Everyone seems eager to toss this year into the scrapheap of history and declare their intentions for the new year. While there's something to be said for riding the group momentum, if you’re not feeling it yet, particularly based on everything 2020 … [Read more...]
Ponder Your Year
Before the end-of-the-year rush gets too crazy, grab a beverage of choice and spend a few minutes pondering your year. Examine it, don't whine about it. 1. What are you most proud of this year?2. Which limiting beliefs have held you back this … [Read more...]
GO GET IT!
Your Guide to Finding Purpose, Setting Goals and Maintaining Success You can make your leadership life better with a clear purpose, great goals, a deadline, and discipline. INTRODUCTION - Your Best Year … [Read more...]
Pushing Back the Ocean: Tide Turning Leadership Lessons
Introduction: Tide Turning It's amazing to me the number of people I have come across who do not appear to put any thought or action into their lives. They float about, rudderless, just drifting with the tide and changing winds. They react, … [Read more...]
30 Things a Reasonably Decent Manager Can Do
1. Either find the time to have meaningful and regularly scheduled one-on-one meetings with members of your team, or reconsider how you use the word “manager.” If you cannot find the time to sit down with your team individually and learn more … [Read more...]
What’s Your Life About?
If your life were like a book or a movie and someone asked, “What’s it about?” What would you reply? If you don't know, don't get bent out of shape by people who don't "get" you. If you don't know your purpose, others won't either. Purpose isn't … [Read more...]
Are you Running a Learning Organization?
No matter the size of your organization, if you want to become more efficient, increase productivity, increase profit, and grow client satisfaction, there is no better way than building a workplace environment geared toward continuous … [Read more...]
Leadership Fitness Checklist
By now, the majority of those who joined a gym to support their New Year resolution are having second thoughts. They’re not committed to their commitment. For the majority, the pain it takes to achieve their goal is not worth the effort. Of course, … [Read more...]
Three Words
Choose three words. With three words you can set a theme for your year without all the P-measures, R-measures, KPI’s, parental or religious guilt, and anything else that has made planning your year feel like a burden, instead of the optimistic fun it … [Read more...]
About Revenge
Revenge isn't an aspirational goal. It can motivate you to get started, or look at yourself differently, or lift your spirits when you are filled with self-doubt. However, it's short-lived, unless you are so lacking in esteem that you NEED to … [Read more...]
Your Thing
Everyone has their thing. It might be zouk dancing, skeet shooting, gourmet cooking, or 5K running. The passion, flow-inducing activities you engage in can clear your mind, center your soul, calm your nerves, and inspire you to achieve greater things … [Read more...]
Nothing Empowers You More
Nothing empowers you more than setting and achieving a damn good goal! You ready? You can mope around and feel sorry for yourself because, "nothing's working," or you can get your act together, surround yourself with supportive people, and … [Read more...]
Success Doesn’t Happen All At Once
Success doesn't happen all at once. Neither does failure. It is hundreds of little decisions, conversations, actions, and thoughts that make or break you. Make seemingly unimportant nudges in the approximate direction of your dreams every … [Read more...]
Watch Me Succeed
A few months ago I said farewell to a dear friend who was embarking on a new adventure. Although I was overprotective, her talent, intelligence, entrepreneurial spirit, and sheer grit was overwhelming evidence that she would be successful in whatever … [Read more...]
Small Steps
Immediate results are rare and seldom last. Knowing this doesn't stop us from playing the lottery and gambling our long-term success for short-term gains. Some people get lucky. The magic wand produces what they need, often just enough to … [Read more...]
Be Brave and Break Free
I take a lot of pride in the work Karl Bimshas Consulting does with new and established leaders who want to improve what they do so they can manage better and lead well. We don't talk about it a lot, but I'm equally proud of what we do … [Read more...]
Do The Work
Leading well is not always easy. It's not glamorous. It doesn't photograph well. It's not Instagram-able. Many times, good leadership can look like lousy leadership if you don't know the context or intent. And most don't. You don't typically … [Read more...]
Start to Lead – Dare to Give a Damn
Imagine if you started to lead, instead of whining. What could you accomplish if you dared to give a damn? Live your values and act on purpose. It is the simplest, most straightforward way you can identify leadership in yourself and … [Read more...]
