“A genius idea alone has zero value.  What makes it priceless is the quality of the follow through and the speed of execution around it.  Even a mediocre idea excellently acted on is more valuable than a genius idea poorly performed,” Robin Sharma.  Following up on our talk about action yesterday is the idea that it doesn’t have to be a great idea to start, it just needs to be acted upon.  We learn more as we go.  There are millions of great ideas born every second.  How many do we know about?  How many are implemented at the personal level?  At the household level?  At the friend level?  At the community level?  Beyond that?  We talk ourselves out of sharing a good idea because we are afraid it won’t matter or that people won’t understand it.  We are afraid of what people will think.  We are afraid it won’t work—or that we may not know everything about it.  We build up this notion that an idea needs to be perfect in order to be shared.  That thinking limits what we are able to accomplish because we miss out on not only sharing the idea, but on the collaboration that we foster with other people.

Sometimes we aren’t aware of the impact we can have on others—and this goes for both positive and negative influence.  Sometimes we need to remember that we are the catalyst for a good idea.  Sometimes collaboration is the source of a good idea.  Otherwise we may simply need the fertile ground for those ideas to sprout.  The same is true the other way.  We aren’t always aware of how those around us influence our pattern to keep our ideas to ourselves, or to minimize it.  Having an idea that we feel passionate about needs to take precedence over what people may say about it.  We aren’t looking for perfection, we are looking for progress—we are looking for development of something.  Sitting on a thought that could greatly improve our own lives is foolish—and not sharing it our of fear is detrimental to our core.  That isn’t to say we don’t need practice getting comfortable with developing and then sharing those ideas, but more importantly we need to get comfortable building an idea and having confidence in ourselves to share it as it’s developing. 

A while back I spoke of the importance of understanding if we have an idea or a thought, a drive or something we are passionate about, it is with us for a reason.  It is ours to develop and create.  I remember sharing a story from Liz Gilbert about an idea she had for a book that she started and never got around to finishing. After some time a friend of hers started describing a book she was working on and it was the same idea.  From this concept Gilbert says she firmly believes that ideas are always around and have need to be expressed.  If we don’t take responsibility for the ideas that come to us, they will find someone else to bring them to live.  So trust that if it comes to us, we are entrusted to handle it.  Sometimes it isn’t about being qualified, it’s about being called.  Trusting our steps along the way.  Trusting ourselves to find the steps as we go.  Have the courage to start, to develop greatness, to define and refine the thought as we go.  That will get us infinitely further than sitting on an idea not acted upon.  It does nothing to keep an idea bottled up on the shelf or concealed in the mind.  Take the steps and allow it to unfold.  

“Lots of people have good ideas but the masters become masters because they had the courage and conviction to act on ideas; What makes greatness is white hot action around red hot ideas,” Robin Sharma.  I shared in my Sunday Gratitude that there is a different way of thinking when we get to a certain level.  After a certain time we need to do more than what we are told, we need to do more than perpetuate the machine.  We need to create new options and opportunities for ourselves, those around us, and for the business.  Expansion happens with new ideas targeting new issues or concerns.  It requires action in a different way.  We can become excellent at what we do, becoming an subject matter expert on anything with time and practice.  But to excel and go beyond that is to develop and create ways to expand that subject, to see it in a new light and find ways that it can apply to more people or apply to them in a different way. Part of becoming a master of our field is going after something new—knowing how to develop rather than simply produce.

Action can be a scary thing in the respect that action has the potential to change everything.  Action has the potential to make things different than how they are—or to expose how things really are.  Our lives are skewed by our perception so we are trained to act in a specific way in specific circumstances.  That is skewed even further when we throw in the perception based on our personal experiences as well.  So when an alternate approach seems the most logical, it’s natural to be a bit leery about taking that first step. Masters also don’t let the bumps in the road deter them either.  It’s the persistence to keep going through the learning curve and to keep trying again.  The spirit of collaboration and cooperation toward developing an idea is the persistence to keep going while shifting as needed.  It’s adaptability.  In short, it’s speed toward taking action and patience to develop the idea.  Stepping out of the prescribed course and recommending another path takes courage.  To act on it indicates a boldness and conviction in the belief of the idea we have.  We became subject matter experts through repetition and practice—and seeing where things could be improved.  We took chances to streamline our workflow.  But real mastery of the subject comes from taking our expertise and developing it into something more.  We release the fear of trying something new for the potential of something greater.  Courage and confidence come from taking action on those ideas and we naturally develop them—and in turn we learn and come up with more ideas and then we have the courage to follow those and so on.  Life doesn’t pause—it moves continuously and we need to take action when we are inspired versus when the time is right.  The time will never be right for everything.  We simply need to act on it when we have the feeling.  The difference between success and living the same life over and over again is the courage to take that action.  Create a new story.  Don’t just tell it, live it.

