Finding Your Purpose

It’s common that, because much of our path is chosen for us–by our family, our peer groups, our culture–that people embark on a life on autopilot, at least to some degree. Parents, teachers, any significant adult in a child’s life, instills values, beliefs, ultimately habits, that lead us forward, like stepping into a slow-moving stream. […]

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Letting Go of Friends with Different Values: Why It’s Okay–and How–to Move On 

Friendships are among the most meaningful and fulfilling relationships we can have in life. They offer companionship, support, and shared experiences that can last for years, even decades. However, as we grow and evolve, sometimes our friendships don’t evolve with us. There may come a point when you realize that a close friend’s values no […]

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Radical Understanding – Virtual Mindreading

We all wish we could read minds sometimes. Whether it’s in a negotiation, a team meeting, or a first date, understanding what someone really wants—not just what they say—can be the edge that changes everything. You don’t need telepathy. You need Radical Understanding. I call it this to emphasize it’s an action we take, and […]

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Motivation Strategies

(Portions of this article were excerpted from an NLP Practitioner Certification class I held in 2002) We covered in a previous article what a strategy is, and used Decision strategies as not only an example, but a playground. While we use strategies for nearly every significant thing in our lives, motivation strategies have got to […]

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Reignite the Flame – Defeating Burnout

“Better! Faster! Smarter! Sexier! Cheaper!” Our hyper-competitive culture is continually striving to overthrow the status quo with the nascent, emerging competitor. In some ways, this is merely a reflection of how Nature does things–try new variations often, and those which lead to greater chance of survival win. Those which hamper survival instead die out. Very […]

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Ending Friendships to Maintain Sanity

I was quite surprised by the intensity of the reader responses to a previous article (Ending Friendships Over Politics…). Likely due to the outcome of the United States election earlier that month, there was more fervor than I’d expected. For one, I’m unaccustomed to being called, in the same month, a “left-wing lunatic,” “right-wing extremist,” […]

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Read Invisible Communication Channels by Calibrating

NLP uses a mechanical-sounding term for the process of noting differences. An oversimplification, sure. but these are differences most people overlook. Or even if they catch shifts in others or themselves, they likely miss the significance. This is why I count this skill as reading “invisible channels of communication.” Calibration is one of the most […]

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