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“To the world you may be just one person, but to one person you may be the world.”
– H. Jackson Brown

May is the Month for Mothers! Everybody has—or has had—a beautiful mother in their life.  Being a mom is the most important role that a woman can ever fulfill.  Whether it be a mother to your own kids, your friends’ or neighbors’ kids, or the many dogs, cats and other fur-babies that exist in our life.  We women are all mothers in some way. On Sunday, May 9^th, everyone around the world will celebrate our mothers and/or our motherhood.  It’s an important day, so please do not let this day go by without reaching out to your mom.

Here’s one of my favorite Mother’s Day photos, showing Virginia, John Robert, my mom, and me.  You can see how happy we all are.  Everyone was smiling and that day was a special memory. It’s a photo from an actual Mother’s Day in 2012.  Yes, it was taken 9 years ago when John Robert was just 5 years old.  After posing for this photo at the Picture People Studio, we enjoyed a delicious lunch together at The Cheesecake Factory.  That was one of our favorite things to do together on weekends, holidays and other special occasions.

I know that this Mother’s Day is going to be a difficult day for our family; it will be the first Mother’s Day without my mom (in pink).  But her presence will be with us, I know.  Sweet Camille would have been 85 years old.  We will miss her, but we will celebrate the holiday with my mother-in-law, Virginia, who is 87, her husband, my dad, my brother, my husband, and John Robert.  It is always nice to be all together.

I hope that you have the chance to celebrate with your mom, your mother-in-law, and your kids.

For 14 years, John Robert has always made me a proud mom.  His birth is my most important achievement in life.  Just coming into this world safely was an absolute miracle.  I still remember celebrating my first Mother’s Day with him being in the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit (CICU) of Children’s Hospital.  Within his first 2 weeks of being hooked up to machines, he learned how to smile.  Then within the first month he went from needing a feeding tube to breast feeding.  I felt so important—he really needed me! Both mothers were my rock.  Their advice then and throughout the years has been so important to me. They helped me to get through 2 Open Heart Surgeries and an Ablation Surgery. I am so grateful for both moms.

Their loving and caring nature influenced me and made me into the mom that I am today.

Over the years, I’ve been delighted to watch John Robert perform.  He is an actor, a dancer and a singer.  He really is a born entertainer and lights up the stage when he’s on it.  In fact, this Saturday he will be performing Luminaire in the Musical “Beauty and the Beast.”  I am looking forward to seeing it.  Watching John Robert perform is a perfect Mother’s Day Gift to me.

Throughout the past 14 years, my mom & Virginia have shared with me important and sage advice.

Here are the top 10 lessons that I have learned from my moms: (in no particular order)

1. Have Faith.
2. Respect Yourself.
3. Don’t Gossip.
4. Never Go to Bed Mad.
5. Never go Anywhere Empty Handed.
6. Love Your Siblings
7. Know Who Your True Friends Are.
8. Be Yourself.  (Everybody Else Is Taken.)
9. Try New Things (Food, Drinks or Activities, etc.)
10. Love & Respect Your Parents

Enjoy the advice. To tell you the truth, I could’ve written about 100-to-1,000 lessons on what I’ve learned from these very special women.  But, as you can see, I tried to narrow the list down to just the top 10 that resonate most with me.

If you can, enjoy your moms on this special day.  If you are a mom, enjoy your special day.  If you are a spouse, kid or sibling, make sure that you acknowledge the moms in your life.

With gratitude and best wishes!
Lisa Sasso, Executive Coach & Motivational Speaker
www.MedDevCoach.com    (781) 872-1045

As your trusted advisor, Lisa empowers you to use passion to live your best life and achieve your goals with confidence, accountability, gratitude and balance.

“Beauty attracts the eye, but personality captures the heart.” – Ayushi Rathore

This month, I want to share with you a very efficient and easy way to use birds to emulate the DISC method for personality styles training.