“Remembering the shortness of life strips away the distractions of life and reminds us of what is most important…that our months are numbered.  So what’s the point of playing small?  What’s the point of fearing failure?  What’s the point of worrying about other’s opinions?  What’s the point of denying your duty to lead?” Robin Sharma.  Last week I shared a thought I had about the inevitability of death and the fact that there is no point to play small or scared.  For most of us, whatever we do will be forgotten so there is no point in pretending what we do is so vital in the moment that we will suffer the rest of our lives.  All that we have is right now and fear of the past or the future is preventing us from making decisions we need to in this moment.  Knowing that we can be gone tomorrow is both a blessing and a burden.  The burden part is obvious.  The blessing comes because it allows us a freedom and a drive to pursue what calls to us in the moment.  To stick with the dream and to go after it because if we achieve it, it’s ours, but if we fail that is ours as well.  There’s no point in forgetting that we are here to lead ourselves and others to a better path.

Let go of the fear of what people think and the story we tell ourselves that we don’t know what we want or how to get it.  We most certainly know what we want, most of us just spend too much time pretending we can’t get it and then we believe those excuses so we start creating an environment where it’s a self-fulfilling prophecy and nothing we want comes to fruition. The shortness of life isn’t meant to scare us, it’s meant to motivate us to action toward what we are called to.  There is no point to do anything but other than what we are called to do. There is no reason to hold back from the life we are meant to have and what feels right.  Our time is finite and we don’t know the number of days we have available to us so it’s more imperative to make the most of each day.   I also want to elaborate on how quickly we can lose those we love.  We are never guaranteed any day we have, nor are those we love.  Things can change in an instant so it’s important to ask ourselves if what we are doing not only makes us happy and serves a purpose but if it keeps us in proximity to what and who we love.  What is the point in spending our time doing anything other than what we love with anyone other than who we love?  Take responsibility for the life we want and go for it.

“There are no dead-end jobs, just dead-end thinking,” Robin Sharma. Mindset is one of the core tenants to how we approach life.  It doesn’t matter what we are referring to here—work, personal relationships, goals, family, friends, health/wellness.  In all of those facets of life, how we feel and how we approach it often is the determining factor of the result.  The truth is no matter what the goal, the outcome is more often dependent on how we think about it and the resulting steps than what we look like while doing it.  Our actions are a result of how we feel and what we believe we can accomplish.  This mainly applies to limiting beliefs and the need to remove them in order to progress.  We can feel a certain way about the work we do, that it isn’t fulfilling or that it’s a waste of time, but what we have to know is that those feelings will translate into reality.  If we don’t think we will get anywhere, we will not get anywhere.  Operating in growth or working toward something bigger means controlling our mindset and focus.

It can take some time to accept the concept that we are where we are in life because of our own thoughts and actions.  Throw in a layer that much of what we think is recycled from previous generations and it’s even easier to play the blame game.  The problem with blaming is that we still don’t get anywhere.  Even if it truly isn’t our fault, we still have to accept accountability and even responsibility for where we go.  That can be a bitter pill to swallow because it can feel like we are framing what happened to us as our own fault.  The difference is subtle but important: while what was done isn’t our fault and we can’t change it, how we address it and move forward is our responsibility.  That doesn’t make anything easier or harder, it simply is what happened, an event in time.  We may have no control over what was done but we have control entirely over what happens next.

If we ever feel stuck we need look no further than our own thoughts.  We are where we are because of how we manage our thoughts and actions.  Feeling trapped or like we are stuck with the thoughts we’ve had is only a matter of perception.  There are opportunities everywhere and it is up to us to capitalize on them.  We need to retrain our brains to decide that we aren’t stuck, we have a choice and we can move.  Even if it’s an inch, we can move until we carve out a new way.  Nothing is a stop beyond what we make it.  It can be a pause or it can be where the road ends for us.  It can also be the beginning of something new entirely.  It can be the platform we learn to leap from instead of hiding under.  No, the past may not be fair, and it may not be our fault, but how we view ourselves where we are and where we want to go is entirely up to us.  Nothing can prevent us from achieving what we want if we don’t let it.  Don’t let a crappy thought be what prevents life from moving forward, from creating beautiful things, and from living a beautiful life.  Change our thoughts and a new way appears—there is no end.   

