It is no secret the landscape of the labor force has changed quite a bit. This cannot become an excuse to put your hiring process on automatic or abandon the structure of your hiring process. In fact it should give you more reason to continue to refine how you hire.

2 ways your hiring process will break your year;

Settling – Doing this during the hiring process to fill a seat or take pressure off of you is never acceptable.

Same as always – Never updating or improving the way you seek out new talent will prevent you from finding the best people.

Honorable Mentions;

Stick-to-it-iveness – Yes it’s a word and it means tenacious determination.

Put another way, stay the course to find the person who fits exactly what you need better than anyone else.

Resourcefulness – Changing your approach is essential to find the best. A lot of the best people are not going to be available via traditional recruiting methods. Have fun, be clever, create new ways to find them.

Why not go all-in on your commitments and goals? There is no downside yet so many people are afraid to go all-in and wonder why they do not hit their goals.

Why not lead your people like never before? There is no downside to making your job as a leader more about your people than yourself.

Why not love your people like never before? There is no downside to loving your people, especially during tough love moments.

Why not love what you do every single day? There is no downside to loving what you do. The good and the bad. If you do not love what you are doing, change it. No excuses. Make changes because of your time and well-being matter!

It is time to start asking yourself better questions, getting better answers, and flat out going for it. Stop focusing on what could go wrong, start focusing on what is possible.

Will it be easy? Who cares.

Will it be worth it? Yes. Your quality of life and the lives you impact demand you play a bigger game.

Every day is your day to do exactly that.

So often I hear people receive compliments then quickly defer, deflect, or downright deny them. Rarely do I hear someone accept them with sincerity.

This is not a badge of honor and actually does more harm than good.

If this is you, as it has been many of us before, here are three reasons you must confront your compliments;

1st – Reciprocity; the person is giving you a compliment for a reason, by not receiving it, you are stifling their opportunity to give.

2nd – Reassurance; the compliment gives you feedback based on its content. Let it reassure you, remember it is ok to receive positive feedback!

3rd – Rare; it is much more common for people to critique and judge others.

Rarely do people share heartfelt, sincere compliments. Receive and appreciate it for its rarity. So next time someone gives you a compliment, acknowledge them and appreciate their willingness to give.

One powerful way to boost your happiness…

Happiness is a choice. So is unhappiness. The cool part is you are in charge, you make the call, no one else.

There are two types of people I coach. One takes control of their happiness, one who does not. The differentiator is their level of self-awareness.

The happiest are;

– highly aware of their strengths and weaknesses.

– they know taking on too much makes them vulnerable to their weaknesses.

– gladly ask for help, surround themselves with people who complement their strengths.

– bring love to what they do.

The unhappiest are;

– highly unaware of their strengths and weaknesses.

– they often take on too much making it harder to produce.

– less willing to ask for help, which is exactly what they need to become happier.

– do not bring to love what they do.

Do this self-awareness exercise;

1st – Use an assessment (i.e. DISC) or simply write out your strengths and weaknesses.

2nd – Get feedback from 3-5 people close to you.

3rd – See where they overlap. Then look at all the stuff on your task list. Cross-referencing shows where to focus, ask for help, and what to eliminate.

This is a great starting point to increase your awareness and choose your happiness.

It seems like no matter where we look, whether regular media or social media, there is someone yelling at us.

Yelling at us to grow to get to the next level. The intentions are good. The message is not.

The idea of getting to the next level is what contributes to the rat race, to keep up with whoever the Jones family is, to an ongoing comparison of others.

This is the exact thing holding you back. So here is what you can do instead. It will change everything, including your ability to associate with great people.

Shift from level or hierarchy thinking, to 360-degree oriented thinking. This way you can focus on expanding your capacity in all directions.

Great leaders, people who left a mark on the world, were not limited by company hierarchies or titles.

They expanded their capacity in leadership, in accountability, and their capacity for what was possible which is most important.

