Human beings have within them an innate desire for accomplishing big things. Deep within us we all have a spirit that continually nudges us to get out of our comfort zones and strive for something that will make a difference. Some of us respond positively to the nudging while others struggle at pursuing that calling to greater things. Regardless of our race, country of birth, gender, level of education, birth order or any other thing that distinguishes between people, we can all achieve that which we desire and dream of.
Achievement is not restricted to a select few on the face of this earth. All human beings have the capacity for achieving success in areas in which they are gifted for. The key to this is to want to really experience that level of achievement that you desire. Jack Nicklaus once said “Achievement is largely the product of steadily raising one’s levels of aspiration and expectation”. Without making a solid commitment to pursue a specific goal we cannot make a mark in society.
Yesterday I was mesmerized by College Game-Day on TV. It was exciting to See the charged environment on college campuses all over the country as different schools battled it out on the football field. The bands were inspiring. The crowds were full of cheer. Students had their faces painted. There was just so much enthusiasm as people came out from all over the country to support their schools of choice.
Watching the excitement and enthusiasm for football all over the country made me think about life. Every day of our lives should be filled with excitement and a ‘we-can-do-this’ spirit. Every day, in essence, is game day! Let us approach life with a sense of excitement and enthusiasm. Let us ‘paint’ our faces with the vision of possibilities that we can attain. It is possible for our lives to have the magic and electricity of excitement on a daily basis. There times when we may be going through and hard times and it’s okay to be down for a while. However, we can regain our excitement and enjoy every day as if it were a ‘GameDay’ for us. Every day actually is game day for us. Let’s come out and perform our very best in the field of life.
This morning I’m getting ready to go and volunteer at the Cincinnati Museum. Every fortnight I normally volunteer with a team that is running the Real Pirates exhibition. I’ve been doing this since the exhibition came to town in June and I love it. It’s a great opportunity to invest a Saturday morning and meet diverse people from within and outside the city. Beyond this, the act of volunteering has many other benefits.
Volunteering is life-changing. It is not only an opportunity to make a mark but it also enables you to develop your skills. I have met many people while volunteering who have added tremendous value to my life and received so much from me. Volunteering opens up new experiences that are key to a fruitful and effective life. The joy of volunteering, knowing that you are doing something for someone without any personal rewards, is so exhilarating. Choose to become a volunteer and you will experience life in a new way. Now, there are three ways to approach volunteering:
1. You can use your current skills - the same skills you use in your workday life as a teacher, doctor, lawyer, publicist, or accountant - to make a difference in society. There are many organizations and groups that are looking for people to volunteer in such a way daily. Many people do this because they don’t have to learn new skills and have an opportunity through which they can further utilize their current skills.
2. You can use volunteering as a way to develop new skills you’d like to put on your resume. Diverse opportunities exist for volunteering which can add tremendous value to your skill-sets. Put yourself in places where you can acquire additional skills that will enhance your personal and professional development.
3. You can approach it as a way to take a break from your daily life by doing something completely different. It can be an opportunity to meet other singles, spend time outdoors, be with children (or escape from them) or teach the spirit of giving to your own kids. Define what you’re looking for so that you can find the right opportunity.
Change your life. Discover the power of volunteering and make a mark!
Life is in constant flow. Change is happening every day, all day, all around us. There are different aspects of change that we go through in our journey through life. There are those changes that we plan for and then there are those that are unplanned for. There are changes that change us and then there are those that have no impact on our lives. There is change that is multi-dimensional, cutting through many areas of our lives, and then there is change that affects only one aspect of our lives.
All these different facets of change reveal to us that change will always be with us. What matters is whether we have any control over the changes that are happening in and around us. The key to successfully navigating change is in our ability to be strategic about change. Having a strategy means being wise enough to change before we have to. Yes, there are changes that force us to change and then there are changes that we put in place to ensure that we are leading the process of change. Every human being has that ability to lead change in his or her personal life.
If we are going to change before we have to, we must lead change in our lives. This begins with being open to new ideas. The process of learning and adapting to new things enables us to have a sort of malleability that allows us to be stretched, extended and shaped without breaking. Changes that force you to change can easily break you. Changes that you initiate cannot break you because you are driving and leading the process of change. Strategic change gives you an elasticity that enables you to grow in measured steps that increase your potential and capacity in life.
The world will always be changing. If you limit yourself to what you knew and what you were comfortable with earlier in your life, you will grow increasingly frustrated with your surroundings as you age. This is because everything will be changing about you but you will be stagnant and unable to flow with the changes. People who live with an “I’ve-arrived-mentality” usually buckle up when life pressures them in areas that have not been developed. Being wise enough to continually embrace change and grow in all areas of life is the mark of a golden life (Gold is the most malleable metal).
If you will make your mark in life, you must embrace the wisdom of changing before you have to. Having a strategic plan for changing consistently is the first step towards this. For a strategic step-by-step plan for changing before you have to please look at my post from December 28, 2006: Forget Resolutions … plan ahead!
One of the most common human fears is the future. I remember a couple of years ago when all the talk was about Y2K and how all the computers were going to crash. Today the fear is what terrorists are planning and when they will attack. There are many other fears that keep people worried: the future of education, the future of the stock market, the future of international relations, the future of business, etc. Many people are afraid of not having enough of whatever it is they need or want.
Our fears many times cause us to live too much in the future and fail to focus on the present. When nations feared Y2K they spent so much time and resources on trying to fix a problem that never really materialized. The same thing happens in our personal lives and families. We focus so much on the future that we miss so many opportunities for making the most of the present. We are always striving to get to some point in the future that we lose our footing in the present.
