It was almost exactly seven years ago that my mentor challenged me to sit in silent contemplation for five minutes every day. Every day, I’d set the timer on my phone, close my eyes, and pay attention to insights or ideas that would come to the surface of my conscious mind, such as: Your anxiety
At a dinner party my wife and I attended recently, the host asked everyone to answer this question: What is an area of life where your thoughts have changed in recent years? It’s a fascinating question because it implies that our thoughts (opinions, perceptions, assumptions, priorities, and values) can actually change. Neuroscientists refer to this
Recently I’ve been paying more attention to my interior peace — or lack thereof. I’ve been more aware of agitation, restlessness, nervousness, worry, insecurity, discomfort, stress, and frustration. The English word I’ve been using as shorthand for all those feelings is anxiety, which comes from the Latin word for uneasiness and the Greek word ankho,
I’ve recently learned a lot about presenting your value from university admissions tours with my teenage twin boys. In these tours, one of my goals has been to “decode” the structure and flow as the tour guides pitch the school. What I’ve found is that the best tour guides — the ones who captivate a
There I was, kicking off the big meeting, standing anxiously in front of 50 people in a large corporate conference room. I really wanted to engage the group and inspire them to action, but I was worried that my slides had too much detail and that my topic was too complex. Adding to the pressure,
The lone wolf is a classic trope that’s often celebrated in American and other cultures. One example can be found in the new George Clooney-Brad Pitt movie “Wolfs.” While their characters are forced to work together, each is convinced that they’re the only one who can do the job and that they don’t need any
I’m in the process of recruiting people to participate in a few events I’m hosting. I’m aware every time I send an invitee an email that I’m dependent upon them to achieve my goals. It would be easiest to not take on this recruiting effort, or to just blast out some information and hope people
In the classic story The Old Man and the Sea, Ernest Hemingway vividly depicts struggle and suffering. The old fisherman tirelessly battles for days to catch an enormous marlin, only to then fight sharks that would go on to ravage the prized catch. Being old, alone, and at sea, he frequently feels too tired to
Recently I went running with some friends. It started out rough, though, because my stomach hurt and I felt lightheaded. “Oh no!” I thought. “I’m not going to be able to keep pace with them, and this is going to be awful.” My muscles tightened, I started to worry, and I did slow down. Then
There’s a beautiful and instructive scene in the movie Inside Out when Bing Bong doesn’t want to keep going because he’s so upset about the changes happening around him. The character representing Joy becomes frustrated and tries to coax Bing Bong to move on. “It’s going to be OK, we can fix this,” she cheers.
Matt Norman is president of Norman & Associates, which offers Dale Carnegie Training in the North Central US. Dale Carnegie Training is a global organization ...READ MORE