Category Archives: Change

If nothing ever changed, there'd beChange.

  • A word that always signifies an ending or a beginning.
  • A word that can cause us to look backward and smile, or toss and turn at night.
  • A word that can fuel visions of hope.
  • A word that can stir fear and doubt.

When we go through seasons that cause intense pain and confusion we struggle to find purpose in the pain.

When something we have dreamed of happens we are thrilled – but often surprised that even in the midst of the most positive transitions we struggle.

Feeling helpless about division and destruction? Here's what you can do.When we are faced with circumstances that are damaging lives and organizations, we are faced with the choice to summon our courage and lead up or to wait for someone else to do it.

The articles below are filled with stories and tools that will help you understand, navigate and lead change with more grit and more grace.

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5 Tips to limit over-correcting throughout a behavior change

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Have you ever realized you needed to change your behavior to be more effective but over-corrected?
  • …Like learning to drive, and turning the wheel to fast or hitting the brake too hard and then doing the complete opposite?
 A titled leader I know has a great gift for detail.  
  • He makes a plan, works his plan, dots i’s crosses, t’s, and always delivers before the deadline.
  • If you have a question about a project, he’s researched it, and has a file full of information that can help you.

The challenge is that he is not an attention seeker and he doesn’t fight for the spotlight.

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4 Tips for Building Confidence in a Transition

Between The Top of Your Game and Reinvention

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Have you ever been at the top of your game and:

  • Graduated into adulthood to start your career?
  • Transitioned from the military to the civilian world?
  • Experienced a life-altering event that forced you to start over?
  • Decided to leave what you’ve always done to pursue an uncommon path?

In the space between what you left and what you were pursuing… Did you struggle?

Did you feel your confidence tanking as you: Worked to learn and define your new role and become successful at it, while navigating a culture and politics that were foreign to you?

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Are you ready to pack dreams and reinvent?

A new year! A new you!

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Earlier this week movers came to the home of our dear friends and packed everything they had to prepare for a move to another country.

  • It’s a great career opportunity for him.
  • It means more daily freedom for her.

But it’s still stressful.

  • Anticipation, doubt and fear swirl together about the unknowns.
  • And at the same time they process the emotions of an ending before the new beginning…

As 2015 comes to an end, you may be considering a new beginning, a fresh start, a change or a reinvention…

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Would you say yes, If…

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I published an article a month ago, about how our international move altered the path I thought I was on to my big dream. In that post I shared how much I trust in this altered path, even though it doesn’t make complete sense yet.

About the time I published that article I heard this quote, [Tweet ““Your perspective will become your prison or your passport.”~ Steven Furtick”]

Two weeks ago my husband and I took a vacation to Africa. On the plane I read Nelson Mandela’s book The Long Walk to Freedom, deeply considering how a wide variety of good and bad experiences changed his perspective, caused him to seek truth, ponder deeply, and shaped the man he would become. At several places in his story I thought of different struggles that others have faced that have taken them to their knees and challenged their perspectives and then changed their futures. In the midst of those reflections I wrote these words…

Would you say yes, if you knew:

  • That great risk would lead to a greater reward?
  • That a job loss would lead to a new career in a new industry?
  • That a heartbreaking betrayal would make you softer and stronger and wiser?
  • That learning to forgive would help you experience uncommon peace? 
  • That years of unwanted change and confusion would lead to growth? 
  • That an uncommon sacrifice would create the change you’ve dreamed of?
  • That an ending would create a better beginning?
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Dealing with Change: Both Wanted & Unwanted

Will it kill you? Or will you thrive?

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Once upon a time, I hired a fun-loving woman with great recommendations, strong experience, and impressive tenure. (True Story!)

Not long after she joined our team she began to struggle.   Things that she thought would be easy to learn were harder than normal, which chewed away at her confidence, which made it even harder to learn, which ate away even more confidence. Sometimes when we spoke privately, tears flowed.

At one point she shared that in her last role she was so confident that she would put on a pink feather boa. And when she wore it – everyone knew a special announcement was going to be made. Here she wanted to be her authentic self, but was afraid…

Each time we spoke, I would remind her:

  1. She was grieving. (She had just left a role that she knew backwards and forwards and upside down in a place where she felt understood, appreciated and loved and moved and started a new job.)
  2. She really was smart, capable, fun and wanted!
  3. She was focusing more on her mistakes and emotions than on what she knew she could bring and that was causing her to struggle harder.