Ever Better Today

Where did this come from?

Who created this?

Could I make something like this?

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Welcome to Ever Better Today: the daily podcast for creating your optimal business, career, or overall life in ten minutes or less. I'm Lisa Conners Vogt, Executive and Leadership Coach and founder of Ever Better Coaching and Consulting. Let's jump in!

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Here are 3 ideas to develop your curiosity and creativity:

1. Dig into whatever you're curious about and explore whether or not you want to create something similar.

When he was growing up, my brother, Peter Conners, realized that someone had to sit down and write the books he was reading. This began his journey as an author and editor.

In my case, I listened to a lot of podcasts starting maybe 10 years ago. At some point, I thought, "Wow, it would be really interesting for me to create my own podcast. Is that possible? How would I actually go about doing that?" After doing the work to learn how podcasting works and creating dozens of episodes, here I am today, still happily podcasting!

1. Ask yourself "What do you take for granted in your life that someone had to create?"

Consider the viewpoint and perspective of creators who have made your life more interesting! Can you add to the conversation or body of work?

1. Consider what's around you right now? What have you been overlooking that you could learn more about?

What do you rely on every day that makes your life easier or that you enjoy being involved with? Take a look at that more deeply and determine if it's something that you want to get more involved with. What can you learn from and contribute to that creator community?

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Episode References:

• Merch Table Blues, by Peter Conners
• BOA Editions, a non-for-profit publisher of poetry and other literary works
• We are Everywhere Podcast with host, Clay Bird, and his guest, Peter Conners.
• Groundedwomen.com. A blog celebrating women farmers with incredible photos by Lise Metzger.

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To learn more about working with Ever Better, send me an email here or book a complimentary call with me here.

Don't argue for your limitations. Work to create possibility.

Have you ever read a quote from a book, and realized that it is was a lesson that you needed at that moment?

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Welcome to Ever Better Today: the daily podcast for creating your optimal business, career, or overall life in ten minutes or less. I'm Lisa Conners Vogt, Executive and Leadership Coach and founder of Ever Better Coaching and Consulting. Let's jump in!

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Consider these quotes and how they apply to you.

1. "Argue for your limitations and sure enough, they're yours"

Don't argue about your limitations. Work to create possibility. Only you limit yourself. We tend to limit what we think we can achieve. But by shifting our mindset, we are able to create the impossible.

1. "You teach best what you most need to learn."

Every day is a new chance to learn. Look for the lesson for yourself in what each client, student, friend, or family member shares with you.

1. "There's no such thing as a problem without a gift for you in its hands. You seek problems because you need their gifts."

Have you ever realized that you created a problem when you could have walked away? Consider each challenge a gift of new possibilities.

1. "You're never given a wish without also being given the power to make it true. You may have to work for it, however."

If you want something, don't expect it to come easily. Continue to work at it, until your reality starts to shift.

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How do these quotes apply to your life right now?

If you haven't yet read a book by Richard Bach, go and check one out of the library or get one on bookshop.org below.

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Books by Richard Bach

Illusions

Jonathan Livingston Seagull

One

Running From Safety

The Bridge Across Forever

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To learn more about working with Ever Better, send me an email here or book a complimentary call with me here.

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Welcome to Ever Better Today: the daily podcast for creating your optimal business, career, or overall life in ten minutes or less. I'm Lisa Conners Vogt, Executive and Leadership Coach and founder of Ever Better Coaching and Consulting. Let's jump in!

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Family

Seek ways to deepen your relationships and create lasting precious moments. How can you add more fun to family time?

Fitness

Start by making small changes. They'll add up to big changes. How can you make fitness fun?

Friends

Create deeper relationships and friendships. You'll live longer! Truly!

Fulfilling Work

Value your work. Find ways to create fulfilling work that you might even describe as fun! Sometimes you'll need to step away and look at it from a different perspective.

Funds (Money)

First, appreciate what you've got. Then, build your wealth if that's important to you. If it's not, enjoy a sense of fulfillment in your current state. Too many people spend their lives chasing after more.

Fun

If you can incorporate fun into each of the elements above, you'll be smiling through your day! How can you create space for fun that doesn't fit into any of the categories above?

References:

Good to Great by Jim Collins

Stack Exchange

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To learn more about working with Ever Better, send me an email here or book a complimentary call with me here.

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Welcome to Ever Better Today: the daily podcast for creating your optimal business, career, or overall life in ten minutes or less. I'm Lisa Conners Vogt, Executive and Leadership Coach and founder of Ever Better Coaching and Consulting. Let's jump in!

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Inspired by Michael Neill's "Creating the Impossible", let's get into this activity

1. Think about what you would like to create in your life that seems impossible.
2. Write it down.
3. Think about the smallest steps you could take towards creating that impossible project.
4. Then do one more step, and things might start to come together for you. At a minimum, you'll be proactively shifting your circumstances

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If you don't take any steps, you'll never create what seems to be impossible. And remember, you have the power to change anything

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Reference:

Creating the Impossible: A 90-day Program to Get Your Dreams out of Your Head and into the World

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To learn more about working with Ever Better, send me an email here or book a complimentary call with me here.

Welcome to Ever Better Today: the daily podcast for creating your optimal business, career, or overall life in ten minutes or less. I'm Lisa Conners Vogt, Executive and Leadership Coach and founder of Ever Better Coaching and Consulting. Let's jump in!

