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Turning Potential Into Results

Want success? Embrace failure.

By Camille Smith / August 16, 2012

It bugs me when someone shouts “Failure is not an option!”  The icing on the buggy cake comes if their declaration is punctuated with teeth-grinding and fist-clenching. Sure, I hear their determination and desire that they must succeed, no matter what, come hell or high-water, or no water at all, if that’s the case.  Still,…

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The garage is clean — what’s left to pass on?

By Camille Smith / July 18, 2012

After last month’s uber-cleansing garage clean-out and revelations, I now walk unimpaired across the floor, dodging only the occasional fur ball.  The walk is both exhilarating and disconcerting. Exhilarating because every step acknowledges weeks of effort that produced the results: space for a vehicle, letting go of inconsequential stuff, putting the past in the past…

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What’s cluttering your garage (you)?

By Camille Smith / June 24, 2012

We’ve been cleaning out our garage so we can park a vehicle in it for the first time in 24 years.  Truth be told, I’m not so much cleaning out the garage as I’m clearing out my past.  If you’ve ever cleaned out a closet, a basement or an attic (we had these in Ohio…

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Introverts Unite! (oh, might be tough…)

By Camille Smith / May 15, 2012

Hi, I’m Camille and I’m an extrovert. I confess that from time to time I’ve overlooked the talents that introverts have to offer. I’m reforming. On a recent flight home from Ohio, I read Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can’t Stop Talking by Susan Cain. I picked it up because in…

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Are you a Sweet Genius Under Pressure?

By Camille Smith / April 4, 2012

I admit it. No matter what I’m doing when I’m not coaching (watching TV, playing tennis, practicing my guitar), I’m asking “What can I learn right now about being effective and producing desired results?” On a recent rainy day, Sweet Genius, a competitive cooking show, offered some insights on being effective when the heat’s turned…

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What’s Your Beef?

By Camille Smith / March 14, 2012

Remember Wendy’s 2006 commercial with the old lady complaining about the patty size with the slogan “Where’s the beef?”? Complaining is often a way we identify our disatisfactions and things we want to change. On the other hand, if we don’t know we are complaining, it can adversely affect our performance, putting us in a…

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You get what you measure

By Camille Smith / February 16, 2012

GIGO: Garbage In, Garbage Out That phrase reminds us that what you put into something is what you’ll get out of it. If you put garbage in – cheap parts, shoddy workmanship, no quality inspection, inaccurate data – that will determine what comes out. I think it’s time to employ that thinking again to what…

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Riddle:What time will it be when the future shows up?

By Camille Smith / January 10, 2012

In December’s column, Big Enough Why?, I invited you to shift from making resolutions to creating a Big Enough WHY? for 2012 — a shift from being resolved (with crossed fingers) to being committed. How’s it going? One of the questions that naturally arises once you have your B.E.WHY is, How? How do I make…

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Bring in the New Year with a big enough WHY?

By Camille Smith / December 29, 2011

Ah, the end is near — of the year, that is. A time when we look back and reflect on all that has and hasn’t happened. For the resolutions we achieved, we’ll cheer wildly and thank our lucky stars. For the ones we didn’t, we’ll lament the loss and profess how hard we tried. As…

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Cough it up! Give yourself a communication Heimlich.

By Camille Smith / November 9, 2011

“A is for …” During the change-over in a recent tennis game, one of my buddies reached in his bag and offered his partner some pills, saying “We really need our vitamin A today.”  Wanting to join in, I quipped: “A for attitude?” They laughed, “No. A for Advil. Otherwise, we’ll seize up!”   It got…

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