I am Looking Forward and Dealing with Today – being grateful in everything.

I hope you remember the PPFs model. Past-Present-Future.

Remember and be grateful for the past, even the hard times.

Savor the present – the good and the hard parts.

Look forward to the future with hope and anticipation.

The Art of knowing when to keep on going and when to quit.

OR maybe you pivot (more next time).

Business is a lot like gambling, and oh-so-long-ago a famous country western singer, Kenny Rogers, wrote a song called “The Gambler”- I have known it since my childhood. One of the phrases is “You’ve got to know when to hold them (cards)… know when to fold them.” When to keep playing the hand you’ve been dealt and when to quit.

When do you continue on your chosen path and when do you change and do something new? That’s the question.

Are you too focused on the past?

Do you focus on the future too much?

Where is your energy spent?

Are you able to savor and be grateful for the present situation?

When the future can overshadow the present, positive or negative, you are missing out.

When the past does the same you are missing out.

Savor the present, too! Be grateful.

What do you want, really?

Last weekend I wrote about new endeavors.

Do you need or want to start something new? There are some steps involved in the process, even before it becomes “a THING”. To be successful, I suggested some ideas.

The first and most difficult part is to ask yourself this: What do you want?

The second question is what do you need?

These are two different questions and, depending on the circumstances, what you need will help determine what you want.

Reading books brings me joy, especially during holidays.

I have read or finished quite a few books this holiday time in Tenerife and I want to share some highlights in case you need or wish for something new to read.

Besides telling you about the books I am reading and what I have read, I want to challenge you to go on holiday and do what you love while on holiday. For me it is reading books. What it is for you may be a very different activity, but go somewhere, see some now scenery and enjoy doing what you love. It will do you, your creativity, your work, and oyur company good.

We all need to keep “fresh” and grow.

But not every attempt at a change is successful. Some are, of course, failures.

Failure is the next step towards success. Those “blips” I consider “learning events” when we take the time to reflect and learn from the situation.

You can change, too.

Summer is a wonderful time to celebrate. The nights are long and the temperatures not too hot (in the evenings).

Celebration is an important part of life – and success.

When you celebrate something, you give it weight and consider it special. So, I ask again, what are you celebrating?

People who celebrate and who are grateful, in general, are healthier and happier than the negative crowd. Research says it, not just me.

Life is well, rather… stuck?

Business not going well? Or something else?

You have all your ducks in a row, but something seems to be stopping you? Is something intangible slowing down your business? Maybe you have inner conflicts with yourself that need addressing so you can start moving forward again.

A while ago week I read a wonderful book by negotiation expert Professor Dr. William Ury of Harvard Business School called Getting to Yes with Yourself and I found some treasures to help us out of those stuck places in business and in life.

When you are triaging- remember to plan for the two most important things:

THE MOST IMPORTANT things that are not urgent

AND

BREAKS

What about you?

What are the MOST IMPORTANT things that are not urgent for you?

Maybe it is about finishing a book you need to read for work or study.

How do you plan for you MOST IMPORTANT items on your list? Do you block out certain times in the day/week/month that are sacred for these projects?

What about breaks – whether half-days, days, a mini-vacation, or a real one, they should also be scheduled and sacred.

Where can you go and what do you do to find rest and restoration?

This week I am trying a new way of encouraging you to take a break by describing two days in my week of “down time”. You need downtime to regenerate and to find new creativity in work – and life. Doing something different gives you new perspectives and a change of pace and scenery charges your brain to find new solutions to the great problems in your work and life.

Photos are included.

I have some very good ideas for you to stay focuses when everyone is “relaxing” around you.

You and I need to focus, even in the summer.

We all need an easy way to keep on track when we are trying to focus.

Here are some tips:

REMEMBER TO DO ONLY THE MOST IMPORTANT (& urgent) things- things that will make a difference in one, two or five years. AND…

Start slowly, with lowered expectations

Do not plan a long first day or two, but slowly set and get into your list of “to-dos”; don’t expect to get finished with your list, but try to focus on one or two key goals for the first few days. Remember to reacquaint yourself with the team, the space, and the food, too, especially if you have been away for a long time or working (mostly) remotely. Freshen up your workspace and make it “your own” once again.

I don’t know if you are having the same issue, but…

Suddenly, my next two weeks are really full!

How did that happen? I thought I was “off” for the month! I only begin correcting exams at the end of the month. But I have a guest teaching “week” this week with a focus on leadership and team development, plus an important funeral of a good friend, so now this week is much fuller than expected. Next week looks about the same because of birthdays and such.

