Special Note:
Stephen has created a new blog that chronicles a nine month
journey of seven amazing men standing firmly in their integrity.
Please take a moment to check it out. Go to
www.theaconcaguaproject.com
Just keep stepping. That is the council I give myself when things get tough. All I have to do is take the next step. I can even pause if I want to. I may not stop for long, because there is a momentum to taking action. It’s like dancing or hiking or driving a business project forward. I must keep moving. I heard that about Sharks once, which is; that if they stop they die. Apparently they must keep the oxygen moving through their grey like bodies. I think it’s important for us as humans to do that. It’s not easy to keep moving at times. It would be easier to take a squat and give up on the dream. And like I told someone lately; “easy is not always better.”
What is the value in movement? Movement is life. Motion is a concentric circle swirling upward toward greater evolution. Flowing through life and business is the very thing we live for. If we are not in motion to some degree we die. We may not die physically; however we can die spiritually. Our brains turn to mashed mush and we cannot do our critical thinking anymore. It’s the very reason some retired folks are not in love with life. They stop moving and start watching the grass grow. If the grass is growing, then get up and mow it. Do something and keep moving. Now most of us are so busy you may think I am in a state of disillusionment. I don’t think so, because many super busy people are just running in circles rather than taking steps forward. Can you see the difference? Being busy for the sake of being busy is not productive. This is equally true for those of us that are being lazy, as this is not productive either.
I speak to the beauty and grace of momentum. Most people love that state of flow. As a leader, you know your objective; and now you keep stepping. You step when it hurts and you step when it flows. It requires a certain vigilance and inner discipline. Most of us move pretty well in the direction of our outcomes, until we get tired. This is the shark-like characteristic I am encouraging us as leaders to own. Keep stepping even when you don’t want to. Make sure you pause long enough to consider where you are going and yet keep the energy in motion. I have at times had to reach way down in my gut to do this. It hurts at times. It can hurt physically and emotionally. This is where the maturity of leadership prevails or gets “turned out”. You will grow as you move past your limitations as a man or a woman. It’s not always supposed to be easy and yet…it can be Graceful. It’s rewarded by the deep Self satisfaction of my esteem. It’s rewarded by serving others as a leader even as some of us may not want to.
What project do you want to keep moving forward on? What is the next step to take? In what area of your personal life requires your persistence and emotional wherewithal? What is the next step for you there? This week, I encourage your participation in stepping. Keep moving and by weeks end, see if you notice the flow and momentum in your mood and moral. It’s not a race. It’s a slowed down, easy, clear motion.
Have fun and let me know how you’re stepping?
I failed today. I did not meet my objective. I guess I could wax on about all the “reasons” I did not make my goal. That is definitely an option. Or I can learn from my own transgressions. I can focus my attention towards using my “failure” as a growth tool. Most people beat themselves up when they fail. In fact, lots of people I know get caught up in the language of it. They soften the blow by not using the word failure. I have never understood that. I either made my goal or I did not. I either won or I lost. And I either succeeded or I failed.
Personally, I like feeling the heat of failure in my very Soul. I don’t want off the hook. I don’t want my friends to appease me and see me as unable to handle my weaknesses. I want to experience that feeling in the core of my belly. I want to feel through my own demise until I come out the other side laughing like a clown. I can tell you that many of us want to avoid the conversation of “not making things happen”. Lots of leaders begin with reasons WHY something did not work. Suddenly, the whole conversation becomes a highway of rationalizations and excuses. I’m going to be SUPER clear with you about this topic. People don’t generally care WHY you did not meet your objectives. And I encourage you today to make a shift in the roads you travel from this day forward. If you traffic in rationalizations, you will eventually get pulled over on the road of life and held at the court until you pay your ticket.
Here is what I recommend. Refrain from judging yourself as a failure. Get present with “the failure” and feel it. Feel it, for only one reason…so that you can learn from it. From my greatest failures, I have learned my greatest lessons. I know I have learned something when I don’t repeat the same behavior over and over. Also, I recommend not spending much/if any time telling people the long boring story about why you are late on your payment, or your meeting, or the project. It matters not. What matters is…How can I restore my integrity today? I can restore my integrity when I can own that I did not complete the goal. I can say: I did not complete my objective and I am committed to learning the following points to ensure success on the next situation. When I fail at something, I spend time looking at the whole of the situation and how I can use all of what I learned for my learning. Can you hear that?
