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Pathway to Possibility

by Walt | Nov 27, 2025 | Success | 0 Comments

It has been a challenging year. No one needs to tell you that. The headlines have been heavy. The markets unpredictable. The culture loud and anxious. Conflicts around the world have shaken the ground under our feet. Many people are carrying more worry than they care to admit. And yet here we are again, arriving at Thanksgiving. A moment set aside to give thanks. A moment that can feel almost out of place in a season like this. And also a moment we may need now more than ever.

Gratitude is not a denial of the hard things. It is not pretending everything is fine. Gratitude is choosing what we will allow to guide our attention. Because what we focus on shapes what we see. When we dwell on what is broken, not working, or chaotic, our minds begin scanning for more of the same. The world looks darker. Options feel fewer. Possibility narrows. But when we consciously shift our gaze toward what is good, toward what is working, toward what remains beautiful and meaningful, our awareness expands. More opportunities appear; more resilience surfaces; more energy returns.

It works the same way your mind suddenly notices the specific car you’ve been thinking about buying. You didn’t summon hundreds of new cars onto the road. You just activated your attention. Gratitude works on the same principle. It heightens your ability to see what has been there all along: the people who show up, the moments of peace, the small wins, the unexpected kindness, the simple pleasures, the new sparks of creativity, the foundations that remain steady even when other things shake.

And here is the real gift: gratitude doesn’t just make you feel better. It makes you more effective. Leaders who cultivate grateful awareness tend to make clearer decisions. They are more grounded under pressure; they connect better, listen better, collaborate better. They have access to more creative problem-solving because their attention is not hijacked by fear or scarcity. Gratitude creates inner space. And from that space, new ideas, new solutions, and new pathways begin to emerge.

This doesn’t mean ignoring pain, uncertainty, or loss. It means letting gratitude act as a counterweight. A stabilizer. A way of remembering that there is always more happening than whatever crisis happens to be loudest today. Gratitude softens the edges and opens the door to perspective. It helps us see beyond the narrow tunnel of worry and into a wider horizon where possibility still lives.

And this is the deeper truth: gratitude turns us toward the future. When we practice gratitude, even for small things, we are signaling to ourselves that there is still something worth investing in. Still something worth hoping for. Still something unfolding. Gratitude keeps us open. And in that openness, new possibilities begin to take shape—possibilities far beyond what we could imagine when we’re locked in fear or contraction.

So as we enter this holiday, take a moment. Breathe deeply. Notice something good. Something simple. Something that reminds you that life still offers beauty, connection, meaning, and possibility. Let that awareness be an anchor for you in the days ahead.

I wish you and yours a happy Thanksgiving.

Planting For The Future

by Walt | Nov 20, 2025 | Success | 0 Comments

I’d been putting off the task. As I do.

But the nights had been pretty cold for the last few weeks; and now, snow was in the forecast.

So it needed to be done.

Now or never.

Planting the daffodil bulbs.

The light was low that day. The sky a steel grey. And a brisk November wind was stripping the trees of those last stubborn leaves.

As I knelt and dug on the hard ground, I was overcome by strong waves of emotion.

An old archbishop friend once said, “The seeds of spring blow on the cold winds of November.”

And I was aware that planting bulbs is an act of faith. Of hope. That spring will come. That what we plant will grow.

It struck me in that moment how much of our lives depend on this same quiet trust. We plant long before we see anything happen. We put something into the ground knowing the winter will come and stay. We take action without any guarantee of timing or outcome. And still, we plant.

And yet, these past months, the world has felt heavy. Darker than usual. The news cycles. The uncertainty. The fatigue that settles in when we try to make sense of too much. It is easy to feel that our planting doesn’t matter. That our efforts barely make a dent. That maybe waiting for a “better season” makes more sense.

But here is the truth I remembered as I pressed those bulbs into the cold earth: the planting we do in the dark is the planting that transforms us. Anyone can sow in the sunshine. Anyone can take bold steps when everything feels light and easy. But planting in November, whether literally or figuratively, is what shapes our character. It is what sets the stage for the life we want next.

Every dream worth pursuing asks something of us long before it offers anything back. The new business. The book. The product. The program. The next chapter we can feel but cannot yet fully see. All of them require faith. All of them require a willingness to kneel in the cold, dig into hard ground, and bury something small with the trust that it will become something beautiful.

Most people wait for certainty. For green shoots. For signs that the timing is perfect. But life doesn’t work that way. Growth does not come to those who wait for ideal conditions. It comes to those who take the step, however small, and trust that spring follows winter as surely as morning follows night.

So plant.

Even when you feel discouraged. Even when the world feels unsteady. Even when your confidence is shaky and your vision is blurry. Plant anyway.

