It’s important to have practices in place to intentionally counterbalance that with noticing the good.

When your brain is a real @$%&*

Think of one of your most vivid memories. What’s the first thing that comes to mind?

Was it a good memory or a bad memory?

When I was given this prompt by a friend, the first thing that came to mind was receiving a phone call from my brother telling me that my dad had passed away.

Research tells us our minds are more likely to remember bad memories than good ones. Scientists believe there are deep-rooted evolutionary reasons for this.

In other words, our brain can be a real @$%&* sometimes.

Perhaps this is related to why we are much more likely at the end of the day to dwell on the things that went wrong or didn’t get done rather than what we did well.

We’ve all had those moments when we doubt our ideas, feel like we haven’t done enough, or impostor syndrome gets the best of us. Read more

The Aligned Strategy Principle

Download the Aligned Strategy Principle Diagram (PDF)

Download the Vision Worksheet and Questions (PDF)

 

 

How to Focus on Your Unique Genius as a Thought Leader

In my last post, I shared three ways to discover your unique genius. Once you have discovered your unique genius, how do you focus in to become as effective and successful as you want to be?

I’d like to share with you something I learned from Dan Sullivan of Strategic Coach.

Grab a legal pad and list out all the things you do in your business. Add to that list over the next couple weeks as you remember stuff.

Don’t forget to include stuff that comes up monthly, quarterly and yearly.

Now on another sheet of paper draw, two lines so you have four quadrants and categorize everything in one of these four areas. Start with the first category, and work your way down. Read more

3 Ways to Identify Your Unique Genius

We each have unique inherent talents that, when developed, become strengths. We sometimes refer to this as “unique genius.” Research by the Gallup Organization states that focusing on strengths makes you ten times more likely to feel engaged in your work and three times more likely to experience an excellent quality of life.

Focusing on your strengths in your business, body of work, and daily activities provides your greatest opportunity for happiness and growth. Leveraging your strengths is also your greatest opportunity to create value for others and to contribute to something bigger than yourself.

Finally, when leveraged in the right way your strengths are a competitive advantage and a key element for strong brand positioning as thought leader.

So how does one discover their unique inherent talents? Here are three ways.

Assessments

There are a number of useful assessments that provide valuable insights about your strengths and how you best show up in and create value for the world. Here are two assessments that I use frequently in my business and with my clients because they are backed by research and immensely helpful for discovering, understanding, and leveraging your unique brilliance and leadership abilities. Read more

11 Ways for Thought Leaders to Stand Out

11 Ways for Thought Leaders to Stand Out

Time for some real talk. Here’s the question. On a scale of one to 10…er…11…

How are you doing at getting attention and engagement with your marketing and content right now? Whatever number you’re at right now is fine.

But you know what to do: commit to doing it.

Most online marketers and content creators show up at 4 or 5, perhaps a 7 at best. That’s why they are stuck in a cycle of sameness.

That’s not you.

You didn’t start your business just to fizzle out and fade away.

It doesn’t matter if there are marketers and content creators who are smarter, more qualified, better at writing, funnier, or even better looking.

There are people in this world who want to listen to, learn from, and buy from you because of who you are. But for that to happen, you have to unabashedly show them who you are. Do not hold back. Out of 7.5 billion people on Earth, you only need a few thousand of them to resonate with you to have a big impact and a successful business. Read more