Molly Fletcher's Blog, page 12

Here’s How To Boost Your Summer Productivity Now

Summer is the season when we tend to slow down and maybe even coast a bit. It’s vacation time and your mind can easily drift to the beach. Those looming projects and deadlines can seem less important.

Summer can be the season of procrastinating and letting time slip by almost unnoticed. It can become easy for you and your team to get used to lower productivity, even expect it.

As a sports agent for many top Major League Baseball players, PGA Tour golfers, NCAA coaches and more, I had a front row seat to hot streaks and a few summer slumps too. Now as a keynote speaker and author focusing on helping people achieve despite their fears, I get how real the summer struggle can be, and really it can hit anytime in the calendar. It’s when we experience the greatest temptation to accept activity for progress—to show up but not tune in.

Did you know you could boost your team’s productivity in the summer by copying the habits of pro athletes?

The Pros’ Mentality and Behavior

With a focus on the season ahead, the pros prepare away from the spotlight. They know that this is the time to get stronger, faster, better. You do that too, by testing yourself in new ways, with new tools and resources and training.

To challenge yourself in your down time, do you have podcasts ready to go? A stack of books you want to jump into? How will you push yourself to learn something new, and learn it sooner than later?

They create structure. Studying this habit of the pros helped my productivity immensely. Because summer has less structure, I have to be extra intentional about creating the structure I need to thrive. To do this, I focus on maximizing moments of intense productivity.

They focus on “I” and “me.” The offseason gives team members and coaches a chance to examine their individual performance and improvement areas. By trading “we” for “me,” they signal ownership and accountability.

Leaders, if your team’s productivity has slowed because of rapid culture change, take the offseason to lead forward into a fresh start. Ask yourself today: “How can I model the behavior I want from my team? What are the positives that I can control or influence? How can I show gratitude to my team?”

They test new ways of operating. The offseason is when PGA Tour players will make their significant swing changes. There’s time to break down what’s not working and try to fix it. Grab the chance to take what’s working well and amp it up.

Use this summer to find out what works best for you. A great way to jump start this is to get organized. Clean up your inbox and organize your files and desktop. By releasing this space, you clear the mental screen too. It’s an invitation to brainstorm a new way of operating.

They seize blank space for mental growth. Summer is the time to be curious—about the what, how and why of our daily work, to take time to wonder “what if?”

Block off time for idea generation. Those ideas that have been in the back of your head while you’re buried in work? Now is a good time to get them down on paper.

The offseason is the time to value staring out the window or looking up at the stars and =thinking about a single challenge or problem. Use this summer’s serendipitous gaps of time to meditate. Your mental muscles are so important to build considering that we all face a salad bar of information and possibilities 24/7.

Your Game Changer Takeaway

Do what the pros do. Make this summer your most productive offseason ever. Enjoy the space and take this great opportunity to inject new energy into your team. As you maximize your moments today, you will build new momentum. Don’t be surprised you achieve unusually bigger outcomes by the end of the summer.

Molly Fletcher helps inspire and equip game changers to dream, live and grow fearlessly. A keynote speaker and author, Molly draws on her decades of experiences working with elite athletes and coaches as a sports agent, and applies them to the business world. Her new book, Fearless At Work, is now available. Sign up here to receive our monthly newsletter and subscribe to the Game Changers with Molly Fletcher podcast on iTunes.

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Present like TED: 8 Secrets to Make Your Ideas Worth Spreading

It’s no secret that some of the most enduring, captivating presentations are made on the TED platform. So if you need to get your point across in a presentation, and make your audience care, you need to study what makes millions of people watch TED’s most compelling talks.

This summer I’m reading a fascinating book that breaks down what goes into a successful TED talk—and reveals secrets of connecting deeply with listeners. “Talk Like TED: The 9 Public-Speaking Secrets of the World’s Top Minds,” by Carmine Gallo, is what he learned from interviewing scientists and communications experts to determine why some of the TED talks were so successful. What he found is a great resource for taking your presentation skills to the next level.

Here are my favorite points from this book that definitely are worth spreading .I feel strongly that our next presentations will be better—potentially a whole lot better and more confident—if we understand these points and prepare accordingly.

