I do standup comedy, partly as professional development for my job as a keynote speaker, but mostly because I love it. (There's nothing quite as intoxicating as standing onstage with a microphone making an entire room howl.) Only love will make you hoof it downtown in a snowstorm, walk into a strange bar by yourself (as a woman, no less), descend a dark staircase in four-inch heels, and deliver jokes in front of strangers in a cavernous club. At 11:30pm. As the 12th comic. Fo

Congrats to the Philadelphia Eagles who handily whooped the Vikings yesterday to go on to the Super Bowl. (This post is payment of a lost bet with my dear friend Kate Delaney.) When I first met Kate, she gave me the nickname "Minnesota", a moniker I proudly own. Minnesotans are proud of our own, from State Fair Butter Princesses to the Prince of Paisley Park. Even in the face of soul-crushing defeat - again - Minnesotans are proud of our sports teams that always seem to get u

A Speaker’s Nightmare: "What did you like the least about the conference this year?" "Theresa Rose. Awful. OMG. Hated her." This was on a recent evaluation where I had knocked it out of the park as their closing keynote. OUCH. That stung. (Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the theatre?) Just a few days prior, I read an article about haters being a prerequisite to greatness – if you don’t have at least one hater, you aren’t saying anything that matters. As if right on cue

I admit it: I cannot resist eating quality dark chocolate, watching the latest episode of Outlander, and being onstage. Those things are too powerful a force for me to ignore. I MUST have them, and to fight against them is an act of folly. However, we also try to resist the more unpleasant aspects of life -- pain, loss, doubt, fear, lack, loneliness -- hoping that if we push hard enough against them, we will emerge victorious. Sadly, that's not how energy works. We can't push

Admit it: You have stressed-out, nutso, I-can’t-believe-I’m-this-upset moments. (If you never feel the crazy, then you might as well move on to the next adorable cat video; I've got nothing to offer you.) With all of the nuttiness in this year’s election cycle, the intense socio-economic challenges that we face both locally and globally, and our omnipresent pressure to do more with less (all while staying healthy, happy and helpful to others), sometimes we find ourselves smac

Working out regularly takes commitment. Working out after having fallen out of the routine requires Herculean effort. I recently had one month of absolute craziness in my schedule – I attended the annual convention of the National Speakers Association (and boy, those people can talk!), a personal development technology-free retreat with my teenage daughter, an intensive Mastermind retreat with my speaker sisters, and, of course, my scheduled keynote and training engagements.

“What do you speak about?” was one of the pre-qualifying messages I recently received from a potential suitor on Bumble, a popular dating app. “I speak on resilience, change, mindfulness...those kinds of things.” Instead of immediately accelerating the conversation with the oh-so-romantic “Send me a pic” text, he refreshingly writes, “Tell me about resilience.” What makes people bounce back from adversity to shine even brighter? Why does someone get up instead of staying down

There are a ton of ways you can create success in the areas in which you endeavor to succeed. The roadmaps, strategies, teachers, and support structures are everywhere. However, the only way you can be assured that you will NOT find success is if you throw in the towel. I know it's hard. I know you have a workload both at home and at work that could choke a pregnant rhino. I know that you work with a few donkeys (and maybe even live with one or two.) But none of that gives yo

Last year, I significantly changed my business model. For years, I had been feverishly chipping away at creating a niche for myself as a wellness-based inspirational performer. Using my TEDxTalk as a springboard, my sparkly hula hoop and I were on often the road together, spinning a message of empowerment and engagement to all of those who would listen (and pay). The trouble was that I had ignored my overriding purpose of helping others become more productive in favor of my f