Articles
The Fallacy of High Achievement
In a world that celebrates achievement, with tools that bombard us with images of achievement, where achievement is not only promoted but we’re stack-ranked during our formative years – how do we break out of achievement’s grip?
Your Ability to Answer These Questions Might Be the Ultimate Predictor of Career Happiness
Those of us who can easily and succinctly answer the very fundamental questions about the work they do are happier in their work and career.
Would You Rather Have an Impact or Make a Contribution?
Thinking in terms of contribution rather than impact is healthier for your relationship with work.
Getting People to Do What You Want – 4 Myths About Getting Stuff Done at Work
Getting people to do what you want them to do is fast becoming a critical skill for success in the 21st-century workplace.
Interviewing? Use These 12 Unconventional Approaches to Find a Great Fit
Recently, a friend approached me for some advice as he was preparing to interview for a new job. He was happy enough in his current situation but an opportunity had presented itself and was offering a very attractive chance for a change and a step up....
The Pursuit of Art – Navigating Big Career Change: Those Who’ve Done It and Their Secrets
What follows is my discussion with Eric Lee (E.LEE) and is an exploration into what it means to have a career as an artist, to discover your passion and pursue it relentlessly, to trust in yourself and your convictions completely, to do that thing for no other reason than you know you have to or a part of you will die.
Can We Evaluate Performance in Life like We Do at Work – Should We?
We all know that life is about more than work - it’s a no-brainer even if it sometimes takes a backseat to our career. What else is life about though and how do we know if we’re living a 'good' life? Is it a feeling we get, something we're told...
The Most Critical Leadership Lessons Aren’t Found in Books, They’re Found in Reflection
Instead of reaching for the latest literature, start with yourself and consider your own perspectives on leadership and what it means to you – only then can you begin to make sense of the leadership lessons of others.
Considering Making a Career (Or Life) Change? Make Sure You Have These Key Ingredients First
As I sit here on a cloudy spring day, I’m cheered by the knowledge that several of my clients are making big changes in their lives and work and that in some small ways, I might have had a hand in that change. These are no small changes, either. We’re talking...
Those ‘Best Companies to Work for’ Lists Are the Worst – and Here’s Why
The greatness of work is something that has to be defined by the individual – by each and every one of us on our own and for ourselves.
Two Years – a Reflection on the Lessons of Actually Doing What I Want
This month marks the two-year anniversary of the beginning of This Fearless Life and this upcoming February 3 will mark the two-year anniversary of my first This Fearless Life newsletter post. These dates have been bouncing around in my head for a few weeks as they...
Career Conversations with Young Professionals: Even the Best Prepared Don’t Know
Over the course of the past couple of months, I’ve had the pleasure and privilege of coaching dozens of young professionals, who are at the top of their (burgeoning) professional game but are considering significant career change - or even putting their careers on...
Six Ways to Create Boundaries at Work Without Putting Your Job at Risk
I recently visited a friend who is a leader at one of the world’s leading sports apparel manufacturing companies. This was his dream job, he’d been working his whole career for the opportunity to land at the company he’d thought so highly of for so long. After...
A Lesson on Complaining: Why We Complain and How to Avoid It
I’ve had a couple of recent experiences that have reminded me how unproductive complaining can be and how easy it is to get caught up in the negative mindset that loves to complain. I’m a complainer. Well, sometimes. Actually, it’s complicated. When I...
How to Overcome Anticipatory Anxiety. 6 Strategies to Stop Worrying About the Future and Get on with It
A few weeks ago I found myself in a peculiar but not unfamiliar situation. I had a referral from my network and was set to talk with someone I didn’t know about a potential business opportunity. Almost immediately I was feeling anxious, uncertain, and worried about...