1. Define Your Mastery. It’s important to do this first. When you pinpoint your unique journey to this moment, you are also identifying your passion. You’re speaking because people need and want to hear what you have to say. You must find the source of your inspiration before you can give it to others. No great presentation happens without passion and belief. People listening can tell if you believe and they won’t believe unless they know your believe.

2. Communicate Something New. To suffocate boredom, you want to reveal information that is completely new to your audience, or packaged a new way. It can also offer a new way to solve an old problem. Challenge yourself to unleash your creativity and find an innovative approach to your next presentation.

3. Make it a Conversation. We’ve been conditioned to take information from speaker to listener, without a dialogue. A great presentation is delivered with the passion of someone speaking directly to you about something they care deeply about. A true conversational style brings what is on the inside—your heart, your core understanding of your topic and why it matters and is worth acting on—and makes your audience see and feel it.

4. Tell Great Stories. Like the previous point, a story is the path beyond facts and into hearts and minds. The TED speakers with the longest standing ovations are often the ones who tell the most stories. “Brain scans reveal that stories stimulate and engage the human brain, helping the speaker connect with the audience and making it much more likely that the audience will agree with the speaker’s point of view,” Gallo says. (As an example, here’s my fearless living story.)

5. Deliver Jaw-Dropping Moments. This is the moving, memorable moment that a listener cannot forget. In the brain, this emotionally charged event is a heightened state of awareness. It can come from a shocking, impressive or surprising moment in the presentation.

6. Paint a Multisensory Picture of the Point You’re Trying to Make. We’re in a world where sound, images, text and more are increasingly combined for fresh storytelling. The best presentations command attention

through mesmerizing images, captivating videos, interesting props, beautiful words, and multiple voices bringing the story to life. For many audiences, this element is the intangible element that makes a presentation memorable. As Gallo puts it, “The brain craves multisensory experiences.” By touching on multiple senses (sight, sound, touch, taste and smell), you face far less chance of your audience being bored.

7. Resist Changing Lanes. The most effective TED speakers don’t try to be (or promise) anything they are not. Don’t get talked into a presentation that isn’t in your wheelhouse. It’s hard enough when you are passionate; giving a great speech is incredibly more difficult if you’re not putting your best self out there.

“Each person must find his or her own passion about the topic to make an authentic connection with the audience,” Gallo writes. “Don’t try to be Tony Robbins, Dr. Jill, Bono, Sheryl Sandberg, Richard Branson, or any of the other people you’ve read about… They carved out a lane for themselves and drove in it exceptionally well. Stay in your lane.”

8. Lighten Up. Humor lowers defenses and enhances connection. Self-deprecating humor used in the right dosage, makes you approachable and likable. We all love to laugh, find fun, authentic ways to weave in humor and you will connect.

Your Game Changer Takeaway

Ideas are the currency of this century, and TED offers a blueprint for how to connect our ideas to those who need to hear them and act upon them. We change the world when we fearlessly deliver a bold idea. Use these secrets to package and deliver your ideas for optimal effect. Let me know what works for you!

Molly Fletcher helps inspire and equip game changers to dream, live and grow fearlessly. A keynote speaker and author, Molly draws on her decades of experiences working with elite athletes and coaches as a sports agent, and applies them to the business world. Her new book, Fearless At Work, is now available. Sign up here to receive our monthly newsletter and subscribe to the Game Changers with Molly Fletcher podcast on iTunes.

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7 Ways to Get Over Your Fear of Failure

When we talk about fearlessness, the main obstacle is the fear of failure. If we can get over our fear of failure, I believe anything is possible.

And you can get over your fear of failure by building a game plan for resilience! Here are seven ways that work.

1. Chase percentages, not perfection. People at the top use their energy to keep moving through and around failure. In major league baseball, where even the best hitters are succeeding 3 of 10 times at the plate, Chipper Jones is a great example of how to build mental strength. “There’s a ton of failure in the game and the mentally weak do not last,” he says. “It really is an exercise in perseverance… if you don’t have a good mindset, it will beat you up.”

2. Set an intention. For Chipper, getting out of a slump meant looking forward, not back. In the rare times that he had consecutive games without getting on base, he told himself, “Today is the day.”

