Archive

When you plant a seed, it takes a while to see growth. The same is true in your life. Even when you can’t see any visible changes, where you continue to fertilize and water, an immense root system is developing. That magnificent root system will support your monumental growth. However, where you don’t see results as quickly as you’d like, you may feel like giving up. This Asian Bamboo species could inspire you to keep moving forward. After five years of watering and fertilizing the seed of this particular species of bamboo, only a minuscule… Read More

Anthony “Buckets” Blakes, of the world-famous Harlem Globetrotters, plays both the game of life and the game of basketball at an extraordinarily high level. He’s been on the Harlem Globetrotters for 14 years, playing in 79 countries! He wowed our viewers with his incredible basketball skills during my interview with him on Daytime Durham. (Watch him do his tricks during the interview here.) It’s not only on the court that Buckets brings smiles and laughter to his fans, he makes a significant difference off the court too. Buckets is passionate about helping children and one of the ways… Read More

I was jetting around the waters of Key West, Florida in a two-seat mini race-boat on my way to check out a marine sanctuary, when the boat came upon a sandbar and the boat’s propeller got stuck. The guide, whom I’d been following, called over to the man driving my boat and told him to turn off the motor and walk to the front of the boat. That way, the propeller would be lifted out of the sand. As instructed, the six-foot tall and roughly 240-pound driver of my boat got out of his seat and… Read More

In his book For One More Day, Mitch Albom writes, “I met a man once who did a lot of mountain climbing. I asked him which was harder, ascending or descending? He said without a doubt descending, because ascending you were so focused on reaching the top, you avoided mistakes. ‘The backside of a mountain is a fight against human nature,’ he said. ‘You have to care as much about yourself on the way down as you did on the way up.’” That’s good advice to remember. It’s easy to value, accept, and care about yourself “on the way up,”… Read More

 To overcome the fear of making mistakes, aim for success, not perfection. Is the fear of making a mistake preventing you from taking action? If so, the way to move beyond this fear and gain the courage to follow through on your action plan is to aim for success, not perfection. As a “recovering” perfectionist, I understand that if you have perfectionistic tendencies, you may equate success with perfection. After all, if you make a mistake, it means you have failed, right? Wrong. A mistake is not a failure. A mistake is simply the outcome of an action. Read More

I was once a chronic worrier. The strange thing is, I believed that my worry was helping me. Looking back now, I can see how it was “helping” me. Worrying about my weight and appearance—on top of continually denying my feelings because I worried too much about what others thought of me—helped me to develop bulimia. Worrying about being loveable and being good enough helped me to stay in unhealthy relationships. Worrying about being likeable helped me to not stand up for myself, express my needs, and do what was best for me. Worrying about money helped me to lie… Read More

“Are we there yet? Are we there yet?” If you have children, you likely have first-hand experience with just how impatient they can be when it comes to traveling. Or perhaps you can remember the impatience you felt as a child during a long trip. Now that you’re all grown up, the big question is: Are you still impatient on the journey? Many of us have carried this “destination impatience” forward into adulthood. When we’re in school, we can’t wait to graduate. When we graduate, we can’t wait to work. When we work, we can’t wait to work somewhere else, find… Read More

The company was about to spend millions of dollars on a product training program when in reality, product training wasn’t even the real problem! In his book The 10X Rule: The Only Difference Between Success and Failure, Grant Cardone writes about an experience in which his company was hired to conduct a “mystery shop” campaign for an international company to identify where the breakdowns in the sales process were occurring. He writes: “We were trying to collect information on where the franchises needed the most help. We visited more than 500 locations to see what percentage of time the… Read More

“The world is full of good people. If you can’t find one, be one!” — Unknown This is a story of an act of kindness from a complete stranger which had a profound impact. It happened when I was in Saint Lucia with my family. My sister, Deanna, who also happens to be my best friend and one of the funniest and kindest people I know, went blind in one eye about 9 years ago. Deanna sometimes feels self-conscious about the way her eye looks now. The pupil is no longer black; it’s bright and shiny—it… Read More

Worrier says: It’s not my fault that I worry. Warrior says: Worry is a choice. I choose to let go of worry. I intend to live with inner peace. Years ago, I was convinced my weight was the source of my worry. Despite well-meaning advice from friends and family, I thought if I could only lose enough weight, my worries would disappear. I believed being thin would fix everything. Everyone would like me, I would like myself, and I would finally be calm and carefree. Perhaps… Read More

