Mind the gap and have a prosperous New Year

“Mind the gap” is a recorded phrase intonated on the Central Line at Bank Station.  Its platforms are curved, whilst the train carriages have straight sides.  Standing at points where the gaps are widest, you have to stretch across to board.  You are reminded to take care not to fall into the space between the platform and door openings.  This scenario brings the word ‘opportunity’ to my mind; the greater its potential the more effort it can take reach it.  Sometimes it seems hidden from us or even when recognised appear inaccessible.    

‘Gap’ is the expanse between where you are now, and where you want to be.   Sometimes its span seems too wide to traverse.  However, the determination, insight, support and quality of resource you have will aid its crossing.  ‘Mind the gap’ doesn’t necessarily warn of danger; it can indicate the need for awareness of what you already possess, and consideration of how best to utilise it, so you reap success.   Closing the gap may require a change in mindset, more education, good support, relevant contacts, training, even a physical move to where the opportunities exist.  Whatever it takes, you can bridge the gap, being mindful of the threats, but not allowing them to deter you. 

Rising from the pit

The pit is the hollow where you’re hidden from sight, in discomfort; its walls seeming higher than you can reach.  Though seeing light above you wonder if you’ll ever escape its dark confine.  Tired, helpless, voice gone through continued calls for help, faith sinks, no sound rising to fall on deaf ears.  You try to climb out, using bare hands to create - with what little potency you still have - finger and toe holds.  But strength sapped, you slip, drop.  Sitting on the hard dirt, you decide to make the best of it, and wait to be swallowed by hunger and thirst, imagining you’ll be dried husk before you’re found. 

The pit can be experienced mentally, emotionally, spiritually or physically, be inside – clinging like a chest infection, or external – seated in your circumstances.  Still hold on to your hope.  The right people will pass by, who possess the correct knowledge.  Their desire, seen by action will drop a rope down to you.   To help you up, out towards luscious places you’ve not been to before, where you’ll expand and excel.    Eventually you’ll rise, stand free in the gold of the sun and enjoy its shine.

Come out of the (d)Anger zone

 

There comes a time when you have to stop looking back and ruminating on those situations and behaviours that generated feelings of anger in you. Reflection is an excellent thing to do, but eventually your gaze has to move elsewhere. From the mistakes made to the lessons learnt, from anxious internal scrutiny to preparation for new possibilities.  Remaining centred on what’s gone before blinds you with an image, or consumes you in a story that is no longer true.  Mind captured in the past, trying to function in the now, whilst quickly speeding towards your future - is a confusing way to live.

Refusing to look forward hinders your ability to recognise good prospects.  Prolonged meditation on the wrongs of the past affects your vision and direction.   Rather than gnawing on yours or other people’s failings, consider what your experience has taught you.  Think about how you can shape it into a useful tool for you.  Become compassionate towards yourself, others and the circumstances.   Allow that to direct you into choosing to do what’s fitting, what’s best, and what’s right.   Give yourself release to make useful decisions about where your life should lead.   

Every Step Counts

Each of us has a unique gait, with no two people’s walk being the same.  Some legs are longer than others, enabling them to step further in one stride than someone with shorter legs.  The person with smaller stepping ability may attempt to cover the same distance, in the same time as their long-legged friends.  The results - shortness of breath, and feelings of failure at not keeping up.  Makes me think about life. 

Some people do so much in a relatively short space of time, whilst others seem to marinate for decades before coming into their own.  Each person’s life progress has involved steps that give them a unique experience which is to be valued.   Some steps would have been on firm ground, others on shaky, slippery soil, some steps on rocks, others on grass.  Whatever the terrain, its traversing has given you a plethora of insights helping you to grow into you who you now are.   You have qualities and abilities that give you a unique makeup which is to be celebrated.  You can contribute to life in a way that no one else can.  Your walk is like no one else’s and this identifies you.  Enjoy.

I’m Focussed on My Future

 

Reviewing the activities happening at Saturday’s workshop, I’m reminded that:

• It’s good to look at what’s old through fresh eyes, to see if we can get new uses out of it.  But, if it no longer works, or there’s better, release.
• We believe we know ourselves above all others.  Reality? Without being in every situation possible, we really don’t.   And it’s unnecessary for that to happen.  Picturing what we could do in a particular circumstance prepares us; if ‘it’ arises we already have clarity about our approach.
• How we manage matters reflects what’s important to us.  If it’s something we feel needs protection our response to its threat may be very strong.  The inconsequential we don’t give head space.
• Knowing what we want helps us to focus. What you want indicates what’s important to you. Be honest about its relevance to your life and possible impact.
• We picture our past like an old movie and wish we could speak to the principal actor - us.   If you could write a note, and throw it at the screen for the you in the film to catch, what would you read?  Hopefully something that gives insight and wisdom about what to do.

