Your Choices Today Create Your Life Tomorrow

Christi Hegstad March 3rd, 2014

CLARITY KICKSTART: March 3, 2014

“Your life doesn’t just ‘happen.’ Whether you know it or not, it is carefully designed by you – or carelessly designed by you. It is, after all, your choice. Just remember that every moment, every situation, provides a new choice – and in doing so, gives you the opportunity to do things differently to produce more positive results.”

~ Stephen Covey

Coaching Tip for the Week:

If you could change one thing about your work or life, what would you change?

Of course the follow-up question is, what are you doing to change it?

It’s so easy to stay in our comfort zone, even when we’re not thriving in it. It’s also easy to throw up our hands and say, “It’s out of my control.”

Some things are, indeed, out of our control. But we are in charge of a great deal more than we might think – including our attitude, our language, our responses to outside circumstances, and our leadership approach.

This week, choose to be proactive. Decide what aspect of your work or life you truly want to change, envision how you’d ideally like it to look, then take a step in that direction. Commit to making choices that support your higher vision so you can flourish in work and a life of your choosing, one that you’ve designed.

What’s one small, proactive change you can make this week? Share below, on our Facebook page, or via Twitter!

Dr. Christi Hegstad helps you successfully do what you love! As President of MAP Professional Development Inc., she coaches executives and leaders who feel stuck – whether at an income level, in their leadership abilities, or “spinning their wheels” in the day-to-day – to flourish towards their vision with clarity, confidence, and meaningful action.

Learn more at www.meaning-and-purpose.com and follow Dr. Christi on Facebook and Twitter.

Declutter Your Goals!

Christi Hegstad February 26th, 2014

Do you have clutter?

If you answer “No” to this question, you should probably do a little celebrating today. 🙂 For the rest of us, organizing extraordinaire Donna Smallin Kuper can help.

As part of the ASPIRE Success Club‘s Author-Expert Interview series, I recently had the opportunity to chat with Donna about how clutter gets in the way of achieving our highest goals – and more importantly, what to do about it. As the bestselling author of 12 books and a frequent speaker on the topic, Donna had oodles of ideas to share with us. And having recently sold her house and moved into the RV lifestyle, you can rest assured that Donna has had ample opportunity to put her own tips into practice!

Here are a few key takeaways that you can implement with your own clutter – whether it comes in the form of paper piles, “stuff,” mental chatter, an overbooked schedule, or any other type.

Know Your ‘Why’. This principle applies in the bigger picture of life – knowing your purpose – but also within the details of your belongings. Why do you have clutter? For some, it’s a desire to fulfill emotional needs through purchasing, for others it’s difficulty making decisions about what to let go. As Donna reminds us, “Today’s purchases become tomorrow’s clutter.” When you know your bigger ‘why’ as well as why you allow clutter in your space and life, you can start taking specific actions to address it. A great side tip to keep in mind when it comes to purchases, whether for yourself, your family, or gifts: choose experiences over things. You’ll have better memories and less to organize.
Break Down Big Projects. If you have “Declutter my office” on your to-do list, it’s probably remained on your list for a good long time. That’s simply too large a goal to tackle on a Wednesday afternoon. Break your project down into small, manageable pieces, then assign those pieces to your to-do lists. With physical clutter, Donna suggests keeping it simple: “Start with just 2 piles: ‘Important Stuff’ and ‘Decide Later.’ Sorting items into those 2 piles gets you in motion and will help you gain momentum.” Note how this translates to any big project in your work or life.
Schedule Your Passions. “The first thing I put on my calendar every day is something that I love,” shares Donna. “This simple step helps me feel more in control of my life.” We all know that if we wait until we have the time for our passions and self-care, they can easily get pushed to the bottom of the list – if they make it on the list at all. Schedule in that hike, coffee with a friend, bike ride, or quiet reading time, then honor it as you would a doctor’s appointment.

As with most of life, your greatest clarity – whether in your physical, mental, spiritual, or relational space – comes when you identify and choose to honor your top priorities. When I first read one of Donna’s books 10 years ago, her message resonated loud and clear: Decide what matters most, then clear away the excess that stands in the way. Apply this principle to your work and life, and you will find yourself living with greater peace, increased focus, and, more than likely, a lot less stuff!

Learn more about Donna’s work and sign up for her free newsletter at www.unclutter.com. You can find her latest book, Secrets Of Professional Organizers, on Amazon.

