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How are you accelerating your personal success?  

This week, I continue sharing from a recent group coaching session, “The Path of Continued Success”.

The fact that you are reading this indicates you are enjoying a level of success in life. 

In last week’s article I explored the pace of life these days.  There’s no question, most people are living a crazy, fast, ‘speed of light’ lifestyle. 

There is price to be paid for this pace.  It shows up in the decline of physical, mental, emotional, or spiritual health…lack of direction, an out-of-balance work-life, excessive stress or relationship strain.  Everything seems to happen faster, develop faster, change faster.

How do you accelerate personal growth? 

Growth indicates greater maturity and the associated ability to manage life; and the reward?  Greater peace, joy, happiness, fulfillment, engagement, and love along the journey.  Remember Principle #1 from last week:

The way to accelerate personal growth is to slow life down.

Once you take steps to “slow life down”, how do you accelerate success?

Here’s what the coaching group said;

• Learn from others
• Pay attention to your inner self
• Gain knowledge
• Seek out  and embrace opportunities for experience
• Listen and pay attention to surroundings
• Develop a hunger and dig
• Urgency + Accountability + Time
• Be a sponge
• Learn from those around me

Here is my soon to be famous quote,

“The Best Predictor of Continued Success is the ability and willingness to learn and change achieved through consistent reflection on the Story.” 

As you re-read it what do you notice, hear, or feel in that statement?  What do you think?

When you engage your head and heart in careful thought about your Story you will discover truth; truth will liberate you from limiting behaviors bringing growth; growth leads to improved performance and results; success happens. 

To summarize,

1. The way to accelerate personal growth is to slow life down
2. Life requires consistent reflection

Consistent reflection is the repeated task of giving careful thought to what’s going on in life…the story.  Creating time for reflective thinking and writing allows you to reconsider previous actions, events, decisions, feedback, experience, success, or failure…the story.

What is your reward from reflecting on the story?

Truth.  By that I simply mean that which is aligned with the facts or reality.  Only when you discover the truth, will you live in freedom. 

How does the old saying go?  If you tell the truth, you have nothing to fear…you are free.

Fear-based emotions trigger limiting behavior which undermine continued success.  Consistent reflection on the story brings truth and truth gives freedom as you take responsibility doing the right thing, for the right reasons.

When do you create time and place for reflection?  How consistent are you? 

What would you like to happen?  How will get there? 

What’s so doable it’s laughable…? 10 minutes a day, in the morning, at lunch or in the evening?  Where will you create space for consistent reflection?

How does this post help you?  

Please leave your comment about this post on the comment section below.  Feel free to forward to your friends or tweet it and thanks for reading The People Project blog.

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What is the pace of your life these days?  

That is the question I posed last week during a group coaching session. We were about to discuss “The Path to Future Success” — what is the pace of your life? 

Here are the some of the responses those leaders gave:

• Speed of light
• Rough
• Busy
• Laid back due to uncertainty/change
• Adapting to circumstances
• Crazy
• Extremely fast, no down time
• Comfortable
• Usually fast, slowing it forcibly
• Fast and Furious

Where do you identify?

What happens when you are overly occupied with activity? What’s the impact of being so committed to something that you are unable to undertake another activity of a greater value?

When does your schedule seem ridiculous…to the point that it’s not practical or showing good sense, “it’s crazy”?  What is that costing you?

What is the affect when you are doing nearly everything in “fast” mode?

What’s your world like?

Did you see the Peter Bregman’s recent Harvard Business Review blog, “Why I Returned My iPad”?  I appreciate his candor; what do you think?

A little more than a week after buying the iPad, I returned it to Apple. The problem wasn’t the iPad exactly, though it has some flaws. The problem was me.

I like technology, but I’m not an early adopter. I waited for the second-generation iPod, the second-generation iPhone, and the second-generation MacBook Air.

But the iPad was different. So sleek. So cool. So transformational. And, I figured, since it’s so similar to the iPhone, most of the kinks would already be worked out.

So at 4 PM on the day the 3G iPad was released, for the first time in my life, I waited in line for two hours to make a purchase.

I set up my iPad in the store because I wanted to make sure I could start using it the very moment I bought it. And use it I did. I carried it with me everywhere; it’s so small and thin and light, why not bring it along?

I did my email on it, of course. But I also wrote articles using Pages. I watched episodes of Weeds on Netflix. I checked the news, the weather, and the traffic. And, of course, I proudly showed it to, well, anyone who indicated the least bit of interest.

It didn’t take long for me to encounter the dark side of this revolutionary device: it’s too good.

It’s too easy. Too accessible. Both too fast and too long-lasting. Certainly there are some kinks, but nothing monumental. For the most part, it does everything I could want. Which, as it turns out, is a problem.

Sure I might want to watch an episode of Weeds before going to sleep. But should I? It really is hard to stop after just one episode. And two hours later, I’m entertained and tired, but am I really better off? Or would it have been better to get seven hours of sleep instead of five?

The brilliance of the iPad is that it’s the anytime-anywhere computer. On the subway. In the hall, waiting for the elevator. In a car on the way to the airport. Any free moment becomes a potential iPad moment.  (emphasis added)

The iPhone can do roughly the same thing, but not exactly. Who wants to watch a movie in bed on an iPhone?

