Katy Jo at Home

I’m listening to an audio series called Leadership Success and I’ll be sharing some of the points that have stood out to me over the next few weeks.

This morning I was listening to Dr. Sheila Murray Bethel who commented that unless we can answer yes to both of these questions we will not be free to be excellent leaders

1. When you step through the doors of work in the morning, is it a place you want to be? Are you happy with the mission of the company and the work you do there?

2. When you leave work and go home, is it a home you want to go to? Is it healthy and peaceful?

Simple.

Simple and statistically only 1/3 of people can say yes to both and only 2/3 to one of these questions.

What’s your answer?

We have exceptional potential inside us but have to face the truth before we can put on a face of courage and take the first step towards wholeness.

Dr. Bethel says, “On the topic of Motivation and Personal Excellence, I emphasize that while financial reward will remain important in our free enterprise system, the definition of success includes a better balance between our business and personal lives. The keys are excellence, achievement, and perspective in all aspects of life. Living a rich, fulfilling life comes from making a difference with co-workers, customers, community members and family. As we learn to live and succeed in our dramatically changed world, the power not only to build a career, but to design a life is the key to true success.”

Malcom Gladwell, author of The Tipping Point, writes about “when you write a book” which I believe is quite applicable to working a job. He says, “When you write a book [work at a job], you need to have more than an interesting story. You need to have a desire to tell the story. You need to be personally invested in some way. If you’re going to live with something for two years, three years, the rest of your life, you need to care about it. “

Design a life. Find balance. Care about what you’re doing.

I do this quite often and believe it’s unhealthy – I get stuck designing my life instead of living. Time doesn’t stand still, though (unless you are Hiro from Heroes). It’s in living daily and facing and fighting our fears where the seed of design lies. Sprout, root down and branch upward to the sky. Find the water and find the sun at all costs and grow.

The guys at 37Signals write software development which I think is the same when we are developing a design for our lives. They say “With real, running software everyone gets closer to true understanding. Real things lead to real reactions. And that’s how you get to the truth.”

We should live every day with everything we’ve got and pay attention to our lives design and our passions.

Any more thoughts on the personal mantra? It’s the cornerstone of the design of your life and mine. More on finding a vision coming soon.