Promote Yourself!

I flew into the airport in Charlotte, N. C. on my way to conduct some workshops on team building and leadership for a company in Costa Rica. While waiting on my connecting flight i decided to grab a bite to eat in the large food court area in the airport. As I sat there eating I noticed an airport employee moving around the food court cleaning tables and making sure that the area was clean.

  What really caught my attention was the pure presence of this woman. As she cleaned the tables and chairs she was singing...and I mean singing from her heart and soul. She was literally HAPPY at work. As she moved through the area people would lift their heads from there books, phones, or laptops to take notice. It was like a wave of heads popping up.

  After completing my meal I approached the woman and explained to her that I was having a good day but because of her positive attitude and presence that I was having an even better one. I than asked where her attitude came from. She than explained that she decided a long time ago that if your going to go to work every day you might as well be happy. I told her that that was awesome and if more people adopted that attitude they would be more productive and happy.

  I asked the woman her name, she than put her hands on her hips standing proudly and said "Valerie" with the posture of a super hero. I asked Valerie for a hug and she hugged me tight enough to align my spine. Valerie went on to explain to me that her first job in the airport was as a bathroom attendant. I don't know about you but if i woke up every morning knowing that i was going o be in a bathroom all day I am not sure what kind of attitude I would have.

  Valerie's attitude was so amazing that she named her bathroom Valerie's Happy Restroom. Her slogan was "Everyone can always get a seat". She was promoted to the dining area in the airport because her supervisor's knew she would impact more people with that awesome attitude. I had to catch my connecting flight and gave Valerie a hug. She explained to me that she would not be there in two weeks and a I asked Why? She said that there was a company that found out about her attitude and passion for customer service and they offered her the position of director of customer service in their company.

  Chills went up my spine. I said to Valerie that Because of your attitude you have promoted yourself from the Bathroom to the Dining room to the Board Room. That's the power of a great attitude. How will you promote yourself today and every day with your attitude?

What is Your Purpose?

What is your purpose here in this life? It is so easy to get pulled into other people's lives and their purpose that we lose track of our own purpose, passion and reason for being in this world. Family, Friends, Co-Workers can all distract you from moving closer to the dreams and goals that you have for your life. It's not being selfish to pursue what fulfills you and gives you a sense of making a difference, not just in "THE" world but "YOUR" world.

Personal or professional growth and satisfaction is connected to moving in a direction that makes you feel more whole and complete as an individual. When you expand as an individual you actually expand the lives of the people around you. Staying focused on your personal or professional development is not selfish... it is selfless because of the effect it will have on others. Stay true to yourself and as you expand you will also help others to expand as well.

Live Out Loud!

Adopt The Attitude of Kaizen

Adopt the Attitude of Kaizen

“Practice as if you are the worst, perform as if you are the best.”

Do you have a personal rating system to measure where you are in any area of your life? It’s interesting in areas such as work, and school there are systems in place that measure performance, however when it comes to our own lives we never seem to have that system in place. The Japanese have a term called Kaizen. It means constant improvement. The concept that we should always be growing and improving in all areas of our lives is important.

Develop a rating system that helps you to measure where you are at in any given moment. When I coach individuals or groups I will stop them at certain points and tell them to rate themselves based on attitude, energy, and effort. I have them use a rating system from 1 to 10. 1 is the stinkiest, slimiest, sloppiest they could be and 10 is the super, shiniest, sharpest they could be. By monitoring where we are on a constant basis we can adjust our performance and attitudes.

I am not suggesting that you try to be a 10 all the time. That would be exhausting. I am suggesting that you pay attention to where you are so that you know how much you have improved, or need to. By adopting a system to evaluate personal improvement and performance we can save time and be much more effective in the Kaizen of our health and fitness, relationships, career and any other area that needs improvement.

Keep a journal and document your progress. If your life is worth living it is worth documenting. By journaling you can reflect on where and how you improved and develop a road map for success. It’s your life, get started now.

Live Out Loud!

Look for The Best and Overcome the Rest.

