Tag Archives: author

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Five People I Want You to Meet in 2024

I've Heard and Believe That We Become the 5 People We Spend Time With!

Want an Awesome 2024? Surround Yourself with These 5 People: 

They say you become the five people you spend the most time with. I’m pretty lucky to be surrounded by so many awesome humans. (And Jedi.) We should though, review who we are hanging out with, and what we are reading, watching, and listening to each day. We don’t drop people, but we might need to back off a bit, set boundaries and reduce. We become what we consume and those we spend time with. Surround yourself with positivity and possibility.

Here are five people I’d like to introduce to you to help you have a great year:

  • Matthew Kelly: Watch this video of Matthew: He teaches us 7 questions to ask ourselves for the New Year. In short: What are you most grateful for? What did you accomplish? What is your biggest distraction? What personal quality is preventing you from becoming who you year to be? Whom have you helped the most? What is taking up your time, effort, and mental energy to add to your, “do NOT do list?” What truth are you refusing to face in your life? Personal note: I have read all of Matthew’s books. I befriended him years ago and he invited me to a very special weekend retreat. For years he was a go-to for advice and support. Matthew’s book, the Rhythm of Life is the most influential book I have ever read.
  • Jesse Itzler: Watch this video of Jesse. He teaches us that we need a misogi (one BIG, year-defining thing), 8 mini adventures and to build 4 winning habits. He tells us how. He is inspiring. I hope to connect and collaborate with Jesse in the future.
  • Jon Gordon: Watch this video of Jon. Jon’s book, The Energy Bus, is one of the all-time most recommended books by candidates during new hire interviews. He is the most positive person I follow on social media. I love his content. Jon teaches us how to choose ONE WORD to guide our entire year. My one word for 2023 was ENJOY. It worked!
  • Jon Acuff: Listen to Jon’s Podcast. I listen to Jon’s podcast every week. It’s short, fun and helpful. I have read all of his books. His new book is titled, All It Takes is a Goal. I want to be friends with him. Is that weird? Fun guy!
  • Brian Kight: Subscribe to his Daily Discipline Newsletter. I have had the pleasure to meet, interview, and befriend Brian. He is inspiring, helpful, and genuine. He spoke to our students. His Daily Discipline email is super short and impactful. I forward it to my entire family and select friends almost every single time. You will thank me.

Always forward,

Kelly

I would like to speak at your event!

 

Order Kelly’s books, Along Came a Leader and Unthink Before Bed: A Children’s Book on Mindfulness for your personal library.

Educator, Author, Keynote Speaker
Twitter: @kellycroy
Instagram: @kcroy
Website: kellycroy.com and wirededucator.com
Podcast: The Wired Educator Podcast
and of course: Facebook.

Sign-up for Kelly’s newsletter here.

 

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3 Things You Own That Are Keeping You From What You Want

We own a lot of stuff.

I recently looked at a house for sale, and two thoughts immediately came to my mind, “Wow! These people own a lot of stuff. If we were to buy this house, how would they ever pack it all up?” The second was, “My family sure owns a lot of stuff, how would we ever pack it all up?”

Among all of the physical trinkets, items, and perhaps even necessities in our life, there are other ‘things’ we own that we are not even aware of that have a negative impact. They aren’t packed in a box or sitting on a shelf. We carry them with us everywhere we go.  Becoming aware of the ownership of these things and taking small steps to remove them will go a long way in our own personal success and happiness, as well as the happiness and success of all the people around us.

There are three things that you own that are keeping you from everything that you want.

That’s a pretty bold statement, but it’s true, and one of them is a goat. Yep, a goat.

I’m as guilty as the next person. Owning these three things have prevented me from the relationships I want, the opportunities I want, and even the things I want in life.

Here are the three things you own that are keeping you from what you want, and what you can do about it: Click to Read More

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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

If you like what you’ve read, please share-out with our friends on social media and tag me. Don’t forget the #LeadEveryDay hashtag. Can’t wait to hear your thoughts.

Educator, Author, Keynote Speaker
Twitter: @kellycroy
Instagram: @kcroy
Website: kellycroy.com and wirededucator.com
Podcast: The Wired Educator Podcast
and of course: Facebook.

Sign-up for my newsletter here:

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 .

Send me an email. 

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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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My New Book: Unthink Before Bed: A Children’s Book on Mindfulness

I Wrote and Illustrated a Children's Book on Mindfulness Titled Unthink Before Bed

I just published a new book titled Unthink Before Bed: A Children’s Book on Mindfulness. It is available on the world’s largest bookstore, Amazon, now. You can get your copy here.

II am very excited to share this book with families. It is a fun bedtime story with incredible artwork. This is exactly what children need to hear right now. (Parents too.)

We are living in uncertain times and children (and adults) need the strategies to prepare their minds for the challenges in today’s world. Unthink Before bed teaches children how to relax, reduce stress, and give themselves an advantage to get the rest they need a prepare for a new day. You are going to love it.

I had so much fun writing this book and illustrating every page. There are over forty, beautiful pages of illustrations. This book has a fun rhyme. I have even built a free audiobook inside the book. I’m not kidding. Wait until you see how I did it!

There are so many great surprises inside this book. Kids are going to love it. Parents are going to love it.

The book hit #2 in bedtime stories yesterday and was featured as one of Amazon’s “Hot New Releases” and one of their Best Sellers. I am so excited.

I will be sharing more about the book, but I just wanted to share my excitement with you!

Thanks for your continued support and encouragement.

Let me know what you think about the new book.

Order your copy of Unthink Before Bed today.

Thanks!

Kelly

Here is more about the book:

Unthink Before Bed is the perfect bedtime book with over forty, beautifully colored illustrations and a whimsical rhyme reminiscent of Dr. Seuss. 