We know a lot about personality styles training, which provides an easy way to help us understand different personality and behavioral styles. Today, the personality assessment market not only represents a $500 million-a-year business, but is growing at the remarkable rate of about 10-15% a year, according to Human Capital Media.

Merrick Rosenberg is the CEO of Take Flight Learning, and his famous book Taking Flight! came out in 2012.  Now there are 3 published books:

1. Taking Flight!: Master the DISC Styles to Transform Your Career, Your Relationships…Your Life
2. The Chameleon: Life-Changing Wisdom for Anyone Who Has a Personality or Knows Someone Who Does
3. Personality Wins: Who Will Take the White House and How We Know

I’m focusing today on Taking Flight with DISC Profile, which is about the four different types of personality styles training, and features the DISC assessment tool.  I learned from my own recent training experience that nobody owns DISC, and that using its “bird assignments” system is the easiest way to remember the personality types.  The book also follows the KISS method (Keep it Simple Sweetheart).  Anyone can remember the personalities of the four birds, and it makes it quite simple to know and own your style.

In the years before the idea of using birds was introduced, certain letters of the alphabet (acronyms) were used in personality styles training sessions—but afterward, people often forgot what the different letters stood for.  Many even forgot their own personality style.  In fact, it was rare that people would actually apply the new skills they had learned, as you can’t apply what you do not remember.  People do not forget their bird.

Here’s a brief look at how the DISC tool using bird assignments works:

The Four Birds in Taking Flight with DISC

What is your style?

• Eagle:      dominant, confident, in-control, authority.
• Parrot:     social, friendly, fun, outgoing.
• Dove:       peaceful, loving, humble, caring, listeners.
• Owl:         wise, thinker, logical, analytical.

Relating to the different styles of the birds (mnemonic).  The birds embody the meaning of each style.  The model takes little time to teach.  People can learn through visual imagery, and finally people proudly display their “bird” style.

How do you communicate?  How do you listen?

• Eagle:     be brief, be brilliant and be gone.
• Parrot:    talking – in their minds they are thinking of a related story, we have this in common.
• Dove:      emotions, feelings – people come to people with their feelings.
• Owl:        facts, data, analytical.

Here’s what I learned about my own style:  I am a Parrot first and foremost.  Then I am an Eagle and a Dove; next and lastly, I am an Owl.

The book is a very easy read; it takes just a few hours.  I think you’ll be interested in not only the particular type of bird that you identify with, but also how the other birds relate and co-exist with your bird type.

Most DISC training is on the style.  Here are some examples of how the birds relate to each other:

• If a Parrot gives feedback to Owl, the might say “You were incredible and you knocked it out of the park.”
• If the Owl gives feedback to a Parrot: It is analytical feedback.  The Parrot can’t always tell if he liked it.
• If the Dove gives feedback to an Eagle:  It is loving and caring.  But the Eagle just wants to know the bottom line.

This is the easiest assessment tool to learn.  It is intuitive and it is a lot of fun.

I hope you do pick up the book Taking Flight with DISC Profile and determine your style, and also the styles of the people that you work and live with.  I highly recommend this book, and all ages can enjoy and learn from it. Personality styles training is great for not only understanding your own traits, and those of your colleagues, but also, for understanding how you personally get along with— and work with— the other birds.

If you are interested in learning more about my coaching, please visit my website (www.MedDevCoach.com) or book a FREE mini-consult by clicking here.

Resources:
The Chameleon (Book) https://store.takeflightlearning.com/books/the-chameleon.html
Taking Flight! (Book) https://store.takeflightlearning.com/books/taking-flight.html
Taking Flight with DISC Profile (Book) https://store.takeflightlearning.com/assessments/taking-flight-with-disc-profile-online-profile.html

With gratitude and best wishes!
Lisa Sasso, Executive Coach & Motivational Speaker
www.MedDevCoach.com    (781) 872-1045

As your trusted advisor, Lisa empowers you to use passion to live your best life and achieve your goals with confidence, accountability, gratitude and balance.