3. Embrace the flaws in your story. This advice comes from Sarah Robb O’Hagan, one of Forbes’ Most Powerful Women in Sports and author of “Extreme You: Step Up. Stand Out. Kick Ass. Repeat”: “We all have these perfect pictures on our Instagram and everything looks amazing. Even if you Googled me a few years ago, all it said was these great accolades of achievement. It didn’t mention that I got fired twice, and I screwed up so many things along the way. I felt it was so important to change that narrative and have everyone understand that failure is such a necessary part of growth. It’s not something to be stigmatized or to be scared of.”

4. Define success and failure by your own metrics. Set your own standard of success with a margin of imperfection. The father of professional golf, Walter Hagen had a simple, powerful mindset based on numbers specific to his game. “I expect to make at least seven mistakes a round,” he said. “Therefore, when I make a bad shot, it’s just one of the seven.” When you compete against your own potential, you don’t let others set the bar.

5. Value losing as learning. Growth always comes from trial and error—if you don’t try and push yourself, you stagnate. By continuing to try—and failing—you are growing. It’s only really failure if you don’t learn from it.

6. Lean into your purpose. A personal mission statement that challenges you is going to position you for the possibility of failure, because it pushes yourself beyond where you have been. By leaning into your struggles and challenges—by digging into your why—you will suffocate your fear of failure and breathe new life into your purpose.

7. Choose to keep going. The main difference for those who succeed despite failure is that they refuse to quit. Their fear of failure is not as strong as their will to finish, to not walk away.

Your Game Changer Takeaway

Getting over fear of failure requires strengthening your mindset through new habits. By practicing these ways of thinking, you can replace the fear of failing and quickly rebound. Use these steps to refocus, try again with curiosity and repeat whenever you fall short. When you increase your tolerance of failure, you no longer fear it. That’s resilience, and every winner has it.

Molly Fletcher helps inspire and equip game changers to dream, live and grow fearlessly. A keynote speaker and author, Molly draws on her decades of experiences working with elite athletes and coaches as a sports agent, and applies them to the business world. Her new book, Fearless At Work, is now available. Sign up here to receive our monthly newsletter and subscribe to the Game Changers with Molly Fletcher podcast on iTunes.

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How Fearless Leaders Cultivate Curiosity

The top business leaders are fueled by curiosity. They are lifelong learners who use curiosity to build confidence—their own, and their team’s. These people become stronger leaders by consistently feeding their curiosity.

Curiosity is one of the main traits “that drive people who seem to cut through the clutter and wind up with more opportunities and more trajectory,” Cinnabon CEO Kat Cole told me in our recent podcast. As an electrical engineering student, Kat seized a chance from management at Hooters to help open a franchise in Australia. She had barely traveled and was only 19.

“I was very curious,” she says. “I was curious to know if I could do it. I was curious to see how they did things in other places. Curiosity was incredibly compelling and strong for me…. No matter what I might run into that would be unfamiliar, I had confidence in my ability to build relationships and be curious. The combination of confidence and curiosity has been a theme throughout life and career that I have experienced.”

The big question is how. How do they cultivate curiosity? Here are some of the key ways that fearless leaders cultivate their curiosity.

They read. From Warren Buffett to Mark Zuckerberg, from Oprah Winfrey to Emma Watson, leaders across society also are readers. The written word, no matter if it’s print or digital, helps sharpen your intellect, clarify your purpose, and stay inspired.
They listen. Fearless leaders rely on their ears for new solutions. They listen to learn, not just in meetings or dialogues. They turn on insightful podcasts while commuting or working out. Listening well enables them to ask great follow-up questions to learn even more.
They make unexpected friends. Practice curiosity by bonding with a leader in a totally different industry. “I love learning from people who take on giants and slay them,” said Kobe Bryant, who reached out to media leader Arianna Huffington. “I wanted to know how Arianna did what she did, and why.”
They cold call. Michigan State’s legendary basketball coach Tom Izzo told me on the podcast that his thirst for excellence drives him to cold-call other coaches. “You should copy from people who have had sustained success,” he says. “The way to be successful is similar in all walks of life.”
They take time to learn. They go beyond keeping up with the news and trends that affect them directly. They learn for the sake of learning, to build up the muscle of curiosity. They ask questions, read books on a variety of topics, or take courses out of their comfort zone so they can grow.
They value vulnerability. Curious leaders enlist trusted sources for authentic feedback. A circle of honest straight-shooters will help you unlock your blind spots. Curious leaders know that temporary discomfort is worth the long-term gain.
They take risks. Successful people connect with themselves and others by taking risks. This skill begins with the question, “What if I …?” Example: “What if I handle that difficult conversation that I’ve been putting off?” Go ahead and tackle one thing that scares you today.
They make curiosity a ritual. I know a great leader who ends every meeting with a question. This is a key metric for leaders who want to build a culture of curiosity. A ritual helps make curiosity a strong habit for you as a role model for your team.

