It’s no news that what keeps most of us from doing that one thing we’ve been thinking about doing is fear that we will fail. We’ll give ourselves all these different excuses for not doing it and basically give in to the fear. But why do we fear failure? Author Seth Godin in his book Tribes states that fear of failure is overrated. He states that what actually stops us from taking that next step is fear of criticism. This…
Alicia had just arrived home from dropping off her husband at the airport. It was the first time he had to go on a business trip since their first child was born. Although she was glad that her husband hadn’t traveled during their son’s first 5 months, she was nervous about the whole situation as she had no other family in town or close friends since they were new to the area. “Have to go honey, we’re leaving the gate…
If you find yourself in the presence of someone you would like to get to know better or simply just have a good conversation with, maybe it’s someone that interests you, maybe it’s an exec from your company and you want them to remember you, how should you engage them? Maybe talk about something that interests them. Maybe you can get a reading of what they are interested in based on what they are wearing or holding, or where you…
“Why does this always happen to me, and in the worst moments! Is it possible that the keys grow legs and hide when I need them! If I don’t leave in the next 10 minutes I’m going to be late!”, says Stacey with a frantic tone as she’s running around the house looking for her car keys. Immediately after, her husband Michael yells out, “I found them!”. “Thanks Honey, not sure what I would do without you.”. He responds, “Babe,…
As she’s making dinner, Mary gets startled by the slamming of the front door. Soon after her son shows up in the kitchen, furious and teary-eyed. “What’s wrong Brian?”, Mary asks. “The coach is making me run the 110-meter hurdles in the next track meet. I’m terrible at hurdles, I always either knock them down or fall flat on my face. Imagine falling flat on my face on every hurdle in front of all those people, and with my team…
Sam arrives at the first meeting he’s been invited to by his mentor, Mr. Smith, who is the CEO of a large corporation. At first Sam thought the idea of having a mentor at age 30 was silly, but was later convinced it would bring him many benefits and he felt very fortunate to have Mr. Smith as his mentor as he had heard so many good things about his amazing leadership skills and ability to turn companies around. In…
The place was much nicer than what Vanessa expected. Crystal chandeliers hanged from the 30 ft ceiling, providing the perfect lighting. The tables and chairs seem perfectly in place as if they sprouted from the marble floor. And all this accompanied by the smell of good food. To call this a restaurant did not seem right. “The only thing that could make this experience any better was knowing that all my friends made it.”, Vanessa thought. And there they were,…
Julia wakes up in the morning feeling really good about herself and motivated to start her day. She gets ready for school and heads out. When she arrives she runs into her friend Karen. Karen doesn’t seem to be having a great day and after taking a look at Julia she says, “You look horrible Julia, you must have had a rough night. Are you having a big test today?”. Julia responds, “Really, I look horrible?Actually no, I don’t have…
A young man is having a conversation with his dad. His dad is telling him how proud he is of him. “Son, you’re the first generation to graduate from college and you’ve been able to get your dream job, the type of job you always talked about since you were 12”. “I know, thanks dad.”, his son replies. “So why do I rarely see you happy?”, his dad asks. “I know this is the job I always wanted, but I…
Fred gets home from work and sees a mess in the kitchen as he walks in. He begins to make signs of frustration and soon proceeds to make comments to his wife about being more organized. She brushes off the comment and continues to make dinner. He then makes another comment when he sees some things thrown on the floor in the living room. At this point his wife blows up, mentioning how he doesn’t appreciate her and only focuses…