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Intentional Leadership — D3, W4, M9 — Attitude

We all know someone who is currently having a hard time with some aspect of their life. Spend some time today thinking about someone specific who is in this situation…discouraged due to difficulties they face.

Ask them how they are doing. Spend some time and energy in encouraging them in their areas of strength, giftedness, and passion.

If you have the opportunity, encourage them by sharing one of your stories about a tough time you went through and the lessons you learned as a result.

I know, it makes us feel better to share stories of our successes, but the truth is, we learn more from others when they share stories about the times they have stumbled and how they worked through whatever it was. Those are the times we discover what we are truly made of, what we are capable of, and learn the lessons that will help us move forward.

Afterwards, spend some time with your journal and write down some thoughts from your conversation. Write down how it felt before, during, and after.

Write about the impact you were able to have on the other person.

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Intentional Leadership — D1, W4, M9 — Attitude

This last week of month 9, we are going to focus on the power of your attitude. As Thomas Jefferson once observed,

Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude.

Are you familiar with the story of Christopher Gardner? If you’ve seen the movie, The Pursuit of Happyness, you will recognize it. Gardner lost it all — his wife, his home, and family savings in a bad business investment. He was living on the streets with his son when he entered a competitive stock broker internship program, which, by the way, offered no pay for six months. Determined to prove himself and provide his son a good quality of life, we went on to become  a top performer for Bear Stearns, and eventually opened his own firm with offices in New York, Chicago, and San Francisco. He also has become a motivational speaker and philanthropist who has received numerous humanitarian awards.

Imagine what would have happened to him and his son if he had given up when he found himself on the street. We read the stories every day, and there are numerous possible outcomes to this kind of story, and few of them are good. Had he adopted a negative attitude, not only would his and his son’s lives be very different, but so would the lives of the many people he’s helped since he dusted himself off and got to work.*

I know we don’t like to spend a lot of time in consideration of the times when we’ve failed, but they are gems in terms of lessons learned. Spend some time today considering a failure you’ve experienced in your personal life and in your professional life. Describe them.

What attitude did you take in response to these failures?

What happened as a result?

Looking back on it now, how would you say your attitude served you?

 

*From Intentional Leadership by Giant Impact. 

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Intentional Leadership — D5, W3, M9 — Attitude

Good morning! It’s Friday. Does that change your attitude toward your day?

For some, it really does because they know they are at the weekend. In some ways, I find that sad and a bit disheartening. What it says to me is that at some level there is something (maybe a little or maybe a lot) about how people spend their time Monday-Friday that is dissatisfying for them…that they are just putting in their time until they get to the weekend.

I’ll admit I do enjoy the weekends – more unstructured time and time with my family. At the same time, I look forward to the coming week because that seems to be a more likely time for more activity in connecting with and adding value to others.

only 20% of people have the opportunity to do what they do best every day.

I read a disturbing bit of research yesterday, from Gallup, stating that out of some comprehensive research (1.7 million respondents) only 20% of people have the opportunity to do what they do best every day. Only 20%! WOW! That’s a piece of information that should make business leaders stand up and take notice. No wonder so many just put in their time, longing for the start of the weekend!

So, what to do with this weekend? My usual activities continue — some writing, some reading, some prep for a lesson I have coming up on Attitude (how fitting for this month!), some prep for the next Empowerment Mentoring lesson on Perception. I’m working on being more disciplined in several areas of my life, and that work does not get a “pass” on the weekend. Family time, of course.

I also have some commitments to follow up on, as I’ve just started working with a new Coach, and need to keep myself on track with that work.

What will you do this weekend? Are you in the habit, by now, of thoughtfully preparing for your weekend?

I’m not suggesting your time needs to be fully structured and busy…merely thoughtfully considered and intentionally spent. Approaching it this way (well, not just the weekends, but all your time, actually) will put you on the path that will allow you more likelihood of achieving the results you desire for your life.

Give a little thought today, if you haven’t already, to whom you need to spend time with this weekend.

What you need to invest your time and energy in over the weekend?

What do you need to do to care for and nurture yourself this weekend?

What do you need to do to set yourself up for success on Monday and in the coming weeks?

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