Posts Tagged ‘life’

Something Important You Should Know

Thursday, September 16th, 2010

“You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem and smarter than you think.” This quote by A.A. Milne of Winnie the Pooh fame says it all. You are more than you realize. It is time to get acquainted with how great you are.

We all spend more time considering what we are not rather than what we are. We always compare ourselves to others – to who they are, what they have and what they think. Instead, we should check in on ourselves – to understand ourselves and use our voice, not the voices of others, to direct us in work and in life.

My work has me speaking to audiences and writing about discovering and playing to our talents, strengths and passions. I always find that we are all infinitely more capable and more connected than we initially believe, but don’t know this because we don’t invest the time to self-discover. When we are unfamiliar with how capable and competent we are, we allow others to direct us into areas that do not play to our greatness – we pass the wheel to another driver. And we end up on a road that is not always right for us. Life is too short to spend any time on the wrong road.

As I like to say, and is part of my personal belief, that someone larger than you thought you should be you, and equipped you with gifts that show up as your talents, strengths and passions. And when you play to these gifts, you see how capable you are.

I feel empowered with that news. That makes me want to discover my talents and build my life and work around them. This is how I connect to what I am naturally good at. This is how I feel capable and competent in a constantly changing world. This is how I invent my life in the way that makes the greatest sense for me. And inventing our lives is the greatest gift there is in life. And to do it well it requires that we “know ourselves.”

The first thing I always recommend for people starting to reconnect to who they are is to journal. Spend 10 minutes each day writing your thoughts.

Here are some good prompts to get you going:
o What am I doing when I am happiest?
o When I feel like I am making a great difference, I am doing…
o Two things that I love about my life are…
o What surprised me most about today was…

The goal of the journal is to help you start to notice you – how you think, what you believe, what you feel and what you notice. This is a great way to get introduced to your talents, strengths and passions. This will tell you a lot about you.

Journaling may be difficult to start, but once you start, you will look forward to the time each day to get connected to yourself, share your thoughts and be in the moment. The more you learn about yourself, the better decisions you will make about life and work. In the process, you will see how brave, strong and smart you really are. And this is something important you should know…

Please share this with someone who can benefit from it and watch for my new book, The Greatness Zone – Know Yourself, Find Your Fit, Transform the World, due out October 1. Sign up at www.TheGreatnessZone.com to hear of our events and resources, and friend us on Facebook at “The Greatness Zone.”

Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in For Employees, For Individuals, For Managers | No Comments »

If You Blend, You Lose

Thursday, August 26th, 2010

In today’s workplace, if your service or product looks like everyone else’s, then no one remembers you – you just blend. And if you blend in today’s competitive economy, you lose.

There is a life lesson in this same phrase, “if you blend, you lose.” Your greatest happiness, impact and success will be in living your true life, not in following the crowd.

We are truly unique – different from everyone. This distinction is both external and internal. We look different, we think differently. Our brain biology predisposes us to be good at some things and not others. We love some things and not others. Our greatness is in the unique combination of talents, passions and strengths that came hardwired in our DNA when we were born. We were born to be unique – not to blend.

To take advantage of this greatness, we must take the time to know ourselves – to learn about what we are good at, passionate about and what matters to us.

Most of us have a loud “committee” – those internal voices that tell us to play it safe, blend, don’t stand out, do what everybody else does, be concerned with what others think and say. Then, we conform. We listen to voices that steer us away from our abilities, our dreams and our best contributions. When we don’t know ourselves well, we trust the perspectives of others more than our own – others’ voices become louder than ours. We follow the herd.

When we blend – when we act like everyone else even though we are different – we really do lose. We lose when we don’t play to our greatness – when we don’t develop our talents and strengths, and live our passions. We lose when we miss out on the things that move us, inspire us and engage us. And when we say no to these, we give away our greatest gift – the ability to invent our lives as we want them.

So, to develop the courage to stand out and be who you are,
1. Identify your talents.
2. Next, identify your passions.
3. Then, review your life to see how much of your talents and passions you include in the way you live and work.
4. Change things to live what matters to you. Turn down the volume of others’ voices.

My personal perspective is that when we realize our personal greatness, we bring our best to our world – we transform our world. So, if we blend we don’t live authentically, then we cheat the world. When we blend, we all lose.

As has been said, “We don’t get harmony when we all sing the same note.” We are supposed to find our own voice and sing our part. Discover your part and sing it in your way. What a concert it will be.

This perspective is presented in my new book, The Greatness Zone – Know Yourself, Find Your Fit, Transform the World. Join our mailing list at www.TheGreatnessZone.com to be notified when the book is available, and please pass this on to someone who can benefit from it.

Tags: , , , , , , , ,
Posted in For Employees, For Individuals, For Managers | No Comments »

And Why Not Do Something Extraordinary?

Wednesday, May 19th, 2010

I was on a Southwest Airlines flight this week. One of the flight attendants had great one-liners, an amazing singing voice and outrageous and entertaining lyrics; she raised the quality of the service event. And why not? If it could be ordinary or extraordinary, why do ordinary?

I was at a Starbucks this week. I watched as one of the staff danced around the store to some really upbeat and fun music, handing out samples of this week’s coffee. It was fun and completely extraordinary.

I was at a great bakery this week – artisan bread and pastries that are incredible. Yum. I asked about one pastry I did not recognize. The woman behind the counter took it off the plate, cut it into pieces and offered one to me and to the others in line, then told us the process of how it is made. Extraordinary.

I was talking to colleague whose child has an amazing teacher. As they study geography, this teacher brings in authentic food, plays the country’s music and introduces some of the language. The kids are captivated and interested. They learn. Extraordinary.

I traveled this week. And hidden in my briefcase was an amazing card, reminding me how loved I am at home, and how missed I am when I travel. Extraordinary.

Notice that I did not bring up the ordinary events – I don’t remember them. They are bland, boring and leave no impression. If you want to get noticed in the workplace, do some “extraordinary.” If you want to build a more powerful relationship at home, do some “extraordinary.”

Doing the extraordinary is rarely about spending. Rather it is about doing something with greater effort, creativity, interest or passion. It is about the extra effort. It is about adding some WOW! It is about being more present, more engaged and more fired up. It is a reminder that extraordinary is so much better than ordinary.

So what ways can you move from ordinary to extraordinary this week? What ways can you kick it up at work and at home?

So remember, if you have the choice to make it ordinary or extraordinary, why choose ordinary?

Please forward this to someone who can benefit from it and contact me to help you learn how to connect to your “extraordinary.”

Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in For Employees, For Individuals, For Managers | No Comments »