Expansion creates unity, levels create division.

Reason 1 – Good is an illusion.

The way most people see good is in comparison to what others have. Comparison to the majority is comparison to the average. Average and good are not the same. Yet if you settle for what seems to be good, you are settling for average. You are not here to settle for average. Pursue great instead.

Reason 2 – Good is boring.

Good work, good job, good morning, and the like are boring platitudes people say with little charge behind them. Think about how many times you have heard someone say “good enough”. Now think how many times you have heard someone say “great enough”.

Notice the difference? Good blends in, great stands out. You are here to be great. You deserve to be great. So pursue your greatness with enthusiasm, and leave good for those who chose to settle.

Committing to your goals is an important decision to make. Writing down your hopes and dreams is a blast, but the commitment is where the fun happens.

1 – Committing to your goals helps you find your creativity.

Think about a time when you hit a goal recently. During the process there were times when obstacles came up that you could not have planned for. In those moments, you tapped into a creativity to go over, around, or through the obstacle. With this creativity, you have a new reference to draw on for your next goal.

2 -Committing to your goals helps you find your confidence.

They say confidence is trust or faith in a person or thing. This trust and faith in yourself will support you like adding layers of concrete to the foundation of future goals. This confidence is yours to keep and use to stand the tests along your path.

3 -Committing to your goals helps you find your compassion.

There are people early in their goal pursuit process. They are struggling with new obstacles requiring their creativity, there are new tests challenging their confidence, and there are people who will follow them. The compassion you develop having gone through the process allows you to give them support from a more meaningful place.

Commit to your goals and see what other cool things you find in the process!

During the early months of summer, one of my mentors made it a point to promote August as the month that sets the tone for your future.  To say this sparked my interest is an understatement. At first I questioned the logic.

How could the ‘dog days of summer’ hold this much significance?

How could such an obscure statement possibly be true?

Up until then I had not heard anyone, successful or otherwise, refer to August in this way.  In fact, I only recall a collective, agreed upon time to review and set goals is during New Year’s resolutions. For businesses, it is common to set quarterly and annual goals.

August is the middle of the the third quarter.  Not well-known as the month people grind on their goals. This is why his emphasis on how game-changing it is to shift up instead of shift down is what led me to take action.

As the saying goes, if you want something you’ve never had you’ll have to do something you’ve never done. So I made a conscious decision. I made August a platform to launch into the fourth quarter with intention and momentum.

I began by creating three categories, each with their own unique daily activities.  When I say daily, I mean inclusion of all 31 days in August. The categories were as follows.

First, I reviewed results and re-committed to my goals.

Second, I identified the accomplishments I wanted to achieve.

Third, I  focused on re-energizing myself through intentional connection with friends and family.

The design of this three part approach set me up for a first-class fourth quarter.

After breaking things down I realized 31 days is not a lot of time!

The best way to attack all three of the above was to make the most of every day.  So I did something different or new on a daily basis, no days off. (Disclaimer: No days off my goals, does not mean no days off from anything/no sleep/no rest or any other hype ????).

Some of these were super fun, like ripping a Porsche 911 Turbo around the tracks at the Porsche Driving Experience in LA(you have to try this!).

Some were not as exhilarating, yet were essential to remain immersed in my mission. I read new blogs and books by previously unknown authors, listened to podcasts, redeveloped my coaching program, and opened myself up to seek and receive feedback from trust colleagues.

When combined, each of these items gave me a new experience that  I could use to grow.

If nothing else, these activities alone,  at this intention level, would have been a powerful stretch for me.  Life decided to throw in a curveball.

I experienced a great personal loss in the middle of August and could have allowed it to slow me down,  give up this “silly” project and accept defeat.

Instead, the loss created an acute sense of appreciation for the moments and memories that we create. I felt an overwhelming obligation to continue to drive for my highest potential.

