homeSTRONG Life Coaching

I’m sitting here looking out my window, typing up a blog post in a quiet house. That’s right, for the first time since dinosaurs walked the earth my house is quiet during the daylight hours. There’s usually enough noise in this little house to make the deaf reach for earplugs, but not today.

How did I manage to make my home fall silent when we have eight younglings running around? Simple. I made an impulse purchase. Read the rest of this entry

Picture this. A fine marble statue is sitting atop a pedestal in a large city park. Its every detail has been painstakingly crafted by a skilled sculpture who has worked tirelessly toward this goal for years to see its completion. It is simply beautiful. It is magnificent. One might even say… perfect.

While onlookers admire the statue’s majesty, the sky suddenly darkens. Everyone in unison looks to the sky. After a moment, as if with one mind, the mob scatters in panic as a pigeon the size of a 747 flies overhead. And here’s only one thing a pigeon that size is going to do to that statue. This isn’t going to be pretty, folks.

Our sculptor is about to realize that sometimes there’s no amount of planning, care, or hard work that can protect us from life’s, um… unpleasant circumstances.

Put yourself in the shoes of that sculptor for a minute. Everything you’ve worked years to accomplish has just been buried under a mountain of crap. You’ve done nothing wrong. You didn’t deserve this. It was completely out of your control, but its still your masterpiece that just got buried. There’s not a cleaning crew on Earth who will attempt to fix this. It’s a complete loss.

At this point you have two options. You can think, “Why me?” and play the victim. You’ll definitely garnish some sympathy for a while. A lot of guys take this route and who can blame them? Your other choice is to be a real man by beginning the prep work needed to make your next achievement even more spectacular than the last.

Which one are you going to choose? Read the rest of this entry

One of my Primary Goals for this blog is to be insanely useful to my readers. To do that, I try to produce content that is top notch. But there’s another side to being useful. It’s not enough to write great content. I also have to address issues that matter to you.

Generally, bloggers gauge how well they’re hitting that mark by the feedback they receive. If I get a lot of “ata boys” then I’m writing good stuff. If I receive a lot of feedback about how something I wrote had a positive effect on someone’s life, then I’m hitting the right issues.

The thing is, I don’t get many of either here at homeSTRONG Life Coaching. This confuses me, because I don’t know if the lack of feedback is because I’m writing junk that doesn’t apply to you, or if the lack of feedback is because I’ve hit the mark so perfectly you have nothing more to add to the conversation (not bloody likely, but there you go).

Google tells me my audience keeps growing, and more people are stumbling onto this site than ever before, which I’m really thankful for. But more important than subscribers or visitors, I want to know I’m helping people.

Here’s where you have a chance to really make an impact here at homeSTRONG Life Coaching. I’d love to just ask all my readers to be more active in the comments (I would love that opportunity to interact with you, by the way), but I think I have a better idea. Read the rest of this entry

My style of Life Coaching is characterized by deep, clear thinking.  In keeping with that, I’m going to share with you a truth that change the way I think about issues. I’m sure it’ll have the same affect for you.

This profound thought has the power to cut through excuses and hold you accountable to any goal you claim to hold. At first it seems ridiculously simple, even elementary. But as it is with most profound thoughts, understanding them is simple, while  application proves tricky.

So what is this bald-headed nut-job going on about? Only this: Read the rest of this entry

We’re three weeks into the new year, which means a lot of people are two and a half weeks into their New Year’s resolution failure cycle. If you’re anything like me (and if you weren’t, why would you be reading this?) you can relate to the New Year’s resolution failure cycle.

We’ve all been there. Year after year we come up with a list of things we want to change in the new year, give it a try for a few days, weeks, or (God bless you) months before becoming discouraged and calling it quits.

For the record, I hate New Year’s resolutions. I figure if you’re not motivated to take sustained action on December 16th, you won’t be on January 1st either. If you won’t start your diet on a Wednesday, waiting until Monday won’t provide the magical motivation to make it stick. A typical New Year’s resolution is a recipe for failure, which leads to discouragement, which leads to hopelessness. That’s not a cycle worth starting.

So why do we keep making these resolutions year after year? Because we know where we’re at isn’t where we ought to be, and we want to see different results. Great! No problems there. The problem is we then list out the things we want to change without clearly laying out how the change will occur.

You see, you don’t need another New Year’s resolution. You need a plan of action. A road map that shows you not just where you’re going, but how you’ll get there. I want to share with you a simple 5 step process to transform your resolution (or any goal, really) into an action plan that will motivate you and create lasting change.

So buckle up. We’re going for a ride! Read the rest of this entry

I have an exercise for you. I’ve used this many times when life gets stressful and my stated priorities don’t match up with the way I’m living. This little exercise has adjusted my focus more times than I can remember, and I’m sure it can do the same for you, too. As we apply this tactic to the holiday of Christmas, feel free to use it in other areas of your life. It will prove useful. I promise.

I want you to imagine your ideal Christmas scene. Just like we did in another imaginative blog post, I want you to use vivid detail, and really take the time to get immersed in it. Don’t just think it, but experience it in the theater of your mind.

To help get you started, here’s what my ideal Christmas Day looks like. My wife and I wake up early for a cup of coffee as we sit in front of the Christmas Tree, talking and enjoying each others company. Read the rest of this entry