Category Archives: success

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Get Out of Here!

Every time we leave town our problems shrink because our perspective grows. 

I had the pleasure this past week to leave town and visit family.

While I enjoyed: hanging out with relatives, good food, and exchanging fun stories, another blessing crossed my mind; it is a wonderful gift to change your location, routine and perspective.

The nine hours in the car wasn’t easy, but my wife and I really got to spend some time with one another. Physical discomfort of sitting for so long aside, there is a genuine importance to switching up your routine and literally getting away from the perspective from which you see the world the majority of the time.

As hard as I try to bring variety and a fresh perspective to my work and my family life, I fall into a routine. I see the same things. I do the same things. I talk about the same things. Most significantly, I observed, my approach to life becomes a bit routine.

Just being on the road allowed me to count my blessings and change my perspective as we encountered people who were: homeless, in distress, in trouble, sour to the world, and challenged in many unique ways. Our family has our own challenges too, but what we saw was a reality of life that we are typically spared from during our work and school week routines. We don’t encounter these harsher realities, or when we do it’s on the news and a bit distant. (Don’t even get me started on how our social media consumption literally and figuratively filters the world into a false ‘magical place of beauty and perfection.’)

We all need a change in perspective a little more frequently.

My biggest takeaway: The problems I thought were problems are not really problems.

I had more fun than I deserved with some amazing family, but I am also thankful for the needed change in perspective our travels highlighted.

Routines begin to narrow our focus ever so gradually until we have a pretty fixed mindset.

Every time we leave town our problems shrink because our perspective grows.

I challenge organizations to encourage visits to conferences and other organizations, even ones outside of their line of work, and to bring outsiders with powerful stories and uniques perspective into your organization. We need to share ideas and takeaways. We must consistently work to expand our perspective.

~Kelly

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Educator, Author, Keynote Speaker
Twitter: @kellycroy
Instagram: @kcroy
Website: kellycroy.com and wirededucator.com
Podcast: The Wired Educator Podcast
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I’ve written two books, Along Came a Leader a book on personal and professional leadership, and Unthink Before Bed: A Children’s Book on Mindfulness .

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The Six Obstacles to Innovation

Innovation is quite simply “finding better ways to do things.” Too often innovation is lumped in with technology.  It’s not devices that make something innovative, it’s ideas, methods, and systems. Hardware and software sometimes aid innovation, but not always.

In the end, innovation is about improvement, something you’d think everyone would rally around, but sadly that is not the case.

A lot of leaders and organizations say they want innovation, but do they? Most wait until they see others doing something innovative and then try to catch up. That’s not innovation.

Here are the six obstacles to innovation: 

  • Arrogance: People are too confident in the current way they are doing things.
  • Identity: People see themselves one dimensionally and are unwilling to grow or change, or they see themself as part of a group or time period of a particular method.
  • Lack of Curiosity and Unwillingness to Learn: People are not curious about new methods and avoid learning and applying new ways.
  • Fear of Loss of Control: People have too strong of a desire to be in control and are not willing to accept a period of time of not being the expert or in control. True innovation needs an environment where its okay for everything to not be worked out and ideas can be adjusted and adapted.
  • Lack of Empathy: People are unable to see other people’s needs for innovation and sadly focus on only their own need for continuity and order. People fail to see how a new idea or method would help others and rather focus on how this would be hard for them.
  • Competing Priorities: Most often innovative ideas get reshuffled to competing priorities due to interest, training, time, investment, or a lack of understanding. One person’s idea in a group is given more weight and value than a new, innovative idea. Many organizations will spend money in certain known and proven areas and avoid investing in new, unknown areas, only to spend more later trying to catch up with those that went first. Most organizations and individuals just don’t want to take the time to do things a different way. It takes time to change. It takes leadership.

The obstacles outlined above illustrate why the icons of innovation throughout history were all viewed as mavericks and rebels. They had to be. Steve Jobs, Nikola Tesla, Elon Musk, and others all broke away from the bureaucracy of how things are typically accomplished within organizations because they realized if they did not their innovative ideas would perish.

In my book, Along Came a Leader, I share six tenets of leadership. Vision is one of the six. I feel leaders need a strong vision.  The ability to see what could be is so important to leadership and acting on it allows innovation to take place.