Because planting is not about the immediate return. Planting is about declaring that you still believe in what is possible. It is about staking a claim in the future you want, even while standing in a present that feels uncertain.

Those bulbs will rest now in the dark. They will sleep under snow and ice. Nothing will look different for months. But something powerful will be happening just below the surface. Roots will take hold. Energy will gather. And before long, those first green shoots will push through, quietly insisting that hope was never misplaced.

And so it is with your dreams.

What you plant now will grow.

Need help? Let’s talk. Email me: [email protected]

When You’re Not Afraid

by Walt | Nov 13, 2025 | Success | 2 Comments

When I was a lawyer, I was successful. I was making good money. On the outside, it looked like I had it made.

But on the inside, I was miserable. The work didn’t light me up. It drained me. I remember sitting in my office one night long after everyone else had gone home, looking out over the city, and thinking, Is this it? Is this what I’m going to do for the rest of my life?

I had a vision for something different. I wanted to create a coaching practice. To help people live more intentional, fulfilling lives. But the chasm between where I was and where I wanted to be felt terrifying. Too vast to cross.

So, I stayed stuck. For years.

Looking back, I see it clearly now. It wasn’t the lack of opportunity that held me back. It wasn’t the market, the timing, or my obligations. It was fear. Pure and simple.

Fear of failure.

Fear of what others would think.

Fear of losing what I had, even if what I had was slowly killing me inside.

The truth is, fear is one of the most powerful forces in the world. It can keep us trapped in jobs we hate, in relationships that don’t serve us, and in stories that no longer fit who we’re becoming.

And right now, there’s a lot of fear in the air. Cultural fear. Political fear. Financial fear. The world feels uncertain. And when fear is in the air, paralysis follows. People stop creating. They stop imagining what might be possible. They hunker down and play small.

That’s what fear does. It convinces us to trade our dreams for safety.

Susan Jeffers wrote a wonderful book years ago called Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway. The premise is simple. Fear never really goes away. Waiting for fear to disappear before we take action is like waiting for the wind to stop before setting sail. It’s not going to happen.

The only way to move forward is to do it scared.

Those three words, “do it scared,” have become a mantra for me and for so many of my clients.

When a client tells me they’re stuck, one of my favorite questions to ask is, “What would you do if you weren’t afraid?” It’s amazing how that one question can open the door to possibility. You can see the light flicker on in their eyes. The energy shifts. They start to imagine a different story.

Because when we set fear aside, even for a moment, we remember that we have power. We remember that the only way forward is through.

Here’s what I’ve learned: courage isn’t the absence of fear. It’s action in the presence of fear. Every meaningful thing you’ve ever done, you’ve done while afraid. The first day of school. The first big presentation. The first time you said, I love you.

You didn’t wait until you weren’t afraid. You just did it anyway.

If you find yourself feeling stuck right now – unsure of what comes next, overwhelmed by the noise of the world – try this:

Take a few quiet minutes today. Close your eyes. Breathe. Ask yourself, What would I do if I weren’t afraid?

Then listen.

The answer might surprise you. It might be small—an email to send, a phone call to make, a boundary to set. Or it might be big—a business to start, a move to make, a new chapter to begin. Whatever it is, take one small step toward it.

Don’t wait for the fear to go away. It won’t. But it will shrink with each step you take. Because action dissolves fear.

That’s how we grow. That’s how we create lives that matter.

If I had waited until I wasn’t afraid to leave law and begin coaching, I’d still be in that office, looking out over the city lights, wondering what could have been.

Don’t let that be your story.

Do it scared. Feel the fear and move forward anyway.

When you’re not afraid, the world opens up. And you realize it was never as big a leap as you thought.

Need help? Let’s talk. Email me: [email protected]

Hello Darkness

by Walt | Nov 6, 2025 | Success | 2 Comments

To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.
— Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

We just turned the clocks back.

The shadows here in New England have begun to fall by mid-afternoon.

I rail against it.

Some find the dark cozy and embracing. They relish the long evenings in front of the fire. They embrace the dark.

I hate it.

I love the Alaska Range in the summer: the long endless days and the midnight sun. I’d jump from a bridge if I lived there in the winter.

Of course, many folks have taken care of this by moving to places like Southern California, or Belize. And there are many more who embrace the changing seasons with greater equanimity than I.

But the seasons of change can be another matter altogether.

Most all of us get used to our routines. Constancy is safe. Secure.

We like predictability.

Anything that disrupts the status quo is, well, disruptive.

We fight change. I do. Yet change is really the only constant. It is the rhythm of things. High tide and low; ’til death do us part, or sooner; daytime and night; in sickness and in health; drought and flood; in good times and in bad; carry days and rest days; generativity and the dark night of the soul.

