What’s your gift?

Last year I shared my holiday wish for all of us…
This year I am making the same wish in a different way.

As a reminder here is a portion of last year’s wish:

My wish for you…
My wish for us…is…that you’ll receive a clear unfiltered view of just a 1/4 of the potential you have to offer yourself, your loved ones…the world!

I say just a 1/4 of the potential, because if many of us could see ourselves even a year from now or ten years from now truly embracing our full potential it may seem more like a dream or completely unattainable in contrast to where we are today.

Who knows…It might even scare you…

So…my wish this holiday season is that all of us will catch a glimpse of who we can be if we just begin to reach our full potential.

We all have the potential to be all-stars for whatever we’re passionate about.

…and if you don’t know what that passion is…my wish for you is that soon a flame ignites inside you and your passion is clearly revealed.

_________________________________________________________________________

Here is my holiday wish for all of us this year:

What’s your gift?
It’s the close of another year,
And the holidays are finally here.
Many of you have been on a shopping spree
To ensure your loved ones have gifts under the tree.
…but, what’s your gift?

This time of the year egg nog will flow,
Homes are decorated with lights aglow.
Everywhere you look there’s a holiday display,
Every radio DJ, is letting your favorite carols play.
…but what’s your gift?

I’m not talking about a gift that’s wrapped,
Cause it’s not a gift that you can take back.
I’m talking about the gift you were packaged with and sent,
The gift of your innate and unique talent.
…so, what’s your gift?

If I had one wish, that wish would be,
That our talent, our gifts…we could clearly see.
I would wish for you an unfiltered view,
Of the potential that’s stored inside of you.
I would wish…that you could see your gift.

Inside each of us is a gift, a purpose, a passion,
We just have to locate, identify and unwrap it,
This gift unwrapped causes beautiful things to happen.
It reveals our purpose and ignites the passion.

You should know your gift.
You should know your purpose.
You should know your passion.
That’s when true happiness just happens.
Find your gift…

Linal Harris blog interview on WVON 1690 AM PWithers Experience

This past Sunday evening I had the privilege of being interviewed on WVON 1690 AM – Talk of Chicago Radio, on the PWither Experience Show.

I have provided a link to the recording of the show below for your listening pleasure and convenience.  Please check the interview out and let me know what you think.

For those of you who had had the opportunity to hear the show live thanks so much for your love and support.

(Please keep in mind this is a recording from a radio broadcast so there will be commercials.  The shows starts at the 3 minute 45 second mark.)

Do you REALLY know how to read?

Last week I had the opportunity to speak to a group of people about my purpose and my journey towards creating that purpose.

To do this I shared a brief story:

About 10 years ago a wonderful man and mentor of mine assigned me a book to read. After reading the book I showed up to his office with a two page synopsis to provide a report on my reading.

His first question to me was, “So what’s your desire…what’s your life’s purpose?”

I stared back at him blankly.

“You did read the book, didn’t you?”
I replied, “Yes”

“Well, the 1st chapter is titled “Desire” and in this chapter you are taught the importance of ‘Definiteness of Purpose’ where you are told to write a personal desire or purpose statement for your life.”

I replied, “Yeah…I didn’t think you wanted me to do all the work in the book.”

My mentor slowly shook his head and politely tossed my two page synopsis of the book in the trash and said, “Now go back and read the book again…this time do the work”

So I did.

A month later I had the 1st draft of what is now my personal purpose statement.

I shared this story to provide perspective on a common practice I was guilty of ten years ago and I continue to witness in others today.

This practice is the act of reading without true comprehension.

In the dictionary, the word read has 46 definitions.

That’s right! There are 46 ways the word read can be defined and I’d be shocked and amazed if someone could fulfill in action each one of them.

For example check out definition 8:
to foresee, foretell, or predict: to read a person’s fortune in tea leaves.

Only a few of us can probably ‘really’ read this way…and if I could, these ‘Thoughts of the Week’ would be a lot different!

So let’s keep it simple and just inspect the first definition of read:
to look at carefully so as to understand the meaning of (something written, printed, etc.): to read a book; to read music;

Definition 1 of understand:
to perceive the meaning of; grasp the idea of; comprehend: to understand Spanish;

So…let’s take a close look at reading based on these definitions.

Reading is;

• Looking at something written, carefully to understand its meaning
• We understand the meaning when we truly grasp the idea and comprehend its purpose in our mind

So my question to you…when you read (because many of us don’t read anymore, but that’s another topic) are you really reading?

Did you really read this thought…or has your mind drifted to your list of to-dos for the day?

True reading typically will create a state of internal compromise…it should cause us to question ourselves or the writer.

So is it that the last self-help book you read was poorly written and thats why you haven’t improved…or that you’re just a poor reader?

If it’s the latter you should probably read this again…

The Big Picture

I’ve had the wonderful privilege of spending most of my adult life as a leader and I’ve learned a number of critical lessons throughout my leadership journey.  These lessons have been taught by good and bad leaders alike, but I’ve benefited most from learning directly from the people I’ve led.

I believe the true beauty of leadership is the wisdom (people) that surrounds it!  The thought this week, draws from that vein…

Good leaders spend a great deal of time providing perspective by painting the ‘big picture’ for why we are doing whatever it is we’re doing.

There’s a quote (and personal favorite of mine) in the book “The Leadership Challenge” by James Kouzes and Barry Posner that provides guidance to leaders for why this type of perspective is necessary.  The quote is as follows:

“There’s nothing more demoralizing than a leader who can’t clearly articulate why we’re doing what we’re doing.”

Great leaders not only do this, but after providing a vision that is clearly illustrated by the ‘big picture’ and the ‘whys’  associated with that vision, they motivate and inspire us to pursue and achieve a critical goal connected to that vision with excellence!

I had the opportunity to see this principle in action this weekend, at my 6^th Leadership Forum with U.S. Cellular®.

Ahhhhhhhh…to be motivated and inspired…

What a wonderful feeling to be motivated and have a clear purpose towards which to channel that energy…
…especially when it’s prescribed for you…

What’s interesting is…we’re all leaders regardless of title, because we have the delicate task of leading ourselves.

I can only speak for myself when I say that I have probably been the most stubborn and insubordinate individual I’ve ever had to lead.  Seriously…sometimes I’m just downright impossible for me to lead!

But…can we apply the same leadership principle above…to ourselves?  Will taking the time to create a vision or ‘big picture’ for our lives help us connect our daily actions towards a larger individual purpose?

I think we can. Check out the quote above slightly altered for self-reflection.

“There’s nothing more demoralizing than a person who can’t clearly articulate why he/she is doing what they’re doing.”

Isn’t it funny how quickly we’ll hold a leader accountable for not connecting our job/roles to the ‘big picture’ or vision, but we have unlimited quantities of grace for our own self-inflicted demoralization?

Self management is the toughest management position in the world.  It’s also the most important, but it can’t be done properly without having a vision and a purpose with which to paint your ‘big picture’.

Rumi, a 13^th century poet wrote, “You can accomplish a million things in this life, but if you don’t accomplish the things aligned with your purpose you have accomplished nothing.”

What is your ‘big picture’?
What is your vision for your life?
What is your purpose?
Can you connect why you’re doing what you do to your ‘big picture’?

If not…take the time to do this…it’s the investment of a lifetime…
Literally!