TAG: mindfulness

The Wisdom of Improv: 6 Principles to Enhance Your Happiness and Well-Being

Last month, I was thrilled to offer a workshop on improvisation (or improv) at the live retreat of my science of happiness program in Akumal, Mexico.  It was amazing to meet our professor, Tal Ben-Shahar, and 60 other happiness journeyers from all over the world who are part of the Happiness Studies Academy community for a beautiful weekend on Riviera …

SPIRE for Leaders: How to Bring Happiness to Your Organization

In my last blog post, I wrote about Tal Ben-Shahar’s SPIRE model of happiness and how to apply it to improve your life. In this blog post, I will talk about SPIRE for Leaders and how it benefits the non-profit workplace culture. A few weeks ago, I had the privilege and pleasure to lead a SPIRE workshop at the 2022 …

How Music Entrepreneurs Stay Positive: 4 Mindset Strategies to Help Through Tough Times

positive-mindset

My coaching groups at Yale are going strong! Students appreciate having a confidential forum where they can share successes and challenges with a trusted group of peers and learn new strategies for creating sustainable careers. With the semester winding down in a few weeks, our students, especially those who are graduating, are finding it a challenge to keep their spirits up …

Top 10 Tips Time Management Tips for Music Entrepreneurs

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This year, one of my biggest discoveries was Quadrant 2 time management, the strategy that has you focusing on what is really important to you as opposed to what is urgent, and realigning your time to honor and commit to Quadrant 2 activities each week (for more on this, see tips 2 and 3 below). Q2 time management is helping …

Emotional Intelligence for Musicians and Arts Leaders Part III: How to Develop Empathy and 5 Other Strategies for Social Awareness

As a musician or arts leader, you have undoubtedly dealt with some “interesting” personalities in the course of your work!  Inevitably in the course of putting together an artistic venture, people put forth strong ideas that might clash with your own. Have you ever stopped to think what might be going on with the other person that would lead him …

Personal Board of Directors

What is a personal board of directors?

A personal board of directors is comprised of the people in your life who support your vision and to whom you turn when you want honest and trustworthy advice and/or when you are looking for help in figuring out solutions to your challenges. 

Know Your Values: The Key to Great Decisions and Positive Motivation

I am a big believer in the importance of knowing your values and aligning your life in order to honor those values. 

What are values?  Quite simply, the principles by which you live your life: authenticity, courage, fun, relationships, personal growth, service or spirituality.   Each person has a unique set of these principles that define you and tell you what is truly important to you. In effect, values are the essence of who you really are: i.e., the core to your authenticity.

A Life of Fulfillment: Have a Dream…or have faith Part II

What if you do not have a dream?  

It is frustrating not to be able to figure out what to do with your life. Understandably, many people flounder when they do not know what it is that they are working towards. It often feels too hard and people get stuck along the way, even giving up and saying that there is no use in trying. No wonder so many people feel an underlying malaise and a lack of fulfillment.

Happily, there is an answer.

A Life of Fulfillment: Have a Dream…or have faith Part I

Lately, I have been hearing from a lot of people at how frustrated they are because they do not know what they are doing with their lives.  “How do I figure out what I want to do with my life?” they ask me. Understandably, many people flounder when they do not know what it is that they are working towards. It often feels too hard and people get stuck along the way, even giving up and saying that there is no use in trying. No wonder so many people feel an underlying malaise with their lack of fulfillment.

I have a short answer:  have a dream…or have faith that you will find your dream.

What do I mean?