Taming mind spaces and places

Is the space you’re in the place you need to be?  I’m talking about your mind.

So much goes on in it.  At any one time we’re processing zillion bits of data received through our senses.  We’re considering how to proceed or respond, the words what, if, when, why and how prefacing our acts.  We are wonderfully created beings. Yet somehow we don’t always do what we should or how we could.  This is rooted in our thinking.  Tame the mind and we’d do well for our internal and external communities. 

So how do we get our minds under control?  That’s a good question.  We often try to master other people, situations we’re in, circumstances around us and the place in which we physically live, hoping this will put us in a good space. Yet the place we struggle with most is our internal environment.  We focus on celebrity stories, bad news, gossip, contentions, and reality tv without considering what these influences generate in our minds. 

So how do we even start?  Think about whatever is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, and admirable.  If it has positive motive and intent and develops excellence in you give it access.

A&E Decisions

 

An accident is when an unfortunate, unexpected or unintentional incident takes place.   Emergencies are serious and unanticipated events.  They may be dangerous and call for urgent action.  They produce immediate pain, discomfort and cries for help.  To manage these states treatments are applied based on immediate need.  Life presents conditions to us, which we might personally or corporately consider to be A&E moments.  They drive us to look to internal or external resources for support.

The decision may be right in the moment; the strategy applied correct for the instance presented.  However, continuing the same approach may not improve the condition.  The hurt may burrow deeper, the pain increase, and an ugly scar develop.   An appropriate long-term management solution will be needed, to allow full repair or healing.   

Already applied your A&E decision?  Recognise and accept that the circumstance’s nature could change and your resolution need rethought.  What to do?  Place yourself in the future you want.  Imagine what you see, feel, hear.  Ask yourself “How did I get here?”, “Whose voice did I listen to?”, “What creative, permanent solution did I implement?”. Such questions give insight into the long term strategy needed to manage the situation.

Taking a Step Back to Come Forward

 

We measure faithfulness by how frequently and persistently a person participates in an activity or project, or maintains a particular role.   The danger lies in our demanding such loyalty to the cause they feel pushed to relinquish what is truly important – being faithful to their self.   Giving a person space to step back, allows them to reflect on their contribution, revise their thoughts, recapture motivation, and perhaps in the future re-enter.  Refusal’s outcome includes frustration, anger, resentment, rejection and disassociation.

Do you want to withdraw from participating?  Fear ‘their’ disappointment?  Consider why you want/need to step back, and recognise its value to you.  Have an outcome in mind so you’re not stepping back into an abyss.  Not sure?  Stop.  Wait.  Give yourself time.  Discover.  Many people get lost because they stride away quickly, forgetting why they made the decision, and not acknowledging their innate need for destination.  It’s your opportunity to grow who you are, will be, and what you believe.  If you appreciate this it’s easier to communicate your reasoning.  Confusion and attempts at persuasion to remain happen when communication is fuzzy. 

Allow the step back chance to become a successful step forward again on a positive, constructive pathway.   

Time Wasters Ltd

Anything that stops you from achieving is a time waster, getting in the way of clarification and accomplishment of goals.  Each of us dabbles with and has favourites.  Being skilled at interacting with them stops us seeing them for what they are.  They include:

·         Lack of planning: failure to plan is a plan to fail.

·         Delaying for tomorrow what should be done today: proscrastination.

·         Interruptions: continuity breakers for which we have no contingency.

·         Internet: we get sucked into researching/playing with what does not add value to us.

·         Problems: constantly dealing with what causes doubt and uncertainty.

·         People: very distracting, especially if they do not understand your vision.

·         Lack of headspace: giving thought time to fripperies rather than what’s really important.

·         Busyness: constant doing stops reflection and hinders progress.

·         Perfectionism: constant tweeking for ‘it’ to be perfect brings delay.

·         Fear: being afraid that if we do differently we will fail. 

·         Time blindness: inability to see the value of the time available to us.

