The lush valley...

For years I have believed that the peaks and valleys of life were synonymous with the highs and lows of life and as such, constantly looked towards my next peak with eager anticipation. I have supported many people to keep trudging through the valleys so they can start ascending their peaks. But it was an amazing experience with a new friend that helped me to realize that my view of the valleys was shortsighted. For it is in the valleys where the animals go, the plants grow and the rivers flow. It is a place rich in opportunity and change. So as you continue moving through your peaks and valleys each year, each month and even each day, remember that they are full of opportunity to create the changes that need to happen as you move toward your next peak.

Managing the Mangoes...

Sorry about the title but this has nothing to do with your staff. This has to do with the “low hanging fruit”. These fruit represent our dreams and reaching for the easiest dreams to fulfill (the low hanging fruit) first will help you to build momentum at the start. Momentum is the hardest part of initiating any change, including changes that will move you toward your goals. Once you have clarity around the big goals that your gut tells you to pursue, identify the milestones that you need to reach along the way. Each week schedule time to push that goal forward. Picture yourself juggling mangoes.  Each week you are doing small, simple pushes to get them back up into the air…and every now and then (usually when we’re “ready”) a mango will come down perfectly ripe and ready to eat.  But if we don’t hold on to those mangoes by juggling, we’ll never have a chance to see them ripen and savour the taste.

Dreaming a Dream...

Many of us have such amazing ideas, but we don’t put them into motion. I personally believe that we are all dreamers. What stops us from pursuing them? Why do we not pursue all of our dreams? The size of them is what has stopped me in the past. I would think, who am I to do…(fill in the blank)? That thinking changed as I started to focus on the small successes. Then I ran into another obstacle: I began to question my blessings. Who was I to be given these gifts from the ‘universe’. I got over that by realizing that everyone can access this ‘stuff’ if they asked for it and focused on it. The final hurdle that I ran into was the ‘realistic’ perspective. People would tell me my dreams would never work. But who determines feasibility? I began to look objectively at the source of such criticisms to determine their credibility and experience to speak about my growth edges. I learned how to catch the criticism outside of my heart and truly analyze it for the nuggets of truth and the areas that I could be developing to reach my A-game and make the dreams I’ve dreamed MY REALITY.

Getting Out of the Bucket...

So how do we get out the bucket? You need to look at life and truly appreciate the successes you’ve had. YOU ARE CAPABLE OF SUCCESS!!! How have you shown that in the past? Often, success is just outside of your comfort zone. Look at the times you did stretch out of your comfort zone and did well. What stops us from thinking about it with this lens? Our society’s tendency is that the boardroom in your head is always having a meeting. Who’s in that boardroom? How can you change the board? We’re often out of our comfort zone, but usually we don’t see the opportunities. We see the stereotypes of the job we should have, the partner we should be, the life we should lead. The low risk items that happen every day are where you start to build momentum…grab that low-hanging fruit first and build momentum from it. It will enable you to take your energy back. Many people take the path of least resistance…low risk and low reward.

So what does that reward look like? The reward is not about satisfying your ego. It is about seeing your capabilities, your potential!  It helps you build confidence and help more people.

Crabs in the Bucket

Many of you are familiar with the analogy of “Crabs in the Bucket”, where crabs will literally pull each other down as they try to escape the confines of a bucket.  In your life there may be people who will try to pull you down as you begin to build success and rise towards the top of the “bucket”.  What some people aren’t aware of is that they might be their own “crab in the bucket” and are responsible for sabotaging their own success.  Think about all those situations where you didn’t apply for a certain job, or pursue a career that interested you because you didn’t think you would succeed.  Or, perhaps you did make a feeble attempt at landing that job or pursuing that career only to fail because you believed you would.  A self-fulfilling prophecy is a very powerful self-defeating mechanism that has derailed many dream careers and hopes of success.  Through some self assessment, examine your thoughts and situations where you avoided chances of success because you didn’t believe in your own abilities.  Don’t be that crab in the bucket that won’t let yourself escape the confines of mediocrity.  The only crab in this bucket is the power of your mind and it only has claws if you allow it to.