Think about it. The key to success is found in failing. I am not suggesting you study failure and I am recommending that each of us pause into the reflection of our misgivings. I find there is a powerful tempering in this approach that sets us up for a more consistent victory in our Selves and in our businesses. What do you think? Have you learned from tough times? Are you doing it with Grace? What is your greatest learning from your latest challenge? I look forward to hearing your thoughts.
Best and beyond.
Stephen
Something always begins with nothing. The action of creating a result starts with a thought that you want something. Maybe you want to write a book. Therefore you start with a blank page. Perhaps you want to increase sales in your department. That means a blank order form, or signing a new client which requires starting a new relationship where before there was none. It all starts with nothing.
If you want to build a home, it begins with an open piece of ground. If you want to begin a new company, there will be no name and zero employees until your thought becomes an action. I suggest that part of the problem, for some of us that are frustrated with lagging results, is we get stuck in the thinking that something starts with something. It does not and it never will. Each of us gets a fresh start each day. Every moment you get a new beginning. I find that my clients do better when they get a vision of what they want and build from nothing. I find there is reality in that. I find there is accountability involved in that level of awareness.
Now, here comes the tricky part. Even if you have something going well, you want to move into nothing thinking. Nothing thinking keeps it fresh and powerful. It gets you on your edge and has you performing a new show every night when the curtain opens. I talk to many people that are waiting for the armored truck filled with gold to pull up in the front of the house. It might, I guess; but what if it doesn’t? I have talked to many wealthy people that had nothing when they began.
Further, I sense the “get rich quick” mentality seeps into getting something for nothing. That does not seem to work either. Some of us keep looking for the easy way, until looking for the easy way becomes really hard. Can you see the conundrum? I feel this is why many of us are struggling in the “tough” economy. We want things to be the way they used to be. We want to do things the way we used to do things. Well, things are different now. We are not going back to the way things were. I work with people and companies so they can get aligned with nothing. I do this because where there is nothing, something can be developed. If I hold on to my “there is already something” way of behaving; I may be waiting a very long time for something to occur. Waiting is death to a progressive company or person.
I don’t recommend idle waiting. I recommend sitting down with a fresh mind with nothing in it. From there, many new ideas can emerge. You can invent a new product from a clear mind. I invite you this week to create a result in a new way. I encourage you to slide your brush over a fresh canvass. Ask some radical questions, like; what if I approach my life and my business from an entirely new perspective? It would be like your birthday and you will likely receive a great gift.
This week, I invite you to look at where you’re holding on to something. Let it go and start with nothing. From nothing, get focused on the something you want. Don’t let past experiences intimidate you. Let past experiences fortify your movement forward. It’s important to keep moving and to see that any great thing that has ever occurred began from NO-THING. Where there is NO-THING there can one day be SOME-THING.
Have fun as you lead.
I had some big challenges in my life this week. I could not see clearly. I felt as if I was caught on a mountain in the middle of a foggy storm. It was uncomfortable because I could not see clearly how to navigate the situation. I was stuck and upset and frozen. Have you ever felt that way? I know most of us do from time to time. I think it is a natural part of living life. To me, the question is not whether I will ever feel lost sometimes. The question is more: What will I do to regain my perspective?
For me, I find the greatest way to find a greater clarity is to gain some altitude. What does that mean? To me, it means to get higher than the problem. You see, for years; I have been doing Culture Change Initiatives for companies. They work. Those initiatives are effective because the first thing I will assist a team in seeing is a clear context on what is really going on. For most leaders, staying out of the emotion can be very powerful. I am not saying that you become a robot in motion. I am saying that many people get “hung” up in the problem. It’s as if, we become the very problem that we desire to solve. It’s hard to be a solution to an issue that you cannot see clearly. I know I have some radical ideas at times; and this may be one of them. I recommend that you get away from the issue long enough to see it from its proper perspective. Seek a higher consciousness. By stepping away from the issue, long enough to let the dust settle, you will see the trouble from a bridge of success over the roaring rapids. From up high, you will see the flow of things and then you can settle back in and be more objective about the situation.
A more practical example is an e-mail thread where people are “digging in” on an issue. I watched one of those today. The further I pulled out of the email conversation, the more humorous it became to me. I could see where individuals were “being right” and spending hours on it. What a waste of precious time! I am not saying I have not done it. I can remember the feeling in my gut when I would hit the send button. I would feel like “I really nailed them this time” or something like that. Then, I would wait for the response, to see what “they” would say back. It would usually escalate to a misunderstanding, being upset, etc. What am I recommending? Let the problem sit. Let it sit for long enough (without crossing over into avoidance) to get some objectivity. Then, pick up the phone and call. My experience has been that within 5 to 10 minutes there will likely be a quick solution to the issue that normally would suck the life out of many resources (mostly people).