·         Meetings: where all have to speak, but not have something to say.

Recognise them.  Decide how to handle them. Then take back what’s yours.

Return on Investment

A measure used to determine the value and performance of an enterprise is ROI or Return on Investment.  It is expressed as a percentage.  If ROI is negative, then cessation of investment is considered wise, whilst positive percentage indicates that continued association is worth pursuing. 

ROI’s purpose is to ensure benefit is seen and received from what is expended.

Sometimes people approach relationships similarly, wanting everything for something or EFS; a little is given, but a great deal expected in return.   A relationship approached this way will always express as  a negative unit.  Not because of what is reciprocated, but because of the thinking and attitude brought to it.   Persons who always look to get exactly the same return as that they put in, whatever the context, are constantly hungry and dissatisfied.  The balance in relationships ebbs and flows, because they involve  feelings rather than functions.  Sometimes we give substantially to one relationship, but actually receive greatly from another. 

So you don’t appear to get much from a particular source; still enjoy the relationship for what it is, without allowing yourself to be abused.  Flip the script.  Calculate the return your relationships receive from their investment in you.  

Every grain of salt counts

Salt is important to our existence. It’s a taste that all humans readily recognise, along with sweetness, bitterness, sourness and savouriness. Too little or too much in our diet causes health problems. 83% of salt produced is an important ingredient in the manufacture of non-food stuffs. 17% is for food purposes. It is produced via extraction or evaporation.  Raw salt is bitter, unrefined salt cannot be digested but combined with other ingredients, is therapeutic.  Refined salt is edible, a flavouring and preservative.

On its own a grain of salt may not be perceived as able to do much, though it’s presence can be detected.  However, when added to more of the same it has the potency to significantly change the flavour of food and in the correct conditions, preserve it for later use. 

Management, through its aims and objectives, decides the purpose and nature of an organisation.  However, it is each employee who salts or, brings flavour and character to the business.  Developing or refining staff motivates them, changing the atmosphere within the organisation.  It tells individuals they are valued, and perceived as having potential to add more to the establishment, if not immediately, later though refining. 

Make every grain count.

Doing things difrently

Each of us have made decisions which, with hindsight, could have been approached differently, better.  We could have done and/or said something another way to influence the initiation, course, and outcome of a particular circumstance.  We make choices never knowing the full the implications of our plans, and sometimes not even knowing our own intent.  How can we get that knowledge?  By stepping outside, stepping inside, stepping aside, and stepping into. 

Stepping outside causes us to be less emotional, more clear-headed and able to assess the situation.  Stepping inside someone else's skin helps us gain inkling of their perspective.  Stepping aside helps us put our ego in check and see that it’s not all about us.  Stepping into connects us with the opportunity to see a challenge overcome rather than a problem solved.  ‘Stepping’ frees us from being locked into one train of thought.

When you’re faced with your next challenge be it light or severe in nature, first consider your intent.  Assess the various approaches available to you. Attempt to understand the viewpoint of others involved.   Judge the outcome most likely to happen from the choice you make. Very importantly, consider if it is one you can live with.  Step up.    

Planting Seeds of Potential

 

Everything we do and say can be equated to seeds.  A seed’s main characteristic, whatever its variety, is potential.  Potential speaks of what could be, is possible, likely, latent or probable.  Our actions and words produce a result of some sort, and not necessarily what we expect.  Even inaction is a response to the seed we’ve planted.  

Sometimes we become frustrated by the results of our efforts.  There are a number of things to consider.  We may not have thought enough about whether the growth conditions were right or not for that particular seed.  We may have planted:

·         on lumpy or stony ground, which needed to be winnowed in advance

·         our seed in the wrong place and the soil is unable to sustain it 

·         mixed seed, with the stronger choking the weaker

·         unlabelled seed so don’t know what will appear  

As we each plant seeds today, think about what we intend them to produce.  Will their produce be for us or someone else?  Will we be able to manage the harvest that comes from our planting?  Will the produce itself contain good potential or be barren? Will we need to do some weeding in ourselves before we attempt to plant our seed elsewhere?

Silencing the Noise

Noise makes itself known in various ways. It presents as loud, soft, incoherent or disturbing sounds.  Noise is experienced internally as our senses, and externally as input from people and situations. The external noise you can get away from.  It’s the internal noises eg fear, disillusionment, depression, feelings of rejection, lack of self-confidence, doubt, and our reactions to circumstances, that are harder to manage.