We need to shift our focus from the future to the present. The question should be: “How can we solve today’s problems and challenges so that we can make it to tomorrow?”, not “What can we do about problems and challenges that are not here yet?”. As you shift your focus from some point in the future to the present, you are able to fully utilize the present and not miss it’s power in shaping tomorrow. The future is shaped from the present, not the present from the future. A focus on the present enables the future that we desire to be possible.
Perhaps the most identifiable mark of people who make a mark is their ‘action orientation’. Most people who make a huge mark in society tend to be workaholics. They engage in their activities steadily and continously with a focused purpose. They know their highest value activities and get into the flow of effortlessly producing their very best. They have what Tom Peters calls ‘A bias for action’ - they are action oriented.
Action oriented people are identified by three key characteristics:
Clarity - Action oriented people have a clear understanding of their purpose and plan. They don’t wander around with vague ideas of what needs to be done. They have a solid picture of their intended goals. It’s almost as if those goals are plain before them. Their objectives are transparent before their eyes.
Creativity - Action oriented people have a unique ability top transcend the ‘way things have always been done’. They are all about thinking outside the box and doing using new methodologies. They don’t stick to rule books. They are thinkers and usually possess myriads of ideas on how to do things.
Competence - Competence is simply the capacity of being skillful, knowledgeable and qualified to carry out a task. Action oriented people have a rare competence that enables them to come into situations and immediately roll up their sleeves to solve any problems. They believe in themselves and their abilities.
In my audio recording library, I have an audio-tape in which Dr. Lillian Glass talks about how she was coaching Dolly Parton to find deeper levels of her voice. At one point of the coaching, Dr. Glass told Dolly that “Less is More” - meaning she needed to breathe less in order to access those deeper levels. Without missing a beat, Dolly replied, “Look who’s talking! I’ve got more and I won’t lie to you, people like my more!” Well, Dolly is well-endowed and known for her large bust. But the truth is that less is more. Speaking on Oprah in 2003, Dolly once said, “If I see something sagging, bagging and dragging, I’m going to nip it, tuck it, and suck it!” Let’s nip, tuck and suck the excess. Less is more!
Most people who read widely are committed to their personal development. The goal of any personal development activity or endeavor is to increase one’s productivity in life. We want to get better results and be more effective in our approach to the situations that life brings our way.
One of the key ways in which we can increase our productivity is by having good work habits. Good work habits make an extraordinary difference in the results we get for our work. I was listening to a recording in which the speaker commented that most people have poor work habits which limit their potential at work. They spend too much time at the water cooler, make lots of trips to the coffee maker, engage in too much talk, spend so much time on the telephone and many other poor work habits.
In a recent study, 104 chief executive officers all agreed that the ability to set priorities and then to get the job done fast were the two qualities that most readily led to promotion and increases in pay. What this says is that good work habits lead to productivity. Good work habits will bring you to the attention of the important people in your life as fast or faster than anything else you can do. Good work habits increase your productivity.
We’ve all fallen prey to this fallacy. The fallacy of trying is simply the false notion that we need to attempt something instead of actually doing it. Haven’t you been in places or had times when people encouraged you to just ‘try’ something? A teacher tells a student, ”This is the finals; just try it”. A manager tells an employee, “This is an easy project; just try it”. A waitress tells a guest at a restaurant, “This is a delicious meal; just try it”. A coach tells a player, “That’s a great concept; try it during the game”. And so on.
The idea of just trying something is perhaps responsible for many of the failures of life. There is no such thing as ‘trying’. It’s either do it or don’t. If you approach a situation, task or activity with the intention on ‘just trying’ it, you are setting up yourself for failure. You have to go in with the mentality that you will do it. What kind of organization would Nike be if their mission was “Just try it”, instead of “Just do it”? ‘Just do it’ is more than an advertising slogan. It’s the secret to Nike and many leading organization’s success. ‘Just do it’ has become the most widely recognized motto all over the world. It has inspired many individuals to pursue greatness and success.
Are you approaching life with a ‘doing’ mentality or a ‘trying’ mentality? In a world that values productivity more than activity, we must embrace the idea of doing it rather than just trying it. Don’t fall prey to the fallacy of trying. Be a doer. In the world famous words of Nike, ‘Just do it!’.
It’s a new month. New months signify new beginnings. New beginnings signify new opportunities. New opportunities signify the need for new ideas. On this first day of the month, I’d like to encourage us to continually stimulate what I call our “idea factory”. This simply means creating an environment around you that stimulates the development of new ideas. Briefly, there are four basic ways that we can do this:
a). Always have goals - Goals stretch your imagination. They enable you to think big. When you set goals, your mind will immediately be inspired to think of ideas that can bring those goals to life. Having goals is therefore essential to stimulating your idea factory.
b). Embrace problems - Many times we tend to shy away from problems not realizing that problems can be fertile grounds for idea generation. Problems are opportunities in work clothes. They are opportunities for us to find solutions. A solution-finding mentality is essential for stimulating your idea factory.
c). Associate With Good Thinkers - One of the simplest avenues for having many good ideas is to associate with good thinkers. This is crucial because their quality of thinking rubs off on you. Charlie Jones says that who we become in five years largely depends on who we associate with. Good thinkers stimulate your idea factory.
d). Read Widely - Reading opens up the mind to new ideas and new ways of thinking. Good reading is that which is geared towards developing your mind and stretching your thinking. Read books that center on your chosen field and enable you to become a better person. This is key to stimulating your idea factory.
