The Positive Professional

In our society, the default answer to nearly every question is “Yes.” Advertising is all geared towards getting us to say “Yes - I need that.” We phrase our inquiries looking for yes: “Would you like more coffee?” “Would you be interested in joining me for dinner?” “Would you help me move next week?” “Would you mind if I asked you a personal question?” “Do you love me?” With such a powerful default answer ingrained in us it can be very difficult to say anything else - often leaving us feeling trapped, guilty, or frustrated as a result.

With such an expected and requested default answer “No” becomes one of the most powerful words we can use - if we can manage it! With all the pressure though, overcoming this momentum for “Yes” can be incredibly difficult sometimes.

While it is still very important to make sure we are clear about what we want to say yes to it is equally important, if not more so, to be clear about when to say no. Specifically, the issue here is to be clear about what is important to us. Yes and no are equally viable and relevant answers in the appropriate circumstances - but may yield dramatically different results. This episode explores the most important step in figuring out which answer is right is to start off by understanding what is important to us.

Welcome to Season 4!!

At this time of year, you may be considering whether you're going to make a New
Year's resolution. Maybe you've made them in the past and lost interest over time. Or perhaps you buckled down and followed through. Either way, you're now facing the beginning of another new year. Even if you're less-than-thrilled with your follow-through in prior years, the new year brings amazing opportunities to challenge yourself in all kinds of ways. This episode provides  ideas to help you set up your resolutions so you'll be successful during the coming year

Last Episode of Season 3

Season 4 will start Jan 15th, 2023

Have you been having trouble achieving a specific goal? Are you allowing other less important things to get in the way of accomplishing what you really want? Then, it’s time to do a VISION check. Just as it is important to get our eyes checked regularly to assure that we will be able to see clearly, it is equally as important to do a VISION check to be certain that our goal is on track. This episode provides helpful tips on how to do so. 

From time to time, each of us will find ourselves in a rut of boredom and disinterest. We seem to lose our zest for life and feel tired, irritable, and unmotivated. We want to hide under the covers rather than face the day. Perhaps you're feeling overwhelmed by work, or sad about the pain and suffering in the world, or just bored with the routine of your daily life.

You are not alone. We all go through periods like this at some point. The good news is that we can do something about it. This episode provides some tips to help break out of the rut and feel excited about life again.

Would you like to live abundantly full of happiness and contentment? How about a life with excellent physical and mental health? Greatly increase your chances of that happening by showing and sharing gratitude. That’s right, something as simple as practicing thankfulness and expressing how grateful you are for the people and things you have in your life has a powerful impact. This episode provides some simple things you can do starting today to show your gratitude.

One of the most destructive effects of procrastination is the fact that it makes you feel out of control. Procrastination is like an ‘invisible force’ that keeps you from doing the very things you know you must do. With the increasing demands on our time and attention, there seems to be an increase in procrastination as a chronic problem, especially among those people that want to succeed the most. Procrastination usually sets in when you feel overwhelmed by all the ‘have to's in life and instead of making steady progress, you take on too much without ever getting any of it done.

Feeling out of control takes away all your power to shape and direct your own life. It’s true that there are many things over which you have no control, but you always have full control over what really happens to you – and what really happens to you is a mental process independent of the circumstances and events of the outside world. Being empowered means that you realize that you already have the power and this realization also gives you the ability to take action. This episode provides five empowering procrastination tips that can help you to reach this realization and become empowered to effectively deal with procrastination and inaction.

Are you one of those people who can’t seem to stop “doing?”

 I have yet to meet anyone who hasn’t felt overwhelmed from time to time.  We often deny we are overwhelmed because we do not know how to stop the frenetic behavior that leads to this feeling. So we do nothing. Our employers, colleagues, or friends often do not help support us to stop overworking. This episode provides strategies immediately diminish feelings of being overwhelmed so you can refocus and make some work/life balance decisions.