What makes sense about this approach? Recently, with my problem; I went to nature for a few days. I went with my brothers and my great friend Steve. We packed 30 miles into Rocky Mountain National Park. (this is where the video came from). My time in the outdoors reconnected me with my Spirit and God. Things were fresh and new and WOW…could I see things better! It won’t mean that anyone else involved in the problem will and who cares? As long as you can see better, you will find a solution is only a perspective away. I recommend that you take a moment and consider what you need a higher perspective on this week? How could you give yourself the gift of clarity on it? Let me know what you do to keep a better perspective for yourself on your problems. Share them…as I know we could all learn from your wisdom.
Best
“I can’t do it.”…”I don’t have a job.”…”It’s too hard.” As a Leadership Coach I hear those things every day. I say them sometimes too. It’s not true. Not one word of it. It only seems true because that kind of thinking seeks evidence to be “right.” Can you hear that?
It’s a trajectory. It’s like a missile headed for hell. I understand it, because I have compassion and I just don’t believe it. I suppose that’s why having a coach is so powerful. A great coach will mirror back to you, where you are limiting your Self. I see all of those comments or “stinking thinking” as an opportunity to express a different creation. That is the very reason I don’t get upset when I hear it. There is a transparency to that kind of consciousness. Basically that person is saying: I am afraid of what I would “create” if I really put my best Self forward. That’s where the Leadership Bat Phone rings.
While we are on the subject, let’s talk about the “Law of Attraction”, the “Secret”, or whatever you want to call it. It does not work. It does not work in and of itself. It can’t work, because there is no action to it. It’s only a small part of manufacturing what you want in your life/business. I concur that you “get more of what you focus on” and having a clear mental image of what you desire does help move you in the direction of increased results. However, the real “Secret” is that you must get off your butt and go do something. I get sleepy thinking about all the people I know that want to make something happen in their lives from the comfort of their couch. You will be waiting a long time for that new car to show up, while you sit and focus on getting it!
Today’s message is a dose of reality in the field of creating results. The next step to the focus factor is settling in on an idea and then taking action on it. One day, one of my clients came to my office upset because he did not have a job. He said, “I have to get a job.” I said, “Why do that? Look around your world and see all the work that needs to be done. Go do that work and charge a fee for it.” Let’s look at an easy example of that idea. For example, I am sitting in a place right now where I can see a whole lot of dirty car windshields that need cleaning. If I had to, I suppose I could beg or borrow ten bucks to buy a bottle of glass cleaner and paper towels and suddenly I have “created” a job. I have a viable opportunity to do a service for someone for the exchange of money. This is the Spirit that our great country was founded on.
Oh and by the way, if you have a job; you could apply this same idea and be a Rock Star at your work. I mean it. You would stand out, because lots of us at work are very creative at finding ways to avoid working for 40 hours. I share this from a productive construct. Think of the shift that would occur in OUR collective awareness as leaders. If we could BE that example, then we would be more credible as leaders. It’s powerful and it’s possible to create opportunities. The possibilities are endless from this approach to leadership and living life.
Today, I encourage you to take a look at where you could create opportunities at work or at home. Don’t wait for “good luck” to fall into your lap. I am grateful (see blog on The Grateful Leader) when that happens…and I won’t count on it. Our society (in my not so humble opinion) has gotten soft with ideas like The Secret. I believe in that kind of thinking only if it is backed by Creative Action. You show me someone that is taken action in that way and I will show you A Creative Leader. Have fun, stay focused and play a game with this idea. How could you materialize an extra thousand (ten, or one hundred) dollars this week? What do you think? What is your experience of manifesting powerful results?
Best
You must swing to lead. I was sitting at a baseball game last week and something became intuitively obvious. Sitting back and playing it safe is for sissies! I think that’s especially true in a tough economy. The more constricted a leader, the further constrained his/her business. Why do you suppose that is? Because when the game is on the line, we all want to see a Babe Ruth step to the plate, because in our hearts we know there is a chance for victory. It’s important to note that Babe Ruth struck out many more times than he slammed home runs and yet what do we remember him for?
