“The universe will fill your cup if you carry a big cup, a little cup, or a thimble.”

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“The universe will fill your cup if you carry a big cup, a little cup, or a thimble.”

– Sonia Choquette, spiritual teacher and author

How full is your life? If it is so full that things are spilling out, perhaps this is because your life vessel is too small, and because some of the wrong things are trying to enter.

This quote points to the importance of the size of our life’s vessel, so that it can hold the abundance which the universe can provide. It suggests we have the ability to shift the size from one of limitation to one of greater proportions.

An additional consideration I’d like to suggest is to place a filter over the opening, and let only those people and experiences best suited to your specific life journey enter.

Exercise:

What actions will you take now and in the future both to expand the capacity of your life container and to accept only the highest quality ingredients for a full and happy life?

In other words, let’s go for both: quantity and quality.

“Don’t tell me the sky’s the limit when there are footprints on the moon.”

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“Don’t tell me the sky’s the limit when there are footprints on the moon.”

– Paul Brandt, country music singer

A colleague of mine, Sandy, was once asked a question – what was her favorite place to go in the entire world?

Her answer was, “The space between my ears.”

Sandy is a highly creative and imaginative person who realized the only limits that truly exist are those our own thoughts place on us.

Exercise:

Spend three to five minutes writing down some of your limiting beliefs about yourself and life in general.

Investigate where others have gone beyond these limits in their own lives, as a way of demonstrating new possibilities that can exist for you in your life.

“You’ll never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view … until you climb inside his skin and walk around in it.”

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“You’ll never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view … until you climb inside his skin and walk around in it.”

– Harper Lee, author of To Kill a Mockingbird

One of the pioneers and leaders in the field of personal development, Stephen Covey, passed away not long ago. He was perhaps best known for his classic book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. Habit 5 states, “Seek to understand and then to be understood.”

In our fast-paced world, most of us do an abridged version of this if we do it at all. Lee’s quote suggests that we go far deeper and climb under the skin of another to fully understand their perspective and point of view.

Exercise:

When you meet someone you don’t know, or even someone you think you know well, try the following three relationship techniques:

1.       Ask lots of genuine open-ended questions to show your sincere interest.
2.       Layer, by taking a piece of their answer, to go deeper and demonstrate that you are truly listening.
3.       Be silent when they are speaking, so they can fully express their ideas and opinions.

Feel free to send me an email (barry@dempcoaching.com) to let me know how these techniques work for you.

“Cease to inquire what the future has in store, and take as a gift whatever the day brings forth.”

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“Cease to inquire what the future has in store, and take as a gift whatever the day brings forth.”

– Horace, Roman poet

Someone once said that contentment is being satisfied with what you have and who you are. This does not mean that pursing your goals with passion and bettering yourself is a bad idea.

Far too many people spend a considerable amount of time longing for a better future – and often missing life’s gifts that happen to be right in front of their noses.

Exercise:

Imagine, as you go through your day, that a wide variety of gifts are being sent to you by some higher power – and even by the people in your personal and professional life.

Make sure that you are wearing your special “gift-seeing glasses” so that you don’t miss a single one.

“The unfed mind devours itself.”

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“The unfed mind devours itself.”

—Gore Vidal, writer

Image from Unsplash

We’ve all heard the phrase “you are what you eat.” Perhaps this is also the case with our thoughts.

When we feed ourselves positive, affirming ideas and thoughts, our lives expand and become better. When we feed ourselves negative and critical thoughts – which often occur when our minds are not enriched – we tend to regress, becoming smaller and far less fulfilled.

Exercise:

If the phrase thoughts become things has some truth to it, plan your future cerebral meals carefully to include only the choicest morsels.

  • Consider purchasing a copy of John Maxwell’s Maxwell Daily Reader to chew on each day.
  • Read a passage from the Bible, Torah, Koran or another inspirational book.

Of course, please keep reading and sharing The Quotable Coach with others. I will do my best to make it worth your time!

Feel free to forward this email to friends and colleagues. If you received this from a friend, you can sign up to get future emails at www.thequotablecoach.com.