 Written and illustrated by a veteran educator of thirty years and a father of four. This is Kelly Croy’s second book.

Unthink Before Bed teaches children (and adults) how to slow down, build routine, get to bed, and sleep. 

Woven into every stanza and illustration are the ten, secret lessons of mindfulness. 

Reduce anxiety, worry and stress. Fall asleep happily. Get a peaceful night’s rest. 

Enjoy this fun and relaxing bedtime story. 

Readers are leaders. 

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 173 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 033: Leadership Agility

How agile are you as a leader? It’s important to know.

There are a lot of important leadership traits leaders need, but how is your leadership agility? Our current time and our future as a leader is demanding that leadership inside the home, community and within any organization be agile. Not sure what leadership agility is? You’re not only going to find out in this episode, but you’re also going to learn how to summon it and apply to get ahead.

One observation that I repeatedly reflect on as leaders share their goals, challenges, and success, is their necessity to be able to move from one challenge to another quickly and make solid leadership decisions. All shared the enormous variety of issues and responsibilities that a leader must tackle daily.

This ten-minute episode will help you improve as a leader in big ways.

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 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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Plant the Flag! Leaders Celebrate Wins!

Great Leaders Celebrate and Promote The Accomplishments Within Their Organization. Big or Small!

One of the greatest actions you can take as a leader is to celebrate and promote the people within your organization and their wonderful accomplishments. Too often leaders move on to the next initiative, the next goal, the next task, or the next challenge, without planting the flag and saying, “We did it!”

People within your organization need to know that the work they did was good. If we don’t celebrate what we do from time to time, how will people know they are doing the right work? 

Everyone seeks feelings of purpose and fulfillment. When leaders take the time to celebrate an accomplishment they are sending an incredibly important message to everyone in the organization.

Planting the flag is celebrating an accomplishment within your organization. It is a very important type of communication. It tells everyone that they are: on the right track, doing good work, an important contributor to the organization, part of a team, they matter, noticed and recognized, needed, and appreciated.  

Good leaders celebrate big milestones and achievements. Great leaders also celebrate their accomplishments along the way too. Great celebrate the big and the small, the group and the individual. 

Planting the flag should be a crucial part of the culture journey of every organization. Even when you are clearly ‘not where you want to be’ leaders need to let people know they have made some progress, even the smallest percentage of improvement in the desired direction. Planting the flag is valuable feedback, a morale boost, and models excellent behavior in an organization. 

Planting the flag is the opposite of complaining and gossiping. It teaches everyone in your organization to work hard, have fun, and celebrate one another.  

Leadership Challenge: Make a list right where you needed to plant the flag. What accomplishments big or small should you be celebrating?

Here are 6 Ideas for Celebrating Others:

1) Take a “Themsie” and send it to them. There are a lot of selfies being taken, but I think you should take a themsie. Maybe I have coined a new term, but it’s an old school thought. Take a picture of someone, have it printed and mail it to them. Sure you can post it on social media too. That’s great, but there is something magical in a tangible photograph.  I have an app on my phone that allows me to send the picture to a printer, have it laminated and mailed via USPS, with a personal note from me. It’s awesome.

2) Mail them a newspaper clipping.  Yes, this is a really old school method.  I enjoy it when someone shares a post on social media, but getting a positive clipping in the mail is still really cool and classy. My real estate agent and financial advisor both send news clippings when I make the paper. I use to keep a bulletin board of clippings of my students’ successes and sent photocopies home from the paper. (Shares and retweets on social media are pretty awesome too. You can take a screenshot of something great and say, “I see you. Nice job,” in an email.)

3) Make your social media 3:1.  For everything positive post about yourself, post three about others.

4) Personal notes are the best! Everybody loves a handwritten note, or a phone call, or text message remembering them. Experiment with many ways to celebrate others.

5) Nominate them! Nominate people in your organization for their outstanding work. There are all sorts of recognitions and awards available, the truth is most people don’t look for them, and even fewer actually submit. Submit! Even if the person doesn’t win it, just think of how awesome they will feel that you took the time to nominate them. They will feel valued. You can always create your own award too. 

6) Conversation: It never ceases to surprise me how few conversations people have with others at work. Just sitting down with someone and asking a question and pointing out how awesome they do something is an incredible celebration and recognition. It is the most authentic form of celebration you can give.

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 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 

Follow me on Twitter @kellycroy and my hashtag #LeadEveryDay.

 

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Authenticity is Essential for Leaders!

The Future Focused Podcast Episode 29

In this episode of the Future Focused Podcast, I explain why authenticity is essential to leadership and how we can build and keep our authenticity.

When asked what is the most important action a person can take to improve as a leader, I always answer with build trust. The best way to build sustainable trust is through authenticity, and the fastest way to destroy trust is to demonstrate a lack of authenticity.

One of the most important ways we can build trust is by living in authentic life. Authenticity is the glue that holds leadership together without it a leader falls apart.

Show me someone who has failed as a leader at an epic level whether on television, in the newspaper, in politics, or anywhere, and I’ll tell you someone who has a problem with authenticity. They simply lived one way but let others believe they were living another. Once people recognize you are not who you say you are, they will no longer allow themselves to be influenced or led by you.  

I’ve written about the six core elements of leadership and authenticity is the sixth. You could be super strong and all the other five but be weak and authenticity and the rest will crumble. 

You need to know your values. You need to proclaim your values. And most importantly you need to live your values. I find so many people who want to be great leaders and yet they do not do any of these three. They don’t truly know what they value. They don’t let people know what they value. And therefore they can’t what they value. They are all over the place.  Living our values is what other people see and that is how we build trust with them.

This episode will help you become a better leader.

Thank you for taking time out of your busy week to level-up your leadership and design a dynamic life.

You are awesome!

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 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