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2021 is here. The time of year where we pledge to take the lessons from the past twelve months to make ourselves better has officially arrived. Even though, between us, making ourselves better is every friggin’ day for types like us.

2020 and the COVID-19 pandemic shit show has changed absolutely everything about our lives forever. From the way we work, to the way we celebrate our holidays, and, most of all our lens for purpose-based behavior. So, looking for ways to reinvent your relevance, to pump up your career or business, and to create the impact and success you were meant to have in 2020?  Let’s go….

Focus on developing your skills with these 6 Simple Ways to Crush It in 2021. Know them, understand them, internalize them, and reach out to us for help implementing. We’ve got your back!

1. Create Good Habits

Good habits for you are foundational. You can’t make a difference or impact anyone else if you don’t take care of yourself first.

Good habits can slide, however, so it’s time to bring them back in the New Year! If your habits were a little lacking in 2020, now is the time to really commit and change your life.

Good habits look different for every person. Do what works for you.

At a minimum, they should include some daily commitment in each of these key areas: health, fitness, relationships, reflection, and growth. Want examples? Here are some keystone habits you might consider adding to your daily routine this year:

Exercise for 30-60 minutes every day.  Or just move for a set period daily!!!!

Eat With Awareness: Be cognizant of what you eat and how it makes you feel.

Meditate Daily.

Focus on Gratitude.

Connect With Others Who Lift You Up Daily: face-to-face or on the phone/Zoom with one person every day.

Learn and Grow: Spend fifteen minutes each day reading or listening to a podcast for self-development.

The list goes on from there. Need more ideas? Reach out to us anytime and we can suggest some micro changes you can make to your daily habits.

2. Know and Understand the Power of Relationships

Good and healthy relationships matter! They are the single most important life/work skill. So, work on them. Follow your ABC’s: Always Be Connecting. The most successful people in the world know, understand, and practice this. However, we generally suck at cultivating new relationships and strengthening our existing ones. COVID-19 and social distancing definitely has not made this any easier.

Great communication is one of the critical components of relationship-building. You can probably think of a few examples from your own life where poor or miscommunication contributed to hurt feelings, anger, and even relationship damage. This is why it’s so important we learn to communicate at a high level. We published a recent blog all about communication – click here to check it out and learn some new tools for success.

If we want to succeed in 2021, we have to put aside our excuses and commit to learning this critical skill. Don’t forget – one of the most important relationships is the one you have with yourself. This year, go deep with others AND yourself to create impact.

3. Understand and Leverage Your Strengths

If you’ve been through our Strengths & Story workshop or coached with us, you know we start by helping you identify your strengths. One of our favorite tools is StrengthsFinder, though that isn’t the only way to get a handle on what you bring to the table. Your friends, family, peers, and bosses can all help you identify the areas where you naturally shine.

Come up with a list of your 3-5 top strengths and then audit your life by asking a series of questions:

– How are you already using your strengths to your advantage?

– What areas of your job or career are a mismatch for your strengths?

– How can you do more of what you’re good at in the future?

To be successful in 2021, lean in to your strengths, what makes you uniquely great, and be able to articulate them. Knowing, understanding and explaining how to really leverage your strengths will help you help others. In turn, this will help get you exactly where you want to go, whether it’s a promotion, new job, or new business.

4.Know Your Values, Passions, and Skills

In our book, Chasing Relevance, we presented a simple equation:

Strengths + (Skills + Passions + Values) = Your Value to Others

Once you’ve identified your strengths, it’s time to focus in on identifying your values, passions, and skills. These four things together constitute the value you can bring to others. When you know and can communicate that value, you can create more impact, more success, and play a bigger game.

Start right here and now by learning the difference between values, passions, and skills and brainstorming a short list for each.

-A Skill is something we have that others would value or that gives value to others. A Skill is something learned, developed, or honed, rather than a natural predisposition.

-Passions are those things that make your heart sing, that light you the hell up. These are usually easier to identify and often found by considering the answer to this question: what would you do if money didn’t matter?

-Values are your real deal principles or standards of behavior. These are NOT the things you value like family, friends, and security. Your Values are your personal code or way of being.

5. Develop a Personal Brand

You might not think of it this way, but you have a personal brand and story. Just like a corporate brand, your personal brand says something about you. When people work with you, speak with you, interact with you, they have certain expectations of what that experience will be like. Just like how we look at the Apple logo and think quality, sophistication, and leading-edge technology, people look at us and form opinions of our brand.

