Last night I was able to cross an item off my life list, I got to see the Blue Man Group. My friend Robert decided it would be a great way to celebrate his birthday. I loved the idea and had a great time.

The Blue Man Group wasn’t what I expected but it was a fun show. There is a lot of audience interaction and the Blue Man are quite talented. I am glad I was able to see it finally.

 The show also has some social awareness element about our world. They talked about how we go to Internet coffee shops to sit inches from tons of people we never talk to while we communicate on laptops or phones to people who are not even there.

I thought it was a great issue to present in the show and really allow people to self reflect on their daily lives. I know it made me think.

Not only is it a Happy Birthday for Robert but it was a great time at Blue Man Group and another life list item crossed off!!

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I love this song. I think this song says a lot about relationships. It says a lot of what I need sometimes as I am sure we all do.

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Sunday I woke up in the early morning to head out to Disney to cheer on my friend Nick running the Disney Marathon for the second time. I know, you think after the first time he would have stopped and so did he.

Nick didn’t train as much as he did last time and he wasn’t really looking forward to running again. His plan had been to increase his time but that wasn’t going to happen because of his lack of training.

Last year he got very sick after the marathon due to the high humidity and dehydration. He wasn’t looking forward to being sick again and this was all weighing on him during his stay. Besides the fact the weather was showing thunderstorms all through the race.

But, Nick need something that changed everything. Instead of dwelling on all the bad stuff or trying to beat his time from last year, he committed to just finishing. He was doing it for fun and just was planning on finishing even if he had to take all day to do it.

Well, he did finish and he beat his time from last year. Could it have been his new perspective? Could it have been the cute sign I was waving when I cheered him on? Could it be his drive to beat Katie Holmes time? Who knows, but he finished and he got the medal.

Now the question is will I try the half marathon next year…

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Death is not the biggest fear we have; our biggest fear is taking the risk to be alive — the risk to be alive and express what we really are.

~ Don Miguel Ruiz

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Since I will spending my weekend at the Magic Kingdom cheering my friend Nick through his SECOND Disney World marathon, I wanted to stick a little with the Disney theme.

There are a lot of activities I like to do with my clients to make the coaching process fun and very productive. This is an activity my coach had me start and I was surprised by the results so I want to pass it on to you!

Wish Jar -

What you do is create a wish jar using an old glass jar, box or even a coin bank. You want this item to have a slot on the top of it (Either there already or you cut yourself) and a way to empty it when it is completely full.

 Make sure to take the time and make your wish jar yours. Decorate however you want. You will also need small sheets of paper maybe 2 inches by 2 inches. I use colorful paper just because I like it.

Once you have your wish jar, looks like you want and the paper is cut and ready, you use the wish jar to store your wishes. Every-time you need to wish, you write it down on a piece of paper, read it out loud and then place it in the wish jar.

As time goes on, you will notice more and more your wishes come true! Sometimes they happen in an unexpected way. Sometimes you learn you really didn’t want it. Sometimes you learn that you are able to make your wishes come true yourself. The best part is that the wishes have a way of coming true.  You take them from your head and commit to really wanting them to come true.

There are so many reasons why if you commit to this activity it works but I like you to just believe in it and yourself. Believe that wishes do come true and they will.

Have fun!

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I was talking to one of my friends who was excited about a date he was going on. It was a wonderful planned event and the guy seems great! We were talking about it and he said he was not hoping for anything so he was playing it by ear. I said that he is hot so he need not worry. He responded by saying, I am not hot. I am old, bald, gained weight, …

My friend was quick to fight my nice comment by what he saw as the truth or his insecure self saw as the truth. I know he truly believes what he said about himself but what he doesn’t know is so will the guy he goes on a date with.

No matter what my friend says to the date, deep down he believes those bad things about himself and they will show through. The date may not understand why but he will know how my friend feels about himself. It will just show in my friend’s actions, beliefs, and comments.

If my friend were to say to his date I am not hot, I am old, bald, gained weight, etc. The guy would run away. But when my friend says all the great things about himself, the date will only hear those bad words because that is what my friend truly believes about himself.

