Monthly Archives: June 2013

3 Ways Your Quiet Confidence Inspires Contagious Excellence

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photo-24Your quiet confidence and quiet leadership can be BOLDest of all. 

I was blown away the first time a smart professional told me she didn’t think of herself as a leader because she was not charismatic and not extroverted. She felt those were pre-requisites for being a great leader. Or in fact, for leading at all.

Ah, I smiled. Our conversation ended with a smile on her face too, as she saw for the first time how her inner strength, her quiet confidence *can be BOLDest of all*.  

Since that conversation years ago, when speaking or leading inspired team retreats I often include a segment I created on Valuing Others’ Expressions Of BOLDness.

In reflecting inward, and ultimately broadening our peripheral view to others, we begin to see the beauty in how we each bring BOLD differently… positively impacting our own success, as we create more success (and have more fun!)… individually and together.

3 Ways Your Quiet Confidence & Leadership Can Be BOLDest Of All, Inspiring Contagious Excellence! 

1.  When you step back to shine the spotlight on others, you inspire others forward. 

Be sure you don’t step so far back as to slip under the radar or become invisible. We need to see you. In shifting the spotlight, you’re offering others the opportunity to get known for – and remember by – their positive impact. Inspired by You. You’ve just magnified the impact of your positive leadership by inspiring another to lead, and in turn, inspiring the leader in others they lead…

2.  When you listen closely as you typically and beautifully do, people know you care.

When people know you care about them, they begin to trust that you also care about what matters to them. Imagine the possibilities! Your quiet confidence in listening to others – with genuine interest – can shift the frustration, malaise or disengagement in your team by inspiring them to start tuning in to each other, creating contagious excellence – and new success – as you build a team of people who actually care. About each other as team, customers, clients, community… translating beyond work to home, families, friends…

3.  When you speak, people want to hear what you have to say.

Your quiet confidence is shared in less words. Your select messages inspire what’s needed in this situation, meeting or conversation. The example you set can inspire and build a team of people willing to share their point of view, encouraging others to share theirs, too. Allowing people the opportunity to courageously build new confidence as they practice, develop and share their own points of view… whether quiet or not so quiet… is a gift that lasts a lifetime, contagiously rippling waves of excellence as new success. 

Do you consider yourself a Quiet leader?

Do you bring your BOLD by leading Quietly?

Here’s an important last (or first?!) step for you:

Do One BOLD Thing.

OWN YOUR SUCCESS WITH CONFIDENCE. 

It’s Up To YOU!

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© 1993-2017  Ann Ulrich   AnnUlrich.com

PHOTO:   While keynote speaking in Taiwan, after my sincere effort yet seriously-lackluster results learning to speak Mandarin Chinese, I was rendered helpless on stage if not for the calm confidence of kind Taiwanese Translators. This is when and where I envisioned creating my speaking business, back in 1990, in their year of the Horse. If you’ve been to our condo, you may think I love horses… what I really love is the vision that was born in me in that one experience of a lifetime, in the year of the Horse. And maybe being a Taurus gave me the guts to actually make it happen.

Inspired By The U.S. Open: When Under Stress, We Forget The Simple Things

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photo-72Did you watch the U.S. Open on Father’s Day?

David and I enjoyed a sunny Sunday afternoon date on our deck cheering Phil Mickelson on to his would-be so-deserved first U.S. Open win.

Alas, Phil retains his spot as THE classiest U.S. Open second-place winner. Again. Darn.

While focused on Phil, it was actually a quick comment made on Saturday by Golf Channel host and Hall of Fame golfer, Colin Montgomerie that caught my attention and stuck:

“When under stress, we forget the simple things.”

The simple things – getting back to basics – can be a smart way to do business – an inspired way to live!

Next time you want to earn trust, get remembered, make the sale, win the win, be selected, land your next Success… or maybe just have things come a little easier when it all starts feeling more like a setback than soaring…

Get back to basics.

One Of My Favorite Ways To *Get Your BOLD On… By Getting Your BOLD Back!*™ Creating Success By Getting Back To Basics:

LET OTHERS IN.

You got where you are with the help of others who know you, learned about you or experienced you in action, and now trust you.

In the race to success, have you stopped letting others get to know the real you?

Let others in so they can discover too, just how great you are.

Next time you’re in a conversation, posting a social media update, positioning your business, or delivering a critical message… listen carefully to the conversation underway, understand what’s happening around you, and add to it by letting others know something that lets them in, to get to know you in a keep-it-real genuine way.

I’ve seen huge shifts when leaders I’ve worked with toss their piles of slides and statistics and share a personal story instead. Now what you say matters. Because you matter. You just became real. And relatable. Someone worth listening to. Tell us more.

Now we know you’re not selling us… or telling us… or repelling us.

You’re inviting us in.

When it comes to creating or re-igniting success… building your brand – building business – and building a life you love…

Let others in so they can discover too, just how great you are.

