Conditions will never be perfect

Google.com

"Whoever watches the wind will not plant, whoever looks at the clouds will not reap." That's the wisdom of Scripture (Ecc 11:4). Age old wisdom. Wisdom that is still relevant for today's struggle. To put it simply, conditions will never be perfect for getting your project off the ground. You may not have the required start-up capital; all the information needed to make a crucial decision may not be available, your team may lack some expertise; you may feel altogether inadequate for the task, but make your move anyway. Your success depends on it.

One of the biggest mistakes we make on the personal development path is to believe we have to be high on the measure of competence before we accept the mantle that major roles thrust upon us. On the contrary, it is through the challenges posed by these opportunities that we grow. It is as we stumble and bruise ourselves, fall and pick ourselves up that we grow in competence....and yes, confidence. It is as we tackle a problem broke - no money to throw at it - that we bring our ingenuity and creativity to the fore. It is as we take on our first client, with not enough experience, and less than enough know-how that we learn the peculiar needs of each of them, how we can fill those needs, and in the process stand out. But we have to start now....imperfect as conditions are.

When all is said and done, it comes down to your willingness to make incremental moves, and an understanding that it is often with the indiscernible, seemingly unimportant, steps that our most formidable and intimidating goals are achieved. Yeah, I know incremental is not appealing, but understand this: the cumulative effect of incremental moves is phenomenal. We're talking compound effect. But you must be willing to start where you are, with what you have now. Start with your so-called 'not enough', your inadequacies, your short-comings. Do it anyway.

Many times, while we wait for conditions to improve, opportunities depart. Procrastination is the thief of time, they say, and indecision the thief of opportunity. Make up your mind to face your inhibitions. Acknowledge your lack of resources, know-how or support. Acknowledge that conditions are less than perfect but believe that they are worth the risk - the risk of vulnerability, failure and loss even. The words of Martin Luther King come quickly to mind: "we don't have to see the whole staircase, we just need to take one step at a time." I've learnt that "less than perfect" is good ground for phenomenal success. You owe it to yourself to move towards it.

It's Just Harder for Introverts

pixabay.com

The push for personal achievement and success is difficult enough without having to add to it, the fact that you're an introvert. As a leader, I have often found myself in the position of having to fill roles I eschew, and take on tasks I have no desire to perform. From as far back as I can remember, I have always shunned the lime-light. (Don't ask me how one balances that with an intense, irrepressible desire to "be somebody." It may, somehow, explain the unending conflicts at play in my mind and heart). But inevitably I am, with increasing frequency, required to make that public appearance, fumble through interviews and expose myself to what sometimes feels like a skin-removal exercise. It's that bad! Vulnerability becomes an understatement.

The fact is, personal development requires deliberate moves toward self-improvement. It means planning your growth, but more importantly, it means taking action towards achieving those growth goals. Along the path, a few things become obvious:  Firstly, it cannot be done on your own. Growth is always in relation to someone else, some group or some community, whatever that looks like. And secondly, the only real limits we face are the ones we place on ourselves. Neither of the two is particularly good news for introverts.

If you are an introvert you likely prefer spending time to yourself, small talk is your least favourite past time and networking events are like a cage from which you want to cut loose. Brainstorming with the team is not necessarily your most favoured way of coming up with ideas because your best thinking occurs all by your lonesome. You find social situations super-awkward and while you enjoy learning, you certainly don't enjoy having your thoughts imposed upon. You prefer when people around you are self-starters, not needing coaching or personal interventions. The trouble is, growth - yours and that of those you may lead -  requires all that and more.

For extroverts and 'ambiverts' it may ('MAY being the operative word here) be as simple as doing something one has never done before. The task may be intimidating but it may simply be a new invigorating experience. Networking events are an opportunity to meet new people, make new contacts, open new doors. Leaving ones comfort zone often represents new, exciting (yes, maybe initially, uncomfortable) frontiers. But for the introvert it's often an excruciating experience. It cuts across the grain. It's not natural. It's just not who we are . I know. I speak from experience. And though, admittedly, the tasks get easier, it never becomes a place of comfort. But, whether fortunately or unfortunately, these are experiences we have to make up our minds to endure. Our growth requires it......and introverts, no less than extroverts, have the same aching desires to achieve.

  So, if lately you've been feeling that it's too much, if you're feeling absolutely raw and exposed (as I feel even now) do your best to look beyond the moment. Run often to your place of introvert power (whatever that is), eat, drink, refresh yourself and emerge boldly to meet the challenges, remembering that at the end of it all the rewards will be well worth the effort.

Personal Value - It's in Your Hands!

google.com

We get paid not for the number of hours we put in but for the value we bring to the table. It's that simple. Hundreds of people put in a forty-hour work week. Yet we don't all get paid the same thing. We get paid according to the perception of value that is placed on the tasks we perform, The good thing is that we all have control over the value that others place upon us.