What’s your favorite decluttering tip? Share your thoughts below, on our Facebook page, or via Twitter!

Dr. Christi Hegstad helps you successfully do what you love! As President of MAP Professional Development Inc., she coaches executives and leaders who feel stuck – whether at an income level, in their leadership abilities, or “spinning their wheels” in the day-to-day – to flourish towards their vision with clarity, confidence, and meaningful action.

Learn more at www.meaning-and-purpose.com and follow Dr. Christi on Facebook and Twitter.

The True Measure of a Leader

Christi Hegstad February 24th, 2014

CLARITY KICKSTART: February 24, 2014

“The true measure of how you are doing as a leader is not the number of followers you have; it is the number of leaders you have developed around you.”

~ Laura Berman Fortgang

Coaching Tip for the Week:

Do you consider yourself a generous leader, openly sharing the best of yourself in an effort to help others grow?

Sometimes leaders mistakenly think they need to keep their best leadership cards close to the chest, for fear that in developing others, they themselves will be surpassed.

In truth, the leadership of others is a success measure of your leadership! When others in your sphere develop to the point of becoming successful leaders themselves, you know you’ve done your job well.

This week, invest some time determining the individual strengths of those with whom you work and lead. Talk with them about how you can support them in growing those strengths to peak performance. They’ve planted the seeds; now it’s up to you to help nurture their development so they can flourish.

How do you help develop others’ strengths? Share your thoughts below, on our Facebook page, or via Twitter!

Dr. Christi Hegstad helps you successfully do what you love! As President of MAP Professional Development Inc., she coaches executives and leaders who feel stuck – whether at an income level, in their leadership abilities, or “spinning their wheels” in the day-to-day – to flourish towards their vision with clarity, confidence, and meaningful action.

Learn more at www.meaning-and-purpose.com and follow Dr. Christi on Facebook and Twitter.

10 Motivating Quotes To Do What You Love

Christi Hegstad February 21st, 2014

Our mission at MAP Inc. has always been to help you successfully do what you love, which we define as making your difference through meaningful work that engages your passions and strengths. Below you’ll find 10 of our favorite quotes on the subject with the hopes that they inspire YOU to start – or continue – doing what you love!

“If someone is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, ‘Here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well.’” ~ Martin Luther King, Jr.

“Where your talent and the needs of the world cross, your calling can be found.” ~ Aristotle

“Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you imagined…and you will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.” ~ Henry David Thoreau

“Let everything you do be done as if it makes a difference.” ~ William James

“As we let our own light shine, we give others permission to do the same.” ~ Marianne Williamson

“Sometimes, to love what we do, we must leave where we are.” ~ Joanne Gordon

“You came to this planet to play at the highest level that has ever been played. You came to play at the level of Gandhi, of Dr. Martin Luther King, of Mother Teresa, at the level of every great and wise soul who ever made a difference. You came to play with the big kids.” ~ Edwene Gaines

“Every great dream begins with a dreamer” ~ Harriet Tubman

“Don’t give up trying to do what you really want to do. Where there is love and inspiration, I don’t think you can go wrong.” ~ Ella Fitzgerald

“Work is love made visible.” ~ Kahlil Gibran

For frequent quotes, success tips, and insights, be sure to join us on Facebook and Twitter. Here’s to doing what you love!

Dr. Christi Hegstad helps you successfully do what you love! As President of MAP Professional Development Inc., she coaches executives and leaders who feel stuck – whether at an income level, in their leadership abilities, or “spinning their wheels” in the day-to-day – to flourish towards their vision with clarity, confidence, and meaningful action.

Learn more at www.meaning-and-purpose.com and follow Dr. Christi on Facebook and Twitter.

Strengths-Based Success

Christi Hegstad February 19th, 2014

Strengths-Based Success

Janelle loves to play piano. She frequently sits down intending to play just a couple of songs, only to find that an hour or two has passed without her even realizing it. She

listens to piano music while working as a nurse and feels antsy on days when she can’t brush the keys for at least a little while. She doesn’t get paid for her musical abilities but considers piano an important part of her life.

Tim is an excellent accountant. Having always had a knack with numbers, he can whip up a tax return or P&L statement in a third of the time it typically takes his colleagues. He has won awards for his proficiency and holds a senior rank in his organization. He’s successful by all outward accounts – but he hates what he does. He hits “snooze” repeatedly every morning and dreads the thought of spending another day in his “successful” career.