Their impact however can be reduced. Remember that someone can help – it’s a matter of recognizing them amongst our contacts.  Plan your future: write it down, share, and work towards achieving it.  Talk with people who have been on the journey you’re taking, and come out the other side having gained wisdom.   We all have particular ways we receive information, and this can sometimes stop us from developing clarity of thought.  Be open to accepting insight, inspiration and confirmation from a variety of sources.  Once we tune in to these opportunities we are able to hear more clearly, thus silencing the noise.

Which map can I follow?

Cartography is a wonderful invention.  The first known maps drawn in caves, focused on the planets rather than earthbound roads, cities, towns, villages and hamlets.  They were developed to help people understand, explain and find their way around the known world.  A well written map gives clear illustration of the features present in a particular area.  It shows their relationship to other items.  A badly written one leads you astray, at worst guiding you to a totally wrong destination.  A map shows possible routes from one place to another.  It doesn’t state the means of travelling to a particular place.  However, if you read the map key you can tell which roads are major or minor, avenues or lanes, streets or cul de sacs, and be helped to work out the best route.   

Your life and mine are a type of map.  Family and friends, work colleagues and acquaintances read the topography of our lives.  They try to understand what, why and how to do, or avoid.  As life maps we can encourage, direct, instruct and lead others to their purpose.  We can also assist them to reach dead ends.  

Can I follow you?

Too Proud?

Most of us feel proud about things connected with us. Pride's root is found in family and friends, our achievements, abilities or place in life.  Being proud carries a sense of pleasure and satisfaction. It indicates that we value our qualities. Pride causes a person to bear their self well, attracting respect. Pride in another’s achievements lifts their spirit. So in correct measure proud is good to think, feel, be.

However, pride is the cause of many hurts and offences, and is the citadel of the self-righteousness. It‘s the province of those who exclude and devalue others, based on perceived superior or inferior qualities. Pride rejects, leaving a person to continue drowning in their sorrows. The bastion of ignorance, it stops us from admitting that we don’t know. It stands a barrier raised against right opportunities and possibilities, considering them fearful, to be fought against. The proud mind elevates its owner to undeserved heights so they become unapproachable and unnecessarily aloof. Pride reaches wrong conclusions because questions are not asked. It is the defence of those who feel frail inside but can’t admit it. Much effort and enthusiasm is needed to keep it alive.

So, I ask myself ‘Am I persistently raising offensive unnecessary defences?’.

Weighted Expectations

In relationships – whether business, professional or social – we enter with and develop expectations.  In the business sphere these are based on what we know of an organisation’s reputation and branding. Our interactions with their representatives, from the front desk to the board room also have influence.  Professionally, the organisation’s core values, contract and statement of employment are the foundation for employee/employer expectations.  In the social sphere these are based on the local culture of our living environment, friends, family, and our own internal mores.  They may be explicit or unrevealed.

When our expectations are not met, it’s tempting to move into rejection mode.  But before doing this, spotlight them to see if they are reasonable.  In doing business with an organisation we have right to expect them to keep their promises.  Once we enter into a contract of employment we have right to expect the employer/employee to maintain those expectations.  Is this true for the social sphere?  Yes it is.  Except when expectations are attempts to manipulate a person for worse, or according to our thinking, for the better. 

Our expectations of other people can become burdensome to them, even if rooted in the best of intentions.

You may never know ....

You may never know what, and how much of 'it' you have within you, until you ‘rise to the challenge’, ‘take up the gauntlet’, or ‘receive the baton’.

These terms are challenging for different reasons. Rising is a different posture to kneeling or sitting. In rising we change from a stance that is possibly very comfortable (or not) in order to achieve greater than we have so far. In taking up the gauntlet we recognise that for us to overcome the challenge we have to use new/different tactics to those we have before. Receiving the baton calls for the runner to get ready, be aware of the speed and timing of their colleague, and have expectation of success. Once within their grasp the runner has taken responsibility for ensuring their team achieves the goal.

Opportunities are sometimes presented as challenges. How we perceive these has implications for our management of them.  How we managed them impacts how people in our sphere of influence view us.  How they view us, has implications for the level of confidence and trust they develop in us. The depth of their confidence and trust in us has implications for how, and in what direction we advance.  You may never perceive and improve until you rise, take or receive.

