Assumptions

This is stressing you out. 

So often, I sit down with clients and they'll say to me "Laine, you will never guess what happened" and then they'll go into this long and very dramatic story about how someone has offended them. 

It's awful, nobody likes to be offended, and my response is always the same: “Oh, well, how did it go when you talked to them about it?”  They usually just stare at me and don’t know what to say, because they haven't talked to them about it. 

This is one thing that we can all be better at: talking to people when there's been an offense. Now, this might sound like a kindergarten concept. The problem is, adults are actually worse than kids when it comes to these things. 

When we sit and stew in our frustration, we start making assumptions about the person and their intentions.  It then creates unnecessary stress that is hurting us, them and the people around us. 

It's vitally important that whenever we have conflict, we face it head-on. We keep very short accounts. How many problems would be prevented if we immediately address issues? 

Don't hesitate. Today, be brave. Go out, have that conversation, keep short accounts and you'll find that you're actually a lot less stressed.

Got questions? We are here to help.

Reminders

It's so simple. Daily, we meet with clients who set up either a week's worth or two-weeks worth of action steps to help them get closer to where they want to be.

Some of them don't accomplish their steps, but many of them do. What sets them apart? Reminders. 

The prefrontal cortex of the brain, where all of our executive functioning happens is activated when we are trying to create new behaviors. Brainstorming sessions, goal planning and strategizing all happen here. 

When we are doing hard things (you know, the magical stuff), the amygdala, a different part of the brain releases a stress hormone, which then can shut down our executive processing.  This is where we feel overwhelmed and start to give up. The basal ganglia, your auto-pilot, takes over and progress comes to a halt. 

Here is where you coach comes in: we will pull you out of autopilot and into that higher order  thinking part of your brain. The problem is, your coach can't always be around. I know, it's very sad. 

So what do we do? It's so simple, we write it down and we put it where we're going to see it all the time. 

Yet, it's very effective. People who write down their plan and put it in front of them as a constant reminder - those are the people who get results.  

The people who do versus the people who wish they had done. 

Want to get your prefrontal cortex firing on all cylinders? Call us today and we’ll get you set up with a coach who will help you get the progress you need.

Use These Two Things to Improve Your Policies and Systems

Your clearly defined protocols aren’t enough. 

 Your company needs structure. Lack of structure is one of the greatest causes of tension and organizational chaos in any company. 

 In order to make structure, policies and protocols work, there are two key ingredients that must come with them in order for them to be successful:

Humility and grace.

People are going to mess up. We are humans. It happens every single day in every company around the world. So, no matter how many processes and structures we have in place, it doesn’t matter if when there’s failure, we address it with frustration and anger.

Then, all of the team building, the camaraderie and the excitement about unity that has come together will all come crashing down in just a matter of moments.

In order to keep that culture and that team feel that we got when we were putting those structures together, when failure happens, they have to be caught with humility and grace.

Be kind, be humble, be gracious. Your structures depend on it.

Need help structuring your business? We are here to help. Contact us today.

Ladders, Mountains, and Stairs

BY: COACH LAINE SCHMIDT

Ladders, mountains, and stairs, oh my! This is not a song or a silly dad joke. 

This is what you'll find if you Google the word "success" and you look up Google Images. You'll find images of ladders and mountains and stairs. 

What's interesting about the mind is that it thinks in pictures, not in letters. If you think of the word success, you don't think of the letters that spell out the word, you think of an image.  

When you think of the word success you probably think of ladders, mountains and stairs or some other kind of visual that the world has splattered into our minds. 

When you think of the phrase "my definition of success" what image comes to your mind? If you could take a snapshot of that image and post it on Google Images, what would we find?

Why is this important? Because it's our home base. If we have this visual, this image of what our definition of success looks like, we should print it out or draw it out or have someone paint it and keep it in front of us all the time, because the decisions we make should always be informed by that picture. 

It's our home base. It's why we do what we do.

If you're looking for more tips on how you can reach your image of success, head over to Apple podcast and subscribe to The Business Lab Podcast with Laine Schmidt.