“Reading one book is like eating one potato chip.”

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“Reading one book is like eating one potato chip.”

– Diane Duane, science fiction and fantasy author

How many of you remember the old Lays potato chip commercial from the 70s and 80s – you know, the one that says you can’t eat just one? For some reason, those crispy salty treats caused many of us to find ourselves licking our fingers, having reached the bottom of the bag.

For me, books are a great metaphor for the satisfaction of gaining greater knowledge, entertaining ourselves, and expanding our worlds. They won’t even put those extra pounds on you.

Exercise:

Develop a list of books that you intend to read in the year ahead. Consider asking your friends, families and colleagues for their recommendations.

Buy at least one of those books this week on half.com, eBay or Amazon – and schedule yourself to enjoy those tasty bits of knowledge and pleasure daily.

Please check out my list of book recommendations for more ideas:http://www.dempcoaching.com/recommended-reading

“Hard work without talent is a shame, but talent without hard work is a tragedy.”

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“Hard work without talent is a shame, but talent without hard work is a tragedy.”

– Robert Half, businessman


As a business coach for over 19 years, I have worked with over 1,000 individuals in a wide variety of professions. It is a shame when I see people working 60 hours or more each week in jobs that don’t play to their strengths and talents. Many of these people experience high levels of stress, which can sometimes lead to burnout and illness.

As a coach, I help people discover and develop their strengths and unique abilities and apply them in their work. Sometimes, these people have fallen short of their fullest potentials simply because they haven’t put in the time and effort to make the most of their abilities.

Exercise:

How can you further discover and develop your talents and put in the work – which hopefully will feel like play – to avoid the tragedy of not realizing your fullest potential?

“The most exciting breakthroughs of the 21st century will not occur because of technology, but because of an expanded concept of what it means to be human.”

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“The most exciting breakthroughs of the 21st century will not occur because of technology, but because of an expanded concept of what it means to be human.”

– John Naisbitt, futurist and author

In my youth, I found that I often exchanged my time for money. As I get older, I now consider time as a new currency. How I spend my time and who I spend it with has great significance.

I do find that, as a high priority, I spend considerable time exploring and reflecting on life itself, hoping to maximize my potential and to contribute things of significance to those around me.

Exercise:

How can you further develop and expand your concept of what it means to be you?

With this expanded concept in mind, how will you spend your time and who will you spend it with in the future?

“The highest reward for a person’s toil… “

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“The highest reward for a person’s toil is not what they get for it, but what they become by it.”

– John Ruskin, 19th century English artist and philanthropist

PROGRESS 1
I am a work in progress. How about you? With the wide variety of daily experiences we all have, I believe that we are constantly evolving and becoming a fuller expression of ourselves.

We all work each day to earn the compensation that allows us to care for ourselves and others. Ruskin’s quote, however, points to the less recognized and often subtle developments that accompany such experiences.

Exercise:

Explore how your daily efforts further your journey toward more fulfilling relationships, enhance creativity, expand greater self-esteem, support vibrant health, and extend your pursuit of wisdom.

How are you going beyond your basic psychological and physiological needs to pursue your own self-actualization? Consider Googling Maslow’s hierarchy of needs to explore this concept in more depth.

“People don’t buy for logical reasons. They buy for emotional reasons.”

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“People don’t buy for logical reasons. They buy for emotional reasons.”

– Zig Ziglar, best-selling author and motivational speaker

I’m not sure if I fully agree with this premise – however, I would support the belief that most buying decisions have a considerable emotional component. Marketers, the media, work associates and even friends and family are constantly pitching ideas and products. I find that I am most easily sold when both head and heart are involved in the decision – especially when the decisions are big ones.

Consider some of the big decisions that you’ve made successfully, including such matters as education, location, friendships, environment – and even your life partner. When making decisions such as these, you are unlikely to think, “there is an 83% likelihood we will be married seven years from now.” Instead, you pay attention to what your heart says.

Exercise:

How can you listen more closely to the wisdom of your heart, as you consider the decisions you need to make today and in the future?