What unconscious programs are you running?

When we’re young, we develop certain unconscious “programs” to help us survive. Continuing the example from last week’s email, perfectionism is one example of such a strategy. “If I’m perfect, THEN I’ll belong and be loved” (AKA: survive). Other unconscious programs including …

The perfection trap

Did you know that your mind is a machine and that it runs on programs that you learned at a very young age? When we’re little, we lack the logic skills to understand why mommy is sad, or daddy is …

Oops, your blind spots are showing….

“You can’t see the label of the jar you’re in.” The first time I deeply understood this was during a retreat when one of my mentors introduced the concept of “Johari’s Window.” Johari’s window is a graphic representation of how we operate in …

What happened when I quit drinking…

There’s just no way around the fact that real, lasting transformation comes with an identity shift. Radically changing who you are and how you move through the world can be a challenge – not just for you, but for the people …

Hey, you’ve got spinach in your teeth…

Do the people around you tell you the truth? One of the most impactful ways to make progress — in our careers, in our businesses and in our lives — is to cultivate relationships with people who call us FORWARD, …

Cultivating gratitude as a way of being…

Many wise and brilliant people, from spiritual teachers to scientists, agree that gratitude is the root of happiness. I have known this — intellectually, mentally, rationally — for a long time, but for years, I felt like there was something wrong with …

This is when success gets scary

Last week we talked about the difference between making LINEAR progress, versus QUANTUM leaps. While the idea of quantum leaps sounds awesome and appealing, it can also be incredibly destabilizing and scary. Everything you thought you knew is suddenly in doubt. You’re …