Now let's be clear. A man's (or woman's) value in the market place is a world apart from the value we may place upon him as an individual. A man may be a valuable father, husband, brother, and similarly, a woman may be perceived invaluable as a mother, a wife, sister or daughter. Yet that same man or woman may be perceived as of little value in an organization. His/her skills may prove insufficiently specialized, his talents easily acquired, his ideas (if he has any) nondescript and uninspiring.

The good thing in all this is that we each have the power any day and everyday to increase our value. That's entirely up to us. Creating personal value is something that every human being should be intentional and strategic about. Our value to the market will never change until we change. We will never secure personal competitive advantage until we become intentional about working on ourselves. Formal education is one route, That's good. But formal education merely makes us a living, self-education is what makes us a fortune, We must secure every opportunity that comes our way to self educate - to increase our talents, to stimulate curiosity, to continually work at maintaining interest in the world as life evolves round about us.

We owe it to ourselves to create and increase personal value and continually offer that to the market place. We must become more: BECOME. DO. HAVE. That;s the formula for increasing value. As we learn, we implement - we DO - for the benefit of others. As we DO,  our talents and abilities improve, our reputations precede us; inevitably we attract the success we seek; we command the salaries and benefits we crave - all the time focused only on increasing our value to the market place. These days learning is as easy as the next you-tube video. There is just no excuse for remaining where we are in life. The value we being to the market place is entirely ours to control. What value do you bring to the table?

Scratch Your Own Itch

google.com

"Far from the madding crowd" is an expression I like to use. I find these days that withdrawing to this 'safe space' has become a personal imperative. Overwhelm has become far too familiar, whether that be my work day, my mommy-time or my down-time....there just always seems to be too much happening in my space. And if that is not enough, bumper-to-bumper traffic is the order of the day, any time of day. Trouble is, bumper to bumper traffic is threatening to become the order of my thinking. But I'm not about to let that happen. 

If the feeling is not familiar in your personal life, I'm pretty sure it has become a normal experience in your work-a-day world...even if you work from home. In fact, working from home has begun to feel, for some, like shark-infested waters. Every other teenager with a lap-top in a basement somewhere is likely competing in your space. What else can we write that has not already been articulated? Thousands, even millions of people are doing the very same things we spend our days dreaming about and planning for. Ideas are a dime a dozen, and no matter how novel we think ours are, we find that some other nifty mind has 'been there, done that." Makes you wonder if it's all worth it.

I have found that its worth it to find my own, blue ocean (as business strategists love to say); to create uncontested market space; to make the 'competition' irrelevant; to create and capture new value.  The truth is, if what you do is important enough to you this "crowding out effect" (to borrow a term from the economists) would not represent a stumbling block. In fact, it should force you to take a step back and do some evaluation.In a world where problem solving is cast as the die that gets us into the market place, we must learn to scratch our own itch.

Sounds counter-intuitive maybe. But here's why it works: At the most superficial level it causes us to give attention to personal problems we are able to solve. At a deeper level, it calls us to answer the all important question of 'why'. Understanding our why makes MEANING the currency of our operations. Meaning and purpose are what pull us back into the fray when we feel overwhelmed, crowded out, replicated, unnecessary. Scratching that itch of ours, doing what means the most to us, will get us going and keep us in the ring when others have long stopped stoking their fires. We have to learn to make the competition irrelevant, the crowd less madding, the noise less distracting. We must focus on our game, find our own blue ocean, scratch our own itch.....and that begins and ends with 'WHY.'

Staying Grounded to What's Real

flickr.com

I am always amazed at how easily my fingers glide over the computer keyboard, or my pen over  paper, as I empty my thoughts into my diary or some private space where my soul is not laid bare to the ravages of vulnerability. Absolutely no difficulty in putting my thoughts down. I've come to realize how different things become the moment I begin to write with an audience in mind. I search for the right words, or combinations thereof. I try to find the right rhythm. I want my audience to be impressed; I become preoccupied with the impact I want to leave on the reader's mind. But I find that it makes the task of  writing burdensome and unpleasant. I feel like I am pandering to the needs of others.

On the other hand, when I open my private  journal to pour my heart out into its pages, my fingers glide. Obviously, I have no concern for whether my words flow, how they will be perceived, or how widely they will be read, It's real. I'm real. My most authentic self comes flowing effortlessly unto the pages. The person I aspire to be stares back at me through the pages of words I unfurl. And I fall in love with the person I see; the person  I don't see enough. The person I am. I wish all of life was like that. Authentic; totally un-fabricated; imperfect...yet perfect in this moment; with no artificially imposed standards or expectations. I find I want to be in this place more often. No pressure; just simply reveling in the intellectual freedom that abounds there.

