2011 Closing…Happy New Year!

Where did this new blogging venture come from?  Who knows.  90 days old and counting…and still chopping wood.  I have much to be grateful for:

  • Thank you to my 355 Followers, some of which I have cajoled to sign on, others who are following on your own volition.  Thank you for joining me on my continuing path of learning, self-discovery and inspiration.  Hopefully, you have found something useful in my posts.
  • Thank you to those who have hit “like” or commented or offered words of encouragement or shared blog posts or invited others to sign-on to follow me.  These individual acts have inspired me to “blog-on.”
  • Thank you to my current and former team member followers who keep it all “real.”  It is a pleasure to get your jabs, your grammatical corrections, your snide counterpoints – all offline of course.  (Maybe a 2012 resolution to “Man-Up”? Whaddya think?)  And yes, yes, I’ve heard the proverbs: “ye who giveth, needs to sit and taketh” or “an eye for an eye.”
  • Thank you to my fellow Bloggers especially Kurt Harden @ Cultural Offering, Nicholas Bate, Manage Better Now and my Guest Blogger…who have all helped me along, when certainly they had no reason to do so.
  • Thank you to this incredible technological age that we live in that offers me the opportunity to do this.
  • Thank you to a former coach who asked yesterday – “is blogging a labor of love or a love of labor.”  I replied: “A bit of both my friend.  A bit of both.”
  • Thank you to the Follower who shared this quote.  It hit its mark as a great 2012 kick-off message:

“Maybe you can afford to wait. Maybe for you there’s a tomorrow. Maybe for you there’s one thousand tomorrows, or three thousand, or ten, so much time you can bathe in it, roll around it, let it slide like coins through you fingers. So much time you can waste it. But for some of us there’s only today. And the truth is, you never really know.”
~  Lauren Oliver, Before I Fall

Happy New Year!  See you in 2012.

2012: Why Not Be Great?

Excerpts from Seth Godin’s Blog 12/31/2011: A chance of a lifetime.  Excellent and timely post.

A friend asked me the other day, “…given the sorry state of so much in the world, what’s possible to look forward to?”  The state isn’t sorry. It’s wide open.  Interest rates are super low, violence is close to an all time low, industries are being remade and there’s more leverage for the insurgent outsider than ever before in history. The status quo is taking a beating, there’s no question about it. That’s what makes it a revolution.

Hindsight is 20/20. People are already looking back on the 1990s and wishing that they had had more courage. When you look back on the 2000s, what will you have to say for yourself?

I said this nine years ago and I stand by it.  [The following is reprinted from Seth’s writings 9 years ago].

Continue reading “2012: Why Not Be Great?”

Top 10…

Here’s a list of my top blog posts for leaders that I came across in December.  I’ve included a few choice excerpts to whet your appetite.  Contributions range from Scholars, Writers, VCs, Executives, Bloggers and Students…great prep reading as we head into 2012.

Continue reading “Top 10…”

New Year’s Resolutions: Stay the Course.

Source: Anderson Layman’s Blog

This is a new blog that I’m following. Steve Layman has wide range and terrific content that has caught my eye. I linked a few recent posts below…

Music: Atlanta Rhythm Section: “So Into You & Orleans: “Dance with Me.” (I’m showing my age here…)

Books: Opening Paragraph by Leif Enger in Peace Like a River (One of my favorite books & on my recommended reading list)

Quotes: Jimmy Valvano quote and his memorable ESPY Speech

Three Good Things

“HOW ARE YOU FEELING ABOUT WHAT’S AHEAD FOR YOU IN 2012? 

This was Tom Peters’ opening question in a recent post explaining that 2011 has been a “punishing period” for many of us and 2012 promises more of the same.  He has been highlighting Resilience as a necessary “excellence” attribute in keeping up your spirits and your team’s spirits in challenging times.  Peters recently blogged about Flourish, the latest book by Martin Seligman.  Seligman is considered to be an expert in depression and happiness.  He has been described as the “Father of Positive Psychology”  and is the director of the Positive Psychology Center at University of Pennsylvania.

The “Losada” effect found that high performing teams had 3 times more positive thoughts than negative.  Seligman explains that to achieve higher levels of well being and happiness you should use positive psychology techniques including writing about your experiences in gratitude journals. One of the simple exercises that Seligman uses to build a positive mindset is called “Three Good Things.”

The “3 Good Things” exercise, also know as the “3 Blessings” exercise has been tested and it has been shown to increase well-being and decrease depression and anxiety.  (94% of very depressed people became less depressed and 92% became happier in 15 days and these outcomes were sustained for 6 months).

What?
Each night before you go to sleep do the Three Good Things Exercise:

1. Think of three good things that happened today. (It can be anything as long as it is good, happy thing)
2. Write them down.
3. Reflect on why they happened. (You get to decide why)
Continue reading “Three Good Things”