Parker Houston

Mudita: The Antidote To Envy

by Parker Houston | May 19, 2022 | The Practices of Personal Leadership

“It is in the character of very few, to honor without envy, a friend who has prospered.” –Aeschylus There is a famous story about the Buddha which teaches an essential life...

Feel the Fear, Then Do It Anyway

by Parker Houston | May 12, 2022 | The Science of Mindset

“Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t—you’re right.” –Henry Ford In 1987 psychologist Susan Jeffers wrote her bestselling book Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway,...

The Trial is My Teacher

by Parker Houston | May 5, 2022 | The Practices of Personal Leadership

“Accept whatever comes to you, woven in the pattern of your destiny, for what could more aptly fit your needs?” –Marcus Aurelius Theodore Roosevelt was born with crippling...

All Great Thinking Begins With a Growth Mindset

by Parker Houston | Apr 28, 2022 | The Practices of Personal Leadership, The Science of Mindset

“Failure is the opportunity to begin again, only this time more wisely.” –Henry Ford Regarding core principles of personal leadership, few things are more important than...

Resist Nothing

by Parker Houston | Apr 21, 2022 | The Practices of Personal Leadership

Until he was 29 years old, Eckhart lived in a near-permanent state of severe anxiety and suicidal depression. He was quite miserable in his life, living in a constant state...

Could Taking More Vacation Days Help You Get a Raise?

by Parker Houston | Apr 14, 2022 | Optimal Performance Series

“Almost everything will work again if you unplug it…including you.” –Anne Lamott According to Greg Mckeown, bestselling author and winner of the Young Global Leader Award...

Fly or Die? The Counterintuitive Truth About Power

by Parker Houston | Apr 7, 2022 | The Practices of Personal Leadership

Herds of buffalo are extremely loyal followers of one leader. They do what the leader does, they go where the leader goes. If the leader isn’t there, they stand around not...

Are You Immune To Changing?

by Parker Houston | Mar 31, 2022 | How People Change

Today’s Big Idea: We all have a kind of emotional immune system that may be hidden from our awareness and preventing us from making changes we want to make in our lives....

Stop Giving Advice and Pushing Your Agenda, Do This Instead (Motivational Interviewing)

by Parker Houston | Mar 24, 2022 | How People Change

Today’s Big Idea: Advice rarely works. In leadership, you need communication strategies that increase your odds that people will listen to what you have to say. This post...

Un(hi)jack Yourself—Eliminate Chronic Busyness To Improve Your Health, Your Relationships, and Your Thinking

by Parker Houston | Mar 17, 2022 | Mind and Body, Optimal Performance Series

“Who can make muddy waters clear? Let it be only still, and it will gradually clear itself.” –Lao Tzu, The Tao Te Ching Lao Tzu penned these words more than 2500 years ago,...

Embrace Experimentation and Fail Forward

by Parker Houston | Mar 10, 2022 | How People Change

“Would you like me to give you a formula for success? It’s quite simple, really. Double your rate of failure.” -Thomas Watson, CEO IBM Today I want to...

The Parable of the Lost Son—Wisdom for Every Parent

by Parker Houston | Mar 3, 2022 | The Pillars of Family Leadership

I recently stumbled across a beautiful song At the Table (YouTube link) by artist Josh Garrels, based on the parable of the lost son (also called the prodigal son). The song...

Get Off Autopilot!

by Parker Houston | Feb 24, 2022 | How People Change

.Today’s Big Idea—As a leader, it is essential to understand how to change your own habits, and how to help foster change in others. Science clearly reveals that some ways...

5 Essential Leadership Principles for Parenting

by Parker Houston | Feb 17, 2022 | The Pillars of Family Leadership

Today’s BIG IDEA— “Your greatest contribution to the world as a leader may not be something you do, it might be someone you raise.” –Andy Stanley When my first daughter was...

Enantiodromia: When Extremes Become Their Opposite

by Parker Houston | Feb 10, 2022 | The Practices of Personal Leadership

“Old Heraclitus, who was indeed a very great sage, discovered the most marvelous of all psychological laws: the regulative function of opposites. He called it...

Relationships Shape Your Life

by Parker Houston | Feb 3, 2022 | How People Change

Every so often, you hear a quote that changes your whole life perspective. This one did that for me a couple years ago: Today’s Big Idea: “You are the average of the top 5...

We Are What We Repeatedly Do

by Parker Houston | Jan 27, 2022 | How People Change

Today’s Big Idea—To a great extent, your life is the sum total of your habits. 99% of the time, people don’t change overnight. Change is almost always cumulative, it occurs...

The Superpower of Effective Delegation

by Parker Houston | Jan 20, 2022 | 10x Your Productivity

The Big Idea: Delegation is a superpower that helps great leaders get more done faster. Few leaders do it effectively. Today’s article will provide some best practices to...

Why Leaders Need to Understand The Science of Happiness

by Parker Houston | Jan 13, 2022 | The Science of Happiness

The Big Idea—Authentic happiness is an extremely important thing to understand—for people, for leadership—and for life. When I say happiness, I am also talking about...

This Job Is Killing Me! (Literally)

by Parker Houston | Jan 6, 2022 | The Practices of Personal Leadership

The Big Idea—A new global study published on May 17th, 2021 by the World Health Organization and the International Labor Organization says that working more than 55 hours...

Year Behind, Year Ahead

by Parker Houston | Dec 30, 2021 | Self Leadership

Today’s Big Idea—“Some people live 80 years, most people live one year 80 times.” –Zig Ziglar For the last several years, I have established a few practices that help me...

Direction is More Important Than Speed

by Parker Houston | Dec 23, 2021 | 10x Your Productivity

One morning in 1972 Yogi Berra awakened his wife and three sons and piled them into the car to drive to his Hall of Fame ceremony. They were in a bit of a hurry, and it soon...

In the Modern Era of Distraction Addiction, You Need This Skill

by Parker Houston | Dec 16, 2021 | Optimal Performance Series

“Without great solitude, no serious work is possible.” –Pablo Picasso We are only just beginning to see the long-term effects of our hyper-connected internet and smartphone...

Live Your Life That the Fear of Death Can Never Enter Your Heart

by Parker Houston | Dec 9, 2021 | The Practices of Personal Leadership

Live your life that the fear of death can never enter your heart. Trouble no one about their religion. Respect others in their view, and demand that they respect yours. Love...

The Legend of John the Dwarf

by Parker Houston | Dec 2, 2021 | The Practices of Personal Leadership

A mentor of mine shared this story with me several years ago. John the Dwarf—also known as Saint John Kolobos—was a Coptic desert father born in the year 339 in the town of...