Leadership Law # 1 : See the TRUTH beyond the person / circumstance

I picked up a book from my amazing book collection the other day. It is The Greatness Guide written by Robert Sharma (I think!). Anyhoo, I love the way this book is written. Various principles are explained in no more than 2 pages. So I can just flip to any section and there is a concept that I can read and learn from. Leadership is making itself a theme in my life again and I am merely just going with the urge to learn more about it and practice. So a new label is born for my blog: "Laws of Great Leadership" ;-)

Having read quite a few of his views, one that has really resonated with me is the following ability:

"Seeing the truth beyond the person and circumstance you dealing with"

Seeing a higher truth beyond the current reality! I found that amazing. This is very true for me. People that I have worked with or regard as true leaders are those that are able to see, believe and articulate that vision beyond the current reality. The wonderful news - WE ALL HAVE THAT ABILITY!

And my thing is why start big? Why not start small? For me it is in the conversations we have with those we love and interact daily with. Are we seeking the higher truth beyond that person, the circumstance, the current reality or are we sucked in to the emotions we feel, the prejudice we have exercised or not even being interested to understand. Merely get our way and move on. It is how we look for the higher truth beyond ourselves. When we look in the mirror are we driven by our fears and insecurities or can we even look beyond our current reality and see a higher truth that puts that person in the mirror into perspective!

I have decided to start small for now and give this concept a try for the next 30 days! That is my intention! I have already marked a reminder in my calendar to take stock 30 days from now.

1. I will seek the higher truth beyond my colleagues at work and not be distracted by the person, their mood or issue! It is all about the truth of the situation!
2. I will open the higher truth to me when I look in the mirror. And out myself in perspective in the bigger picture of life as I know or learn about it!
3. I challenge myself to cultivate better thinking habits and improve on them to where they currently are

So that is what was on my mind this morning! I dare you to make your list of 3 with this aspect in mind! Mwah!

Cleaning Room :-)

I have no idea where it sources from, but I have been having these undying urges to venture into the "spare" room in my apartment and to start breathing some love and life into it. It was ever since my Mom came to visit that it triggered this urge I have of late.

I started having visions of what colour to paint the room and how to use the room in future. The issue to getting the room to its end state now includes going through years of me storing knowledge, souvenirs and sentiment!

My real issue is books, past project documentation and magazines! I have tons of these! I did this exercise a few months ago and I am amazed how now being a bit older and wiser (looming Birthday probably has something to do with it), I am stronger to let go than I was before.

I have realised that we all hang on to stuff! We hang onto stuff that creates the illusion of coping with challenge, strength, warmth, comfort and generally just a place in our lives where we seemed to have overcome, felt the deepest we could have or had our moments of truth. To me, it feels like we store / stock up to create that fulfil the role as reminders in our lives (purely from my experience).

I realised a few things as I picked up the "reminders", evaluated their worth in my life and decided between the stay and send on your merry way pile, how ever changing my life was and how ever evolving my life will be going forward! That only by letting go and setting free, do I create space for the new.

So using this spare room as my life example, the more I get rid of the old, the more there is space for the new and before I know it, I will have a transformed room! My readings of late (stuff that has me spending time reading in depth) have also leaned towards this theme of little steps make up the journey to Extraordinary! What was most fascinating was how looking at your day sends a strong message of how your life looks and will look! What takes up your diary / schedule probably is going to be the bigger reality of your life! Also to reach your true championship status in life does require the basics be applied consistently. The little steps again!

I also am reminded how letting go can be peaceful versus hard work or crying and mourning! How wonderful the surrender and release can be when you simply ALLOW BLISS! Making that decision and allowing it.

So this week, as this higher truth / perspective / wisdom becomes clear as my desire to experience my greatest bliss. What soothes me and allows me to let go in a big way, is the fact that what I need in terms of knowledge, experience and perspective is always around me and available to me. Hanging onto to all those books, past project documentation and constant reminders of the great in my past life, was holding me down to open up to the new perspective, knowledge out there.

I can now see how I was resisting learning new in my professional space and longing for the familiar to get back into a professional comfort zone.

So here is to making space (a little step of many)................................. after all, I going to end up with one sizzler of study after the spare room transformation and who knows what wonderful experiences will come to dwell in that new space ;-)

Blasts from the Past!

I was being a very good boy the other night and went to gym. I was a mean cardio machine as I kicked a$$ on the treadmill and stepper! And while I was overdosing on endorphins, I heard my name being called. There she was............................................................

Someone that I knew from back in day when I lived in a small city! A Blast from the Past!

It was what I felt during and after the encounter that sparked this post! I felt this sudden need to impress, to make things sound better than they actually were and generally make my life sound awesome! I was automatically taken back to my trained / learned social responses when I was a young insecure teenager trying to find his way. Fascinating how by having a simple conversation with my "blast from the past", the powerful reflections of social conditioning, my survival tricks I learnt when I was most afraid and insecure, my need to impress to appear better and my envy radar all were up on BLAST / FULL POWER !?!?!?!?!

I was left thinking how we deal with our blasts from the past is correlated to what we still carry in our baggage! It seems like our pain, anger, resentment, fears can be mirrored quite effectively when paths crossed are re-visited from people we knew in our past!

Talk about an effective "PROGRESS" check! *GRIN*

This is beginning to shed light on the very first post (Spotlight) I did when I took the brave step to blog and share my inner conversations. How generally I hate been judged, boxed and labelled but more importantly how my frustration with others that do that to me is fed by my ignorance of how I do that to myself. Put myself under that spotlight. Speaks volumes to the need for some release work of what comes with the spotlight I shine on myself!

What is real for me now is to see how some of pain, fears and ego related responses have still got a space within my heart. How the teachings of my parents, community and culture still play a role in some of the responses and beliefs I hold dear. How my degree of feeling great versus wanting to run and hide indicate the degree of how I have dealt with my baggage.

This message has always been clear for me when I bumped into my blasts from the past on the romantic front. I revel in the wisdom/insight I have gained from being in relationships. It really all comes together when I bump into my ex BFs and realise how I have grown and moved to a new level. It is such a delight when I am in a new relationship and I am able to move forward and operate on a new level where the guy definitely gets a better version of me than the previous guy. Love that BTW!

So I got a message and I know deep down that it has something to do with my inner critics, my inner jury and how they learnt to judge. Amazing how that is so well worked into my mind. So I am irritated that your work is never done but knowing when the irritation subsides that the enlightenment is the gift!

So if anything my experience and wisdom tells me it is time to set some baggage down and make room for new perspective. I always loved that phrase when I was a young boy attending church religiously "Give your burdens unto the Lord" For me it now means to trust that solutions are there and allowing the visibility to exist for you to see clearly and take action!
So in this cycle, envy and blast from the past check point let me know it is time to shine some light on baggage I can let go and make space...................................................What is great to see is that the squirm factor is related to the "how I have dealt" factor! hehehehehehhe love that!