doug smith training

Some of the best and happiest people I know take some time every day to focus on what they are grateful for. Their lives aren't perfect and they don't expect them to be, but their lives ARE filled with wonderful blessings, gifts, moments of joy, and the pleasure of helping and being helped. Usually, that gratitude starts in the morning. I find that when I spend some time being grateful in the morning (it begins with prayer and returns during meditation) that I have more moments during the day that spring up spontaneously: joyful, unexpected moments of gratitude. With so much to be grateful for, I revel in enjoying each of those moments. How about you? Here's my gratitude suggestion for the day: Take a deep breath while you contemplate something or someone you are grateful for.  Pause and repeat. Isn't that nice? -- doug smith 

  Habits are a choice, until they aren't. We can choose which habits we adopt when we repeat them. Over and over. Do you want the healthy habit of exercising every day? You know what comes next: exercise every day.  As James Clear points out in his useful book Atomic Habits, the best support to a good habit is to do it every day without fail. You might not always do the habit completely and seldom will you do it perfectly but zero repetitions is not acceptable. If your goal is to do 100 push-ups a day and you must fail today, you fail by doing SOME push-ups (maybe 50, maybe 99) but you certainly don't do ZERO push-ups. Leaders must form healthy habits and do them every day in order for our team members to pay attention and adapt healthy habits of their own. Behavior is contagious, even exemplary behavior. Show what you want. Do it. -- doug smith

Does your team have doubts? Do you? Most people have doubts at some level. Some are spoken and obvious, others are hidden and untold. The challenges your team has faced may have nearly worn them out. Their spirits may be down and certainly tested. You can do something about that. Reward them fairly, of course. And encourage them. Let them know how confident you are in them. Tell them you're grateful for their work. Encourage them to find the joy in their work, even during tough times. Encouragement costs nothing and yet provides power to improve and prosper. How can you encourage your team this week? -- doug smith

How do you measure success? Some people measure success with money, but you probably know that money alone is not success. Other people measure success based on the quality of their relationships. Or, success could be measured by the level of your game play, or the quality of your collectibles, or the land and resources that you control. There are as many ways to measure success as there are people measuring it. Success has many measures and yours are up to you. You might as well focus on what you think that means. -- doug smith

Ambition needs more than anticipation or wishes -- it needs hard work to achieve its goal. Think big, sure...then work hard. -- doug smith

It's a step outside of your comfort zone. It's a move you've previously not taken. It is a stretch. One scary thing about achieving a goal is that it will change you. Don't be scared. -- doug smith  

Conflict isn't all bad, but it sure feels that way sometimes. That's because some conflict IS bad, very bad indeed and causes harm. Leaders need to be able to navigate conflict and evaluate when the conflict is beyond merit and only causing harm. The more you feed that type of conflict the more it will consume. The side effects take over and drown out the very issue that caused the conflict to begin with. It could have been a natural issue. It could have been a reasonable disagreement. It could have been a struggle for a better way -- and still somehow become entangled in malice. Conflict may come naturally but it doesn't have to leave satisfied. Manage the conflict for the resolution desired, not for the sake of the conflict itself. -- doug smith

Every job, no matter how glamorous, has work you'd have to push yourself to do and details you'd find uncomfortable. Do the noble work that your work requires without complaining and then you won't have anything to complain about. -- doug smith  

It's silly to expect applause on every single task. Let doing the task bring its own satisfaction. -- doug smith  

 There is more power in your smile than in anyone else's frown. -- doug smith

Do you have any secret goals? My temptation with ambitious goals -- a temptation I'm working to overcome -- is to keep them secret. There's no pressure on me then, if no one knows about them.  But if a goal matters, people should know about it. We should talk about it. We should energize ourselves and others toward that noble goal. You don't know how much help  you might get on your goals until you talk about them. If you don't get any help, well that tells you something about your goal. If you do get help, then your goal just got easier.  Get the help. Talk about your goals. -- doug smith  

Who has shared your life the most with you? No matter who that is, they haven't shared every moment with you. No one other than you has always been experiencing what you've experienced. You are unique. Not alone. Not isolated. But unique. Distinctive in your gifts, talents, and abilities. Distinctive in the challenges that you've overcome. One of a kind among many, you are unique. Everyone other than you has missed what you've been through. Where you take your distinctions from here is completely up to you. What will you build? What will you grow? How will you serve? It gets ever more exciting from here, doesn't it? -- doug smith