DRIVEN Blog
Come Clean With Yourself: Releasing Guilt and Regret
Much of our career potential is cut off by an invisible force. It exists in a place where shame, embarrassment, lack of confidence and a fear of failing flourish. Ironically, we have control of this force, but…
Reframe, Move On and Grow: Releasing The Past
Whereas people can clearly see the control freak in you (if any), there’s an invisible system inside your mind that others cannot detect— a realm where each of us (psychopaths excluded)…
“I’m Right, You’re Wrong”: Why We’re Resistant To Others’ Ideas, Part 2
“It doesn’t hurt to consider all ideas, even when they’re not your own.” This sentiment may seem tongue-in-cheek, but there’s an important reality behind it that can mean the difference between career stagnation and true accomplishment. In my previous article— the companion to this one, I explored with…
Your Gateway To Invulnerability: Releasing Resistance
We’ve all heard the cautionary words, “Resistance is futile”. It’s a premodern meme that originated on Star Trek as a warning of forced assimilation by one alien collective upon another— pretty powerful and assuming words when posed as a threat. But when we look just a bit deeper, this threat is also telling us something…
Deeper Insight: Your Self-Care Resource Links
Throughout March, DRIVEN has been focused on Self-Care, providing you with a useful OfficeHours webinar on pursuing a healthful lifestyle, and various articles exploring this personal asset that even the seemingly well put-together folks in your industry may be secretly lacking. I hope you’ve taken advantage of these…
The Respect You Deserve: Re-Leasing Your Emotional Energy
In my exploration of self-care, I’ve so far given you some compelling reasons to re-lease your mental and spiritual wellbeing in order to enhance your career. It’s not every day that someone suggests you work LESS hours and resist trying to be the hero by always being available to your colleagues. But these mindset…
Releasing Your Illusions: Why Self-Care Will Lead to The Life You Want
Celebration, or what I call the secret sauce to living a more fulfilled life, is easier spoken about than practiced. Whenever I ask the question during DRIVEN workshops that I posed a couple of weeks ago about how often people celebrate their career successes, most say they reserve such fanfare for “big occasions” like…
Deeper Insight: Your Confidence and Impostor Syndrome Resource Links
If January was DRIVEN’s month to tackle Perfectionism, then February has clearly been about Confidence. I hope you’ve been with us every step of the way during this exploration, and that you’ve discovered an outlook or two that have enhanced your life…
Celebrate Every Win— And Put Your Impostor In Her Place!
Marinating on the things you did today to contribute to your career is a simple yet extraordinarily effective way to weaken the influence of the impostor and reverse the Impostor Syndrome. Recognizing all you do, particularly through the act of confidence journaling, is one of the key themes of my recent article…
Stretch, Grow & Thrive: Building The Confidence to Defeat The Impostor
Unbeknownst to you, you’ve already begun your confidence-building practice, thanks to your recent discovery of the Growth Mindset. Here’s how it breaks down: Step 1: Accepting that you’re going to fail daily, perhaps multiple times, as a result of the 35,000 decisions made each-and-every day! Step…
Far From Perfect: The Reasons Behind Your Impostor Syndrome
Part of the frustration and desperation behind perfectionism is a need to keep the magic trick going. “People think I’m smart, and accomplished, and confident. When is someone going to peek behind that curtain, yank it back and expose the real me? I know I’m not all that great. It’s ‘only me’.” Another biggie is “I got lucky…
Perfectly Human: Evading The Trap of Perfectionism
The word “perfect” is a superlative. When it’s not being used to describe the ultimate in sophisticated cocktails— the Perfect Manhattan, it translates to “second to none, ideal, flawless, impeccable, the ultimate”. As such, the word can never (another superlative) be used in reference to oneself. This is…
Conversation, Ongoing: The Back-and-Forth Circuit of Workplace Feedback
Making the shift from anxious to excited has revealed itself to be the formula for a curious mindset. Once you’ve made the transformation (which fits into the rare category of simple and easy), your emotions will stabilize, grooming you to receive workplace feedback constructively and without impediment by…
Self-Check Strategies: How To Make Feedback Sessions Work for YOU
Formal workplace feedback can be a tough nut to crack. Considering the contrasting perspectives of the givers and receivers of feedback, the amount of openness to ideas can vary, as can the trust factor between the parties. In my recent article Openness To Influence: The Factors To Consider Before Receiving…
Listening To Understand: A Socials Skills Staple Examined
The essential social skill of Listening is rarely mastered, even by those among us who pride ourselves on being great listeners. In my recent article, Chit-Chat Credentials: Sharpening Your Social Skills with Two Distinct Listening Styles, I offered what may have amounted to a wake-up call for many of us by sharing…
A Well-Oiled Mind: How To Achieve Emotional Wellbeing Through Self-Compassion
Our recent look at self-compassion focused on tending to one’s mind— you know, that crucial piece of equipment we rely upon as knowledge workers yet inflict abuse upon without remorse. I must confess that I don’t think Kristin Neff was referring to our mental energy when she wrote, “Self-compassion involves…
I Feel Your Pain: An Empathetic How-To For Today’s Professionals
Workplace harmony depends upon some specific EQ tenets, not the least of which is the ability of colleagues to Empathize with one another. Such Empathy is the root of inclusion and is essential for creating trust— without which there is low productivity and substandard office functionality. In my recent article…
Beyond Fear: Taking Self-Regulation Out For A Spin
Looking fear straight in the eye— it’s not something most of us are comfortable with, but it’s a challenge that you can realistically become comfortable with. My recent article, Escaping Gravity: The Importance of Confronting Workplace Fears And Soaring Beyond Your Comfort Zone, demonstrates that by engaging…
Your Saving Grace: Self-Examination And The Science Of Redirecting Your Emotions
Sometimes, a little brainwashing is just what the doctor ordered. Of course, I would never endorse the surrendering of your better judgments to a person or a cause that attempts to keep you under a spell. Instead, I’m referring to a constructive type of brainwashing— an intentional carving out of your brain’s…
But Now, I See: How Revealing Your Blind Spots Can Heighten Your Self-Awareness
With so many layers to self-awareness, it sometimes seems unreasonable to expect ourselves to practice this EQ virtue with any level of refinement. For instance, if you read my recent article Life…