Playing the right notes

 

Harmony happens musically when different instruments are played together using tones that complement each other. It also happens when people of different vocal ranges sing together, avoiding tones which create dissonance and unpleasantness to the ears.  Particular tones when added to others make chords.  Chords are sharp or flat depending on the notes they include.  Some add a little piquancy producing a bright sound, whilst others are flat resulting in a dull noise.  A composer puts tones together that create the mood desired, influencing the emotions of the listener.  What relevance does this have to work and life?

Individuals’ input into relationships, influence what they sound and look like.   Negativity causes the atmosphere around them to be flat, whilst positivity adds brightness.  Harmony empowers people and leads to them giving their best resulting in peace and joy.  Harmony is people working together to make the journey of life/work easier to navigate.  Harmony is the opposite of discord.  The desire for harmony is not a weakness.  It is a strength that causes one to look at matters creatively and develop solutions that will increase effectiveness.   Harmony’s purpose is construction not destruction.  The manager, as composer, has to be aware of what might affect the team’s harmony, producing discord and anxiety, resulting in poor performance. 

The impact of disharmony in our workplaces, communities, towns and cities is evident today. 

Held up, held back, held by, held from

 

Sometimes we think we’ve dealt with our fears by joking about the thing we don’t understand, that overwhelms or makes us feel uncomfortable.  We describe it in terms we hope will reduce its size, importance or relevance, allowing us to stroke it without fear of harm.  Unfortunately, it continues to have hold and control because curiosity about it persists.

The thing’s power lies in the fact that it's present in the mind as something needing to be overcome.  Once the fear has actually been faced and dealt with honestly, it really does become what we desire it to be – powerless.  We are then free to enjoy our personal growth.

Oranges aren’t the only fruit

An orange tree produces oranges.   An apple tree produces apples.  The trees that they come from are identified by the fruit displayed.  Cross-fertilisation of fruit produces a hybrid.  The purpose of this process is to get rid of the deficiencies and increase the strengths.    

We have the ability to produce fruit, in terms of those behaviours that influence our surroundings.  Some can be identified as love, joy, peace, tolerance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.  These fruit bring a pleasant taste to the environment we live in.  Evidence of other fruit - hatred, sadness, insecurity, spite, evil, discrimination, harshness and selfishness - brings a sense of discomfort, disappointment, despair and bitterness. 

Each day, the experiences it unfolds, and the people we interact with, present opportunities to decide which seed will fruit and be on display thus impacting our environment.  At that point we have the power to control the cross-pollination process.

‘It wasn’t me!’

You’re part of a team and a mistake is made in performing the task.  ‘Everyone’ knows about it.   What’s your reaction?  Options are:

• Protest your innocence, since you were present but not directly involved 
• State very clearly that you were not there when it happened 
• Offer to be the scapegoat and have the blame laid on you 
• Get angry and look for someone to take responsibility
• Sulk and complain to anyone who will listen
• Select who you think is the weakest link,  placing total blame on them
• Accept the criticism and move on as mistakes happen
• Accept the criticism and suggest improvements to the methods of working                                                                      

Which approach is most effective?  What gives it power?

Variety adds spice

It was one of those mornings where the rain and sun had been fighting for for the skies.  As I entered a building a young lady stated that she hated this country because of the weather and its changability. This led to me thinking about the variety of weathers we experience, and the saying this is the spice of life.

Spices add flavour to food, and without them much of what we eat would be tasteless. Practically every country has roots, seeds, barks and substances which can be used for this purpose.  Our tongues through exposure, have become accustomed to the breadth of flavour brought by these.  Their aromatic, sweet, pungent, warm, vibrantly coloured, delicate, preserving, protecting, flavour masking, medicinal substances add choice, harmony, and pleasure to our world.   Our experiences and the people in them are the spices in our lives.

Variety gives us opportunity to practice flexibility and enterprise. It challenges us to rise to become tomorrow, what we aren't today.  In some societies rain is regarded as a blessing, and we all love the sunshine, except in drought situations. No one wants that with its promise of dryness, barreness and lack. Rain is a necessary element of life because without it rivers don't flow, plants are not watered, produce of the land is not harvested, foodstuffs can't be processed and death quickly comes.  Rain has cleansing and restorative properties.

Spice gives the variety that we need to ignite our imagination; rainy times help the good stuff in us to grow.