Your Game Changer Takeaway

Fearless leaders dare to be open to what they do not know. Are you open to change? To feedback? What’s holding you back from serving your most important relationships? Create habits like leaders who use curiosity to keep growing every day.

Molly Fletcher helps inspire and equip game changers to dream, live and grow fearlessly. A keynote speaker and author, Molly draws on her decades of experiences working with elite athletes and coaches as a sports agent, and applies them to the business world. Her new book, Fearless At Work, is now available. Sign up here to receive our monthly newsletter and subscribe to the Game Changers with Molly Fletcher podcast on iTunes.

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9 Tips for Crushing Your Internship

Now that you’ve landed your internship, you don’t have much time to get the most out of it. You need to establish a great attitude, work ethic and curiosity—especially if you want to extend this opportunity into a full-time job.

Here are my best tips for crushing your internship. This advice comes from my years of listening to people wanting to break into their dream jobs, and watching the ones who succeed.

1. Absorb everything. Be a total and complete sponge. Soak up the best practices. Take notes. Ask follow up questions. Communicate that you want to learn.

2. Serve constantly. Often interns don’t have enough to do, or they get forgotten in the swift pace of work. See next tip….

3. Think proactively. Can you break out of the box of your specific role and add value in other places when appropriate? Is there something that needs to be done where you can demonstrate your work ethic? Look for the tasks that no one wants to do but need to get done.

4. Be great. Whatever you’re asked to do, excel at that task. My first sports job after college was answering phones in the office of the Super Bowl Host Committee. Not my dream job, but I pushed myself to stay upbeat all day long. To be considered an excellent employee, sustain your best performance as an intern.

5. Don’t assume. Interns typically are eager to connect with the high-level people they think are the decision makers. But the influencers can be more important. The receptionist who has been there for 30 years, the admin and others also build a perception of you that wind up influencing the big bosses. Treat everyone with respect and kindness.

6. Seek advice. Asking for advice in an authentic way shows that you understand that a resume is not enough. You need to build relationships, and a great way to do that is to ask for pointers from people who are doing what you see yourself doing.

7. Connect often. Don’t pass up lunch and learns, happy hours, volunteer projects, or any chance to solidify relationships. Ask for business cards and follow up with a short email of thanks. By pitching in and building favor, you will set yourself apart.

8. Speak up. Recently I was in a corporate meeting attended by a group of interns. What a great opportunity for them to be on the front line of business. Yet they didn’t get a chance to speak or ask to speak. Look for appropriate ways to express your desire to learn more. When given the stage, ask a great question.

9. Observe yourself. What are you loving about your internship? What not so much? This opportunity can teach you about your affinity for this work. Be brutally honest when assessing yourself, because knowing what you don’t want to do in your career can be just as important as your professional goals.

Your Game Changer Takeaway

These 9 tips will help develop authentic curiosity and openness that you can build on the rest of your career, even if your internship does not lead to a job offer. Make every day a steppingstone to your dream career!

Molly Fletcher helps inspire and equip game changers to dream, live and grow fearlessly. A keynote speaker and author, Molly draws on her decades of experiences working with elite athletes and coaches as a sports agent, and applies them to the business world. Her new book, Fearless At Work, is now available. Sign up here to receive our monthly newsletter and subscribe to the Game Changers with Molly Fletcher podcast on iTunes.

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5 Mistakes New Leaders Make

Great leaders rarely begin that way. And becoming one isn’t about magic or luck. In my decades of working with sports and business leaders, I have seen how you can move toward great leadership by avoiding these 5 common mistakes—especially if you’re new at this.

