Note to Self Chronicles

You Can’t Think Your Way Into the Impossible—You Have to Walk Into It

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“Impos­si­ble Begin­nings: How to do the impossible—Stop run­ning from it. Start with the part that’s pos­si­ble, and let it reveal the rest.” ~ Note to Self Chronicles—TonyBrigmon.com We’ve all been there—standing at the edge of some­thing that feels impos­si­ble. Not because it actu­al­ly is, but because it’s over­whelm­ing, and “impos­si­ble” is a seduc­tive word that … Read more

Positivity With Its Boots On: Why Real Optimism Includes the Struggle

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Pos­i­tive Per­spec­tive: Pos­i­tiv­i­ty does­n’t require you to be in denial of your difficulties—just to see your­self work­ing through them. Sure? Pos­i­tive!” ~ Note to Self Chron­i­cles—TonyBrigmon.com Let’s be hon­est: pos­i­tiv­i­ty has a PR prob­lem. Some­where along the way, it got con­fused with pre­tend­ing. We start­ed think­ing that being pos­i­tive meant smil­ing through pain, bypass­ing feel­ings, … Read more

The One Question That Keeps You Stuck (And the Upgrade That Sets You Free)

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“Ques­tion Upgrade: Replace ‘Why me?’ with ‘How can I?’ and watch your brain switch from com­plaint mode to cre­ation mode. Turns out, bet­ter ques­tions unlock bet­ter answers. Game chang­er.” ~ Note to Self Chronicles—TonyBrigmon.com Let’s start with rad­i­cal hon­esty: “Why me?” is a com­plete­ly rea­son­able response to life’s curve­balls. When the project implodes, the rela­tion­ship … Read more

The Eviction Notice Your Excuses Have Been Avoiding

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“From Can’t to Can: It is what it is till it ain’t. They would change it if they could, but they can’t—till they can. Give them a good why and they will. And that’s the Deal!” ~ Note to Self Chronicles—TonyBrigmon.com We’ve all fur­nished apart­ments in the neigh­bor­hood of “I Can’t.” Hung pic­tures. Mem­o­rized which … Read more

Your Mind Is a Home You’re Always Redecorating (Whether You Realize It or Not)

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Mind Shift: Your mind is a home. What you dwell on… becomes the décor. Fill it with grat­i­tude, hope, and joy. Because dwelling on the neg­a­tive? That makes for a mis­er­able dwelling. So name one good thing—just one. Feel that shift? That’s your mind open­ing the win­dows to more light. — Note to Self Chronicles—TonyBrigmon.com … Read more

Stop Rolling With the Punches You’re Throwing

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“Nav­i­gat­ing Social Inter­ac­tions: To roll with the punch­es is good—to stop doing things that make peo­ple want to punch you is bet­ter!” ~ Note to Self Chronicles—TonyBrigmon.com We’ve all heard it: devel­op thick­er skin, don’t take things per­son­al­ly, be resilient. And sure, that’s use­ful advice in a world that won’t always han­dle you gen­tly. But … Read more

The Third Little Piggy Had Roast Beef (And Your Opinion About It Doesn’t Matter)

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“Porky Per­spec­tives: The 3rd lit­tle pig­gy had roast beef—not all pig­gies are veg­e­tar­i­ans. And some do go wee-wee-wee all the way home—deal with it!”* ~ Note to Self Chronicles—TonyBrigmon.com Look, we all grew up with the same nurs­ery rhymes. We know the pig­gies. We’ve mem­o­rized their entire sto­ry­line. But here’s the plot twist nobody warned … Read more

The Champion’s Playbook: Why the Best Move Might Be Walking Away

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“Cham­pi­on’s Play­book: Play your own game—do what you do best. Make your own rules—from expe­ri­ence. Quit when you’re ahead—walk away a cham­pi­on!” ~ Note to Self Chronicles—TonyBrigmon.com Let’s talk about quit­ting. Not the giv­ing-up, I‑can’t‑do-this, throw­ing-in-the-tow­el kind. The strate­gic, I‑know-my-worth, I’m‑done-here kind. The kind that makes peo­ple uncom­fort­able because it does­n’t fit our cul­tur­al obses­sion … Read more

Stop Talking and Start Asking: The Leadership Question Nobody Wants to Hear

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“Want to Lead? Effec­tive lead­ers are known by the ques­tions they ask rather than the state­ments they make. Start ask­ing smarter ques­tions!” ~ Note to Self Chronicles—TonyBrigmon.com So, here’s a weird thing about lead­er­ship: we’ve some­how decid­ed that the per­son who talks the most is in charge.  You know the type—walks into a meet­ing, imme­di­ate­ly … Read more

Bloom Where Planted: It’s Not Where You Were Planted, It’s How You Choose to Grow

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Bloom Where Plant­ed: It’s not where you were plant­ed, it’s how you choose to grow. Amaz­ing what you can grow out of or into—when you choose to do so! ~ Note to Self Chronicles—TonyBrigmon.com Let’s be honest—this quote is the kind of thing that gets embroi­dered on throw pil­lows and shared with sun­rise pho­tos. It’s … Read more

 How to Be a Pillar, Not a Plaster

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“Invis­i­ble Bat­tles, Vis­i­ble Sup­port: Those who have been ‘there’ rec­og­nize the strug­gle no one else sees in one who is ‘there’—and will be ‘there’ for them! Be that pil­lar of strength for oth­ers.” ~ Note to Self Chron­i­cles—TonyBrigmon.com I keep cir­cling back to that word: there. It’s such a sim­ple word, but it holds so much. … Read more

Are You Hiding in a Committee?

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“Com­mit­tee Conun­drum: Where bril­liant minds unite to per­fect the art of col­lec­tive inaction—break free and be the lone wolf of progress!” ~ Note to Self Chron­i­cles—TonyBrigmon.com So, you’re in a meeting—you know the type. The one where you spend 45 min­utes debat­ing the philo­soph­i­cal impli­ca­tions of the word “lever­age” in a project title. You leave … Read more