GoHuman Blog

The past few weeks I’ve been gearing up (myself and those interested in reading my posts) to begin a wellness program I recently enrolled in, through a local chiropractor. I know, who knew a chiropractic office offered wellness programs? I’ve chalked it up to a basic business philosophy that many entrepreneur’s/organizations tend to lose sight of which is that they clearly understand how important it is to the success of their business to continuously find ways to add value to those they serve.

Last week marked my first visit to the office, which was the initial consultation and program review. The Dr. was definitely on a fact-finding mission and asked a multitude of questions ranging from current fitness regimen and eating habits, to why I chose “now” to take action.

Some of you may be wondering what (if any) purpose does it serve others, for me to track such a journey, through weekly blogging. What’s more, how or does it even relate to coaching? The good news is that the two are very much in alignment with one another and “no,” I’m not self absorbedJ.

Coaching is about commitment, accountability, taking action for the results we want and doing whatever is necessary, in order to get those results. Coaching is a structured relationship designed to help the person being coached to move forward, to reach the goals that they have set, and to reach their potential.

Those who remain hesitant, may then be asking “Why would someone who’s built a career for themselves that’s designed to lead others to realizing the untapped potential they have within, seek their own assistance of an outside source to get more fit, become healthier by adapting new eating habits, to live a longer and healthier life?” My response is simple and nonetheless, truthful. I understand and know the value of having a support system who’s in my corner, rooting for me every step of the way. I know the value of having someone to help hold me accountable and offer a different perspective when it’s difficult to see the forest through the trees. I know the value of having someone on your side who isn’t there to criticize, but rather offer their encouragement to continue moving forward, after not having reached a weekly goal. I also know (all too well) that in order to change the things that aren’t working or are missing from my daily diet/fitness routine, means that “I” must make the commitment and “I” must take the action required, to affect the change “I” want.

When multiple award winning actress (and dubbed as America’s Sweetheart) Sandra Bullock landed the lead role in The Blind Side, in order to really get into her character as the headstrong football mom Leigh Ann Tuohy, one of the first moves Bullock made was to hire dialect coach, Francie Brown. Bullock hired Brown to help her refine her southern-style accent and incidentally, she won best actress for her role in the movie.

How about one of the best golfers of all time Tiger Woods who, regardless of the personal challenges he’s endured these past few years, also works with a coach. The coach may change from time to time but nonetheless, he always has one. Why does someone with his talent, his skills and his record have a coach? Because he takes constructive feedback from another golfer who he could undoubtedly beat with some regularity, if he were to compete against him. Just imagine what it’s like to not only be the very best in the world at what you do, but to be humble enough to admit than you can always get better and don’t know it all.

My commitment to all of you is to post weekly progress updates, as my journey continues.

One of the driving ideas behind GoHuman has always been, well, going human. Creating a online marketplace where blind leaps of faith aren’t required, because faceless transactions have been replaced by opportunities to do business face-to-face with individuals of integrity in your own community.

I’ve recently had the pleasure of producing a film, The Gran’ Scam of Things, that examines these same ideas.

It’s a colorful comedy whose main character, Gladys Weiss, is a vibrant elderly woman whose first experience with e-mail (and her Spam folder) leads her straight into the welcoming arms of an international crime ring.

It is a lighthearted comedy, but it also has a poignant message about online scams and elder financial abuse.  The film’s trailer can be viewed here.

There’s an important scene in Gran’ Scam which takes place in a bank, and we were lucky enough to be able to film it on location at a branch of the Los Angeles Financial Credit Union.  We specifically chose to partner with LA Financial because they represent the very best of what credit unions and community banks offer.  Namely, a financial services version of bringing business back to the local level, where new school technology and solutions are embraced but without losing sight of old school ideals.

The Gran’ Scam of Things was completed in late November, but we are currently raising funds to be able to screen the project at film festivals.   A successful festival run will allow the film (and its message) to reach its fullest potential and widest audience.  If you’re interested in supporting the film in this effort, and picking up some pretty great swag in the process, visit us here.

Thanks for reading, and hope to see you at the movies!

Have you ever wondered why some people not only survive but actually prosper after enduring tragedy in their lives, while others allow their life to crumble right before their eyes?

