When was the last time you had a real, in-person conversation with someone?

Not just a perfunctory exchange of pleasantries but a genuine conversation, face-to-face? One where you truly listened, shared, and connected?

Not telling them how to think or "setting them straight" but truly listening and exchanging ideas. If you’re like me, it may have been a while. With our busy lifestyles and the ease of digital communication, we often go a long time without sitting together and exchanging ideas that mean something to us.

Author Jenna Bush Hagar recently said, “I don’t think we talk together enough as a nation.” She is certainly right but let’s take it a step further: Do we even talk enough with our friends, colleagues, and families? Do we know what they’re thinking and feeling?

Building a more connected nation starts with us. It begins by sitting together, having conversations, and really listening to each other’s hopes, dreams, and fears. To understand each other we need to listen and share ideas, not engage in overlapping monologues. 

So I ask again: When was the last time you sat down and truly talked with someone? If it’s been a while, what’s stopping you? ​

​​Why do we disparage our glimmers of insight? We long for joy, happiness, peace, and gratitude, yet we ignore or dismiss the harbingers that show they are available to us. Without the glimmer of insight, we would not have a vaccine to prevent polio. Without the glimmer of hope, we would not be encouraged to propel forward. Like rays of sunshine on a cloudy day, glimmers transform possibilities into opportunities for excellence.

Where do you encounter glimmers and how do you train yourself to see them in your life? I’d love to hear your stories as I remain on the lookout for glimmers in my own life.
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​Google lists the 7 Cs of effective communication: clear, concise, concrete, correct, coherent, complete, and courteous. These days good communication also includes selecting the right platform to communicate.

What platform(s) do we use to communicate? Which is most appropriate or effective? The many choices today include phone, email, text, social media or “snail mail.” Having so many ways to communicate often hampers effective and courteous communication. Selecting the appropriate platform for each individual is the conundrum. Everyone has various preferences, so how do we choose?

The safest solution is to ask, “What is the best way to contact you?” Alternatively, we can manage our own communication by informing our clients and colleagues our preferred form of communicating. Recently, I told someone that I did not babysit my email, so if they needed me to follow up quickly, it was best to text me. That worked well for our communications. Perhaps it is time we begin to consistently ask “What is the preferred way for me to contact you?” 

The reality is we cannot effectively communicate the 7 Cs if we are not using someone's preferred platform. Please share with me how you decide which platform to use with your customers, colleagues and friends. 

​The Dog Days of summer have a celestial origin, denoting a period between July 3rd and August 11th when the Dog Star, Sirius, rises at the same time as the sun in the Northern hemisphere. The ancient Greeks and Romans believed the Dog Days were a time of drought, bad luck, and unrest, when dogs and humans alike would be driven mad by extreme heat! 

Today, the Dog Days simply represent the end of the summer when we bemoan the hot weather and wonder if the summer heat will ever break. Yet, many of us take the opportunity to go on vacation or curl up with a dog, a book and a glass of iced tea, and simply laze the days away. Or we might walk on the beach with our furry companions to forget the cares of life. In the heat, work may just seem like too much to deal with. Why bother?!

As the Dog Days of summer come to an end, what’s next for the last third of the year? What are you going to do in that time to achieve your goals? Where do you need help clarifying or achieving those goals? Click below for a free coaching session to learn how I can help you to get where you want to go.
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Last year a scary medical diagnosis sent me into a tailspin as I contemplated worst-case scenarios. When I mentioned my “what ifs” to a friend, she said, “Oh Carol, stuff it about the future, just deal with what is in front of you.” I thought, why didn’t I think of that?

I discovered staying focused on the next step is hard to do. More often than not, my monkey mind got loose and I had to rein it in. But I persisted. Eventually I realized that it was getting easier to stop obsessing about the long staircase looming ahead and just think about the next step. 

No, I do not always stay in the moment, and my hopes and fears still sometimes race ahead of me, but I remind myself to self-correct. This takes discipline, loads of practice, and a refusal to give up. 

Recently, I read an article about why it is difficult to meet one’s long-term goals: We focus on the end instead of the next step we need to take to move us along the pathway to our goal. Maybe you are having that same difficulty? 

