Are you team NY resolutions? Or maybe you’re more of a theme word for the year kind. Perhaps January 1st is just another date on the calendar for you.

Goal setting moves into the spotlight as we enter a new year-regardless of the path you chose.

According to a study by FranklinCovey, a global performance improvement company. four out of five people that make New Year's resolutions never actually complete them. In fact, a third won't even make it until the end of January. Sounds like a recipe for failure.  Instead of setting resolutions, a good question to ask yourself is who do you want to be in 2023? 

Today I want to share my process for achieving goals. Goal setting isn't something you visit just while you watch the ball drop. 

Resolution vs. Goal

First, let's define a goal and a resolution. A resolution is a firm decision to do or not to do something, a firm decision I want to highlight that part. There doesn't seem to be any space...

My eyes welled up as I rolled cookie dough balls amidst flour-dusted countertops and a tower of dishes taller than me in the kitchen sink.

What I had intended to be a fun day of baking with my family had ended with a screaming match and me up to my eyeballs in cookie dough and left alone to fill 3 dozen cookie tins with a cute bow on top.

Some of my best holiday memories were baking cookies with mom and this cookie explosion in my kitchen left me feeling like a failure and completely overwhelmed.

Now I know better and I’m happy to report that I’m looking forward to baking cookies this year. In fact, my whole scrooge attitude for the holidays has turned around thanks to my new outlook on avoiding overwhelm.

I want to share with you how I have gotten to this new outlook and the secret is creating reasonable expectations during the holidays. In the scene I described above, I was trying to bake sugar cookies. You know, those perfectly formed...

Kvetching means complaining in Yiddish.

It is something I have known since childhood. Having a Jewish mom and Jewish grandparents shaped my upbringing. Funny how we are influenced by our environment as children. 

Since becoming an adult, I have noticed I complain more than I'd like to, whether it is because of my upbringing or not. In today's post, I'd like to talk about why we complain and how to choose gratitude instead. 

Complaining Defined

Let's look at the definition of complaining: to express grief, pain, or discontent, but also expressing satisfaction or annoyance about a state of affairs or an event.

What's the difference between complaining and expressing emotion? 

In a conference, when you listen to a speaker, you may say, “that speaker was boring.” That's complaining, but you can also say, “I did not learn anything from that speaker.”

Reframing it as an emotion takes the complaint out of it, but it also gives you an opportunity to...

Bravo to you!

Nice!! And not a problem!! love you too!

Good morning!!!! Thank you so much for your text!!! So happy!! Love you, my friend!

How would you like to get messages like this on your phone on the regular?

I'm going to share with you a practice I started about a year ago that has blown my phone up with these messages and made life more meaningful.

I want to talk about my favorite way to show gratitude. This practice fills my phone with messages like the ones above. 

When you hear the words gratitude practice, your mind may go to writing in a journal or gathering around a Thanksgiving table. 

I practice differently.  I send a message of gratitude to someone.  It could be a friend, family member, coworker, etc.  I recognize them for having done something good.

Acknowledge them with detail. Check out the video above for an example. If you want a deeper dive into gratitude, I held a masterclass on...

I’m BORED!!!! As a parent these words make me cringe, but what if I told you there was a way to eliminate some of the boring tasks in your life?

Yep, automation. Today I’m going to point out 7 boring things you can automate today to spend more time doing what you LOVE!

Automate Boring Work

 Sales/ Marketing Funnel:

To make money, we need leads for our business. That's why many of us started these businesses in the first place. The good news is that by using an evergreen funnel, you can automate this process and take out the hassle of following up with leads constantly from your business. You can do this in a variety of ways. Brendon Bouchard taught me about the opt-in value offer model, and there are many different ways to create opt-ins. Among them are PDFs, video series, quizzes, and micro audio Summits. 

With this funnel, you get their email address and give them some value. They love what they see, so you make an offer, and it's...

When you're stressed or feeling like you can't keep your head above water, taking a little something off your plate is the best feeling.

A good way to achieve this is through delegation, but so many of us get it wrong or have fears surrounding it.

Myself included. 

In order to focus more on growing my business, I hired a virtual assistant about a year ago. Her responsibilities included engaging my followers on Instagram. After a few months, I realized that the $$ I was sinking into that was a waste. It wasn't because she wasn't doing her job, but because I hadn't grown my brand voice and account to the point that it was ready to take over.

Lesson #1 delegate the right stuff. Check to see if the task you are passing off can be done better by whoever is getting it, or if it is one you are running smoothly and can be passed on with a detailed workflow. Where do you find "the right stuff"?

• Make a list of your tasks
• Identify your most leverage work (your...

Can I have your attention?

It's a given that we ask for attention, but don’t give it away so easily. The purpose of today's post is to discuss why that is so critical. 

Mind wandering can be a good thing. It can inspire us to be creative. It is nice to get lost in thought when we are facing a difficult situation or want to relax on a Sunday afternoon. There are times, however, when you don't want your head in the clouds. 

The mind wanders a lot more than we would expect. A scientific study shows that 96% of Americans experience wandering minds. Our heads are off task up to 50% of the time during the day. 

Attention is what our brain focuses on, the boss of everything we focus on. Don’t you want a nice boss? We don't want to be led down rabbit holes we don't want to go down. 

Let's look at the definition of mind wandering. Mind wandering is you are not guiding your mind to remain on one topic. Your constraints are...

When does creativity strike? 

I'm a runner. I often experience my aha moments on the trail. Also, I am a morning person. I find my focus is better in the early morning hours, but it's different for everyone. 

The Creative Process

Let's talk about your creative process. In 1940, an advertising executive named James Webb Young published a short guide titled “A Technique for Producing Ideas”. I want to explore his concept of the creative process, and why it goes beyond a spark. 

The first step is to gather ideas, experiences, and information, regardless of your creative outlet, The painter can gather ideas in nature. The content creator may need to get out there and experience life. This can fit into a time block.

Step two is to reason and consciously think about what you want to create. This is the step in the process where we connect ideas in new and different ways. As Mark Twain wrote, “There is no such thing as a new...

Focus is more challenging for those with attention deficit issues, and what can neurotypicals (without ADHD) learn from these tools?

I want to start with my journey with ADHD.  My daughter was five years old when she was first diagnosed. She had tics as a toddler so we were already really spending a lot of time in doctors' offices trying to figure out what was going on. 

The diagnosis came when we took her for extensive testing with a licensed educational psychologist. My husband and I wanted to try everything we could before using medications. There are a lot of differing opinions on this subject, but I want to be clear…there’s no shame in choosing medication. My son was diagnosed a few years later.

I have been very invested in trying to find tools and hacks to help my kids focus. School requires attention to things kids find very, very boring. ADHD kiddos tend to get into a lot of trouble and really struggle with focus. 

Why...

First, I'd like to answer a question: what makes a day productive? The question has actually been asked a couple of times. I will give you my own example of what a productive workday looks like for me. Here goes:

• Wake up at 5:30 am
• Morning routine
• Exercise
• Getting the kids off
• Work 9-3 broken into time blocks
• Reset Routine
• Kids activities/Dinner
• Recharge

Let’s get back to the original question - is productivity a skill?

The answer is yes, but I think it's actually a set of skills, and I'd like to share with you some tips on each. There is more information about them that I can give you. If you want to delve deeper into any given skill, you have that choice as well.

1. Problem Solving: Going back to my ideal day, there's a lot of room for problems to pop up. As I was recording this video, the tech wasn't working on my phone. I was having trouble with the audio. One quick tip on how to become a better problem solver is to just identify the problem clearly....