What Is Wealth? To Feel Rich, Try Separating Your Income from Your Definition of Wealth
Do you remember your first real job? I do, I landed a role as an instructional designer working on a large project at the institution I had just graduated from, The University of Illinois. I was ecstatic that I would be making close to $35,000 a year! Back in 2003, that was a lot of money…
Developing a ‘Meaning Statement’ and How It Can Breathe Life Back into Your Work
It’s Sunday afternoon and your mind is beginning to wander, thoughts of the week ahead start to seep in and a feeling of dread starts to wash over you. “Another week, another exhausting, frustrating slog.” For many of us, the Sunday night blues are real and our work,...
From the Law Firm to the Yoga Studio – Navigating Big Career Change: Those Who’ve Done It and Their Secrets
Making a big, bold move away from the warm safety and security of the status quo. Many of us think it’s impossible, too risky, too much unknown and left to chance. Maybe it’s that we’re comfortable in our current situation - it’s easy and predictable - we’ve...
Building Trust in a Cynical World – 10 Imperatives for 21st Century Leaders
We are experiencing an unprecedented crisis of trust - or a lack thereof - on a global scale. We don’t have to look far to notice the effects: political polarization, nationalism, truth bending Twitter rants from the leader of the free-world, fake news, corporate...
The Value of Action
“Get action. Do things; be sane; don’t fritter away your time; create, act, take a place wherever you are and be somebody; get action.” — Theodore Roosevelt There are a lot of people out there trying to sell you something - whether you need it or not. Crafty marketers...
Why the Key to Growth Is Getting Comfortable with Being Uncomfortable
There’s a condition that exists for all of us - where we feel like we have all the answers, we are in control, where we’re supremely confident, where the work feels easy. I’m talking about our ‘comfort zone’ and it is at once the most difficult place to reach, the...
What to Read – A(n Obvious) Guide to Guiltless Content Consumption and Autumn 2016’s Reading List
It’s an uneasy nagging feeling, there’s just so much content to keep up with. Our inboxes spill over with newsletters (like this, irony), articles, weekly recaps, daily headlines, how-to lists, and the top five best ways to do anything. It’s great, mostly. ...
What a Failed Interview Taught Me About Leadership and Being Human
There are a couple of really salient moments that stand out to me when I think back to my early days as an organization, change, and leadership consultant. Some of these memories are funny in their innocence and unknowing, like when I thought all travel had to...
Why Being a Perfectionist Is Hurting Your Work (And Five Tips on Being a Leader in a Perfectionist World).
"Better a diamond with a flaw than a pebble without." — Confucius Perfect is the enemy of good. According to Wikipedia, Voltaire popularized this little gem sometime in the 18th Century. A colleague passed it on to me early in my career and although I didn’t heed its...
Your Type A Personality Isn’t Going to Make You Successful. It’s Going to Make You Miserable (if you’re not careful).
I get a kick out of hearing people make declarations about themselves being Type A. The most recent account coming from an NPR segment featuring a U.S. athlete competing in an Olympic fencing competition. He lost his qualifying match and afterward declared he was Type...
No Expectations. What a 4-Year-Old Reminded Me About Work and Life.
Last week, I spent the better part of six days with a four-year-old boy. I don’t spend a whole lot of time around kids, so for me, this was a unique opportunity to experience the world through the eyes of a child. We all know kids see the world differently - among...
What Does Your Career Say About You and Your Self-Worth? Hint: Nothing. Part Two: Your Values Are Your Compass
This part two of a two-part series exploring the sometimes complicated relationships between career, identity, values and self-worth. Last week, I explored why identity becomes intertwined with career and how it can influence, among other things, how we view our...
What Does Your Career Say About You and Your Self-Worth? Hint: Nothing. Part One: Career as Identity – Are You What You ‘Do’?
This is part one of a two-part series exploring the sometimes complicated relationships between career, identity, values and self-worth. It is estimated that the average working person will spend approximately 80,000 hours of their life on their career - 40 hours a...
Your Life Is Not a Movie – Stop Acting and Live It. How I Realized I Was Boring and Overcame Imposter Syndrome
For nearly my entire career, I worked as a Management Consultant but I was really training as an actor. My job was about tackling big challenges for some of America’s largest and most well known companies. I worked alongside incredibly smart, well-educated, driven and...