Pushing Back the Ocean
When we are focused on pursuing meaningful goals, it is easier to push back on the unrelenting wave of cynics crashing across our path. Introduction: Tide Turning It’s amazing to me the number of people I have come across who do not appear to put … [Read more...]
The Write Goal; How to Finally Get Your Writing Project Written
I've come across many people filled with a desire to start their writing project. Nearly all of them have a book in them, but few can get it out. Introducing a new program from Karl Bimshas Consulting. In The Write Goal, you'll … [Read more...]
Passion on a Pedestal
Stop seeking passion. It will elude you until it sees you working. What you are passionate about is the thing you are most willing to suffer for, enduring it for 10, 15, 20 years or more. Passion is the endeavor you cannot stop doing. It consumes … [Read more...]
Your 90 Day Review
1. Review the last 90 days of your life. You set some big goals -- how ya doing? Do you need to adjust them? Don't go smaller. Reach higher. 2. You met new people. Did anyone positively influence your life, your goals, your success? Have you … [Read more...]
Don’t Be the A-Hole on The Team
How can you be a good team leader without being an a-hole? They say there’s no I in team, yet, executive suites and corner offices remain havens for barrel-chested man-babies who treat people like they are disposable. In “Don’t Be the A-Hole on … [Read more...]
Harmony Over Balance
I don’t like the personal development industry’s “Wheel of Life” because I think balance is the wrong thing to attempt to achieve. Have you ever tried to accomplish perfect balance? Balancing anything is difficult and all-consuming. The practice … [Read more...]
How Do You Invest Your Time Over a Long Weekend?
Remembering? This weekend, you will no doubt make time to remember fallen heroes. Reconnecting? Do you make time to reach out to family, friends and the other important people in your life? Relaxing? Will you spend time in a hammock or a … [Read more...]
“Let Me Fail.”
I recently shared dinner with a dear friend who was about to embark on a new adventure. She alternated between bouts of excitement and nervousness, possessing the natural joy that comes from stretching outside your comfort zone, coupled with the … [Read more...]
Alone, or with Your Flock, Soar
Sometimes you have to be independent and chart your own course. You will fly high, and far, and have a broad perspective on your world, up above the fray. Other times, you will want company, share resources, communicate with your friends, cheer … [Read more...]
Why? Because!
Once you become an adult, there's something you can stop doing, but most don't. It is important to know your *why* - the motivation, inspiration, reason that compels you to pursue the big goal in your life. It helps you to understand why, but you do … [Read more...]
There’s a lot of Great Leadership Out There
There's a lot of great leadership out there. The problem is, many of the great leaders are not in leadership positions. Partly because some of them do not consider what they do to be leadership. Their humility is refreshing, but they are wrong, … [Read more...]
Today is Your 90 Day Review
Review the last 90 days of your life. You set some big goals -- how ya doing? Do you need to adjust them? Don't go smaller. Reach higher. You met new people. Did anyone positively influence your life, your goals, your success? Have you … [Read more...]
Never Feel Lost
When you know your purpose and values, you feel great about making decisions that support who you want to be and where you want to go. When you set your mind on your dreams and you celebrate along the way, you are making … [Read more...]
Great Goal
Want to build your strength, confidence, and integrity? Set a great goal for yourself and achieve it. You don't have to tell anyone else, but you do have to write it down. You don't have to include others in your plan, but you've got to have … [Read more...]
Don’t Wait to be Empowered
Empowerment is great, and I don't mean to split hairs, but I've never liked the word. It implies power is being given to you by someone else. Yes, I suppose you can bestow that gift to yourself, give yourself permission to rise up, take authority, … [Read more...]
Daily Focus
Try The Daily Focus -List 10 things you need to do that will bring you closer to your goal. -Brainstorm 10 ideas to improve a problem you're facing. -Give 10 compliments to other people. -List 10 things you're grateful … [Read more...]
How’s Your Leadership-Life Going?
As someone who helps individuals and organizations to lead better, it is not uncommon for me to ask people, “How’s your leadership-life going?” I get one of three responses. Overly Enthusiastic The Overly Enthusiastic are quick to … [Read more...]
Free Planning Bundle
Thanks for following Karl Bimshas Consulting. We are grateful for the opportunity to help develop your leadership, challenge your thinking, widen your perspective or make you laugh. Please accept this gift. The “Planning Bundle” includes … [Read more...]