Now, I am not sure if my mentor had all this in mind when he made the statement about August.  What I do know, is that this one obscure statement, shifted my perspective in a matter of minutes, and I took on a challenge, that so far, has changed the direction of my fourth quarter.

Even though August has come and gone, it is never too late to take action. What will you challenge yourself to do?

Take steps to move in YOUR right direction. Every. Single. Day.

There are so many debates, opinions, and perspectives thrown at you from every angle today.  Reason being, the methods of communication have grown in both amount and access.  At this point, the only thing you need to broadcast your perspective to the world is wifi and a mobile device.

With this enhanced ability comes louder noise as well as quieting of nuance.  As a result, the proportion of polarity is at an all-time high.

This can be intimidating if an individual wants to take part in in the social dialogue.  This comes from a mental bias of breaking things down into two outcomes. Either I’ll meet aggressive opposition or feel comforting support if I give my perspective.  Often times people choose not to take any action for worry of being held responsible for the outcome.

The gap between each also reveals this mindset permeating many areas of our culture.  It’s is one of scarcity, which is a fancy way of saying fear.

The two words that tell you someone is using scarcity, coming from a place of fear, are – Either/Or.

Let’s reel in from the larger social picture and see where it shows up in the workplace. This will support our understanding of the seven ways to shift an either/or mindset. Doing so will pay off for you in and out of the office.

Start by thinking about examples of questions or explanations you hear at work.  They could relate to projects, hiring, firing, expanding, or anything else job-related.

Here are a couple of examples to get the wheels turning;

1. Either we focus on the results or we focus on the process.

2. Either we put our customers first or our employees first?

3. Do we hire for cultural fit or technical ability?

4. Do we invest in marketing or give raises?

5. Either I let go of this employee or I transfer them to another department.

This mindset creates limiting beliefs. These beliefs blur the ability to see possibilities.  This leaves the question, how do we change this mindset?

Here are seven ways to shift an either/or mindset to go from scarcity to abundance;

1st – Pay attention to your self-talk.

The words narrating your thoughts are powerful, make sure they are possibility oriented.  Be accountable and correct them.

2nd – Pay attention to the words you speak.

Much like your self-talk, make corrections when needed.

3rd – Pay attention to the words you use when writing.

Read it out loud to hear the connotation, revise if needed before sending.

4th – Pay attention to the words used by people in daily conversations.

Avoid scarcity based conversations whenever possible.

5th – Pay attention to the words used by traditional media and social media news you consume.

Notice if you feel tired or inspired after watching/listening.

6th – Pay attention to the words used in music and movies you watch and listen too.

Movies tell enrolling stories, notice how the hero speaks. Music has a way of leaving a lasting mark on our brains (thus songs stuck in our heads haha).

7th – Pay attention to your results.

This is a tough one because there are many factors involved in your results.  That said, tough does not mean excusable. If you are not yet where you want to be in some area of life, take a look and see how scarcity is beating out possibility.

At first this may seem like work, and at first, it is.  Once you sort out the sources supporting you and those limiting you it will become much easier.

This gives you control over the volume of the noise while identifying the nuances, in the cultural dialogue.  Additionally, you will have competency and command over your results.

#heyAnne #abundance #shift #mindset #powerofwords #payattention

Focus is the fire on the days you blaze through your to-do list and crush the day.

Distraction is the bucket of water that dampens your flames of production.

Use these two ways to develop focus and ignite your production.

1 – Track how many times you get distracted during the day. Take it a step further noting who caused the distraction, the reason and time of day.

2 – Track how long it takes you to get back in your groove.

You may be surprised that this takes longer than you think. Some research says up to 20 minutes!

When you are able to identify patterns in lost productivity two things happen:

First, you can plan your important tasks for the times you are least likely to be distracted each day.

Second, you will be relentless when it comes to protecting your focus.

Because if you don’t protect and value your focus, no one else will and you will lose ground on your goals.