We’ve lived in our house since 1989. At that time, I covered the walls with wallpaper that I loved – but am weary of now. Every year, I’d select a room and put it on my “to do” list to strip the wallpaper and then paint the room. And every year, for the longest time, nothing would happen.
Many of you who follow this blog know that I’ve been diligently learning to swim so that I could compete in my first sprint triathlon. Well – last Saturday was the day! The weather was splendid and the crowd was young. The best news – I finished with dignity – in fact I sprinted at the end. Here’s some of what I learned in this journey.
My Mother, a very wise woman, taught me that, “Practice makes perfect.” However, after 5 months of diligent (swimming) practice, I was not getting close to passable, let alone perfection. And if that adage was truly the case, the folks on the job that had done it the longest would be the best. Clearly not my experience in swimming or in life.
I’ve watched Simon Sinek’s TED presentation multiple times. But it took experiencing someone who works from the WHY personally to really understand the profound difference and the impact that working from your WHY has on others.
We are a sports-crazed nation in the US. We love our teams and the competition and all the festive rituals that accompany game day. We admire the great performances of athletes – yet fail to make the link between what they do to improve performance and how we might do the same in our professional careers.
A mentor of mine called it the “Prison of Perfection”. She was referring to this all absorbing effort to get things perfect – and to not be satisfied with anything less than 24 carat gold results. No second place finishes. No 4.5 scores on a scale of 1 to 5.
The mind is a powerful influencer on the results we experience. And I am not talking about “intellect” but the mental state that accompanies us as we take on a challenge.
I was a bit unprepared for how hard the death of Steve Jobs would hit me. After all, we’ve known he’s been terribly ill. And most of all, I don’t know the gentleman, just admire his work.
We just had the final session for my certification in Masterful Coaching. Since March we’ve been focused on business and
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