1. Have all the answers. When Arthur Blank bought the Atlanta Falcons, he was new to pro football. He didn’t assume that his success as co-founder of Home Depot would turn around the mediocre team. He asked the Falcons players to tell him what they needed for success. Then he went a step farther by actually staying with them in their dorm during training camp. He learned the mattresses were so thin that players were sleeping on the floor for greater comfort! Players could barely get wet in the shower because the showerheads were way too small to fit their frames. Arthur changed the team by being open to new and unexpected knowledge, and acting on it. New leaders have to have the courage to ask the tough questions and hear the hard answers.

2. Neglect curiosity. This is so important if you want to drive collaboration and creativity. Curiosity starts with you. If you are defensive or indifferent to new ideas, and neglect asking questions to find out more and listen with an open heart, don’t expect your team members to challenge the status quo.

3. Playing it too safe. Innovation requires leadership by example. Steve Koonin, CEO of the Atlanta Hawks NBA team, says during our podcast that he gave the green light to market a game with a tie in to a dating app. Swipe Right Night got the Hawks all kinds of national publicity, buzz among its target audience of millennials and a sponsorship with Budweiser. “That idea couldn’t have gotten done unless it came from me, because of fear,” Steve says. “It’s sets a tone that you can take some risks.”

4. Damning the past. New leaders can be so focused on managing necessary change that they portray themselves as the hero of a better future. “Most of the people you will work with were there during the past,” notes Steve, who worked at Coca-Cola and Turner before the Hawks. “If you make it sound that everything that happened was bad and everything that is going to happen under you is good, you’re going to disenfranchise a lot of people. I’ve made the mistake of not paying the right homage to the past because I was so interested in getting to the future. You have to balance the positive in building on the past.”

5. Isolating. A leader spends time with those whose work determines the team’s success. Michigan State men’s basketball coach Tom Izzo says his open door policy is a big key to his success. “Time translates into them trusting you and understanding who you are,” says Izzo. Think of yourself as a coach huddling your team on a regular huddle. Apple and Facebook use regular meetings to drive progress and create accountability. Showing up builds trusts.

Your Game Changer Takeaway

Mistakes are part of leadership and life. By being aware of these 5 common mistakes—and fostering awareness, curiosity, boldness, experience and unity—a new leader will build success from the get-go. You’ll be on your way to inspiring lasting respect.

Molly Fletcher helps inspire and equip game changers to dream, live and grow fearlessly. A keynote speaker and author, Molly draws on her decades of experiences working with elite athletes and coaches as a sports agent, and applies them to the business world. Her new book, Fearless At Work, is now available. Sign up here to receive our monthly newsletter and subscribe to the Game Changers with Molly Fletcher podcast on iTunes.

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Fearless Leader Q&A: Flywheel CEO Sarah Robb O’Hagan

Sarah Robb O’Hagan—the new CEO of Flywheel Sports– has been named among Forbes “Most Powerful Women in Sports” and recognized as one of Fast Company’s “Most Creative People in Business.” But if you ask her, Sarah will say she’s in business to help individuals and teams achieve their potential. Her career includes leadership roles at Virgin, Nike, Gatorade and Equinox. As Global President of Gatorade, she helped transform the company from a declining sports drink into a sports performance innovation company, and at Nike she was a key member of the team that launched the game changing innovation called Nike Plus in collaboration with Apple. In my conversation with Sarah, she shares how she turned crushing failure into epic wins, how to get comfortable taking risks, and how she’s been able to spark innovation and change inside of some pretty incredible companies. Her new book, “Extreme You: Step Up. Stand Out. Kick Ass. Repeat” is out now.

On deciding to say yes when Flywheel approached her

One of the important beliefs that I articulate in the book is that you should break yourself to make yourself– really get out of your comfort zone to drive your own performance. So I was trying to walk my own talk by quitting my job and going and exploring and writing a book. I felt like I really needed to throw myself fully into it. I had no intent of re-entering a full time role until after the book had come out, but along came the Flywheel opportunity. What was so funny was that the act of writing the book had given me so much time to reflect and to be inspired by the wonderful stories of others and to think about what I wanted for my life and give me these really strong filters to help me make my own decisions. And along comes the perfect opportunity!