The good news is, just like a corporate brand, you have control over your personal brand and story. You get to choose who you want to be and how you want to be perceived by the world. You just need to then deliver on that promise every single time.

After the rough year we had in 2020, you might be ready to reinvent and refresh your personal brand and image for 2021. We can help! Reach out to us to learn more about our on-demand coaching product, Hooga. It includes a great module all about finding and living your personal brand.

6. Learn How to Tell a Connective Story

In this hard and scary year that disconnected us from our teams, peers, clients, friends, and family, we learned the value of connection. Being able to form connection with others quickly, no matter the medium, is one of the most critical skills for our success in 2021.

At launchbox, we teach our clients how to tell their or their company’s connective story. A connective story is one that communicates your own value to others in a way that demonstrates the impact you can make for them. Think of it as an answer to the age-old interview question, “Why should I hire you?” While we might not be job hunting and going on interviews, every single conversation we have with others is built around versions of that same question. “Why should I listen to you?” “Why should I trust you?” “Why should I continue working with you?” Connective stories answer these unspoken questions. They also allow space for the other person to feel heard. Being able to listen and absorb feedback is as important, if not more important, than what you actually say.

After reading through this list, you might find that you’re doing okay in a few areas while lagging behind in others. Or maybe you’re struggling in all six areas.  That’s fine. Just start!!!!  Start from where you are and make a commitment right now to doing something about it. If you want tomorrow to be different than today, then you need to be different.

We want to help get you there. It is what we do. From personalized coaching, team training, leadership development, to on-demand training with Hooga, we can help you make this your best year yet.

Go ahead, test us. We’ve got your back with these 6 Simple Rules to Coach Yourself to Success.

WOW! The new decade is here! And boy is there pressure to make resolutions and improve. Our tips are simple and they endure, not relative to the new year or decade but just plain and simple tips that if you “Do the Work,” you win! So, in order to help you crush performance and be more successful at work this year, we’ve compiled our simple 5 best tips that you can put into practice today. Our tips are real, actionable, and highly impactful – try them for yourself and see!

Tip #1: Relax and Smile

Most people want to like you and want you to succeed! They’re actually rooting for you.  So, it should be simple to make a connection.  Right?  Well, wrong.  The root to connection is simply smiling and being open, however, most of us (technical term here) suck at that. Myself included.  And, if you’re stern, preoccupied, or just not present you tend not to smile. Not smiling makes you seem cold and unfriendly which means people are not going to be able to connect with you. However, a super simple easy way to connect is just to smile.  Try it. I talk about this with executives and Millennials alike. Smiling more is so simple, yet tough to implement,  

If we really want to be a productive worker of the future we need to create connection through trust. Smiling communicates to someone that you’re positive, approachable, and possibly someone they can trust (and we know how important trust is). So if smiling doesn’t come naturally, make sure you practice! That means you should smile so much that your face hurts. Even though we know smiling creates more serotonin and improves our mood we still believe we’ll look dumb or awkward.  Just try this simple tool for a few days and coach yourself to smile.  You will notice the difference and that difference will help you immediately relax in the workplace or in a client meeting. That relaxation will in turn allow your intent and impact to naturally shine through.

Tip #2: Positivity – Yes And

People love people who are positive. And while us humans generally are predisposed to thinking negatively, it’s all about your mindset which you can shift. You have to choose to be positive, think positive, and create positive experiences for those around you. As a matter of fact, science shows it takes 4x the positive statements to counteract the negative ones! According to a recent article from the Wall Street Journal, “a negative event or emotion usually has at least three times the impact of a comparable positive one.” So, this year, make a point to intentionally practice positivity! While that’s a very general statement, one tip we have is to read The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz and live by them.

Tip #3: Better Not Best

Best can be seen as an artificial barrier, mostly because best is arbitrary and always a moving target. Therefore, doing and being your best isn’t realistic because it’s based on the events surrounding it. An author we met through Heroic Public Speaking showed us that the alternative, “better” is something we can achieve everyday. We can be just a bit better than we were yesterday or last week. We can always strive to improve our performance incrementally. If our mindset is growth-based like Carol Dweck teaches in her book Growth Mindset, we can always be focused on trying harder and measuring ourselves to a higher standard each time. Better every day and in every moment will move the needle much further for you on a daily basis.