What are the spices in your life? How do they enhance your living?

Trays R Us

I was at an event the other day where the rule was whoever had the tray could speak. As I looked at it I saw a metaphor for life.

Some trays are well cared for, become old, and highly valued. Others are bashed about and chipped through frequent, though not necessarily careless use. Trays are eventually thrown away and new ones produced every day somewhere in the world, in different materials, sizes, shape, colour and pattern. They are designed depending on size, to hold a few things, but sometimes carry many. They can become overloaded, with spillages leaving them dirty, in need of cleaning.  If left unclean, they become germ-ridden health hazards. An empty tray is ready, waiting for use, but a decision has to be made exactly how. A broken one, depending on the damage may be repaired and used again. An unused tray attracts dust, and if left in a cupboard can be forgotten.

Trays are manufactured for specific purposes but are sometimes utilised for different reasons depending on perceived need, which can be ill-judged. A stack of trays is much potential at various levels waiting to be used. So, as we look at our own lives we have opportunity to make decisions about our purpose and how we will be used. We have opportunity to live life to the best of our ability, so it at least does not lay empty, unused, misused, hidden or forgotten.

Beautiful Binds

On my walk this morning my eyes were caught by a hedge filled with white, trumpet-like flowers.  I thought how lovely and healthy they looked along the roadside path.   I remember the first time I noticed this plant – bindweed (morning glory).  I thought it looked delightful until my neighbour told me of its habit of over-running if allowed to gain foothold.  It wraps around, and chokes other plants, denying and robbing them of sunlight, rising up to 4 metres.  The flower lasts a day, but the roots and branches for years.  In the wild it adds to the colours of nature, but in the cultivated garden it’s dangerous.   

This made me think of those things which we believe sustain and cause the garden of our lives to flourish and be beautiful.  We water, feed and encourage them to grow and be strong.  However, if we look carefully and critically, we would see that they instead kill off our creativity, sensibility, mental capacity, deplete our ability to grow, rob us of strength and choke our potential.   Once it takes hold bindweed is difficult to eradicate and gardeners are advised not to let this plant take root.   The question to ask is ‘What have I permitted to pervade and choke the good in the garden that's my life? And how do I get rid of it?’.

Let’s be ready and not afraid to look at our lives, putting effort into and getting help, where necessary, to rid ourselves of the perennials that have chokehold on us. 

Good, Better, Best

I’ve been considering the word ‘best’.  A couple of days ago I encouraged someone to do their best.  My hope was that they would approach their future positively in regard to effort, commitment and finishing of what has been started.  Today in conversation with another person they advised me to do my best.   This encouraged me because I felt they showed belief in my skills, abilities, focus, and potential to achieve.

Doing your best requires deliberate action and control of your will.  Doing your best means that you expend what is valuable in you to attain/achieve what, in your view, has the same or is of more significance.  Best is regarded as the first place, highest in quality, most desired, better than good.  Other people’s good may be judged better than your best, but resist the temptation to let that deter you and give as much as you can.  Best is what we all have within our selves. 

Help! I need somebody

 

The old Beatles song “Help!” is ranked amongst the list of 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.  Its lyrics and upbeat tune resonated with people of all generations when released in 1965.   Help.  We associate this word with weakness, frailty, lack of organisation, lack of self-control, being at disadvantage and desperate to be rescued.  Let’s flip this idea.

Someone who seeks help is not so hapless after all. They’ve recognised their lack of skills and knowledge, poor decision making and the need to control their self. They’ve assessed the position they’re in and decided that they can’t get out of it on their own. They’ve judged others to be better equipped than they, able to provide what is needed.  They’ve harnessed their hope of getting into a better position – one where they're no longer in need.

Often it’s hard to ask for help because of its negative connotations, and so people carry on struggling. Everyone needs help to varying degrees, in different situations and at various times.  Many people think ‘Help!’ at one point or another even if they don’t say it aloud, eventually managing to work things out for themselves. Others don't necessarily have this ability.

A line in the song states ‘Not just anybody’. Once a person gains the courage to ask for help, they need it from someone who can, will and do. They ask in the hope that the listener can hear/see clues to the help they can give, and make a decision not to withhold.  

Even if you can't help directly, pointing them to who might is a positive start.  Who, when, where and how will you help today?