If you are a leader of an organization or an inspiring leader, take note and avoid the six obstacles to innovation so your organization can advance and lead.

~Kelly

Kelly Croy is an author, speaker, and educator.  Send Kelly an email. • Sign-up for Kelly’s Newsletter. Listen to Kelly’s  The Wired Educator Podcast with over 219 episodes. • Kelly has written two books, Along Came a Leader a book on personal and professional leadership, and Unthink Before Bed: A Children’s Book on Mindfulness . • Follow Kelly Croy on: Facebook. •  Twitter.  •  and Instagram 

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Changing Our “I Don’t Need Coaching” Mindset

The Best Have Coaches!

Today I watched the greatest quarterback in the history of football.

I didn’t root for him, but I did watch in admiration as he accomplished incredible feats with what looked liked effortless precision and flow. He was accurate and smooth. Again, I’m not a fan, but wow!

What I think is most interesting is that despite being the best in his field and of all time, he has multiple coaches. He has coaches! He is the best, and yet he has a string of coaches that work with him every day.

The only thing more fascinating than the fact that he has coaches is his eagerness to be coached. He wants to get better. He goes out and hires his own private coaches too. Again, wow!

We live in an age where feedback is considered insulting and the thought of having a coach in our profession would more than likely viewed as intrusive or embarrassing.

Why?

I think there are certain areas in our lives where we view coaching as elite, as in the case of a fitness coach or nutritionist, and other areas where a negative connotation of coaching thrives as in our professions and perhaps mental wellness.

I think we are getting better with the concept of coaching though. I hope so.

What’s the alternative if we do NOT bring coaches into our personal and professional lives? We decline. We stay the same. We apply personal improvement.

I don’t think any of us want to decline; that’s not acceptable. Staying the same is dangerous, but I fear popular as many people think they are good enough, but I think we can all agree life is about improving and becoming our best for ourselves and others.

Personal improvement is wonderful and should absolutely be pursued daily, but there are limitations to what we can learn through books, courses, podcasts, blogs and videos. These wonderful resources cannot provide feedback and offer the awareness and personalized instruction we need.

Our challenge: How can we encourage a mindset and an environment where we are eager to be coached?

We will not accidentally bump into our best self; we will discover it through choice, not chance, and acquire it through personal and professional coaching.

~Kelly

Kelly Croy is an author, speaker, and educator.  Send Kelly an email. • Sign-up for Kelly’s Newsletter. Listen to Kelly’s  The Wired Educator Podcast with over 215 episodes. • Kelly has written two books, Along Came a Leader a book on personal and professional leadership, and Unthink Before Bed: A Children’s Book on Mindfulness . • Follow Kelly Croy on: Facebook. •  Twitter.  •  and Instagram 

 

 

 

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Appreciation Isn’t a Day

I am certain few people forgot Mother’s Day this past Sunday.

I would imagine most people knew last week was Teacher Appreciation Week.

I’m guessing few knew, though, that Principals’ Day was the previous Saturday.

All incredibly deserving of our appreciation.

Appreciation can be challenging to sincerely express.

How on Earth can we truly show appreciation to our mother? Flowers?

How do we adequately show appreciation to teachers, especially in this year of ‘what’s behind door #3’ of learning environments? Food?

How do we let principals know we are thankful for their hours of service and putting out countless fires? Elbow bump?

Obviously the answer isn’t things. Things are tokens and symbols of our appreciation.

Our appreciation of course isn’t only on a single day or even a week.

Our appreciation for others is woven into our daily conversations and interactions. It should be genuine, frequent, and first.

‘First’ is probably the most important quality. Before we begin any work, a mutual acknowledgment of some sort should be felt. We don’t have to agree on everything and won’t. We can have differences of opinions and should. We may do jobs differently, but they need to be done effectively. I see your differences, and you see mine, but we engage in the appreciation of one another. We can feel it. We know.

I see you. I see the value you bring. I acknowledge both genuinely and frequently.

Everyone deserves to feel appreciated for the work they do and the impact they make. Some frown on ‘trophies for all’ and a part of me gets that, but the bigger part of me wants to point out that appreciation and trophies are two different things. Award excellence if you wish, but always show appreciation to others.