What is your Best? What is your families best? What are your co worker's or client's best? What is best in your friends? In a world that leans more towards looking for faults rather than a good find, it's sometimes hard to focus on what is best in us personally and the people, places, and things around us. It really comes down to what you are looking for. Focus is everything! It's like the idea of coincidence or serendipity. People who experience more of the two are usually more focused on what is best around them and they have a tendency to find it. If you change your focus everything changes. The latest brain research even proves that we have what are called Mirror Neurons in our brains. When someone smiles at you these neurons start firing off and your brain signals that you should smile. Another example is if you see someone yawn. What do you usually end up doing? In a world where bad news sells we need to be guarded when it comes to our attitudes and not let things like media blind us to all the good that is around us. The title "Focus on the best and overcome the rest" has allot of meaning because what you focus on expands and that expands you. So would you rather focus on looking for the best in the people, places, or things around you or focus on the opposite. It's Up To You! You create your world.

What's Your Face Value?

A smile confuses an approaching frown.

What face do you take with you everyday? Is it one that when people see it they look forward to it or try to avoid it. I am not talking about the physical structure of the face you are born with. I am talking about how you structure your face. What expression do you use most? If you find that most people avoid you or would prefer not to interact with you then you might need to change your face. Not with plastic surgery but with a different expression.


I guess what I am really trying to say is SMILE!!! A smile makes you feel better and makes the people around you feel better. It's not always easy. There are times when you need to Fake It Til You Feel It! But when you develop the habit of smiling more just like laughing regularly you literally signal your brain to release endorphins into your system that are known as the feel good chemical. It's been proven that endorphins are more powerful than heroin. The best part is that it's legal and FREE. Let's face it, there are days when we need to just decompress and take a nap. It is impossible to feel great all the time. That's alright! How about we decide to walk around feeling good at least most of the time.

A smile is infectiuos,

You can catch it like the flu,

Someone smiled at me today,

And I started smiling too.

How infectious are you? Do you inject people with viruses or vitality? I know that I have developed the habit of smiling when I most need it.That is when I start to feel angry or upset with someone or something. I know that if I can smile then I can laugh and that helps me to keep control of my anger or frustration at any given time. You may say that It's not that easy, and you are correct. What habit is easy. It takes focus, practice, and commitment. The more you focus on it and stay committed to it, the easier it gets.

Just think how it feels the next time that you see someone coming towards you that may have an expression on their face that is less than open and inviting. Those are the same feelings and signals that you send if you are using the same expression. I know one thing about life. The older I get the more I realize that my thoughts, expressions, and feelings are all really dependent on what I decide they should be, and not what others or the environment decides they should be.

You will be a much more effective communicator and a whole lot happier if you just get in the habit of SMILING. What's your face worth?

What's Your E.G.O.?

"Big egos are big shields for lots of empty space."

Diana Black

We all have this thing called E.G.O. What is it? Well it can be an incredibly motivating thing when it is used for personal development or service to others. When your E.G.O. drives you to take a sense of pride in learning new things being open minded and always being ready for the people and experiences that you want to come into your life.That E.G.O. I call, (Empowering Great Opportunities). That's when you use your sense of E.G.O. and pride to be good for yourself, your community, and the people you come into contact with. Using that E.G.O. to get through life's challenges and obstacles so you can not just Go forward, but GROW forward.

So often our sense of self or E.G.O. is centered in possessions such as what house we live in, or what car we drive. When your sense of E.G.O. is centered in the pride that you are improving as a human doing and not just a human being then you will start to meet with true success. Success that cannot be measured with money or possessions. So use that E.G.O. energy to improve yourself, because then you can't help but empower those around you.

"Avoid having your ego so close to your position that when your position falls, your ego goes with it."

Colin Powell

Now there is always a polar opposite to every thought process or idea. The opposite of the previous is E.G.O. (Eliminating Great Opportunities). That's when you are focused on your opinion being more important than others. Measuring your success by what you own and not who you become. By being focused on always being right instead of doing the right thing is terribly counter productive and almost paralyzing to any organization, company, team, or family. So the next time you think about your E.G.O. think about which one you will choose.