The mind is the most powerful tool we can put to use within any endeavor we undertake. It holds the power to enhance and increase our capabilities or to exacerbate our limitations. Henry Ford very accurately broke it down when he said, “if you think you can or you think you can’t, you’re right.” Mr. Ford was talking about our mindset. Our mindset provides the framework and sets the tone for how we approach everything we do. The things we think, the way we interpret our environment, and our ability to find success in challenging situations are all intimately linked to our mindset. Our mindset... Read More

I must share with you that I was so excited and honored when I was asked to be the weekly columnist for Motivational Monday.   In my high school years, as the assistant editor for the school newspaper, I had a column called “Stayin’ Alive” (yes, the Bee Gees were popular when I was in high school!) and I gave advice to students on how to survive high school.  My role as your Monday Motivator is to give you advice and guidance as well, and fortunately I have accumulated quite a bit more wisdom since my Bee Gees days.   Although I am many years out of high school, I remain a lifelong student.  ... Read More

All living things share a litany of commonalities. We’re comprised of carbon, we need nutrition in some way, shape or form, we benefit and get energy from sunlight, we need hydration, and the list goes on. When a child looks at a group of adults, they typically see no differences. For them, it’s a collection of individuals much older than they are and they tend to generalize them. They do not know or understand the difference between 20 somethings, middle aged individuals, or their great grandparents. Human nature is to cluster. We group like with like and spend little time differentiating... Read More

Life is full of limits. Perceived or real, we find them everywhere we look. Society places a significant amount of them on us and if those aren’t restrictive enough, we place even more on ourselves. Have you ever told yourself you’re too old, too slow, not smart enough, or you don’t have the time? These are self-imposed limitations and more often than not, they’re illusionary. They lack the credibility most societal limitations are based in but are far more debilitating to our actions. Nearly everything we use or do in our daily lives has a prescribed or perceived ‘limit.’ In certain... Read More

No two granules of sand are alike, no two snowflakes identical, no two people the same. In all the ways we are extraordinarily similar, we’re distinctly unique. The similar composition with which we are comprised tends to allow us to more readily compare our self to others and this is typically done from a singular, outward view. However, each of our existences are fundamentally different where one minor detail within our field of experience has the ability to leave us miles apart from someone else of equal composition within any number of days, let alone years. One slight degree of separation... Read More

A true entrepreneur is not just somebody who doesn’t like to work for others. It is somebody who has a burning desire to create new systems and build upon existing ones. An entrepreneur is always thinking of ways to improve everything they come in contact with. Successful entrepreneurs have a part of them that is extremely lazy. This laziness is what causes them to relentlessly think of new ways to make things easier on everybody. They are obsessive problem-solvers; they see every challenge as an opportunity to show people a better way of doing something. The typical office environment drives... Read More

Each one of us is fully capable of accomplishing anything, and more importantly, everything we put our mind to. We have desires, dreams, and ambitions for our time here. Accomplishing them is no easy task, but we are aptly suited for our challenge. We truly have limitless potential residing inside. It’s lying dormant, desperately waiting for us to set the wheels in motion, enabling it to crack through the surface where it can be put to use in our pursuits. At times there can be a disconnect between our desires, dreams, and ambitions, and our current reality or perception of it. Life happens,... Read More

Your Mental Armor is a positive attitude. Your attitude is the one thing you always have complete and total control over. Your attitude dictates your response to every situation. If you have a positive attitude, you create opportunities. If you have a negative attitude, you create excuses and more unfavorable situations. Building a positive attitude can withstand any, and all, circumstances. It is an invincibility. It is your armor. It will protect you from negativity. You will never become a victim of circumstance. Opportunities will find you because you are always looking up and looking forward.... Read More

Deep within the core of each of us lies our life force…our internal fire. At times, it burns with varying degrees of intensity, but it’s ever present. Just as each of us is unique and individually gifted, the constitution of our fire is dynamically different. The passion and intensity from one won’t always resonate with another but that doesn’t make it any less significant. If we were all driven by the same things, our world would lack the diversity, creativity, ingenuity, and grandeur that make it the beautiful melting pot it is. Tremendous ability lies within each member of our tribe... Read More

Have you ever been in an extended funk where no matter how many massages you got, it just didn’t change your crabby mood? It’s so easy to get crabby. You have about 100 excuses these days with our current leadership’s actions, and non-actions. The bandwidth of all our time is overstretched. What to do? My life is as simple as it can be, and I find myself addicted to the hurry and bustle, which keeps me out of the present moment if I’m not careful. Add that to the daily stresses of family, career, and household. What’s a 21st century person to do? One thing we all are undereducated about... Read More

