What Seeds are YOU Planting?

Heather Hansen O'Neill, President of From Fear to Fire and a consultant for ALHI’s Strategic Consulting Services, is an international keynote speaker, behavioral expert and three-time author including the new Amazon best seller, Where’s the Office? Moving Today’s Leaders from What IS to What CAN BE. She is host of the podcast, From Fear to Fire, and coach to top sales executives and C-suite leaders. She has extensive experience consulting with meeting planners and hospitality professionals who want to collaborate effectively, lead change and achieve results. She has worked with companies including PWC, Securian, Dell-EMC, CITI, NThrive, UIL, NYU, Liberty Mutual, Vitals, and more. She has worked extensively in events and hospitality for the last 10 years including speaking for large hotels, holding leadership roles in Meeting Professionals International, and as a designated retreat facilitator and speaker at numerous industry associations.

In today’s busy world, we often feel the pressure within and around us to perform better, respond faster, sell more and fly higher.

I’ve found that the best way to fly higher is to dive deeper. Deeper into cultivating the relationships that will bear more fruit, deeper into YOU and what you need to thrive.

One of the biggest issues I see in the industry these days is the need to balance our time. To reduce stress with laser focus as well as honoring our priorities and our boundaries.

Please take a moment and imagine the most peaceful day.

The tension of high expectations and an unrelenting to-do list leave your body completely. And with that stress gone, your shoulders can relax down away from your ears and back where they belong.

Where are you in this peaceful space? Is there an ocean? An open field? A garden?

Let’s Dive into the Garden

Perhaps you’re sitting in the Memory Garden at the Portola Hotel & Spa or in The Meadow at The Houstonian Hotel Club & Spa, gratefully contemplating what changed to create this soothing, peaceful state.

• What is it for YOU?
• What came to mind?
• What did you let go of?
• What do you have more of that fosters peace?

Have you ever seen a garden that is lush and beautiful? Wildflowers everywhere.

Or a garden with pathways, waterfalls, and benches where you can sit and take in the view and scent of the roses?

And have you ever seen a garden that is full of... weeds? Maybe one hearty little flower, but mostly weeds.

My question for you today is which garden is the most like your life?

• Have you created a life that is filled with beauty and abundance and joy?
• A life where you have moments to be fully present and serene?
• Or does your life, frankly, need a little weeding?

Do you need to weed out an excessive amount of other people's priorities so that you can focus on your own? Do you need to weed out negative people or situations?

What do you need to remove from your life to create space for deeper family and business relationships? Space to be present and fully understand the needs of the client. Space to listen, get creative, solve problems and exceed expectations.

Plant the Seeds for Success

THAT is humanity. That is what generates energy, loyalty, and provides the foundation for the sales process that will best serve your clients (and YOU).

This focus on people, on you the human who happens to sell, and on the ones you serve, is the most rewarding part of the journey. Let’s travel it together. Let me know if you have any specific challenges and I can offer tips in a future article to help solve them.

In the meantime, breathe in the peace and exhale the stress, and you’ll be planting the seeds for more success!