“That’s a great golden nugget that’s going in my tactical toolbox.”  —  Joe Tati

Happy March!  It’s been a year since the very first Covid lockdown in the US, which makes this March very special.  It’s the first month that we’re really beginning to see the light at the end of the Covid tunnel.

This month I want to share three Golden Nuggets of Wisdom

Photo by Sharon McCutcheon on Unsplash

My first Nugget:  The Platinum Rule.  Do you know the difference between the Golden Rule and the Platinum Rule?

We all know the Golden Rule: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”  This implies the basic assumption that other people would like to be treated the same way you‘d like to be treated. But did you know there is also an alternative, which is known as the Platinum Rule?  It says: “Treat others the way they want to be treated.”

Everybody is different, and so we all have different needs and values.  Doesn’t it make sense to forgo the Golden Rule and instead, simply treat others the way they want to be treated?  I want you to think about this for a minute.  It’s an approach and a philosophy that can affect how you do many things.  Which rule do you typically follow?

The next Golden Nugget is about Women’ s History Month, and especially March 8^th.  It was International Women’s Day on Monday.  This was the day to celebrate the women in your life, to honor their achievements, both personally and professionally.  In 1987, Congress passed legislation to formalize the first Women’s History Month—giving us an opportunity each year to not only celebrate determined women in the past who fought for equity, but also the hardworking women of today who continuously battle for equal pay.

The final Golden Nugget I’d like to share is: Invest in Yourself. Let me give you an example of how I apply this Nugget in my own life:  I recently completed a 3-month Intensive Coaching program that met for close to 20 hours every week.  Yes, each week.  I am already a certified coach, so I was not doing this to gain any credentials,  but simply for self-improvement.

I believe in being the best that you can be, and this has paid off in spades for me.  Now, Medical Device Professionals who want to On-board, Transition, or Climb the Corporate Ladder are finding me via social media and on www.MedDevCoach.com.  If you haven’t visited my website lately, there are some new additions that I think will interest you: a PDF containing Interviews with Leaders on Climbing the Corporate Ladder, and also a Goal Setting Podcast from February.

When was the last time you invested in yourself?  Make it a priority this spring to do something for you.  Start your new season out right!  If you need my help, I am here to support you.

With gratitude and best wishes!
Lisa Sasso, Executive Coach & Motivational Speaker
www.MedDevCoach.com    (781) 872-1045

As your trusted advisor, Lisa empowers you to use passion to live your best life and achieve your goals with confidence, accountability, gratitude and balance.

“Where there is love there is life.” —Mahatma Gandhi

February is Love Month— a time to show the people you care about just how much you love and appreciate them.  We all need love, affection, and appreciation in our lives—whether that be love of a partner, a child, a parent, a sibling, a friend or even a pet.  Love can be shared in many ways.

Photo by Jude Beck on Unsplash

Being in love puts a smile on your face.  It is a feeling that is indescribable.  As I said, Love takes many forms.  In addition to our love for the people in our lives, there’s also Love for organizations, jobs, clubs and even places of worship.

We all were made from love and are byproducts of love.

In honor of Love, I wanted to offer you (my faithful list) two FREE things:

First: A FREE Goal Setting Webinar, today, Wed., Feb 10th at 4:00 pm EST

Join the more than 50 people already registered for today’s event and be prepared to Set and Achieve Your Personal and Professional Goals.  The Webinar is called:

“Goal Setting for Success:  With Accountability, Balance and Gratitude”

For more information and to register use this link:  http://bit.ly/GoalSet2021

Do you know what percentage of people actually achieve their goals?
According to Inc Magazine, science says only 8 percent of people achieve their goals. Yes, that means that 92% of people who set New Year’s goals never actually achieve them.

Good Goals are Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant & Time-Bound.  Even if you have done this exercise before, it is a good refresher to do it again.  Things certainly change from year to year.  Almost everybody’s goals have changed from those we set at the beginning of 2020!

