Joy Phenix's Blog

“You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, ‘I have lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along. ‘ You must do the thing you think you cannot do.” Eleanor Roosevelt [...]

“..(it) is not the life of simplicity but the life of multiplicity that the wise men warn us of. It leads not to unification but to fragmentation. It does not bring grace; it destroys the soul.” Anne Morrow Lindbergh There is a direct correlation between the complexity of my week and my attitude. When I [...]

Sometimes expressing your feelings and being “authentic” is over-rated. I think it’s better to fake courtesy even when you don’t feel like it. Here’s a reminder of why… *** REPOST *** If you’ve been routed through or stopped in the LA airport in the past 3-4 years, you’ve probably noticed that the place is stuck [...]

“Too many people over-value what they are not and under-value what they are.” Malcom Forbes   My friend Amy has an amazing way of finding the precise word you need at the very moment you need it. She’s quick to comment on my strengths, telling me I’m creative or thoughtful, when I struggle identifying with [...]

Coach John Wooden was so much more than a great basketball coach – he was an amazing man. He invested 40 years of his life coaching basketball (27 of them at UCLA) and left the game without corruption, scandal, or hypocrisy. Coach Wooden’s perseverance was legendary (he was coach for 15 years before winning a [...]

“No one is useless in this world who lightens the burdens of another.” Charles Dickens  Whatever your week has in store, there’s one sure way to make it better: forget about what YOU need and, instead, do something selfless for someone else. That’s it. Only two steps are required. 1. Look for a need. 2. [...]

Will you help me shovel sand today? If I asked you that question, unless you were related to me or being paid by me, you probably wouldn’t be up for the task. If I  mentioned you’d have great equipment, a fun team, and work under a standard of  “excellence and integrity,”  your enthusiasm probably wouldn’t [...]

“Be steady and well-ordered in your life so that you can be fierce and original in your work.” Gustave Flaubert Confession time -   I alphabetize both my books and my spices.  I create “homes” for things like buttons, paint brushes, and Lego mini-figures, so when one of those objects is separated from the others, I [...]

“If you’re going to learn how to draw Bugs (Bunny), learn how to draw a carrot, then you can hook a rabbit onto it.” – Chuck Jones Have you ever noticed how experts in a field not only excel in their craft, but they can make the complex simple? I came across the video below [...]

If you’ve ever been part of Corporate America, you know the year-end calendar is usually accompanied with a ominous assignment: the dreaded task of writing and receiving “performance evaluations.” The angst isn’t typically about receiving feedback, but about the stilted, awkward process of forcing evaluations (grades/numbers/ranks) into a bell curve and then defending the employee’s [...]