18 Lame Excuses
Below are eighteen commonly made (and lame) excuses you may have heard -- or made -- for not engaging in something new. See if any of these excuses sound familiar and review the suggested no-nonsense remedies to help you achieve your next great … [Read more...]
Do Your Direct Reports Need Leadership Development Coaching?
Effective leadership coaching requires commitment. Is it worth investing in outside resources for a direct report who is facing change or second-guessing their abilities? Here are five considerations for your decision-making matrix. VALUE - Are they … [Read more...]
Don’t Listen to Them; You’re Fine
People make a lot of money off your lack of self-esteem or self-awareness. You’re not good looking enough, your car is too wimpy or guzzles too much fuel. Your teeth could be whiter, your family happier, your waist thinner, and if you want to trust … [Read more...]
Basketball Players, Filmmakers, and Nurses
Ask a basketball player about the game, and they will talk about possessions of the ball, the clock, openings they created, and specific shots they took. Of course, winning is, important, but the great ones know they get there shot by … [Read more...]
Don’t be a Joyless Leader
I remember a time in college when I returned home to visit my mom, and she told me about a troubling sight she had just seen. A school bus had stopped at a light beside her, and the faces of sullen and despondent teenagers filled every visible … [Read more...]
Run an After Action Review for Your Year
It is now the season when countless articles on how to plan your year pop up like premature Crocus. These systems will ask you to dig deep and often provide a daunting number of exercises designed to make you think, dream, pray, meditate or vision … [Read more...]
Your Year Was Not Great
Your year was not great. The majority of the people you know didn't have a great year either. How can that be? Most people start the year filled with hope and optimism. Great attributes, but a poor substitute for persistence and pragmatism. … [Read more...]
Decide with SPICE
When your task list becomes too long and neglected and reads like a list of forgotten dreams, or you are regularly swamped with new ideas, resist the urge to dabble. Dabbling in a few things will only dilute your focus and energy. So, how do you … [Read more...]
Your Leadership Agenda
Create a leadership agenda so you can manage better and lead well. Your Leadership Agenda Your attitude, your appearance, and your approach are the three building blocks of your leadership agenda. Your leadership agenda is how you plan on … [Read more...]
Leaders and Artists
Leaders and artists, particularly writers, share many traits. An excellent leader doesn’t get to be that way without a sense of creativity and artistry. Likewise, an artist shapes opinions, causes introspection and moves the spirit, if not the body. … [Read more...]
Remember Context
When you stop to think about an interaction with someone or a group of people, it is easy to reflect on three components. You. Them. Your conversation with them. Rudimentary, yet you probably don't think about it too much, except when you are … [Read more...]
Focus Can Be Difficult
Focus can be difficult. There are so many welcome and unwelcome distractions in our world. If you don't know your vision, purpose, and values, the challenge is even greater. Start defining them so your decision-making can get easier. Next list an … [Read more...]
Expect the Best, Plan for the Worst
While I was growing up, I often heard the popular refrain, “Expect the best and plan for the worst.” I attributed it to the weather. In New England, you might plan a nice picnic, but if you were smart, you also prepared a contingency for rain, or … [Read more...]
Cultivating Success
Last week I had a delightful discussion with a colleague about our individual writing processes. As we talked between sips of coffee, it became clear that we had a mutual tendency to make things more complex than they have to be. I hastily narrowed … [Read more...]
Find 60 Ways to Get Your It Together
Modern leaders and managers live with uncertainty. The difference is, the uncertainty does not immobilize them, it emboldens them. The tools at their disposal are no different from those anyone else has access to. It is their brain and the deliberate … [Read more...]
What Skills Should I Improve?
Regardless of your occupation, you should always be working on improving your skills. Choosing not to would be reckless and invite career derailment. When you work for an organization, there's no shortage of feedback loops telling you what to … [Read more...]
Background Work to Start Planning Your Career, No Matter Where in Your Career You Are
It is graduation season, and whether you are finishing off college, high school, or reminiscing about when you did, those many years ago, it is a good time to think about where you want to go next. How are you going to spend your time … [Read more...]
Know Why Privately
The question 'why?', like alcohol, is not inherently good or bad on its own. For some, it can help foster celebration. For others, it can mask pain. It can be used in moderation, abused, or believe it or not, never touched. People put too much … [Read more...]
