Blog - Carpenter Smith Consulting, LLC

Stop Worrying and Start Problem Solving

August 17, 2015

“Anticipating problems and figuring out how to solve them is actually the opposite of worrying: it’s productive.” — Chris Hadfield, An Astronaut’s Guide to Life on Earth We love this quote and the distinction it makes between problem solving and worrying, and they are very different. Worrying is defined at Dictionary.com as: “to torment oneself with or suffer from disturbing thoughts; to fret.” We have all been there, feeling truly tormented by disturbing thoughts about our life, our…

If You Lose Yourself, You’ll Never Find Your Way

August 10, 2015

Monday Morning Business Coach

We were in a meeting recently with a client who was describing how she had lost herself. In an effort to please her boss and succeed with her team, she had started to do what she believed they valued, would make her likable, and would move her forward. She was totally out of touch with what she thought about her department, what she believed needed to happen to succeed, how she would be most effective, and what she needed from…

4 Steps to a Career You Love

August 3, 2015

Career Tips, Monday Morning Business Coach

In our experience, curiosity is one of the best ways to “tune into” yourself, your energy, your dreams, and your gifts. When you are curious about yourself and your world: You are able to get more real information and data that helps you make informed decisions about your future. You open to exploring areas that you haven’t thought of, but may find intriguing. You take in information with an open mind without making assumptions or pre-judgments on why something is…

Do You Have an ARF?

July 27, 2015

Monday Morning Business Coach

We had one of the funniest conversations we have ever had this week. We were in a meeting with a talented and powerful leader, Sharon, talking about moving forward on some challenging initiatives. In that discussion, we talked about the fact that during challenging times it’s important to stay connected with your colleagues so that things are not misinterpreted, especially since things are moving fast. In the middle of the conversation Sharon said, “Oh yeah, I really have to do…

Something’s Gotta Give!

July 20, 2015

Monday Morning Business Coach

Have you ever had the feeling that you cannot do one more thing, think one more thought, or respond to one more request?

People Are Different

July 13, 2015

Monday Morning Business Coach

We recently had an interaction with a client that was an important (and shocking) reminder of how different we are from one another. One of the things that we know is that humans have a tendency to believe that others are just like us; they want what we want, feel what we feel, and see what we see. This is often most obvious in a primary relationship. Most of us show people we love that we love them in the…

There Are Always Possibilities

July 6, 2015

Monday Morning Business Coach

In the past few weeks, we have had several conversations with both clients and with friends who were feeling down because something that they had hoped would go one way had gone quite a different way, and now they were “stuck.” To support them on their journey, we shared with them one of the pillars of leadership (from our Leader in You framework): A leader sees the possibilities inherent in obstacles and challenges The key word here is inherent. It…

Manage Vacation Stress

June 29, 2015

Monday Morning Business Coach

We are always reminding our clients that stepping into your power and claiming the leader in you requires taking good care of yourself—psychologically, emotionally, intellectually, relationally, and physically. As we enter into the prime vacation months, we encourage you to think about how you can make the most of your vacation. Over the years, many of our clients have described going on vacation only to feel they needed to come back and get a vacation from their vacation. They describe…

Leading When You Want to Scream

June 22, 2015

Monday Morning Business Coach

We had a meeting this week with a wonderful woman, Janis, who is a leader in a number of spheres in her life—in her business, her family, her community, and her church. She is warm, kind, and powerful. She is often looked to for her wisdom and perspective and has a thoughtfulness that many admire. So, when she came into our meeting furious and saying she wanted to scream, she was apologetic. We assured her that she was in the…

Inspire Others to Dream More

June 15, 2015

Monday Morning Business Coach

“If your actions inspire others to dream more,learn more, do more and become more,you are a leader.” — John Quincy Adams We recently had a conversation with some young adults who we know through our young adult children. They are amazing young people with great passion and integrity. In our conversation, several of them talked about their belief that leadership is a role and that the people who pursue that role are power-hungry and self-absorbed. Since we had just…