Sharon Melnick

Thank you for being patient with me as I finished my book Success under Stress, I've missed you! In the last few weeks, I gave a number of trainings at companies like Procter and Gamble, Pfizer, and GE so I had a chance to talk to a lot of business professionals like you.  One of the themes I heard was the importance of turning obstacles into opportunity.  According to Accenture (2010), 71% of senior executives say it is the trait they are looking for in making retention and promotion choices. Business owners who can do this well keep their business afloat...

Do you want to know how to relax more?

Elite athletes, such as the two champions who recently operated at their peak performance for a five-hour tennis match, demonstrate an optimal natural pattern to their exertion. It is a Sprint/Recovery pattern, in which you focus intensely and then recover and replenish your energy by doing something that fully disengages the parts of your brain focused on work. It effectively rejuvenates you. For most of us, the optimum pattern is 90 minutes of intense focus followed by renewal. This number is based on our natural circadian rhythms that go in 90 minute cycles throughout the day.

Now, a word about the goals you've just set for this year: 92% of people don't follow through on New Year's Resolutions or adhere to their Goal Planning by January 10th so this is NOT another blog about setting goals and keeping resolutions! Yes, its important to have SMART goals and to plan out your year. But writing down goals and plans is not what will make them actualize? YOU have to make them come true. You can get so wrapped up in doing tasks that you forget the real secret to having the BEST year of your life: your success...

"We had a plan in place to move forward with pricing. She was in the situation and just went with the idea that came to her mind. She needs to think instead of react.” My client's boss' comment about her performance. My sister in law told me about her day last week as a pre-school teacher: “I came home and snapped at the kids.” How about you? Do you think, or do you react..some would say "over-react?" Usually when you react it is because you perceive that something is beyond your control, and will either lead to a bad outcome (i.e., my client...

Do you ever worry about what is going to happen in the future? It’s not anything specific, or maybe it’s many specific challenges that are all adding up. You might even know your anxiety is ‘irrational’ but that doesn’t help! Here are two approaches you can use to ‘think positive’ and get back into a state where you have ease and can concentrate. Focus on the Moment Focus on the specific physical feeling you are having in your body, not on your thoughts. For example, say to yourself slowly, “I feel tension in my shoulders; I have a sinking feeling in...