Month: December 2025

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365 Coaching Tips: 349th, 350th & 351st

December 15th Coaching Tip: SWOT.

Over the last couple weeks, we asked our teammates on our team of 20 to provide input for a SWOT analysis. We were pleasantly surprised that we had 15 of the 20 who took the time to give us feedback on our team’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. As a coach, I really value this exercise because it’s simple (four questions) but highly effective in sharing the good, the bad, the ugly, and the future…potentially, if the team takes it seriously.

As we debriefed with our team today, we were pleased to have a number of our teammates share more insights into their comments. Because of that, we were able to identify some common threads which will help us function more consistently and with clarity in 2026.

Note: the SWOT analysis can be utilized for nearly everything in your life. What’s going well with your relationships, and what needs improvement. What’s going poorly with your finances, and what threat does that pose to your financial security. What’s stagnant with your health, nutrition or wellness journey. Leverage a SWOT to help you get you going with a plan and get to work.

December 16th Coaching Tip: Stop.

Stop to get a change that you need and also want. Yes, stop. In my coaching work today, I had a couple of my coaching clients who were “busy, exhausted, and unable to articulate their plan.” As we worked thru their current situations, they realized and came up with a plan to stop after the end of the year, inspect what they are doing, what they don’t want to be doing, and then make changes to get different results.

STOP when you are not getting the results you want. Stop, intentionally ask questions, look deep inside yourself, reflect on what is happening and also what’s not happening. Then, draft up what you want to have happen, commit to it, and go make it happen. But many times, we must STOP first.

December 17th Coaching Tip: Good Intent.

Christmas cards, stamps, address labels and lists of names are all set out on my dining room table. Although I haven’t even started on them (which takes completing thoughtful hand-written notes and then mailing them), my intent is good. I had numerous photos printed as I like to include memorable and fun photos of good times from the previous 12 months to further personalize my holiday greetings.

Hoping to get these done by yearend, but if not, early January will do. It’s the thought that counts, and the meaning that I put into them makes me feel good about spreading joy to my peeps. It’s all with good intent, even if a bit late.

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365 Coaching Tips: 346th, 347th & 348th

December 12th Coaching Tip: Getting an AI Certificate.

It’s one thing to say that you’re going to do something. It’s another thing to say that you are starting it and expect to be completed by a certain date. That’s me today: I’ve enrolled and now started my 8-module online course, learning about AI.

I’m embracing AI, because I believe it can help me perform and execute at work and in life at an even higher level. For example, I have a toolbox at home. It contains a few but key tools that I utilize frequently: scissors, a claw hammer, Phillips and standard screwdrivers, a level, small nails, tape measure, etc. I don’t have just ONE tool; I embrace a number of tools to get projects done around the house efficiently. So why would I do anything except say yes to the AI tool? More to come on obtaining this certificate, but I’m happy that I’m taking the time and prioritizing this effort to be completed by yearend 2025.

December 13th Coaching Tip: He Is Mendoza.

Indiana University’s record setting quarterback, Fernando Mendoza, won the Heisman Trophy which is awarded annually to college football’s most outstanding player. He is that guy; he is Mendoza; he is a leader; he is coachable; he is bi-lingual; he is beloved by his teammates and family; he executed in the clutch all season long; he was well prepared to deliver his Heisman acceptance speech; he has already signed with Adidas; he is supporting MS, which has stricken his mother; he is a game changer for IU; he has so many IU alumni around the globe thrilled for him, etc.

Belief in yourself and being resilient are crucial in life. Fernando bet on himself in high school, when he decided to transfer and go to another high school so that he could start on the high school football team that passed the ball more than his previous team. Although hardly recruited in high school, he was headed to YALE but switched to go play high level D1 college football at Cal-Berkley. And then for the 2025 season, he bet on himself and transferred to a Big Ten School in Bloomington, IN at Indiana University with a coaching staff that helped develop him in to becoming a Big Ten Champ, the Heisman award winner, and the leader of the first ever undefeated IU football team. He is Mendoza!