Between Janelle and Tim, who operates in their strengths?

The Truth About Strengths

Contrary to what many believe, a strength is not merely something at which you excel. Your true strengths are those things which you are consistently good at, enjoy, and – the true hallmark – when (and after) you engage in them, you feel stronger. As Tim’s example shows, you can have a talent that isn’t a strength.

Also contrary to popular belief, your time is much better spent focusing on and leveraging your strengths rather than improving upon your weaknesses.

Yet how often are we told to concentrate on improving our weak spots? Think back to childhood: were the A’s and B’s on your report card ever glossed over while the C or D prompted stern questions, visits to the teacher, or additional tutoring? Have you experienced this in your performance reviews as an adult?

The fact is, your call to greatness lies more in elevating your strengths than trying to shore up your weaknesses. Your first step, then, involves clarifying your strengths.

How To Identify Your Strengths

In his book Go Put Your Strengths To Work, Marcus Buckingham shares a strategy that you can implement to clarify your strengths. Here’s an adaptation:

In a notebook or your phone, create two categories: Strong and Weak.

For the next week, in the Strong category, jot down any activity you engage in that makes you feel confident, happy, in the zone, authentic, amazing, or like time is flying by.

In the Weak category, record activities that make you feel drained, depleted, frustrated, bored, annoyed, or like time is passing at a snail’s pace.

At the end of the week, review your lists and look for patterns. While Buckingham shares further steps in the book (and many other assessments and resources exist to help you identify your strengths), this action alone will start to clue you into your strength areas tremendously.

What To Do With Your Strengths

Your next course of action, then, is weighing your week in favor of your strengths as much as possible. You can do this even if you’re currently in a job that doesn’t fulfill you.

Did you discover that you feel strong when you’re connecting with a group? Schedule team meetings and collaborative projects as much as possible.

Were you “in the zone” most when doing something physical? Make sure your week includes plenty of movement.

Do you, like me, get a natural high from engaging in meaningful conversation? Connect regularly with people with similar values, high aspirations, or who share your passion or hobby.

Why Bother?

Perhaps the most compelling reason: you’ll feel happier, more engaged, and a higher sense of fulfillment and purpose.

But you’ll also notice significant career, relationship, and even financial benefits. Studies of the world’s wealthiest people consistently show that while they differ in nearly every category – education, skills, upbringing, etc. – they routinely share one trait: passion for what they do.

Engaging your strengths as much as possible will lead to another important benefit: You’ll start to encourage others to do the same. And when you have an entire team working in favor of their strengths, you’ve created a strengths-based culture that can outshine any level of knowledge, skills, or talents. A team of talent doing what they love is hard to beat!

What is one of your top strengths that you’d like to engage more often? Share your comments below, on Facebook, or via Twitter!

Dr. Christi Hegstad helps you successfully do what you love! As President of MAP Professional Development Inc., she coaches executives and leaders who feel stuck – whether at an income level, in their leadership abilities, or “spinning their wheels” in the day-to-day – to flourish towards their vision with clarity, confidence, and meaningful action.

Learn more at www.meaning-and-purpose.com and follow Dr. Christi on Facebook and Twitter.

Adventures In Boldness: Interview With Sheree Clark

Christi Hegstad February 17th, 2014

Our new Adventures In Boldness series has been a huge hit with the ASPIRE Success Club. Through these interviews, we talk with various professional women who have taken bold steps in the direction of their dreams, without necessarily having all the answers or even knowing the questions to ask. By sharing their stories, they inspire and teach others that sometimes, we simply need to take that step, do that thing we fear, and trust that it’s going to lead us in the right direction.

Sheree Clark is a prime example. As owner of Fork In The Road, Sheree is a holistic health and nutrition counselor, teacher, and TV show star. She also has a fascinating story of openness, making tough choices, and taking incredible leaps of faith. While ASPIRE members participate in these calls live (during which we always take pages upon pages of notes!), I wanted to share a couple of tips from Sheree with you as well.

1. Follow your passion. “I started to feel like I wasn’t where I was supposed to be,” Sheree described about one point in her life. “But I didn’t know what to do about it.” She decided to attend culinary school not in pursuit of a career, but because it sounded like fun and she enjoyed food and nutrition. She never would have predicted that training would lead her to where she is today, including hosting her how TV health/cooking show. Pursue your passion and remain open to where it may lead.

