When faced with doing the “right” thing, the decision tree is supported by the roots of personal values.  It’s funny, my conversations with clients often lead to my Wednesdays With Wayne posts.  Recently, I was discussion what it meant to do what’s right vs. feeling burdened by the “shoulds” that come from social pressure.  

I found myself falling back on my martial arts roots.  Yes, having started back in 1977 and attaining the rank of fourth degree black belt, there’s a little something in me.  The art of Bushido incorporates multiple disciplines and, translated, it means The Way of the Warrior.  That way is one of peace with a willingness to stand up for what’s right.

Early samurai, the warriors who practiced Bushido, had at their core a code by which they lived.  One of the seven tenets is that of Rectitude – goodness, living in integrity, doing right.  For me, that’s a level that we humans should all aspire to.  Humanity is doing the right thing, not simply being a bystander w...

Usually posts in November remind you about giving thanks.  Let’s take this on from a different angle and look at what you deserve.  Seriously, start thinking about the life you deserve.  Start thinking about how much you have to give if you stopped playing small.  

Deserving is different than being entitled.  You really deserve a life full of love and joy.  You’re not entitled to drive a Maserati or necessarily, to even have a car.  The thing is, you create both and one of those things you can get right now, just by thinking about it.  

I’ll get right to it.  In this week’s Wednesdays With Wayne, you get to ask yourself the following questions.  To make them even more impactful, ask them out loud (yes, really).  

Do I deserve to be happy?
Yes, I do (and I offer it)!

Do I deserve love?
Yes, I do (and I offer it)!

Am I entitled to being waited on?
Uh, no…  In fact, I’ll probably get more of what I want and deserve by serving others.

Am I entitled to a new car or a new computer?
No, ...

In reflecting on mythology recently – actually, I was reflecting on some of the recent world tragedies – I was reminded of the concept of Pandora’s Box.  When opened, all kinds of chaos was released.  

Do you know what remained after everything else had been let loose?

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In this week’s Wednesdays With Wayne, we’re looking at TWO ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS for a positive life and great leadership.  What two elements do you need for a more positive outlook and a more fulfilling life?

One of them is HOPE.  Yes, it was hope that remained in Pandora’s Box when everything else had been released into the world.  It’s hope that allows you to move forward, especially after setbacks.  

Do not build your future on hope.  Hope does NOT create a solid foundation for growth.  In fact, it’s more like fuel.  You need hope to fuel the car; hope in itself is not the car.  Hope can drive you to take the action steps you need to take, even if it’s just one step at a time, to br...

When we bother to look up, we might register somewhere in the depths of our minds that the sky is blue and a wisp of clouds floats by.  Birds sing, though we hardly notice.  

Until something changes all of that.  The sky is grey.  There is no depth.  Your eyes tear-up from the ashes that fill the air and choke the breath from your chest as it hurts to breathe.  And you wonder if you’ll see the sky again.

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In all honesty, I’m having trouble writing this week’s Wednesdays With Wayne.  

It seems like there are natural and human-made disasters hitting this blue marble (or is that blue marvel), one right after the other.  

I live in Northern California about a half-hour from Napa.  So much of what I knew, have fondly visited, and have driven to and through is either threatened by fire, currently on fire, or has been destroyed by fire.

I’m one of the lucky ones.  Today, my breathing is almost normal.  My eyes have stopped weeping tears that clear the...

Have you ever been around someone who makes you think differently?  Perhaps just because of who they are or how they present themselves, you stand up straighter?  I don't know why it happens, my daughter is a Marine and when I'm around her, I find my posture improves.  

There’s something about excellence that you can sense in a person.  

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Welcome to this week’s Wednesdays With Wayne!  Let’s dive a little deeper into the Excellence Expectation thing, shall we?  You see, I just finished doing a training session on leadership and excellence at the Ritz-Carlton in Southern California.  You know what?  The way they execute their service delivery got to me.  Everything they did was a deliberate act of customer service excellence.  Their goal is to anticipate the needs of the guests and have things complete before the request is even made.  They’re like ninjas, too.  They’re fast, efficient, and almost invisible.  That’s where the magic happen...

