When you reflect on last year, what comes to mind? Do you immediately take inventory of your wins and losses, browse your bank statements, or get frustrated by what could have been?
READ MORE
Today is Halloween… what many would consider the official kickoff of the holiday season. While some may remain more conservative with their timeframe, declaring Thanksgiving the kickoff, we’d argue the distraction of family and food gatherings has already taken up precious space in the minds of our creative coworkers.
READ MORE
Lately, I’ve been catching myself in the tiniest yet most significant moments I wouldn’t have noticed before. It’s not always exciting or philosophical or groundbreaking. It’s not always based on a sudden, heavy change in my heart or the heart of the world.
“We travel, initially, to lose ourselves; and we travel, next, to find ourselves.”-Pico Iyer, Why We Travel.
–Salt Lake City, Utah
This is an inevitable feeling we all have gotten at least once. The urge to hit the highway and keep on driving, or the desire to press our faces against an airplane window and watch the ground below slowly vanish into a mesh of clouds and sky.
Selling is a human trait. It is an instinct we are all born with, we just need to learn how to wield it. The book To Sell is Human makes “selling” seem less like a used car salesman speech and more like a sincere and meaningful encounter.
READ MORE
We live in a world that tends to point at a person’s weaknesses first. Point blank.
While this piece of information can be pretty cruel, it is comforting to know there are people out there fighting to change such a harsh reality.
American author, researcher and speaker Tom Rath has created Strengthsfinder 2.0 for exactly that purpose.
Strengthsfinder 2.0 is a book and online assessment created for people to discover the top 5 talents they already possess within themselves, and teaches them how to apply their strengths not only to what they do professionally, but also to their every day life in the real world.
The Living Room uses Strengthsfinder 2.0 for the very same reasons.
Instead of showing up to our weekly meetings to discuss what we did wrong or what we should be doing better, we praise what we’ve done the best in and how we can continue to apply our talents toward an upcoming task.
It makes a difference.
We know one another’s strengths. We discussed them, thoroughly, and we keep them in mind as we work together each day. Not only does this help us work better as a team, it makes us empathically closer as individuals.
Strengthsfinder 2.0 was created to provide readers with the opportunity to do what they do best every single day.
So instead of sulking over what you can’t do, get out there and kick ass at what you can do.
No human being is the same. Strengthsfinder 2.0 wants to show the world why that is such a beautiful thing.
New Years resolutions, otherwise known as the tradition of breaking promises.
Many people today choose to change things in their life that they have trouble maintaining, therefore it tends implode within the first few months.
Instead of breaking your promise this year, break the tradition and choose the achievable! Below is a list of practical, beneficial, and fun ways to start your new year!
Commit to crossing one thing off your bucket list.
If you don’t have a bucket list, make one.
Texting and driving.
Stop! Stay alive!
Do (at least) one thing for someone else. Then, ask them to pass it along!
Some ideas include buying the food for the person behind you at a drive-thru restaurant, giving money to someone in need, or inviting someone who could use good company over for dinner.
Break out those kitchen appliances you’ve always had but never used.
Bread oven, slow cooker, quesadilla maker; you name it!
Try five new foods.
Get creative when you decide to go out and even when you cook at home!
Make a travel jar.
Save for ONE specific place to go this year, and do it.
Educate yourself in something you know nothing about.
Sign up for a photography class, practice meditation, or read a book about astronomy. The world is full of amazing things, why not become familiar with as much of it as you can?
Volunteer more.
Seriously, go ahead and Google “volunteer opportunities in my area.” I dare you!
Learn to take care of something new that’s living.
This resolution could range from an actual human being to a small plant that requires little water and sunlight. Either way, find the line and go for it.
Pick one thing about yourself you want to do better, and work on it.
It’s easy to complain about that one thing we see in ourselves we dislike the most. Instead of sulking, take action!
I have often been handed books from bosses or colleagues in my career and if I’m being truthful I’d bet only a handful have every really stood out to me. I find most business books are so lost in theory that it’s near impossible to find away to actually apply the principles they are trying to convey.
