People picked up the phone to talk to each other. If you fell in love and lived apart it felt like forever until the mailman showed up with a precious envelope sealed with a kiss. And if you waited for a written document it was always “in the mail” with the check, of course.

Those days are lost forever. Now lovers text frantically back and forth and if you’re just “not into” that guy there is no escape. Clients expect instant response to documents sent …and sometimes expect you to read them on the tiny screen of your BlackBerry. Reading between the lines – there is no escape from clients either.

There is a common frustration I hear everywhere….everyone has pressure from inbox overload. From CEOs right down to your neighborhood electrician and plumber, inboxes are flowing over. We are distracted, stressed, inefficient and ineffective. You may think e-mail is free…but it isn’t ….it’s costing us billions in lost productivity.

I don’t know what YOU are going to do about it, but I do know what I have done. I am about to launch www.stopmyemailpain.com. It’s really simple . If you subscribe you will get a free tip every week – the start of freedom for you. If you are in a bigger hurry to stop your email pain you can buy my tutorial for $47. It’ll save you thousands of dollars in increased efficiency, allow you to make more money and add weeks to your life that you are currently spending on e-mail. Your choice….check it out….or nothing will change.

They say “ask and you shall receive” – but most of us have a really hard time receiving.

Many executives are struggling as companies ask them to do more with less resources ( both time and money). No-one wants to say they are overwhelmed because…well..that may be the trigger to make them available to industry. On the other hand, if things start to slip and you don’t speak up…then what?

Is it time to revaluate how you are spending your time to see what you can delegate or is it time to recheck priorities?

There is no way you can do it all alone. Every now and then you have to send your cape to the cleaners and ask for the help you need. What help should YOU be asking for?

Personally, I have engaged in multiple discussions with colleagues about how to help others navigate these chaotic times. Before I knew it, the dis-ease around me disrupted my own ability to remain an island of calm in a turbulent sea.

I tend to be a rather proactive person, so I decided to take action and change things up. What you are seeing today is my celebration of my new website and new brand positioning.

It started with John P. Strelecky and his book, The Why Café, and my subsequent certification in The Big Five for Life. Then I was introduced to the work of Simon Sinek and his book Start With Why. Being very certain of my own “why” by this time, I went to CEO Space looking for answers to how to bring my WHY to life.

At CEO Space, I met two fabulous people – Chris Collins (www.americandesignco.com) and Erin Saxton (www.theideanetwork.net). In September we spent three days in a platform “ Kidnap” experience. You are seeing the results in visiting my new website. (I’d be happy to tell you more!)

I can’t say enough about the professionalism of both Chris and Erin. I have already experienced a shift in my business!

One of the incredible outcomes was arriving at clarity about what the WHY immersion experience will be. If you are curious, click on the WHY immersion tab of this site. And best of all, Simon Sinek will be part of the WHY immersion team.

As a coach, I have learned how important it is to play to your strengths. In his book, Now Discover Your Strengths, Marcus Buckingham tells the story of a player on the Chinese Olympic ping pong team. The player had a very strong forehand and was working on his backhand determined to improve that as well. His coach advised him to work much harder on his forehand instead, the theory being that if you work on your strength the opportunity for improvement is exponentially better. The result was that with his formidable forehand the player became the Olympic champion.

My advice to my son was to choose a field of study that was “easy” for him. He was rather taken aback by this advice as he thought he should do something challenging, not a subject where he could get an “A”. I asked him what the second easiest course was for him and suggested that perhaps a double major might be a good way to play to both strengths and still give him enough of a challenge.

I am very proud to say, that Cory graduated Magnum Cum Laude with a degree in both Business Administration and Accounting. Now how is that for playing to strengths?

Do you choose was is difficult or take the time to discover your own strengths?

Now that I do what I’m passionate about, it doesn’t really feel like work. Because I love people, marketing is fun, networking means I meet even more people and life feels like a party much of the time. Occasionally the stress my clients are under gets to me – staying positive and inspiring is thinking work.

As I observe people working hard to keep the lights on and their employees paid, I wonder how I can spread the message that simplifying life is worthy of exploration.

I challenge you to explore your “WHY”.
By WHY, I mean why does your organization exist?
Why do you get out of bed every morning?
And why should anyone care?
If it is to be it is up to you! So t5take the time to think of how doing things differently might be in alignment with your WHY.

Recommended treatment involves chemotherapy. Here is where the struggle between the ears begins….he is a cat, how much do you spend on a cat? How much is too much? Doesn’t he deserve a chance? How important is his quality of life?

