What One Must Be

"A Musician must make music, an Artist must paint and a Poet must write, if he is to ultimately be at peace with himself. What one can be, one must be..." Abraham Maslow.

• Do you know what you must be?


• Do you know what it is that you identify as being?


• Do you know what you must become?

What do you identify yourself as? A Plumber, Painter, Butcher, Philosopher, Mother, Coach or Trainer?

Maslow, in his quote that I've written above, identifies the importance that each of us is to know what it is we must be. And to realise it by becoming it fully. To realise our potential and in doing so actualising ourselves. In essence, becoming that which we truly can!

Are you doing that today?

Did you contribute towards that yesterday?

Are you planning on doing that in the very near future?

Do you even know what it is that would be so fulfilling? So fulfilling that you would know you had become all that you can be!

Maslow writes that those who do not pursue who they must be, will ultimately be unhappy! So there's a connection - becoming the person I must be equals personal happiness. We seem to live in a world that pursues happiness byway of external activities. And the pursuit of happiness through others, yet in Maslows words it appears we can realise happiness by actualising ourselves by becoming the person we must.

• Who must you be?


• What is your purpose, here on planet earth?


• What is it that would truly fulfill your life's existence?

Big questions that you will need time to consider. Big questions that must be answered. Big questions; that in answering them you will know what it is that you must do daily to move closer to the person you are to become. Personal happiness will be found in the journey of actualising your potential in fulfilling that which you identify as being the ultimate expression of you. Just as the Musician must play music and the Artist must paint to be who they truly are. In doing so they express their essence, their very being is magnified in the activity they have committed themselves to. And in doing so, a sense of true personal fulfillment is experienced by them.

In brief, it appears that a fulfilling life is a life of actualising that which expresses your highest sense of self. For you - what is it? What is it that truly expresses the being within?

A Boys Journey

As a young boy I wanted to be a soldier and serve in the Army. As I grew up I found myself serving an apprenticeship as a Butcher. Later I became a Gym Owner and worked within the Fitness Industry. From one job to another, to another, to another. Fulfilling me momentarily.

Now, as a Corporate Trainer & Executive Meta-Coach I recognise a unique point that wasn't present in all of my previous jobs since leaving school. I no longer think of what I do as work. Work was once laborious, whereas what I do now is a labour of love. What was once laborious is now joyous. I don't even think of it as "work" anymore - more as a conviction. These distinctions, though small, are huge in determining whether what we do daily is in fact an actualising activity. Would I do it if I suddenly won $10,000,000's? Yes I would! Sadly many are working in jobs that are unfulfilling and meaningless. If anyone of them had a lotto win-fall they wouldn't turn up to work the very next day! This is a simple measure scenario of whether what you are doing is fulfilling you daily. If it is not - what will?

To find that which we must become, is to find the meaning of life. A life that has meaning and purpose. A life which you will daily contribute to, and in doing so, experience happiness and personal satisfaction in your career.

So... what is it that you must become. Once you know this, then you must become it!

Reject Rejection!

"No Thanks".

"I don't like what you've done".

"No! Not at all, and don't come back!"

"We regretfully write to inform you that..."

"I don't love you anymore..."

Any of those statements sound familiar? Heard anyone of them before? Maybe you've heard similar comments at some stage of your life. Let's call it by the name we most commonly know it by. Rejection.

Doesn't matter how you view it or listen to it. A rejection statement means just that. Piss off! Get out of here! Cut a track! Make like a tree, and leave! or the more common statement of - "F!#k off, and don't come back!"

Salespeople; Teachers; Coaches; Trainers; Managers; Receptionists; Telephonists; Politicians; Doctors & Nurses, and yes - you also; will face a moment of rejection or 2 (more like 1,000's) in your lifetime.

Is It Possible?

Can we overcome rejection? Can we rise above it and never allow it to taint us? Can we continually face rejection and remain unharmed by its barbs?

YES! Yes you can - most definitely. So... time for 3 principles that will quickly empower you to sail directly into the winds of rejection, and remain calm and centred when the words of rejection comes your way.

1: People do NOT reject YOU. They reject their thoughts about you:

It's never about you. Hell stop thinking your the centre of the universe. People think what they will and do not because of who you are or the product you sell, but what they personally think about it based on their own filtered perceptions and past experiences. They base their opinion about you on what they think. Be aware, that their thoughts and opinions about you are NOT YOU! Embrace that understanding fully - "People are not rejecting me. They are rejecting what they think I am, not actually who I am as a person because they do not actually know me". Furthermore, no person can reject another. This leads me to principle 2.