2. Avoid comparisons. One of our ASPIRE members taught us a saying: Never let comparison with others rob you of your own joy. Sheree also advises us not to compare against our former selves – something we often do without realizing it. If you can’t run the mile as fast as you once could or burn the midnight oil like you once did, so what? Focus instead on proactively becoming the person you want to be at this time in your life.

3. You don’t have to have all the answers before taking action. At one point, Sheree left her very successful and secure job and ventured into the unknown simply “because it hurt too much to stay.” Sometimes you just have to leap and trust that the net will appear. “Very few things in life,” she reminds us, “are completely irreversible.”

Taking bold steps isn’t necessarily easy. Be prepared to navigate doubt, fear, and uncertainty – but also take on a mindset of openness, curiosity, and faith. Like Sheree says, “Somehow I found the peace in all of this to say, ‘I know I’ll have moments of doubt, but I also know that if I stay the course and keep my heart open, I will be o.k.'”

You can learn more about Sheree Clark at fork-road.com.

What tip would you add when taking a bold step in the direction of your dreams? Share your idea below, on Facebook, or via Twitter!

Dr. Christi Hegstad helps you successfully do what you love! As President of MAP Professional Development Inc., she coaches executives and leaders who feel stuck – whether at an income level, in their leadership abilities, or “spinning their wheels” in the day-to-day – to flourish towards their vision with clarity, confidence, and meaningful action.

Learn more at www.meaning-and-purpose.com and follow Dr. Christi on Facebook and Twitter.

Engagement: Step One

Christi Hegstad February 17th, 2014

CLARITY KICKSTART: February 17, 2014

“The lesson is clear: If you want people to understand that you value their contributions and that they are important, the recognition and praise you provide must have meaning that is specific to each individual.”

~ Tom Rath

Coaching Tip for the Week:

How many times in the past month have you set up a private meeting with someone you lead, sat down with him, and told him how he is making a positive impact in the organization?

A recent Gallup study showed that 65% of Americans received no recognition in the workplace last year. With costs of disengagement estimated at $300 billion per year, this is a problem – but not an unfixable one.

This week, single out an employee, coworker, or child for the sole purpose of calling her on her greatness. Give a specific example of an action that you appreciated, and thank her for her positive contribution. Then, end the meeting.

My guess is that, by recognizing strengths in others, you can expect to see more and more of that behavior in the coming weeks. Win-win!

What action have you witnessed in the past week that made a positive difference? Share below, on our Facebook page, or via Twitter!

Dr. Christi Hegstad helps you successfully do what you love! As President of MAP Professional Development Inc., she coaches executives and leaders who feel stuck – whether at an income level, in their leadership abilities, or “spinning their wheels” in the day-to-day – to flourish towards their vision with clarity, confidence, and meaningful action.

Learn more at www.meaning-and-purpose.com and follow Dr. Christi on Facebook and Twitter.

Want to receive a Clarity Kickstart in your in-box every Monday morning? Click here – it’s free!

From Criticism To Strength

Christi Hegstad February 10th, 2014

CLARITY KICKSTART: February 10, 2014

“I have never met someone who is living a bold and successful life – and by successful I mean prosperous, kind, and in touch with the meaningfulness of what he’s doing – who has apologized for being perfectionistic, mercurial, unrelenting, or whatever his slightly controversial hallmark characteristics are. You will always be too much of something for someone: too big, too loud, too soft, too edgy. If you round out your edges, you lose your edge.”

~ Danielle LaPorte

Coaching Tip For The Week:

For what characteristic have you been criticized, constructively or otherwise?

What was your reaction?

This week, I encourage you to consider your hallmark characteristic and, instead of trying to change it, ask yourself how you can use it to your advantage. How is this characteristic a strength? How can it help you succeed in kind and generous ways, even if it’s not perfect according to everyone else?

Wanting everyone to like everything about you is not likely a very achievable quest. But making a positive impact, rooted in your own values and strengths (even quirky ones!), is definitely doable – and necessary.

What characteristic will you turn into a strength this week? Share below, on our Facebook page, or via Twitter!

Dr. Christi Hegstad helps you successfully do what you love! As President of MAP Professional Development Inc., she coaches leaders to get unstuck and reach Bold Goals with clarity, confidence, and meaningful action.

Learn more at www.meaning-and-purpose.com and follow Dr. Christi on Facebook and Twitter.

Want to receive a Clarity Kickstart in your in-box every Monday morning? Click here – it’s free!

