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Some Meaningful Quotes

• It is never too late to embrace change
• Life without change is boring
• Don’t be afraid to dream big
• Live with your eyes wide open
• Trust it or adjust it
• Fall in love with a new idea
• Give yourself time to dream
[taken from covers of notepads by Blanchards; available at Barnes and Noble bookstore]

And Ralph Waldo Emerson said:
Do not go where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path. . . and leave a trail.

Category: New Directions

Six Simple Steps to Define Your Success

Most people would like to be “successful,” but it isn’t always clear exactly what that means. There are probably as many definitions of success as there are people trying to achieve it.

The definition of success needs to fit YOU and your life. Figuring out what success means to you may seem like a daunting task, but isn’t really when you follow these 6 simple steps:

1. Figure out what area or areas you want your definition to cover.
Some possibilities might include definitions of success related to relationships, career, finances, physical surroundings, spirituality, leisure time, health and wellness, and/or balance.

2. State your definition in the form of “I know I am successful when. . .” or “I know I am being successful by how. . .”

3. Think carefully about how you will KNOW that you are successful.
How will you be able to tell? Be specific about this! Avoid using words like “happy” or “satisfied.” HOW will you know when you are happy?

4. If your definition of success appears to be so far away you can hardly imagine getting there, ask yourself “What will be the first small sign I will notice that tells me I’m headed toward success?”

5. Look at your definition at least once a month.
Does it still fit? Is it helping guide your decisions? If not, modify it until it fits your life as it is NOW.

6. Make sure the definition of success is really YOURS.
Your definition of success needs to be congruent with YOUR values and with who YOU are, not a reflection of societal ideas of success, or what your parents or teachers told you was necessary in order to be successful. This is YOUR LIFE you are living.

Once you figure out what success means to you, you can begin to take steps to create it by designing an action plan to reach that outcome. Remember that you can’t take this trip until you know where you are going.

Linda Pucci, Ph.D. is a psychologist, life coach, trainer and owner of Inner Resource Center, LLC in Maryville, TN. She has 30 years of experience helping people overcome obstacles and self-sabotage by using her solution focused approach. She is dedicated to helping people find the resources they need to transform their lives. For more information and free resources, including a free download of Banish the Goal Setting Gremlins and Reach Your Highest

Category: Getting There · New Directions

The Direction of Your Goals May Determine Your Success

Have you ever wondered why you weren’t able to sustain your progress toward your goal? It’s a common experience. You may start out with great drive and enthusiasm, only to begin to lose motivation. You may think there is just something wrong with YOU. But have you ever considered the idea that the problem may rest in the nature of your goal?

Basically, all goals are to some degree or another, a “moving toward” goal or a “moving away from” goal. A “moving toward” goal is something very positive and so satisfying that it drives us forward. An example might be pursuing a life-long interest that you find stimulating and rewarding.

A “moving away from” goal is motivated by the desire to GET AWAY from something negative. An example of this might be the goal to leave a noxious work environment, or the desire to lose weight.

“Moving away from” goals can be very powerful in the initial stages of motivating us, but the further away from the negative you get, the more your motivation drops. The intensity of the negative is no longer strong enough to drive you.

Most of us have both “moving away from” and “moving toward” goals. There are goals we are excited to pursue for their own sake, and goals that have us running from the negatives as fast as we can. In fact, many goals have aspects of both.

For example, the desire to go into business for yourself may be driven both by the desire to pursue an interest or passion AND by the desire to get away from a boss who doesn’t utilize your talents fully. By the same token, the desire to earn money may be due to wanting to get away from a background of poverty and want, or the desire to be able to use the money to buy something you want.

It is important to know whether your goals are “moving away from” or “moving toward” as this will affect your outcome. Why? If you are focused upon “moving away from” something, you will ultimately be focused upon the NEGATIVE–you will be working hard to AVOID something. Putting that kind of energy focusing on the negative that you are trying to avoid will ultimately drive you toward creating that negative. Although the negative goal may drive you initially toward another outcome, you’ll be unlikely to maintain your movement away from it. That focus on what you are seeking to avoid will gradually pull you back.

The dilemma of “moving away from” and “moving toward” goals tends to be what lies behind burnout and inconsistent results. We may change our direction in order to “move away,” but we can’t maintain it, and the goal we seek is not motivating in and of itself.

What’s the answer? It is important for you to know to what extent your goals are “moving away from” and “moving toward.” One way to do this is to list the goals you have about some particular part of your life. Then determine what percentage of this is a “moving away from” goal. You may be surprised at how many of them you have. Once you know this, you may be able to identify what it is you are moving away from and take some steps to determine what to do about it. There may be ways you can increase the percentage of “moving toward” that exists in your goals.

The point is that by thinking it through and making a plan you can better optimize your results. Having a plan allows you to use your energy, money and other resources wisely, as well as avoiding the horrible feeling of disappointment when you don’t reach the goal that you thought you wanted so badly!

Category: New Directions

Define Your Personal Leadership Vision

Posted by Stew Friedman on August 7, 2008 1:14 PM; published 8.20.08 Harvard Business Publishing

For the past couple of years, I’ve had the good fortune of speaking at the Broad Advantage conference in New York. Part of Janet Hanson’s amazing organization, 85 Broads, this weeklong program offers an array of speakers and experiences for about 100 college women who are interested in business careers.

A few days ago I asked each member of this year’s group to sketch and then describe to the rest of us her personal leadership vision–a compelling image of an achievable future. Leadership vision is an essential means for focusing attention on what matters most; what you want to accomplish in your life and what kind of leader you wish to be. A useful vision has to be rooted in your past, address the future, and deal with today’s realities. It represents who you are and what you stand for. It inspires you, and the people whose commitment you need, to act to make constructive change towards a future you all want to see.

Let’s look a bit more closely at the four key components:

A compelling story of the future is engaging; it captures the heart, forces you to pay attention. Those who hear it want to be a part of it somehow. And they are moved.
What does your future look like - what’s the image? If others could travel into the future with you, what would they find? A well-crafted leadership vision is described in concrete terms that are easy to visualize and remember.
The story of your future should be a stretch, but it must be achievable, too. If it were not achievable, you would have little motivation to even bother trying.

Finally, future simply means out there - some time from this moment forward, but not so far away that’s it’s out of reach.

Stewart D. Friedman is Practice Professor of Management at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School in Philadelphia. He is the founding director of Wharton’s Leadership Program and of its Work/Life Integration Project, and the former head of Ford Motor’s Leadership Development Center. He is the author of numerous books and articles on leadership development, work/life integration, and the dynamics of change, including Total Leadership: Be a Better Leader, Have a Richer Life, forthcoming from Harvard Business Press.

For more, please visit www.totalleadership.org.

Category: Getting There · New Directions

Shapes of Change

Change can take many ‘shapes’:

You might go in a straight line, from here to there.

You might take a zig-zag path, but still move forward.

You might move forward and then take a U-turn, going back to where you were.

You might move forward, with ups and downs, like a roller coaster.

You might move forward, get into the flow, rise up, go backwards and crash down, pick yourself up, and move forward again, like the Loop de Loop at a carnival.