What’s the difference for those who turn tragedy into triumph? Attitude!  It’s a choice. I can choose to be happy, sad, mad or frustrated. It’s my choice and  choices I make impact every moment, every action and every thought I have. Sometimes I need to really work on being happy.  I often take time to reflect upon all the joy and laughter around me, reminding me how precious life is and all I have to be thankful for. Despite the hardships in coping with a lifelong disability or the unexpected, tragic loss of losing a loved one, a person can choose to be happy.

Many situations can be and are very difficult, but we have the choice to live a happy life or a life of misery. The circumstances may not change, but the outcome and quality of life is a result of how a person chooses to live.  Attitude is the ultimate determining factor as to whether they take charge of their life, their own energy, their spirit or if they allow life to take full control over them.

So, what does a person decide? To live or not live?  Find an outlet to take your own personal tragedy and the fears that may exist, along with the anxiety of having to cope with such heartache and channel those negative feelings into creating something triumphant.

Turning tragedy into triumph can be achieved in many ways: Keep a journal and document your thoughts daily. This is a great exercise for releasing stress, as it allows you to take the countless thoughts that continuously swirl around your head and put them in a separate, safe place. The next time you feel yourself getting distracted by the same thoughts, remind yourself they’re someplace else and can be dealt with, if/when you choose.

Another way is to create a blog and write about related stories or topics that are familiar with your own story and discuss the various stages of feelings you dealt with and how you overcame them.

My personal favorite is serving others. What good can you do for someone else who has experienced their own tragedy or perhaps lived a life of one misfortune after another that will in some way give them comfort or a fresh and new perspective on matters?

It’s all a choice. Your choice. And you can choose to live a happy life by helping others along the way.

I married a Milwaukee girl and, expecting our first child, moved to Madison, WI in 2008.  The move had nothing to do with Cheeseheads, except for two of them – Grandma and Grandpa.  While I can enjoy football if it’s on, I never sought it out and know nothing about it.

Which explains why I didn’t know that the Packers are the only NFL team not owned by big money.  But last week an article titled “Support Green Bay, annoy the rich” caught my attention.  It explains that the Packers are “still, effectively, owned by the town of Green Bay, population 102,000.”  And more importantly, “The Pack has 112,000 stockholders. No kidding. None is allowed to own more than 200,000 shares — a tiny stake. That’s how they got to keep a major franchise in a town of just 102,000 people.”

It floored me that, according to the article “the NFL won’t even allow it anymore. No team is allowed to have ownership rules like this. These days, each team is required to have to have a small number of rich owners.”

Then and there my heart warmed to the Green Bay Packers, and the fans keeping their dreams alive.  Football may not be the place I would have chosen to stake out the issue of ownership vs. disenfranchisement.  But one of the reasons I co-founded GoHuman is exactly this point.  That ownership and control needs to be managed in a democratic, sustainable manner.

There’s something just wrong in millions of Americans supporting ideals they disagree with, because the rich and powerful keep their agendas hidden, and are adept at managing information, communication, perceptions, moods, attitudes, and ultimately, votes.

So the Green Bay Packers have one more loyal fan this year.  Go Pack!

Whichever path you choose in life, there will always be someone to throw cold water on your plans. If you want to keep playing  the game “to win,” ignore the naysayers and do it anyway. Don’t let them stop you from pursuing your passion and transitioning it from a project into reality!

Naysayers aren’t necessarily mean-spirited people; they come with the territory. When we dare to attempt something different, there’s always a group of people standing by to tell us how ridiculous the idea is. However, these people actually add great value to our lives. They test our level of commitment. The more tentative you feel, the more negative they sound. If they’re successful in discouraging you, be grateful. This allows you to reevaluate your intention or let completely go of what’s holding you back. If you’re determined and committed enough to succeed in spite of all the cynicism, then you will.