My friend is judging himself because then he won’t be disappointed or hurt if it doesn’t work out. My friend doesn’t want to see that age is only a number and maturity is so much better and that he has. He doesn’t want to see that losing your hair is a part of life and people really do not care if you do not care. He doesn’t want to see that he has gained weight which has only made him look healthy instead of the too thin he was before. He doesn’t want to see that he has beautiful blue eyes, a caring and loving heart of gold, a dazzling smile and a wicked sense of humor. It is easier for him to believe in the bad things than the good.

So I talked to my friend for awhile about his coming date and how he felt. Finally I asked him to tell me one great thing about himself. He responded, ” I have a big dick.” I said, “Well that is a start…”

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When I talk to people about leadership, I always tell them how important it is to recognize that leadership is all about relationships. Life is all about relationships.

As a leader or just a person, we want to make sure we are real. Being the real us allows life to be so much easier. We will then be surrounded by people who love us for us and we will do the same for them.

The important part of building relationships is getting to know people. I have friends who when I tell a story and mention a name they say, “I know Bob.” The reality is they met Bob once and all they KNOW about Bob is his name is Bob. That is not knowing someone. Just because you have their business card from a networking meeting doesn’t mean you know them. Just because you talked to them once at a party and haven’t seen or talked to them in months, doesn’t mean you know them.

My favorite story is one about a bad boss I had. He would come to my office for work and because he knew how important I felt relationship building was he would try to build one with me. Each time he would look at the picture on my desk and say, “Is that your cat?” I would say yes. He would then ask, “What is her name?” I would say Piper.

Every month when he would come visit he would sit down and start with, “Is that your cat?” This went on for at least 6 times before one day when he asked, “Is that your cat?” I responded and said, “No, it came with the frame.”

It was rude that he pretended to care when he didn’t. Some would say it is an effort he made, but if he was truly trying he would have at least remembered he has asked me about the picture before. My office was fulls of personal items so he could ask me about anyone of them but he always went for the closest item.

I want you to realize it is OK not to remember everything a person says. But be honest about it. I tell people all the time that I never forget a face but I am bad with names. I am honest with them. When I do not remember someone, I say I am sorry.

But, when I take the time to truly build a relationship with you, I listen. I pay attention and I care. I may not remember your cat’s name from the picture BUT I will remember that is important to you because you keep it on your desk and I will make the effort to learn what else is important to you as well.

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This Thursday at 6:30pm at the Center, I will be doing another free group coaching class.

This month we are going to look at our MBTI type to see how it affects our lives and relationships with others. This is a great opportunity to start seeing your strengths and blind-spots and how to move forward to achieve more knowing this information.

The activity is a lot of fun and one of my favorites! I look forward to seeing you there!

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Last week I attended a colleague’s going away party. She had accepted another job and was moving on to a new adventure. During the dinner she mentioned how people in the office were upset that she had left early that day and they didn’t get to say goodbye.

She had given a month notice so there was plenty of time to say goodbye. She always wasn’t very close to the people who were upset about not saying goodbye. They were not friends, did not really spend anytime together and she wasn’t planning on keeping in touch with any of them.

Sometimes we regret what we are losing instead of appreciating what we have. There are many people you work with on a regular basis but you do not take the time to build a relationships with them. For some reason, you just do not find the need to be more than you are now. When the person decides to leave, you can feel regret for not taking the time to get to know them and maybe even guilt for not building a relationship with this person which could have brought you a lot in life.

So should you make friends with everyone? I am not saying that. I saying appreciate the people you have in your life and make those relationships strong. Those are the people in your inner circle who you want to keep around. The other people in your life shouldn’t be ignored or dismissed but treat them in a way so you will not have any regrets later when the relationship ends.

I think we learn this lesson most when someone close to us dies. It reminds us that our time is limited and we need to make the most of it today. There is no guarantee of a tomorrow, we only have today.

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Yes you heard it right, weekly podcasts are coming! They will be available on this site or you can download and subscribe to them on iTunes. Then you can take them with you on your iPod or iPhone.

 I am very excited about this new project and I hope all of you will enjoy them!

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