I find it odd that to watch a server at an expensive restaurant thanked and given a generous gratuity while a cashier at a fast food restaurant, working at a hectic pace, is given nothing and too frequently treated poorly.

No one should leave work nor end their day with the feeling they are not enough.

Everyone deserves to feel appreciated and valued. You don’t have to be the MVP, Mother of the Year, or Employee of the Month for appreciation.

A colleague shared her key to appreciation: understanding others’ love languages. Knowing how others feel appreciated. Not everyone feels appreciated the same way. For instance, some people feel appreciation with words of affirmation, others would internally prefer meaningful time with you, while others scream “Feed me!” and a few will gladly take that gift card. Personalized appreciation is probably the hardest to deliver, but the the most meaningful. (You can learn more from the book  The Five Love Languages.)

I have spoken at appreciation and recognition nights. Those are indeed special, and I say let’s keep the days and weeks as we have them, but let’s all try to show genuine kindness and appreciation to one another daily. A smile and a kind word is good fuel for the soul. Be first!

~Kelly

Kelly Croy is an author, speaker, and educator. Want to learn more? Send an email. • Sign-up for Kelly’s Newsletter. Listen to Kelly’s other podcast The Wired Educator Podcast with over 197 episodes of interviews and professional development. • Order Kelly’s book, Along Came a Leader a book on personal and professional leadership, and Unthink Before Bed: A Children’s Book on Mindfulness for your personal library. • Follow Kelly Croy on Facebook.  • Follow Kelly Croy on Twitter.  •  Follow Kelly Croy on Instagram 

 


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Great Leaders Care for Themselves

Great leaders care for themselves.

Whether you are the leader of a Fortune 500 company, president of a university, an organizer in your community, or a leader of your home, there is one person that if neglected, will negatively impact all those you serve and lead; that person is you.

After facing a crisis, a challenge, a monumental setback, or a scare, the most common takeaway for those involved is that they will remember to always put their family first and take care of themselves. It’s the number one lesson reported. It’s also, almost always, short-lived.

I remember the promises I made when my father died, the commitment I made after our automobile accident, and the priorities I set during quarantine. I also remember, ever so slowly, drifting away from each over time and back to overworking and over stressing.

Whether you are the leader of a Fortune 500 company, president of a university, a leader in your community, or a leader of your home, there is one person that if neglected, will negatively impact all those you serve and lead; that person is you.

The truth is we almost always go back to our old ways. Our old habits re-emerge and take over once again. We overwork ourselves. We hyper-focus on things we shouldn’t. Our families slowly but surely start to get less of our time and certainly not the best of our time. The time we give ourselves and others soon becomes whatever we can fit in, if any at all, and in short bursts at best.

Our true priorities and values soon only receive whatever is left of our day. The workout isn’t scheduled but rather squeezed in somewhere. That activity that we found such value in, the one that made us feel alive, gave us purpose and fulfillment is reduced and undervalued. Playtime with the kids and quality time with your spouse becomes infrequent.

I hope I’m wrong. I fear I’m right.

Great leaders, great humans, the happiest of people, honor their values and prioritize taking care of themselves.

It’s not selfish. 

Would you want to work for someone who treated you as poorly as you most often treat yourself?  Would you want to work for someone who talked to you the way you talk to yourself? Probably not.

Don’t allow yourself to become a statistic.

How you treat yourself becomes the example you set for all those you lead, whether it be in your home, your company, community or organization. Let others know that self care is as important as how we treat others. Remind each other to set goals and push yourself, but equally treat yourself with kindness and care.

Work hard! Set goals! Get after it! Just do it in a way that builds you up, not tear yourself down, and possibly inspires others to live in a similar way.

~Kelly

Kelly Croy is an author, speaker, and educator. Want to learn more? Send an email. • Sign-up for Kelly’s Newsletter. Listen to Kelly’s other podcast The Wired Educator Podcast with over 188 episodes of interviews and professional development. • Order Kelly’s book, Along Came a Leader a book on personal and professional leadership, and Unthink Before Bed: A Children’s Book on Mindfulness for your personal library. • Follow Kelly Croy on Facebook.  • Follow Kelly Croy on Twitter.  •  Follow Kelly Croy on Instagram 

 

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FFP 042: Three Ingredients to a Better Self

The Future Focused Podcast: Episode 042 "Three Ingredients to Your Better Self"

In this episode of The Future Focused Podcast, I discuss three important ingredients to your better self.