As a leader who isn’t playing it safe you will swing and miss. You will sometimes strike out. And if you sit at the plate and wait for the perfect pitch you might get frozen feet. You can’t wait forever for the perfect situation or project or savior. Some people like to be safe and not “go for the fence.” Maybe that is a demeanor thing. And perhaps as a leader we can practice going for it and creating opportunities from our willingness to swing for the fences. Everything can be practice and yet many of us rationalize our “safety” oriented behavior by seeking evidence of the times we took a chance and lost. I submit to you, experiencing a “failure” is the perfect set-up for succeeding.
My life has been filled with swinging thinking. I have struck out many times. I have also had some big wins. I would not change a thing, as I can’t get better at anything unless I go for it. I can see it with some of my clients at times. I can see the mind wanting to do the “right” thing or the “safe” thing. I am not suggesting you go for every opportunity that comes your way. I am submitting to you that winning big involves courage. It involves Self trust. You can’t reach base and score if you don’t swing!
How was this country founded? Was it founded from men and women playing safe? If my history serves me accurately, there were men and women that ventured to this foreign land to create opportunities. Sometimes it was hard. Sometimes people failed. As an emerging nation we flourished under the leadership of business people that were willing to make new engines, build new factories, and put money into new ideas. In fact, Coca Cola was purchased in perpetuity by an entrepreneur that could see customers taking Coke home in a bottle. Nobody else could see this possibility, so he got the deal for one dollar; and that was just to make it legal. His family still receives revenue from every can of Coke sold world wide. Not bad for a one dollar investment. The point is that in that day and time that was a ludicrous idea.
So, today; I ask you? What is your crazy idea? What would you do today, if you could find the swinging thinking in your creativity? My sister Anne just debuted a play called The Wisdom Within These Walls. Lots of people said that nobody would be interested in hearing the wisdom from our elders. Well, after the first weekend, it’s already hit the papers and there are people looking at making her play into a movie. If my sis would have listened to the nay sayers there would have been no play. Even worse, there would be less joy in the world as the play is a total inspiration for all ages to see. www.thewisdomwithinthesewalls.com
My council, if you’re open, is to play big this week. Go out and do something that in the past would scare you into a fever. Don’t be silly and hurt yourself; yet don’t let your fear run your life. Go for one big thing this week and see how it feels? Do you feel exhilarated? It matters not your history. What matters is today and your willingness to step to the plate and swing big. You might surprise yourself. You might strike out. In either case, there is the possibility of greater expression and uplift-ment from the exercise. I look forward to hearing your comments.
Best
Without your word you don’t have squat as a leader. By the way, I include myself in that radical idea. Now, what does that really mean? In the area of leadership, most of us are throwing around the language of “keeping our word” like an old football. Its one of those clichés in the area of integrity that has been spoken so much, that it’s lost its power for some of us. When I am not impeccable with my word, my own word to myself gets weak inside of me. It’s as if it loses strength. When I do what I say I am going to do, then my life and business take on exponential results. When I make a bunch of mindless promises that I don’t fulfill on, I can feel the pain. I get confused and the container of my leadership springs leaks like an old rusty bucket.
Being your word is simple and it is not easy. If I promise to do something, and I follow through on the specific action, then I have delivered on my word. Now, for most of us reading this, that idea may seem simple enough. It is, until you get real honest with yourself and others on the number of things promised and not done. Changing calendar appointments, not working out (when I said I would), promising an email or phone call by a certain time, saying mistruths to get a better response from a client, or telling your kids you will be at the game and then not showing. These are leaks in leadership. The velocity and the power of YOU cannot be sustained if I/we cannot keep our word. So please know that I am not intending to depress anybody today. I am requesting that each of us get present with the possibility that keeping our word to ourselves and others is extremely important magic for trust and results. Let’s just say, that I am not here to take your inventory on the subject and I encourage you to take your own pulse on the matter.
So what to do? You have two ways to go. One, just do what you say you will do. Easy peasy…right? Wrong!!! It’s not easy because life is happening at lightening speed and sometimes things change from the time you promise to the time you are meant to deliver. Do you know what I mean? The second option is to honor your word. That means that if I cannot honor my agreement, or I am late to an appointment, or…then I owe it to myself or to others to clean up the mess I created by not doing what I said I would do. It’s clean and courageous. I don’t recommend making a habit of this tactic. However, honoring your word will align you back into your integrity. It creates a natural order of things to show awareness on the changes in our promises. It lines things up. It plugs leaks and restores velocity. At this point, and over time: your word is golden. It carries value and when you speak it is heard in the tone and vibrancy of your language.
