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FFP 028: How to Build Emotional Intelligence for Life and Leadership

In this episode of The Future Focused Podcast, I focus on the importance of Emotional Intelligence. What is it? Why do we need it? How do we build it?

If you really want to become an exceptional leader… If you really want to live an incredible life… you need to build your emotional intelligence. If you’re struggling in leadership or struggling in life your lack of emotional intelligence may very well be the obstacle that’s holding you back.

Emotional intelligence is something that is growing in importance in both the workplace and home. It is something I believe it extremely important to individuals, teams, and leaders… no matter where you lead… in the home, at work, a sports team… a battlefield, online, offline, everywhere.

Most people don’t know what it is nor why they need it. Well, that is changing, and it’s changing at a rapid pace. Self-care, wellness, and emotional intelligence are fortunately becoming common practice in the workplace and home.

Find out what it is, why it’s important and how you can increase your Emotional Intelligence to bring peace and prosperity, health and happiness, to your life. 

It’s time  to level-up your leadership and design a more dynamic life. It’s time to get future-focused. 

Mentioned in this episode:

The Daily Stoic by Ryan Holiday: This is the book that I read a section of every day and have been for years. This is one of the ways I build my emotional intelligence.

Sign-up for my free newsletter: To help you kick off the new year and to help you reach your goals and resolutions this year, I am giving away a free copy of my 64-page eBook, The Greatest Year of Your Life (2020 Edition) to everyone who signs up for my newsletter. Become more productive. Get things done. Level-up your leadership. Design a more dynamic life. All you have to do to receive the free copy is to sign-up for my free newsletter. Just click this link and enter your email. That’s it. It’s that simple. This eBook is available only until January 15, 2020.

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Coaching Application: Would you like to work with me to help you achieve your goal of publishing a book, building a website, hosting a podcast, starting a business, becoming a speaker, or achieving another awesome life goal? Complete the following application before January 15, 2020. One lucky applicant will win free coaching. Here is the application: https://forms.gle/762GxbJ8b5oD8xEK9 
Wishing you much success!
Kelly
Looking for a dynamic speaker for your event? • Kelly Croy is an author, speaker, and educator. Want to learn more? Send me an email. • Sign-up for Kelly’s Newsletter. Listen to Kelly’s other podcast The Wired Educator Podcast with over 148 episodes of interviews and professional development. • Order Kelly’s book, Along Came a Leader for your personal library. • Follow Kelly Croy on Facebook.  • Follow Kelly Croy on Twitter.  •  Follow Kelly Croy on Instagram 
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FFP 027: Everyone Benefits from Coaching

Hosted by Kelly Croy, Featuring Zach Rondot

In this episode of The Future Focused Podcast, I delve deep into the possibilities of coaching. Too many people have a previously conceived negative mindset about coaching, or if interested have ruled out any possibility that coaching would be possible for their goal or their budget. I not only believe that everyone can benefit from coaching, I truly believe everyone should and can have a coach!

Everyone can have a coach, too!

I believe that most people never reach their maximum potential unless they are coached.

I also believe EVERYONE can have a coach!

On recent episodes of the Future Focused Podcast, I have talked about the 5 types of people everyone needs in their life. I shared that having these 5 people reduces stress, frustration and overwhelm, and leads to faster and greater success than imagined.

One of those five people needed is a coach.

This episode not only highlights the importance of a coach in your life but also illustrates how anyone, and I mean anyone, can get one, and why everyone should.

Someone reading this right now saying… I don’t need one. That person’s success will be stunted and limited. They’ll never reach their optimum potential.

Mentioned in this episode:

Sign-up for my free newsletter: To help you kick off the new year and to help you reach your goals and resolutions this year, I am giving away a free copy of my 64-page eBook, The Greatest Year of Your Life (2020 Edition) to everyone who signs up for my newsletter. Become more productive. Get things done. Level-up your leadership. Design a more dynamic life. All you have to do to receive the free copy is to sign-up for my free newsletter. Just click this link and enter your email. That’s it. It’s that simple. This eBook is available only until January 15, 2020.