Getting better does not happen accidentally; it takes intention and some effort. Most people focus on dieting, lifting weights, reading books, budgeting, investing and other important areas, but overlook these very three “doable” daily actions. The results are immediate.

Click here to listen to this episode. 

Knowing the three is NOT enough. I want you to hear why you need them and how to put them to use.

Jump in this podcast 14 minute podcast. Lean into what I am sharing. Put it to use.

Show Notes:

This link will take you to ALL of my social media: https://linktr.ee/kellycroy (I love Link Tree.)

Want to give your child or a child you know the gift of confidence and tools to tackle worry and anxiety? Order my new book Unthink Before Bed. It is a children’s book on mindfulness. It’s the perfect gift and bedtime book. I am so proud of it! It is a very fun read.

Kelly Croy is an author, speaker, and educator. Want to learn more? Send an email. • Sign-up for Kelly’s Newsletter. Listen to Kelly’s other podcast The Wired Educator Podcast with over 188 episodes of interviews and professional development. • Order Kelly’s book, Along Came a Leader a book on personal and professional leadership, and Unthink Before Bed: A Children’s Book on Mindfulness for your personal library. • Follow Kelly Croy on Facebook.  • Follow Kelly Croy on Twitter.  •  Follow Kelly Croy on Instagram 

 

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Consistency Happens by Choice Not Chance: Schedule it!

Consistency Happens by Choice Not Chance: Schedule it!

Three hundred and eleven days. That’s as far as it went. I missed a full-year streak of closing all three rings on my Apple Watch by 54 days.

What happened?

Well, I could make the excuse that it has been 24 degrees outside for the past three days. I could defend myself and tell you about all of the projects I have been working on and how busy I’ve been. I’m sure I could come up with a lot of legitimate reasons why I missed my goal of 365 days of closing all three rings on my Apple Watch. The bottom line, however, is this: I didn’t schedule my walk. It’s that plain and simple. I worked on a couple of projects, lost track of time, and the next thing I know it’s 12:12 AM and my Apple Watch says the exercise ring didn’t close. No going back in time. No do-overs. I missed a day.

There went my streak. There went my goal.

If something is important we need to schedule it. This is true in our personal life and our professional life.

When we decide something is important we must look at where is it going to fit in the year, each month, each day? When? Where? How do we hold it accountable?

As an educator I often hear a common response to new initiatives, that it is the proverbial, “one more thing.” Why? I think it is in large part not because they don’t believe it’s important, but rather they don’t feel it is important. They don’t feel it is important because no time was reserved for it. It feels like one more thing because it was added onto a busy day, week or year.

Examine any initiative in any organization, scrutinize any successful individual’s goal and you will find a common traits.

When time is reserved for it, real time, it feels different. It feels important.

When time is reserved for it, real time, it gets accomplished.

We can say anything is important, but that doesn’t make it so. Things become important when we put them on the calendar.

Personal goals, professional goals and organizational goals might be met if we talk about them, but that is truly just a matter of chance.

We we make the choice to add them to our calendar, schedule them in our day, they happen.

That is how we make things a priority. We schedule it.

Don’t wait to celebrate the big win at the end; celebrate every mile marker along the way.

Oh, and the Apple Watch Streak? I started over. Just 364 days to go.

#culturejourney

Kelly Croy is an author, speaker, and educator. Want to learn more? Send an email. • Sign-up for Kelly’s Newsletter. Listen to Kelly’s other podcast The Wired Educator Podcast with over 187 episodes of interviews and professional development. • Order Kelly’s book, Along Came a Leader a book on personal and professional leadership, and Unthink Before Bed: A Children’s Book on Mindfulness for your personal library. • Follow Kelly Croy on Facebook.  • Follow Kelly Croy on Twitter.  •  Follow Kelly Croy on Instagram 

 

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What Are YOU Talking About? Improve Your Conversations to Improve Your Life!

