The secret to career success is building one that capitalizes on your signature strengths and allows you to bring the best of your brilliance to work. Gaining clarity about your strengths gives you the foundation for designing a strategic career plan and helps build your confidence about what key attributes you bring to the table. Tired of being overlooked, undervalued, and underestimated? The secret to career success is all about playing to your strengths.

Our words leave an indelible print of our time here on earth. Our words can uplift, edify, elevate, or enlighten. Or they can dis-empower, tear down, vilify and condemn. In our spheres of influence, our words leave a legacy that should give us pause before we speak, tweet, post, or share. Learning to harness the power of our words matters so much more when our views become increasingly divergent from one another. As a purpose-driven woman, ensure that you wield the power of your words wisely.

We are each blessed with strengths, interests, and passions that make us exceptional at what we do, in our career, business, ministry or life. Aligning our purpose with our strengths is key to excellence in our work and serving our sphere exceptionally. In Part 2 of his post, I continue using the “Parable of the Talents” as context, to explore the implications of playing small with our talents and comparing our expression of our talents with others.

We are each blessed with strengths, interests, and passions that make us exceptional at what we do, in our career, business, ministry or life. Aligning our purpose with our strengths is key to excellence in our work and serving our sphere exceptionally. Using the “Parable of the Talents” as context, in Part 1 of this post I explore the deeper implications for how we are to steward God’s gifts and the consequences of wasting or misusing these gifts.

Authenticity is at the heart of every powerful, impactful, and influential leader. As an aspiring leader, the fastest path to crafting a brand reputation that is aligned with the best of what you have to offer is simply being authentic. Only when your actions and words are congruent with your beliefs and values and you are showing up fully as yourself, are you leading authentically. It is your differentiator, your secret sauce.

Acting as If is a simple technique I use in my coaching practice as it encourages clients to think, act, and feel as if they have a desired state. When I use Acting as If in coaching, I’m inviting my clients to speak from a future state and to embody the behaviors, attitudes, and actions that are true in that state. This enables them to try on new ways of being, and when paired with visualization and affirmation, can become a powerful force for enduring change.

Visualization is the process of creating a vivid mental image of a future event. Cognitive scientific research indicates that since the brain doesn’t know the difference between a real memory and an imagined one if you envision something vividly enough, your mind perceives it as something real that you’ve already experienced. This is why many celebrated athletes, such as Serena Williams, Tiger Woods, Michael Jordan, Jack Nicklaus, and others successfully use visualization to level up their game. And so can you!

Crafting a tagline helps your brand differentiate itself from its competitors. It’s a key component in your brand strategy. For a tagline to be effective it should be simple, short, memorable, and point to a key brand benefit. Here are a few tips for crafting a terrific tagline for your brand.

A tagline is a short phrase that captures a company’s brand essence, personality, and positioning, and differentiates the company from its competitors. Your tagline should be a critical component of your brand messaging, and an extension of your overarching brand strategy, so you want to make sure everything is aligned. Here are a few tips for crafting a terrific tagline.

Without your Why You lose your way. Many small businesses fail in their marketing or messaging because they do not have a clear understanding of their Why—their reason for being. Understanding your Why is critical to ensuring that your product or service is well-differentiated, it informs how you articulate your brand’s value, and it enables you to tap into the core emotional connection your brand has with its customers.

Many newbies think personal branding is all about their social media presence and website design. While these are certainly important aspects of your marketing and branding, the heart of your personal brand is about you—your entire persona. It includes your personality, strengths, values, beliefs, experiences, and your own image. Here are six personal branding checkpoints.

Personal branding is still a concept that is misunderstood among women who are new in the quest to carve a niche for themselves. But it is a critical component of marketing, as it informs your messaging and is the heart of your identity as a professional or business owner. Make sure you build it on a solid foundation.

It has been said that perfectionism is the enemy of done. It is also the enemy of achieving satisfaction and contentment. Many high-achievers tend to be perfectionists. Here are six strategies to help you manage your need to be perfect.

As we all cope with the uncertainty of living during a global pandemic, this trait of resilience is going to separate those of us that emerge on the other side intact and those who succumb to its associated challenges. The people who make it in life have resilience. So how do you cultivate resilience? You find a way, following these four steps.

As our culture becomes more technologically sophisticated, the rate at which we are bombarded by images which erode and negatively impact our self-esteem increase. How do we move the needle in the other direction? Perhaps by discovering our purpose, unearthing our significance to this earth, and trusting in our innate excellence.

Excellence is active—it is about doing, not simply being. But what really drives a person to excel? I think if we observed the habits of those who we hold in high esteem for their commitment to excellence, we will find they are I.N.S.P.I.R.E.D: Innovative, Nimble, Success-driven, Purposeful, Integrity, Results-oriented, Engaged, Diligent.

We are chosen and called. We are all called to bring unity in Christ, to live a life in service to others, like Jesus, to share the gospel, to be Light and Salt to our broken world, even in our brokenness. God in His omniscience, has a plan for each of us, a unique calling that we are meant to fulfill for His purposes, and he gives us the grace to accomplish it. Read more about how you are equipped for your calling.

Human beings have an innate call to create. It is that calling that keeps us motivated to excel and be the best we can be in our lives. But we must feed and nurture that calling within us. We must surround ourselves with people, places and things that are conducive to our thriving. We must be inspired.

Keeping a gratitude journal showed me how much of God’s grace, love, and mercy are in everyday events of my day. His unfailing love shows me how precious I am to him.

When pursuing any goal, this tri-fold prescription never fails to bear fruit: patience, perseverance, and prayer. Patience, perseverance, and prayer are your guideposts for successfully achieving any goal.