The legendary Jim Rohn taught so eloquently on the seasons of life: The seasons always come, Rohn said. “You cannot change the seasons but you can change yourself.”

Winters always come. And there are all kinds of them, Rohn said. “There are economic winters, when the financial wolves are at the door; there are physical winters, when our health is shot; there are personal winters when our heart is smashed to pieces.”

Use winter to get stronger, wiser, better. Get ready for the Spring, Rohn said. It always follows winter.

“Opportunity follows difficulty.” Take advantage of the Spring. Till the earth. Plant.

In the Summer, nourish and protect. “Every garden must be defended in the summer,” Rohn taught. The garden of values – social, political, marital, commercial- the garden of ideas, the garden of all that is good. Be on watch over your garden in the summer.

Reap what you have sown in the fall. Take responsibility for what you did not sow, for what you did not protect. But celebrate the harvest. “Learn to welcome the fall without apology or complaint,” Rohn said.

Embrace the seasons of our lives. Know them. Use them.

Why do we fight so what is so?

To be with change, to be in its flow; to experience the shifting sands with open hands and open hearts. To have the courage to accept and say: “and this too.” Cherish this challenge. It is all we really have.

The seeds of new life blow on the cold winds of November. Winter will come. But so will Spring. It is the rhythm of things.

To live fully, deeply into each season of our lives: this is what we are called to do.

Every year we have been witness to it: how the world descends
into a rich mash, in order that it may resume. And therefore who would cry out
to the petals on the ground to stay, knowing as we must, how the vivacity of what was is married
to the vitality of what will be? I don’t say it’s easy, but what else will do
if the love one claims to have for the world be true? So let us go on
though the sun be swinging east, and the ponds be cold and black and the sweets of the year be doomed.
— Mary Oliver

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Want some support through a season of change? Let’s talk. Email me: [email protected]

And stop by for a visit at: https://summit-success.com/

What Will Your Costume Be?

by Walt | Oct 30, 2025 | Success | 0 Comments

What are you gonna be for Halloween? Who are you going to dress up as?

Masks and costumes. Parties and planning. Fervor, festivities, and fever pitch.

Bigger than Christmas it seems.

What is it about Halloween that so excites, that so sparks the imagination?

Yes, fun for sure. The chance to let loose, hideout, switch it up. The possibility of being someone new, something new, someone different from who you are in the hum-drum of each day.

And the truth is that a lot of folks are worn down by the hum-drum of each. They want new, better, different. Just not the same. For god’s sake, not the same.

So, who do you want to be?

More important: Who are you already… really?

Are you your job? Your role in a relationship? Your hobby, pursuit, passion?

I am an executive coach, high-altitude mountaineer, blue-water sailor, adventure photographer, husband, father, business owner, pastor….

But is that who I am… really?

If you have a job and lose that job… who are you?
If you have a marriage and the marriage unravels, who are you?
If you have kids and they grow up and move away, who are you?
If you’re an athlete and you’re injured, who are you?
Who are you when your friend betrays you? When your parent dies? When your business fails?
Who are you in the face of success, failure, and change?

Who are you… really?

Your identity. The very core of who you are. What a struggle that can be. Especially for success and achievement junkies… I know a few… They’re the folks who come to coaching… (As for myself, on the advice of counsel, I can neither admit nor deny any of the heretofore!)

When you’re not doing, achieving, accomplishing… who are you?

(Yeah, I hate that question.)

Ann and I traveled to Nepal a few years ago… a completely different culture… a completely different pace… If stress and adrenaline are your fuel, you won’t find much there. And without that fuel, we ask, … who are we?

The Buddhists teach: Nothing to do, nothing to be, nothing to have.

Really. WTF? What then?

One of my very favorite stories from the Torah is when Moses comes upon the burning bush. God speaks to Moses from the bush, telling Moses what he needs to be about. Moses, looking for a bit of borrowed cred, asks God for God’s name. God says, “I am who I am.” Tell those Israelites that “I am” sent you.

Maybe there’s a clue here. Maybe when you define yourself with a title, give yourself a label, or tie an object to who you think you are, you make yourself small, and limit your (divine) potential.

Maybe, at the end of it all, one more billable hour booked, one more product sold, one more article published, one more email sent, one more race run, one more mountain climbed, won’t really matter.

Maybe it’s ok just to be.

And damn, what an interesting (and unusual) costume that might be!

Happy Halloween.

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When you’re ready to reclaim the you that’s really you, let’s talk. Email me: [email protected]

And stop by for a visit: https://summit-success.com/