How Gloria Successfully Recovered from Not Getting Promoted

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Not getting the promotion we were expecting can be devastating to our self-image.   I am here to tell you that you are not alone.  In fact, not getting promoted can happen to the best of us.  What is important is how you handle this unexpected news and what you do next to keep advancing in your career. ...  read more

Soft Skills: Why Effective Upward Communication is Key to Advancement

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We are giving public access to this recording on upward communication to showcase the type of content available in the Soft Skills Gym.  For more recordings like this one, sign up today.

Welcome to the first candid conversation with one of our Executive Authors, Louis Johnston.  Candid conversations are frank interviews I have with business executives regarding a personal story or some lesson they learned from their career. ...  read more

Soft Skills – Note to Self: Shut Up and Take Action

It is New Year’s Eve day.  I am supposed to be happy and excited.  Instead I wake up very agitated.  My mind is teeming with negative thoughts.  I have been sick for two weeks.  I feel behind.  I feel unaccomplished. I feel tired even though I just got a full night’s sleep.

Then I catch myself.  I realize that, because I have not done much for my soft skills blog lately, the voice in my head is scolding me.  Negative thoughts fill my mind.  I feel deflated.  These feelings had been building up for a few days already. I knew I had to do something to break this pattern.  Instead of letting my negative thoughts control me, I decided to go for a run and de-stress a little. ...  read more

How to Find More Time and Live a “Why Not” Life

Do you ever find yourself wishing that you had more time to do the things you love?  I work almost full time, have 2 kids, a household to manage, and I write this blog and newsletter in my “spare time.” Since I juggle all of this, I ask myself this question often, wishing I had 30 hours a day instead of 24 hours.  If you can identify at all with this question, I highly recommend watching this 11 min video by Kevin Smith, who answers this exact question with humor and passion. ...  read more

How to Stop Lack of Confidence

A reader recently asked, via email, “How can one make up for a lack of self-confidence?  How do I beat this nasty character flaw?” Having self-confidence is integral to building Inner Excellence, so I thought this would be a good time to address this question.

First, let me start by telling you a story: ...  read more

M.A.P. to Career Success

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As I look back on my career, I have noticed a pattern to my success — every time I achieved something, three components were in play: Mindset, Action, and erseverance – more easily remembered as a M.A.P..

In this article, I’m going to explain what each part involves, along with some examples of each. I hope this framework and my stories below can support you in your career success journey. ...  read more