The Washington Institute for Faith, Vocation, and Culture asked me to write an article about how hobbies relate to overall life and work fit. Here's an excerpt and link to read the article on their website.

I recently joined an industry trade group and was asked what my hobbies were. I struggled to answer. I couldn’t think of a hobby, let alone multiple ones! Do working people actually have hobbies? With all the things that I have to do and a career to conquer, I cannot imagine having a...

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A sales manager asked me to provide training to his team around a certain assessment. Although I could have signed up his team for the assessment he asked for, I wanted to understand why he wanted it. As we talked, I learned that it was the only one he had heard about, which is why he asked for it. But I knew there was a better assessment to meet his goals and current work situation. So together, we chose a different one.

As a coach and consultant, I...

Republished by permission of The Highlands Company

If you’re reading this, you may be wondering what to do next in your work life. You may be willing to invest in yourself and your future; and you are seeking a “different” type of information to help.

The Highlands Ability Battery (HAB) is the Gold Standard Among Human Assessment Tools rooted in the scientific research of human abilities and used exclusively by well-trained professionals. The HAB is not used by...

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I recently introduced my son to the Choose Your Own Adventure books, which I loved as a kid. It was thrilling as a reader to decide where the story went. Choose wrong, and you may fall off a cliff. Choose right, and you may save the day.

We recently wrapped up the 5-Day Ideal Life + Work Challenge. About 110 people had joined us. Afterward, we conducted a survey to gather feedback and understand what participants wanted to do next.

As you may guess, with a...

_{Simmons Family Ranch}

Life offers a series of invitations. Some you welcome with open arms. Some are hidden, and it takes a bit to recognize the invitation. And some you resist. But the reason you go from one place to the next in life is that you say yes to the invitations. A person who awakened me to the invitations in my life is my friend Terri Joy.

For example:

• When I resigned from my job of 20 years to work for myself full-time, it became an invitation to live anywhere, prompting a move...

Sometimes I get asked what happens in a Strengths coaching session (also known as a Strengths debrief). The short answer is it depends on what the client wants to get out of it. I don’t approach a session with my own agenda; as a coach, I want to follow the client’s agenda.

But if a client has never been to a coaching session, they may not know the possibilities. That’s when I like to offer options so the client can choose what will be most valuable. The subject is...

You find two kinds of people in life and work—those who pursue self-awareness and those who do not. Those who do not can become those who do, but it usually takes an act of disruption—even violence—to upset the status quo of self. I think we’re better off knowing ourselves than not.

Here are five reasons why:

You’re stuck with yourself, do it for you.

Face it, you’re stuck with yourself for life, so why not make the most of it? You can either go through...

Freedom almost didn’t happen. In 1780, William Wilberforce began his political career at the young age of 21. Four years later, he became an evangelical Christian and thought he should leave politics and enter professional ministry. He pondered this decision, fearing he would not be serving God if he stayed where he was.

For him, it was a pivotal moment. And a pivotal moment for freedom.

Writes poet Erin Hanson:

“There is freedom waiting for you,
On the breezes of the sky,
And you...

The Catholic Sisters smelled the stench coming from the apartment. When they knocked, an elderly woman timidly answered the door. Her toilet had broken and embarrassed to call for help, she had been relieving herself on the floor so that two rooms were filled with excrement.

After the Sisters cleaned up the place, the woman asked, “See, don’t you love me less?” to which they quickly replied, “See, don’t we love you more!” Love covered her shame when she...

A study looked at the early lives of 300 exemplary people who left indelible marks on the world. These were 300 world changers like Franklin D. Roosevelt, Helen Keller, Winston Churchill, Gandhi, and Clara Barton. They contributed in various ways across various times and in various industries but held some things in common. What did the study find?

Among these 300 exemplary people:

• 75% were troubled by poverty, broken home or difficult parents
• 74 of 85 fiction writers and 16 of 20 poets saw...