954 words of content including tips to reduce your stress, and an offer of 2-for-1 coaching. Approximate reading time: 3.81 minutes. And isn't your Happiness worth it?

This newsletter speaks to Leadership, Happiness, and Coaching in your life and work.

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1. Don't Assume Scrooge Had It Wrong
2. Two-for-the-Price-of-One Coaching?!
3. In the Workplace: Scrooge As Leadership Role Model
4. The Executive Happiness Coach®

I've recently been exploring a contrarian space - taking the opposite point of view rather than what's popular or expected, e.g.

• Why you are NOT happy.
• Reasons why you should NOT Hire me as your Coach.
• What you should GIVE UP.
• What you need to STOP doing.

A member of my tribe asked, "What's up with the dark side, Jim?" Hmm - is it really darkness? Or am I simply being more complete?

As humans we can experience 324 different emotions, and every one of those serves us in some way. Emotions can lift us up (Joy, Pride, Elation), move us forward (Excitement, Persistence, Resoluteness), keep us still (Calm, Sadness, Pensiveness), and often protect us (Anger, Fear, Hope).

And then there's Stress - the positive emotion we love to hate.

Stress is an emotion that actually serves us terrifically - in small doses and well channeled. As stress increases, so do productivity, creativity, and deadline management. Stress helps us arrive on time, stay attentive, and stay energized when we are "on stage" with others.

Zero stress and we get nothing done. Well, except for great things like meditation, relaxation, and sound sleep.

Too much stress, however, and we get frantic, hyper, or burned out. And forget that good night's sleep if you're overstressed.

So the trick is not to eliminate stress, just manage it. Or put another way, EMBRACE the stress.

What does this have to do with Scrooge and the holidays? A lot!

If you know the story of A Christmas Carol well, you may assume Scrooge was a terrible person. But I offer another perspective. (If you don't know the story, here is a 2.5-minute summary.)

Scrooge was over stressed. He began at a young age to worry about funding his retirement, and somewhere along the way got so hyper-focused on cash management that he blotted out all other priorities. Such as love. And human kindness. You know, those silly things that don't generate cash?

Once he was shown the outcomes of living in stress, he chose a different path.

1. First, he got a good night's sleep (I'm not making this up - it's in the book - he fell into a deep sleep!).
2. Next, he took some deep breaths - (you know that scene where he wakes up in the morning and throws open the shutters to let in light and fresh air? That was so he could take a deep calming breath. Really! Scrooge knew all about Yoga, though Dickens does not detail that much in the book).
3. Then, having read all his positive psychology books during college, Scrooge remembered that Acts of Kindness help us feel happier, so he immediately gave money to the poor and sent an anonymous turkey to his employee's house for the holiday dinner table.
4. Finally, knowing that Human Connection is one of the pillars of Well Being, he created new connections with some people he'd alienated - his nephew, Fred, and of course Bob Cratchit, Tiny Tim, and the family.

Scrooge embraced stress and made it his friend. He leveraged that stress to remedy his past wrongs, to create a new life plan, and to more quickly move into action.

God Bless Us, Every Stressed One!

Two years ago I created my first experimental video using an iPhone and free software. It's "too long" at 5.3 minutes, it's got moments of weird lighting, and rice cakes make a guest appearance; yet it racked up 400 views before I took it down to move it to a channel on YouTube.

It's still funny, and still full of Tips for getting through your holidays with LESS STRESS.

View it here. Share it with others. Give it a Thumbs Up. Remember you don't have to "suffer" through the holidays if you take care of you and embrace your stress like Scrooge did.

The 13 Principles of Happiness will remind you, every day, of things you can do to positively embrace the stress in your life. Download a copy today. Post it on your refrigerator or pass it around at your holiday dinner and invite everyone to pick one principle that will help him or her reduce his or her stress. Think happy.

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Do you want to use coaching to develop leaders, but face budget constraints? I recently delighted a client by reminding her that Group Coaching is also an option. When two or more leaders have parallel development needs, we can set up a coaching group.

Group Coaching can introduce your organization to the power of coaching in a cost-effective manner (lower per-person investment); it can also serve as an extended follow up for leaders who have completed a 1:1 coaching relationship yet still want to remain in the coaching conversation for reinforcement and to maintain accountability.

To learn more about Group Coaching as a budget-conscious tool for leadership development in your organization in 2015, let's connect. There's No Obligation to talk!

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What if you have a history of mistakes since you entered the domain of management? What if you've alienated a team, botched some feedback, made a poor hire, or missed a high-profile deadline? Do those past actions doom you, forever, to be cast as a "bad manager?"

Not at all. Just as Ebenezer Scrooge experienced a metamorphosis from miser to philanthropist, you can - if you choose - shift from hapless to extraordinary as a Leader.

You might start by visiting your Past Behaviors and ask yourself, "Where have I acted in ways that may have harmed others or the organization?" Then come into a review of the Present and ask, "What am I doing today that gets in the way of people feeling valued and doing their best work?" Finally, trend your current path into the Future and consider, "If I continue with my current portfolio of behaviors, what will be my reputation five years from now?"

Once you notice what's creating stress for you or others, you can create a plan to change. Like Scrooge, you can start immediately, as soon as you get out of bed tomorrow morning.

Remember, Leadership is not about a title. Anyone can be a Leader who recognizes and lets go of their stressors to embrace a better way of showing up in the space of generosity and human kindness.

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The Executive Happiness Coach® is a global provider of Executive Coaching and mentoring services. With clients on six continents, my passion is to help build a Happier world and workplace, one Leader at a time.

Contact me to create more Happiness, Leadership, and balance in your life.

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All things Happiness Coach:

                       

View past editions at http://www.TheExecutiveHappinessCoach.com/resources/archives/.

Copyright © 2014, All Rights Reserved. Reproduction for publication is encouraged, with the following attribution: "From HAPPINESS@TheSPEEDofLIFE, by Jim Smith, PCC, The Executive Happiness Coach®. For more tips on Leading with Happiness, visit www.TheExecutiveHappinessCoach.com."

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