Hello Everyone and Happy Monday!  Are you ready for some motivation for this week?  What if I could give you something better than just “motivation”?  What if I could give you a tool that you can use every day to achieve your goals and vision for your life?  If that sounds like something you would like, then keep reading! If you wanted to get in shape to compete in an event like a marathon, a century ride or a Spartan race, you would expect to train for at least 3 months, right?  And you would probably expect that you would need to work out consistently throughout the week, right?  ... Read More

Each of us has dreams, desires, and ambitions. There are races we want to enter, promotions we want to apply for, fitness classes we would like to take, languages we wish to learn, businesses we want to start, and the list goes on. We make plans to get there and oftentimes can even see ourselves there, having accomplished what we really want to do. Yet some of us stop before our pursuit has actually begun. We convince our self that it is not worth it, or it will never happen; consequently, we never take the chance. In nearly all of these instances, our stopping before we start can be traced to... Read More

In our interconnected world, it’s pretty much a given we will have a multitude of interactions with others each and every day. We have co-workers, teammates, spouses, friends, family, and the list goes on. We communicate with a host of people directly and indirectly, through social media, etc., every day. Throughout these sometime brief or sometime lengthy conversations, a lot can be transmitted. When someone says a little or a lot, their body language can communicate even more. The sentiment of the communication in all of these interactions can be positive or facilitative, it can be negative... Read More

The only way to do something, is to actually do it. Hitting a golf ball requires us to swing a golf club, just as riding a bike, requires us to ride a bike, just as giving a speech requires us to stand up and speak. On the surface, this appears quite obvious, but performing anything at the level we’re fully capable of requires us to dive a little deeper. Simply performing an action of hitting a golf ball, riding a bike, or giving a speech does not mean we’re going to get the results we desire. When we want to be at our best, we have to do more than just show up and go through the motions. Maximizing... Read More

Feelings are a human commonality. Each and every one of us has them. Something takes place, or we observe something, and it has the ability to elicit feelings deep within us. We have the ability to feel strongly about something just as easily as we can feel nothing at all about something else. We can feel compelled or emboldened by something or we can feel as if we’re being held back by something else. We can feel supportive of something or we can feel like working against it. Our feelings are very powerful, and they are a constant throughout our existence. Understanding their origin, impact,... Read More

Every day, we are creating, developing, fostering, nurturing, and strengthening our relationships. Life is interconnected. As our journey through it continues, we meet new people, keep up with others to varying extents, and unfortunately as life sometimes dictates, things can fade to a state of dormancy. It is very hard to keep strong connections and have meaningful relationships with everyone in and throughout our life; no matter how much we would like to. Life as we live it in the 21st Century, simply doesn’t allow for it. Of all of our relationships, one of the most integral to our eventual... Read More

We are officially in the holiday season!  Have you thought about your holiday plans?   Where will you go?  What is on your wish list?  Do you know what you will get for the special people in your life?  What parties will you attend, or will you host?  What will you eat?   Planning, planning and more planning! Think about how much time, energy, and effort we put into planning related to the holiday season. I am the first one to admit to many hours I have spent on Pinterest alone, searching decorating ideas, menus, and cookie recipes. Over 627 million results came up when I searched “Holiday... Read More

Humans are social beings. There are hundreds of scientific studies that prove this to be true.  I believe that that our desire for social acceptance along with a desire to be loved, are the core intrinsic motivators for most of our behavior.  I love socializing which is one of the reasons I enjoy the holiday season so much.  At a holiday party this weekend I met a woman who told me about a study that was done at the University of Kansas to determine how long it takes for friendships to develop. The article states: “In a new report published in the Journal of Social and Personal Relationships,... Read More

When someone starts a comment with, “It’s been one of those days…,” what is the first thing that comes to your mind?   From my experience, that statement often leads to a rant about all the things that went wrong and usually ends with a list of excuses for why that person either did or didn’t do something. Have you ever witnessed this? When my husband came home on Friday afternoon his first words to me started with, “It’s been one of those days…”  I held my breath for a moment waiting for what he was going to say next.  He finished his sentence with,” When everything has... Read More

We all possess a secret power deep within us. This secret power has the ability to create and manifest anything that we want in our lives. It is an unlimited catalog that we can place “orders” with, whenever we want. It will give us anything that we want, we just have to ask. Maybe it is wealth, success, new cars or just happiness – whatever it is we can have it. Period. So how do we unleash this power? Visualization. Visualization is the fuel to our internal-fire. Visualization is our connection to an infinite supply of wisdom, creativity and wealth. The Universe is always working to give... Read More