Last month my wife lost one of her closest friends. They met in fourth grade and had been friends for more than 30 years. Casey Lynn Wakefield lost her battle with cancer at...
Persistence and Acceptance
by Parker Houston | Nov 9, 2023 | Personal Leadership, The Science of Mindset
I have always considered myself to be a very persistent person. It was something my dad instilled in me early on. For most of my life, I’ve been proud of my persistent and...
Lead YOU First
by Parker Houston | Oct 26, 2023 | Personal Leadership
My friend Trey asks great questions. Shortly after starting my blog, he asked, “So why did you call it lead you first?” That inquiry inspired this post. What does it mean to...
Be More Partner, Less Boss
by Parker Houston | Oct 19, 2023 | Boost Your Organizational Health, Personal Leadership, Top Teams Made Simple
The Big Idea: A recent survey suggests that you can give your employees a happiness boost equivalent to doubling their household income. How? By behaving more like a partner...
Your Habits–Over Time–Will Make or Break You
by Parker Houston | Oct 12, 2023 | Personal Leadership
“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit.” –Aristotle It would be impossible to talk about personal leadership without talking about...
Mudita: The Antidote To Envy
by Parker Houston | Aug 31, 2023 | 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...
Your Brain is Fooling You Every Day, Without Your Awareness—Here is What to Do About it
by Parker Houston | Aug 24, 2023 | Personal Leadership, The Science of Mindset
The Big Idea: The phenomenon of Cognitive Bias has been studied for more than 50 years. Despite decades of research, most leaders are not aware of how these errors in...
Fly or Die? The Counterintuitive Truth About Power
by Parker Houston | Aug 3, 2023 | 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...
Enantiodromia: When Extremes Become Their Opposite
by Parker Houston | Jul 27, 2023 | 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...
Successful Failures
by Parker Houston | Jun 29, 2023 | Personal Leadership, The Science of Mindset
“Would you like me to give you a formula for success? It’s quite simple, double your rate of failure.” –Thomas Watson (CEO of IBM) I don’t know about you, but I personally...
Solve Your Problems By Subtraction
by Parker Houston | May 4, 2023 | Personal Leadership, Self Leadership
The Big Idea: According to research, the human brain tries to solve most of life’s problems through adding solutions, instead of removing things that might easily fix the...
Confront Your Weaknesses: A Sobering Tale and Ideas For Action
by Parker Houston | Apr 6, 2023 | Personal Leadership
Years ago, I heard John Maxwell says something I’ve never forgotten. To paraphrase—A great leadership legacy can take decades to build, but can be lost in an instant. An...
Do You Need to Amputate to Get Unstuck?
by Parker Houston | Mar 23, 2023 | Personal Leadership
*Aaron Ralston pictured above during his fateful hike in Utah “Sometimes letting things go is an act of far greater power than hanging on.” –Eckhart Tolle Aron Lee Ralston...
How Do You Define Success?
by Parker Houston | Feb 9, 2023 | Personal Leadership, The Science of Happiness
What is your definition of a “successful” life? It’s a question worth thinking about—and continually trying to answer. We are constantly bombarded with false—and...
You Become Like Those You Spend Time With
by Parker Houston | Jan 26, 2023 | Personal Leadership
*This post has been updated for the practices of personal leadership series. Several years ago, while biking with my close friend, he casually mentioned the following quote...
Money is an Essential Personal Leadership Skill
by Parker Houston | Jan 19, 2023 | Family Leadership, Personal Leadership
“You either learn to manage money, or the lack of that skill will manage you for the rest of your life.” –Dave Ramsey With the current housing market, inflation, and...
Mentors Help You Climb Higher and Go Faster
by Parker Houston | Dec 8, 2022 | Optimal Performance, Personal Leadership
“The first law of leadership is that people do what people see.” –John Maxwell The older I get, the more I realize how simple human behavior can be. To a huge extent—people...
When Helping Hurts
by Parker Houston | Jun 9, 2022 | Family Leadership, Personal Leadership
“Give a person a fish and they eat for a day. Teach a person to fish and they eat for a lifetime.” –Lao Tzu A few months ago, I was getting my three-year-old daughter ready...
The Trial is My Teacher
by Parker Houston | May 5, 2022 | 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 | 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...
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...
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