Tip #4: WIFTHEM – Audience

As humans we’re built in survival mode, which is mostly self-focused.  That results in every person shaping all inputs as: “how will this affect me?” People only care about themselves. And while you might want to argue about the nuances and certain relationships in the workplace, it’s fundamentally true. We are wired for SELF-preservation. Which means we’re constantly looking out for ourselves, no matter how altruistic we might want to be. Everyone is me focused or lives by the WIFM method – what’s in it for me?  Our twist is to focus on the audience and make it about them. We know that in order to succeed we need to understand and provide empathy to the other person so we put WIFM on its head to create instant connection.  Voila. WIFThem – what’s in it for them?

So, whether you’re providing a service, doing a sales call, trying to get a promotion, or persuading your partner or friend to do something, make sure you’re showing the person you’re sitting across from what’s in it for them! It’s not about you, it’s about them and what you can do to help them get what they want. If you know WIFThem and practice it, the world will be yours.  For more tips on how to do that using our communication tools, click here to download our free worksheet with our GPS conversation strategy.

Tip #5: Story – Currency

Your story, your identity, who you are and what you’re here to do, is your connection currency.  It’s what will bind you to others instantly.  But we suck at it. Personally and professionally we don’t have the skills to connect instantaneously.  From the executive boardroom to our next generation workers, we are horrible about sharing our stories. And it is so critical.  Critical to combine our personal why with our corporate purpose and value so we can transact great business.  Whether a Millennial, Gen Z or a Boomer, knowing your story and articulating it in a way that serves others is the only way to connect and build relationships. It’s what you trade with others to build stronger and better relationships, which is the #1 most important skill in the world!  Learn how to tell your story with a free copy of our book – click here to get it!

Over the next few weeks we will deliver real coaching stories so you can see these tips in action. Stay tuned!

Want more tips like these? Need help implementing these in your own life so you can be successful at work? Schedule your free coaching call today to ensure this year is the best one yet! Click here to book your call.

In America, we’re famous for working. Working long days with little time off and taking pride in it. So it should come as no surprise that many of our employees are overworked, stressed out, and burned out. And it’s costing us dearly in terms of lost wages, lost productivity, and lost impact. According to a study from Mental Health America, almost 70% of workers reported missing some days at work each month due to stress. But it turns out that workplace stress isn’t just an American problem: it’s a world problem.

Take this recent article from The Atlantic, which explores stress and depression in the Japanese workplace. While work has grown more global and connected us in ways we could never have imagined, it’s also caused a clash of cultures. And it has forced rapid change on both sides of the generational divide.. Which leaves a generation of workers in Asia who are being forced to assert their opinions and establish themselves as individuals without ever having gained the skills to do so. In essence, they are suffering the “consequences of a nation transitioning from a culture of collectivism, in which they have to accept their rank within a family, to a capitalistic workplace where they have to forge their own path.”

For the last year, I’ve been fortunate to travel to Singapore many times to conduct in-person training workshops for a client. I’ve met many wonderful, talented, and bright Millennials and Gen Z employees over the course of my travels in Singapore. And I’ve also experienced firsthand how the challenges facing the worker of the future don’t just exist inside the bounds of the United States.

Technology is changing absolutely everything about the way we live and work. And one of the primary ways it’s changing the workplace is that it’s putting increasing emphasis on employees as individuals. It’s not enough to follow the rules, blend into the crowd, and get the job done. Now we’re told we need to bring our best selves to work every single day, exceed expectations always, and find ways to stand out from our co-workers. That creates massive amounts of anxiety as we question if we’ll actually be able to keep up with the pace of change, if we’ll have the skills necessary to compete and succeed in the future, and if what we’re doing actually matters anyway.

After training more than 20,000 Millennial and Gen Z employees and their managers around the world, we’ve come up with a 3-hack system employers can use to combat the crushing wave of workplace anxiety:

1. Turn Your Workplace Upside Down

Start anywhere, but principally at the bottom and actually talk to your employees. Find out what they’re struggling with, what they need help with, and come up with a plan to support them as individuals. Remember that one size doesn’t fit all so take the time to talk to each employee one-on-one or at least do a survey. Demonstrate you care by listening and asking great questions.

2. Create Meaningful Work

While all work isn’t necessarily meaningful, make sure your employees understand how their assignments and role fits into the larger picture of the company. Make sure they know why something is being done and what goal is being served. Make sure they stay connected to the vision of where the company is going and the impact you’re having on the world around you. And help them grow – that is meaningful at its core to them.