December 14th Coaching Tip: Stop Hate.

Two horrific situations this weekend took the lives of innocent people. Gun violence again struck down these poor souls. A mad man entered a Brown University study group and killed two (at least). He’s still on the run. And over 15 people were killed in Australia by two men (father and son) who must have been brewing of hate and completely radicalized, as they slaughtered people while they were simply enjoying time at Bondi Beach, celebrating the first day of Hanukkah. A hero tackled one of the gunmen, and the hero wrestled the gun away.

Please, if you have so much hate, please, get help. And put the gun down. Just put it down and stop all of this unnecessary hate. Everything about hate is unhealthy. Stop hate.

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365 Coaching Tips: 343rd, 344th & 345th

December 9th Coaching Tip: Let Them Talk It Out.

As I was in my office today, someone knocked on my door and needed to “talk.” Thank goodness I had a free slot in my calendar for about 45 minutes. Talk she did, and talk, and talk. All I did was listen for the entire time, and then at the end, I asked her: what are your options. She believed that she had two options and then settled on one of the options. Sometimes people just need someone to talk to; know when you need to just listen. Know when to not even ask questions. Know when not to provide advice. Just let them talk it out.

December 10th Coaching Tip: Don’t Blow It All.

For centuries, people have spent decades building their own personal brand, based upon the daily decisions that they make. It takes discipline to stay on the ‘straight and narrow’. It’s so easy to deviate and slip.

Today, a story was released in Michigan about the head football coach having an extra marital affair; both parties are at fault. Many know that. With the holidays approaching, I can’t imagine how this head coach’s wife and three kids feel about being betrayed.

This lack of discipline causes so much harm; those impacted are too many to mention. With your daily and weekly decisions, take 10-15 seconds and pause, think about your consequences, before you take a significant action. Don’t blow it all.

December 11th Coaching Tip: Empower Others.

Earlier this week I was asked to travel from FL to TX for a couple days of meetings in mid-January. The leader really wanted me to be there, however I was hesitant to commit, since I’m already traveling in three of the four weeks in January. What do I do here?

I reached out to my colleague in TX and asked him if he was going to already be in that area during mid-January. Good news, he was. Empowering him, I asked him if he would like to go to the team’s offsite (instead of me). He said yeah, for sure. Then he asked for time to get him up to speed on the work ahead. I will gladly help prep him, and he’ll deliver with excellence. Empower others!

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365 Coaching Tips: 340th, 341st & 342nd

December 6th Coaching Tip: Belief To Become Big Ten Champs.

Two years ago, the Indiana University football team had more losses in NCAA Division 1 football than any other program. Kinda the worst, right? Fast forward two years later, and IU football is the top ranked team in the country, the 1-seed in the College Football Playoffs, the only undefeated team remaining in all of Div. 1 college football, and the Big Ten Champions.

IU upset the Ohio State Buckeyes for the Big Ten Title. Although both teams were undefeated and Ohio State was a 4.5-point favorite, IU scored just enough points, 13, to beat OSU by 3, as they only scored 10 points. The defense on both sides was playing extremely hard; both field goal kickers missed short kicks that they had hit all season; but the quarterback for IU was just simply better. He was able to march the offense down the field with pinpoint passes when necessary.

This new IU coach, Curt Cignetti, has instilled “unshakeable belief” with this team and the entire IU organization. The leadership at IU is supportive, too. Belief. Having belief can bring you Big Ten Championship winning feelings, and it’s not a dream. It really happened.

December 7th Coaching Tip: Tell The Truth.

Received a phone call today from a friend who wanted to share a difficult situation that he got himself into and was responsible for. To his credit, he reached out to me to let me know. I listened, asked a few questions, but mostly let him talk. At the end of the call, I thanked him for entrusting me and telling me what was going on. Then, I shared a story with him about some bad times that hit my grandfather when he was a young father and in his 30’s. Then I gave him one piece of advice: write a letter or go visit them face to face and tell the truth.