2: No one can reject me, only I am entrusted with that personal power:

The only person that can reject you is YOU! Wow - what a power. The power to esteem oneself and the power to discount oneself, and amazingly the power to reject oneself is all within your grasp. Count yourself as being valuable, worthy and accepting of who you are and who you are not. In doing so you fully accept, appreciate and honor yourself and overcome all forms of rejection the world will throw at you. You are one of a kind! You are completely unique and gifted with the power to fully embrace, and count yourself, or to reject yourself. No one else can do this apart from you. STOP allowing others to reject you, and claim your personal power back, standing firm, knowing that no man, woman or child can reject you - ever.

3: Rejection lays in the mind of the believer: Stop believing that others can, will, and do reject you. Come on now. Think about what you are doing by accepting that another can possibly reject you. You're giving your power away. You're believing that people can control you. That others determine how you think and feel and your personal worth. That you're emotional well being is manipulated by others and you are nothing more than their puppet. One day they accept you and the next day they reject you.

Who is in charge! Is this what you want? Is this the true meaning of life for you? NO! No more saying yes to believing that others can reject you and YES! to believing principles 1 & 2 above. Believe with certainty that no other person, letter; email or phone call can reject you. Not now, not ever! And now, celebrate your power of choice; of believing that no other person can possibly reject you.

Imagine for a moment how that will be in the days to come. FREE from rejection. Notice how the statements that would normally have rattled you a little or a lot now fall to the ground. Unable to attach themselves to you. At last free you're free from being rejected by others. Imagine what you'll be like when someone attempts to reject you in the future.

Knock... knock...

Conceive; believe and achieve! Rejection wont came round here no more! And, if it does, I wont be answerin' the door!

Many people are bound up by their concern of fear of being rejected. Stopping them from being who they can be personally & professionally. Act on the points I've listed above, and mentally play out in your mind, meaningfully, how it's no longer an option for you to allow others to reject you.

Have a great day, till next time - keep smiling!

www.ignition.org.nz

Copy Me!

Who hasn't done it? Most of us have! Businesses pride themselves on still doing it! ...and it's so common, you don't even question whether what you do is the best thing to do or not! So... what the hell am I talking about?


It goes by a number of names, the one you'll most likely know is " best practices" or the "sharing of best practices". In short, the idea is to gather together people who are deemed experts in their role. You have these experts share their best practices with a Team Leader or Manager, the practices are captured and then passed onto staff through the training & development arm of the business to the larger needy group of lower performers. All this is done in the hope that this will raise the level of competencies across the team or business to mirror those demonstrated by their top performers. Ultimately in a hope of increased productivity, revenue and efficiency.

So what's the problem with this approach? Everyone's doing it, so it must be right! Right?

Wrong!!!

Flawed from the Start

The technique is flawed from one very important angle.

The sharing of best practices is predominantly a behavioural skills approach. You find out what they "do" and then you teach those skills to others. Sounds pretty useful but lacks a very important ingredient. It lacks the specific mental attitude that supports the behaviour, that's being shared. It's a bit like copying the European styling and interior design of a high performing car, but not supplying it with a motor! Crazy? Yes, exactly, yet this is what's being done when we share best practices without the supporting mindset that drives these high performers to do what they do so well.

By modelling best practices and then delivering them via trainings, in the hope of raising the performance bar across an organisation, although it works to some degree, is destined for disaster. This strategy will work for those who have the right attitude but lack the internal skill sets for those staff who do not have the right attitude.

Many thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of training dollars, are wasted on attempting to elevate performance within an organisation byway of the sharing of best practices, when, what is needed, is the modelling of the specific mental framework that supports the best practices (with every behaviour there is an equal degree of attitude that drives it).

How do we do that?
It's highly likely that you don't have the skills to do this. This is a specialist skill set and not found on any corporate street corner. It's easy to copy the high performers behaviours because you can observe them. How do you copy and distribute an attitude? This is where a person with skills in mental modelling is required and they require the ability to also package this information and train others to gain similar results. The ability to succinctly identify the structure that drives the person to do what they do, and do it so well, is a must.

The sharing of best practices can improve performance, no doubt. That is actually the problem - it does work to some degree, and in doing so a corporate seduction occurs, that this is the right thing to do. It is not!

Model what they do internally, copy their attitude, beliefs, understandings, identity, value systems, what they count and discount as they perform, and much, much more. This is where the juice is for an organisation who wants to raise their performance to the next level of business excellence. Copy their best practices, mental framework and then package it in such a way that individual transfer will definitely take place. Do this and you will separate yourself from the "copy me" approach that is so prominent in business and sports today.

Use the same approach to your recruitment process and say good bye to employing the wrong person. Hard to believe? Then contact me.

For more details on applying this approach to your business contact me on 027 4774 560

Bye for now...