When I am challenged with a decision to make, I have three categories – Yes, No and I need more information. The first vet thought I should send him on his way to heaven, the oncologist urged me to seek more information. I went back and forth between my feelings and the practicalities of life. I decided to live in hope.

Whether it is a cat life or a human life, those of us who are the stewards of a living being have a responsibility to do our best. I have resolved not to let Marko down. I was sharing this while driving to the Montreal airport with my brother, the doctor, who is an esteemed palliative care specialist. At the point when I said, “I have to give him a chance, because when I had Hodgkin’s decades ago, what if someone put me to sleep?” My very funny brother said, as we turned onto the next highway, “well then I’d be going straight instead of making this turn”. Humor is, after al, the best medicine.

After one month of chemo, he is talking up a storm – Marko has his “meow” back, and apparently this type of lymphoma responds well to chemo. Marko has the love and prayers of all the many people who join me for dinner meetings at my home. I am grateful for my friends who know that an animal is a family member and that prayers do heal.

One of my high performing clients felt stressed and burnt out and agonized frequently about missing out on time with his seven year old son. At the speed at which life was moving his son might be going to college before he had time for some quality conversations and time on the slopes. I asked him this question: “What would change if you treated your son as you would your most valued client”?

It was an A-ha moment!

Here is how this might work. What happens when a client wants to schedule something with you? You check your calendar and the answer is either “Yes, I can do that” or “I wish I could, but would Thursday work instead?”

Now, try this – when you would like to plan a ski trip or an outing for the day – when someone wants to meet with you, say you are booked! After all, your son or daughter is waiting….

I have considered whether this is an ethical approach but to my way of thinking, if you are delivering on expectations, then this is a fair trade. It is unfortunate that it’s such a struggle to carve out family time. For women, wanting to go to a child’s event at school might give the message that she is not devoted to her job. But if she herself is comfortable that she is giving her best by working smart, then perhaps she will be more motivated, satisfied, and recharged by showing up at the school event.

The message is – design your life the way you want it – life is short and you can choose to have it all. Treat those you care about, including yourself, as a valued client for a week (starting now) and see how much more joy you’ll create for yourself.

Every person contributes in some way to the service or product that a company delivers. Whether it is to answer the phone and be the first point of contact for a customer, or a sales person in the field, that employee needs to understand the value they contribute. This is the best single way to create a motivated workforce.

Ask yourself if you have told someone important to you what it is that you value about them. And then go do something about it!

Do you know how to boil a frog? I know it sounds disgusting but the metaphor just works so well for relationships that I just have to share it with you. If you drop a frog in boiling water, it’ll just jump out. However, if you put it in cold water and heat it slowly….well…it’s curtains for the frog, and of coarse they croak. (A bad pun for sure).

Relationships can die in the same way. People really want to be liked and seen in a good light. As a result, they work very hard at pleasing people and doing an admirable sales job so that the other person will think they are incredible. The problem, as I see it, is that people become who the other person wants them to be. One day they wake up and ask themselves “where did I go?” They are not even the person their spouse or significant other were attracted to. They have slowly changed into someone else and they need to escape.

Consequently, it is important to be self aware and stay REAL. That way you can avoid the fate of the frog and stay true to yourself. You are fabulous and perfect enough just the way you are.

You can’t hide anymore either. With Blackberries and text messaging everyone expects to “find” you quickly. You have to be responsive to clients, friends, and family. Emails stack up so there is a need to stay on top of things. Disappearing for a week creates a back up that is hard to dig out from.

This conversation comes up more and more frequently with clients. I have clients rushing through airports managing an open laptop, and a blackberry. It’s only a matter of time statistically before the sidewalk snake trips you as you text and walk.

I always seem in sync with my clients, or maybe I attract them in order to learn the lessons. I too rush around and find myself saying – sometimes “you need to slow down to speed up”. Physician, heal thy self!

I am currently learning this lesson the hard way. After a ski mishap this holiday season, I am forced to slow down as a result of knee surgery. With every deliberate placement of my crutches I am reminded of taking things one step at a time. I am committed to the importance of charting my course so I don’t have to double back. Energy has to be preserved for peak performance – it is not only about time management. Every where I go I have to be prepared.

My other great lesson has been to ask for help. I’m very independent and not good at asking at all. As a result of this lesson I have turned my slowing down into a time to spend with friends as they come to share dinner with me. I also hired a personal concierge to do all my errands – now that’s something I’m not letting go of any time soon. Every day has been a very positive adventure.

Where do YOU need to slow down in order to speed up?