On her leadership style

I bring a lot of enthusiasm and passion for what I’m doing. People always describe me as a very high-energy leader. I definitely strive for high goals and standards, but I really believe in making the team flourish and discover their own potential along the way. I see my role more as helping fan the flames of the awesome stuff they are doing.

On her vision for Flywheel

What’s really neat is that we are part of this big, booming boutique fitness phenomenon. It’s a little bit like how in the nineties, we all used to shop in department stores and then we shifted to boutique specialized experiences. It’s very similar to what’s happening in the fitness industry. We are at the very beginning of what we have the potential to be. Obviously we are going to continue to expand our studio offerings, but we’ll never get every tiny street corner in America. So we are actively exploring ways to effectively take our studio experience and stream it so that people can access it wherever they may be. Consumers are looking for fitness on the go– whenever I want it and however I want it, but getting that really brilliant studio experience too.

On how Nike creates a culture of innovation

The difference in the way Nike thinks about innovation is pretty profound. One of the things I learned and loved so much about Nike is that just as things are going really great with that business is when they disrupt themselves and get uncomfortable. They don’t wait for other businesses to do it to them. It’s a great lesson for businesses everywhere. If you don’t stay on top of your own growth and push yourself out of your comfort zone both as a leader and as a company, you better watch out for who’s going to come do it to you.

On leading the brand transformation at Gatorade

It was the most grueling work assignment of my career. It’s a 5 billion dollar business that right after the recession started declining. When you’re up against that, you have a couple of choices. You can either try to be on defense and hope things get better, or you can play a very aggressive transformation game, which is what we chose to do. You have to be bold and swing hard if you’re going to drive the kind of change that leads to a turnaround.

On her new book, Extreme You: Step Up. Stand Out. Kick Ass. Repeat.

The repeat part is actually the most important part. One of the coolest things we learned is that you think when these extraordinary people get to the top of their game that they have achieved it; they’re done. But the repeat part is that no, they start over. They challenge themselves again. Success is a journey not a destination.

On climbing mountains (no, not literally)

I open the book with the quote: “It’s not the mountain we conquer; but ourselves.” I’m a proud Kiwi and the quote came from Sir Edmund Hillary who is a New Zealander and the first man in the world to summit Mount Everest. I found myself loving these mountain climbing analogies throughout the book. I learned as I was going along that that’s the book I was writing. It was about how do you get to the summit of your own future? It’s actually about learning to develop yourself and really understand who you are at your finest.

On reaching the peak and discovering there’s more to climb

We call it the extremist cycle. Once you get to the top of the mountain, you generally have the vantage point that there’s a bigger mountain range behind it that you couldn’t see before.  So you have to start over.

On risk taking

My coach has this saying: Don’t worry so much about did you make the right decision? Worry more about making the decisions right. It’s such a great way of thinking about risk. We can all talk ourselves out of taking risks, but if you just go for it and put all of your energy not into worrying but making that decision work for you, you’ll be fine.

On failure being essential to growth

One of the reasons I wrote the book was I felt that when I look at the younger generation coming into the workforce, it just really bothered me that 1) there is this culture of perfection everywhere and this expectation that people had to have perfect resumes and 2) couple that with social media- we all have these perfect pictures on our Instagram and everything looks amazing. It gives a younger person the belief that everyone is crushing it, why am I not? Even if you Googled me a few years ago, all it said was these great accolades of achievement. It didn’t mention that I got fired twice, and I screwed up so many things along the way. I felt it was so important to change that narrative and have everyone understand that failure is such a necessary part of growth. It’s not something to be stigmatized or to be scared of.

On what it means to be a game changer

It’s someone who deeply understands their own strengths and then figures out how to play the game to their own strengths on their own terms. Play your own game. When you look at the world through the lens of what your greatest strengths are, that is often where new thinking, new innovation, new ideas come from. That’s ultimately what a game changer is.

M olly Fletcher helps inspire and equip game changers to dream, live and grow fearlessly. A  keynote speaker  and  author , Molly draws on her decades of experiences working with elite athletes and coaches as a sports agent, and applies them to the business world. Her new book,  Fearless At Work , is now available. Sign up  here  to receive our monthly newsletter.

