The Positive Energy Workplace

17 "acts" for authentic living, sustainable leadership, and simply "getting out of your own way" – check back often as I’ll be posting more every couple of days!

Happy New Year everyone! Last year I offered a set of questions to help you reflect on the past year, and step into the new year (you can find that post here after you've read this post. ;-)) This year I'd like to offer something a bit different. In honor of 2011, I thought I'd share some of the greatest lessons learned and witnessed in 2010. They're off the cuff, written in free form, and in no particular order of importance. Try them on as food for thought, if they resonate, enjoy! If not, ditch! And as always, feel free to share your learnings as well below! (Some of my favorites from future tips? Assume good, validate from within, lead your energy, change your story, be you, fill your tank, own your stuff, and get back up…)

1. Unfold your answers, they're inside you. The answers are not "out there" in the mouths, words, or opinions of others, they are "in here." It's up to each of us to listen to that internal voice. When we ignore our internal voice, we give our power away.
2. Validate from within. If you don't love you/like you/believe in you – looking for all of that externally will be a temporary fix, it's not sustainable. Find a way, if even the smallest way, to start validating from within.

Happy New Year everyone! I find myself surprised that we're already heading into week 2 of 2011, and I find myself not at all surprised that I have 8 articles I want to write, and all at once. One of my personal goals this year is to be more intentional, more deliberate, more succinct - not just in writing or speaking, but in how I live my life, run my business, work with clients, share information, take care of my body, have fun. Intentional. Deliberate. Succinct. These words, for me, all have a clean feel to them. A feeling of intentionality and clarity and strength. I can sense that they will be my friends in 2011.

I’m in the midst right now of some big stuff. Our family just relocated 4 people, a dog named Ruckus, a new job for hubby, and my business…2200 miles across the country back to the West Coast where I am again at peace with mountains, sunshine and lots of water. It’s tougher in some ways that I wouldn’t have imagined…and easier in other ways that I wouldn’t have imagined. All in all, it’s great to be back. And I find myself stepping into new things with a new perspective, ranging from leading my business, growing my business, serving our clients, and even how I parent. And in the midst, we are experiencing the interesting process of buying and selling homes in a new market, getting used to a new school system, transferring business over to CA, moving into new office space, and learning to live in temporary living space while we do all of the above. To say it’s an adventure…would be…an…understatement. It is nerve racking…And the learning is grand.

I’m a “swimmer”…I like to get things done. I like to keep moving. I get frustrated when movement is slow. This serves me 90% of the time. This tortures me the other 10. If I use this "power" intentionally – it's a strength. If I let it get the best of me, that "strength" turns into a weakness…and fast. See, so much is out of my control or influence (I can truly only influence/control myself and how I show up in it), and while I know this and have spent countless hours and episodes of making peace with this – and learning patience…I’m still a swimmer. Being a lifelong swimmer, I’ve learned to pay attention to mindset and focus. This, I’ve found is crucial, and often the difference between working WITH myself and working AGAINST myself. (For those of you who don’t know, though I suspect if you’re on my blog you know this quite well: Swimmers like to get there fast…and all those little details; fish, waves, coral, seaweed, etc. can slow down the process…yet, they’re all part of the process…AND, if we allow it….the beauty of the experience.) As a swimmer I can CHOOSE how peaceful the process is by paying attention to mindset. I can choose to sink or swim. For example…

With Thanksgiving around the corner, one of my very favorite days, I find myself in a swirl of gratitude for the people in my life, the business that I get to be a part of, the clients that do this work with us, my adorable kids who show me everyday the gift of unconditional love and goodness, my husband who supports me and makes doing this work and doing the "mom/ceo" thing easier, and so much more. Am I gushing? Yes, a tad.

Earlier this week I recorded a new video…you can see it by clicking here. It's about gratitude and it's about 3:30 minutes. After the quick recording, I'd intended to follow it up with a blog post to talk about the power of gratitude. The power of mindset. The power of everything great. AND along the way…I received the gift of a challenge to work my own stuff (which happens more than folks might realize.) Literally as I sat down to write the new shiny happy post, literally…I received a "nasty" phone call (the deliverer was great, the message stunk.) And it gave me the opportunity to reconnect with that place of gratitude to get out of a #$%^ mood. ;-)

In parts 1 and 2 of this series, I shared the old Native American parable of "the wolf you feed" and how these different "wolves" show up in our lives and organizations impacting energy, mindset and results. In the final part of this series, I offer some more ways to get into action and make shifts that will serve you, and those you care about, at work, at home, and everywhere in between. Enjoy!