Criticism and rejection are unavoidable when playing “to win.” All the more reason to never take the harsh words spoken by others, personally. Don’t personalize the criticism. Don’t allow the remarks made by other people to become personal, giving you an excuse to find fault within yourself. Repel the negative comments by calling upon the guidance of those who WILL support you; a counselor, a coach or a friend; someone who will help you discover a new and fresh perspective. Adlai Stevenson quoted, “Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional.” Any business is tough and the higher you climb, the higher and bigger the stakes get. It becomes increasingly difficult to continue putting yourself out there, but do it anyway.

A great solution for many has been to focus on a higher purpose rather than immediate gratification. Remind yourself why your passion is so strong. Passion and purpose are great motivators. Experiencing such a mind-shift can make all the difference. The game is only a game, And games are fun if we allow them to be. And when they’re not, the work becomes demoralizing and often destructive, in which case, it may be time to walk away.

We often remind ourselves how wonderful it would be to be young again. Children love and enjoy the planet they live and play on. They reinvent themselves every day. Their spirit is everywhere – flowing through the air.  Crack a window open and hear their shouts of joy, laughter and (on occasion) frustration, next door, down the road, at the school playground. “Hey! You’re not the boss of me!” Or, “You can’t catch me!”

In a place of business full of adults, the shouts of joy are nonexistent. Where did they go? What happened? We grow up and decide we’re no longer creative, imaginative or extraordinary and so we quit. The spirit has gone into complete hiding, waiting only for a dramatic outside event to fire it back up. However, for many of us, quitting becomes too painful to live with. We don’t have to wait for such a crisis, we just need to find a way to wake up and live again, create again, dance again and love again.

Life is an eternal internal flame. We can reignite it and make it burn brighter than ever, if the will and commitment to do so is present. It all comes down to how we perceive ourselves and others. We can reignite that flame by finding the words to think, the words to say, and even the words to sing, if we want. Suddenly our life improves dramatically. Every moment is a new beginning and a fresh moment.

“At times our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another person. Each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude of those who have lighted the flame within us.”  ~Albert Schweitzer

*Speaking of “reigniting flames,” stay tuned for more information to be posted here on my blog, about an elite women’s success group a colleague and I are starting called, “Ignite-Creating the Fire for Women in Business.” A launch date of April 1, 2011, is tentatively scheduled to kick-off our program…More information to follow.

Clarity accounts for nearly 80% of success and happiness. Lack of clarity leads to frustration and underachievement. Those with clear, written goals, accomplish far more in a shorter period of time than those without them. Everywhere and under all circumstances!

In fact, the three keys to high achievement are, “Clarity, Clarity, Clarity.”  Success in life is largely dependent upon how clear you are about what you really want.

The more you write and rewrite your goals and think about them, the clearer you will become about them.  And the more likely you are to do more things that are consistent with accomplishing them.

Experiencing an “A-ha” or a “light bulb” moment, is like discovering an important piece to a difficult puzzle.  It’s rejuvenating, motivating while adding new challenges and opportunities for learning and growth.

In order for a fresh idea to become fully developed, it requires more flashes of light and self reflection. The idea must be evaluated to determine if it’s worth pursuit and further cultivation. Things will have been overlooked, and you’ll find ways to make the idea better, or why a certain idea isn’t ready to fully pursue.

The quickest way to gain clarity is to simply take action! When we take action, we get immediate and direct feedback. We gain insight and great knowledge as we continue to work through a situation. Things happen rapidly these days and therefore, there’s not much time to contemplate starting a project.  It’s always better to take action and learn along the way, than to spend time over-engineering without ever seeing any results.  Taking action, provides many answers to questions we were previously uncertain about. This doesn’t mean jumping totally into the project, but it does mean knowing that no plan is totally set in stone.  A road map is essential, but don’t let the absence of having one prevent you from moving forward.

When working towards meeting personal needs, or maintaining relationships, it’s important to consider how big decisions impact other people in our life. Most often, a change in one area of life, will ultimately affect other areas and therefore, we need to consider any potential negative consequences. When it comes to getting clear about relationships, ask yourself, “How much does the relationship mean to me?” “How much does my personal goal mean to me?” Remembering that relationships are a major key to happiness, so be certain to gain clarity in how this area of your life will be impacted.

Companies who deliberately create a culture to work with systems and allow themselves to see the underlying system beneath everything create a wonderful mind-shift.