Today’s tip is to write a letter to those whom you have impacted negatively. Apologize and offer to repay the remorse; ask for forgiveness. If you can, talk to them face to face. Let them know you care, that you’re human, and that you’re asking for forgiveness and empathy. Telling the truth goes a long way, in writing or face to face, or both. Tell the truth.

December 8th Coaching Tip: Rose Bowl Bound.

With the Indiana University football team winning the Big Ten Championship a couple evenings ago, we are now in full-planning mode to watch them as the #1 seed in the College Football Playoffs (CFP) play on New Year’s Day 2026.

Tickets to the game are driving up anxiety levels with some of my friends who are also going. Airlines are maximizing on this unique opportunity and charging hefty prices. Hotels are piling on, too. But it will be worth it. For me and my friends, this is about goals, wellness, and being purposeful. It’s a bucket list kind of trip to see my team play on New Year’s Day in the Rose Bowl game. I love roses, but I’m not going for the parade. I’m going to see IU win the Rose Bowl, so that we can then be on our way to the next game at the Peach Bowl (Atlanta, GA).

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365 Coaching Tips: 337th, 338th & 339th

December 3rd Coaching Tip: Salmon Go Upstream.

During one of my coaching sessions today, a team wanted to find capacity by reducing the number of smaller clients. Why? The team was becoming bored and getting stuck in doing service, and yet the team wanted to grow and handle more complex clients who truly needed financial advice in helping solve their more complicated, family wealth problems.

We took some time to go thru each and every client; the team color-coded them green, yellow, red, or salmon. Green was for their great clients, who were complex and enjoyable. Yellow was for potential for someone else to care for that client. Red was a definite; move those clients to be better served by another team. Salmon, on the other hand, was the color for clients who had more opportunity to be served more thoroughly by the team. For example, they had complexities in their business or financial life, they were about to sell their business and needed trusted advisors, they were setting up a family foundation, etc. The color of salmon was selected to reinforce to the team that the team should swim upstream with these clients; it’s hard work, but highly gratifying. We will check back in on their results in a few months. Their goal is to reduce their clients by 40%, so that they have more time to serve the complex needs of their preferred clients, those who are “green” and “salmon.” Be curious and have the courage to build the business that you want to run; be purposeful and resilient in saying yes…or no.

December 4th Coaching Tip: Quick Bursts Of Work.

I pulled into the garage this evening around 7:00pm after a full day of work, then dinner out before watching my first NCAA tournament volleyball match (IU beat Toledo). The super moon was providing some extra light that reflected off of the snow on the ground. Wanted to marvel at the moon for a bit. I choose NOT to go inside and sit down. Instead, I put on my boots and gloves, and walked the yard, picking up branches and sticks that had come down due to some recent blustery winds. Then I removed the decorative pumpkins and also put the metal firepit inside the shed for the winter. Checked the location of my security camera to ensure it’s working and it was. Yes, it’s cold outside, but I was able to leverage the light of the incredible full moon and got in a quick burst of work that I knew could be done before relaxing the rest of the evening.

December 5th Coaching Tip: Embrace AI to Stay Relevant.

The opportunity arose today to work with three of my colleagues on how we all are utilizing AI and Microsoft’s Copilot in our jobs. Over the past two to three weeks, I was able to collect multiple examples that were significant time savers, allowing the people/teams to be more efficient and more intellectual. One example was quite jaw dropping, i.e. heading to a huge meeting, the leader asked for one-page summaries on the 10 leaders/board of directors who would be sitting around the table. Copilot was prompted to give a one-page summary for each of the 10 leaders, giving a multitude of info that was helpful in the wealth management space when a client is selling a business. Normally, this would have taken a few hours, but it was completed by Copilot in a matter of minutes.

