Parker Houston

Could Taking More Vacation Days Help You Get a Raise?

by Parker Houston | Apr 14, 2022 | Optimal Performance

“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...

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...

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...

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...

Direction is More Important Than Speed

by Parker Houston | Dec 23, 2021 | Productivity Best Practices

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

“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...

Happy at Work—10 Tips For Finding a Job You Love

by Parker Houston | Oct 21, 2021 | Self Leadership, The Science of Happiness

For most people, work has a huge impact on overall life happiness. Furthermore, staying in a job you hate can have devastating consequences for your health, your emotional...

9 Money Habits That Influence Happiness

by Parker Houston | Sep 23, 2021 | The Science of Happiness

We’ve all heard the expression—“Money can’t buy happiness.” That may not be completely true. Psychological science suggests that how we spend can have a big impact on...

Walking 4 Hours On A Broken Ankle In The Snow

by Parker Houston | Sep 16, 2021 | Leading During COVID19

“Let us step into the night and pursue that flighty temptress, adventure.”― J.K. Rowling I slept restlessly all night, tossing and turning with excitement and anticipation...

To Supercharge Your Productivity, Make Sure To Be Unproductive

by Parker Houston | Jul 8, 2021 | Productivity Best Practices

If you think you read that title wrong—you didn’t. The BIG IDEA—In order to be wildly productive, you need designated periods of being wildly unproductive. At the beginning...

9 Elite Productivity Tips

by Parker Houston | Jul 1, 2021 | Productivity Best Practices

This post includes some incredible expert tips that did not fit neatly into the rest of the 10x Your Productivity series. When we started this series, we started with the...

Strong Teams Must Engage In Productive Conflict

by Parker Houston | May 13, 2021 | Top Teams Made Simple

“While profit may be the ultimate measure of any corporation, the goals and objectives the team unites to achieve, ultimately drives the success of the organization— which...

Great Leaders Paint a Compelling Picture of the Future

by Parker Houston | Apr 22, 2021 | Top Teams Made Simple

The photo in this post is one I took several years ago. For many years I arranged most of our travel plans based on top shark-diving locations around the world. When we...

Get the Right People on Your Bus

by Parker Houston | Apr 15, 2021 | Top Teams Made Simple

This series will give you simple strategies for killer teams. Today’s BIG IDEA—Research shows there is absolutely nothing more vital to building a high-performance team than...

Seven Practices for Leading Your Marriage

by Parker Houston | Apr 8, 2021 | Family Leadership, Personal Leadership

“It’s not lack of love, but lack of friendship that makes unhappy marriages.”—Nietzsche In western cultures, about 90% of people get married by age 50. And according to the...

Parenting Skills Need to Be Part of Your Leadership Toolkit

by Parker Houston | Apr 1, 2021 | Family Leadership, Personal Leadership

Photo by Daiga Ellaby on Unsplash Your greatest impact on the world may not be something you do, but someone you raise. In fact, leadership author and pastor of the largest...

Harness the Awesome Power of Morning Routines

by Parker Houston | Mar 4, 2021 | Personal Leadership, Productivity Best Practices

Morning routines are consistently cited by some of the world’s most successful people—elite entrepreneurs, Navy SEALs, Olympic athletes, bestselling authors, and US...

Become a Great Steward of Your Health

by Parker Houston | Feb 11, 2021 | Personal Leadership

“Take care of your body, it’s the only place you have to live.” –Jim Rohn One of the most important things you can do in leading yourself with excellence is being a great...

Great Leaders Know Their Strengths, and Place Others in Their Strength Zones

by Parker Houston | Jan 21, 2021 | Personal Leadership

You cannot have great personal leadership without knowing your personal strengths, and leveraging them for maximum impact at work, and at home. In this post, I will...

The 3P Foundation for Personal Leadership—Purpose, Priorities, and Plan

by Parker Houston | Jan 14, 2021 | Personal Leadership

“No one accidentally arrives at the top of Mount Everest.” –John Maxwell The sum total of your life is your Mount Everest ascent. It’s a long journey, it’s easy to get...

The Pillars of Personal Leadership

by Parker Houston | Jan 7, 2021 | Personal Leadership

I read my first leadership book in 2009 and quickly became obsessed with the subject. The Big Idea: As I read, I kept coming across a central theme from the authors and...

Looking Forward—6 Questions to Inspire Hope and Intention

by Parker Houston | Dec 30, 2020 | uncategorized

“Some people live 80 years; most people live one year 80 times.” –Zig Ziglar One of the great mentors of my life has been Bud Lamb—my former pastor and wise-guy. I’ve...

Experience is Not the Greatest Teacher—5 Questions to Reflect on 2020

by Parker Houston | Dec 23, 2020 | uncategorized

Greetings! I wanted to take this opportunity to wish you all a happy holiday season, and merry Christmas! May this season brings you good health, peace, joy, and time with...

Develop a Written Vision For Your Life

by Parker Houston | Dec 17, 2020 | How People Change, The Science of Mindset

Where there is no vision, the people perish. –Proverbs 29:18 I am updating this article on the Life Plan as the final post in the Mindset series. This post will include a...