I'm a Certified Life Coach and athlete, who loves to talk about personal development and work/life relationships. I help my clients embrace change with courage and determination. Subscribe to my newsletter to get helpful ways to improve mindset, and turn challenges into successes.
The gap between what we say and what we do
|
Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, “What you do speaks so loudly that I cannot hear what you say.” I thought of that recently while listening to someone (myself) complain about the same thing for the tenth time. You know the drill. It’s the friend, the colleague, or even your own inner voice that keeps circling the same frustration over and over. It might sound like:
And yet nothing changes. We keep doing the same things in the same way, and our actions contradict the words we’re saying either out loud or to ourselves. Our actions speak louder than our words. So here’s the uncomfortable (but very key) question: Sometimes the answer is practical, maybe we don’t know how, or we feel stuck. Sometimes it’s fear of conflict, or fear of what might happen if we actually did something different. And sometimes, we just get used to the habit of complaining (this can be a hard one to admit, but let’s be honest)! Nothing shifts until we shift. If you’ve been circling the same frustration, consider this your nudge to step back and ask yourself:
You don’t have to solve everything at once. You just have to start showing, through your actions, what really matters to you. Because what you DO is what people hear. And more importantly, what you do is what you hear, too. If you’d like someone in your corner to help you figure out your next change, I’m here. You can reply to this email or book a call with me here. |
Bethany Ward Life Coaching
I'm a Certified Life Coach and athlete, who loves to talk about personal development and work/life relationships. I help my clients embrace change with courage and determination. Subscribe to my newsletter to get helpful ways to improve mindset, and turn challenges into successes.
I came across a great little test by Ross McCammon called The Two Beers and a Puppy Test. The idea is when you’re thinking about someone in your life, ask yourself two questions: Would I want to have two beers with this person? Would I trust them to look after my puppy? If the answer to both is yes, you’ve got yourself someone to keep in your world. If it’s no to both, maybe that relationship belongs in a different category. This week I’m in New York with my best friend, someone who passes...
On Sunday, I did something I never thought I’d do . . a Spartan Deka event. It’s a strength event with 10 stations like rowing, sled pushes, burpees, farmer’s carries, box step-overs, and similar and the goal is to complete them as fast as you can. I never would have done it if not for my friend Karen. She asked me, encouraged me, asked me again, and challenged me into signing up with her as a team. Left to my own, I’d probably never have done it. But thanks to her encouragement and her not...
Hey Reader, A few weeks ago, I found out my position as an Executive Assistant with an International company was being made redundant. I definitely didn’t see it coming. But after the dust settled, I reminded myself of something I often say to my clients: focus on what you can control, not what you can’t. I couldn’t control the redundancy. But I could control my response. I could choose to panic and fall into a negative mental loop, or I could take the energy and move it into something...