The Bloomin' Blog

Are You Trainable?

Well of course you are!

But do you welcome the opportunities as they arise?

Having our minds stretched makes a bit room for more information, but that doesn't often happen for many of us because stretching hurts. Here are some simple steps to make the most of each learning opportunity.

• Remember that Significant Learning Opportunities, as Jim Fay calls them, are often wrapped up in times we'd rather avoid...accidents, failures, broken relationships...but if we allow those times to be something we simply survive, we never harvest the lesson and allow ourselves to grow from them.
• Look for some of the most significant opportunities to come from people who irritate you. The thing that irritates you in them is likely a strong trait you carry as well (we'll get into all the egoesque theory in that another day...feel free to use egoesque...I kind of like it). Turn off your filter and listen to understand.
• In a horrible moment, don't say something chirpy like, "Boy, oh boy are we going to look back and laugh at what we learned today!" People around you will hurt you...or worse, secretly hate you.
• Write it down. My friend Elizabeth Cottrell offers great insight into the power of journaling. And we all know you remember what you write down. So unless you're some really masochistic dude who is into going through the same hurt over and over, minimize the likelihood of learning the same lesson by letting it fully enter your brain the first time.
• Take advantage of formal training opportunities. Sign up for classes. Learn a new skill for free at a bazillion (at least) community centers around the nation. Open your mind to the training offered at your workplace that you absolutely resent having to attend. I don't mean to deliver too much truth in one punch here, but honey, you don't know it all.

Here's to stretching our mind muscles, so there is more room there for goodness to grow.

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What’s Up With Me, Really.

That’s me.
I intentionally chose this photo because it’s not typical of the images I generally include when I talk about my life. But the few times I’ve gone skeet shooting, I’ve been good at it. And I need to summon the spirit that makes me lean into a shot gun, fiercely determined to blow something to bits.
A little honesty goes a long way. Most of us avoid anything that comes close to true self revelation in the world of social media. Blogs are generally used to convey evidence that we are subject matter experts, or the kind of all around good folk others might want to hire.
But what if we all just laid bare the way life really is for us? I shower you with my accounts of my abundant blessings. I am known to be perpetually perky. But, those who have witnessed the unraveling of the last three years of our lives would say I am simply resilient… Click here for the rest of the post.
Here’s the real scoop.

July 2008–working as a professional speaker. Love the flexibility it allows us

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Course Correcting Conversations

It’s Family Friday. Today, I’m thinking about an important communication skill for creating positive culture at work and at home. In both places, it’s not our ability to outline a vision or articulate expected behaviors that counts as much of our skill in keeping everyone motivated and on track to fulfill that mission.
How do you have those difficult conversations? How do you guide without micromanagement? How do you get rid of the bathwater and keep the baby safe? (Sorry, but that metaphor always generates images of wet, airborne infants that are somewhat disturbing!) I’ve talked before about the dangers of over correction… Click here for the rest of the post, but what happens when corrective measures have to be taken?
Here are some simple strategies. See what you think.
First, identify and consistently communicate the criteria for behavior. It pains me to overhear parents walking into a big event with a child saying, “remember what we talked about…” or a supervisor to an employee saying, “I know you won’t let me down on this, Jane,” as he or she receives a huge assignment.
People will respond

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What Makes a Star Performer?

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For at least 12 years, the same man has served as the crosswalk guard at an intersection between our middle school and high school. I am sure there must have been days he was sick, or had a replacement, but I don’t recall ever seeing anyone else at that corner.
He’s always seemed “older”, yet he hasn’t visibly aged in the12 years I’ve been passing his corner. He rarely smiles. He doesn’t wave at all the passing cars. He’ll occasionally wave back, but not often.
In the early years of taking my boys and their friends to school, it used to be my personal challenge to make him smile back at me. But usually, he remained focused on the traffic and the students…you know…doing his job. I don’t know that keeping middle school students safe and orderly requires a cheerful countenance.
It’s interesting how we rate work.
I have personally championed movements to “hire friendly people” and I’m really great at teaching people the benefits of positive engagement. But tell me, would this stoic-looking man who has taken his post

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What You See is What You Get!

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My top ten thoughts moving into the new year…

If what you see is bleak and discouraging, fix it. It will take work and patience…a lot of it. Sometimes your efforts don’t pay off in the ways you expect or as quickly as you’d like. This used to be less of a surprise to people, but then we became a society conditioned for immediate gratification and ease of operation. So make this a year for less whining and more working.
If you want to see more kindness, more love, more patience…then practice it. I can’t tell you how much time I’ve wasted wishing a situation would improve without first working to improve myself. See number one.
If you don’t like what you see everyday and option number one isn’t working, see it differently. Maybe you’ve conditioned yourself to focus on the negative in a situation or a soul. Changing your perspective may even mean you see another person’s view. (Yikes…that sounds so uncomfortable and awkward. And what if it means I wasn’t completely right?) So go find a new view.

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Just put one foot on the ground…

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When I was a teenager, I had a really hard time getting up in the morning. It was especially challenging in the wintertime, when the Southeastern Montana cold crept in across my floor.
My mother would come to my door (likely for the third or fourth time) and say,
“Darlin’ girl, just put one foot on the ground.”
Her assumption was that the rest of me would follow the progress of my right foot.
And she was right. I just had to remember how to get started.
So whatever you’re doing today–risk just stepping out.
Whether you lead with your left or right is up to you, but once you find that there is solid ground beneath that foot, momentum will build.
Some days, our boldest move may seem to be getting out of bed. Other times, maybe we’ll be bold enough to pursue a new career, a new relationship or just to rock our convictions with a bold new act of forgiveness.
Here’s to sticking your foot out. Your neck will follow. Goodness will grow.

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Wherever You Go, There You Are

… Click here for the rest of the postI’m back!
My adventure selling cars stretched from August 29th to November 30th. It was a lifetime and it was a blink. So it is with most of the experiences in our lives–whether we’re attempting to cling to each joyful moment, or find our way out of dark and heavy times. It all passes.
Many friends have anticipated hearing what I experienced in the past 90 days. Others are sure this was all research for a book on management styles.
The fact is, I’m not sure where to begin.  I have to sort through what may be relevant to you and what may require you to have “been there” to understand…like the night I fell in a hole showing two students from China a Nissan Maxima and seriously sprained my ankle, which resulted in being whisked away for a drug test…
On a personal level, I learned (or relearned, as I believe we all know it to be true) that when I am true to myself, I am my best. When I try to “improve” according to others standards, I

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Watch For It…

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When I wake up each day, I can see the sunrise through a window arch in our bedroom. This morning, the clouds looked as if they’d all had a generous helping of blush applied to their cheeks. They seemed to linger suspended there, as if the sunrise was waiting for my awe before continuing.
I came downstairs to the smell of coffee. (There are a few things I’ve perfected over the years as a working mom…mostly the aroma therapy benefits of coffee brewed via timer in the morning and the promise of something yummy coming from the crock pot when we walk in the door at the end of a long day.)
Next, I started my Pandora station and who should come on to usher me fully into the day but Bob Marley singing these words…
“Don’t worry about a thing,
‘Cause every little thing gonna be all right.
Singin’: “Don’t worry about a thing,
‘Cause every little thing gonna be all right!”
Rise up this mornin’,
Smiled with the risin’ sun,
Three little birds
Pitch by my doorstep
Singin’

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