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Coaching Application: Would you like to work with me to help you achieve your goal of publishing a book, building a website, hosting a podcast, starting a business, becoming a speaker, or achieving another awesome life goal? Complete the following application before January 15, 2020. One lucky applicant will win free coaching. Here is the application: https://forms.gle/762GxbJ8b5oD8xEK9 
Wishing you much success!
May your 2020 be filled with good health and happiness, peace and prosperity, much love and laughter.
Kelly
Looking for a dynamic speaker for your event? • Kelly Croy is an author, speaker and educator. Want to learn more? Send me an email. • Sign-up for Kelly’s Newsletter. Listen to Kelly’s other podcast The Wired Educator Podcast with over 148 episodes of interviews and professional development. • Order Kelly’s book, Along Came a Leader for your personal library. • Follow Kelly Croy on Facebook.  • Follow Kelly Croy on Twitter.  •  Follow Kelly Croy on Instagram 

 

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Five Tools I Use for Note-Taking, Journaling and Organizing My Ideas

I have been journaling now for over 20 years. I use my journal to improve my life by taking notes, planning projects, reflecting on successes and failures, brainstorming ideas, planning books, writing speeches, capturing magical moments with my family and so much more.

My process has evolved over the years. The very first year I wrote things down in a spiral notebook just like the one you would use in a high school classroom. Now my notes sync electronically across all of my devices and a plan special projects in a leather Moleskine journal.

For day-to-day journaling, I use:

• Day One: Day One is an electronic journal that is on all of my devices. It is passcode and security protected. It prompts me each day to write an entry. I have multiple journals inside the app. One for my personal life, one for work, and a Kudos journal to inspire and improve my mindset. I really like Day One. It has a lot of advanced features and it is searchable. Easy to find what you are looking for with a quick search. You can include photos, sketches, text, voice and more. I highly recommend Day One. The best journal is the one you have with you, and Day One is on your iPhone, your Apple Watch, your iPad, and Your MacBook.

• Moleskine Journal: I like to use paper and pen sometimes to plan projects although my iPad and the Apple Pencil are replacing this need more frequently. The best physical journal is this Moleskine Journal: My journal of choice is: extra-large, softcover, Moleskine Carnet ligne’ lined 192 paged journal measuring 7 and 1/2 inches by 9 and 3/4 inches. I know because I have tried them all.

For Note-Taking and Sketch-noting: 

• GoodNotes: GoodNotes is the app I use with my iPad and Apple Pencil for note-taking. The ability to use the Apple Pencil and write with it makes it awesome! It’s searchable and versatile. You can create notebooks or quick notes. It has so many great features and lots of incredible templates. GoodNotes is the tool that is quickly replacing my Moleskine Journal for everything. It syncs with all of my devices so ALL of my notes are with me wherever I go. They are on my phone, iPad, and MacBook. They look great and it is perfect for sketch noting too. You can even search handwritten words and you can also convert handwriting to typed text. I take my iPad to meetings or work on my notes or review wherever I go.

• Procreate: Procreate is the best app for creating art. Boom! I said it. I have tried every art app imaginable. Procreate is fun, easy to use and powerful. I love Procreate. I do all of my art here now except for my painting, and even my paintings begin here as sketches. I sometimes use Procreate for Sketch-noting.

• Drafts: Drafts is an app I use to quickly capture and idea for a blog post or crudely capture a thought that enters my head while listening to a blog post. Everything inside my Drafts app is captured quickly, crudely, and is reviewed and put into one of my other tools later. I also store hashtags and other copy that I will tweet, or copy and paste into something else on a regular basis. Drafts is where I dump my brain. I really enjoy it.

I’ll share how I put these tools to work in a later post.

You can use these tools to level-up your journaling and note-taking game to become more productive and successful.

Reach out to me with any questions you may have.

Kelly

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Looking for a dynamic speaker for your event? • Kelly Croy is an author, speaker and educator. Want to learn more? Send me an email. • Sign-up for Kelly’s Newsletter. Listen to Kelly’s other podcast The Wired Educator Podcast with over 150 episodes of interviews and professional development. • Order Kelly’s book, Along Came a Leader for your personal library. • Follow Kelly Croy on Facebook.  • Follow Kelly Croy on Twitter.  •  Follow Kelly Croy on Instagram 

 

 

 

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FFP 026: Ask Better Questions, Live a Better Life!

In this episode of the Future Focused Podcast I focus on questions!  We need to ask better questions. You see, we ask ourselves hundreds of questions every day. We ask questions of others. Our life is guided by the questions we ask. I will explore how we ask, who we ask, and when we ask and offer guidance on how to improve our questions to get better results.

