Aligning yourself...

It seems as though this month is an apropos time for a self check-in. How are you feeling?  Are you feeling uncertain...overwhelmed...anxious...like you are floundering? One way to alleviate these feelings is to determine where you are headed by gaining some clarity. Understanding where you are on your path can seem overwhelming at first. However, using the following questions as a guide can help you work toward narrowing the gap between where you currently are and where you want to be:

  • What is your personal mission statement?

    • What do you want to do/be/accomplish?  What is your core purpose?  Why? If you don't know...don't worry! Simply begin thinking about it...

  • What are your personal goals that support your mission statement?

    • Develop personal goals, which can serve as incremental steps, as you work to fulfill your mission statement.

  • Who are the people that will support you in reaching each of your goals?

    • For example, your parents? Significant other? Friends? Co-workers? 

  • How will each of these people help you to reach each one of your goals?

    • Are they aware of their role in your success?

  • How will you evaluate your goals along the way?

  • How will you know when you have reached your goals?

These simple yet poignant questions will aid you with accomplishing your goals and aligning you with your true purpose-- your mission in life. Consider how you might apply the questions above to your company, your family, etc.

Proper engagement through leadership, education, and strategies can make all the difference. Learning how to create an aligned mission statement and goals is part of it... 

Fake it until you make it? Why?

How important is communication?  One could argue communication is everything.  It is how we represent ourselves through words, sounds, body language, vibrations, and even silence.  When we are in alignment with our thoughts, feelings, beliefs, and desires our ability to communicate them is seemingly effortless and more easily understood by others.  We feel empowered and confident because the messages we wish to communicate are aligned with who we are and what we represent about ourselves.  With this in mind, consider the following:

Most of us have probably heard the phrase, “Fake it until you make it.”  I hear this phrase used often, for instance, in classrooms at schools, around the office at the water cooler, and from parents speaking to their children.  While it is meant as a way to say, “It is okay if you do not know ‘x’ yet; you will eventually.”  In reality, it really means, “It is okay to not be honest with yourself and others for this portion of your journey.”  By using this simple “fake it until you make it” phrase, it immediately asks someone to be out of their own alignment.  We are overtly and subliminally asking individuals to pretend to be something they are not on the way to accomplishing their goal and then to go back to being “them” once they have reached it.

Instead of communicating mixed messages, why not learn to appreciate who we already are and build on this from a place of integrity?  We could: 

  • Visualize ourselves completing the desired outcome and then advocate for support needed in order to understand how to accomplish.

  • Be honest and take responsibility for our current abilities/state and work to obtain new skills to address gaps/issues.

  • Ask better questions to deepen our understanding of what we are trying to learn/accomplish and why.

Proper engagement through leadership, education, and strategies can make all the difference. Learning how to align our communication skills is part of it…  

 

Creativity and Innovation

With a new year officially underway, now is a great time to assess how we approach and navigate within problem spaces. 

  • Do we know what questions to ask and to whom we should ask those questions?

  • Do we approach problem spaces with an open mindset or closed mindset?

  • Are we a convergent thinker or a divergent thinker?

  • Do we possess creativity and innovation skills?

While there are many more questions to be asked, I welcome you to reflect on the questions above.  As you do so, consider how your answers manifest themselves at your place of work.  What are tangible examples that speak to the positive impact your contribution made to a problem space.  What specific strategies and skills made the difference?  How did you effectively apply those skills and strategies?  What didn't work well?  Why didn't it work well?

Proper engagement through leadership, education, and strategies can make all the difference. Align yourself with creativity and innovation skills today!