Dreaming matters. But if dreams stay dreams, they won’t take you anywhere. In fact, dreams that stay dreams can work against you—keeping you stuck instead of leading forward. That’s why we forge aspirations into goals. There’s a world of difference between an aspiration and a goal. Aspirations can hang vaguely in an imagined future. Good […]

Have you seen the Academy Award-winning film, La-La Land? It’s full of beautiful moments, but perhaps the most haunting is a song that captures the entire film. It features these lines: “Here’s to the ones who dream / Foolish as they may seem / Here’s to the hearts that ache / Here’s to the mess […]

Too often, “gratitude” is one of those “should” disciplines—right alongside flossing your teeth and changing the oil in your car. We know it’s good for us, but we avoid it, except for (perhaps) an obligatory annual reflection over family dinner. It seems trite, underwhelming: like the “one more thing” our life doesn’t need. But what […]

When was the last time you looked through childhood pictures? It can be a strange experience to see yourself in your much younger self: your hair is shorter and darker now, your face a bit less round, but that mischievous grin and some fierceness in the eyes haven’t changed a bit. The same goes for […]

Despite mantras to the contrary, attempting to travel through life “fearlessly” is rarely wise. Fear is a fine-tuned survival mechanism. It helps keep us safe on the edge of a cliff or walking down a dark road. It prompts us to proceed carefully in conversations marked by power imbalance or when we have a lot […]

Two years ago, Full Focus leadership decided to invite the team to complete a friendly “Walktober” walking competition for team and individual prizes. The result? We rediscovered the competitive spirit running deep within our bones… And probably definitely overdid it. But we also loved being outside in the cooling Nashville weather, and we came up […]

Last week, we explored how Q4 pushes people to accumulate tasks, activities, and obligations. The driver behind that accumulation? Urgency.  Urgency drives us to go, go, go. We move through the day at a frenetic pace, cramming in everything we can. We fight accumulation by simplifying. We fight urgency by stopping. When we stop, we […]

For most people, life seems to accelerate during the fourth quarter. There are big goals to reach, personally and professionally. There are extra obligations around the holidays. And the pace of incoming requests speeds up as everyone around us feels the same urgency. So, what are we to do? The temptation during the fourth quarter […]

Where Did I Win? Listing your wins helps you begin from an abundance mindset. And it’s easy to lose track of just how much you’ve accomplished. So make a list. Review your calendar, journal, and planner (especially your Weekly Previews). What did you make happen in the last three months? What has that made possible? […]

The usefulness of journaling is uncontested. It clarifies our thinking and improves our decision making. It helps us notice our feelings and connect with our inner life. It captures the questions we’re mulling over. It grounds us in where we are, who we are, and where we’re headed. But most people don’t journal. If you’re […]