In this episode I want to help YOU design a more dynamic life. We design the life we want by the questions we ask. Great questions have power.

Great questions have several qualities that you will learn in this episode. Get your journal ready to start designing the life you want by the questions you ask.

Stop asking the same questions and pretending to be surprised when you get the same results.

Many of you are purchasing gifts this time of year; I hope you will consider my book Along Came a Leader as a gift for yourself, a colleague, and administrator, and a family member this holiday season. It’s available on Amazon. It was a work of love. I am so proud of it. Level-up your leadership. Discover the 8 core attributes of leadership and how to put them work to impact lives and lead. We need leaders. If you’ve already read it, I hope you will leave a review. 

 

 Looking for a speaker for your event? • Kelly Croy is an author, speaker and educator. Want to learn more? Send me an email. • Sign-up for Kelly’s Newsletter. Are you ready for a personal coach? Click this link to learn more.• Listen to Kelly’s other podcast The Wired Educator Podcast with over 150 episodes of interviews and professional development. • Order Kelly’s book, Along Came a Leader for your personal library. • Follow Kelly Croy on Facebook.  • Follow Kelly Croy on Twitter.  •  Follow Kelly Croy on Instagram 

 

 

 

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FFP 025: The Six Demands of Self Care

Taking Care of Yourself Allows You to Take Care and Lead Others

In this episode of The Future Focused Podcast, you will learn how to answer the six demands of self-care to become a better leader and live a better life.

As Katie Reed, a very wise individual, once said, “Self care is giving the world the best of you, not what is left of you.”  

In my last episode of focused on frustration and overwhelm and I discussed the five people you need in your life to combat it. 

In this episode I want to focus on what YOU can do. 

Self care is a real thing, just as Katie’s wise words remind us, for if we do not take very good care of ourselves, our beaten, worn, exhausted, anxious, self will be unable and unfit to take care of all those we love, serve, and lead. 

Self care demands knowledge of the self. We cannot take care of what we do not know nor understand. 

Many of you are purchasing Christmas presents this time of year; I also hope you will consider my book Along Came a Leader as a gift for yourself, a colleague, and administrator, and a family member this holiday season. It’s available on Amazon. It was a work of love. I am so proud of it. Level-up your leadership. Discover the 8 core attributes of leadership and how to put them work to impact lives and lead. We need leaders. If you’ve already read it, I hope you will leave a review. 

I also encourage you to follow me on Instagram between now and Christmas Day because I am sharing lots of my artwork. I am drawing a Santa Claus every day and posting the speed-painting video of me drawing it, which is so much fun to watch, alongside the art. You can only find it on my Instagram.

Looking for a dynamic speaker for your event? • Kelly Croy is an author, speaker and educator. Want to learn more? Send me an email. • Sign-up for Kelly’s Newsletter. Listen to Kelly’s other podcast The Wired Educator Podcast with over 148 episodes of interviews and professional development. • Order Kelly’s book, Along Came a Leader for your personal library. • Follow Kelly Croy on Facebook.  • Follow Kelly Croy on Twitter.  •  Follow Kelly Croy on Instagram 

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FFP 024: Frustration and Overwhelm

Frustration and Overwhelm are Not Okay! Here's what to do about it.

In this episode of The Future Focused Podcast I talk about how and why frustration and overwhelm impacts so many, and more importantly, I talk about what we can do about it.

I have met too many people who talk about frustration and overwhelm with a sense of pride, a badge of honor, and as if it is okay. Why is that?

Frustration and overwhelm are NOT okay.

I’m not here to tell you that you’re doing it wrong. I’m not here to tell you that you’re living life wrong. I’m not here to be the expert. I am here to get you fired-up and to share some helpful ways to confront and conquer frustration and overwhelm. I also want to challenge your thinking and help you out.  

Frustration and overwhelmed or not OK. You should be leaving work proud of all that you did to make a difference. At the end of the day you should be proud of the way you lead your family. You should not go to bed nor wake up with regrets.

 Frustration and overwhelm the deplete us of the energy we need to raise our families, chase and fulfill  our dreams.  Frustration and overwhelm is a thief of our time. It’s a thief of our focus. It can create depression and anxiety if not addressed.

This episode will help you combat frustration overwhelm, level-up your leadership and design a more dynamic life. You will feel better about yourself too.

You will leave this episode feeling better about your day and the work you face. You also will look at your friends, coworkers and family in completely new ways! You are going to love this episode.

