Tiny Bites of Wagaliciousness

Is there a co-worker that you don’t really trust? Maybe you’ve been told things they’ve said or done, or maybe someone you like and trust has warned you away from them? Whatever the reason, you are resisting getting to know them and interact with them, and you could be missing out on a beneficial relationship, and you’re helping create a toxic work environment. It’s easy to define people based on...

Is there a task ahead of you that you’re dreading? Something that feels big and maybe even overwhelming? When we’re in that place of uncertainty or dread, our imaginations do a wonderful job of  dishing up all the things that could go wrong, all the things we don’t know about the task ahead, and all the ways it – and we – can fail miserably. Don’t listen to your imagination! When faced with a...

Have you ever thought about your thoughts and how free they are? No one can limit your thoughts. No one can dictate your thoughts. No one can think inside your head. Your thoughts have the ultimate freedom – no limits! Oh, wait – your thoughts do have one limitation on them…you. You are the only person in charge of your thoughts – you’re the boss of them! You get to decide whether you like the tho...

How does the world see you? Have you ever thought about that? Many people haven’t really stopped to think about what their posture, head carriage, stride, and personal style (clothes, shoes, hair, etc.) says to others. This isn’t about you changing yourself to be what others might prefer, this is about you being sure you’re giving the world accurate information about who you are and, more importan...

Do you sometimes – or maybe often – feel unworthy or like an imposter in your own life? There are a lot of reasons feelings like that could crop up inside you – maybe you were raised by someone with expectations so high you never felt their approval, maybe you had a difficult time in school so your grades were lower than your friends’ grades, and maybe you’re shy and don’t want people to notice yo...

Remember the younger you? The you who was so excited the day you got your driver’s license, the you that blushed and tingled over the thought of your first crush, and the you that beamed with pride when you were handed that diploma? That you is still in there, sometimes lost in the day-to-day busyness of life and conflicting responsibilities, sometimes feeling crushed by a stack of bills, and some...

The Roman philosopher Seneca the Younger is often quoted as saying, “Don’t stumble over something behind you.” Think about the meaning of that – so many of us have things that have happened to us in the past that we use to either define or limit ourselves in the present. Additionally, we beat ourselves up over wasting time, squandering perceived opportunities, and staying in a job or a relationshi...

Most days go fairly well for most people, yet many, if not most, people end their day feeling like things didn’t go as well as they wished. Our brains are hard-wired to focus on what went wrong, and from an evolutionary standpoint, that makes sense. Mistakes are best used as learning experiences, so those who focus on their mistakes can learn more than those who don’t even notice them. However, it...

Are you self-conscious when you have to speak to groups – large or small, in person or virtual? Between my career in major market radio and then as a professional speaker, I can tell you that practice does help ease that feeling of self-consciousness. I can also tell you that the audience you’re speaking to wants to like you and wants you to succeed, so the self-consciousness isn’t about the audie...

Did you get good and angry at someone today? That kind of white-hot mad where you feel perfectly justified in the anger? That is perfectly human, and is also usually short-lived. Some people get addicted to the adrenaline and cortisol rush that goes with the anger, so they look for reasons to get angry. Hopefully that’s not you – what you felt was just good, old-fashioned, strong and sudden irrita...

Are you a person who will let yourself down before you’ll let someone else down? Think about it – if someone you care about really wants to do something and you don’t, do you do it anyway? Do you give in to other people’s desires far more often than you do what you want to do? Will you let your own work go undone in order to help someone else meet their deadline? Do you do that a lot? Have you eve...

Do you hate feeling pressured? Most people do – think about this, though. High pressure cooks food faster. High temperature and pressure creates stronger steel and safer glass. And of course, diamonds wouldn’t form without high temperature and pressure. Now let’s think about the ways pressure can be a good thing in your life, too. Time pressure can give you the impetus to get something done on dea...