Boost Your Goals
By now all the pressure to identify your 2016 goals has passed. You either have them, or you don't. If you don't, it's not too late. You can set goals any time you want. If you have already established your goals for the year, good for you; now let's … [Read more...]
Start with Purpose. Always.
Busy professionals often feel anxious because far too many are not acting on purpose, or their values do not align with the organization. When you know your purpose and values, decision-making becomes easier because you have an automatic filter you … [Read more...]
Your Checklist for Success in 2016
Confirm your Values. Where you spend your time and money is a clue as to what you currently value. Need to make a change? Commit to figuring it out before you start making plans you do not believe in. Confirm your top four values and then … [Read more...]
What is your biggest roadblock …
It is easy to get aggravated. The reward comes from not getting aggravated. I am not there yet, but you might be able to help. My business is to help entrepreneurs and executives find ways to lead better, personally and professionally, globally … [Read more...]
Have You Met Your Goals
Did you make a shopping list before you ran your errands? Did you create a packing list when you last traveled? Did you work off a task list last week? If you answered no to any of the previous questions, did you forget something, feel … [Read more...]
Maybe You Didn’t Achieve Your Goals Because They Sucked
As someone who works on leadership development and accountability, it is my job to call out BS and to help align what people say they want with what they do. I do not fall for mediocrity trying to disguise itself as effort. Clients do not … [Read more...]
10 Steps to a Better Personal Plan
During this last month of the year, I am going to be sharing topics around goal-setting and building a useful personal plan. My ardent desire is to help as many people as possible have a great year pursuing their fulfilling goals, so please share … [Read more...]
Have you set a theme for your year yet?
Have you set a theme for your year yet? I am a big fan of planning your year and creating metrics to keep you on track SEE HERE. A theme is something different. It is simple focusing. Many people do not plan the night before, meditate the day of, … [Read more...]
15 Prescriptions
In the last post, "How Many of the '15 Ailments' Do You Have?" I used a recent address from the pope to inspire reflection on your own leadership and the development of your team. Now, with a little positivity and grammatical jujitsu, I offer a … [Read more...]
How Many of the “15 Ailments” Do You Have?
Set aside your personal development goals and put away any management books you’re reading for the rest of the year. Pope Francis just outlined “15 Ailments of the Curia” and it’s all you need to assess you and your team’s performance, regardless of … [Read more...]
Poor Planning
3 Common Mistakes Busy Professionals Make That Keep Them Feeling Anxious About Planning Their Year. Learn how to avoid making those same mistakes yourself with this better planning guide from Karl Bimshas … [Read more...]
Plan on Success
At the end of every year, busy professionals are faced with the problem of a nagging sensation that they neglected their personal goals; because they did. Sustaining high-performance in your professional life can take a toll. That’s why I … [Read more...]
20 Interests
Several weeks ago, a friend referred me to a TED Talk video with Larry Smith, titled. "Why you will fail to have a great career." A blunt, funny, and all too true talk, worth checking out. There is a brief section where he discusses the difference … [Read more...]
4 Elegant Steps to a Productive 2nd Half
Are you ready for the 2nd half? Here are 3 questions and 1 action that will align you toward your next great goal. Question 1 - What do you want to have, do or be by December 31, 2014? Question 2 - What has to be true on that day that … [Read more...]
The Chicken and The Pig
By now, you have likely heard the story of the chicken and the pig? One day the chicken, struck with an idea to fix the team turmoil between the animals on the farm, excitedly shared it with the pig. “Let’s have a breakfast!” the chicken … [Read more...]
Don’t Measure Time. Measure Times.
A calendar is a tool that lets you peer into the future or revisit the past by way of milestones. With a quick glance, you can plan for graduations or remember anniversaries. A clock is a more forward focused tool. It keeps unrelenting track of the … [Read more...]
The Authenticity of Faking
When was the last time you tried something new? I don't mean a variation of a Starbucks coffee (though I know for some, that would rock their world). I mean trying something new in your craft. And not something you already think you're good or bad … [Read more...]
Stop Dumping on Goals
During the last half of February, the flu incapacitated me. During that time, energy permitting, I read several posts and articles from vaulted gurus and neophytes alike who caused my temperature to rise even higher. They seemed to have received the … [Read more...]
