Tiny Bites of Wagaliciousness

Especially if it’s something you dreamed of doing since childhood, do you ever question whether you’re in the right profession? Often what we think a job will be is very different than what it turns out to be. If you find yourself questioning your career path often, it could be time for you to think seriously about what you want to do vs. what you’re doing. Don’t be afraid to make a different care...

Did you know you’re a big chemical factory? Your feelings happen when your brain delivers shots of specific chemicals. The “warm fuzzy feeling” chemical is oxytocin and you can make your brain deliver it any time you want. How? Do something nice for someone. Doing something nice for others gives you a hit of oxytocin. One of the ways I trigger that feeling might be something you’ll have fun with,...

Are you a compassionate person? Very few people would answer that question “no” and yet I bet you can be very non-compassionate at times. For example, when you make a mistake, where does your compassion go? When you have to ask someone else for help, where does your compassion go? When you say words you wish you hadn’t said, where does your compassion go? You are a compassionate person and you’re...

It can suck to be human some days. There are days when you feel blue. Days when you feel as if the road you’re on leads nowhere. Days when it feels like what you do doesn’t matter. Welcome to the human race – we all feel that way sometimes. The trick is, instead of focusing on the feelings of frustration, sadness or even despair, distract yourself. When you let your brain marinate in unhelpful fee...

Most leaders have a season when their team isn’t working their best together. Try this experiment…each morning, before your workday begins, focus on one team member and make a list of their positive attributes. Think about their good qualities only – no negativity allowed – and think about what you respect and appreciate about each one. Focus on what you’ve written, and then look for those qualiti...

Do you ever feel like an imposter in your own life? What does that even mean? Imposter syndrome is something almost everyone feels – like if people only knew the “real” you, they wouldn’t feel as good about you as they do. Imposter syndrome crops up most often when you’re learning something new or doing something that you haven’t done very many times. Imposter syndrome often shows up when you’re o...

There you are, doing whatever you’re doing right this very minute. Do you know how strong you are? You are amazing – even on the days where you don’t feel 100%, you still show up, doing your best. Even on the days where hormones are your enemy, you still show up, doing your best. Even on days where your team isn’t getting along, you still show up, doing your best to help them do their best. Is you...

Is there someone you have to be around that you wish would just go away? Can you ignore their poor behavior? How about ignoring their annoying behavior? When you learn to ignore things that ordinarily set you off, you’re learning to create your own inner peace. How can you ignore their behavior? Stop focusing on it, stop talking to others about it, and stop expecting it from them. When you allow s...

Don’t you just hate it when you don’t know something? Guess what? You can’t know things you don’t know. Really think about that…you cannot know what you don’t know. You haven’t encountered it yet in your life, which is why you don’t know it. Do you see the pointlessness of beating yourself up when you don’t know something? We all do it…you’re not alone in this annoying logical contradiction. You a...

What do you do that feeds your soul? Do you love it? Would you do it, even if you never got paid to do it? Then do it…whatever “it” is. Maybe your work feels like a calling to you, and it feeds your soul. That’s great, and can also be very stressful, even on the best days. It’s important for you to do other things that you love. Give yourself a creative or physical or intellectual pursuit that you...

A lot of people say they feel like their schedule runs them, and they say it like it’s a bad thing. Can you let your calendar be the boss of you and be happy about it? Usually people who don’t love their schedule aren’t scheduling the very thing they need most – their time off. Calendar your time off and respect that boundary. No one can be on call 24/7/365 and that includes you. The way to create...

Do you ever feel glum or sad or maybe even helpless? Welcome to the human race. Even if you’re usually upbeat and successful, it can help to remember that we all have down days and sour moods. Part of being human is having a full range of emotions, and some of them hit hard and hurt. Especially if you’re a normally happy, upbeat person, those more negative feelings can feel overwhelming. Our choic...