I want you to be in the 8%!  I want to ensure that you make your 2021 goals, and I’m here to support you.  If you want to achieve your goals, you can do either of the following:

Come to my FREE Goal Setting Webinar Feb 10^th, – today: http://bit.ly/GoalSet2021

Second: my second act of LOVE is to invite you to sign up for a FREE 15-minute Mini-Consult, where we can privately discuss your goals and objectives for 2021: Please use this link to book time on my calendar: https://bookme.name/lisasasso

In case you’re wondering how much we can cover in 15 minutes, sign up; you’ll be amazed.  My secret?  Whatever I do, I always use the KISS Method:

Keep   It   Simple   Sweetheart

Remember that I Love You and I Love this Motivational List.  I am delighted to share daily motivational quotes and my Monthly Motivational Messages to you each month.

Have a great February and make this Feb 14^th a day you’ll always remember.  I am excited to share that I was just featured as a Goal Setting expert on Erik K. Johnson’s Podcast “Talent Coach”.  It is so appropriate that the podcast will air on Sun., Feb. 14^th www.PodcastTalentCoach.com/podcasts. It is going to be a great day.

Try to do something nice for someone you love.  Just wait and see the ripple effects of your good deed.

Happy Valentine’s Day to you!

With gratitude and best wishes!
Lisa Sasso, Executive Coach & Motivational Speaker
www.MedDevCoach.com    (781) 872-1045

As your trusted advisor, Lisa empowers you to use passion to live your best life and achieve your goals with confidence, accountability, gratitude and balance.

“A goal is a dream with a deadline.” —Napoleon Hill

I am thinking of you and your family, and sending love and best wishes as we begin the new year.

Despite the challenges in the US and the world right now, I am feeling a lot of hope and optimism as we begin this brand-new year! There truly is light at the end of the tunnel, so it’s got to be a better year than 2020.

Our New Year’s Eve was celebrated with dinner and desserts together with our neighbors, the McCanns. Their two sons, Ryan and David, are John Robert’s best friends.  John (my husband) and I are also good friends with the boys’ parents.  It was nice to celebrate the new year with them.  We all stayed up until midnight, although the ball-dropping in Times Square was anticlimactic: it was different, and with the streets in NYC so bare it just didn’t feel like New Year’s.

I hope that you were able to celebrate New Year’s with your family and maybe some close friends.  It was truly a goodbye to 2020 and a warm welcome to 2021.

So, did you set your goals for 2021?  If not, it’s still not too late. Every January, I offer to help with this.  First, I help you to take a closer look at yourself and your values.  Then, I help you to write your personal, professional and gratitude goals.  Together, we can achieve all that in just one hour.

This year is no different:  I will be running a Free Webinar, “SMART Start for Goal Setting,” for Westford Job Seekers (WJS) on Jan 20^th at 3:00 pm. 

If you’d like me to send you the link for the Zoom call for this webinar, just reply to this email.  In the subject line of the email, write  “Goals,” and in the body of the email just provide me with your name and phone number.   You will then receive the meeting link either from me or the organizers directly.

January is my birthday month.  It feels good to share my gifts and talent with you.  My present to you each year is for you to have clear goals for the new year.  Statistics show that 80% of the people who make New Year’s Resolutions forget them by February—and by year-end, only 9% have actually achieved their goals.

This year, I want you to be in the 9%!  By attending this webinar, you set yourself up for success.  You’ll learn how to set goals, and will leave with them being firmly in place.

I’m looking forward to seeing you on the webinar on Jan. 20^th.

NOTE:  If you can’t make it to this event, I will be running another Goal Setting Seminar on Feb. 10^th.  To register for the Feb 10th seminar, visit the registration page at http://bit.ly/GoalSet2021. It is important to set your goals early in the year so that you have plenty of time to execute them.

Here’s wishing you happiness, success and prosperity in 2021.