I think this is the very reason some speakers carry an energy that opens hearts and minds. I feel this Word on Leadership is the key to successful results. This week, I want you to take a peak into the world of your word. What is your relationship to it? Could you improve it, by being more mindful of what you promise? How could you clean up any areas of past compromises of your commitments? I encourage you to do it now and not to wait, as the trajectory for a rocket result is all in the power of your language fueled by you.
Loving
Stephen
Gratitude is access to positive leadership. I submit to you the possibility that without it you can’t sustain any forward motion in your life or business. Consider that you work hard to reach your goals. You reach some of them and maybe not all of them. Because our world is somewhat conditioned to look at what we don’t have, you focus on what is not working. That focus gets us stuck and life becomes meaning-less or less than purposeful.
So how do I get unstuck? I get free the same way you do. Like a good Teflon pan, I don’t let the cynical thoughts grab me. Sounds simple but how does one actually do that? By being grateful for everything you have done, learned, produced, seen, not seen, been and not been. Get Gratitude. Without it, I cannot seem to find altitude on anything. With appreciation for my world and the objectives I do obtain, I open myself entirely to the blessings that prevail.
I am not suggesting creating another task on your list. I am recommending a connection to the things you love the most. Call them out with authentic celebration and allow the energy to build. Can you hear that? Allowing the energy and enthusiasm to build is quite different than making it grow. When I am grateful and appreciative of my life it’s like jumping into a river and flowing with the stream. Go ahead and jump in. It cost nothing. It won’t add to your debt structure and it will add to your ROI. If nothing else happens, I can promise you one thing for darn sure. You will feel better. How does feeling better relate to result? I don’t think I need to explain.
If you don’t believe, or you do believe me; try this. Make a list of 5 things you are most grateful for today. It can be results, people, your health, how you feel, a good piece of chocolate, a boss, your mother…you get the idea. Once you have done that notice your mental acuity. Take note of your emotional being. If that works for you then list 10 things the next day. Add these to the list from yesterday, or start a new one. Then on day three, I challenge you to make a list 15 things you are appreciative of. I encourage you to do this for twenty days until you make a list of 100 things that are working in your life. If you do this exercise with earnest, I can assure you that you will move from stuck to unstuck. You will shift from negative to positive. You will remove the shackles of cynicism and set sail to free lands.
I maintain that gratitude is the key to freedom. Is that spiritual? If having a principle that shifts your entire state of being fully and recognizably is spiritual, well then; I suppose it is. The truth for me is, that it really does not matter whether it is spiritual or not. What matters to me is if it works. How will you know if it works? You try it. If it works for you then keep doing it. If it doesn’t work for you, then let it go and move on to the next idea.
Have an appreciative week.
Almost everyone had that doubtful look on their faces. I could tell nobody on the Board had bought into the possibility of accomplishing the goals we had just finished strategizing. I heard things like, “It’s not likely to happen in this economy”; “Our share in the market has done nothing but shrink over the last 36 months”; “I can’t sign off on a plan that’s not based in reality.” Then, a voice of true possibility emerged from the board room table. Her voice was powerful and filled with velocity. Allow me to paraphrase what I heard her say. She spoke what nobody else could see. She said; “Gentlemen. What we need here is a miracle result to accomplish this unifying goal.” There was an uncomfortable pause and silence that had a lot of throat clearing going on. She continued. “These goals are possible only if we approach them from a new mindset. We cannot grow this company as we currently see it. We would need to get into a conversation about what we can do, as opposed to what we cannot do. If we could do that at this level, then perhaps we could create some magic in this business and industry.” Then, she got bold. “You all seem more comfortable with cynical than you do with solutions. I challenge all of us to support these ideas with resources and go for a big return rather than our normal course of reasonableness.”
I encourage all of us to consider what role we have been playing of late. Are you playing the role of cynic wrapped up in a logical taco? We tend to deceive ourselves because we are afraid inwardly. We are afraid to speak the role of the miraculous viewpoint. What if we could accomplish this? What would we need to do to make this happen? I find that I can get into either way of being from time to time. I find that the more vigilant I am with my thinking, the more I can see beyond my current limiting view point. Being a leader involves seeing beyond what has been done before. I call that miraculous leadership.
