Are you an ineffective leader? It’s far from a comfortable question, but it’s necessary to ask of ourselves. We each have a need for routine critical self-examination. When we lack introspection, we often get stuck in our own patterns of thinking and acting without consideration. This means that we get trapped telling ourselves lies—and believing them—to the detriment of our careers and colleagues.

Effective leadership demands much, including the ability to be a great salesman. What exactly do I mean by that? I mean mastering the art of persuasion. So much of leadership involves convincing others that what you want them to do is what they want to do.

If you’re at all a serious runner, you may have caught wind of something called a “recovery run.” These runs have become popular in recent years, and there are a lot of claims and assumptions that fly around about what they’re actually supposed to be and do for us endurance runners. Many coaches will claim that they flush lactic acid build up from the legs by increasing blood flow, or that they promote tissue repair.

I don’t know about you, but one of my favorite things to do when I’m on a long drive, on a run, or working around the house is listen to podcasts. There are so many quality programs out there these days that it’s impossible to find time to listen to them all.

Are you sabotaging your career without realizing it? I think that in many ways, we don’t totally realize just how much our thoughts and unconscious behaviors really matter when it comes to our success. We often believe that success comes down to our actions—without considering just how much those actions are influenced by the thoughts and subtle behaviors that lead us there.

Who do you picture when you think of a gentleman? I have to admit, there’s a part of me that always imagines Cary Grant. There’s something idealistic about a clean-cut, no-nonsense man in a suit ready to sweep a woman off her feet and be the hero of the movie.

We live in a world of overachievers. We glorify pushing harder, being busier, and going as far and as long as it takes. While many of us find something admirable about this attitude and the people who live it out, it, unfortunately, tends to be a very unsustainable way to work and live. Whether you end up burning out at the office or in the hospital with stress-related chest pains, it’s not always good to go as hard as you can all the time.

Do you feel like you’re not reaching your potential?

Maybe you’re still trying. Maybe you gave up somewhere along the way.

Regardless of where you happen to be, realizing that you aren’t living up to the image of success that you had for yourself can be a tough pill to swallow. Professional success is a long, tough road that often comes with setbacks and heartbreak.

We live in a culture of fad diets, superfoods, and quick fixes for all of our bodily ails. With misinformation and modern old wives’ tales spreading faster than ever before, its important more than ever for athletes and endurance runners to prioritize not only a quality intake of food but a quality intake of information.

When you think about what creates financial success, what comes to mind? Good money habits? A smart savings plan? Investments? These are all part of the equation, but I bet you weren’t expecting your own physical wellness to play a part in the health of your bank account!

We hear all the time how important connections are to climbing the ladder in the professional world. It doesn’t really matter what industry you’re in, success, many times, comes down to who you know. But what if you don’t know anyone? Not all of us are blessed with a natural knack for communications, a job history that gave us a Rolodex full of contacts when we left, or just those someones who seem to always know someone when you need them.

In our hectic daily lives, it can be a challenge to find room to get active. Even though I’m an endurance runner and I make room for my exercise routine, I know that not everyone is ready or able to make that sort of commitment. If you want to start making moves towards a healthier you but you don’t feel you have the time in your schedule, one of the easiest ways to start incorporating physical activity into your life is to exercise in the office.

Even when you love what you do, you can burn out. Whether it’s facing that Monday morning traffic year after year or dealing with a mountain of emails one too many times, dealing with clients, coworkers, and the tedium of it all can lead you to a dark place.

Everyone wants to be irreplaceable. We always want to feel like we’re one-of-a-kind. Valuable. If not because it makes us feel good, because it gives us a sense of security. After all, if you’re tough to replace at work, then you have heightened job security, right?

When it comes to our diet, I feel like most of us are just trying our best to do a good job. We generally want to make good choices and eat healthy foods. We avoid candy bars and skip over the Doritos. We even avoid the drive-thru because we know the fries, though tempting, are just loaded with salt, sugar, and fat. 

Miscommunication is a staple of sitcom blunders, but we rarely find ourselves laughing when it happens in real life. Whether it causes a fight with a spouse or a row at work, there is nothing funny about miscommunicating. It can cause not only heartache, but loss of reputation, opportunity, and even career.

Sometimes I think I take for granted that I’m in the investment game. If you’re not in the business of portfolios and passive income, the guiding principles of building wealth and strategic money management might be as foreign to you as another language.

Change can be a scary thing. It’s also a necessary thing if we are to reach our full potential. Not only does change push us to reach new heights, it’s often the thing that makes us feel alive. It moves us out of the doldrums of our lives, shocking the system back to life with the thrill of the unknown. We don’t know what’s around the corner. We might feel a little anxious. We might be a little scared.

At one time, you might have had a success story about endurance running. Maybe you had the resolve to begin and you saw an amazing transformation in your life: you watched the pounds fall off, the pant sizes drop, and your energy go up. You finished marathon after marathon and never felt better.

Do you consider yourself a high-performance worker? Maybe you’re known for climbing the ladder, crushing the competition, and getting the job done. Maybe it’s who you used to be. It could be that you lost your mojo somewhere along the way or that you were never that person to begin with.