How do you greet the new day, indoors or out? If you’re like many people, your day starts with a routine that doesn’t include any time in fresh air. One of the easiest ways to lift your spirits and your mood is to get outside for 10 minutes. Yep, this is an evidence-based mood-raising tool: just 10 minutes of outside time will trigger release of endorphins and dopamine while lowering cortisol leve...

Have you ever heard the saying, “what you look for, you’ll see”? How about, “whether you believe you can or believe you can’t, you’re right”? Wait…here’s one more: "Life is not about waiting for the storm to pass. It's about learning to dance in the rain." All these cliches speak to the same thing – that our minds are flexible and powerful. The study of neuroplasticity is showing us just how flexi...

Are you having a kind of “blah” day? Do you have a lot of those? Do you want to shed the blues and find your passion again? One sure-fire way is to find one thing to be in love with and milk that feeling for as long as you can. It could be the pair of shoes you’ll wear today, it could be the little flecks of gold in your eyes, it could be the feeling of the soft morning breeze moving your hair. Fi...

Are you someone who’s good at standing up for yourself? Many of us aren’t, and it’s a skill worth cultivating. Why? Because when you are treated disrespectfully and you don’t stand up for yourself, your subtle message to yourself is that you deserved what you just got. Ouch! Could that be true? Yep – standing up for ourselves is natural, and when we don’t do it, it’s usually because we were taught...

Are you sometimes guilty of beating yourself up? Oh, the painful power of perfectionism…it infects most people from time to time, and some people most of the time. It’s that feeling that you must be an expert at what you’re doing, whether you’ve ever done it before or not! I remember not wanting to play sports in school because I thought I was clumsy, and I was certain I’d be terrible and would be...

Have you been out of school for a while and you’re feeling a little bit left behind from a knowledge standpoint? As children, teens, and young adults, we marinated in a structured learning environment, and once free from that structure, it’s easy to forget just how important learning is. The most successful people never let their desire to learn fall by the wayside. Once out of school and firmly e...

Do you feel like a square peg in a round hole sometimes? Like you’re doing what you love…what you’re called to do…and yet you feel like you don’t really belong? It’s not uncommon to measure yourself against the attributes and qualities of your peers and find yourself lacking in some way, and yet it’s one of the worst things you can do to yourself if you want mental wellbeing, a sense of belonging,...

Let’s talk about the people closest to you in your life – the people you share a roof with, the people you share your workday with, and the people you share your leisure activities with. Think about a time when you were struggling – maybe a breakup, maybe a financial hardship, maybe a personal crisis of confidence – and once you have that time and how you were feeling firmly in mind, think about t...

Do you often look to others to decide how to feel about something, whether to do something, or if you’re doing “life” right? This is something most of us do at some point in our lives, at least with some people in our lives. Maybe we wear our hair the way another person prefers it instead of how we would like to wear it. Maybe we dream of life as an artist, and yet follow a career path designed by...

A throwback country song by Vince Gill talks about “which bridge to cross and which bridge to burn.” The song is about having two romantic relationships and how to choose between them, but the sentiment is much larger than just love. There are times in most people's lives where a choice must be made, and it’s a “one or the other” choice. Figuratively crossing one bridge literally removes the other...

Do you work in a team, or maybe manage a team? Have you ever thought about what constitutes a great team? A great team is like a sled dog team…individual members all pulling together. The members may look similar and may have similar skill sets, and yet they’re still completely different individuals. The ones closest to the sled need to be the physically strongest ones because they’ll be the ones...

Does your life feel like you’re in a valley instead of on an epic mountaintop? It doesn’t take a whole lot of looking to notice that everything in our world moves in cycles. The moon has phases, the earth has seasons, the oceans have tides, the plants germinate, grow, ripen their seeds, spread their seeds, then go dormant. The sun rises and sets. Every day, it shines its light, shares its war...

Are you a patient person, or are you someone who get so caught up in the anticipation of an event that you lose your temper when it doesn’t happen fast enough? For most of us, the answer is “it depends.” It could depend on the mood you’re in that day, it could depend on how badly you want the thing, and it could depend on how much else is on your plate. When I’m feeling impatient, I remember this...