​Around the nation, students are heading back into the classroom. For many of us, it is a return to at-home virtual learning, which puts a strain on parents and students. Exponential trends of COVID-19 cases are increasing restrictions in several areas. Elections, a core element of our democracy, are under fire. It can be a struggle not to get weighed down by negativity, fear, or frustration in our society's inability to have constructive dialogue. Complaining is a dead-end street, so where does that leave you? 

Two things help me balance my perspective and find a positive way forward. 

I have many blessings to count in 2020.

• 20 years of marriage to my husband
• My daughter attending her first year of college
• My ability to continue my coaching work
• The health and safety of my family during this pandemic
• My health
• A roof over my head and money to pay my bills
• Luxuries like a cellphone, internet access, and home computers 

It is so easy to take for granted the blessings in our lives. With so many messages on social media about being more, doing more, and having more, we can lose sight of the comparative advantages we enjoy. 

Our lives are disrupted, we are inconvenienced, and many of us have less than we had before COVID-19. We loosely use terms like sacrifice from the insular view of the prosperity we've earned and grown to expect. And yet, if we look beyond our normalcy, it is easy to see that our sacrifices pale in comparison to so many others within our nation and around the world. 

Although there are hard limitations, I believe we can create the future we want, which is the promise of America that attracts immigrants. Achor states that happiness is a choice, and his research shows why it is worth making. A couple of results that struck me include reducing stress by 23% and increasing productivity by 31%. But more importantly, happiness is the fuel that allows you to achieve your goals.

Hope is an essential ingredient to happiness. If you are growing weary of the negative discourse surrounding you, I offer you my simple way of resetting my perspective. Perhaps it will bring you a much-needed respite and the ability to rediscover the happiness that has never left you. 

It is healthy to pause and celebrate. This week, I’m inviting you to join my celebration as I appreciate the progress of my clients who’ve invested in bettering themselves and their businesses. Engaging with a business coach is an investment of your resources, especially your time. These clients are making the most of their investment and reaping the rewards.

I’ll start with my gals who are killing it on their coaching goals centered on their leadership and how they show up for their teams. 

One is a seasoned veteran with years of knowledge and experience. After assessing her organization, she realized that she had best-practices and knowledge depth that was new for her team. Being the new leader, she knew that she couldn’t be a bull in a china shop. She wanted to show up as a supportive leader who could help her team raise their game by working smarter, not harder. Together we crafted strategies for asking questions and creating a dialogue that allowed others to walk alongside her and share her vision for what was possible. She’s putting her plans into action and finding her voice without drowning out others. Now she’s building meaningful partnerships and being received as a team-builder, not a bulldozer. 

The second started her company and quickly realized that she needed to hire staff to continue to grow. As any service-based business owner can tell you, it feels risky to put your reputation in the hands of others. Within the last month, she added three people to the team and is investing time in building an organization that shares her vision and values for her brand, while providing the personal and professional growth her young staff needs. She’s learning to scale her business thoughtfully, and in ways that remain true to herself. 

I am super excited about my two newest clients. They both are running hugely successful businesses that are heavily demanding of their time and attention. If you measured their businesses on revenue and customer demand, they are killing it. However, both recognize that the economic boom is not the only or truest measure of success. Both are investing in their internal operations, so the back of the house is as smooth and seamless as the customer experience, and in leadership development at every level. 

Every conversation with my clients is energizing. Celebrating their victories, especially the decision to invest in themselves and their business, is momentous. Coaching is the only profession that I’ve known. I love what I do, and helping business owners like these is my genius. I am blessed.

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Go ahead and pause here. Take a minute to think deeply about your answers and, more importantly, to write them down. Change resulting from our desire to manifest something requires a deep-rooted connection that resonates so strongly, we feel driven to act. 

Your answers to the first two questions are uniquely personal to you, and therefore not open for coaching in this forum. I will only leave you with the advice that the richer the picture in your mind and the more emotionally connected you are to the why, the more powerful the result. So let's jump to the third question. 

For 90% of you, the answer to, "What is standing in your way?" includes you, which leads us to Rule #3 of being stuck.