Since I was introduced to Copilot just over two months ago at work, my coaching work has been transformed. I’m able to quickly summarize my coaching notes, with more effective action plans. If I’m asked for advice or for some consulting, I ask Copilot for a response to help pull more intelligent info to me. Bottom line: embrace AI to help you in life and your work life. If you don’t embrace it, you may become somewhat irrelevant. The skill in the future is to be able to master your own skills and strengths, while leveraging AI to be more efficient.

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365 Coaching Tips: 334th, 335th & 336th

November 30th Coaching Tip: Step Up, and Say YES.

The Indiana women’s basketball team was 7-0, and now facing 10th ranked Iowa State today. Bad news hit the IU team, as our 2nd leading scorer and rebounder had a lower leg injury and unable to play in this important game. Another player stepped up (let’s call her #8) and started the game. She was up against one of the top five players in the country, Iowa State’s Audi Crooks. IU’s #8 was asked to step up, and she said YES.

Did IU win? No. Did #8 stop the Crooks? No, in fact Crooks scored 47 points, setting an ISU school record. Did IU compete closely til the last few minutes of the game? Yes. Did #8 make us all proud? Yes. When you are ever asked to step up, have the courage to give one answer: YES!

December 1st Coaching Tip: My 2025 Word is REDUCE.

I’m pleased with my selection of my word of the year: Reduce. Back in late 2024, I wanted to reduce plastic usage, my weight, work drama, and my running times in my senior games’ track training. It worked. My kitchens now have much less plastic in them; I eat on non-plastic plates and bowls, I have zero non-stick pans now, and I have new kitchen cooking utensils. My weight reached my lowest level in the last 10 years (my college playing weight). Although we have had eight work colleagues retire/resign from our team, I keep working away and providing value to my coaching clients. And with my training, I set three personal bests in my 100m, 200m, and 400m runs by reducing my times in all three events. Reduce worked.

So how do I keep it going for the remainder of 2025? I decided to reduce my social media usage in December. How did I do this? I moved all of my regularly used social media apps (Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok) to my last page of all of my apps. I had zero desire today in my first day to look at these apps, which has consumed way too many minutes per day. The second thing that I did was start listening to an Audible book to learn more about AI, plus I put two print books by my evening chair. Third, I put in a reminder in my iPhone calendar at 7am every single morning in December that reminds me: reduce to zero social media app usage.

December 2nd Coaching Tip: Bring In The Experts.

One of the best and fastest growing teams that I coach brought in the expert today. They needed to spend a full day together reviewing processes, identifying which ones that needed attention, and continue the processes which are running smoothly. They also asked the expert to show them all some shortcuts on how to implement all the digital tools already in their hands to gain capacity across their team.

Because the expert was brought in, everyone on the team showed up, paid attention, asked questions, and learned so much about what is now capable for the team to execute. When there is doubt and a team is pushing back on changing, recommend that you bring in the experts to calmly show what is available and what can be done, and share how others are utilizing it.

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365 Coaching Tips: 331st, 332nd & 333rd

November 27th Coaching Tip: Travel Kindly on Holidays.

Once again, I traveled on Thanksgiving morning. When I used to live in Houston, TX in the late 1990’s, I would fly from Houston to Indianapolis, rent a car, and drive to Mom and Dad’s home in Kentland, IN. I was able to arrive before my own family arrived; they all lived in Indiana. Fast forward to today, I left at 6am from my door in Indiana. Took an Uber ride to the IND airport. Two-hour flight to RSW in Ft. Myers, FL. Got picked up by my driver, Ben. He dropped me off at 10:48am at my home in Naples, FL. Door to door on Thanksgiving morning took just 4:48. Four hours and 48 minutes on a holiday. Grateful for all the people that chose to work and assist all of us who are traveling. The kindness was everywhere; everyone was saying “happy Thanksgiving” and smiling, helpful, and nice, even though we were all working to get somewhere. Let’s keep that kindness going.

November 28th Coaching Tip: Cook At Home.