Today I am grateful for time with those I love.  We all know time moves on regardless of what we feel, think, or do.  We recently got some news about my father, and while it isn’t horrible, it brings to light the very real fact of time passing and mortality.  We go through these subtle changes in our lives where we are first one role, then multiple roles, then down to one role, and then our time is up.  We never know how much time we have with each other, how much time we have in a role, time we have to do the things we love.  There are a few things I understand differently: the person we will spend the most time with is ourselves so we need to make sure we are doing what we love or working toward what we love as often as we can.  The time we have with those we love is never guaranteed so we need to prioritize what we do and with whom.  Even though I am aware of the inevitability of our number being called, it can still be challenging when we are faced with that reality.  Live is too short to do anything other than what we love and with who we love.  Nothing is guaranteed so do not take it for granted. 

Today I am grateful for understanding that things aren’t meant to stay the same.  I’m in the middle of a challenging time in my marriage.  Between navigating my father’s issues, my health, being a mother, my career, my business, and my relationship with my husband, I’m seeing that in spite of all of our efforts, things sometimes just are what they are and people are how they are.  I know over the last 20 years I’ve changed significantly.  Perhaps more so in the last 3 years.  I wouldn’t expect anyone else to stay the same either.  I have a tendency to want things my way (I’m an Aries after all) but I see that there are just some things where I am fundamentally different.  Time and experience does that to us and I know the same is happening to those around me.  There comes a point where we accept who we are and how we feel about it.  And we need to allow the same for others.  As much as I preach evolution and allowing things to be how they are meant to be, the experience of it can be different because we often hope that people will change as we change given shared experience—but that isn’t the case.  There can be loss involved.  We just need to make sure that our growth isn’t hindered by the desire to keep things familiar.  Change is beautiful. 

Today I am grateful for a higher perspective.  This came out of nowhere. I recently had a second interview for a position at my 9-5 and it’s fascinating speaking with people at a different level.  The roles and their purpose operate differently even than they do at a management level.  There is so much freedom to operate with a more creative scope and there is a different focus.  From management and below it’s about getting a job done.  Above that it’s about creating that vision/goal.  I’ve been in the same industry with the same company for a long time so I was set in the belief that the roles were just set as they were.  Doing what we’ve always done got us nowhere so seeing the opportunity to change it is liberating and freeing.  There are other ways to think, other ways to accomplish things that go beyond the typical power plays in corporate roles.  When creativity and collaboration are forefront, amazing things can happen.

Today I am grateful for truth. No matter how hard it is to accept at first, truth is the thing that will at least set us on the right path.  We can’t move forward without resolving to understand how we are meant to move forward and that means understanding what we are meant to do, understanding what we are feeling—and understanding what others feel about us.  We can’t make people be who we need them to be.  We can’t make them feel a certain way about us.  We can’t change it when they change their minds.  But knowing the truth gives us the option to decide what works for us.  To decide what we want to do.  We are not reliant on other people’s needs especially if they do not coincide with our own.  Our lives are too short to spend it trying to be someone else or trying to make someone be someone else.  Know the truth.  Accept the truth.  It gets easier to move forward with practice. 

Today I am grateful for confirmation.  As uncomfortable as it is, I appreciate confirmation of the path I am on.  Knowing that the discomfort is simply part of growth is encouraging.  Things often look most fearsome when we are in the throes of change, learning to make the unfamiliar familiar.  We must simply press through it as long as there is no indication that something is wrong with the path we are on.  Sometimes all we need is a reminder that things are as they are supposed to be—it can be ugly, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t part of what we are supposed to do, what we are supposed to experience.  We may not understand it to begin with but knowing we are where we are meant to be is a relief. 

Wishing everyone a wonderful week ahead.

As we spoke about confidence we need to discuss how we get there outside of the feelings and how we embrace confidence instead of simply emoting it—we need to talk about the actions.  So this is what leadership means: the act of leading a group of people or an organization.  Sure, we can gain confidence from leading others but so often, especially in this society, leading others becomes an issue of ego and power.  We want a title or a position to be perceived as powerful, in authority.  But the most important facet of leadership, the thing that develops us into someone who has confidence to become who they are meant to be, is the ability to lead ourselves.  We all have the capacity to lead, but it takes discipline and a sense of self to lead effectively.  Discovering the leader within and understanding the role of leadership in our personal lives leads us to understand that we don’t need to hold a title/position in order to lead our lives.  We need to treat each aspect of our lives with leadership and accountability in order to progress where we want to be.