3. Reskill Your Employees on the Basics/Emotional Intelligence

While we can’t control what the future world of work will look like, make sure you’re providing your employees with opportunities to grow and develop crucial, transferrable skills like emotional intelligence. As technology continues to shift the landscape of our world, we know people are going to matter more than ever. Make sure you’re supporting your employees to become better, more empathetic humans.

To learn more about our 3-hack system to guarantee workplace success, click here to read our recent blog.

As an employer, you’ve got to figure out how to help your employees relieve workplace stress. It costs you too much in terms of lost labor, employee turnover, and poor productivity to continue to allow your employees to fight it out on their own.

Need some help? Reach out to us to schedule an exploratory call with one of our experienced coaches!

Want to get promoted at work this year? Turns out, it’s not just up to your boss to decide whether you deserve it. There are things you can do to ENSURE you’ll get the promotion! But it all goes back to the two topics we’ve been talking about over the past two weeks: UNDERSTANDING YOURSELF and MAKING IT ABOUT OTHERS. When you know yourself and can communicate it to others in a way that benefits them, you are sure to get promoted. It’s that simple. So if you want to climb the career ladder this year, make sure you put these five actionable tips into practice:

 

Tip #1: You Must Understand the Power of Relationships

Relationships are the most important life/work skill you can have because everything you do is focused on connecting with other people. You must build relationships not only with your boss/employer but also your peers and clients. At launchbox, we’ve worked with many managers, CEOs, and entrepreneurs. One of the things they all consider when promoting an employee is how well that person works with the rest of the team and how well they connect with the clients and customers.

But you cannot begin to truly connect with others until you’ve done the hard work of building a relationship with yourself. That’s the first relationship you should focus on. Which leads me to tip #2.

 

Tip #2: You Must Understand Yourself and Your Strengths

Your strengths are something you’re naturally good at. They are the things you bring to the table to the benefit of your employer and their company. And they’re not hard skills like knowing how to design a logo or understanding python. They’re things like your innate leadership ability or your work ethic. These are strengths you might not even be aware that you have on the surface, which is why building a relationship with yourself is such an important part of the work you need to do to get a promotion. Knowing your unique strengths will help you articulate your value to your manager and cement your place on the team.

 

Tip #3: You Must Know Your Values, Skills, and Passions

The Platinum Rule is treating others how they want to be treated. So along with knowing your strengths, you must know your values, skills, and passions because you need to figure out how to apply them to others. At launchbox, we call this WIFThem: what’s in it for them. You need to be able to communicate how your unique values, skills, and passions add up to a win for your boss. For example, in a discussion about your skills don’t just say, “I’m a people person”. That doesn’t add up to a win for your employer. But if you say, “My skill is that I can connect with other human beings immediately which leads to stronger teams and better client relationships for your company” that’s a win! When you communicate your skills, passions, and values in a way that is other-focused, you will get that promotion.

 

Tip #4: You Must Know Your “Brand”

Brands aren’t just for companies. You need to know and be clear on what your “brand” is. Brands are about who you want to be and how you want to be perceived in the world. At our Strengths & Story workshop, we can take participants through the process of choosing a few brand words for themselves. You can do this, too. Pick three words that define your personal value and how you want to be seen by the world and then hold yourself to them. In business, great brands succeed because they know who they are, what they have to contribute, and then they deliver on it over and over again. Learn from them. Know your brand and consistently demonstrate it to your employer.

 

Tip #5: You Must Learn How to Tell a Connective Story

Finally, to get promoted at work you must learn how to tell a connective story. And not just any story. The story you tell others about yourself must provide value for them so you can connect with them. Remember even though you’re talking about yourself, it’s not about you. Not every story is for every situation. You need to tailor your story to suit your audience and their needs.

Telling a connective story is also not just about what you say. Listening and receiving feedback is just as important as the words leaving your lips. People love people who want to help themselves so be open to receiving suggestion and even criticism. As hard as it may be for you to hear what they have to say, allowing the other person to talk will help build a connection. And when you can connect and make it about them, you will win.

 

Need help? Call (858) 314-9867 to make this the year you stop hoping for the best and start working for it! Sign up for individual coaching and claim your promo code for our next Strengths & Story workshop on January 22nd!

KEY TAKEAWAYS

  1. Know the Power of Relationships
  2. Build a Better Relationship With Yourself
  3. Tell a Connective Story