I often tell people to locate your frog, capture it and cook it. You might have to eat it, or maybe not depending on which frog it is.  If focus is the anecdote to overwhelm, what is the anecdote to a broken mindset?

I’ve spent a lifetime breaking it down to make it clearer and easier for myself, which in turn, I share with my clients, colleagues, family, and friends. 

As I see it, people only live two different ways. You can live in avoidance and deflection (which by the way is back filled with distraction and drama) or you can live as the driver, the creator, and the designer.   Both require effort and both produce results – question is how do you feel along the way?  Is there joy?

Both ways are perfectly normal, and both ways have their own sets of challenges. The only difference between the default vs design way of living is the mindset it ultimately creates. When I say mindset, of course I mean an ability to control your second thought, the ability to rise above the fray and see the bigger picture and to zoom out.  It’s the mental stamina required to navigate the challenges AND we all have them at one point or another, in one season or another.

It’s simply growing the habit of owning the ability to face the uncomfortable and grow.  Growth happens in both camps, however, the growth in the second camp is intended and not an accident. So how do you grow a new habit?  Write it down, time block it and do it. Hit rinse and repeat and be kind to yourself.

The questions I ask myself each day (as it relates to BIG frogs) are:

(Ask yourself in Business & Personal)

• What actions am I avoiding?

• Which person or conversation am I avoiding?

• Which truth/reality am I not seeing?

• Who is the next who I need to connect with?

• Does my plan make sense, or should I re-plan?

• Does my plan energize and invigorate me and if not, what fun element can I design into it?

• Ask yourself this question at difficult intersections…what’s the BIG FROG I can eat today?