I celebrated my birthday last week at an indoor skydiving place.  Really, it was awesome… except for the part that wasn’t.

In this week’s Wednesdays With Wayne, you’ll get three key points that apply to business, leadership, and life.  I learned them while being supported by winds above 100mph.

Here’s a short video for you, too!

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There are some really great lessons that can be learned from doing indoor sky-diving.  Apparently, my wife and I are really great students and had no problems with control.  I think the thing is, we take instruction really well.  We want to succeed and we’re willing to learn what works for others so that we can maximize our experience.  And, because we’re different people from the instructors or from each other, we learned to adapt what we’ve learned to ourselves.

Lesson #1:
Learn what works.  Model what works.  Adapt it to your own situation.

In order to make things happen really well at the indoor skydiving place, you’ve got to lean ...

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Have you ever been really hard on yourself for starting something and then not following through?  Your diet failed.  Your exercise plan failed.  Your “read a book a month” plan failed.  So… did YOU fail?  

Here – you’re forgiven and you get a “do-over.”  Yes, in this week’s Wednesdays With Wayne, you’ll move from being down on yourself to taking positive action.

So many people condemn themselves to feeling like a failure that the REAL failure is that of forgetting to take inventory of where you are right NOW.  Current state is the baseline.  Not where you were.  Not what you thought you’d be able to do.  And certainly not your New Year’s resolutions.  

The thing is that, at this point, we’re almost into Q4 of this year.  So what?
That’s a calendar’s assessment of time.  What you have is NOW.  

In a recent session with one of my High Performance DynamicLeader® clients, we talked about what hasn’t happened… yet.  The focus of the call moved from self-fla...

So powerful are these words and this sentiment:  I see you, Human.  

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Who are we in the world if not to recognize another?  In your role(s) as leader, parent, friend, or dishwasher, isn’t it important to humanize the people in your world?  At a restaurant, it’s a human that takes your order and brings you food.  In a professional setting, both patients and practitioners are human.

Acknowledging the human experience is just SO important.

About 20 years ago, I started writing my first book.  The working title was A Worthy Struggle because I recognized how each of us has something that is uniquely ours.  We might have similar struggles.  We are unique in our perception and interpretation of them.  And, my point was that the struggle we engage in, as a human, is so worth it.  It really is A Worthy Struggle.  That book evolved because I found myself focusing on the pain.  I changed the writing a bit and created Choosing Your Power, a book that cont...

I just heard a speaker say that you don’t need to tell people your problems, 90% of people don’t care and the other 10% are glad you have them.  It’s interesting.  When I share things, it’s not about the “problems,” but actually simply about what’s going on.  I don’t look for sympathy.  Certainly, it’s as simple as understanding.  In this week’s Wednesdays With Wayne I’ll take you for a look at problems… mine and yours.  So, why am I shaking…?

Why Am I Shaking?

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I was at dinner with a friend I don’t get to see in person much.  I explained that she might see my hand shake a little.  I could feel it coming on and wanted to let her know I wasn’t having a seizure or going through DTs.  My conversation was simply to convey information – there’s a hereditary condition that has to do with what’s known as an “essential tremor.”  It comes on while stress, or sleep deprivation, or any number of reasons.  

She asked me why I would share that with her, seemingl...

Have you ever found yourself worrying about something so much you were almost to the point of tears?

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(Am I, Or Am I Not, Wearing Pants?)

Traffic is terrible.  The people you’re waiting to get an answer from aren’t calling you back.  There are two meetings in different places you’re supposed to attend.  You’ve got multiple projects going at work and more projects going at home.  You’re juggling and stretching the resources you have.  You wonder how to get it all done, how get in that workout, and how to eat right, AND still to have some downtime.

Today’s Wednesdays With Wayne isn’t about productivity; it’s actually about saluting the absurd in honor of humor and your health.

By acknowledging the small absurdities in your life, you actually gain a perspective that allows you to put the bigger stuff in a handle-able order.  That is, when you get tense about being tense, winding down is like unraveling some out-of-control spool of thread.  You kn...