It’s Friday night and one of my best friends is coming to hang out for the weekend. We texted quickly and decided to cook at home this evening. With all the hustle and over-eating that surrounds Thanksgiving, it was the right decision.

At 8:30am this day after Thanksgiving, I headed to Aldi’s (only three other people in the store…it was lovely) and bought some groceries for dinner and for the next couple weeks, too. Here’s the menu for our Friday dinner at home: scallops seared in butter and garlic, fettuccini tossed in alfredo sauce, topped with salt, pepper, and parmesan cheese. Fresh salad with spinach, scallions, tomatoes and balsamic dressing. For dessert, we made a strawberry cherry Jello salad with whipped cream. No alcohol, just water. (The Aldi grocery prices allow you to afford an AMAZING dinner that’s healthy, in the comforts of your own home. Recommend that you try ALDI’s if you haven’t already).

Not sure how much this dinner would have cost us had we gone out, but probably $35-$50 per person. Instead, we ate at home, had a great conversation as we both cooked in the kitchen, and took our sweet time eating. We even delayed our dessert for over an hour. It was a yummy evening; cook at home. Make memories. Save money. Learn new skills.

November 29th Coaching Tip: Go See The Sunset.

It was a nice, slow, and relaxing Saturday in our south FL home. It was closing in on 3pm and my friend and I both were still un-showered and in our PJ’s. Finally, we looked at one another and said, let’s take a drive to the beach, grab a drink, and see the sunset. We quickly got cleaned up and jumped in the car and headed to the Gulf. We leveraged Ai and it confirmed, sunset was at 5:34pm E. Our goal was to be seated at the Ritz Carlton in Naples and having a drink and appetizer by 4:30pm E…or we wouldn’t have a seat. We made it, perfectly timed, and enjoyed the sunset. I got a few photos of my friend, and he quickly loaded those up as new profile photos. Don’t miss an opportunity to see the sunset. Sunsets have the “IT” factor; hard to explain, but they just have “IT”.

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365 Coaching Tips: 328th, 329th & 330th

November 24th Coaching Tip: Time With The Younger Generation.

These three posts will bounce and weave around each other. Ask yourself the questions: are you spending time with the younger generation(s)? Are you staying in-touch and relevant? Are you listening to their concerns, hopes, and dreams? Are you willing to assist them? Or, are you out of touch and complaining about them and their desires?

Today, my uncle and I spent the entire day together. We left my mother’s home and decided to drive a couple hours to my newly remodeled home since he wanted to see it. He absolutely loved it. We ended up staying overnight there, after we drove around the campus at IU, and had some dinner and ice cream. He enjoyed spending time with me and seeing how I did the remodel. I enjoyed hearing more stories about his times at IU and what he’s working on currently.

November 25th Coaching Tip: Time With The Older Generation.

My uncle and I took it easy today, before we headed to the airport for his trip back to Colorado. We drank some coffee, talked, and then walked down to my basketball barn and got some shots up for about half an hour. As we were shooting, he reminded me to make sure that I’m out there shooting at 80+ years old…like he was doing today. It was a good reminder to me, from him, to keep going, keep moving, keep shooting baskets. I learn so much from hanging out with the older generation. Spend time with them.

November 26th Coaching Tip: Mentoring Goes Both Ways.

Kids can teach you a lot, if you just ask them questions and remain curious. I got to talk to two of my great nieces and nephews over the weekend. I can tell that my great niece is a leader of others, and her style and the way she communicates helps her be effective. I can tell that my great nephew loves being competitive and around top talent in sports. He loves sports, his PE class, and his buddies.

Mentoring can and should go both ways; older generations have a lot to learn from the younger generations (from technology to style to new trends to new viewpoints) and the younger generations have a lot of wisdom that they can gain from the older generations. Both generations have to be willing to care, listen, ask questions, and be grateful for the insights that are being shared. Mentoring should go both ways, not just one way, from older to younger.