Posts Tagged ‘vision’

Mother Teresa

No matter your politics or your religion, most people recognize Mother Teresa as a great woman.  Her life and her work celebrate the simple joy of loving, the greatness and dignity of all people and the value of doing little things faithfully and with love.  She inspires me in so many ways, but most notably by being a leader in the world who affected change with one small action at time.  The legacy she leaves us is the knowledge that small things matter and that everyone has something to contribute.  Everyone.  She said, “Do not wait for leaders.  Do it alone, person to person.”  What she may not recognize, in her humility, is that this is actually true leadership.  And this is the kind of leader that Mother Teresa was.  This reminds me to let go of the details and simply do the work that is in front of me now.  She also told us, “We can not do great things.  We can only do small things with great love.”  She reminds us that a smile heals and it is ours to give.  Smile at someone today.  She reminds us to love our neighbors, really.  For many of us, that means getting to know our neighbors.  And, with the holidays approaching, I also like to remember that Mother Teresa said, “If you can’t feed a hundred people, then feed just one.”  It is a small act of kindness and humanity and it is something tangible that we can all do.

If you haven’t seen this, make some time. This is a great speech that speaks to the work that ALL of us are here to do. If you are short on time, skip the introduction. If you really need the “cliff notes” version, watch the last 15 minutes.

Download “The Mindset of a Leader” – 60 minute Inspirational Audio

1. Listen. There are 3 Levels of Listening.  Listen to what you are saying and what you are thinking.  Listen to what other people are saying and what they aren’t saying.  Listen to what’s going on in the environment.  This is the place to access your intuition.  Remember that communication is only 7% words.  Communication is also 38% tonality and 55% body language.  Really hear what people are saying.
2. Be intentional. For every activity and interaction, leaders have an intended impact and outcome.  Impact is how you want to feel or make others feel.  Outcome is what you want to do or inspire others to do.
3. Follow your urges. Everything serves.  Say what you’re thinking.  Follow your intuition and your impulses.  Stop worrying about what other people think.
4. Take responsibility for your impact. Stay.  Realize that following your urges might make a mess.  Stick around and clean it up.  Don’t blame others for misinterpreting you.  The arguements, “But, that’s not what I said!” or “That’s not what I meant” are ways of blaming others.  Take responsibility for your part.
5. Build rapport. You can lead people anywhere you want if you first meet them where they are.  The #1 Most Important Communication Tool is “What I love about that idea…”  Try it.  Sometimes you don’t know “what you love about that idea.”  Just say the words and see what comes out of your mouth.
6. Assume full permission. Leaders don’t wait for someone else to go first or for permission to do things.  Leaders assume that they have permission and act accordingly.
7. Decide and take action. Make mistakes.  Not making a choice is a choice.  Don’t let fear of making a mistake or not doing it exactly right stop you from taking action.  Do something!
8. Fail & Recover. When you make decisions and take action, you will make mistakes.  Learn from what happens, adjust and move forward.
9. Be Flexible. Success is tied closely to flexibility.  Let go of the rules that you have and how you think it’s supposed to look.  Make an intention and keep trying things until you get there.  Make a commitment to the outcome, but let go of attachment to the path you need to take to get there.
10. Have a coach. All successful people have some sort of coach.  There are coaches available for every situation and every budget.  You can’t see what you don’t know that you can’t see.  Get a coach to help you take your life to the next level.  PS  There is always a next level.
11. Have a powerful peer group. You are the sum total of the 5-7 people who you spend the most time with.  What areas of your life do you want to improve?  Improve your peer group in that area.
12. Model success. Don’t re-create the wheel.  Find someone who is getting the results you want to be getting and do what they are doing.

Bonus:

1. Find the opportunity in every difficulty and every challenge. Successful people still have problems.  They just have really good quality problems.  Welcome problems and challenges.  Get curious.  Find the learning (a coach can help) and find the opportunity.
2. Be unreasonable. Who cares if it makes sense?  Be totally unreasonable.  Be ridiculous.  Here is a place of full permisison.  What other people think about you should be no concern of yours.  If you want something to put your attention on, start caring about what YOU think about you.

I was totally inspired when I watched this. Dave’s enthusiasm is captivating. I loved his honesty about his failures and what he learned along the way. It calls me to step up into my life and do bigger work than I am doing!

It seems like it is the eternal quest of mankind to search out the meaning of life. The first step is to search for, find, or define the purpose of your life. A fine point here is that there is no right answer any more than there is a wrong one. The meaning of your life is what you say it is. Your purpose in life is what you understand it to be. Use one or more of the following meditations to contemplate your purpose in life:

Imagine yourself at your 90th birthday party. Your friends and family and everyone whose life you have impacted in any way are gathered to honor you. They take turns telling stories and sharing how you made a difference in their lives. What do they say?

Imagine that you have just been given a free billboard on the busiest stretch of the 405 freeway. Thousands of people pass by it every day. You have the opportunity to impact these people in any way you would like. What would you put on the billboard? What is the message that you want to convey? What is the impact you want to have on the drivers as they see it?

Imagine you have discovered the technology to reengineer all of the metal detectors in every airport in the world. They will do their original job, but they will also change people’s lives in a fundamental way. You get to program the metal detectors and decide what change people will experience. They will not be harmed in any way, but they will act differently, speak differently and relate to the world in a different way. What is the experience that people have as they walk through the gate and what do they now know that they didn’t know before?

These are just a few questions for you to consider as you explore your purpose in life. Schedule a sample session with Carrie to explore further or to look at what’s next.