I had a conversation recently with a friend of mine about the meaning of life. We talked for quite a time, and threw a significant number of ideas at one another about what is going on, what is important, and why are each of us here. I’ve been reflecting upon that conversation ever since and wanted to declare what I came up with in terms of what’s important in my life.
Keep It Simple
Discourse these days has led to an abundance of extreme positions, extreme right, extreme left, extreme this, extreme that, and overall, most of the discourse seems to have taken an ugly and dismissive tone, where one person takes it upon themselves to judge another by saying in Will Farrell fashion, “What An Idiot!” Can’t we all just calm down a bit, and keep it simple by doing what is right and trying to make a better world for everyone? Wouldn’t that be a nice change of pace, people respecting one another to listen and make an attempt to understand without judging?
Don’t Get Your Underpants In A Knot
I’m a big believer in learning as much as you possibly can about Emotional Intelligence. I’ve personally seen the difference it makes with Executives in business. News Flash… you’re not going to want to believe this, but there are a whole lot of Executives who know absolutely NOTHING about Emotional Intelligence, and it shows in how they react to pressure and stress, and in how they interact with people. Anybody can stay calm when things are sunny and going great. You learn a lot about a person when they have a tremendous amount of adversity and resistance to overcome. My advice? Get yourself a great growth-oriented mindset and start working on serving others. Lead your colleagues to victory and make it a point to act like a seasoned veteran in all weathers. Before you know it, people will be drawn to you and they will want to collaborate with you and will offer to follow you through the gates of hell, if necessary.
Go Where Nobody Has Gone Before
Anybody can do the same thing as everybody else. I’m not very interested in that. I’m much more interested in going where no man has gone before, that has some “breaking new ground “ appeal and gets my juices flowing. We need to seize every opportunity to discover new and innovative ways of building a mouse trap. By creatively experimenting, and innovating as we take risks, we will learn some valuable new lessons and stack up some victories. Remember, we learn just as much from defeat as we do from a big victory, sometimes even more. And the learning makes it more likely that we’ll win again next time. Along the way, we gradually lose the urge to play it safe and stay in one place. Outstanding leaders challenge themselves to ascend to new heights that have never been scaled before.
Build A Winning Culture
Culture is nearly everything. In a great culture, personal and professional development and growth are valued and prioritized, and they are invested in regularly. These become essential ingredients in a growth-oriented culture. Every member of a winning team expects every other member of the team to be at their best and to help every other member of the team to be at their best. In weak cultures, people develop very slowly because leadership does not prioritize investing in the people to help them develop and grow. It’s not yet a part of the fabric of how things are done. There is an old saying that Culture eats Strategy for breakfast. I do not doubt that this saying exists because people are beginning to realize how important culture is to human development and growth.
What Should We Focus On?
Focus on how you’re going to respond to every event in your career and your life. Don’t waste time worrying about whether life has treated you fairly or whether your circumstances are good or bad. Just grab ahold of yourself and begin positioning yourself in every situation for maximum success by being the best person and the best leader you can be. Human beings make choices. Choose a great mindset. Choose great positive actions and supportive behaviors. In doing so, you will position yourself for great positive outcomes and may well lead yourself and others to a lot of fulfilling victories in life.
Why Am I Here?
After reflecting on this for the better part of a year, I’ve concluded that I was put on this planet to do something. For someone else. Not for me. When I got out of my way and attempted to serve others, things instantly began to feel better and my luck and my satisfaction began to grow exponentially. I believe that as Bob Dylan used to say, “You’re gonna have to serve somebody..” When I help others to succeed I create value for them, while simultaneously creating value for myself and others. I haven’t been able to find a better reason to keep moving forward.
Michael is the founder and CEO of Michael Beach Coaching & Consulting, an Executive Development and Business Coaching firm with offices in Arizona, and a team of coaches located in Arizona, California, Florida, Iowa, and Minnesota. MBCC works with Business Owners, Executive Teams, and Emerging Leaders to help them run their businesses at peak performance by managing their People better and implementing simple yet elegant Leadership Strategies. If you’d like to take your business to the next level, reach out to Michael, at michael@michaelbeachcoach.com.