With gratitude and best wishes!
Lisa Sasso, Executive Coach & Motivational Speaker
www.MedDevCoach.com    (781) 872-1045

As your trusted advisor, Lisa empowers you to use passion to live your best life and achieve your goals with confidence, accountability, gratitude and balance.

We just wanted to wish you a very Merry Christmas!   2020 was a year that none of us will ever forget.

First, there was COVID-19, the lockdown, and the never-ending 2020 election. Finally, the passing of my beautiful mom (sweet Camille) was something we will never forget.  We miss her greatly.

The family:

 

John is finishing his fourth year at Nextegic R&D.  His office moved from Cambridge to Wilmington, and he is now less than 10 minutes away from our house.  However, he still works from home most of the time.

John Robert is in 8^th grade at Learning Prep School.  He is active in Drama, Chorus, Hip Hop, and Jazz Classes.  In the play Mary Poppins, John Robert performed the part of Bert (the leading man), and in Mamma Mia!, he played the role of Harry (one of the Dads).  He even choreographed the dance numbers for the musical, Descendants.  This performance was for the younger drama students. Most recently he played the role of Rapunzel’s Prince in Into the Woods.

I am finishing my 14^th year as an Executive Coach and a Motivational Speaker.  I will be running a Complimentary Goal Setting Seminar on Wed., January 20^th at 3:30pm.  If you are interested in attending this event, please email me at Lsasso@MedDevCoach.com.

This Christmas I decided to gift you with a FREE Mini-consult.  If you have 15 minutes and want some help with an issue or getting ready for the New Year, I am here to help you!  You can find a time on my calendar https://bookme.name/lisasasso and we can have a little chat.

Here is hoping that 2021 will be a better year for all of us.  It will be a new year that is filled with joy, family, friends, and social gatherings.  We all need a new semblance of normal.  It will be great seeing everyone again.
With gratitude and best wishes!
Lisa Sasso, Executive Coach & Motivational Speaker
www.MedDevCoach.com    (781) 872-1045

As your trusted advisor, Lisa empowers you to use passion to live your best life and achieve your goals with confidence, accountability, gratitude and balance.

“Develop an attitude of gratitude and give thanks for everything that happens to your, knowing that every step forward is a step toward achieving something bigger and better than your current situation.” ~Brian Tracy

We all have the same 24 hours in a day – 1,440 minutes or 86,400 seconds.

But it is what we do with our time that makes a difference.  You will get a lot more out of your days if you approach each day in gratitude and if you make gratitude a part of your daily routine.

Live in gratitude.  Be thankful and live by being grateful to others. The Thanksgiving holiday is approaching.  It is one of my very favorite holidays. Close family and friends gather around a good meal with lots of tasty appetizers and decadent desserts. It is not a commercial holiday.  It is a special day that takes us back to the first Turkey dinner with the pilgrims and the Indians.

No matter what you do on Thanksgiving, make sure that you enjoy the people. Thanksgiving is a special day celebrated around the country. I am sure that the number of people that come to gather this year will probably be smaller because of Covid-19.  But, it is about quality and not the number of people.  Please consider going around the table before eating and let each person take a turn answering what they are most thankful for this year? Take a moment for reflection.

Remember loved ones that are not at the table this year. This Thanksgiving is the first big holiday without my mom.  I am sure it will be difficult, but her presence will always be with us.  I also want to recognize the people that lost their lives this year due to Covid-19.  Everyone should be thankful that they did not get Covid-19, and if they got it, I hope they made a full recovery.

Everyone has multiple reasons to be thankful this year.  I write in a daily gratitude journal called the “5-Minute Journal.”  It is a great way to keep track of what three things you are grateful for and what amazing things you accomplished.  It also asks you to share what would make today great, daily affirmations, and finally, how could I have made today even better?

