Know your #Values, Live Your Values, Every Single Day ... That's #Success!

Define success.  I was asked to do that recently for a podcast hosted by a friend and I thought to myself, "Oh no, not the 'success' question."  Does one answer by going in the wealth direction--revenue, profits, net worth?  Perhaps it's better to stay more people-oriented and say something like, "I define success in terms of relationships."  The trending answer that tends to get a lot of nods in today's world usually has something to do with being sure you know why you do what you do--it wraps success together with purpose.

However, much like an amazing Redwood tree or a massive skyscraper, success is really built upon what you cannot see--the roots or the foundation.  Why not choose a definition for success that goes deeper than results and focuses on the very things that fuel them?  Let's talk about success in a way that is sustainable and attainable for every person on the planet.  And let's make it palatable and meaningful for diverse peoples and cultures.

I am sure that I am not the first or only person to think of this, but the definition that popped into my head and that I shared on the day of the podcast was simply this:

Know your values, live your values, EVERY day!  That's success.

Instead of Serving Victory, Learn to Let #Victory Serve You. #Win With #Purpose

There are two ways to look at winning.

Sometimes we try very hard to teach the younger generation or the team we are leading how to win by making victory the singular goal.  In this case, the purpose for winning is simply to be the winner.  As a matter of fact, some of our children believe that the only way that they can get affirmation from their parents is to rise to the top and stay there.  But this method of motivating young hearts and minds creates a shallow and empty experience, even for the winners.  Maybe you have experienced it and certainly you have seen it.  Eventually, the vanity of winning only for the sake of winning strips people of the most valuable things in life.  Many wind up not only losing their "love of the game," but also losing their respect for the ones leading and driving them so hard.

But there is a better way.  It's when winning becomes a tool to achieve even greater purpose.  Instead of serving victory, learn to let victory serve you.

What if you teach the team that winning is about something much bigger than ego?  What if you teach children to use their passions and abilities as a platform to make the world a better place?  And then, what if you explain that the world starts in the faces of the people all around them?  Suddenly, the journey toward being the best takes on meaning.  And suddenly, the champions do not have to fight as hard to find a reason to stay on top, because the reason is always, always, always bigger than a simple win.

Big purpose always drives the greatest victories in life! 

Beware ... #Digital #Consumerism Can Be The Enemy Of #Creativity

You're an information rock-star in your organization.  Like a digital bloodhound, you can find answers that no one else can find.  You choose all the right keywords, know all the "offroad" blogs with the most relevant data, and your social connectivity is second to none.  You speed read the latest push news and seamlessly hop from laptop, to tablet, to smartphone without missing a cloud-enabled beat.

You then take all of those megabits and mentally organize and regurgitate them in helpful and productive ways.  You really do make an impact, but ....

But there is a caveat to all of this artful and skilled consumption.  It doesn't necessarily take the brain into places it hasn't gone before.  The mental taxation when one simply absorbs the thoughts, findings, and ideas of others is of a kind that does not tend to build inventive muscle.

So every once in a while don't just turn everything off (TV, tablet, etc.), but turn everything off AND THEN force your mind to work and stretch toward new areas never explored before.  In the absence of all the crazy external stimuli, write some profound phrases, sketch out some new images, walk around and dream big, and then ponder until an "aha" moment brings a huge smile to your face.

You have just had a truly creative experience--something that I believe our Creator intended for us to enjoy quite often!

#Self #Awareness - It Is Important To Know Who You Really Are And Not Get Overly Hung Up On Who Others Say That You Are

Emotional intelligence factors in as a big part of success in many arenas.  A big part of emotional intelligence is self awareness.  Here is my quick (tongue-in-cheek) summary on self awareness as it ebbs and flows during the decades of one's life.

Teens - Who am I?

Twenties - I am the man!

Thirties - Don't you know who I am?

Forties - I am as good as I was twenty years ago!

Fifties - Who am I kidding?

Sixties - I am going to tell you a story about the time that I ....

Seventies - I wonder where I am going to hurt today?

Eighties - Boy, I am sure glad that I woke up this morning!

It is important to know who you really are and not get overly hung up on who others say that you are (or who they tell you to be).  A great starting point to self awareness is to ask, "What does my Creator have to say about who I am?"

Have a great day and make the most of your decade!

The Good Part of #Aging (Choosing the #Constructive Path of Your #Expertise)

The older I get, the more refined my tastes become.  We call it experience or expertise.  It affords a person the ability to arrive at their preferred destination much more quickly and accurately than others.  It enables a daylily hybridizer to immediately see what is right and wrong with a new cultivar when other people just see another flower.  It allows a mother to sense that her adult child is dealing with a difficult problem when that child has done everything possible to hide his situation.  It lets a CEO make the right call when there is no time for customer surveys.

But time does not make you an expert at everything, only some things.  The really cool part of life is that you get to choose your areas of expertise—indie movies, skiing, java (coffee or programming language), antiques, parenting, investing, etc.  Since you only have a limited amount of time, choose wisely!

Also, it is important to remember that there are two paths to expertise—destructive and constructive.  The destructive path sees the data in such a set and rigid way that it refuses to let others learn, grow, and possibly find a new paradigm through which the data can be processed.  You can even become such an expert at your own opinion that you fail to let others even utter theirs.  The constructive path is that of the informed coach or guide.  Your expertise helps others arrive at the preferred destination more readily, but you are not averse to taking detours every once in a while because you know that there is always more worth discovering.

Our #Future Is Wrapped Up In The #Next #Generation (And I Don't Just Mean Young People)

Start to finish, young to old, novice to expert, modern to traditional, fresh to rotten, small to big, immature to mature, uncommon to common, unconventional to standard--there are at least two axioms about the cycles and rhythms of life that you cannot avoid.

1. You cannot get to the latter stages without going through the former.
2. If you want to keep experiencing more desired outcomes, you have to keep reproducing new beginnings.

Another way to think about this is to say that our future is wrapped up in the next generation.  When you consider the next generation, you probably conjure up images of the younger people of the world, just as you should.  But it is really about so much more than that. The next generation can be more broadly defined in terms of newness.  Okay, so "there is nothing new under the sun," but there is a constant churn all around where things must be created and re-created, birthed and re-birthed, with cyclical similarities and incremental differences all along the way.

You cannot just hold onto life because, without any re-generation, it slowly ebbs away to nothing.  Studies indicate that it takes about 2.1 children per family for a culture to sustain itself and more than that in order to grow.  It's no different when it comes to just about everything out there--without a minimal amount of reproduction, all that we hold dear will eventually vanish.

So this year, as you look at that which lies ahead, imagine what might happen if you spent more of yourself investing in the next generation--not just young people, but young ideas, businesses, products, markets, charities, and brands.  I like to call it re-generation, and I define it as giving away your best so that it can spread.

Your #Tough Calls Are Often the Keys to Your #Future

The decision you have been putting off; the conversation you have been avoiding; the problem you wish would go away--these are more important than you think.

The toughest calls on your list are almost always the keys to your next step forward.  If you let them linger, prepare for ongoing frustration.  If you face them head on, you will find that the clarity you had been searching for immediately returns, a weight lifts off of your shoulders, and everone feels better.

Now, go free yourself by doing what you know that only you can do!