The Positive Energy Workplace

I had what I call a “growth experience” with my daughter recently. (Some would call this an argument.) I’m learning the ever-changing dance of parenting a highly intelligent teenage girl (who I love more than air) who is also learning her own ever-changing dance of becoming as she learns how to navigate a mom who asks a lot (a lot!) of questions. Despite the fact that I write books and help people show up and collaborate better for a living, it never pains me more than when one of my kids and I are in our own “missed collaboration.” In the end of course it all worked out -- after some back and forth, mutual disagreement, and love and respect as the solid truth throughout, we had an agreement to create a new plan moving forward that we could both be “good” with. Yay.

I LOVE Thanksgiving... it may very well be my favorite holiday. To me, this week is one of the happiest of the year, regardless of what's happening in the economy, in the world, in our own personal lives. Truly. One of the happiest of the year. Why?

Because we get to walk around expressing gratitude, more than usual, not that we can't everyday (because I personally believe we absolutely can and should). But because it gives us an extra container and nudge to create space for gratitude. LOVE IT!

Finding the things your grateful for and writing them down, is becoming old school for creating joy and happiness in your life. There are gratitude journals, gratitude rocks, gratitude clubs... Gratefully so.

I've recently been invited to contribute to a new LinkedIn feature called #YouAsked. Here is the question I was given today. My thinking around it follows.

“I struggle with deadlines, timelines, and timeliness (thanks, ADHD), which is an important part of my job. Does struggling with that mean I can’t ever do my job well?

How do I work to improve that while also showing that I am worth more than my biggest weakness?” — Melissa B., program manager at a Vancouver, Wash.-based nonprofit

With Contagious You coming out tomorrow, we've had questions on what's the difference between this new book and Contagious Culture.

If you've already read Contagious Culture, Contagious You is a great next step. It will introduce you to new frameworks, help you strengthen your IEP and influence, build more of your field, lead in new ways, integrate this content with your team and relationships, work better with "George," and even invite “Georgette” to shift (if s/he wishes and if you're an "invitation"). If you ARE George (and hey, we all have our "George/Georgette moments"!), this book will help you explore why, what, and how you might shift if you want to have a different impact and/or feel better doing so.

I’ve been speaking about “busy” and burnout — navigating it, healing it, and avoiding it — for years. In my work, I’ve found there are several components, that when addressed proactively (and reactively as required), can support us in managing ourselves through it and even avoiding it all together.