If you need help learning how to take just the next step, I can assist you. It’s a skill that has been hard-earned.
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Upon hearing that I am a Life Coach, people inevitably ask: “What Does a Life Coach do?” There seldom is enough time to describe my services fully, so I have come up with a menu to share the variety of services I provide.
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What’s Next Coaching Menu of Services

Life Coaching - Getting from Here to There
Includes one-on-one coaching to release the past, focus on the present, and create an incredible future. This is just the thing to take you to the next step in your life. 

StrengthsFinder Coaching 
Individual Serving
This one-on-one, individualized process helps you discover your highest talents and how they will lead you to success in life. 

For Those Who Like to Share
Join in a group workshop format, where you will learn one another’s talents and how you can use them to work together as a team.

Group Vision Workshop Facilitation
This group facilitation is for boards and groups who want to envision a new way forward together. 

Specials    
If none of these offerings seem quite right, I will create a special program that fits your unique needs.

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​Please contact me if you or your friends would like a 30-minute complimentary coaching session or consultation. My mission is to help others focus on the next step in the staircase of their lives.
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A Mother looks at her child with wonder and love when the child is laid in her arms. As she dreams about the child’s future does she ache for the mistakes the child will endure in growing from childhood to adulthood and beyond?  

Wonder is often considered the beginning of wisdom. It is the state of mind that encourages us to ask questions, explore new ideas, and expand our understanding of the world. However, the journey of wonder and growth is not without its challenges. 

The poem, “I Wonder Did Each Flower Know?” by Annette Wynne expresses this insight well.

I wonder did each flower know
As well as now just how to grow
In that far first early spring
When the world was made.

Or did they make mistakes as I
Make very often when I try
At first, and try again,--perhaps just so,
As you and I, they learned to grow.

​Just as the flowers in the poem by Annette Wynne may have made mistakes in their early growth, so too will we make mistakes along the way. It is natural to stumble and falter as we venture into the unknown, but it is through these mistakes that we learn and grow.

The beauty of wonder is that it allows us to approach life with a sense of awe and humility. It reminds us that there is always more to learn and discover, and that mistakes are a natural part of the learning process. Embracing wonder means being open to the possibilities that lie ahead, even if they are uncertain or uncomfortable.

If you are ready to embark on a journey of wonder and growth, contact me for a COMPLIMENTARY COACHING SESSION. I can help you navigate the ups and downs of the process, providing guidance and encouragement along the way. By cultivating wonder and embracing the lessons that come with it, you can unlock new levels of wisdom and insight in your life.

Google lists a seemingly endless number of overlapping qualities and skills to define leadership: a willingness to listen, perseverance, honesty, selflessness, decisiveness, trust, etc. Many, if not all, of these qualities and skills may also pertain to management. 

Leadership and management are often confused. A person might be able to manage an organization without being a good leader. In some organizations, the manager is not a leader. Even when a manager has leadership responsibilities, a closer inspection usually reveals that there is another informal leader who inspires the team to do their best.

The ability to inspire is an essential attribute of good leaders. Even if a leader has all the skills and qualities listed in a Google search, without the ability to inspire people to do their best, that leader will ultimately fail. 

I would love to hear about the great leaders you have experienced and the qualities you most admired in them. I also encourage you to look inward and see if you might be one of those informal leaders who help inspire the people you work with regardless of your job title. 

​With the first quarter of the year almost over, how much progress have you made toward your goals for 2023? Some of you may be dancing a jig, but most of you may be feeling a bit of despair sweeping over you. Are you ready to shrug and say, “Oh well, it can’t be done. Maybe I was dreaming too big.” Perhaps you are thinking of just throwing in the towel on those goals.   

Wait! What if Confucius is right and there is still time to take action? Don’t adjust the goals, adjust the action steps. Research indicates that goals are not attained because we do not have an actionable, realistic plan and a support system to accomplish them.

What is distracting you? What do you need to focus on? Does the goal need to be restructured? 

If you develop a plan of action, there is still time for you to reach your 2023 goals. A coach can help you create a plan and hold you accountable. If you want to explore how I can help, click the button below. 
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During a discussion I was leading, I complimented a young woman’s sweater that read “Be Happy” and asked the group what happiness meant to them. Was it different from joy? The discussion centered around things that give happiness: seeing a movie, receiving a surprise party or the gift of a floral bouquet. All of the things mentioned were externally driven. Then one person said, “But joy is internal. Joy comes from within us and is not dependent on outside forces.”

The poem, “Joy” by Hilda Conkling expresses this insight well. 

​If you would like to share your own thoughts and reflections, I would love to hear how you differentiate between joy and happiness.