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Unhappy Work Atmosphere?

If it wasn't called work.....

When I first started working when I was sixteen, I had already learned the value of good hard work. Growing up, my father had insisted on us working every spare moment of every day. Well that's what it seemed like! I had to tell my friends on most occasions that I could not go to the party or have a stay over because I had to help my dad build something or clean something. I hated it.

But after I had started working a real job for real money, there was a comment made to me from a manager of the Albertsons store that I was working at while I was staying overtime to mop up the floor. I will remember his words the rest of my life. As he watched me work with enthusiasm and vigor, he said with sincerity, "Eli, if you ever need a job at anytime in your life, you've got one."

Wow! Someone noticed my hard work ethic. That made me feel good.

Since that day I have always tried to compliment those

How to Stop Giving Your Power Away

In my last post, I described how life reflects back to us what we believe about our worthiness and “enoughness” and I said that watching for patterns is a great way to recognize these reflections. I recently identified a pattern in my own life and connected it to a painful belief that held me hostage for most of my 38 years ~ not any more!

About a month ago, I moved into an idyllic 1930s cottage right along the river and Missoula’s beautiful river’s edge bike path. I was so happy to be in a house again, especially one with so much charm. What could be wrong with that? Plenty!

The floors creak more than you might imagine, and there is a renter in the basement. During my first few weeks in the house, I felt terrible about walking around in the morning, knowing that my neighbor might be woken up by my movements. While I was doing everything I could think of not to disturb her, she slammed her door every time she went in or out and she blasted

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July 2, 2008 Posted by Annie Barron, PhD | success, self-empowered, self-discovery, relationships, personal growth, personal development, life coaching, happiness, energy, communication, business coaching | Comment (0)

How Do You Define Success?

So many of my clients, friends, family and colleagues find themselves unhappy dealing with expectations placed on them by family, friends, and society as a whole. Many of them have high-paying jobs, gorgeous families and seemingly nothing to be depressed about and yet they feel unsuccessful.

The problem is that we typically do not live our lives according to our own success definition. Instead we are governed by environmental influences that include family, especially parents and spouses; friends, culture and society. We make decisions based more upon what we believe is expected of us than what we truly want and desire. This brings upon stress and imbalance because when we live in other's expectations rather than in our own, we begin to move outside of our intended purpose. Without purpose, we can not feel truly passionate or fully committed to the journey.

To really be successful, you must first define what success means to you. Everyone has a very different

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September 23, 2007 Posted by Niquenya Fulbright | success, stress, passion, meaning, life, intentions, imbalance, happiness, goals, expectations, definition, decisions, choices | Comment (0)

Rx: For 'the blah's'...some 'Aha's!'

The holidays are over. You might think that putting the end-of-year frenzy behind them would mean your staff and team are revving up for the first quarter.

But instead, they have 'the blah's:' a mix of diminished enthusiasm and stress that seems to hit each year after the holidays. The good news is: 'the blah's' are cyclical. When business picks up, so will your staff's energy and productivity.

But why wait? Sure, all things change and this, too, will pass. But what if you could take charge of 'the blah's' with a few "Aha's!" ?
In other words, use this low cycle for teambuilding and motivational activities.

Set aside time to meet with your managers and brief them on the inevitable peaks and valleys of the coming year. Even experienced managers sometimes forget that post-holiday stres