Why is it that so many people in today’s world view hard work as the antitheses to success? In the eyes of many, it seems like unless you are off sailing the world, lying on a beach, playing tons of golf, and living a life of leisure, you might actually be failing. So, what’s the result of this type of thinking? And, better yet, how successful is it in, well, actually achieving success?

I often come across people on an ongoing quest to accumulate wealth, while limiting their involvement with actual work. Their ultimate goal is to live life to the fullest by avoiding too much responsibility that comes with the word. So, what happens next? Well, quite often, these same people end up calling a career and executive coach, like me, feeling “stuck.”

Learn Why Connecting With Problems Heightens Your Creativity

A common theme amongst many ancient philosophers and spiritual leaders is the concept of connectivity as a pathway to creativity. In other words, when we feel deeply connected to something, then we allow it to inspire and empower us at the same time. Yet, when we separate ourselves from these same things, we instead, exacerbate our own feelings of isolation and dis-empowerment – a tough space for anyone to experience much of any creativity.

Now, just think of how differently we might show-up in both our personal and professional lives, if we made an effort to actually view our problems as a part of ourselves, instead of trying to separate ourselves from them? Better yet, how might the world start to look if we fearlessly chose to step inside of our problems?

Discover How To Own Your Mood And Claim Your Day

Picture it. You’ve been prepping for a third interview for quite sometime, and you are really excited to shed your knowledge and discuss future possibilities with an exciting company that really interests you.

In fact, the rest of your week revolves around the outcome of this meeting – you’ve placed a myriad of tasks on-hold, and you’ve even waited to schedule some personal appointments before gaining a better understanding for what’s next with this potential employer. Then, last minute, your interview is unexpectedly canceled. There you are left with a new void on your calendar and a preoccupied mind that was planning on a much different outcome for the day.

So, now what? It makes perfect sense that many of us might feel a little disappointed and even impatient with this type of situation. This could cause things to go one of two ways: either the rest of the day will unravel from a state of powerlessness, or we will empower ourselves to seize the day, no matter what.

How To Make Effort Feel Effortless

An amazing thing happens when we notice that we are working hard, yet we still feel excited, motivated, and in a complete flow with our actions. In those moments, our biggest causes transcend our efforts and feel effortless. There’s a great saying, “If you want to be happy, put your effort into controlling the sail, not the wind.” In other words, when we channel our efforts toward the things that we can personally control — namely ourselves — then we flow with less resistance and a heck of a lot less conflict. This requires accepting whatever we are experiencing. So, how can we ride that wave of effortlessness more often?

Are You Judging or Just Being Plain Judgmental?

So, the question isn’t really whether or not we all judge; but rather, how are we doing it? Are we doing it in ways that inspire positive action from ourselves and the world around us, or are we simply making critical judgments about life, ourselves, the world, and the people in it that actually limit us in some way? Are we discerning for ourselves, or just plain being judgmental? Let’s take a look at two common judgments that go beyond self-discernment, and transcend into limiting beliefs that actually block our potential.

Are You Busy or Just Blocked?

Most of us have heard ourselves say it before: “I’m so busy right now that I can’t even see straight.” Without question, there are times in life that are more packed with “to-dos” than others. At the same time, many of us have allowed the concept of busy to surpass being an occasional experience. Now, it’s a key part of our personal identities.

Just think about the phrase “I am busy,” which goes far beyond a mere observation about what a person is experiencing, and becomes a personal declaration of one’s state of being. When put into these terms, we might feel more compelled to ask ourselves, “Is busy the extent of who I really am?” Surely, we can all come up with something a little more creative, not to mention more accurate, for ourselves than that.

Nina CashmanApril 13, 2016#careercoaching, #toobusy, #stressed, #overworked, #worklifebalance, #workaholic, #makingtimeComment

7 Energy Levels Influencing Money In Your Life

Recently, I was interviewed by Hilary Hendershott on Profit Boss Radio about how our attitudes inevitably shape the way we experience money. Our money beliefs form early in our lives, and they typically are tied to our upbringings. Once you understand what’s behind these beliefs, you can challenge those that are holding you back.