Bold Goals: THE Most Important Element

Christi Hegstad February 5th, 2014

Next week, our ASPIRE Success Club members will each declare a Bold Goal for the year – the career/business goals for which we’ll hold them accountable, provide support, and celebrate success. It’s an exciting process filled with positivity and forward-moving action.

To prepare, we held a Bold Goal-setting workshop a few weeks ago. Before jumping into the Bold Goal criteria, we reviewed the basics. Perhaps you’ve heard of SMART goals, an acronym that first appeared in the early 1980s. Although it’s taken various forms since then, SMART goals meet the following criteria:

* Specific – What exactly will you achieve?

* Measurable – How will you know when you’ve reached it?

* Actionable – Is the goal within your power to achieve?

* Realistic – Can you feasibly reach this goal?

* Timely – Is now the right time for this goal? What is your time frame?

All good criteria, to be sure. But in my experience, one element stands out among the rest as the most important:

Resonant.

Your Bold Goal must be authentic, meaningful, and energize you into action. It needs to prompt emotion – excitement, delight, maybe even a bit of fear (as in, “Did I really just say that out loud?!”). You need to connect with your goal in a purposeful way if you hope to joyfully and successfully fulfill it – especially a Bold Goal, which will typically take the better part of the year to reach.

As you review your goal, ask yourself:

* What emotion does this prompt in me?

* How will I feel upon achieving this?

* Why does this goal matter?

* How will my work/life be different when I reach this goal?

You won’t often see this emotional side of goals highlighted in the academic literature, but after 20 years of working with high achievers, I can assure you the feelings associated with your goals matter greatly. So embrace the touchy-feely side and savor your success!

“If your goals aren’t synced with the substance of your heart, then achieving them won’t matter much.”

~ Danielle LaPorte

Do you believe “resonant” is an important criteria to goal success? Share your thoughts below, on Facebook, or via Twitter!

Dr. Christi Hegstad helps you successfully do what you love! As President of MAP Professional Development Inc., she coaches executives and leaders to get unstuck and reach Bold Goals with clarity, confidence, and meaningful action.

Learn more at www.meaning-and-purpose.com and follow Dr. Christi on Facebook and Twitter.

Overcoming The Fear Of Failure: The 100-Pound Question

Christi Hegstad February 4th, 2014

While leading a group discussion on goal-setting recently, I noticed very mixed reactions among participants.

“I wouldn’t get much accomplished if I didn’t set goals,” noted some.

“I don’t worry about goals,” commented several others. “Why bother?”

Since I’m in the first camp, I’m always intrigued by the reasons behind not setting goals. While different circumstances bring up different reasons, the one I hear most often stems from fear:

What if I set a goal – and fail?

For many, not meeting past goals has caused them to quit setting them altogether. By creating a goal, working towards it, then not accomplishing it, they end up feeling worse than if they hadn’t set the goal at all. Therefore, they no longer do. Fear of failure is alive and well in even the most successful hearts.

While you can read volumes of books on goal success, what I’ll offer today is one scenario for you to consider:

Imagine your friend sets a goal to lose 100 pounds this year. She exercises, changes her eating habits, hires a personal trainer – does all the right things. At the end of the year, she has lost 95 pounds.

Do you consider her a failure?

Technically, she failed to meet her goal: She set a goal to lose 100 pounds but only lost 95.

Failure, right?

When I’ve posed this example in workshops, most participants will say she’s not a failure, supporting their assertions with comments like:

“She was 95% successful!”

“Just because she didn’t reach the exact number doesn’t mean she didn’t succeed.”

“Think about the person she became in the process! No way is she a failure.”

Today, I encourage you to turn those comments inward. Set a Bold Goal this year. Create your action plan, get your support in place, and firm up your success mindset.

Then, get to work, focusing on what you need to do – and who you need to become – to reach your goal.

And if you must focus on “what if’s,” focus on this one: What will my life be like if I *succeed*?

“Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.”

~ T. S. Elliot

Do you consider the person who lost 95 pounds a failure? Share your thoughts below, on Facebook, or via Twitter.

Dr. Christi Hegstad helps you successfully do what you love! As President of MAP Professional Development Inc., she coaches leaders to get unstuck and reach Bold Goals with clarity, confidence, and meaningful action.

Learn more at www.meaning-and-purpose.com and follow Dr. Christi on Facebook and Twitter.

Author Archives: Christi Hegstad