Every system is perfect for what it produces. Once your mind shifts to see the perfection of every system, you’re in a clear enough state to produce new systems that provide different results.

Even in situations when customers are upset, it can be said that a perfect system was used to anger the customer. It certainly doesn’t mean you have to like or tolerate the system that produced this particular result, in fact, applying this type of system thinking to anything you don’t like allows you to immediately correct it: “We have a perfect system for producing poor quality product, low margins, low productivity, high employee turnover,” and so on.

Declaring the existence of a system, allows you to avoid the habit of blaming other people for things that go wrong. Nothing can ever be improved or corrected that way. You’ll always get what you’ve designed a system to get and therefore, the solution to any ongoing problem is to design a new system. This is referred to as “systems thinking,” which is a higher order of thinking than we normally use. Once the mind shifts to systems, everything begins to change for the better.

Many companies have ongoing problems with politics, ego and insecurity issues of certain managers. Such companies assume they’re always going to have these issues and chalk it up to the price of working with people!  Not true. One company, Microchip, proclaims that politics, ego and arrogance are “NOT ALLOWED.”  How so? Because they deliberately created the culture they wanted. When it’s crystal clear that something isn’t allowed, people just don’t do it.

The thought of achieving any big goal can often be overwhelming and seem so far out of reach that we decide it’s not worth pursuing. So how do you get past that daunting, dreading feeling and transform a dream into a project? By taking action. Any action. You accomplish it one step, one task, one measure at a time.

Ask your superior or yourself, “what’s the one thing I do that is more valuable than anything else?” Whatever the answer, look for continuous ways to perform more and more of that task and learn to do it a little better each day. It’s amazing how much and what you can accomplish by breaking your tasks down into bite-sized pieces, setting deadlines, and then taking action, every single day.

Get into a routine where you’re regularly improving your skills through personal & professional development. Designate a specific amount of time each day to reading about your field. Listen to audio programs on your way to and from work. Take additional courses whenever you can. These activities alone will jump-start your entire career and get you on the fast track in no time. When you invest an extra hour or two per day in personal/professional-improvement, the cumulative effect on your ability to get the results you want is extraordinary.

If you can measure it, you can manage it. In every area of your life, carefully analyze your activities and choose a specific number that will determine your level of success in that area. Focus all your attention on that number because just as a plant depends upon water to prosper, the same is true for people, what you focus on is what grows. The very act of being and remaining focused will allow you to perform better in that area, consciously and unconsciously.

The Webster’s Dictionary definition of failure is: omission of occurrence or performance; specifically: a failing to perform a duty or expected action.

One of my favorite quotes is by a gentleman who, in my opinion, is the epitome of what “failure” cannot be defined as. Words recited by an individual who, with absolute certainty, knew his own potential and recognized an opportunity not worth giving up on.

“Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.” – Thomas A. Edison

It took Thomas Edison 10,000 attempts before successfully creating the light bulb. When asked how it felt to fail 10,000 times, he responded by saying he didn’t fail at anything, but rather learned 10,000 ways of what didn’t work before discovering what did work.

Whether with personal life struggles or professional challenges encountered at the office, there are times when we allow ourselves to see no other way out of a bad situation other than to “give up” and walk away because we’ve failed. We have failed at doing something with a specific outcome intended and in turn, produced all other results other than what was expected, anticipated or desired.

What most people don’t understand is they haven’t failed because something didn’t turn out the way they anticipated or due to certain decisions made in a situation they believed to be right, didn’t produce the results they wanted. People only fail when they decide not to do anything about the situation. They throw their hands in the air and give up. They turn their backs and chalk it up as a loss. Better yet, they’ll play the victim role and walk around with their heads down telling everyone how “circumstances beyond their control,” were to blame. It was the poor economy. It was his fault. It was her fault. It was their fault. It was always someone else’s fault, other than theirs.

Paradoxically, when we take full ownership of who we are being, the choices we make and how we react in a difficult situation, we can do anything, because when we own the problem, we own the solution.

“A common cause of business failure: seeing that a strategy isn’t producing the anticipated results- and responding by going unconscious. A common cause of failure in your personal life; the same policy.” –Nathaniel Branden