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Intentional Leadership — D1, W4, M12 — Belief

Reflecting on my childhood today, got me thinking about today’s post. I grew up in Southern California, about 15 minutes away from Disneyland. Talk about an undertaking that required an undeniable belief in one’s dreams!

If you’re not familiar with Walt Disney’s story, and how he built his empire, I recommend you do some reading. The man clearly had a dream — several of them, in fact — and he didn’t let much stand in his way of reaching his goals and bringing his dreams to reality. Disney dropped out of high school, spent some time in France with the Red Cross, returned to the States and sought employment as a newspaper artist. That didn’t work, so he went to work for an art studio, where he met one of his first partners. Their endeavor didn’t last long, however, as Disney was not a good money manager; their studio went bankrupt. Undeterred, he moved to a studio in Hollywood, where he went into cartooning, animation, and story-telling.

Blessed with creativity and imagination, Disney dabbled in a lot of different things before deciding to build a theme park for children. He developed the idea in the late 1940’s, and the park eventually opened in 1955, and as you are surely aware, the Disney empire continues to grow and expand to this day.

Along the way, he faced and overcame numerous obstacles and challenges; faced with the same hardships, many people would likely have given up. Walt Disney had big dreams, however, and a firm belief in his ability to bring his dreams to fruition. For a long list of his accomplishments, you can look any number of places: Wikipedia, The Walt Disney Company, his biography, etc…

The point is, belief will fuel your results.

What results have you achieved because you believed in yourself and your abilities as a leader?

Write it down…

What have I accomplished?

How did my beliefs fuel those accomplishments?

What would I like to accomplish in my future?

How do my current beliefs support those dreams?

What do I need to believe — that I don’t believe today — in order to achieve success in this area?

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Intentional Leadership — D5, W3, M12 — Belief

As we end this third week of our focus on belief, I find myself in a new and exciting place…one in which I am breaking through some formerly self-limiting beliefs about who I am, where I’m headed and what I’m capable of. Let’s say I’m conducting an experiment in stepping forward into my beliefs and testing the waters to see if my beliefs are valid. Only time will tell, but let’s say it’s been a good week, with a lot of exciting and intriguing things on the horizon.

I have given myself a bit of a break this week; although I’ve been doing some work, I’ve also allowed myself more “leisure” time. Truth be told, I’ve been  so much more focused that I’ve accomplished a number of things in my new office so much faster than I’ve experienced in previous environments, I’ve surprised myself. I don’t know about you, but I believe the physical and emotional environment is critical in terms of being conducive to productivity, and this new space is proving that out, especially in comparison to other environments I’ve been in.

So, as I approach this weekend, I have a mix of work and play on my mind. I will enjoy some creative and festive activities with family, and I will continue to polish my presentation for a speaking engagement I have on Monday. I need to spend a little more time and energy engaged with family members who are on the west coast. And I need to work on my schedule for the coming weeks.

What will you do with your weekend?

What is calling for your attention?

With whom do you need to spend some time?

What do you need to do to prepare for next week, the coming holidays and the new year?

However you choose to spend it, I hope you are intentional.

We will begin our fourth and final week of discussion on Belief on Monday. It’s hard to believe this will be our final week of this Intentional Leadership journey — at least in the structured way thru which we’ve been working these past 12 months. Rest assured, my focus on leadership and growth will not wane, but we will take a new approach in the coming months.

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Intentional Leadership — D4, W3, M12 — Belief

Have you refined your mission statement to a point you are ready to say it’s final? This doesn’t mean you never revisit or revise it, but are you satisfied with it as a guide for your next 6, 12, 18 months? Perhaps even longer…?

If so, let’s make it real and visible — a daily reminder.

Print it out in whatever format you prefer (just words, something visual, big, small…). Frame it, if that works for you. Put it in a place you will see it daily, to remind yourself of what you are striving to accomplish.

Now, just to be sure you are really ready to move forward, get your journal out and spend some time writing about the obstacles you are likely to face in pursuit of your mission, and how you will address them.*

 

*From the Intentional Leadership booklet, by Giant Impact.

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