The Thoughtful Leaders Blog
Posted by Lisa Kohn on November 10, 2011
 This weekend was about college visits. My daughter is a junior in high school, and because of the extremely long list of schools she might be interested in and her intense extracurricular schedule we decided to get a jump on visits and knocked three schools off in one weekend. And I had the greatest leadership epiphany, that some might actually call heresy.
As I watched my daughter slightly agonize over which school was a better fit, and where she might be happier and learn more, and where she should go, I realized (and shared) a very important concept. “It doesn’t really matter,” I offered her. “Pretty much any of them will be great – and you’ll love it and learn once you’re there.” From my outside perspective it made great sense. While some of the schools might be better for her than others, at least at this point it seems that none of her potential schools would be a “bad” choice, and any would be fine, depending on what she does with it and makes out of it.
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Posted by Chatsworth Consulting Group on October 17, 2011
“Time is a created thing. To say ‘I don’t have time,’ is to say ‘I don’t want to.’” Lao Tzu
Time Management seems to be a current theme for most of my coaching sessions. So many of my clients are focused on finding more time, or managing their time better. So often I hear, “I really want to do that, but I just don’t have time for it.”
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Posted by Lisa Kohn on June 23, 2011
The other day I rented Love and Other Drugs and I was struck by one scene in particular. Towards the end of the movie, Maggie (Anne Hathaway’s character), who has early onset of Parkinson’s disease, stumbles into a support group of Parkinson’s patients. As she listens to them share their stories and experiences – all the while shaking and trembling – from a place of strength and humor, I watched so many thoughts and emotions wash over Maggie’s face. Up until that point in the movie, her character had always loathed the disease, and seemingly loathed herself for having it, while her boyfriend had them on a frenzied quest to find a cure. As Maggie sat and listened (and cried), you could sense the peace of acceptance begin to wash over her – as well as the desire to truly live.
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Posted by Chatsworth Consulting Group on May 9, 2011
“It’s always too soon to quit!” Norman Vincent Peale
So often I’ve wanted to quit just before a breakthrough. I’ve been at the edge, ready to throw up my hands and give up in disgust, to walk away from what I wanted and what I wanted to accomplish, and for some strange reason, perhaps a bit more determination, a bit more hope, or a bit more prodding from someone else, I’ve held on and given it one more try…and I’ve broken through to my goal.
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Posted by Chatsworth Consulting Group on April 25, 2011
“I am not afraid of storms for I am learning how to sail my ship.” Louisa May Alcott
The storms around me (and inside of me) used to throw me. I was afraid that I would lose my course, sink my ship, and possibly take others out with me on the way. I felt I simply didn’t know well enough how to sail my ship and weather the bad weather.
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Posted by Lisa Kohn on April 15, 2011
I’ve spent most of my early life trying to be perfect, and much of my later life trying to learn how to not try to be perfect – and I’ve had my myriad of reasons for learning to “aim so low.” And then I read Seth Godin’s post “Perfect vs. interesting” and my reasons for walking away from perfection exponentially increased.
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Posted by Chatsworth Consulting Group on April 11, 2011
“Worry is a misuse of the imagination.” Dan Zadra
I have a great imagination – and only recently have I learned to use it for something worthwhile. When I was a kid, I could, and did, easily imagine the worst things happening. When my mother came home late I knew she was dead. When other kids in school were laughing, I knew it was at me. When I handed in a paper at school, I knew already that I had failed. I was most often wrong.
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Posted by Lisa Kohn on April 1, 2011
I am the main laundry-doer in my household, and sometimes it simply feels like I’m a scullery maid. Like the laundry simply multiplies when left alone, and as soon as I’ve finished, there’s somehow another load to be washed, dried, folded, and put away. There’s always more, and I seem to endlessly head up and down stairs with clothes in various stages of cleanliness.
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Posted by Chatsworth Consulting Group on February 28, 2011
“Listen to your life. All moments are key moments.” Frederick Buechner
The other day a colleague stopped me to share his news. It seems he had been recently going on “auto-pilot,” simply moving from moment to moment, and person to person, issue to issue, trying to get everything done, and then a snow storm stopped him.
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Posted by Cathy Alfandre on February 23, 2011
“Do you see difficulty behind every opportunity, or opportunity behind every difficulty?”
Can you believe I found this question in a fortune cookie?!? What a delightfully unexpected and thoughtful question to ponder at the end of a take-out meal! What I especially love about it is the underlying, very actionable message: Sometimes what we need to make progress is a shift in perspective.
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View Robyn McLeod's profile
Cathy,
Great perspective and a way to shift the paradigm. It is hard when you are looking up at the difficulties, to flip the script and look for the brighter side. Thank you for sharing this.
Thanks, Dwight! Hopefully, with practice, we can all become better at remembering to shift our perspective on “difficult” things. I think it’s a challenge for all of us — it’s so natural to worry about and resist things that look hard…. But if we can flip the script, as you say (great expression, by the way!), we can lower our stress levels and really enjoy each day, no matter what presents itself. Thanks again for your comment!