It’s over. 2022 has come to an end. I am a little bit shocked that it has been 12 months already. It seems like it flew by in an instant and I still have so much I need and want to accomplish! 

In keeping with the mindset of “Progress over Perfection,” I want to switch the focus. I know most of us are evaluating our 2022 goals to see if we reached them and then we are busy setting new ones for 2023. I’d also guess that most of us are beating ourselves up about the goals we missed or didn’t reach this year. I am just as guilty as the rest of you with this.

But today, instead of getting hung up on the things I have left on my goals and to-do lists, I want to take a minute to reflect on all the things I DID accomplish this year. If you haven’t yet, I encourage you to make a list of the things you did achieve this year. It can be easy to fall into the guilt trip of not accomplishing your big goals, but it is so important to acknowledge the wins...

As a communication coach and mindset trainer, I think everyone should hire a coach. However, if you want to get the most out of your coaching experience, you want to make sure you are truly ready to hire that coach.

It is easy to get caught up in the excitement of hiring someone to guide you to your next level, but if you are going to make an investment into a coaching program, make sure you are ready.

“But April,” you are thinking, “how do I know when I should hire a coach?” I’m so glad you asked!

If you are hustling and busting your rear to make progress toward your goals, but the harder you try, the farther away those goals seem, it might be time to hire a coach.

If you are at the limit of what you can teach yourself, or learn from the interwebs, it might be time to hire a coach.

If you have lofty goals and need an unbiased accountability partner to help you reach them, it is definitely time to hire a coach!

There are numerous points at...

It is the end of the year, and you're no doubt starting to look forward to next year and plan out your goals for 2023. You might even consider hiring a coach to help you reach those goals and take your business to the next level.

Hiring a coach is a great way to get you to your goals. Having someone there to keep you accountable, to help you with roadblocks, and any other struggles that you might have along the way can be a critical piece of your success!

With all the coaches out there, how do you know which one is right for you? Today, I'm going to share with you the six questions to ask yourself when you decide to hire a coach.

Let's dive in!

1. What kind of coach are you looking for? Are you looking for a general business coach or someone that can help you reach your life goals? Or do you need a coach that specializes in a specific skill or uses a particular framework or methodology? Before going any further in your search for a coach, decide what exactly you want to...

It is December!! The holiday season is in full force, sales and discounts on everything from clothing to cookware abound, and excitement for the start of a new year is building day by day!

You are no doubt contemplating which gifts to buy, what sales to take advantage of, and whether to splurge on that new sweater you’ve been eyeballing for weeks.

While it is fun to buy gifts for others and ourselves, gifts aren’t the only things that you should consider purchasing in the holiday season. Group and individual coaching programs are terrific items to consider when planning your holiday and year-end purchases. December is one of the best times to invest in YOU, and that investment is one of the best gifts you could give yourself!

You might be wondering why December is an amazing time to invest in personal or professional development and coaching, so today I am sharing with you the 7 reasons why you should hire a coach in December!

1. Programs start in January –...

Being a leader is like being a parent…it is a monumental task. Whether you are leading entire organizations, small groups, or just one other person, the responsibility you have is immeasurable. You could literally be the one person that guides another to the next step on their career path. As a leader, you have the ability to inspire others, shape their lives, and teach them invaluable skills that will serve them for life. You have probably heard the saying “with great power comes great responsibility” and nowhere is that truer than in a leadership role.

When awarded a leadership position, there are usually many pre-requisites and responsibilities that are lined out for us. “Communicate well” isn’t always listed in the job description, but it should be. And, even if “great communication skills” is listed in the job requirements, that is such a broad and undefined level of skill that it’s hard to know if your skills meet the...

Love languages are all the rage these days. There is even a free quiz you can take to determine your love language! The great thing about the love languages is that they are rooted in research and psychology, so there is a scientific basis behind the why and how of them!

I’ve done some reading on the love languages and even taken that free quiz a couple of times and something I’ve noticed is that love isn’t the only emotion that has various “languages”.

It’s Thanksgiving week in the US. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. Not because of the origins of the holiday but because it is the ONE week of the year where my kids and I all have 4 days off to relax and enjoy each other’s company. My husband has to work so we don’t see him too much (in case you’re wondering ).

No one has any activities or obligations, and we get to enjoy our own traditions of getting a Christmas tree on Black Friday, cooking our special Thanksgiving meal...

Welcome back! I am continuing my discussion of perfection and the twisted effects it has on us. For something that doesn’t exist, it sure does create a lot of doubt and fear in us. I’m on a mission to change that and to help leaders, professionals, and business owners just like you to overcome those doubts and fears so you can design and live the life you desire.

If this is your first time here, welcome! Here at Talk-O Tuesday I take my observations, experiences, and thoughts about the world, use them to create some kind of valuable lesson, and then I share them with you. There is usually some component of communication involved (I mean, I do run a COMMUNICATION coaching business…) but there is also a large component that is based on mindset shifts and reframing how we view things.

The way we communicate is directly influenced by our mindset and beliefs about ourselves. (Don’t believe me? Book a call and let’s chat! )

Anyway, the last few weeks I have...

Last week I had the opportunity to speak on a subject that truly lights me up. Yes, I get fired up about communication and helping you find your voice and clarify your message, but I also get lit up by talking about the fear of failure and how it can stop us dead in our tracks. The topic of my speech was perfection paralysis, and I am so excited to share some insight from it with you over the next couple of weeks!

Let’s talk about perfection for a minute. Perfection is a made-up notion that is completely unattainable. Ideals of perfection are subjective rather than objective. This means that there is no black and white way to measure it. Since there is no way to measure it, there is no way to attain it.

As a subjective ideal, your notions of perfection are influenced by your own feelings, principles, experiences, biases, culture, values, and personality. But how can you define perfection? Is it simply the absence of mistakes? Whose metrics are used to measure whether mistakes...

Let me tell you a hard truth: no matter how hard you try, you will never be perfect. Nothing you do will ever be perfect…and now that you know that, you can get busy taking action and changing your life!
Admitting and accepting that you will never attain perfection is an important step in your business, your career, and your life. When you worry too much about doing things perfectly, one of two things happens: you do the thing, but you don’t meet your expectations (which are usually unrealistic in the first place) or you completely avoid doing the thing so that you don’t have to deal with the potential disappointment in yourself or judgment from others.
It doesn’t have to be this way.
Perfection does not exist. I want you push it right on out of your mind and focus instead on progress, on striving for excellence instead of perfection. When you focus on progress, on EXCELLence (the act of excelling…aka: getting better at something), you will see...

Conflict is part of business. No matter how hard you work to provide a good experience for every customer you work with, you will inevitably have someone, at some point that is unhappy with you. As a business owner, it is critical to develop a thick skin and solid communication strategy for dealing with unhappy clients. Remember, communication is the bridge between the conflict and the resolution and can truly make or break you in these situations!

Last week I traveled with my family from Oregon to Utah. We flew on Delta Airlines (as we always do…first-class seats for the win – thank you SkyMiles!!) and all was as it should be until it was time to take off…and we were still parked at the gate. Now, to the untrained or inattentive ear, all was well, and we were just getting settled in for the short flight. But, to an avid observer such as myself, I could tell something was going on.

Since we were in the front row of the airplane, we could hear the flight...