Focus on Habits not Goals

Have you made any resolutions for the new year? What goals do you hope to achieve in 2014? Would you like to lose 10 pounds? Move into a new position

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Perseverance Pays Off!

I wrote a blog about Diana Nyad after her fourth attempt to be the first person to swim from Cuba to Florida without a shark cage. I thought we could

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4 Ways to Bring Your Life into Better Balance

Leading a balanced life is extremely important for our well-being, but it is something that many of us struggle with. How balanced is your life? Here are some things to

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Use If-Then Planning to Achieve Your Goals

Do you have a goal that you’re trying to achieve? If so, I have good news for you. There is one easy thing that you can do to significantly

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How to Set the Right New Year's Resolution

Beginning a new year with new resolutions calls to mind an interesting aspect of goal setting. Many of our new year’s resolutions are about things we want to accomplish

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Act in Spite of Your Fear

“You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You must do the thing which you think you cannot

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How You Think About Your Goals Matters

I’m reading Heidi Grant Halvorson’s book Succeed and it is full of fascinating research about setting and reaching goals. One of the things I’ve found most interesting

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Don’t Fantasize, Visualize!

Visualization can be an effective way to help us achieve our goals. It lets us “rehearse” desired outcomes by imagining the future the way we want it to be. Sports

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Exercise your Willpower

Willpower increases the likelihood that we achieve our goals. It takes willpower to go to the gym. It takes self-control not to eat the donut in the conference room. Willpower

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Just Keep Swimming

In my last blog I suggested the idea of taking up a positive habit during Lent. I decided that mine would be to meditate every day. Meditation is something that

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3 Elements of Empowerment

In positive work environments people are empowered to do their job successfully. According to the progress principle, a new theory of work motivation, people are happier at work when they

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Think You Can Predict Your Emotions? Think Again!

Human beings are future-oriented. Our ability to think about and plan for the future is what makes us unique. In thinking about the future we often set goals because we

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Create Positive Routines

Increasing positivity in our lives requires intentional effort. There are many things that we can do in order to experience more positive emotions, but sometimes it is hard to remember

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Celebrate the Process!

I was impressed when I heard about 61-year-old swimmer Diana Nyad’s attempt to become the first person to swim from Cuba to Florida without a shark cage. It was

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Making Progress Makes Us Happy

As much as I enjoy summer, I am always frustrated with the lack of progress I make in my work when the kids are out of school. I try my

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Learning Goals Keep You Positive

According to Carol Dweck, a psychology professor at Standford University, the way people view their intelligence depends on their mindset. In her book Mindset, she explains how some people believe

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Just Do It!

Today is the one-year anniversary of my blog!  I have enjoyed writing and am proud that I’m still going.  I have to say I was very nervous about starting

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Find Happiness by Focusing on the Future

According to Martin Seligman, the father of positive psychology, “living in the future” is the secret to a long, healthy, and happy life.  People who spend time thinking about the

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"I Think I Can"

One of my favorite books growing up was The Little Engine That Could.  I just loved repeating with my mother when she read it to me, “I-think-I-can, I-think-I-can, I-think-I-can” as

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Clarify and Communicate Expectations

In addition to the importance of having norms valuing results not presence, increasing autonomy also requires that goals and expectations be clearly and frequently communicated. Autonomy goes hand in hand

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Build Hope by Setting Goals

Did you know that setting goals is one way of increasing positivity?  Hope is a positive emotion about the future.  People who are hopeful have goals that they want to

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Set Goals and Share them with Others

You haven’t given up on your New Year’s intentions have you?  Of course not!  I told you an intention is easier to keep than a resolution.  Here are

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