Many of you are purchasing Christmas presents this time of year; I also hope you will consider my book Along Came a Leader as a gift for yourself, a colleague, and administrator, and a family member this holiday season. It’s available on Amazon. It was a work of love. I am so proud of it. Level-up your leadership. Discover the 8 core attributes of leadership and how to put them work to impact lives and lead. We need leaders. If you’ve already read it, I hope you will leave a review. 

I also encourage you to follow me on Instagram between now and Christmas Day because I am sharing lots of my artwork. I am drawing a Santa Claus every day and posting the speed-painting video of me drawing it, which is so much fun to watch, alongside the art. You can only find it on my Instagram.

Looking for a dynamic speaker for your event? • Kelly Croy is an author, speaker and educator. Want to learn more? Send me an email. • Sign-up for Kelly’s Newsletter. Listen to Kelly’s other podcast The Wired Educator Podcast with over 121 episodes of interviews and professional development. • Order Kelly’s book, Along Came a Leader for your personal library. • Follow Kelly Croy on Facebook.  • Follow Kelly Croy on Twitter.  •  Follow Kelly Croy on Instagram 

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FFP 023: The Four Essential Actions of Leadership

The Future Focused Podcast Returns for Season 2

This twenty-third episode of The Future Focused Podcast is the start of our second season. This episode focuses on The Four Essential Actions of Leadership.

Eleven minutes and forty seconds of pure “let’s level-up our leadership and design a dynamic lifestyle.” Buckle-up as I share the absolute transformational power of The Four Essential Actions of Leadership. They’ll take you to the next level, but be cautioned: these actions take practice, courage, and skill, and our best developed over time with reflection . The first action is so easy, but the other three are tough, and the fourth separates leaders from everyone else.

You are going to love this episode. It’s note-taking worthy. Share it out, replay, recommend, and subscribe.

I also hope you will consider my book Along Came a Leader as a gift for yourself, a colleague, and administrator, and a family member this holiday season. It’s available on Amazon. It was a work of love. I am so proud of it. Level-up your leadership. Discover the 8 core attributes of leadership and how to put them work to impact lives and lead. We need leaders. If you’ve already read it, I hope you will leave a review. 

I also encourage you to follow me on Instagram between now and Christmas Day because I am sharing lots of my artwork. I am drawing a Santa Claus every day and posting the speed-painting video of me drawing it, which is so much fun to watch, alongside the art. You can only find it on my Instagram.

 

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Looking for a dynamic speaker for your event? • Kelly Croy is an author, speaker and educator. Want to learn more? Send me an email. • Sign-up for Kelly’s Newsletter. Listen to Kelly’s other podcast The Wired Educator Podcast with over 121 episodes of interviews and professional development. • Order Kelly’s book, Along Came a Leader for your personal library. • Follow Kelly Croy on Facebook.  • Follow Kelly Croy on Twitter.  •  Follow Kelly Croy on Instagram 

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October is National Bullying Awareness Month

October is Bullying Awareness Month. This is a great time for schools to organize events and programs to help educate students, families and staff about bullying.

I have created a free resource you can download titled, What Everyone Needs to Know About Bullying. I hope you will share it with everyone you can. I believe it delivers a message that many need to hear and practice.

I will be updating this this free ebook very during the month of October. I also hope to release an audio version of it on my Wired Educator Podcast so you can listen to it while you drive, workout, walk the dog, or whatever. I really want this message to spread to help as many lives as possible.

The bottom line is this: The opposite of bullying is leadership.

We need to teach and train students to be better leaders online and off. It’s that simple. Everyone talks about the importance of leadership, but few, very few, take the time to teach it.

I will be sharing my What Everyone Needs to Know About Bullying with schools and parent groups throughout the school year. I would love to share it with you!

If you are a parent, read this ebook with your child. If you are a teacher, make copies and share it with your students. If you are and administrator, share it with your staff. Have conversations about the material.

Kelly

Looking for a dynamic speaker for your event? • Kelly Croy is an author, speaker and educator. Want to learn more? Send me an email. • Sign-up for Kelly’s Newsletter. Listen to Kelly’s other podcast The Wired Educator Podcast with over 121 episodes of interviews and professional development. • Order Kelly’s book, Along Came a Leader for your personal library. • Follow Kelly Croy on Facebook.  • Follow Kelly Croy on Twitter.  •  Follow Kelly Croy on Instagram