It was a Saturday morning and my then nine-year-old daughter, Brianna, was getting dressed to take an entrance exam at a school. Just before we left the house, I noticed she had matched her nice clean outfit with her old outdoor running shoes. I said, “Brianna, do you think you should put on a different pair of shoes?” She looked down at her feet and then back up at me and said, “Mom, they’re not testing me on my shoes.” I said, “You’re absolutely right.” And we headed off to school—Brianna with… Read More

I was sitting in my car at a gas station on the corner of a busy intersection watching the line of cars stopped at a stoplight. Two teen-aged boys sat in the first car stopped at the light. The teenager in the passenger seat threw a pop can out of his window. Immediately after, the driver in the car behind the teens jumped out of his vehicle, picked up the pop can, tossed it back through the teenager’s window and got back into his car. The light turned green and they all drove away. The whole scene fascinated me and… Read More

Physical clutter equals mind clutter. Donate, recycle, or discard those things you no longer need, use, or love. Take a deep breath and exhale very slowly. As you exhale, imagine blowing away all your worries, concerns, and tension. Allow your muscles to relax, and begin to breathe at your regular pace. Now imagine you’re in a calm, relaxing, and peaceful place. That place might be a sandy beach on a warm summer’s day, or the woods on a crisp fall morning. Wherever that relaxing place is, at the end of this paragraph, close your eyes, continue to… Read More

Are you trying to get a harvest before you planted the seed? Imagine your life, your goal, your dream is a seed. In order for it to grow, you need to plant it. Planting that seed means putting it in the soil to grow. That’s where most dreams die . . . in the soil. The reason is, it can be lonely and dark in the soil. It can bring up feelings of uncertainty, doubt, or disappointment. That’s when we become afraid and dig the seed back up. Resist digging up in doubt what you planted in faith. Trust the… Read More

Can you guess which questions I’m most frequently asked through social media and after speaking engagements? Well, here they are: How do you get your teeth so white? How did you become a professional speaker? How old are you? How did you get your books published? Are you always this positive? I’m answering these questions here for two reasons: One, maybe you’ve wanted to ask me one, some, or all of these questions because you’re curious . . . in which case I’m happy to appease your curiosity! Two, maybe you’ve wanted to ask me one, some, or all of… Read More

Do you know what tomorrow will look like for you? If you’re like most people, tomorrow will look a lot like today does – in the same way today looks a lot like yesterday did. For most, tomorrow will be filled with the same story, the same characters, and the same scenery as you travel the same route to work with the same thoughts running through your mind. You’ll likely even feel the same way tomorrow that you feel today. In fact, it’s quite likely not much will be different at all. It will be familiar, known, and ordinary as… Read More

Ever wonder why, in the past, you didn’t stick to your goal to: lose weight, quit smoking, stop drinking, or whatever else it is you’ve been trying to achieve  . . . Even though you really, really, REALLY wanted to? It wasn’t because you didn’t know what to do. I’ll bet you knew exactly what to do. You probably even had the plan to follow – or – at the very least, you knew how to figure out where to get it! So what was it? 1) What stopped you? AND, more importantly . . . 2) How can… Read More

I was dressed and ready to drive to the studio where I hosted a morning TV show. Before leaving the house, I had to take the trash to the curb for collection. As I neared the end of my driveway, I tripped and fell. I hit the pavement so hard that my hands and knees were bleeding. I went back into the house and, feeling sorry for myself, I was just about to cry. I thought, “Denise, you have a choice. You can choose to continue feeling sorry for yourself, or you can choose to make today the best day… Read More

So you’ve committed (and recommitted) to sticking to your healthy eating plan. But . . . You feel stressed (bored, overwhelmed, tired), so . . . You eat a donut (a cupcake, a cookie) or two . . . or twelve. You feel relief . . . for a while. The relief wears off and regret sets in. The regret triggers more stress and . . . you reach for those darn comfort foods again! Why did it happen? I mean . . . . . . you knew what you had planned to eat that day. . . . Read More

Are you a perfectionist? Are you a recovering perfectionist? Are you not responding because you’re afraid of answering incorrectly? Whatever your answer may be, one thing is certain . . . Perfectionism breeds worry. Think of it this way, if you’re a perfectionist where work is concerned, you may find yourself worrying about making mistakes, being rejected, losing the sale, or being anything other than number one in your field. If you are consumed by achieving the perfect appearance, you’ll likely worry about aging, your weight, or your wardrobe. I realize that striving for perfection does have its place. At… Read More