At every energy level, there are unique core thoughts, feelings, and actions that affect our experiences. Let’s look at the seven different forms of energy that filter our perspectives on money. Which energy level filters your money views?

Expect More of What You Don't Want

Often, we find ourselves hyper-focused on all the things we don’t want — “I don’t want to fail,” “I don’t want this to go badly,” or “I don’t want to make a fool of myself.” Yet, doing this unwittingly steers us down the very paths we’d prefer to avoid. Why?

Because we aren’t widening our perspectives to see new possibilities of what we actually do want. The difference is this: “Don’t wants” focus our energy on driving us away from the things we don’t like, while “do wants” actually steer us toward the things that excite and motivate us.

Nina CashmanFebruary 18, 2016#TowardGoals, #WhatDoYouWant, #goalsettingComment

5 Easy Steps To Get Yourself Out of a Rut

Now that we are in a New Year, many people are looking to form new habits and develop new possibilities. During this process, we may notice areas of our lives where we feel really stagnant or stuck. Discovering areas of dormant energy during a process of change is incredibly common. Why? Because when we take steps to transition towards new endeavors, we often need to confront the old patterns and beliefs that once organized our lives.

January is not only a great time to make goals, it’s also a great time to ride a wave of fresh perspective to actually get those wheels in motion. So, for those of you who are feeling motionless within a particular career path, or are contemplating whether or not to make a big change this year, here are five helpful steps for getting in gear.

Nina CashmanJanuary 22, 2016#careercoaching, #Careertips, Getoutofrut, stuckinarockandahardplace, getunstuckComment

Facing The Truth In Challenging Situations

All too often, our culture subscribes to the “positive thinking” remedy in order to rationalize situations to make them sound better than they really are. This helps numb the pain of challenging situations, so we can feel slightly better about ourselves as we experience them. However, the danger of disguising painful wounds with positive masks is that it disconnects us from our true feelings, which when actually acknowledged, have the greatest power to guide us to the most conscious choices and values-based decisions.

Unless we really believe in our positive thoughts, fixating on finding the positive in each and every situation, whether our true feelings subscribe to them or not, actually creates more stuck energy for ourselves than progress. In fact, it is the truth, whether positive or negative, that provides us with the greatest compass to create change and progress.

Nina CashmanDecember 22, 2015 Comments

3 Questions To Ask Yourself Before Hiring A Career Coach

As a career and success coach who has worked with all sorts of clients at various stages throughout their professions, I’ve seen major differences between clients who have made breakthrough transformations from our partnership and those who simply had a nice experience from our time together. While the latter shows up and goes through the motions of each meeting, tool, and exercise, the former takes things a few steps further by enthusiastically engaging in our sessions and making them purposeful for practical implementation into her everyday life.

Unlike other “helper modalities,” where the helping professional is the authority — like therapy, mentoring, and consulting — in coaching, both the client and coach work together as a team. In other words, the client takes the reins of her own life and collaborates with the coach, who helps guide the process of getting her from somewhere functional to somewhere exceptional.

At the end of the day, those who benefit the most from coaching understand that the power of the partnership is all in the alliance they build with their coaches. So, if you are about to work with a coach, who is sought-out by you individually or by your company, I recommend you ask yourself the following key questions before you invest any time or money.

4 Steps For Putting Tough Emotions To Good Use At Work

As professionals, typically we don’t pay much tribute to emotions. In fact, this word is more likely to have a negative connotation than anything else — phrases like “you are getting too emotional,” or “it’s business, not emotion,” come to mind when we think about accessing our feelings at work. After all, nobody wants to work with the volatile person in the office who is labeled “overly emotional,” right?

On the other hand, emotions have an innate power to signal to us at deeper levels. If we have the courage to confront feelings with honesty before we take action, we can actually empower ourselves to make more informed decisions. These decisions, in turn, will bring us better results that align with who we are, as well as what we really want.

Nina CashmanOctober 16, 2015#EmotionsAtWork, #businesscoach, #careertips, #EmotionalIntelligence Comments