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Stuck on Autopilot? Here are 4 Leadership Tips to Get You Out of a Rut

When a leader goes on autopilot, the lack of energy can affect the entire team—and the bottom line. It’s so important to watch for warning signs so that you remain present and sharp for your next leadership challenge.

Here are my 4 best tips for leaders who are stuck on autopilot.

1. Be present. Recently while on the road, I worked out with an old friend who I have known for years. As we paused in our workout, I checked my phone out of habit and responded to texts and emails. My friend called me on it. “Part of the reason for doing the workout is for the experience of working out,” he said. And it was true. Yes, I was working out for the health benefits, but my workout routine on the road is also how I re-energize and refocus before a keynote. A good workout is one where I am all in and fully engaged. A leader stays present and avoids the temptation to get pulled multiple directions by unnecessary distractions.

2. Build in white space. Schedule time for reflection. Instead of back-to-back appointments, set time for reflection and a redirection after calls and meetings. Build in, for example, just five to ten minutes after calls or meetings. You can use those minutes to ensure you capture the follow up items or maybe you want to shoot a team member a quick thank you. This will help you make the small tasks as relevant as possible to the larger vision, and help center you in the present moment.

3. Practice affirming rituals. My morning routine is identifying two or three things that will make today a success. This keeps me from immediately diving into my to-do list, and instead helps me enter each day with a sense of the big picture. Affirming rituals help you avoid the small stuff that doesn’t matter.

4. Challenge yourself. Set a goal of doing something that is exciting, motivating, and maybe a little bit scary. Get inspired by our contest winners who completed the 100 Days of Fearlessness. “Say yes to more!” one of them said. “You never know what it will prepare you for later.” Fearlessness is a fast pathway out of any rut!

Your Game Changer Takeaway

Beware of ruts! Stay out of them by practicing these four tips. Or better yet, develop your own and share it with us! How do you as a leader stay present and sharp for your team—and yourself? By focusing on the present, you will develop better relationships that are so important to leadership success.

M olly Fletcher helps inspire and equip game changers to dream, live and grow fearlessly. A  keynote speaker  and  author , Molly draws on her decades of experiences working with elite athletes and coaches as a sports agent, and applies them to the business world. Her new book,  Fearless At Work , is now available for order. Sign up  here  to receive our monthly newsletter.

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A Letter To My Daughters— And Every Teenage Girl

Dear Emma, Meg and Kate,

Mother’s Day has just passed, and boy are these years flying by. In a few more blinks, you’ll be off to college and establishing yourself as independent women. I want to make the most of our precious time under one roof and help you be the best each of you can possibly be. Here are 7 things to remember that will help you always keep growing.

1. Your first time doing anything will feel weird. First boyfriend, first kiss, first breakup, first time living away from home, first job. Get used to breaking out of your comfort zone. It’s a chance to learn: What worked? What didn’t? Learn as you bloom, and you’ll be primed to grab opportunities that otherwise would seem out of reach.

Keep growing.

2. Ask for help. You know how I’m always talking about curiosity. Keep asking lots of questions, because mentors are everywhere. When they answer, listen and remember. You will learn things in the most unexpected moments, and your education will continue to open new doors for you.

Keep growing.

3. Saying no is saying yes to what you want most There is more than a moral value to saying no to drinking, drugs or premarital sex, for instance. The discipline of saying no to these detours means that you’ve claimed the path that you set for yourself.  You are owning your journey.  You demonstrate that you’re focused on your goals, and you inspire others to find theirs.

Keep growing.

4. Increase your failure tolerance. As you grow you will fail, so make the most of these setbacks. Lean into fearful moments to build the muscle of fearlessness stronger every day. When you feel the fear bubble up, remain in charge of going forward. This muscle will build the more you use it, and each time it won’t be quite as hard.

Keep growing.

5. Practice gratitude daily. You will experience amazing perspective and energy this way. When you focus on being thankful for everything, you can live as my friend Isaac Lidsky says – eyes wide open. Gratitude will spark your initiative, humor, and grace.

Keep growing.

6. Be nice. Not just to people you like, but to everyone, including yourself. “What comes around, goes around” is an old cliché, but trust me, it’s true.  Keep the focus on what you can do for others, because giving helps you grow even more than they gain.

