- 100% Ownership – The First Key to Leadership
this class delves into the first foundation of Leadership – taking responsibility for your outcomes – all of them. Blaming others, or even ourselves, for unwanted and undesirable outcomes is a way of life in our society. What you may not realize is the tremendous loss this way of thinking creates – loss of ...
- 3 Lessons from American Idol – Top 10
This was a very juicy week for Lessons from American Idol!
The first 2 lessons were pretty clearly expressed by Usher in his role as mentor. I have to say, I think Usher is my favorite American Idol Mentor so far! He wasn’t just interested in the arrangement, he really gave the Contestants constructive and immediately ...
- An Act of Willpower – the Process of Perseverance
The skill of applying your will to your choices consistently is critical to making your systems work (including, time management, organization, marketing) and creating consistent and sustainable success. Start developing your will power today!
- Attitude of Gratitude Or How to Handle Rejection and the Other Hard Stuff!
Hard stuff happens – rejection, loss, having to learn new stuff, overwhelm – you know, hard stuff. We know from the Law of Attraction that what you focus on expands and what you expect you get. So how do you put the hard stuff into a context that creates and expands the good ...
- Attitude of Gratitude or How to Handle the Hard Stuff
Everywhere you look, there’s bad news. Bad news in the world, bad news on the job front, bad news. And to make it worse it’s cold out, and gets dark early. Could actually get a girl down.
- Attract Success
Why does Visioning work? Why do some people just seem to magically get what they want? Why is it that sometimes things just seem to flow into your life with ease, and other times, it’s like you’re slogging through mud?
It’s all about the Law of Attraction! The fundamental principles of the Law of Attraction are ...
- Boundaries – The Key to Time Management Sanity
Do you know what your boundaries are? Most of us have some vague notion of what a boundary is and how it feels when someone has crossed our boundaries. But what are they really?
Boundary – Something that indicates bounds or limits; a limiting or bounding line.
Dictionary.com
In the context of time management, your boundaries can have ...
- Confidence
Confidence, as an issue, comes up for my clients, in one form or another, on an almost daily basis. Over the years, I’ve worked with them to build their confidence and spent a lot of time reading, thinking and studying the issue.
I’ve observed that those who struggle with confidence can get a boost when something ...
- Confidence
Believing that confidence is something that you have, something you can get, something someone else can give you – that is a misunderstanding.
Confidence is defined as: a feeling or consciousness of one’s powers. If you believe in your own power and ability, you will FEEL confident.
Confidence is an emotion. It is an emotion that is ...
- Debra Recommends A Cure for the Common Life
The Cardinal Rules of Self-Esteem
by Catherine Cardinal, PhD
This book, originally titled the Ten Commandments of Self-Esteem was written by my dear friend, Catherine. Going beyond what we already know about self-esteem, she offers simple, clear steps that will lead you into the life you deserve.
From Amazon.com:
A CURE FOR THE COMMON LIFE: THE CARDINAL RULES OF ...
- Debra Recommends Ask and It is Given – How to Use the Law of Attraction
I often use exercises in this book for both my own work and in session with clients. Here is the review from Amazon:
- Debra Recommends Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ
Much of my work with private clients and in my Success Skills classes for the Membership are based on the concepts explained in this seminal work.
- Debra Recommends Taming Your Gremlin
A Surprisingly Simple Method for Getting Out of Your Own Way
by Rick Carson
From Amazon.com:
This is a completely updated edition of the 1983 classic that introduced a powerful method for gaining freedom from self-defeating behaviors and beliefs. Rick Carson, creator of the renowned Gremlin-Taming Method, has revised the book to include fresh interactive activities, real-life vignettes ...
- Debra Recommends The Power of Focusing
A Practical Guide to Emotional Self-Healing
by Ann Weiser Cornell, Ph.D.
I’ve been personally using these techniques for my own inner work for about 8 years. And I use these techniques on a regular basis with my private coaching clients. I find that “focusing” increases emotional intelligence, access to your intuition and a deeper understanding of what ...
- Debra Russell Recommends The Power of Full Engagement
Managing Energy, Not Time, Is the Key to High Performance and Personal Renewal
by Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz
These concepts have helped me tremendously in building a real balance between achievement and nourishing myself into my time management structures. With the understanding that nourishing myself is what enables me to reach peak performance – many of ...
- Emotional Intelligence – A Critical Skill for Success
According to Daniel Goleman, “…people who are emotionally adept … are at an advantage at any domain in life … are more likely to be content and effective in their lives, mastering the habits of mind that foster their own productivity…”
The ability to handle your emotions will affect how you respond to adversity and rejection, ...
- Fear of Success or Fear of Failure?
What’s stopping you? Do you know?
What blocks you from pursuing your dreams with all that you have, all that you are, all of your might?
Often when asked this question, the answer is either:
Fear of Success
or
Fear of Failure
And often it’s even expressed as both – “Maybe it’s fear of success or failure. I don’t know….” Really, ...