Consider that JFK commanded that the United States “go to the moon before the end of the decade” at a time when NASA had no idea how to do that. It was in fact accomplished. Consider that there was a time in our life time (at least most of us) that having a computer would have been viewed as an impossible venture. Consider that miracles occur all the time. They don’t seem magical once we have them…only when we are creating them. What do you view as an extraordinary result in your life or business?
I challenge you as a leader to venture into the land of Miraculous Results in Business. Is it possible? It’s possible if you say it is. It’s possible if you line every cell up in your body toward that endeavor. Yes, it’s possible; because that kind of thinking involves the willingness to withstand the naysayer. It’s easy to be a negative Nelly. That’s the easy and sometimes “logical” thing to do. I am not suggesting that you be stupid. I am suggesting that I/we cannot go beyond what we currently see until we can see something new and improved. I think this is especially true in our current economy. There has never in my lifetime been a more opportune time to express “new” thinking. Never has there been a better time to break through limiting ideas and embrace creative and innovative leadership.
This week ask yourself, which side of the boardroom table are you sitting on? Are you sitting in the “this can’t be done” seat? Or, are you sitting in the seat of “what if we could” viewpoint. If you want you can change seats. All you need to do is get up and change seats. It matters not whether you actually sit on an board or not, as I am sure all of us can translate the metaphor. You may be using this article as the metaphor for your home kitchen table, or having coffee table conversation with a friend. The principles of leadership are irrefutable and it’s not my position to tell the truth, rather to give examples where each of us can explore our truth.
Have fun in all your table top conversations.
Filed under: Integrity | Tags: Leadership, personal growth, self help, stephen mcghee
It snuck up on me again. I had things to do, people to meet, objectives to attain and sustain. People were counting on me. I was counting on me. Suddenly I found myself having a mini heart attack. I don’t mean the literal kind. I mean the kind that has me look down the road of life and see nothing but appointments. My heart sank and the attack of panic within my heart prevailed. I felt like a gerbil on a treadmill…running fast and going nowhere. I thought I was making progress and therein lies the great denial of Self. How many of you can relate to a time in your life when your pedal was to the metal and the brake is on at the same time. I can tell you it’s a great way to waste fuel.
I have been there before many times. The good news is that I can see it faster now. Once I see it, I’ve learned it takes some courageous decisions to change the direction. It takes courage to do nothing. If you ask me, for those of us living extraordinary lives it takes more courage to do nothing than to do something. In fact, it’s counterintuitive and scary to pause when the world is happening so fast. The pace of life never stops by the way. The world will keep going and the joke is on those of us that try and keep up. I can’t keep up with something that NEVER stops and as McGhee Productivity Solutions (www.mcgheeproductivity.com) teaches us, “you will never not have something to do.” Think about that one over toast tomorrow morning? You will always have something to do. Even if your talking about brushing your teeth or paying a bill, or? It never stops. So, if it never stops then, when do you halt?
Do you stop when you get it all done? Good luck. How about when you reach all the goals? Yes, then I will slow down. I submit to you that you won’t reach that day either. It never ends, which of course is also the good news. It’s good news if you can learn to pause. As a leader, you need to create time to reflect and do nothing. You need time to breathe in the guidance of your intuitive Self. If you don’t take time to introspect, then you can expect to burn your adrenals, your relationships and your enthusiasm. I find enthusiasm is my greatest gift in life. I find that the greatest way for me to stay inspired is to take time to just hang out. I am not talking about months at a time, although for some of us that could be the ticket. I am recommending some time every week to just BE.
What will emerge from that? I invite you to try it and see. Perhaps you already have this practice within your life. If so, I would love to hear your thoughts on what happens when you engage in a slowed down way of being. For myself, I have found that solutions more readily occur to me. I sleep better. My mood is enhanced. I create better results, which is, of course, the great conundrum. I was thinking the other day of summers past when I was kid. They lasted forever. I remember long summer afternoons, where I would lay around under a shady tree with my friends and just chew on a piece of grass. We might get up and go fishing, or throw the ball around. As I tapped into that feeling, I could feel my body slow down. The bottom line is, it brings calm and presence to my leadership ability and I suspect it will do the same for you too.
If you find yourself frenetic lately, give yourself a break. What could you do to create an amazing summer experience? What can you do this coming weekend that will have you wake up Monday ready to fly again? How could doing nothing assist you in creating something incredible? Take this challenge on and let me know what you experience.
Breathe.
The Get Real Blog 