by Parker Houston | Jun 25, 2020 | Optimal Performance Series
Photo by Eric Graham “Practice doesn’t make perfect, it makes permanent.” –Author Unknown Doing something for a longer period of time doesn’t necessarily make you any better at it. In fact, it often just makes your bad habits stronger. If you really want to improve at...
by Parker Houston | Jun 18, 2020 | Leading During COVID19, The Science of Happiness
“Our greatest fear in life should not be of failure, but of succeeding in life at things that don’t really matter.” –Francis Chan The Big Idea: In the midst of COVID19, many of our normal avenues to happiness have been cut off. This has created an unexpected...
by Parker Houston | Jun 11, 2020 | Leading During COVID19, Self Leadership
“It’s hard to beat a person who never gives up.” –Babe Ruth Today we will be talking about one of the most important character traits you can ever develop for life. You need it, your kids need it, and you cannot be a great leader without it. And we...
by Parker Houston | Jun 4, 2020 | Leading During COVID19, The Science of Happiness
“Regrets are illuminations come too late.” –Joseph Campbell According to habit experts, the best time to make changes in your life is when your normal routine is completely disrupted. If ever there was a time that our routines were completely obliterated—the effects...
by Parker Houston | May 28, 2020 | Leading During COVID19
If you have haven’t heard this story, it’s nearly unbelievable. How could a poor immigrant boy from Torrance, California make it all the way to the Olympics, shake Hitler’s hand, and then go on to survive multiple plane crashes, being lost at sea for months, and more...
by Parker Houston | May 21, 2020 | Leading During COVID19
In an effort to get a little more time back in my life, I will be updating a few of my most popular posts that are highly relevant to leadership during this season of COVID19. I don’t know about you, but during the pandemic and resulting Great Lockdown, our natural...
by Parker Houston | May 14, 2020 | Leading During COVID19
In this series on leading during COVID19, we are looking at epic stories of personal triumph and survival. If you haven’t heard his story, it will blow your mind. The Big Idea—The story of Eduardo Garcia is an incredible look at personal leadership through extreme...
by Parker Houston | May 7, 2020 | Leading During COVID19
Thank you to my good friend and colleague, Dr. Tracy Weyer, for inspiring this week’s post. According to the US Environmental Protection Agency in 2020, Americans spend about 90% of their lives indoors. After the shelter-in-place orders were instituted, we began to...
by Parker Houston | Apr 30, 2020 | Leading During COVID19
If you have never heard of Jose Alvarenga, you will want to hear his incredible story of survival at sea. I first heard this story last year while reading 438 Days—by Jonathan Franklin. The Big Idea—While many of us are still directed to stay at home, we can draw...
by Parker Houston | Apr 23, 2020 | Leading During COVID19
The Big Idea—After more than a month of shelter-in-place, and no clear date when life will return to something that resembles normal, we need inspiration from leaders who have gone before us, and demonstrated incredible endurance through crisis. I love adventure—and I...
by Parker Houston | Apr 16, 2020 | Leading During COVID19
COVID19 has thrust most organizations—and their team members—into a remote work environment almost overnight. A few weeks ago, I shared strategies for leading effective remote teams, but today’s post will focus on personal productivity habits for working at home. The...
by Parker Houston | Apr 9, 2020 | Leading During COVID19
Most of you have probably heard of PTSD or Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, but you may not have heard of Post-Traumatic Growth. Many people who experience a traumatic event will end up with mental health symptoms like anxiety and depression that can be disabling....
by Parker Houston | Apr 2, 2020 | Leading During COVID19
The global pandemic has thrust many workplaces and industries into remote work situations overnight—leaving people scrambling to figure out how to operate. The Big Idea—Many companies and experts have already been working remotely for years or even decades. Don’t try...
by Parker Houston | Mar 26, 2020 | Leading During COVID19
It’s hard to imagine a more difficult leadership assignment in the history of the world than what Winston Churchill faced. There is a reason his most iconic portrait by Yousef Karsh was dubbed—The Roaring Lion—due to his penetrating scowl and fierce resolve. During...
by Parker Houston | Mar 22, 2020 | Leading During COVID19
In light of recent global events, this new series will be dedicated to science-based leadership strategies for leading through the impacts of the coronavirus. This series will give you tools to improve your leadership mindset, organizational communication, self-care...
by Parker Houston | Mar 12, 2020 | Optimal Performance Series
A few years ago, my friend Doug asked me a deceptively simple question—What good is your time if you bring no energy to it? At the time, I had become a time management fanatic, trying to make every moment productive. His question stunned me—and it also made sense...
by Parker Houston | Mar 5, 2020 | Optimal Performance Series
“If you don’t have time, you don’t have priorities.” –Tim Ferriss Many high achievers put in well over 40 hours per week in an effort to get more results. But performance psychologists and their studies show that this approach is often counterproductive. The Big...
by Parker Houston | Feb 27, 2020 | Optimal Performance Series
“When I wake up, I am reborn.” –Mahatma Gandhi Gandhi said this about 100 years before the brain research could validate his claim but the science is clear—good sleep habits are rocket fuel for elite performance. The Big Idea—Sleeping enough has been scientifically...
by Parker Houston | Feb 20, 2020 | Optimal Performance Series
“A field that has rested produces a bountiful crop.” –Ovid Last week we reviewed the data that showed how regular vacations are essential to keep you functioning optimally at work and home. But even when busy leaders take enough vacation, they often cram way too many...
by Parker Houston | Feb 13, 2020 | 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 2012, many driven leaders fall into a predictable pattern of workplace success: Work hard Get...
by Parker Houston | Feb 6, 2020 | Optimal Performance Series
“Without great solitude, no serious work is possible.” –Pablo Picasso In this new series, we will be exploring the science of optimal performance. We are only just beginning to see the long-term effects of our hyper-connected internet and smartphone era. Research from...
by Parker Houston | Jan 30, 2020 | How People Change
*This post contains elements of prior posts, but is a new post! The Big Idea— Most people try to make changes in their lives by using willpower while ignoring the environments they place themselves in. But research plainly shows that willpower is like a muscle that...
by Parker Houston | Jan 23, 2020 | How People Change
We are in a series about how people change. In working with my own coach, today’s topic has helped me personally more than almost any other mechanism—exposing the inner saboteur. Furthermore, the people I have coached in the past few years have universally identified...
by Parker Houston | Jan 16, 2020 | 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 share some ideas from research about experimentation and failure that have dramatically impacted...
by Parker Houston | Jan 9, 2020 | How People Change
As a leader, you need to understand how people change for 2 primary reasons: First—You must continue to grow yourself in order to lead. If others outpace you in growth, you won’t be the leader for long. You cannot separate growth and leadership. Second—You need to...
