Over the past few months I have been facilitating 3.5 hour diversity training sessions around the state of Iowa. The topic of diversity is an interesting one as it is something that most people don’t think they need, but they have many opinions about. There are many different tactics to use to embrace diversity, create an environment of cooperation, and resolve conflict, but the foundation of it all is respect for one another.
Here is a great ‘feel good’ video where differences are accepted and friendship rules. We can all learn something!
Earlier this week I was in Marshalltown, Iowa facilitating two 3.5 hour diversity training sessions. On my way back from lunch I walked by this open yard and I had to stop, admire, and eventually take this picture.
What a beautiful site!
I don’t know much about trees, nor do I really care to, but I couldn’t help but pay attention to this one. If I would have had more time I might have actually walked over there and looked at it closer, but I was happy to see it like I had and get this picture.
This got me thinking about what I am doing with my life and my business everyday. I am trying to use my natural attributes and impact the world around me . . . like this tree is doing. I know a lot of young professionals, entrepreneurs, small business owners, and executives who are trying to do the exact same thing with their careers and businesses.
The older I get and the more I work with people the more I see that we are going 100 miles per hour in pursuit of . . . something! I say something because many times we don’t even know what we are going after . . . we are just moving really fast in a direction. We love living life in the fast lane because if feels like we are productive, but what forget that when we go that fast it’s hard to make corners or even stop.
Sometimes we have to change direction or stop!
What I don’t see people doing very often is preparing. Have you heard the “6 P’s”
We spend more time in front of a mirror “getting ready for our day” than really looking at ourselves and preparing for our lives. On my online radio show Realization Nation I talk a lot about “getting ready for our life”. It is critical to take time to do this. One challenge is, some people don’t even know where to start.
Here is what I would start to with:
Who are you?
Who do you want to be?
What do you want your life to look like one and two years from now?
What is your plan to make this happen?
Who do you know who can support you in being the type of person you want to be and living the life you want to live.
The Personal Leadership Boot Camp is a great way to start this process. I truly believe if you take the time to answer these five questions your world can significantly change, but it’s up to you to take the first step and make it happen.
Like everything in life . . . what you put in . . . you will get out!
What happens to us that makes us think we need to go 100mph through life?
Is it just me?
Am I the only one who has put this pressure on myself to do big things by a certain age?
Am I the only one who has made my life a chaotic mess from time to time trying to do more and more and more simply because I can?
I can’t be.
I feel like I objectively look at society and our culture here in the United States and I see the majority going mach 10 . . . but to where?
Those who know me know I break life into four areas:
Health
Finances
Relationships
Careers
When I look at these four areas this is what I see a country of people moving very fast with little control.
What do you think?
Recently I have faced or am facing challenges in each of these four areas and I’m not afraid to admit it. When it comes down to it I have created a world of chaos for myself. This has made me take a step back, look at my world objectively, and make some serious changes in my life that will impact each of these four areas above. As I look around I can’t help but feel that many, many, many people could benefit from taking time and slowing down . . . maybe even you.
If I were you I would answer the following four questions:
Who are you and who do you want to be?Really take time and assess your values, beliefs, and passions.
What do you want your life to look like in the next 12-24 months? I suggest breaking your life in the four areas above: health, finances, relationships, and careers. In a perfect world, what would your life look like in those four areas?
What is your plan to reach your vision?Break your vision up in to separate goals and write down the steps you would need to take to be successful in each area?
Who do you know?Who do you know that has either done what you want to do OR has an expertise in this area. We all know people who can help us and we must not be afraid to ask for help. One thing I have found out over the past year is people love passionate people and if handled with appreciation and respect people are willing to help each other. Accept the fact that you MIGHT not know everything and seek out the people that can help you learn it.
Every single day we are faced with decisions that can make our lives easier or harder. I have realized how easy it is to make things harder than they need to be. Simply take some time and think about your world.
The sky was the limit and we could be ANYTHING we wanted to be. What happened to that dream? Sure it’s easy to say “I was a kid”.
I talk to many people who are not living the lives they want to live for one reason or another. MAYBE when we were three we were on to something. Perhaps we knew so little about the world around us that we could be driven and motivated 100% by our interest and passion. At what point and time do we forget about this?
Take a moment and think back to your childhood:
Who did you want to be when you were little?
What did you LOVE?
What excited you?
What could you not live with out?
When I was three I wanted to be two people:
Superman
Bo Duke
Both made the world around them a better place and protected people from evil. When I think about my personal mission in life and why I started Full Circle Development Group, I can’t help but see parallels between myself as an adult and who I wanted to be when I was a kid. Though I’m not driving around a fancy car and beating up bad guys OR flying around saving the world . . . I am trying to do what I can with what I got, BUT . . . and this is most important . . . I am doing what fires me up in life.
With all the disengaged people I see . . . I wonder what would happen if they would have followed their dreams from when they were three.
A USA Today article says that consumers today encounter from 3,500 to 5,000 marketing messages per day, vs. 500 to 2,000 in the 1970s, says J. Walker Smith, president of consumer and marketing watcher Yankelovich.
As parents we need to consider how many marketing messages our children see on a daily basis.
How much television do we allow them to watch?
How much radio do they listen to?
How much time do they spend on the computer?
The fact of the matter is the business world spends a great deal of money to know how our kids think and act more than most of us will ever consider. If you are not leading them, someone OR something else is.
I ask you this . . .
Of all the thousands of messages your kids see, hear, and feel on a daily basis . . . how many of them are coming from you?
Please forward this along to anyone you know looking for an opportunity or maybe even a little bit of energy in such crazy times as we are experiencing.
Monday, July 20th @ 8 AM
When life hands you lemons you need to attend:
Project Lemon-Aid
When: Monday July 20, 2009 from 8 AM – 12 PM
Where: Staybridge Suites, West Des Moines, Iowa
Registration begins at 7:15 and we will start promptly at 8:00 AM
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Each of our speakers are passionate about helping you gain control over your career search and make things happen.
So . . .
Stand Up
Get started on a job search that has purpose and is intentional with specific action. You will be challenged and given information that will energize your job search!
Stand Out
Get noticed in the sea of resumes, market your strengths and talents so they feel like they have to hire you!
Stand Together
You are not alone in this. Leverage your resources for yourself and to help others. The reality is things are tough, but you may be one connection away from that new career!
We will be giving the following prizes away:
5 – 30 Minute Free Career Coaching Session
5 – 1 Hour Personal Leadership Coaching Session
5 – Free Video Resumes
5 – 30 minute Social Medial Personal Consulting Sessions
To RSVP for Project Lemon-Aid please send an email to:
Earlier this week I was in Marshalltown, Iowa facilitating two 3.5 hour diversity training sessions. On my way back from lunch I walked by this open yard and I had to stop, admire, and eventually take this picture. 
What happens to us that makes us think we need to go 100mph through life? 
