Last week a client who leads HR for her company said to me, “I did a hundred things today. Why didn’t anything happen?! I got insurance cards out, reset logins, answered emails, sat through meetings…but I don’t think I drove any meaningful progress.” Ah, the tyranny of the urgent, the whirlwind of demands. It’s a
Our family took a “twilight nature hike” on a trip last year. What could have lasted 15 minutes lasted two hours due to the pace of the guide. “Please stay behind me,” he calmly repeated as we slowly proceeded through the complete darkness. Over and over again, he’d thoughtfully respond to a question or quietly
I took time over the holidays to rest, get organized for the new year, and connect in meaningful ways with family. Having that time, though, opened up space for some unwanted thoughts too. Do you ever allow all your thoughts to flow, even the unwanted ones? Your insecurities, fears, selfish desires, resentments, and uncertainties? The
Nat King Cole will remind us this month to be joyful, though life can be busy and hard, and our news feed reminds us of all that’s wrong in the world. This is why I love re-watching It’s a Wonderful Life each year. I need yet another voice to break through the cynicism, hurry and
Several years ago, a friend invited me to join his exercise group. “It will change your life,” he said. The workouts were early in the morning, very painful and I honestly wasn’t sure I had the guts to keep doing them. Around the time I started participating, the group read Jesse Itzler’s book Living With
I’m renting a log splitter this week. That’s probably a very Minnesotan thing to do. It’s used to divide large cross-sections of trees into logs to be used as firewood. Since I have a time limit on the rental, I need to decide how much effort to spend with each tree slice. Splitting the logs
T.S. Eliot wrote what is widely regarded as one of the most important poems of the 20th century, “The Waste Land.” Even so, Eliot himself attributed much of its success to the support of his editor, Ezra Pound. Pound never held back when confronting Eliot with feedback on his writing, and Eliot appreciated that. In
My last article presented 10 forms of personal reactivity that everyone should carefully manage. Whether it’s anger, anxiety, worry, blame, insecurity or lack of boundaries, emotional triggers disrupt relationship health. While those reactions might be our default responses, awareness helps us interrupt the patterns and make different choices about how we behave, especially in challenging
Recently, I came on too strong with someone. My voice was a bit loud and aggressive. My words were harsh. I was right to be upset, but my reaction only escalated the situation, and the relationship was strained as a result. In the end, I’m not sure anything productive was accomplished. Perhaps I drove my
I wrote the following in January, 2016. Since then, I’ve exchanged diapers for youth sports. Pandemic restrictions have come and gone but full schedules and high demands remain the reality. Perhaps, like me, you need to re-establish your limits to enjoy greater clarity and connection with others. ***** When I started my day last Sunday,
Matt Norman is president of Norman & Associates, which offers Dale Carnegie Training in the North Central US. Dale Carnegie Training is a global organization ...READ MORE