Three remedies for broken resolutions

Be honest. As we enter the second half of January, how many of your new year’s resolutions are still going strong? Reported statistics vary, but according to a recent study by Columbia University, while nearly half of Americans make New Year’s resolutions, when January ends, only about 25% are still committed to them. I read […]

You are enough: when it’s time to say no to self-improvement

It may seem at best counter-intuitive and at worst blasphemous for a coach to say this, but lately I’ve been pondering question of whether, at some point, we should say enough is enough when it comes to self-improvement and personal development. I’m surely thinking these subversive thoughts in part because the end of the year […]

Stop shoulding on yourself: how to break the habit

Do you ever should on yourself? I sometimes do. It goes something like this. That colleague is getting a new certification. I should do that. That family is going to Lapland for Christmas. We should do that. Maybe I should be using Instagram. Maybe I shouldn’t have left Twitter. That woman looks great with bright […]

Six little words: balancing the pursuit of excellence and enjoyment

Before every exam, test, performance or interview I have ever had, my mother said just six words: “Do your best, and enjoy it”. Sounds odd, doesn’t it? No “good luck” or “it’ll be fine”, and I don’t think many parents tell their kids to try to enjoy an exam. But that simple advice has successfully […]

The mountains you have climbed

Almost every morning, when I wake my son up for school, he asks whether we have time to play – just the two of us – for a while before his father and sister get up. Since, like most families, our weekday mornings are timed more precisely than an Ocean’s 11-style heist, most of the […]