The benefits of practicing gratitude are many.  People who regularly practice gratitude by taking time to notice & reflect upon things:

• Are thankful
• Experience more positive emotions
• Feel more alive
• Sleep better
• Express more compassion & kindness
• Even have stronger immune systems

Wishing you and your family a blessed Thanksgiving Day Holiday!
With gratitude and best wishes!
Lisa Sasso, Executive Coach & Motivational Speaker
www.MedDevCoach.com    (781) 872-1045

As your trusted advisor, Lisa empowers you to use passion to live your best life and achieve your goals with confidence, accountability, gratitude and balance.

Passion can be thought of as an overpowering emotion or feeling.

What is your passion? To identify your passion, ask yourself questions that will lead to your growth. If you need help, try to find it.

I have helped many people discover their purpose and passions. Maybe I’m able to do that because I feel passionate about the work that I do and that I have immediate family examples of purpose and passion – my son, John Robert, and my mom, Camille Tosi.

I want to share the stories of these two people whom I love dearly and who are important to me.

John Robert has a passion for theater. He has a natural talent for acting, singing, and dancing and he has worked hard to develop it. Since he was 4 years old, he was been taking classes in acting, singing, and dancing. He has the “whole package”. Over the years, he has played Donkey, originally played by Eddie Murphy, in Shrek Jr.; he played Harry in Mama Mia Jr.; and he played the Cat in the Hat in Seussical Jr. and Michael in Peter Pan Jr..

At the end of August, he played his biggest role ever. He was Burt in Mary Poppins. Burt was the leading man who sang about eight songs, danced, and acted. My husband and I listened to John Robert practicing every night. We could not get the catchy show tunes out of our heads. In the original Mary Poppins movie, Dick Van Dyke played Burt. However, I must confess John Robert did an amazing job with the role. 

The New England School of Performing Arts was committed to producing the play, despite Covid-19. The fathers of the drama students worked together over the summer to construct the stage and erect a tent in a student’s backyard. The school, serious about bringing people together safely to watch the performance, required each person to bring his or her own chair and to wear a mask. All the kids did an incredible job! John Robert is such a wonderful example of passion with purpose and skill, even though he is still learning, working in a state of passion and flow.

My mom, Camille Tosi, had a passion for people — helping them and being there for them. She really cared about people and was always there to listen to an issue or a problem. She loved to write cards and always included personal messages and special photos. These were some of her activities of passion.

Mom had a smile that lit up a room. She was one of the kindest, sweetest, and loving people I have ever known. Mom loved flowers, Elvis, and Patti Page. On August 24 of this year, my mom died peacefully in her sleep. She lost a battle with Alzheimer’s but gave us another angel in heaven. Mom lived 83 amazing years and was married for 54 blissful years. She had three kids, four grandkids, and six Godchildren. My mom really loved people and people really loved her. She is greatly missed, but she is in a much better place.

I have had the good fortune to be surrounded by passionate people. I consider myself a passionate person. I know that my mother’s legacy will live on in me, and I know that my passionate son has many more years of performances.

Again, what are you passionate about? Don’t forget to find and follow your passion.

And if you want some help identifying your passions and working to achieve them, contact me and we can talk (https://bookme.name/lisasasso).

Upcoming Events

On Wed., Oct. 14, 2020, the MedDev Group (MDG) (www.MDGBoston.org) is presenting a program of short personal medical stories. The overall topic is Expand your Network in MedTech: Professional Development Virtual Networking Event. I will present a summary of my Follow Your Heart address. The event is FREE and lasts from 5:30 – 6:30 PM (Networking before and after event)

On Fri, Nov. 13, 2020, 10:30am to 12pm, Lisa will be presenting her Goal Setting for Success Seminar to the KLM Networking Group.  More information to follow.
With gratitude and best wishes!
Lisa Sasso, Executive Coach & Motivational Speaker
www.MedDevCoach.com    (781) 872-1045

As your trusted advisor, Lisa empowers you to use passion to live your best life and achieve your goals with confidence, accountability, gratitude and balance.