Passion is Not Enough
Unfortunately, there’s no shortage of people distressed over not being able to find their passion. They scramble looking for it with an urgency and panic that’s reminiscent of someone late for work searching for their car keys. The error in this … [Read more...]
How Do You Feel Right Now?
When I meet prospective clients we inevitablably discover what holds them back resides where their level of self-confidence and the amount of external support received intersect. Do you believe levels of confidence and support influence the … [Read more...]
You Don’t Have To Be a Leader To Be a Role Model
You're a role model. You may not know it. You may not like it. You may try to reject it, saying you never asked to be one. It doesn't matter. You are someone's role model. Kids, for one, either your own or their friends, maybe a niece … [Read more...]
Success is in Your Hands
Depending on your perspective, Sunday nights can be filled with anxiety or anticipation, as thoughts of Monday and the week ahead inevitably creep in. Whether you’re feeling overwhelmed with too much to do, or apathetic and without a clue, let me … [Read more...]
How to Talk to Yourself Better
Let's acknowledge that everyone talks to themselves. Whether it's done consciously and out loud as a method to work through a problem; or subconsciously to unwittingly either build or subvert self-confidence, we all travel with that voice. Writers … [Read more...]
Cut It Out
Think over the last 7 days. You've probably done something stupid a couple of times already. Maybe it's been wasting time on a pointless report, saying yes when you should be saying no, skipping out on a commitment to yourself or someone else -- it … [Read more...]
Simplify. Lead. Thrive.
Some people can be extremely detailed when planning their New Year, while others are open to possibilities as they unfold. There’s not a right or wrong way, the effectiveness of the plan is ultimately up to you. If you haven’t yet, one method … [Read more...]
Fortify Your Resolution
45% of American’s usually make a New Year’s Resolution, and 25% of those are abandoned within the first week of the year, according to The University of Scranton Journal of Clinical Psychology. It’s okay to declare your resolution to everyone. We … [Read more...]
Browsing Someday Aisle
During the frenzy of holiday shopping, make sure you pick up something for yourself from the someday aisle. It’s well stocked with hopes, wishes and dreams that you have deferred because of other priorities. You might find an old business plan, … [Read more...]
Finish Strong
End the year with a bang, not a blah. Since 2009 Karl Bimshas Consulting has been helping motivated leaders artists and entrepreneurs find the a-ha within and reach their goals. There aren’t many days left in this year and you might be … [Read more...]
You are here. How do you feel about that?
Depending on your perspective, this year is coming to a close too fast, or not fast enough. Either way, are you prepared to finish strong or start smart? The holiday season is often harried, filled with gatherings, gift-giving, gratitude and … [Read more...]
Your Kernels
Do you remember the last time you made popcorn for yourself? It was probably a packet you threw into the microwave, but maybe you went old school and popped it on the stove, or plugged in the exceptionally loud whirling popcorn maker and stole a few … [Read more...]
Killing Despondency with a Great Goal
In this brief talk, Karl Bimshas urges the killing of despondency, particularly in our youth, with a great goal. Current Motivation Podcasts at Blog Talk Radio with Reflections on Leadership on BlogTalkRadio … [Read more...]
100 or Less
If you had 100 days to make a positive difference in your life what would you do? Work to get better at something you’ll need for the future? Finally “fix” something that’s been plaguing you or your team? Increase your confidence? Rally … [Read more...]
Miserable People
I've met a lot of miserable people. I'm sure they have good hearts and mean well, but they drive me nuts because they talk about a great goal and then they sigh and shrug, droop their head down and trudge on to the next “important” but … [Read more...]
Is Your Goal Satiated or Parched?
Maybe you don’t want to think about the year being half over. After all, if it’s half over and you haven’t done enough to secure your goals, the ones you swore yourself you’d achieve last New Year’s Eve, then you’re just setting yourself up for … [Read more...]
Is Your Idiot Light On?
Anyone who has driven an older vehicle knows the dread felt when an dashboard light pops on in the middle of a road trip. Grown men and women suddenly caress the steering wheel and begin sweet talking their car. “Come on, just a few miles more,” they … [Read more...]
The Size of Your Goal is Irrelevant If You Don’t Bother to Work on It.
As you’d expect, when I ask people about their goals I get different reactions. There are those who become glossy-eyed trying to figure out what I mean, because they’re just trying to get through the day. The majority fall in range, from those … [Read more...]