Personal Leadership Series
Who am I? Self-Concept and You
My friend Marie asked me today with a wink, “Can I change my self-concept at 42?” I winked back, “Yes, you can.” Change was afoot in her life. And change has a way of making all of us question who we think we really are – and what we’re capable of creating. The tension between …
Lynda Hoffman - September 25, 2024
Counter the Culture: Book Time to Think
Unstructured time is the definition of a restful vacation. There’s nowhere you have to be. Nothing to do. There’s more space between activities. More quiet. Everything slows down. You notice you’re breathing more deeply. You’re more present. This summer holiday, notice how things seems better – especially the quality of your thinking. Time to think …
Lynda Hoffman - September 24, 2024
Fearless Leadership(When Everything’s Too Much)
The words ‘fearless’ and ‘leader go together in ways you may not imagine. It’s not magic when a leader shows up courageous, steadfast and clear. It’s a decision. Recently, my clients’ stories have highlighted the tremendous value hidden inside difficult life events. “It started with Covid!” they’d say before listing a series of gut-wrenching losses that seemed …
Lynda Hoffman - September 24, 2024
Proving vs. Being: Achieve Your Career Goals
In a competitive environment, everyone’s out to prove themselves. But when everyone is scrambling for the higher ground, it creates a culture of fear. And fear breeds scarcity. If one executive gets a promotion, it’s necessarily at the expense of someone else. The prevailing mood is that there’s simply not enough to go around. I …
Lynda Hoffman - March 19, 2024
Confidence
Confidence is like strong metal that is tempered by heat and friction. The more we expose ourselves to new experiences and the more we get knocked about, the stronger we become. Of course no one wants to get hurt or feel afraid. Human beings don’t like to feel vulnerable. But being uncomfortable is how we …
Lynda Hoffman - March 19, 2024
Be More Powerful, Feel More Powerful
We all want to feel powerful in our own lives. We want to know that we can make a difference in our experience. We want to act with confidence when we need to, and we want to have all the inner and outer tools for managing any set of circumstances. And yet, our personal agency …
Lynda Hoffman - January 31, 2024
You Want a C-Suite Position? Be a Transformational Leader
My clients want to create outcomes that at first seem impossible. They have an inkling of where they want to go, but they have little idea about how to get there. They want to rise in their careers – perhaps even to C-Suite positions – and wonder what it will take to make that dream …
Lynda Hoffman - January 19, 2024
Decisiveness: It’s all about Executive Functioning
There’s an assumption out there that good leaders are decisive and clear. They know the priorities and don’t let themselves get tangled up in agonizing thoughts about details. If you’re an executive, you want others to see you this way. Decisiveness gives the impression of confidence. And confidence helps others have confidence in you. As …
Lynda Hoffman - May 8, 2023
Empower Yourself: Be in Choice
When the chips are down, and you’re feeling uncertain about what to do, what is your default behaviour? If you choose to put off the decision, hoping and waiting for a moment of clarity, you may find yourself waiting a long time. Or, someone else makes the choice for you. If your default behaviour is …
Lynda Hoffman - March 23, 2023
What Leaders Struggle With During Turbulent Economic Times – published in Finance Monthly, 2023.
While turbulence is uncomfortable, it’s also a perfect opportunity for executives to hone their deeper skills.
Lynda Hoffman - March 1, 2023
Working Memory: What’s Your Name Again?
