Cindy is an award winning best selling author, co-author, ghost writer for some of today’s most popular personalities and writing coach.  She’s also a mother of 5 kids ranging in age from 2 – 24!  Her interview is full of real world encouragement as she tells it like it is as a successful, busy working mom.

Key ideas from her interview:

•  Give yourself the grace to start over.  Sometimes we’re so hard on ourselves, and Cindy helps us see the bigger picture.
• The power of simple things to please…coffee!

Favorite Book Resources: (She wrote these!!)
The Waiting: The True Story of a Lost Child, a Lifetime of Longing, and a Miracle for a Mother Who Never Gave Up
It’s a Wild Life: How My Life Became a Zoo

Website: www.cindycoloma.com

Part 2:  Giving Yourself GRACE

• be Generous with Yourself and Others
• Recognize Uniqueness
• Accept What Is
• Communicate the Truth in Love
• Expect the Best

Encouraging word of the week: Hebrews 13:9  “It is good for our hearts to be strengthened by Grace.”

Be sure to listen to the podcast for all the details on this short outline!  I promise, you’ll love it!  What do you think?  Do you give yourself grace?  I’d love to hear your comments.  Just leave them below.

The post #007: Cindy Martinusen Coloma and Giving Yourself Grace (Podcast) appeared first on Christy Largent.

Faye Hall is truly a Renaissance Woman!  She was born in China, studied in Kansas and has been a part of two world-changing startups.

A leader in the tech community she is an entrepreneur and visionary.  Her most recent start up, Build-it Redding, was nominated for the Northern California State Educator of the Year Award in 2013.

Key ideas from her interview:

• Know your strengths and weaknesses and build a team around you to support you in those
• Build relationships first, then all the rest follows
• There is tremendous power in systems – both at work and home

Favorite Book Resource: The 4-Hour Workweek, Expanded and Updated, by Tim Ferriss

Website:  www.builditredding.com

Part 2:  Strategies for Navigating Difficult Conversations

Each Personality Style will approach a difficult conversation differently:

• Yellow – Sunshine Sally:  Avoid and ignore it, cajole the other person into forgetting it
• Red – Action Annie:  She will use force and potentially anger to “bully” someone into seeing it her way
• Blue – Detailed Danielle: She will be passive aggressive as a way to manipulate, or might even withdraw to avoid it all together
• Green – Peaceful Patty:  She will pretend there’s no problem, using procrastination to control until it all blows sky high.

Here is a format you can use to navigate the conversation no matter what your style!

When you – fill in specific action that’s bothering you.

I feel – name the emotion

Because – elaborate on emotion, why you feel that way

I want you to – changed behavior you want to see

Encouraging word of the week:  Romans 12:18  If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.

Good luck with this new way of communicating!  I would love to hear your results.  Just leave your comments in the box below.

The post #006: Faye Hall Interview along with Strategies for Difficult Conversations (Podcast) appeared first on Christy Largent.

Graham was clearly NOT getting his need tank filled, so he did something he was sure would get my attention!  He got it all right!

If you’ve still got questions about how to handle the people in your life, then you’ll want to listen to this final podcast on the personality styles.  In this episode, we’ll conclude our conversation on how to “Fill the Need Tank” of the last two personalities. (For Part 1 on needs, listen to episode #4).

Episodes #2 and #3 covered how to recognize these people in your life.  For more information on that, please listen to those podcasts.

Give the Powerful Choleric – (Action Annie)

• A sense of control
• “Nutshell”
• Credit for their work
• Appreciation

Give the Popular Sanguine – (Sunshine Sally)

• Attention
• Approval
• Acceptance
• Affection (at home ONLY!)

For more information on this topic, I highly recommend a book by Florence Littauer,  Personality Plus. You can get it here.

The biggest takeaway I want you to have from this whole overview is that nobody is wrong – they are just different.  Once you know and understand these different styles and their accompanying needs, you’re better able to build positive connections and enjoy purposeful living.  Stay tuned each week as I add to this topic with tips for working together, diffusing problem behavior,  bringing out the best in others and much more.

Question:  What has been your biggest “Aha” from this series?  How do you think it will improve your life?

The post #005: Understanding Why They Drive You Crazy! Part 2 (Podcast) appeared first on Christy Largent.

Have you ever wondered why your sister/mother/brother/boss/friend drives you nuts?  If so, then this podcast will be a great help to you for understanding why the people in your life act the way they do, and what you can do to communicate with them most effectively.

Episodes #2 and #3 covered how to recognize these people in your life.  For more information on that, please listen to those podcasts.  This podcast and #5 will cover how to “Fill the Need Tank” (in the words of Stephen Covey).

Give the Peaceful Phlegmatic – (Peaceful Patty)

• Lack of Conflict – use a  Low Tone of Voice and Keep a Lack of Intensity in your voice
• Listen to them carefully (Spend time listening)

Give the Perfect Melancholy – (Detailed Danielle)

• Lots and lots and lots of Details
• Time and Space to process those details
• Be specific to show you are sincere

For more information on this topic, I highly recommend the book by Florence Littauer, Personality Plus.  You can get it here.