 I’m not talking about “seriousness” or perceived authority or even having it all together—I’m talking about owning the moment and taking responsibility for how we want to feel and how we want to approach what we want to accomplish. The real premise and idea of leadership is taking accountability for every facet of our lives and seeing it through. The following pieces are all from Robin Sharma’s The Leader Who Had No Title. That book is filled with gems—most of these came from the first few chapters but I could take snippets from the entire book.  The book is about taking responsibility for our lives and finding the inner strength to move forward, to take accountability for the way our lives are and getting to where we want to be.  It’s about using our voices to share what we know is right and to live how we feel is appropriate without harming others.  It’s making decisions that are right for us and following through on them.  It’s putting aside our sensitivities in favor of what is right for all.  It’s standing in the moment unafraid of what people say or think, secure in the knowledge that we can handle whatever comes our way. 

These are some musings as I’ve progressed from talking about decisions and then giving up on them when things don’t go quite right.  I’ve learned that we can’t just talk about what we want in theory because without practice we accomplish nothing.  That means making a decision and seeing it through even when things get rough.  It means that what we say, think, and feel may not be of the popular opinion but we see it through anyway because we know it’s right.  The world doesn’t always operate in absolutes or even with clearly defined right and wrong.  It’s up to us to navigate the labyrinth of work we create for ourselves and to identify if what we are doing is no longer working.  It’s up to each of us to let go of the fear of what people think, let go of the system, and create a different way to go.  Leadership is never about power, it’s about a common goal and an outcome achieved that benefits all.  Leadership isn’t a solo act, it’s a collaboration and a guiding force rather than a directive with only one outcome.  It’s an evolving thing and we need to understand the communal nature as well as our individual responsibilities.  Confidence and leadership are enough to change the world.

Decide what you want. Make a plan and work on that shit every single day.  No exceptions, no excuses.  If we want to move the needle then we have to embrace the entirety of who we are and the responsibility for that version of ourselves.  It’s that simple.  We tend to overcomplicate it because we are trained to think that there are only certain ways to survive or thrive in this world.  More often than not we get caught in survival, believing that’s how this life is meant to be.  Or we feel comfortable there.  But the choice is always ours.  We get to decide who we are and where we go.  So make a choice and focus on that every day.  Work toward that every day.  1% better, 1% more, 1% closer, and 1% shifted toward the outcome we want every day.  Over time that turns into exactly what we are looking for and suddenly the life we’ve dreamt of is here.  Live now by creating what we are searching for.  Allow our feelings to guide us to that version and live the most authentic, purposeful, and lively way we can possibly thing of.  Enjoy it all, create it all.

“Step out of the history that is holding you back.  Step into the new story you are willing to create,” Oprah.  This is a quick affirmation of what we discussed yesterday.  When we hold onto the weight of an identity we created because that is what we know, we will only ever be able to operate from that.  We tell ourselves the same thing over and over again and that is what we come to believe, feel, and then experience.  We can allow our history to be the thing that keeps us trapped or we can use it as a platform to rise above.  If what we’ve done led us somewhere further from where we need to be, it makes no sense to keep going in the same direction.  It doesn’t necessarily mean turn back either, but it is an indicator that we need to shift the path.  We will only ever get what we believe we are worthy of and what we take action on.  It’s only with new patterns, thoughts, and actions that we will see new results.  The same story gets us the same results—we know exactly what comes next.  It’s literally like re-reading the same page over a thousand times instead of moving through the book. We spent all that time reading but it got us nowhere. 

Don’t’ spend our lives like that.  We are meant to take in and read the entire story.  More importantly, we are meant to create the story.  We aren’t merely reading someone else’s book, we are creating our own.  There is immense power in that because we can create anything we want to.  The key is to find what our hearts are already telling us and to follow that.  This life is a gift and we have unique stories, voices, feelings, thoughts, and beliefs for a reason.  There is no need to hide behind a false narrative—that becomes a burden to keep anyway.  We only need to share exactly who we are.  If we identify that we are repeating our history then we need to consider that feeling a sign to pick up the pen and turn the page.  I know it can feel scary to bear the burden of what comes next but it’s even scarier to know that someone else can dictate what comes next for us if we allow them.  Stop that pattern and choose to create something new, on par with who we are, something that feels right.  Choose that path as many times as it takes to steer us to where we are meant to be.   

Continuing on the theme of what’s holding us back: there is such a shedding of weight when we release the fears we keep inside.  It can be very literal or it can be a feeling we have, a constant refrain or thought we carry about who we are.  It’s the false beliefs we’ve trained ourselves to believe are real.  Even those false beliefs can be classified as traumas because the brain continually repeats something, even something destructive, and it integrates that thought into what we believe we are capable of.  That negativity is pervasive and it can take over our minds and energy.  As we spoke about yesterday, we often think that is what’s protecting us but it gets to be a burden.  As soon as we release the shield we’ve created, there is room to breathe, there is room to flex and move freely in our own skin.  It is in learning to move in that state where we really develop our gifts and talents.  It’s there where the things we are meant to have flow to us because we are in the energy we were always meant to be—our own. 