- FEARING PARIS
Suppose that what you fear
could be trapped
and held in Paris.
Then you would have
the courage to go
everywhere in the world.
All the directions of the compass
open to you,
except the degrees east or west
of true north
that lead to Paris.
Still, you wouldn’t dare
put your toes
smack dab on the city limit line.
You’re not really willing
to stand on a mountainside,
miles away,
and ...
- How to Create a Values-Based Career
We hear the term battered around, but do you really know what your values are? Values are what you, personally, consider to be really and truly important. And here’s the challenge – this is completely subjective and often completely unconscious.
- How to Maintain Consistent Growth and Development
Have you ever pushed yourself out of your comfort zone? You know, created something really different, taken a risk that felt scary and hard, pushed through a tough learning curve, talked to someone who totally intimidated you?
And after that push – did you feel the almost irresistible urge to pull back to your safety zone ...
- How to Manage Conflicting Priorities
In our complex, day-to-day lives, we have a multitude of priorities calling for our attention. Some call in a whisper. Others scream from the rooftops. And the soft voice of the things that we most long to accomplish is often drowned out by the fires and clamoring of these conflicting priorities. ...
- How to Move Past Your Fear of Success or Failure
Do you feel confronted by the specter of fear or success?
When you start to take action to move your career forward, does it feel like you’re pushing against a wall? Or does that wall stop you dead in your tracks?
This question comes up often, “How to I move past my fear of success or fear ...
- How to Use Feedback and Criticism Constructively
The most successful artists (and people) have made an art of receiving and implementing feedback. But for the rest of us, feedback can be really hard to hear. It can be painful. It can trigger all of our negative beliefs both about our own worth and about the probability of our success.
- Leadership
I believe that Leadership, or the lack thereof, underlies many if not all of the challenges that we are experiencing in today’s world. But what is Leadership?
- Manage Your Emotions – the 4th Key to Maintaining Focus in the Face of Chaos
Just to refresh your memory, in the 1st Key, we looked at the big list, and in the 2nd Key, took everything off the plate that we could. In the 3rd Key we talked about getting help and delegating. But one of the biggest problems in maintaining focus during times of chaos and stress are ...
- Motivation and Momentum-The Missing Keys to Successful Time Management
What is motivation, really? It is what drives your behavior. And according to the experts in the sciences of neurology and behavior – 95% of what drives our behavior as human beings is unconscious!
- No Failure – Only Feedback
Over the last few months, I’ve been doing a series of calls for the Artists Marketing & Business Academy based on Christopher Howard’s Assumptions for Empowered Leadership. For this edition of the Words to the Wise Newsletter, I’m focusing on Assumption #9:
“Only feedback – no failure; therefore utilize everything”
I’ll go much deeper into how to ...
- Overcoming Fear
Fear is an emotion. Courage is a skill. We will show you ways to develop the skill of courage in response to the emotion of fear … so you can move forward and achieve your desired level of success.
- Some Fun Alternative Definitions of FEAR
False Evidence Appearing Real – the canonical one
False Emotions Appearing Real
Future Events Appear Real
False Expectations about Reality
Finding Excuses and Reasons
For Everything A Reason
F*%# Everything and Run
Failure Expected and Received
Fighting Ego against Reality
Frantic Effort to Appear Real
Federal Employee Antidiscrimination and Retaliation Act of 2002
A positive take on it: Feelings Expressed Allows Relief
Face Everything and Recover
And my ...
- Transform Your Belief – The Key To Success
Just as strong muscles help you win a ball game, strong positive beliefs boost your energy and confidence, create opportunities, attract powerful partners, clear obstacles from your path, and propel you effortlessly into action and results. And just like muscles, you need to build and strengthen those beliefs – by using them.
- Transform Your Inner Critic into Your Staunchest Ally
Are you plagued by internal doubts and self-criticism? Think you’re not good enough, or don’t deserve the success you long for? Do you find that even when you know what to do, you find all sorts of reasons not to do it?
We all carry an internal critic in our heads, and it never shuts up! ...
- Unblock Your Creativity
As professionals in the field of creativity, we rely on accessing our creativity to create success.
That creativity needs to be engaged, not just in creating your product, but also in your marketing, your systems, every aspect of your business.
But our creativity can be like a sensitive child. And it can shut down for many different ...
- When Bad Things Happen
July was a tough month. It started out well, but one morning I woke up in pain. I’d done something to my wrist in my sleep. As that day wore on, the pain got worse until I gave in and went to the ER and after an x-ray they told me it might be broken! ...
- When Bad Things Happen, Part 2
This article is a sequel to the July 2013 Newsletter Article, When Bad Things Happen. Of course, I meant to get back and complete the article the very next week. Ah, the best laid plans…
But better late than never, right? I recommend you go back and read that article to give you the back story ...