Piecing together the puzzle of life
I am currently in Uganda. While I am gone, the Villager is rerunning some of my early favorites. The following column was first published on December 2, 2004. People can really be a puzzle. By that I don’t mean they’re confusing, although they can be that, too – especially if they’re teenagers or members of the opposite sex. What I’m talking about is more like a jigsaw puzzle, where every piece is a little different from every other one, even though they all [...]
A big impact comes from a tiny statement
I am currently in Uganda. While I'm gone, the Villager is rerunning some of my early favorites. The following column was first published on February 6, 2003. Someone called me “Tiny” the other day. Which was a whole lot nicer than Sleepy, Sneezy, Grumpy or Dopey. We were at Curves, and were right next to each other on the exercise equipment. She looked at me the way you look at someone you recognize, but can’t quite place. “Do you work for the [...]
How to succeed? Dream big, start small
A few months ago, I attended a speech contest in which one of the contestants spoke about dreaming small. She said early on that that’s what her parents always encouraged her to do. At first I thought it was a set-up for a punch line, or that she’d be talking about how she had to overcome a “think small” mindset in order to dream big and achieve great things. And since I teach, preach, and coach people about dreaming big [...]
Having too many choices leads to communication breakdown
“What we’ve got here is failure to communicate.” That line is from the 1967 movie, Cool Hand Luke, and is one of the top movie quotes of all time. And even though it’s almost 50 years old, I think it’s even more true and relevant today than it was back then. It’s ironic that today we have more ways to communicate than ever before. In addition to the really old-fashioned ways like talking face to face in person, or voice [...]
What’s stopping you from reaching your goals? You are!
“Betty, I’m ready to get out of my own way.” The words were music to my ears, even though I got them by way of a Facebook post. They were from a former coaching client of mine, and she’s someone I’ve been urging for a long time now to visit Toastmasters. She’s written two children’s books, started her own company, and is eager to get out in the world to do readings and presentations, and to promote her books and [...]
Jumpstart your goals for the rest of 2014
Sometimes, a plan that seemed like a great idea at the time turns out to be not so great after all. Often, though, it just needs a little tweaking. I think that was the case with my New Year’s Resolution this year. I decided that I was going to complete a new project every week throughout 2014. My first project was to compile a list of 50 projects and goals I wanted to complete, and I’m happy to report I [...]