Keep growing.

7. I’m here for you. I will always help you with emotional recycling! Go ahead and dump your confusion and disappointments here, because together we can turn those into something beautiful and lasting.

My letters (and weekly blog) end with a takeaway for game changers who want to dream, live and grow fearlessly. You’re becoming one, so watch out world! Can you hear me cheering as you spread your wings?

Keep growing, angels!

I love you,

Mom

M olly Fletcher helps inspire and equip game changers to dream, live and grow fearlessly. A  keynote speaker  and  author , Molly draws on her decades of experiences working with elite athletes and coaches as a sports agent, and applies them to the business world. Her new book,  Fearless At Work , is now available. Sign up  here  to receive our monthly newsletter.

The post A Letter To My Daughters— And Every Teenage Girl appeared first on Molly Fletcher.

Powered by Purpose at Leadercast 2017

Last week, I spoke at Leadercast— —the world’s largest one-day leadership event–  where the theme of the day was “Powered by Purpose.” Those three words were affirming and challenging at the same time. We talk about purpose a lot, but what does it really mean, and how can we find it through our work?

“Purpose is a path to meaning,” shared Andy Stanley. And meaning is what we all seek. We want to know that what we do matters. When we are guided by purpose, our lives and our work become more fulfilling. What we do becomes more fulfilling when we know why we do it.

What really matters, reiterated author Daniel Pink, is feeling as if you’re doing something each day that truly matters.

Purpose is about others.

When I spent time getting clear on my own purpose with renowned psychologist Jim Loehr at the Human Performance Institute, he shared with me that 99% of people’s mission statements have to do with others. Andy Stanley echoed that with this simple statement: “There’s got to be more to this life than just ‘me.’”

Our interactions with others in many ways determine how we assess our lives. When each of us devotes ourselves to more than ourselves, we ultimately have more than ourselves to show for ourselves. As Andy put it, we launch our purpose when we stop asking, “What am I here for?” and begin asking “Who am I here for?”

By serving others, you are filling your cup. Without human connection, our purpose exists in a vacuum. I recently had a conversation with Michigan State basketball coach Tom Izzo that will be appearing on my podcast soon. In it, he reflected on his purpose. “I got a chance to live my dream,” Tom said. “My mission now in life is to help others live their dreams.” Tom’s strong sense of purpose energizes him through the exhausting grind of NCAA Division I college coaching. Winning games and building on his Hall of Fame legacy isn’t what keeps Tom going. It’s helping those 18-year old kids live out their dreams.

Purpose is an anchor.

Superstar film maker Tyler Perry also took the stage at Leadercast and shared how purpose guides our decision-making. “As a leader, if you have no purpose, you’re an expensive yacht without a rudder,” he said. Purpose anchors us on a path to fulfillment. I believe what we all really want for our lives is fulfillment not just achievement.  Can we have both? Yes, but achievement without fulfillment equals emptiness.

Jess Ekstrom’s leadership story is a great example. She founded her company, Headbands of Hope, in college, and ramped up with national publicity, sales goals and social media targets.

“For a while I was chasing a lot of achievements,” she said. “But a mom sent in a letter that her daughter was finishing chemotherapy and didn’t want to go to kindergarten because her hair hadn’t grown back and she thought everyone would think she was a boy. She got her headband in the hospital, and came home and laid out her whole outfit because she was so excited to go, and that confidence came back to her. That’s when I realized, that’s my success. Everything we’ve done lines up to that moment of purpose, and answers why we started.”

Your Game Changer Takeaway

What I’ve found is that everyone’s individual purpose is as unique as our fingerprint, but they all have two things in common. 1) Purpose is about others and 2) Purpose is your anchor. True purpose is integrated with the impact we make beyond ourselves.

Molly Fletcher helps inspire and equip game changers to dream, live and grow fearlessly. A keynote speaker and author, Molly draws on her decades of experiences working with elite athletes and coaches as a sports agent, and applies them to the business world. Her new book, Fearless At Work, is now available for order. Sign up here to receive our monthly newsletter.

The post Powered by Purpose at Leadercast 2017 appeared first on Molly Fletcher.