sitting next to him said, “what’s the worse that can happen, it just may work. And if not, you’re not worse off, right?”  YES!

Which of these ingredients do you need more of to add the extra slice of satisfaction to your life?  Whaddyathink?

We make meaning of the language we use. 

The words we use don’t have meaning, it’s how the situations occurs to us that creates this meaning.  This might be why there can be so much miscommunication when information is announced.  This of all the elements that shape the way in which we hear the actual words said.  

When an organization, or individuals, have a high level of trust things occur in a way that is very different when trust isn’t present. The same words can be said and we can leave with very different interpretations depending on our level of trust with the sender of the message.  

So, in essence, what’s not said is equally as important.  Trust is something that is not said, and provides a thick filter for us to hear this message.   

The key here, is are you present to this filter?  Do you have the awareness in place on how language occurs differently for each of us?  When you do, you can better communicate with others because you know how things occur might be different for different individuals.   

Addressing the unsaid is one of a number of steps we can do to increase our performance. It’s easier to talk about it once you bring it to the surface, isn’t it?  The other choice is to make your own meaning of the unsaid and be unclear.  Doesnt’s clear expectations = better performance?  

Zaffron and Logan state, “…articulating the unsaid creates the room to say something new.” It allows us to use language to create something new as well. Within here lies the increase to our performance. 

What are you creating?