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Category: Life Skills

Learn how to focus on the soft skills, the people skills like good communication, effective leadership, positive motivation, and managing your emotions.

How To Overcome Obstacles In Life — Managing Setbacks With Ease

Written by Maria Connolly. Posted in Change Your Life, Self-Leadership Skills, Stepping Forward.

When you need to overcome obstacles in life, use this easy exercise that empowers you to identify and regulate your emotional reactions to situations.Under the best circumstances, change doesn’t come easily. Some people say it takes 21 days to create a new habit. However, one study shows that on average it takes up to 66 days. Some people can create a new habit in as little as 18 days, while others take 254 days! What do we learn from this? Don’t count the days. Be convinced that the new habit is what you want and practice it until it becomes a part of who you are. Because let’s face it, life isn’t ideal. Much of the time we’re overcoming obstacles as we make these changes.

How about you? Do your goals and intentions fade after the first setback? How many challenges can you handle before you give up?

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The 8 Aspects of Personal Accountability. Embrace Them & Reach Your Full Potential

Written by Maria Connolly. Posted in ICF Mentor Coaching, Life Coaching, Life Skills, Somatic Coaching.

These 8 aspects of personal accountability help you take charge of and be responsible for your life, including asking for help to become the best you.Don’t you hate it when someone tells you what to do? We want to “be our own boss”  and “do it ourselves”. That’s what personal accountability is, right? Not at all! Many people don’t realize that the “do it myself by myself” mindset diminishes your chances for outstanding success, and it ignores the remarkable advantages of mentoring, accountability partnerships, and the buddy system.

Being extremely independent may sound appealing but it can lead to control issues, a victim mentality, an inability to let go, difficulty in delegating, distrust, or stifled creativity and productivity. On a continuum where independence and dependence are the extremes, interdependence is often the more realistic and balanced stance. When you open up to creating an awesome support network, you’ll finally feel free to blossom into the person you’re meant to be.

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Clarify Your WHY: 7 Go-To Questions That Keep You Focused On Your Dreams

Written by Maria Connolly. Posted in Change Your Life, ICF Mentor Coaching, Life Coaching.

Here are 7 go-to questions that help you clarify your WHY, because once you know why you’re doing something, it’s easier to see if it’s helpful or not.We are all coaches. We coach ourselves by correcting or cheering ourselves on toward our dreams. We coach others as we give them advice, support, and encouragement. But most people come to a coaching role without training. That’s why it’s so important to have some go-to resources that help you clarify your WHY, because once you know why you’re doing something it’s easier to see if it’s helpful or not.

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How to Choose a Mentor Coach Who Helps You Achieve Extraordinary Results

Written by Maria Connolly. Posted in ICF Mentor Coaching, Life Coaching, Life Skills.

Wondering how to choose a Mentor Coach or Life Coach? Here’s the key thing to look for in a coach and questions to ask during the initial consultation…You’re either born with it or you're not. Is that how you feel? Born with what? We used to think that people were born to be leaders or speakers, to be influential, to be people persons, and to be skilled at getting things done. But even worse, we also thought that characteristics like artistic talent, creativity, honesty, or emotional openness came easily to special people born with those characteristics, and the rest of us were destined for dull, ordinary lives. 

Has this thinking tainted your life and happiness?

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Have Your Strengths Become Your Weaknesses? Time to Use This Secret Weapon!

Written by Maria Connolly. Posted in Life Skills, Mindfulness, Stepping Forward.

Your strengths become your weaknesses when you mindlessly hold onto behaviors, even good behaviors, that don’t match or help the situation you’re in.This may startle you, but many of the excellent behaviors that help women rise in their field will eventually become the behaviors that keep them from further advancement. How can that be? When can excellent behaviors hold you back? Have your strengths become your weaknesses — how can you determine that?  And then what can you do about it?

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