As a public speaking coach, I’ve spent decades helping people plan for what to do if something unexpected happens to them in the middle of a presentation. I had to take my own advice. I had COVID, and I ran out of air during a webinar I was leading. The more I spoke, the more
Over the weekend, I was speaking to the CEO of a small company who, like me, has friends and colleagues in Israel who are impacted by the war. I asked her if she was planning to talk about the events in Israel with her leadership team and staff. "I don't think so," she said. "Because
"Today's going to be a great day!" You brush your teeth, start the coffee maker or tea kettle, and check your emails. Then you shower, get dressed, have breakfast, and get yourself to work -- all before 9 a.m. If you're having that great day, all of this can feel like, well, nothing. It's a habit
We all need help. Maybe you need some support from your coworker in managing a demanding client so that you don't blow your cool--or the account. Perhaps you want your manager to help you reprioritize your tasks so that you can focus on what's most important this quarter. Or you just need your partner to drive
I take a Mental Health Day (almost) every Friday. It means that my four-day workweek schedule is pretty packed. It means that I run my errands on the weekend. It means that I say "no" a lot. And it also means that I often have to remind my boss that I need this, I want
As Coretta Scott King said, “Struggle is a never-ending process.” And yet, we don’t like to see others struggle, especially when we care about them. It’s particularly hard to see someone struggle when we believe that we can make things easier for them – and when we have the resources (knowledge, skills, time, money, connections,
It was 2013, and I was leading a workshop for a client in Baltimore when I got a call from a TV network asking if I could be interviewed on their show the next morning about how to deal with setbacks at work. I had always dreamed about being on television as a thought leader.
When I started my first job, I worried about disclosing my struggle with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) to my boss. I was almost certain that she wouldn’t understand. Once she knew, I told myself, she’d assume I was unreliable and uncommitted. I imagined she’d deem me unworthy of a promotion, or worse, be entirely dismissive. For
From bread baking and exercising to meditation and Netflix, most of us found one or more ways to engage in acts of self-care during the first round of the global pandemic. These activities helped us to manage our anxiety, alleviate stress, and invest in our well-being, and they served as a much-needed distraction from the disturbing news
My favorite book growing up was Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst. It told the highly relatable and true story of the author's young son Alexander, who was having one of the worst days of his young life, suffering frustrations, setbacks, and indignities large and small. As adults, we
Even if you’ve been lucky enough to survive the last year, you’re probably not operating at your peak performance, emotional highpoint, or (as they say) living your best life. And whether you’ve been holed up at home alone or trying to manage a busy family while working full time, you’ve likely noticed that other people
Several years ago, I was watching a Today Show segment about helping your children and teens create healthy habits. The subject of the piece was a notable nutritionist, whose kids were reluctant to eat their greens and work up a sweat. The most memorable quote came from one of her pre-teens who said, “Walking makes me sad.”
I was recently coaching a leader who asked me, “Is it OK for me to tell someone on my team that they can’t cry at work?” Normally, as a coach, I would respond to her question with a question of my own: “What makes you ask that?” “What about crying feels like it shouldn’t happen
It’s been called a “second pandemic” — the mental health implications of the global health crisis, political unrest, economic uncertainty, rising unemployment, social isolation, remote work, home schooling, and so much more. And while it can feel like the first pandemic has been with us long enough for employees to have accessed the necessary resources
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it
