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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.”

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Do Some Personal Maintenance

Thursday, September 9th, 2010

To keep a car running well, you stop driving it and get it serviced.

To keep your garden tools working effectively, you spend a morning changing oil in the lawn mower and cleaning debris off the rakes, shovels and other tools.

To keep the air conditioning system working effectively, you shut it down and clean the filters.

Nothing works all the time without maintenance, repairs and updating. This process improves the impact and extends the life.

What a great life lesson. What personal maintenance do you do to amplify your impact and extend your life?

Through the traditions of Lent, Yom Kippur and Ramadan, we are reminded of the need to recommit to self-inspection – to assess where we are, to recommit to where we need to be and to own the process of realignment – of doing periodic maintenance. Life is complicated. Without some regularly planned self-maintenance, we can get easily overwhelmed, off track and burned out.

To start your regular (monthly, quarterly, yearly) self-maintenance checklist, consider the following- modify as you want:

o Am I doing what I love and making the difference I want to make?
o Do I treat my family, friends and colleagues well, and am I aware of the gift that they are?
o Who needs me to be more open, more caring, more charitable or more generous?
o Do I eat well (healthy), and understand how to exercise for someone my age and in my current health status?
o Do I take medical issues seriously and promptly address changes in my body that need attention?
o What am I learning and how am I growing in knowledge and wisdom?

This is not a period to be critical where critical means fueling those negative voices that critique and blame what we do and how we do it. It is meant to be critical where critical means being self-aware and focused on realigning to be your best.

We all have busy lives that allow us to become easily distracted. At some regular point we must commit to reviewing and assessing how we are living our lives – we must take the time to do some maintenance. This can create the opportunity to stay on track, get back on track, improve your impact and extend your life.

Please pass this on to someone who can benefit from it, and watch for more information on my new book, The Greatness Zone – Know Yourself, Find Your Fit, Transform the World. Sign up to be notified when the book is released at www.TheGreatnessZone.com. And friend us on the Facebook Fan Page The Greatness Zone.

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Ten Things To Do To Be Healthy And Happy

Thursday, September 2nd, 2010

I read Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert several years ago after hearing her on a radio interview. I loved the premise in her book – about finding your true self and the hard work it takes – and her eloquent explanation. That told me that the book would be both important to read and, for someone who loves language, an enjoyable book to read. I found it to be both.

This is not a book review. Rather, a reminder that wisdom is all around us and that when we tune in, we learn things about ourselves, our lives and our world. The renewed interest in Eat, Pray, Love because of the movie has brought Elizabeth Gilbert and her thinking back into view. I recently saw her list of ten things to be happy and healthy; her perspective is that when these are taken care of, everything else seems to take care of itself.

First, I really like her list. Second, I like that she created a list. So even if some of these things do not encourage you to live healthy and happy, fill in with the things that do. This is a reminder that we invent our lives in the way we want them – we own how we approach our day to make the most of our lives. Develop your list of the ten things to be healthy and happy, and to love your life. (The comments in parentheses are mine – because I always have an opinion about everything.)

Here are her ten things:
1. Talk a walk (invite a friend to enhance the experience).
2. Write something (journal what you think and feel each day, you’ll be amazed what you learn about yourself).
3. Read something (there is too much to know not to stay connected to other people’s ideas).
4. Don’t eat too much (I think she learned this after her time in Italy).
5. Spend some time in silence (I like to spend this time outdoors).
6. Stretch (I like to think this is both body and mind – both atrophy without movement).
7. Send a message of love to someone (great idea – and why not send it to several people?).
8. Drink water (I like coffee better but she has a point).
9. Mess around in the garden (touch nature and be connected to the planet).
10. Floss (stay healthy and show up ready to face the world each day).

The number of things doesn’t matter. Develop your list so life is great. I didn’t present them because she has become a celebrity. I presented them because they are wise. I hope they inspire you to play to your greatness and have a life that is healthy and happy.

Please forward this to 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 for more information about the book and learning how to find and live in your personal greatness zone.

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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.

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