I am tourist-overrun Oahu, Hawaii.  It's hot.  It's humid. And I am with a boatload of my in-laws...

For some people, this could be the opening sentence to their obituary. Not me. Astonishingly, not.

Happy Freedom Day!

As we are celebrating this important day, I have been asking myself this:  what would give me more freedom in my thinking and being?

simplicity

[sim-plis-i-tee] 

Now you know how to spell it and how to pronounce it.  But can you do it?

Admit it.  You hate networking.

Though you know you should.

You realize that it’s all about who you know.

If you are one of those people to whom the idea of a networking event sounds like nails on a chalkboard, welcome to the club.

It is one of those days…

You wake up and you realize you forgot to set your alarm and you are definitely late already.

I have so much news I hardly know where to begin….

Like, right now, I am in MAGIC Honolulu, doing a little work, taking a little time to visit with

friends and submerge myself in the vibe that is most my natural state. Full of beauty, space and

creativity. So yesterday I did this most amazing thing.

I SWAM WITH DOLPHINS.

So much talk about being grateful this week.  Are you?

Face it.  It could be better.  You could be better.  Your life could be better. You could do more.

With all this Thanks-giving in the air, do you notice your buttons get pushed more than usual?

Here she is…  Fall is starting to blow in.  Don’t know about where you are, but mornings are starting to be crisp up here in the Sierras and my early morning paddling forays now require some serious fleece.

The end of the year seems shockingly close and it is a really good time to turn back to your goals list and make one more push to finish the year out right. In the “Plan” section of my Powerful Performance Formula, we talk a lot about the different ways of strategic planning.

Since the dark ages, the assumption has been that the most important leadership traits are confidence, courage and being fearless, and that those are characteristics mostly attributed to men.

There’s been a ton of research on the subject, and it turns out, that women hold 52% of all jobs, but only 14.6% are executives, 8.1 % are top earners, and 4.6 % are Fortune 500 CEOs. (CNNMoney)

HBR lists some fun reasons for this clear under-representation of women in management, namely:

I got fired.  Yep, I really did.  Has that ever happened to you?

You gave it your all, felt like you were doing a really good job, did your very best work and yet, you got fired anyway.  When the day came that you were escorted out with your one plant, your books and your pictures in a box, you were still confused about what happened.

Sometimes it’s really not you, it’s them.

Of course, what it takes not to be in that situation, is being clear about your 5 win elements:

True.  This has been a really busy time and I have neglected you.  I'm sorry...

AND:)  I've been having the best time of my life.  Traveling, teaching, connecting.  I co-hosted an awesome event and now I am co-leading a mastermind with wonderful, inspired people.  So yes, I've been super-charged and engaged -- busy was the least of it.

To recharge, I took a little trip up to the Pacific Northwest, culminating on a tiny island on the Canadian border.  

I've missed you.  I've been traveling again...

and... while I've been on the road I have created a powerful assessment tool, just for you.

I am so excited to share this with you because I know, it will help you so much.  Right Now.

Stress:  the ultimate enemy to having a fun, fulfilled life, health, happiness, good relationships and contribution, just to name a few.

Now there’s good stress and bad stress.  The good stress is part of the secret of High Performance:  living to our highest potential, in integrity with our values and operating at high levels of energy so we can make big impact, love what we do and get more done than we ever thought possible.  Now that’s the good stuff.  Not always easy, often challenging, pushing our buttons but totally worth it.

This morning I listened to an interview with Sandra Yancey from eWomenNetwork and Shawn Achor, one of the world’s leading experts on the connection between happiness and success.

It confirmed again for me how all the “air war” (what’s in our minds) is so much more important than the “ground war” (strategies), but how a victory is only possible when both go hand-in-hand.

I just came back from taking a few weeks off and engaging with the second of the only two modes we really want to be in:  rejuvenation… (the first one is engaging in high value activities)