It’s embarrassing for any executive or professional to forget the name of the person you just met, but it’s not life-changing. It’s the other working memory lapses that have a much bigger impact on your relationships and your career: consistently veering off course during a conversation, interrupting people because you’re afraid you’ll forget what …
Lynda Hoffman - January 29, 2023
Effective Leaders Choose to be Coached – Here’s Why
Effective leaders know that to maintain their edge they need to see their edge – and beyond.They recognize that if they can’t see their own blind spots, patterns and world views, they’ll be making decisions based on erroneous information. Acting on what they believe to be true, rather than on what is actually true, is …
Lynda Hoffman - January 23, 2023
New Year’s Resolutions and You: It’s a Mind Game
You’ve had time for your deepest wishes for 2023 to bubble up to your awareness. You’re feeling motivated! You’ve set your goals. You have an idea of what success would look like. You may even have a plan roughly laid out. But in the back of your mind you’re wondering, “What will be different this …
Lynda Hoffman - January 23, 2023
Focus on your perspective, not the problem
When I’m coaching executives and entrepreneurs, I love that moment when my client has just realized that the solution they’re looking for is not in the problem, but in a new perspective. Their faces literally light up. They sit back and breathe an audible sigh of relief as if to say, “Ahh, I don’t have …
Lynda Hoffman - January 9, 2023
When You Always Want More: Satisfy Your Wanting Mind
I remember Christmas Eve as a child. I was so excited that I couldn’t sleep. I wanted to be awake every second until the morning came. I didn’t want to miss anything! But inevitably I’d arrive at the Christmas tree the next morning, bleary-eyed and still feeling like I’d missed something important. My wanting mind …
Lynda Hoffman - November 4, 2022
How to Listen to Your Inner Voice
There’s a moment when you realize that there’s a voice inside you that has your best interests at heart. That’s the moment when you’re truly free. Free to choose. Free to grow. Free to be who you are. Your inner voice – your authentic voice – is the source of your integrity in the outer …
Lynda Hoffman - October 24, 2022
Why am I not Succeeding? 4 Steps to Strengthen Your Executive Functioning Skills
“The single greatest predictor of…success is executive function.”John Medina, Molecular biologist You’ve hit the wall. You haven’t yet created the outcome you’ve been yearning for. You’re wondering if it’s because you’re not disciplined enough, not motivated enough, or simply not enough. You have a vision, but you find you’re not taking action at the right time …
Lynda Hoffman - April 15, 2022
Developing Decisiveness: It’s an Inside Job
How often do you slide into a situation and wonder afterward, “How did I ever get here in the first place?!” If you look back and think about it, you may find that instead of making a clear decision, you just went with the flow – you took ‘the path of least resistance’. How much …
Lynda Hoffman - April 6, 2022
How to Create Your Success Plan – published in Finance Monthly, 2022.
How to Create Your Success Plan. Finance Monthly. Career & Personal Development.
Lynda Hoffman - March 1, 2022
What is Hope? How do You Get More of it?
I met my best friend in a philosophy class at Concordia University in 1981. Our professor Ed Egan drilled into us that the word ‘hope’ is chronically misused and we should never be caught maligning the word ourselves. To this day, I hesitate to use the word at all in case someone misunderstands what I’m …
Lynda Hoffman - February 22, 2022
Love Boldly – Step Back without Guilt
Loving someone who makes poor choices is hard. We feel incredibly vulnerable. We don’t have control over what our loved one is doing. And we’re afraid of just how bad it can get. The more vulnerable your loved one is, the harder it is to watch the fallout – real or imagined. You feel helpless. …
Lynda Hoffman - October 25, 2021
The Big Transition: Emerging from the Pandemic
Transitions matter. They’re meant to be respected for what they are. They’re the time we take to learn, adjust and set ourselves up for what comes next. We’re all in a transition now. Not just back to school, but back to life as we hope it will be post-pandemic. What are you noticing about your …
Lynda Hoffman - August 25, 2021
How to Write your Own Success Story
Everyone’s story is unique. Where your story starts may not be up to you, but where it ends definitely is. Every twist and turn is an opportunity to choose what comes next. Make that choice authentically yours, and you can’t do anything but succeed. Your Rough Draft We all have a different way of finding …
Lynda Hoffman - July 29, 2021
5 Steps to Dissolving Your Resistance
5 Steps to Dissolving Your Resistance Self-compassion is a strong predictor of health and growth. It breathes us into being more open and available. Flexible and decisive. Powerful. It provides us with the space to learn from our mistakes without resorting to shame or self-derision. If you’ve been struggling to cultivate this way of being, …
Lynda Hoffman - May 26, 2021
How to Surrender: Coaching our Overachiever
I can laugh about it now, but I used to believe that attack mode was the best approach to any crisis. As a survivor by nature and an admitted overachiever, I was hugely skilled at being focused, applied and determined with every challenge that came my way. I would fight to stay on top of …
Lynda Hoffman - January 27, 2021
Break Free of Your Limiting Beliefs
You don’t have to look very far to see how limiting beliefs can hold you back from living the life of your dreams. Are you feeling stuck? Are you clear about your goals and dreams, but find you’re not making any real progress? Chances are there’s at least one limiting belief lurking in the background, …
Lynda Hoffman - January 1, 2021
Creating Your Future When You Can’t See What’s Next
My heart is touched when clients say to me, “How do I create something better when I can’t see my future?” As a coach, I sense the ache in this. The void. And yet, the potential for something better is still there — even if you can’t see it. There is rich material in this …