What Are YOU Talking About?

Conversations are a key to life, both the conversations you have with others and the conversations going on in your head. 

Conversations are essential to any relationship. Even bad conversations are better than none because they keep the line of communication open. Want better relationships? Hoping to build trust? Have more frequent and better conversations. 

I converse with others because I love people and genuinely care to learn about others’ lives. Sometimes though I have to muster up some courage to start a conversation with someone who has been cold or perhaps even off-putting in the past. It’s not easy, but I know our relationship will only improve if one of us makes the effort to start. I’m not shy, so most often it’s me, and I never regret it. I never regret starting that conversation. Every single time the conversation is what needed to happen. 

Your conversation is also key to the culture of your home, where you work, and the organizations to which you belong. What are you talking about? It’s important to know. 

Have you ever noticed some people know just the person to go to in their family if they want the whole family to know? The same is true at work. People start to identify others based on the conversations they keep. We know how others react. We know what they like to talk about. 

It’s time to check our conversation. Seriously. What are we talking about? What are we constantly hearing?

Are our conversations friendly, positive, optimistic, and engaging? Are we offering assistance to others with our words? Are we celebrating and promoting the good things others are doing? Are we finding the positive?

Or are our conversations secretive and avoiding the ears of others? Are our conversations pessimistic and negative? Are we avoiding others or challenges at work? Are we often in the midst of gossip? Are we often talking ABOUT the same person? Are our conversations focused mostly on what is broken and not working?

These are important questions because they impact where we live, where we work, and the company we keep. They impact the way we think and feel. I believe they start to bake into our DNA and change who we really are and determine the person we will become.

I’m guilty. I take a walk almost every single day with my wife. Awhile back ago I realized I was starting the conversation on our walks with a similar negative focus. I was venting some frustrations, which would be fine but it was souring our walks. Truly! I had to change the focus. I had to change my tone. I needed to listen more and talk less.   My wife is a saint. I don’t want to waste that precious time of the day with her on negativity. That time is precious. When the conversation improves, our walks improve. I occasionally need a nudge. The same is true everywhere in life. Everywhere. 

The conversations we have with ourselves are even more important. Self-talk is real, and it’s powerful. I read James Loehr’s book The New Toughness Training for Sports. He studied Olympic athletes and found most self-talk was negative and had a detrimental impact on their performance. He further studied how athletes overcame it with great intention and practice crafting precise phrasings when making an error to maintain control, recover, and improve. 

Words have power and influence. We should choose them carefully for ourselves and when conversing with others.

I’m not suggesting that people never vent and authentically share frustration; I’m just recommending we don’t live there and make it our home.  

Some people see themselves as the person who points out what’s wrong. They think that this is their special gift to the world. Well, unless there is a solution accompanying it, then it is most likely less than helpful and could be becoming toxic with others.

I am always extra nice to clerks and attendants when I go out because I witness how others treat them. Write often it’s horrible. I cannot imagine being on the receiving end of everyone’s frustration, complaints, and even sighs. I try to make their day. 

It is our conversations that strengthen relationships, our jobs, our families, and our friendships. 

I encourage you to check your conversation. I’m doing just that. I’m turning the television off when the conversation has been on one topic for too long. I’m changing the conversation with family members when we get in the “what’s wrong with this world” trap. I change the conversation at work if it’s not helping us move in the direction we want to go, and believe me, others have to do it with me as well. 

Conversations are crucial to improving the world we live in, the happiness of our homes, and the culture of where we work. We are a part of each. We must help shape those conversations with intention, positivity, solution, and a fun attitude. 

#culturejourney

Kelly Croy is an author, speaker, and educator. Want to learn more? Send an email. • Sign-up for Kelly’s Newsletter. Listen to Kelly’s other podcast The Wired Educator Podcast with over 186 episodes of interviews and professional development. • Order Kelly’s book, Along Came a Leader a book on personal and professional leadership, and Unthink Before Bed: A Children’s Book on Mindfulness for your personal library. • Follow Kelly Croy on Facebook.  • Follow Kelly Croy on Twitter.  •  Follow Kelly Croy on Instagram