Home Archives for Managing Stress

A Cry for Help – How Do You Manage Overwhelm?

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I thought that if I got clearer and more disciplined about my goals, my life would get simpler. But no... That just opened another door on greater complexity. And once again, I feel like I'm drowning. Ideas get lost. Balls get dropped. And myriad little things gobble the time I should be spending on big projects. Is it Just Me? Or is it the times in which we live, where emails and obligations and people stream into your brain and calendar like a fire hose rather than … [Read more...]

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Retribution, Reaction and Response: Tamir Rice Meets Lizard Brain

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I read Seth Godin's blog pretty much every day. Yes, amazingly enough, he posts each and every day. And that, in and of itself, impresses me. Most days, I find it worth reading. Some days it's truly illuminating. Other days it just gives me food for thought. And that's what happened today. In his post on Retribution, Seth highlights a comment by Zig Ziglar that caught my eye. Seth says: We can react or respond. … When we react to a medicine, that's a bad thing. When … [Read more...]

Categories: Making Better Decisions, Managing Stress Tagged: , ,

Overcoming Fear: A Personal Letter to Lizard Brain

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Do you know that feeling of a sort of tickling in the pit of your stomach?  It's a feeling of excitement and anxiety combined. Those feelings are so close that that you can literally feel excited one minute and panicked the next. It doesn't take much to tip the balance. That's the way I'm feeling right now. A huge excitement that I'm on the verge of doing something big... and then with the next breath, a huge anxiety that maybe I won't succeed. Whew. One minute I … [Read more...]

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Autumn Anxiety: Build a Head of Steam to Get You Going

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Do you know the physical symptoms of anxiety? If you pay close attention the next time you get anxious, you might notice these things: You start sweating. Perhaps your face even gets a bit damp. Your heart rate goes up a bit. Your mid-section feels -- well -- like it's got a cluster of butterflies in it. You're uncomfortable and out of sorts in a general, ill-defined way. Something just doesn't feel right. And you'd be happy to do almost anything to make … [Read more...]

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Working to Deadlines: How to Build Up a Head of Steam

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My piece for the GuideStar blog was due yesterday. And I spent the two weeks before that deadline fretting and in a state of anxiety. Don't worry... I did write the piece and I got it in on schedule. In fact, here it is! But it wasn't easy. Deadlines Make Excellent Fuel I never find it easy to be highly productive. I write, and do many other things, to deadlines.  I seem unable to function any other way. I know some people who simply do what they're supposed to … [Read more...]

Categories: Increasing Awareness, Managing Stress, Productivity Tips

Making Your Behavior Patterns Work for You

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Have you ever noticed that you have similar reactions to new opportunities every time one presents itself? Or do your responses take you by surprise? If you think you respond differently for every situation, think again. The Way We Respond to Opportunities is Like Clockwork People tend  to respond to new opportunities in the same way again and again... like clockwork. Don’t get me wrong, you don’t always make the same decisions. But the pattern of your responses is … [Read more...]

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Lizard Brain and the Courage to Ask for What You Want

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Yesterday I asked a former colleague, who is also a friend of mine, for a favor... I was hoping he would feature my recent post on intentional conversations in his newsletter, a very popular publication with more than 10,000 subscribers. But before I could ask the favor, first I had to deal with a huge amount of inner resistance. In fact, I almost didn't ask at all. Why not? I was afraid he'd feel I was being pushy or inappropriately infringing on our … [Read more...]

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Overcoming Performance Anxiety: Reduce Stress and Be Your Best

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This morning I recorded an interview with Steve Nill, my publisher at CharityChannel Press. He is making a promotional video for my newest book, Asking Styles, and he wanted to include an audio recording. He only needed about 3 minutes. No one listens to much more than that on the fly. But the shorter, the harder because it's got to be right! Right? Just before we began taping, I could feel my heart pound and my mouth get dry.  But then I remembered an old trick to … [Read more...]

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TRY THIS… a Blog of Ideas and Mind-Play for a Fascinating Life

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My heart is racing. My chest tight. It's all I can do to write this inaugural post. In fact, I’ve spent days....even weeks...avoiding this moment because my anxiety is so high. Do you know that feeling? I recently left my business, Asking Matters, because I wanted to broaden my exploration of human behavior beyond fundraising, the business that has occupied me for nearly 30 years. But now, as I face the blank page of this new blog that willy-nilly launches tomorrow, … [Read more...]

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