As we continue to develop and evolve, as we resonate with our own frequency and energy, one more question develops: What is there to fear in a life that is bound to end?  There is no other outcome possible in this universe: death is inevitable and assured.  I know this can be distressing to fully consider—it freaked me out for years and it only reinforced my neurosis of doing things perfectly the first time around.  If I wasn’t perfect I wouldn’t do it, if I didn’t get it right I punished myself.  The reality is that the more time we spend trying to be perfect, the further we get from being who we are.  I’ve said it before: the goal isn’t to be perfect, it’s to be perfectly who we are.  There is a transition that happens as we near certain points in our lives and we learn to understand that there is no reason to be anything other than who we are, that time is precious and that we devoted far too much time to being something/someone else anyway. 

While there is this finality in death, it is also a great motivator.  After a certain amount of time we will literally be nothing more than bone and ash so what do we need to worry about in the grand scheme of things?  What is the point in fearing stepping into what we want to do.  Yes, there are certain actions with very real consequences, but if we are only following our calling then we can never be steered wrong and we will always prevail.  We are most definitely meant to succeed in our own skin, whatever form that metaphor takes for us—swimming or flying.  The bottom line is that there are both kinds of skin and one isn’t any better than the other.  But when we judge a fish by it’s ability to fly or when we think we are wrong because we know how to fly and not swim, that’s when we lose sight of that uniqueness and we allow our true purpose to either become a burden or something to hide.  Release the burden and allow the inherent greatness of who we are to shine through, no matter where we are.  The world needs us in our highest form—and that is the core of who we are.

As a kid I always used to try and sound or be like someone else. I wanted to sing like someone else, I wanted to dance like someone else, I wanted to look like someone else, I wanted to be someone else.  I don’t know what it was about me that so deeply and innately struggled with even liking myself.  I wanted to be accepted and I never felt accepted by those closest to me.  I always felt like I had to put on airs and prove who I was—and I was still left behind.  When all those people left and I was truly on my own, the real struggle began because I didn’t have my own voice.  I had to learn to use it again.  I had to learn what it sounded like to declare who I was/am.  I had to learn what it felt like to stop giving into people and stand my own ground.  I think that’s where the power plays came in in my life—I was so tired of people walking over me and talking over me that I became an aggressive control freak.  It took me a long time to understand the point of finding our voices: it’s to learn, acknowledge, and honor our own sound.  We find our voice like we find our own skin.  As we get comfortable with the sound, we get more comfortable in who we are.

When we find our own voices we can sing our own song.  Trying to be someone else and spending our time trying to be like someone else only inhibits who we are from showing.  We hide a lot of greatness and meany people let time slip by them being who people told them to be or simply ignoring that inner voice that guides them to who they are supposed to be.  The universe wants to hear us and all we’ve been doing is trying to copy someone else’s tone, someone else’s story.  We do it to protect ourselves so the core of who we are isn’t rejected.  But sometimes the very thing we are holding onto that we think is keeping us safe is the weight that holds us down.  It isn’t until we are drowning that we can tell what helps and what hinders us.  We need to let go of what hinders us so we can stop the struggle and swim.  When we hear that calling, we know need to do something different.  We need to trust that even if it’s different, even if it’s scary that we are meant to be where we are.  Our voices and our stories are meant to be heard.  We no longer need to hide behind anyone else or copy someone else—we can stand in our own power and focus on what makes us who we are—the things that make us great come from that voice. 

We are given unique thoughts, feelings, desires, talents, and voices so we are able to resonate with the frequency of who we are in the universe.  There is no sound like our own and even if we harmonize with others, we still have our individual patterns.  Don’t lose that and don’t forget our uniqueness because we are uncertain about whether or not our true voice will be accepted.  The universe can’t hear us if we are disguising ourselves.  Stepping into our power simply looks like sharing our sound and ideas and allowing the beat of our heart call to and respond to what is meant for us.  We struggle behind the identity we create instead of allowing who we are to flourish.  Until we learn to swim we will feel like we are drowning with the weight we thought would save us—it’s not a life raft, it’s a lead shield.  Stop trying to be someone else and simply allow who we are to shine through.  All that is meant to be will come because it has no choice but to respond to the frequency inside.  We are all worth sharing that voice.  The universe wants to hear us sing.