The Fearless Guide to Networking Your Way to Work You Love
I spend a lot of time with clients who are looking for help finding work that has meaning and is fulfilling for them. It’s not easy, there’s a difference between doing work you love and having a job. For some, the differences are slight. For others,...
Feeling Stuck? 6 Ways to Get Your Energy Back
As I sit writing this, I have to admit I’m feeling stuck and frustrated. See, I’ve been on a roll for the past couple of months. I’ve started my coaching business, built a website, grown my client base, written popular thought pieces and generally made good progress...
How I Lost My Mojo (And the 10 Things It Took to Get It Back)
There was a time in my life where I almost lost all my mojo. I was zapped of all my confidence and even the smallest of obstacles became overwhelming. I felt like I couldn’t do anything right, that I wasn’t smart enough, that I would fail. This self-defeatist thinking...
Why You (Along With 70% of Americans) Hate Your Job (And What To Do About It)
Fear has funny ways of manifesting in our jobs and careers. At first glance, it doesn’t appear as fear at all but something else entirely. Take employee engagement in organizations, that murky measure of ‘something beyond satisfaction that describes an employee’s...
5 Things You Have to Do if You Leave (Or Lose) Your Job and Want to Make the Most of It
It may not seem like it amidst all the stress of leaving or losing your job, but you’ve been given the opportunity of a lifetime. What you do during this critical time could turn out to be the most important and transformative of your life. No, leaving or...
Using Meditation to Improve Effectiveness: An Interview
Much is being written about the impacts of meditation on our well-being, especially in the high-stress, high-stakes lifestyles many of us lead. The data says we’re all too distracted - according to an article in the Harvard gazette, “Research shows...
The Authenticity Paradox: Why You Need to Stop Trying To Present an Idealized Image Of Yourself
Have you ever found yourself…well, not quite being yourself? Maybe you are in a situation that is unfamiliar, where you’re not sure what you should say or do. It could be you’re having an interaction with someone you’ve just met or someone of some esteem, and you want...
Becoming a Transcendent Leader: It’s About Them, It’s Not About You.
If - after nearly 15 years of working with leaders at all levels across a myriad of industries and sizes of companies - I could boil down the difference between inspirational, motivational and successful leaders and those who discourage, demoralize and struggle it’s...
Are You Emotionally Intelligent? 5 Simple Steps to Keep Your Emotions in Check
For more than a decade I worked as a management consultant, where the workload could be never ending. If you weren’t careful, you might find yourself upside down on that work / life balance equation. In an attempt to keep my balance intact, I became so protective of...
Your Success Depends on The People Around You. Who’s on Your Team?
Recently, I wrote about factors that contribute to many of us chasing superiority in our lives, only to realize that our need to be superior can have adverse impacts on our happiness levels and our relationships. Those same factors - growing up in a culture that...
Is Your Need for Superiority Making You Miserable?
From an early age, we’re taught that self-starting, self-reliance and self-sufficiency are virtues. We’re shown that vulnerability is a weakness and the weak get devoured. We are introduced to one-on-one competition about the same time we learn to walk. We start...
Are You Living with Purpose or Is Life Happening to You?
Is your life not what you thought it would be? Do you avoid thinking about the future? Are you lacking motivation and energy? Do you feel powerless to make big changes in your life? Do you feel like your life is without purpose? If you answered yes to any of the...
The Fear of The Unknown: The Ultimate Dream Killer
"But what if…?” If we could strike these words from our lexicon, we’d surely be more happy, leading more fulfilling and meaningful lives. As it stands, too often we hold ourselves back for fear of what might happen if we make a leap (or even take a baby step) into the...
Are You Living a Fearless Life?
Fear is the ultimate roadblock to happiness and fulfillment. Fear is what gets in the way of living your dreams. Fear is everywhere, all the time. Fear is biologically programmed in our brains, it keeps us alive - but holds us back at the same time. What if you could...