Lynda Hoffman - December 1, 2020
Managing Chaos: Riding the Wave of the Pandemic
When everything is in chaos, what do you focus on? Your lack of control? Trying to control everyone else? Formula one race drivers know that if you look at the wall, you’ll hit it. The same applies to your coping skills during the pandemic. Getting through in one piece requires you to create your own …
Lynda Hoffman - December 1, 2020
Take a Risk, Achieve Your Goals
When we think of risk takers, we think of business innovators: Nikola Tesla, Jeff Bezos or Arianna Huffington. They were ready to take smart risks to create what mattered to them. Are you ready to take a risk to become who you were meant to be? Smart risks are as essential to great personal growth …
Lynda Hoffman - November 26, 2020
4 Steps to Letting Go of Chronic Dissatisfaction
When you wake up every morning feeling like nothing is working, you may be suffering from chronic dissatisfaction. It’s the persistent whisper in the back of your mind that nothing feels quite right in your life: there’s not enough love, inspiration, money, connection, success, fun, clarity or respect – just to name a few. Sometimes …
Lynda Hoffman - November 23, 2020
Design Your Life
When things get too busy and hectic, it’s natural to wonder if life has to be this way. Have you had this thought? Great! It means you’re slowing down. You’re noticing you’re alive — and you don’t want to waste your one precious life in a fog of reactivity, allowing people and circumstances to dictate …
Lynda Hoffman - November 23, 2020
Mastering Your Focus: A Key Factor for Success
It’s actually very simple: what you focus on grows. It doesn’t matter what your goal is, whether professional or personal, how well you focus is everything. Laser-sharp focus will make your efforts efficient, with just the right level of coordination between your goals and your actions. But a busy, distracted and preoccupied mind leads to …
Lynda Hoffman - November 23, 2020
Are You Burning out? How to Recognize and Recover
Burnout is on the rise. In 2015, The World Health Organization predicted that burnout would become a global pandemic within a decade. A 2016 study by Morar Consulting validated this warning when it showed ninety five percent “…of HR leaders said employee burnout is sabotaging workforce retention.” But burnout is not limited to managers and employees. Caregivers, entrepreneurs, professionals, …
Lynda Hoffman - November 13, 2020
Getting Out From Under Toxic Leadership
Toxic leaders are masterful at making people feel sick and helpless. Public shaming, aggressive language and invalidation directly impact a person’s dignity and agency. This leaves people feeling diminished and powerless — afraid there is no good way out. As someone who has worked with many high-level professionals in this situation, I have witnessed capable …
Lynda Hoffman - November 1, 2020
Self-worth
Self-worth is knowing that you are exactly right for this world, just as you are. There is no fixing because you are already whole. Difficulties are merely opportunities for growth and not evidence that you are flawed. And you feel secure and confident because no matter what happens you can trust yourself to learn and …
Lynda Hoffman - November 1, 2020
Authentic Leadership: Master Yourself, Master Your Business
Every business leader I have worked with has worried that they were failing in some fundamental way. The most common complaint I have heard is that they would get drawn into details too often instead of doing what they do best: turning inspiration into vision. Working hard and rushing to get everything done in a …
Lynda Hoffman - October 1, 2020
Mindfulness: Get Started and Enhance Your Well-being
The Cost of a Wandering Mind The cost of a wandering mind is real. It can lead to physical injuries, weaker relationships, difficulties with physical intimacy, overeating, financial challenges and underperformance at work – just to name a few examples. It also costs us emotionally. The journal Science says that, “… a wandering mind …
Lynda Hoffman - August 1, 2020
Personal Leadership: Your Ticket to Transformation
Personal leadership is self-awareness, clarity about what motivates you and the ability to put it all into meaningful action. I think most of us would agree that this is an optimal state that we all yearn for. But sometimes it’s hard to tell when we’re truly in charge of ourselves. We may see assume we’re …
Lynda Hoffman - July 1, 2020
A Guide to Achieving Work-life Balance
Many of us rush in order to get everything done – at work and at home. We speed up when all we really want to do is slow down; we work harder when what we really want is freedom. For most people, achieving a satisfying balance between their personal and professional lives seems impossible. There …
Lynda Hoffman - May 1, 2020
How to Change Your Life: Secrets from the Masters of Change
You may have noticed that changing your life can feel like reversing a runaway train. This is because it isn’t as simple as moving to a different city or changing a job. The process is really about transforming your inner world. The first time we experience this type of metamorphosis is adolescence but it doesn’t …
Lynda Hoffman - April 1, 2020
Possibility: Setting the Stage to Achieve a New Goal
I remember hearing as a child, “Don’t be a dreamer. You should have your feet firmly on the ground”—as if to say dreaming was a waste of time, a digression from what was realistic and important. Being firmly on the ground meant access to the venerated place where the serious contenders stood; the place of …
Lynda Hoffman - February 1, 2020
Self-compassion after the Storm
Recent evets have left me wondering how people are coping with the unprecedented number of storms hitting North America. The size and frequency of recent storms have impacted us on the inside every bit as much as they have on the outside. When a violent 15-second microburst hit my hometown of Montreal in August 2017, …
Lynda Hoffman - October 1, 2019
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