It’s Up To YOU!

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© 1993-2017   Ann Ulrich   AnnUlrich.com

Photo:  Ah well, rather than simply sitting idle again this Summer, apparently my golf clubs (golf cubs?) struck up a new friendship at the lake!

Any Moment You Choose: Shift From Old To BOLD!

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photo-1Damn these Dark Chocolate Almond Cherry Clusters. 

It’s 2:00am on Monday, June 10th. I’m in the kitchen eating a handful. OK, three handfuls.

Aha! You never know what might show up in your work or life as an opportunity waiting for you to claim it and own it – the catalyst for positive change – leading to your next success! (BRAVO YOU!)

Apparently these Clusters showed up as mine.

Two years ago, I committed to lose and be forever done with the *plus size* me. It was a body shape I needed to maintain during one of my most exciting adventures as a professional runway model and national fit model, a decade-plus career which became my inspiration for launching the first exclusive fit model agency in the country. What a ride!

Fascinating and frustrating is how I’d describe the fact that, when I decided to leave modeling to focus solely on building my agency business and BOLD, my body didn’t cooperate in leaving that size behind. My vision was lb’s falling off when no longer needed… um, no, it didn’t happen that way. As that great saying goes: there are no shortcuts to anything worth achieving!

It took a focused commitment: eating right (imagine that!) and 5am workouts. I posted my 5-day/week workouts on facebook and Twitter, set my goal, made my commitment and never looked back. I shed the size and feel strong and fabulous! One of my favorite headshots is my current website photo – in my yellow sweater – at my current size.

Thank You, Costco’s Dark Chocolate Almond Cherry Clusters (anyone else hearing Jimmy Fallon’s piano in that? ;) for being the catalyst I needed to take this next step in accomplishing the final leg of my goal. When I hit *Publish* on this blog post, I’m on my way to being back at my fighting weight/size at Christmas. (Join me?!)

My workouts are pretty much still in tact. I change-up/ease-up and get out of the gym to head outside in Summer. They’ve become who I am and how I roll, so I won’t be posting those. I’ll focus on clean eating instead.

The most exciting thing about change? Any moment you choose, you can change what’s no longer working. In your work and in your life.

Where to begin? Shift your thoughts, actions and outcomes… from Old To BOLD!

I’m jazzed to finish this Cluster and be done (amazing how this last one tastes like plastic). When I wake up tomorrow I am a girl with a plan. Back on top of my game. Walking My Talk. Owning It Like I Own It!

Do you have a change in your life you’re ready to pull the trigger on?

Get excited! Shift & GO BOLDly in any direction you choose! If you need a champion along the way – let me know so I can cheer you through!

Smiling that Yes, it really is true:

Your Next Success?  

It’s Up To YOU!

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© 1993-2017  Ann Ulrich   AnnUlrich.com

Photo:  A healthier choice: dark chocolate, cranberries, ginger and walnuts – a recipe David picked up on his recent tour of Hormel’s Spam plant – I know, seriously!

THANK YOU DEAR SUBSCRIBERS! There’s a special place in heaven for people who support and champion the work of others. Thanks so much for being here. And for commenting as you wish. Know someone who might enjoy these Jolts of BOLD Inspiration? Thank you for sharing it forward and inviting them in!

The Risk In Bringing Uncalibrated Passion

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IMG_1621To live the life you want… to commit to your dreams… takes Passion.

BRAVO those who bring Passion in a positive-impact way:

Lighting up new smile-inducing possibility! inspiring Passion in others! creating new success together! while passing it on…

As one who admits in her Bio: *I wear my Passion on my sleeve and when I have no sleeve I wear my Passion on my arm* ... 

In my speaking and writing, I’m sharing this lesson I’ve learned the hard way:

Your Passion Must Be Calibrated.

Uncalibrated Passion puts you and others at risk of experiencing and contagiously spreading a sudden and unexpected, potentially-devastating downward spiral, spelled:

S-U-F-F-O-C-A-T-I-O-N.

To lead and love life, don’t risk success and happiness by playing it safe. Don’t stop being Passionate – your Passion makes you come Alive!

Besides, watered-down Passion risks flatlining……..

To bring your Passion effectively: Calibrate accordingly.

So how can you keep Passion alive while Calibrating accordingly?

GO BOLDly! with your eyes, heart and mind – and your peripheral view – wide open.

Mindful of people and aware of situations… caring about what’s happening around you… seeing and feeling… helps keep you calibrating beautifully.

Bring your Passion. Light us up. Make things happen!

How will you bring your Passion?

It’s Up To YOU!

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© 1993-2017  Ann Ulrich  AnnUlrich.com

Photo:  Ah, The BOLD Exclamation Point! All those school years, I was marked down on papers for incessantly over-using it. Years later, when I launched my own business, l claimed it as my Logo, happily over-using it ever since, as my reminder and commitment to keep leading & living passionately *!*