Be sure to check back for my next episode, or better yet, go to iTunes, subscribe and download the whole series!  It’s all free and I promise you’ll love it.

Question:  What’s a way you’ve been able to fill someone’s emotional tank?  How has it impacted your relationship with the person?  Please leave your thoughts below.

The post #004: Understanding Why They Drive You Crazy! Part 1 (Podcast) appeared first on Christy Largent.

If you’ve ever asked, “Why does he act that way?” then you’re going to want to listen to this podcast as I give the second of two overviews on the personality styles.  I’ll speak on this with an emphasis on how to recognize them, along with answering what is the key motivator for each.

The study of The Personalities is very old – dating all the way back to Hippocrates in about 400B.C.  He started it, and still today we are wondering why people act the way they do.  Florence Littauer has written the most user-friendly book on the subject that I have found.  You can find Personality Plus Here.  Back to Hippocrates, he categorized people into 4 basic styles:

Sanguine, Choleric, Phlegmatic and Melancholy.  Today we  still find it useful to recognize these general categories.

In this podcast, I explain in detail about the Powerful Choleric – “Action Annie” and the Peaceful Phlegmatic – “Peaceful Patty”.  If you want to get the full picture of these styles, be sure to listen to the podcast episode 002 for the details.

Powerful Choleric (Red) – Action Annie:  You know her because she is;

• High Energy
• Strong with her words and gestures
• Functional for optimum performance

Her motivator is to BE IN CONTROL!!

Peaceful Phlegmatic (Green)- Peaceful Patty:  You know her because she is;

• Laid Back and Easy Going
• Great sense of Dry Humor
• Great Listener

Her motivator is PEACE AT ANY PRICE!!

The styles basically work together so that you have one dominate with a supporting style.  The natural combinations (which can vary between the two as to most dominant) are:

• Sally Sunshine (Yellow) dominant with Action Annie (Red) secondary or Red dominant with Yellow secondary
• Action Annie (Red) dominant with Detailed Danielle (Blue) secondary or Blue dominant with Red secondary
• Detailed Danielle (Blue) dominant with Peaceful Patty (Green) secondary or Green dominant with Blue secondary
• Peaceful Patty (Green) dominant with Sally Sunshine (Yellow) secondary or Yellow dominant with Green secondary

Remember, you can change positions but you’ll never change teams.  It’s a learning journey.  Hopefully, we are all growing and changing every day.  For more details on this topic, be sure to listen to episode 002, and then check back for episodes 004-005 when I’ll go in to specifics on what to do with these people!  It will be entertaining and educational.  I promise.  After all, I’m a yellow!

P.S. If you haven’t subscribed to these podcasts, please go to iTunes and subscribe.  Then download the episodes so you’re up to date.  Thank you so much!!

Question:  Which of these 4 styles we’ve covered are you?  What are your challenges? What’s easy for you?  How has your style helped you at work and home?  Please leave your answer below.

The post #003: Understanding The Personalities Part 2 (Podcast) appeared first on Christy Largent.

If you’ve ever asked, “Why does she act that way?” then you’re going to want to listen to this podcast as I give an overview of the first 2 personality styles with an emphasis on how to recognize them along with answering what is the key motivator for each.

The study of The Personalities is very old – dating all the way back to Hippocrates in about 400B.C.  He started it, and still today we are wondering why people act the way they do.  Florence Littauer has written the most user-friendly book on the subject that I have found.  You can find Personality Plus Here.  Back to Hippocrates, he categorized people into 4 basic styles:

Sanguine, Choleric, Phlegmatic and Melancholy.  Today we  still find it useful to recognize these general categories.

In this podcast, I explain in detail about the Sanguine – “Popular Sanguine” and the Melancholy – “Perfect Melancholy”.

Popular Sanguine:  You know her because she is;

• Loud…voice and clothes
• Open…with her body and her life
• Messy…with everything, even her mind!

Her motivator is to HAVE FUN!!!

Perfect Melancholy:  You know her because she is;

• Quiet…voice
• Closed…with her body and personal information
• Analyzed…to the point of analysis paralysis!

Her motivator is for PERFECTION!

These are general ways we recognize the people in our lives.  Be sure to check back for podcast #3 – #5 where I continue with an overview including the very powerful segments on meeting the needs of those who are different than you are.

The post #002: Understanding the Personalities Part 1 (Podcast) appeared first on Christy Largent.

Encouraging Words for Working Moms is a weekly podcast designed to offer you an engaging dose of positive encouragement for your day.  If you are a busy working mom, then you will want to tune in to learn best practices, tips, ideas and strategies to help you live with positive connections and purposeful living.

I’ll plan to post the podcast on Thursday morning of each week. If you subscribe, you will automatically get every episode for free.

So let’s get started!  This first episode is introducing myself and explaining what I hope to offer you each week.

Please tell me what you think!  And if you want to help get the word out, go to iTunes and give me a rating.  Every single one counts!

The post #001: Very First Episode of Encouraging Words for Working Moms Podcast! appeared first on Christy Largent.