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Why should you ask for help?

1. Asking for help accelerates your progress so that you can achieve your goals faster.
2. Asking for help gives you more information.
3. Asking for help can give you another perspective.
4. Asking for help can result in a much better outcome.
5. Asking for help can you see your options.
6. Asking for help can result in a stronger plan to address the issues at hand.

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Reference:

This worksheet will help you to think through what to ask for help with, and whom to ask on a personal and professional level.

Asking for Help Download

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To learn more about working with Ever Better, send me an email here or book a complimentary call with me here.

Welcome to Ever Better Today: the daily podcast for creating your optimal business, career, or overall life in ten minutes or less. I'm Lisa Conners Vogt, Executive and Leadership Coach and founder of Ever Better Coaching and Consulting. Let's jump in!

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Do this mental exercise:

1. Think about the goal that you want to achieve.

2. Consider the options that you've already come up with to reach your goal. Notice that the options are informed by your previous experiences, the people around you, and social and behavioral norms based on where you live.

3. Now, imagine that you are living in a city with a completely different vibe and energy. How would your actions and mindset shift to match what's happening there

4. Block time on your calendar to put yourself in the mindset of someone in that location. For inspiration, watch a travel show such as Parts Unknown or Rick Steves' Europe. (See links below.)

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Resources:

Some resources to support your solo mental exercise:

Anthony Bourdain "Parts Unknown"

Rick Steves "Rick Steves' Europe"

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To learn more about working with Ever Better, send me an email here or book a complimentary call with me here.

====

Welcome to Ever Better Today: the daily podcast for creating your optimal business, career, or overall life in ten minutes or less. I'm Lisa Conners Vogt, Executive and Leadership Coach and founder of Ever Better Coaching and Consulting. Let's jump in!

====

Inspired by Michael Neill's "Creating the Impossible", let's get into this activity.

1. Think about what you would like to create in your life that seems impossible.

1. Write it down.

1. Think about the smallest steps you could take towards creating that impossible project.

1. Then do one more step, and things might start to come together for you. At a minimum, you'll be proactively shifting your circumstances.

====

If you don't take any steps, you'll never create what seems to be impossible. And remember, you have the power to change anything.

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Reference:

Creating the Impossible: A 90-day Program to Get Your Dreams out of Your Head and into the World

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To learn more about working with Ever Better, send me an email here or book a complimentary call with me here.

====

Welcome to Ever Better Today: the daily podcast for creating your optimal business, career, or overall life in ten minutes or less. I'm Lisa Conners Vogt, Executive and Leadership Coach and founder of Ever Better Coaching and Consulting. Let's jump in!

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Accountability practices are not one-size-fits-all!

As a coach, I don't hold people accountable, I help them to create the system that works for them. This is the highest level of service that I can provide to someone. However, just knowing that a meeting with me is coming up often generates the drive to get stuff done!

To develop accountability for yourself try the following:

1) Develop new habits. Check out the book, Atomic Habits by James Clear for great tips on this.

2) Find an accountability partner and check in with each other on a regular basis to discuss progress on your goals.

3) Create a deadline for yourself. For example, to get projects done around the house, invite people over! This will get you cleaning and organizing. (At least it does for me!)

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To learn more about working with Ever Better, send me an email here or book a complimentary call with me here.

Notes from this episode are below.

When you're in conversation with someone, are you listening or imposing your views? Truly listening serves the other person. Imposing your views without understanding theirs, may be more damaging than beneficial.

Imposing

This is when you were verbalizing your opinionated solutions on specific matters intending to resolve them. It also means you are imposing your views, your worldview, your perspective on someone. It may be helpful at some times but in most cases, it is not because it means most of the time, you do the TALKING.

Serving

This is way different from imposing as it focuses on LISTENING than talking. It does not arrive at a solution immediately because you're figuring out first what's getting in the way, and what is the best way to solve a certain problem.

Wait - Why am I talking?

Serving is a leadership skill to be conscious of in every situation. Using the acronym W.A.I.T will help to keep you on track.

WAIT! Stands for "Why am I talking?

If you have an urge to speak and can't contain it anymore, just ask yourself first "Why am I talking?" Trust me, it's a life-changing practice!

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To learn more about working with Ever Better, send me an email here or book a complimentary call with me here.

Your mastery of your leadership skills and even your life skills get summarized in these four stages.

How Do We Achieve Mastery of Anything We Do?

Unaware

Using equipment at the gym correlates to how we master skills.

If you walk into almost any gym, you'll see some form of a chest press machine.

The first time I went to the gym I was totally unaware of how to use it. Which way do you sit? How do you change the weight? How does this thing work?!

This is also referred to as unconscious incompetence.

Familiar

After watching others use the machine and experimenting with it, became familiar with it but I wasn't proficient yet. This is the conscious incompetence stage.

Capable

As I used the chest press machine on a regular basis, I found my groove. I became capable. I was able to use the chest press with much less mental effort (but more physical effort as I worked my muscles.) This is the conscious competence stage.

Natural

As I practiced and gained confidence, I was able to use the chest press machine naturally. At this point, I achieved unconscious competence.

To learn more about the process of achieving mastery, check out Ever Better Today, Episode 7.

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To learn more about working with Ever Better, send me an email here or book a complimentary call with me here.