So how do I capture and preserve these moments? How do I write material in hopes that others will benefit, yet divorce myself from the confines of their opinions? How do I scratch my own itch in the face of all the the other itches and irritations of other people that daily impose themselves upon my existence? I remind myself that while I want my writing to benefit others, ultimately writing is simply one of the vehicles through which MY purpose is revealed and expressed. I refuse to be derailed by the agendas and opinions of others. I remind myself of the thousands of others before me who have been robbed of their dreams by people who have never attempted anything significant in their lives. Yep, I remind myself that ultimately, my most important audience right now is one - that's me....and I am always rooting for me.

I am grateful that my desire to share and improve my talents and know-how have always been stronger than my desire for an audience; or else I might have stopped long ago. You see I have not taken the time to learn how to 'drive an audience' to my blog, convert leads, or how to earn from it. Rather, I have needed to know that I would do it whether I failed or I succeeded. I have needed to carry on for the sake of doing what mattered to me.....and  I feel today that I have done that...with no audience. And it feels good. I guess an audience is good (at least sometimes) and ratings are great, I suppose....but the truth is, that's all vicissitudinous. I've got to stay grounded. For me, it's too dangerous to hand my future, so early on, to the platitudes of the unenthusiastic. I've got to keep staring me in the face and reminding myself of why I do what I do. I remind myself I am enough. And I carry on.

Saying Yes to the Right Opportunites

flickr.com

Here's an important caveat to my last post re opportunities: In order to attract the right opportunities we must learn to say no to those requests that advance a selfish agenda and YES to those that completely align to our purpose of making a difference in the lives of others. Interestingly, our purpose on earth always involves creating change in the lives of others. Obviously what that looks like will vary, but it always comes back to something outside of ourselves....but I digressed, so let me take the conversation back to it's original intent - saying yes to the right opportunities.

The truth is that many opportunities will come our way as we become intentional about our personal development. Obviously they will catch us at various times and seasons of our lives. In the summer or spring time of our lives, we may be better able to choose only those opportunities that help us along our path to a meaningful existence. However, when winter sets in, when funds are low and debts are high, our ability to reject some offers may not be as strong. Our circumstances may require that we diverge a little from the path. As they say, "sometimes we have to do what we have to do until we can do what we want to do." It's all good. It's a part of the learning. All lessons are welcome.

What's important is that we are able to identify and differentiate between them. Not every income earning opportunity advances our long-term goals; not every project that comes to the table gets us farther up on the ladder to the top; not every ball that is pitched at us, improves our ability to swing. We must learn to identify the opportunities that benefit our cause, long before they come knocking. The truth is, opportunities to fulfill our purpose (that's what we're talking bout, right?) never come clothed in ego-boosting proposals. They usually provide a gateway to assisting others..and oh, yeah...they often provide a chance for earning too.

So the next time you're faced with a difficult decision as to whether to take up an offer, consider whether the opportunity advances your long term desire for meaning and purpose. If the circumstances (financial, social or otherwise) do not dictate that you must pursue these opportunities, say no. Leave space for the things that bring meaning and satisfaction.....those things that fuel your passions and take you outside of yourself. Go for those that will help you leave a legacy that's bigger than you are.

Opportunities Will Come

quotesgram.com

This may be contrary to popular opinion as it relates to success. And that's okay. I have found over the years, as I have tried to organize my life around the major principles and tenets of success, that though many of these principles are common, quite a number of successful persons have at times veered from the popularly-held success fundamentals and have created other rules that have worked for them. I may be at the same place as it relates to the pursuit of opportunities.

It was Benjamin Disraeli who said "the secret of success in life is for a man to be ready for his opportunity when it comes." There are those who trumpet the importance of pursuing and seizing opportunities...and I guess it is important - depending probably on your personal success definition. I am one of those who believe, however, that opportunities will always come to the one who is sufficiently prepared to claim them. When the axe has been properly sharpened, felling trees is no longer a matter of strength, but of expedition and craftsmanship.

So the greater focus, I have come to believe, should  be placed on being and becoming the person it will take to master the opportunities that will come along. Marketing efforts come to naught if the product is flawed. Subsequent opportunities are lost if the current one is poorly executed. Sometimes it's not so much about the quantity of opportunities that come by, but the quality of those we implement. A satisfied customer does more to guarantee another sale/opportunity than any amount of fancy marketing campaign ever will.

So what are you doing to sharpen your axe? What is your strategy for becoming the best marketer/author/teacher/entrepreneur you can be? How is your personal growth plan progressing? How many lives have you impacted with your product/your philosophies in the last year? Let's be clear on this....no matter how good your product/service is, it is the personal philosophies and attitudes behind it that will make it sustainable or not. Your business/ideas/projects will grow only to the level of your own personal growth. So stop worrying about opportunities, you will attract them as you evolve....and that evolution is a lifetime work.