And that makes me mostly happy. I get to teach something I love; I will certainly not be bored  - and the funeral will bring closure for many of us who loved Helen.

The How of productivity without overwhelm:

How do I keep from feeling overwhelmed, even if the activities are (mostly) great?

I use a couple of coaching tools on myself.

One is the Eisenhower Matrix (some call it the 4 Ds of time management; you can look up both)

Another is writing everything down- on the family calendar, on my electronic calendar, writing it in my to-do journal…

These two activities help me to separate the important from the urgent, and to keep everything “together” so it gets done in as calm a manner as possible.

In a crisis we can acknowledge the fear (which is NORMAL), lean in, decide what you can control, make a plan and be as ready as you can be

Sometimes you can control life to some extent and plan it.

And sometimes life happens to you, without your permission.

For instance, I had COVID a few weeks ago and it’s taking longer than I want to fully recover.

And two friends have lost close loved ones recently.

And someone is dealing with a really difficult relationship issue.

And someone is being made to retire who doesn’t want to.

Long Term Stress

It happens to all of us, and for some it is a “given”.

Sometimes it’s the job, or the season, or it’s COVID, or…

My clients run companies. That is, by definition, stressful, and long-term stress must be dealt with.

Also, bankers and insurance companies and other professions have special seasons where there is a lot of stress.

There are two kinds of stress: cognitive and body stress (remember your body keeps score). You may not be able to totally reduce cognitive stress, but you CAN take care of your body.

So, what can you do to help the stressors that are always there and you can’t get rid of them.

First and foremost, breathe well and take care of your body as best as you can - and get outside (and remember your PPFs).

Some call it Pivot, others call it reinvention.

It’s always a (big) change.

It could be that a change of career or changing your business is needed.

Re-inventing Yourself - a necessity for many, especially for those over 50, but it’s vital for others, too, such as stay-at-home parents who are re-entering the job market and for those who discover that what they have trained for/studied for is no longer a need.

It’s now proven that stressed employees cannot produce as well as rested and relaxed employees. Everyone seems to know this fact, so why are so many bosses still expecting their workers to keep their phones on and return to work early from vacation? Companies suffer when people do not get holidays, as the company that closed down clearly shows.

The temptation is very high to keep on working, even if you have planned holidays

Many of us, whether pressured from the boss or not, are tempted to skip our summer holidays, or, at least, check our work emails frequently while at the beach or in the hotel. Some bosses expect this, and, after all, nobody wants 1,000 emails to go back to work to.

What makes a good leader?

Here is SOME of what it takes is what it takes in general to be successful.

· Learning head and heart and soul

· Engagement

· Visionary and Influencer

· Aspects of different kinds of leadership used at different points with different situations and people

A good leader is open and ready to learn, for oneself and as a model

A while ago I gave a talk in a small business on learning and what the MD said before I started was key: “I have had coaches and supervisors to grow and learn; you should consider the opportunity for yourselves.” She even said there were funds budgeted in the employees’ further education budgets for such activities. What a model!

A successful leader values and encourages employee engagement

In Switzerland, the average percentage of engaged employees is less than 15%, according to Gallup. This is extremely low, but in line with the DACH region.

Leadership is Usually seen as visionary and influencing in a positive way

Not only is engagement important, but how the leader shares the vision, and encourages the employees is very key. It can be a deal maker – or breaker – as to whether an engaged employee stays or goes.

A successful leader knows how to use various roles to bring about success

Robert E Quinn has a “Competing Values Framework” that can be helpful for measuring your leadership skills for the roles needed: team builder/facilitator, mentor, innovator/pioneer, broker/networker, director (of strategy), producer, controller and coordinator. All of these roles have skills to develop and use as a leader, and when necessary, to develop and encourage in the upcoming leadership under you.

It IS dark – How do you deal with darkness?

Darkness outside can be a metaphor for what is going on – inside and outside of us.

For me, the darkness is outside.

I have a friend, E who was home in the Ukraine when the war began over a month ago. He struggled to get his family out and to Switzerland where he lives and works. I saw him for the first time since yesterday – and his inside is traumatized. Naturally so. It is dark outside me, and dark inside him.

There are more stories, and I don’t want to go far here, but I have other U. friends who are here and in other places…

Even if it is dark from the time to time, there are things we can do to help make the dark better:

PPFs