Emily Downward

Author: emilydownward

  • Getting What You Want

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    What do you want? What do you really want? It’s a standard question coaches pose to clients, one that I pose to new clients, and one that I have pondered myself. What do I really want? During times of great stress, sometimes all I could muster as an answer is for the stress or cause…

  • The Splinter You Can’t Ignore

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    Have you ever noticed that once you notice something, you can’t “un-notice” it? It’s like when you notice a splinter in your finger but don’t have the means to get it out. You may try to put it out of your mind, but you can’t stop picking at it. You know it’s THERE and you…

  • Staying In-the-Moment

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    I was on vacation last week, watching the beautiful ocean and feeling amazingly grateful to get to swim with the fish, but I missed quite a bit of the Olympics. I effectively unplugged, though, so I was able to shield myself from much of the results. I’ve enjoyed catching up on all my recordings and…

  • Going Solo

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    I’ve been in business as a “solopreneur” for a year now. I’m partially amazed and stunned by this — I’ve never done anything like this before, never owned my own business and wasn’t always sure how I would do it all, and a year has gone by very quickly — and partially very proud of…

  • Work Success Secret #3: Shift Your Focus

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    This is the third in a series of posts designed to provide you with tips to be more successful at work, despite the increasing demands that are occurring across industries and across job titles. In the first post, I talked about creating, setting and communicating boundaries (Set Your Hard Limits). I covered how I learned…

  • Work Success Secret #2: Nourish Your Creativity

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    Have you been feeling increased pressure at work? One of the effects of the economic downturn has been for companies to create leaner teams, so if it feels like there are less people to do the same or more work, you’re not alone. In addition, we have amazing technology which allows us to be connected…

  • Work Success Secret #1: Set Your Hard Limits

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    I’ve been talking to a lot of people lately about the increasing demands at work. It’s happening across industries: more work for fewer people, and increasing levels of stress across the board. People are feeling exhausted, overwhelmed and overworked. I think companies are going to have to make a change in the way business is…

  • Quitting vs. Knowing When to Call it Quits

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    In my family, we enjoyed playing different board games. I started playing Scrabble as a young girl against my dad and my great aunt, both fierce competitors with [to me] astronomical vocabularies. I didn’t win a game against either of them until my aunt was in her late 80’s. I think I may have bested…

  • It’s the Journey

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    Our culture is very goal-oriented. It’s difficult to avoid this mindset, and although I remind myself to enjoy the journey, remind myself it’s not about the destination, I still fall into the usual, accepted way of measuring myself by my accomplishments. This past weekend, I was participating in my 7th sprint triathlon. Last year was…

  • Ebb and Flow

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    “Because things are the way they are, things will not stay the way they are.” ~ Bertolt Brecht, German poet Last week, I took a day off work to join my sister and a handful of kids to celebrate my nephew’s birthday at Schlitterbahn, an award-winning water park in New Braunfels, Texas. I hadn’t been…