Posted on Tuesday, May 17, 2016

Building Habit That Matters

5 essential components to hacking new habits

I am thrilled to bring you Michael Bungay Stanier’s guest article. He is the author of The Coaching Habit, a book that has added great value to my coaching practice. Michael is also the Senior Partner of Box of Crayons, a company that helps organizations do less Good Work and more Great Work.

Did you know that you may not be in charge of your waking up this morning? Your behavior is driven more by habit than your conscious mind!

It is less surprising when you realize that a Duke University study says that at least 45 percent of your waking is habitual.

There’s always been a lot of information out there on how to change the way you behave. Or more accurately, there’s a dense misinformation that grows particularly lush at the turn of each year, when resolutions are in the air.

Fortunately, there has been an increase in grounded findings, based on neuroscience and behavioral economics. These have helped establish a better, clear path over the last few years.

To build an effective new habit, you need five essential components: a reason, a trigger, a micro-habit, effective practice and a plan.

Posted on Tuesday, May 3, 2016

Mentoring – The Good, Bad & Ugly

A reminder why mentoring should be more purposeful

Scary, refreshing, challenging and liberating. These are just a few terms that can be attributed to mentoring. It is not for the faint of heart.

I thought crossing a road in Nairobi was dangerous. Most drivers consider traffic lights to be a suggestion. That was until I encountered the Romans! After a long day at a workshop, I was ready to hit the streets and discover Rome. At a pedestrian crossing, I started to cross the road when the pedestrian light went green.

However, my sixth sense screamed at me to stop. I heeded. A split second later, I heard a whining rumble. Vroom! A mean-looking Ducati motorbike whooshed past me. This was a different part of Europe! A week later, I felt like a bad case of whiplash had afflicted me. My neck hurt from the rapid side-to-side confirmation that every crossing was clear.

Posted on Wednesday, April 27, 2016

How To Spot A Counterfeit Leader

The 3 signs you must look out for

Counterfeit goods are a flashy illusion of the real thing. They are cheap and affordable but hold no future. All they promise is a shadow of the reality. They hold no vision.

Where your treasure is, there your heart is also!

If you are like me, you may have found yourself in a dilemma. I am in a store running down my shopping list. Everything is going well until I turn into this isle. “Save 50%!” the banner screams at me.

It is on a DIY tool that I have always wanted to own. I pick the box, go through the specifications and they seem just right. Into my shopping trolley it goes. Not only have I saved 50% of its original cost, this model costs 25% of its high-end version. I am in business! Or so I think…

Posted on Tuesday, April 12, 2016

3 Reasons Why Leaders Never Stand Alone

Leadership lessons from a farmer

There was a farmer who grew excellent quality corn. Every year he won the award for the best grown corn. He was a leader in his own right.

3 Reasons Why Leaders Can’t Stand Aloneh?

One year a newspaper reporter interviewed him and learned something interesting about how he grew it. What the reporter discovered was that the farmer shared his seed corn with his neighbors.

“How can you afford to share your best seed corn with your neighbors when they are entering corn in competition with yours each year?” the reporter asked.

Posted on Monday, April 4, 2016

Design Mind-shift

Take Charge of Your Designs Using Canva

Canva is an online tool I use to make designs for my blog posts, social media, etc. It saves me tons of design time.

During Jeff Goins‘ Blog Like a Pro 7-Day Challenge, a number of people showed interest in getting more out of Canva.

If you are looking to get better results for your design projects, then this is a handy tutorial. It is a simple ste-by-step and you don’t even have to be a designer to use it.

And here are some additional resources for you stock image needs:

Posted on Tuesday, March 15, 2016

Unsettled – My Manifesto

Get busy living or get busy dying

Frustrated and unmotivated, I knew there was something greater my life had to offer.

But I felt stuck, like trying to walk in a sea of thick mud. My life was like a square peg being hammered into round hole. I wanted to thrive but this animal-in-a-cage mentality held in a vice-grip. I ran fast, but to nowhere.

These three thoughts plagued my mind in the dead of the night. Waking up in a cold sweat, they resounded above the chirping crickets and barking dogs:

I need a break!
I desire joy.
I can’t merely exist.

Shackled between my ears

I had heard this many times, “When life gives you a lemon, make lemonade!” Well, I got fed up with the lemonade business. I felt an urgency to see a break in the ominous grey clouds that hang over my head.

Posted on Thursday, March 3, 2016

The Art Of Significance

4 areas to win at life and thrive at work

“We have always done it that way!” Does this statement sound familiar? These are the most expensive words you will face in pursuit of significance.

They are an opportunity cost to anything you try to achieve. These seven words are intimately entwined with others like frustration, failure, mediocrity, and survival. In a nutshell, this is an environment that is devoid of hope.

Finding significance, however, seeks better engagement, new horizons and a learner’s mindset.

“Live full, die empty.” Les Brown

To be significant is to serve your life forward. Here are critical areas to help you win at life and thrive at work.

Posted on Tuesday, February 9, 2016

“I Face My Guilt!” – Economic Hit Man

Owning up takes more than courage

I am privileged to bring guest post by John Perkins. He was Chief Economist at a major international consulting firm where he advised the World Bank, United Nations, the IMF, U.S. Treasury Department, Fortune 500 corporations, and governments in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East. Since then, his books have sold more than 1 million copies and been printed in over 30 languages. His new book, The New Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, is on Amazon.

It has been nearly twelve years since the release of Confessions of an Economic Hit Man.

The New Confessions of an Economic Hit Man

People have wondered how the publication of that book has affected me and what I am doing to redeem myself and change the EHM system. They have also questioned what they can do to help turn the system around. The New Confessions of an Economic Hit Man is my answer.

After the release of Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, I still wrestled with my guilt, with all the things I had done that had helped promote the corporatocracy and their march toward world domination.

I knew of U.S. led conspiracies – in Venezuela, in Iraq, and all throughout the Middle East and Africa. When I was forced to consider my mortality and reflect upon my life, I began to accept what I had done and why I had done it. I hope you enjoy this short glimpse into chapter 34 of the book and the events that became my confessions.

Posted on Monday, January 18, 2016

Why I Love Risk (And You Should Too!)

Are you willing to jump?

When Steve Harvey starts to speak, laughter is around the corner. However, this versatile TV host has spent a few weeks as a laughing-stock.

His sin? Steve had announced the wrong winner of the 2015 Miss Universe. But that is not the gist of today’s post. This event reminded me of Steve’s video from 2014: “You gotta jump to be successful”.

As Steve says, your gift is like a parachute. But parachutes don’t work unless you jump. How far you soar depends on your willingness to risk that first jump.

His message provided for deep reflection for me. I thought and agonized about the year ahead. “What do I need to do different?” I asked myself. It isn’t just about setting goals. I need to make sure I get them done too. Otherwise, I’m toast!

Posted on Monday, January 11, 2016

Groupthink & Its 7 Dwarfs

Does ganging up break you more than build you?

Groupthink comes at a cost. What’s right is sacrificed at the altar of conformity. Groupthink is a limits growth, innovation or alternative opportunities.

According to businessdictionary.com, groupthink is the tendency of the members of a group to yield to the desire for consensus or unanimity at the cost of considering alternative courses of action. Groupthink is said to be the reason why intelligent and knowledgeable people make disastrous decisions.

Some twenty men found themselves in a fix. There was political unrest in their country. People were tired of a one-party rule and were yearning for democracy. As is the case during such transitions, street demonstrations easily shifted into confrontations with the riot police.