SigmaU Blog

I’ll admit it, the past few weeks have been a struggle. I’ve been pulled into the news and sensationalism of news stories and doom and gloom. As a result, I found myself cynical, negative and on edge. I’ve always guarded my mind from the news. It’s been a discipline to ignore the news since 2008 when a coach challenged me to give it up for a month and see how my life changed. Well, it changed in an incredible way! During one of the most challenging economic times to run a business, ours grew 43% and I’m a big believer that it was because of the positive mindset I adopted during that time!

Some may say that missing the news is naïve.  I’m here to challenge that way of thinking and ask that you consider that if anything absolutely critical is happening in the world, it will filter through to you. You’re going to find out the major news that impacts you directly and that watching the news on a loop is one of the worst things you can...

I was hiking in a picturesque snow fall this past weekend and it got me thinking…

As I was making tracks, I noticed that there were similar sized boot prints in front of me.  I got thinking about who may have walked those tracks before me.  For a moment, I walked in her boot prints and quickly noticed that they were at a much smaller stride than mine. It felt uncomfortable and slow.

I stepped out of those prints and went back to my own pace which seems to measure a full footprint ahead of the existing set.  Not going to lie, for a brief second I though “WOW she’s a slow walker. I’d beat her if we were walking together.”

Upon reflection I realized that life is like those prints. Was I getting distracted from the stunningly beautiful winter wonderland I was relishing in just moments before to compete with a ghost? And so what if she walked slower, maybe she was meditating or ill or just knew how to be more present than this typical...

A quick search on Google turned up the definition of sassy is someone or something that is lively, bold and a little feisty.

I like it! We should all have a little SASS in our lives to keep things interesting! Here are some ways that some of my favourite coaching clients add a little SASS to their worlds…

Self Confidence

Coaching provides the perfect playground for clients to build their self-confidence. Often clients don’t necessarily seek coaching to build confidence, but it happens as a by-product. During coaching, they will stretch their goals and perhaps their mindset through new ways of thinking and take bold action by having courageous conversations or making big moves.  One thing that I reinforce with clients is the importance of building self-confidence by investing in yourself.  When you communicate to yourself that you’re worth it, your confidence soars!  You do that when you keep the promises you make to yourself. If you say...

Habit stacking is an incredible hack that I learned about in Atomic Habits by James Clear. He teaches the formula in which you take an existing habit and add a new habit to it to make it easier to tackle.

Examples of habit stacking that I do include:

Meditation while I’m stretching! It can be challenging for me to slow down and meditate so my hack is to meditate and do visualization while I’m stretching after a run.  I’m on my back anyhow, so why not build on it!

Getting my 10 pages of personal development read is done while I’m having my breakfast. Adding 24 oz. of water to the reading and eating helps me tackle my water consumption challenge which can trip me up. If I leave it too late in the day to get my gallon in, I’m up all night. So habit stacking at breakfast is imperative for me.

Habit stacking could be as small as saying something that you’re grateful for out loud as soon as your feet hit the floor in the morning.

There’s no...

The person who executes beats the person who is still planning and perfecting every time!

I was reminded of this recently as I watched my neighbours work on their ice rink.  They spent countless hours out there in the cold, wind whipping across the lake clearing snow. They set up systems where they had water pumping through a hose so they could flood the area each week. They painstakingly spent time and effort to trudge through the freezing water and mop the surface so that it would be smooth to skate on. Each time there was a snowfall, they were out there diligently shoveling and clearing their little slice of Canadiana! They were out there every single weekend for twelve weeks and I saw a ton of effort and zero skating.

While that was happening, a group of people about a nine iron away cleared a regulation-sized rink for the community to use. Everyone pitched in and shovelled here and there. There were times after huge snowfalls that only half of the rink was cleared, and the...

Most conflict arises from mismatched expectations which is why clarity is so critical.  Think about the last conflict you had with a partner or colleague. Chances are, there were misaligned expectations in the relationship. It could be mismatched expectations of communication style, deadlines, how you wanted the other person to engage with you.

In fact, I believe that our inner conflict happens when we have mismatched expectations of ourselves! I’ve spoken about the peace and joy that high performers have when their actions are aligned with their core values. When they are in congruence and showing up as their best selves, or who they say they are, they can be at peace. Inner conflict happens when we’re out of alignment. This inner battle can take place when we have mismatched expectations on where we are in life.

If I always bought in to the notion that I should be married by 25, own a house by 30 and have 2 children by 35 and my life doesn’t represent that...

I recently shot a video for LinkedIn about courageous conversations. I had assumed that people knew what I was referring to when I spoke about these conversations and I shouldn’t have. I realized this while I was wrapping up an introductory webinar on high performance and someone asked me to give an example of a courageous conversation.

In the moment, I gave a personal example and shared a story of a courageous conversation I had.  After the webinar it dawned on me that I should not only define courageous conversations but also provide you with some tools and lead-in conversation starters that I have found to be incredibly helpful as I’ve faced these once fear-inducing moments.

Here’s what I can tell you about courageous conversations: they are easier and easier to have as you build your courage muscle!

As a recovering ostrich who would put their head in the sand and avoid confrontation at all costs, I can tell you that I would never dream that confrontation...

Having congruency with your intentions creates a strong sense of self confidence, peace, and a greater sense of purpose. We know that high performers are deliberate with their actions. They set intentions each day and likely before transitioning to each new activity.

High performers map out what their top priorities for the day are, what their focus needs to be on and how they would show up as their best selves.

When I coach with clients, one of the very first things I have them do is to select 3 words that would describe their best self. These words may not necessarily reflect who they are today, but rather who they are becoming as they work towards growing and transforming into a high achiever. Some clients can come up with the 3 works quickly, they are sure about who they are and what they would want others to describe them as. For others, this is an introspective process that takes time.

What’s most important is making sure that future actions align with those 3 words. I...

Ever have one of those “hit you over the head” moments where your perspective dramatically changed in an instant?

Well, that happened recently while I was watching a recording of Brendon Burchard’s teaching.  He was talking about his ability to connect deeply with a diverse group of people across ages, gender, cultures, religions, political affiliations, and it all came down to one powerful concept.  Release your expectation that others should think and behave the way you do, and your life will be forever changed!

What the what what??!!! YES!

See I’ll admit, I was stuck in this way of thinking and it absolutely impacted my relationships. I would get frustrated when my husband would hold on to something that I deemed he was holding on to for too long. Well, who cares? Let him feel and process things the way he wants to. In the past, I would immediately want to remedy the situation, give him 3 ways to change his physiology or make him tell me 3 things...

Who would have thought that one of the most powerful ways you could get ahead today is to be fully present!

Back when I wrote Relationship ROI, my keynotes were all about being a magnetic person to do business with by giving people your undivided attention. It was true then and it’s incredibly relevant now. We’ve all been on Zoom calls for over a year and I totally get it - fatigue can set in and we’re distracted more now than ever.

The challenge is that when we’re not present, we do more damage than good. I remember several years ago when I trained to be a kids coach for Future Possibilities for Kids. One thing that they taught that has stuck with me is the importance of presence. They warned that if you seem distracted on a phone call, your kid will sense it and probably call you out on it. As adults, we’re not as forthcoming calling it out.  Instead, we proceed with the meeting while others on a Zoom call check their phones, turn their videos...