The Positive Energy Workplace

Oh gosh... friends. The fodder for today is so rich. I've had so many things happen this last quarter that have informed much of my thinking, inspired me, and given me so many answers to questions I've been grokking literally for over a year.

I'm going to be addressing some of these things here on this blog over the next year -- I hope you'll join me. And I'll be doing it in mini posts and long. Business and personal. Leadership and culture. Whatever is true for me as I write. Note: The more personal stuff that I write about, I save for our AC #TuesdayTreats email subscribers (as well as articles and announcements and deals that I don't make publicly). Would love you to join me there as well. Subscribe here. For now, let's dig in... 

Hi all, continuing to participate in LinkedIn's #YouAsked feature, here is a question I was given with my thinking to go with it... 

“In two years, I'll be transitioning from 20 years in the military. How do I prepare for what is going to be, at least to some degree, culture shock and ensure I can fit in properly?” — Saundra U., Minnesota Army National Guard

(Note: Friends, these thoughts can apply to any transition in our lives, the bigger the transition and the more intense, the more important these become.)

How's your 2020 so far? What are you creating? Are you feeling nourished? Inspired? Or are you wiped out already? Are you excited about your plan? Feeling daunted by it? Or are you underwhelmed and need a bigger game? Or maybe you're ready to rock, but are having a hard time discerning next steps (or how to influence people to go with you), or maybe you haven't even thought about it because you're still recovering from 2019.

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.