Poor vs Good vs Great Leaders

As you aspire to become a team leader, manager, director, or business owner having employees, what standard of leadership are you setting yourself up to perform?    Leaders ought to be emotionally stable, display postive behaviours, and have characteristics which followers can trust.  They should inspire belief in the cause and purpose.  This does not mean that they have everything in the package - that's why they need good people around them who can fill the gaps. 

Leaders serve rather than be served.  They do not dominate and subjugate, but enable those with them to become improved as indivudals and participants in teams.  Leaders vision and influence the future, by giving credit for acheivement, and encouraging those they lead to perform at thier best.

Why do people sometimes make bad leaders?  It's because they see the attainment of the leadership position as the end of their journey, rather than the beginning.  Having risen to that platform, they believe primary responsibilities to be making decisions, directing activities and ensuring no one else can rise above them.  Wrong.   Practice at being a leader developer ensures that those who come after are equipped, and have the necessary tools evidenced in ability and character, to achieve even greater things than the leader has their self.

Poor leaders produce problems.  Good leaders produce followers.  Great leaders produce leaders.

Dream Steelers

 

The first half of 2011 is almost over, and many of us may be reflecting on our personal performance since January, and the strategies we will adopt for betterment throughout the rest of the year so we reach our goals.  I saw someone encouraging another recently and thought to myself that they were a ‘Dream StEEler’, and this sparked more thought.

When someone tells you their idea for becoming successful whether in their personal, social or professional there can be a host of reactions, several of which I suggest below (or can think of at present):

• Platitudes such as “Everything will be alright!”
• Encouragement such as “Good on you!” or “You’ll do well.”.   
• Warnings such as “It’ll never work.”, “It’s never worked before/it’s too difficult.” or “Why try?”.
• Reality checks such as “You need more talent.”, “Are you sure you can/will stick with it?” or even    Why you?”.
• Probing questions such as “How do you plan to .....?”. “What will you do if .....?”. 
• Exploration statements such as “Let’s see how we can make this work for you.”.

Some of these reactions are the tools of ‘Dream StEAlers’, whilst others are utilised by the ‘Dream StEElers’.

‘Dream StEAlers’ will take a person’s idea, dream, aspiration, goal and crush it with what they say about it. They don’t believe that someone else can reach the heights, and their alternative route is down.   On the other hand ‘Dream StEElers’ will examine the idea brought to them and be realistic about its merits and attainability, suggest other ways that might work, and encourage the pursuit of the dream.  They are the people who champion others, are able to see greater possibilities, and help the individual do so too. 

Everyone needs a ‘Dream StEEler’.  Can you be it? 

The Barrier Breaker

What helps a person break through their own barriers?  Answer: Encouragement. 

We see it in those impacting, historical, record breaking, world shaking, people moving moments we all know about, but also in the areas of our lives which only a few people share.  Whether good or bad  they would not have happened as and when they did, without someone giving another encouragement. 

Encouragement:

·         Gives a person a nudge if they’re feeling reticent to step forward

·         Tells a person that others believe in them 

·         Tells a person that others potential in them

·         Stops a person going backwards or even stopping in their tracks 

·         Injects courage into a person

·         Causes a person to bravely face their challenges, expecting to overcome them

·         Causes a person to rise to the place of their fulfilment

·         Causes a person to invest more in their personal vision

·         Moves a person to a point where they in turn can help others

·         Moves a person from obscurity to being well-known in their sector

Your encouragement has impact that you may not directly see yourself, but which generations to come will gain benefit from.

What’s wrong with enduring?

When we think of ‘endurance’ we assume suffering, pain and hardship to be the total experience.  That’s a frightening thought as no one wants to live any of these.  But looking a bit closer at ‘endurance’ we see that it also carries the connotation of ability or strength to continue or last, having stamina, being of a lasting quality, or extended in time.

I think we all want endurance in our lives, but in our attempts to meet our destiny, we’re persuaded that swiftness is what we should value.  So we run headlong into bad decisions, that in the bigger scheme are not good for, and demoralise us.  We get frustrated that takes us longer to achieve what other people have in a shorter timeframe, without knowing the true cost to them.  We run another person’s race and get wiped out physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually.

Swiftness indicates speed, strength indicates ability, whilst endurance indicates patience and persistence in reaching the goal.  The speedy quickly get tired if conditions change; the strong rely on their strength which is in itself a weakness.  Those that endure get the time to  last the distance and reap the rewards of their particular race.