So why is this a problem? It sounds like I was super-productive. Every extra minute, I was either producing or consuming.

Every extra minute, I was either producing or consuming. Sound familiar?

How is this pace affecting your life?

That’s the question I ask my coaching group next; here are their responses?

• Impacts my outlook on life
• My health
• Lacking a sense of direction
• Miss-focused, not concentrating on what is important
• Feeling short-changed
• Feeling out of control
• Exhausted
• Questioning: Where am I?  Who am I?
• Loss of contentment
• Drinking more Red Bull
• Loss of quality
• Out of balance
• Hurting my performance
• Impacting my life
• Hard on relationships

Now, how is the pace of life impacting you?

Life is accelerated, everything seems to happen faster, develop faster, change faster.

The point of the coaching session was to establish how to accelerate personal growth.

Here’s the principle to consider…

The way to accelerate personal growth is to slow life down.

How will you slow down your life today? 

What’s one thing that is so doable it’s laughable? What can you do that will help slow life down?

Tell us what you think.

Please leave your comment about this post on the comment section below.

Do you like this post?

Forward to your friends or tweet it…and thanks for reading The People Project blog.

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How are you supporting your personal development journey?  

A few years ago, I was selected for the Executive Leadership Program of Atlanta-based Cox Enterprises.  Ron Young was my executive coach and I still appreciate that season of accelerated personal development.

Part of the program involved Outward Bound; this executive leadership expedition took our group of 10 to North Carolina and Pisgah National Forest, Linville Gorge. 

The four-day wilderness adventure presented most of the members in our group an opportunity to do things we had never done before.  In addition to back-packing, I enjoyed my first rappelling and rock climbing experiences…yes, that’s me with the red helment on starting my descent.

During the course of our expedition we received on-the-spot leadership lessons while planning and executing a real mountaineering expedition. Everything from inclement weather to group dynamics impacted and directed the challenges we faced.

We shared responsibility for the leadership and communication dynamics of our team, while the guides served as safety officers and mentors.  The expedition was a significant source of learning and discovery. 

The experience impacted my life and leadership. I returned to home with my “Lessons from the Forest”.  I won’t go into detail now, but here they are:

1. The Foundation of Trust
2. The Necessity of Risk
3. The Power of Focus
4. The Strength of Teamwork
5. The Simplicity of Life

The Next Level Journey is about growth and “the opportunity to do things” you’ve never done before.  The preparation, the challenge, the experience, the victory are all part of my story now.

What does it take for you to achieve your next level in life?

Mountain climbers don’t climb alone.  Everyone needs help and encouragement, in a word: support.  The greater your challenge is the greater the need for support.

In mountaineering this is about securing the climber’s rope.  To belay the climber, his rope is fastened or controlled by wrapping it around a metal device or another person.  This provides support for the climber to take greater risk in his climb or descent. 

Trust is critical to the relationship. Together the teamwork allows the climber to focus on his climb knowing he is supported.

Here I start my climb while on belay 

Who is your belay? 

One of my coaching exercises focuses on my client’s “Support System”.     

We explore three levels of support…how would you answer?

1. What do you do for you, that you can do by yourself to support your well being?
2. Who is in your inner circle…they understand you, can ask the tougher questions, while believing in you?
3. What else is in your world that charges your batteries and supports your determination?

There is a lot of life going on these days.  So whether you think of this in terms of your next level at work, in your career, on that big project, or in everyday life support is critical to your success.

Remember, mountain climbers don’t climb alone.

What do you think?

Please leave your comment about this post I would enjoy hearing from you.  If you like it, consider passing it along to a friend.

Before you go, how are you supporting your personal development journey?  

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How well are you connecting with life?

Room 224 of St. Francis Hospital is right across from the nurse’s station.  The door was open so I went in; however, I did not recognize the patient.

No one was in the room; the patient’s name was not posted on the white board with the other erasable bits of information.  So, I stepped across the hall to check with the nurse to be sure I had the right room.  I did; it was Jack*. 

When I spoke to Jack he did not give much of a response other than to slowly turn his head to look in my direction; does he see me?  I wasn’t sure.

Shortly, his nurse stepped in; Teresa was intentional in a way you expect someone to be who is confident and engaged.  She went to the other side of the bed speaking to me, then to Jack.  Jack responded to the nurse.  She spoke up; I must have been too soft spoken. 

After a difficult surgery, Jack was doing some better that day.

As Teresa left she said, “I think of him as a Gentle Giant; was he?”

It is apparent Jack is a tall man; he filled the bed from one end to the other.  I mumbled something to indicate my agreement.

“Yes, I just picture him as a Gentle Giant,” she repeated as she slipped out of the room.

Now I am left with silent Jack and my thoughts standing by his bedside. 

What was Jack like when he was a boy…a young man?  What was his line of work?  Who is this man that now lies there sedated with morphine to manage the pain?  What is his legacy?  Will he ever walk again?  How is his wife and family doing? 

My steps were slow walking down the hall, temporarily lost in my thoughts.

Life happens quickly.

When was the last time you noticed life happens quickly? What caused you realize this truth?

Time is a limited resource.  There is a mysterious limit on how much time you are granted to live your life on this planet. 

What happens if you fail to recognize time as a limited resource?

How do you monitor your use and investment of this limited resource Read the rest of this entry »