Resolutions? Bah humbug!

Mortimer (the squirrel) just chillin'

I recently prepared a short webinar program that I'll be presenting this month entitled, "New Year, New You!" But contrary to what most people will think when they see that title, I'm not talking about making yet another irritating, annoying, hard-to-accomplish resolution :-).

What I'm talking about is deciding now, in January, how you are going to have a better year than last year. Again - some will have to rethink the words, "better year" since I'm not talking about money or even physical health...although I will be thrilled for you if both of those areas of your life are better in 2014 than 2013!

What I'm really talking about, though, is something deep within all of us - a need to feel good about how we're moving through life. After all, life is moving pretty fast, isn't it? Wouldn't it be a good idea to reflect on how you are moving along with it?

So what does that mean to you..."feeling good about how you're moving through life?" Well, here are a few things for you to ponder as we begin this brand new opportunity to move through life in a way that makes us feel good.

• What makes you grateful? 
• What makes you sigh with contentment? 
• What makes you laugh out loud? 
• What makes you feel fulfilled? 
• What makes you feel like you GREW as a person?
• What might you do that will make you feel proud that you tried it?
• How can you make others feel good about how they're moving through YOUR life?
• What might you try to make sure your routines aren't becoming ruts? 
• How can you help your community?
• What do you enjoy learning - and how can you do more of it?

I've been surprised to see several articles in magazines and in ezines in the past couple of weeks that have alluded to the same idea...forget the, "I'm gonna lose an unrealistic percentage of my body weight" or "THIS year, I'll make a million dollars!" or even more ridiculous..."This is the year I'll become a neurosurgeon" [just kidding ;-) - I don't think you'd want me as your neurosurgeon!] You get the idea - apparently, many of us are re-thinking the wisdom of putting ourselves on a guilt trip for resolutions unmet at the end of the year - or the end of January. 

Let's make sure this year we're focusing on making life better - not putting pressure on ourselves to make drastic changes that may very well never come to pass and will only leaving us feeling like we've failed.

A disclaimer here, though...if you really DO want to lose weight (or make a million dollars!), just go easy - don't decide you'll lose 10 pounds a week by eating only 4-leaf clovers, or that you'll spend each paycheck playing the lottery to make that million. Take small, DOABLE baby steps that will move you forward. Even if you don't reach your ultimate goal, you will be closer to that goal - and that's a great way to move through life, wouldn't you agree?

Drop me a note and let me know how it's going - I love to hear from my readers!

Blessings,
Linda
www.LindasWorkshops.com
Linda@LindasWorkshops.com

Knowledge

Hi everyone! You might think the title of this post relates to the picture (graduation day, April 14, 2013 - YIPPEEEE!!!) and I guess it could certainly pertain to that. I hope I gained some knowledge over these many months of school work, team meetings, and class time!

But the reason the word "knowledge" came to mind is that I spent some time with a friend yesterday who is a wealth of knowledge (actually, he has a lot of knowledge about wealth, too - he's a wealth management consultant! Alas, I have no need for his services, lol). Whenever I speak with him, we always get into some really interesting discussions and I walk away having learned something new - or at least affirming something I already have strong feelings about. Don't you love it when that happens??

Yesterday we talked about leadership. Since Bryan studies words, he mentioned that leader comes from "lea" = path and "der" = finder. So a leader is a pathfinder. How cool to know that what I've been telling people for years as my own opinion is also traceable back to the roots of the word "leader!"

Something I think people can miss, though, is that you don't have to have a corner office, a gaggle of employees, or a fancy-schmancy title to be a leader. You don't even have to have a job. People in all walks of life, at every level, and those who are not technically employed, can still be leaders.

You can lead people to have a good attitude - by exhibiting one yourself.

You can lead people to take a good look at their negativity by being the person who keeps a positive outlook on things.

You can lead people to act with integrity - because you set the example.

You can lead people to feel good about themselves by being an encourager.

You can lead others to be accountable for their own actions by not allowing them to make excuses for bad behavior.

So...you now have new knowledge of yourself as a leader. What will you do with this knowledge? How can you show your leadership in the next 30 days? Let me know!

Blessings,
Linda
www.LindasWorkshops.com
Linda@LindasWorkshops.com

Today's word is...learn

Learn...not such a strange word to pick for my first "real" blog, considering I am a teacher, although not in the traditional sense.

As I was thinking about what word I wanted to start with, "learn" just kept popping into my mind. Perhaps it's because I have spent most of my life learning from whatever situation I was in. The corporate world gave me many lessons - some good, some not so much (and some quite interesting!) and creating gift baskets for people taught me that I need to let "creative Linda" loose occasionally. But nothing has taught me more than "teaching." Over the past decade and more (yikes!), I have been learning about things I had never even given any thought to in my corporate life. Thanks to wonderful clients who keep pushing me to learn more so that I can help them do the same, I have learned about a relatively new idea called emotional intelligence. I have delved deeply into the Littauer personality assessment, and yes, I really am bull-headed as my mama used to say! (But doesn't it sound much nicer to say I have a "powerful" personality??) I have learned specific ways to become more organized, deal with difficult people, provide better customer service, and even how to distinguish a leader from a manager - and why that matters.
So it was no surprise when I took the assessment in Marcus Buckingham's book "Now, Discover Your Strengths" and found out that my number one signature strength is.....ta-da! LEARNER! :-) Reading it on paper, though, made me smile. It gave credibility to my constant yearning to learn, learn, learn.
You've probably heard the old saying, "You don't stop learning because you grow old, you grow old because you stop learning." I have decided this must have been my life motto all along and I just hadn't been aware of it.
Even the inside of my Dove chocolate today says "Keep looking forward - new adventures lie ahead." (Hey, I take this very seriously - even chocolate has something to teach me!)
My question to you is this: What have you learned lately? Not about work or sports or cooking... What have you learned about YOU? Do you pay attention to how your personality affects what you say and how you say it? Have you ever given any thought to being emotionally aware? Here's the catch; we can "acquire knowledge" which is one of the definitions of "learn," but will we USE that knowledge to become a better person? In the "Linda Bruno dictionary," the new definition of learn would read "to acquire and USE knowledge."

So...what knowledge will 2010 bring to your life? Are you willing to USE it? It's your choice, you know...
Blessings,
Linda
www.LindasWorkshops.com
Linda@LindasWorkshops.com