Think about your normal day – is there a time of day when you feel tired or like someone drained your energy and brains right out of you? If you have a mid-morning slump, add things like yogurt, bananas, nuts, berries and oats to your breakfast, or have them as mid-morning snacks. If you’re slump happens after lunch, fatty fish like tuna and salmon for lunch can help you power through that. Mid-af...

Have you ever examined the words you use? Language matters, especially when you’re in a leadership position. Loaded language is commonly used in newscasts, headlines, and videos because it triggers a response in many people. If you use loaded language like “greedy” or “struggling with” or “having a meltdown” think about ways you can soften your messages and make them more positive. Loaded language...

Did someone say something hurtful about you? It could have been something they said to your face, behind your back, or even on social media. Hurtful words hurt. We’re social creatures and care about how others feel about us, which is why hurtful words hurt. How long they hurt you depends on what you choose to do with them. If you dwell on it, telling others about what was said and how much it hurt...

Sometimes it’s tough to ask for help. For much of my life I felt like I had to be self-reliant – maybe you’ve felt that way too? Learning to ask for help means you’re learning to be more vulnerable and that can feel scary. The benefits of asking for help are huge, though: you open yourself up to other ways of doing things and sometimes even other ways of thinking  you signal to the person you...

Are you an optimist or a pessimist? The truth is, we’re not either/or, each of us is somewhere on a continuum between the two extremes. An optimist is someone who expects a successful outcome of something. A pessimist is someone who feels that if something can go wrong, it probably will. We get the chance to find optimism or pessimism many times each day, and most people feel either optimistic or...

Has life just thrown you a huge curve ball? It could be a car wreck, a job loss, a relationship loss, or even the loss of a loved one. Curve balls hurt when they hit you, and it can be easy to feel as though that pain will last forever. It doesn’t have to, and it won’t unless you allow it to. As soon as you can dress yourself, start making decisions. Decisions help you feel alive and in control. A...

Is your day off to a rough start? Has everything that could go wrong seem to have gone wrong? Are you willing to spend one minute refocusing so you can feel better? When you’re focused on what’s gone wrong, you continue to notice things that go wrong. When you give yourself one minute to refocus, you can more easily notice what’s going right. For one minute, take long, slow, deep breaths and think...

Does it make your heart sing to help someone learn something? Yeah, me too. Think about the questions people ask you, and what you enjoy teaching people. Can you see a pattern – is there one topic that you’re asked about often? Now, think about the topic – what groups of people need the expertise you have where that topic is concerned? Inside your workplace are there departments or employee resour...

If you have a staff that doesn’t get along, you know that’s bad. It’s bad for productivity, it’s bad for individual performance, and it’s bad for your mental wellbeing. As the team leader, playing referee to people clearly old enough to know better is the last thing you need to spend your time on. If it’s so bad you don’t even want to walk through the front door in the morning, try this – create a...

What is your workspace like? Is it a place that feels comfortable and home-like, or one that’s sterile and bland? If you can, give yourself the gift of comfort while you work. Put padded mats or rugs where you stand for long periods of time. Get an ergonomically correct, comfortable chair to sit in. These things are not frivolous – they’re the tools you need to do your job well. Dad taught my brot...

Communication is the backbone to successful marriages, successful families, successful teams, and successful businesses. When communication is clear, complete, and compassionate, misunderstandings are far less likely to happen. When everyone talks to each other as equals, with respect for what each person brings to the success of the team, cohesiveness is the order of the day. When everyone unders...

Have you ever met someone who could not take initiative? They don’t ask how they can help, they’ll usually do what you tell them to do, but they can’t seem to see something that needs to be done and just do it. How does that make you feel? Does their behavior irritate you, or make you judge them as lazy or uncaring or just plain stupid? Can you find compassion for them so you can deal with them be...

It’s probably not about you, so don’t own it or worry about it or dwell on it. When someone goes off on you, no matter what the topic, what they’re really saying to you is that they’re having a bad day and taking it out on you. Don’t take it personally, don’t respond in the moment, and maybe don’t respond at all. They’re going to vent, so let them. Keep a placid look on your face and put imaginary...