Potency

“Always leave a place better than the way you found it.” I can hear my mom repeating this to me when I was growing up and even into adulthood. This was a small principle mentioned that helped me consider cleanliness and order. It was drilled in me so much that even to this day, if I travel to a hotel or an Airbnb where housekeeping is available, I still make an effort to tidy up and make the room presentable for housekeeping to do their job.

I have continued growing in this principle of leaving a place better than the way I found it with other areas of my life including my career, ministry, and other non-profit responsibilities. Principles can be manifold. What’s one of the lessons? Stewardship. Walking in stewardship causes us to manage resources well around us. The biggest takeaway for me has been that we carry potency. Think about the similarity of potency to potential. There is something so powerful, so unique, so lasting about us, where we can’t help leaving an imprint.

Like the fragrant smell of a beautiful ointment, perfume, or cologne, we can overwhelmingly impact an environment or with subtle notes leave hints. I think it is up to us and also reflective on what we bring that determines how we leave an environment better.

Brilliant ones, you and I are brilliant lights and uniquely potent. Release your potency and together, let’s continue making the world a better place.

Be Ye Also Ready

Brilliant ones!!! Unexpected things are on the horizon. I believe this strongly!! What will it take?

Readiness.  It is a concept that we know about but maybe it is not at the forefront of our thoughts. Readiness plays an important part in our next.  Readiness is having an expectation that something will happen and being prepared for it. Have you heard the saying be ye also ready?  It comes from a scripture where Jesus encouraged His disciples to prepare and reiterated that He might appear in an hour that was least expected.  Isn’t that typically how opportunities, blessings, and breakthroughs work? They appear when least expected.  Most of us have small hints or inclinations about things we should work on or prepare.  We either pay little attention to the hints or want to hurry up and get the preparation over.  Brilliant ones, we are in a strong season of preparedness.  What are you getting ready for?  I know what I am getting ready for and it takes a couple of things.   Readiness takes a plan or a blueprint.  Readiness takes practice. Readiness takes time.  Readiness takes focus.  Readiness may require feedback.  The list may swell or lessen. Whatever it takes, let’s BE READY and when opportunity comes we will step forward with full confidence.

The Refiner: Failure

It is exciting to watch babies grow to the point where they start learning how to walk.   We observe their efforts, curiosity, and eagerness. The baby attempts to stand up, typically big-eyed and drooling, holding on to objects, bumping into things, and falling on their bum. There is a tenacity with a baby that is interesting to watch. They don’t give up. They press in.  They push their way and eventually they are walking. No one ever mentions to the baby, “hey, you have fallen 652 times, so you won’t ever walk.” Somehow, within their inner being, they keep trying.

Another happy moment is when a child is learning to ride a bike.  The child, who is fully decked in a helmet and knee pads, wobbles on a bike until they are able to ride it with full balance, control, and no training wheels.  Never is failure discussed in most cases or even considered though there are falls and half-successful attempts. It’s apart of the process.

Somewhere in our growth process as we add age, education, and other accomplishments,  we develop a layer of pride where the sense of failing or not getting attempts right becomes more tangible and the pain of not accomplishing the end goal more excruciating. We grow ashamed to admit that it has happened and “failing” is equated to some end of who we are as a person or our worth.  What I have come to understand is that failure is necessary. 

Just like the baby that presses beyond the countless falls to learn to walk or the child that has to keep pressing to ride a bike, life presents circumstances where we fail. I have a new perspective on failure.   Failure never defines you but refines you.

I have failed. I know what it looks like. I know what it feels like but I wouldn’t have the wisdom, character, strength, or be able to move in another dimension without failure. I am able to say with full confidence that failure is necessary for shaping and forming of any brilliant leader.  Embrace your story which includes falling down. It includes failure.  Do you want to shine?  Let failure buff and refine.

Are You Serious?

A common phrase echoed back to a person sharing details of a scenario that seems unrealistic or to convey utter shock that a situation has played out the way it has is “are you serious?”  Another play on the word serious is when we meet individuals who come across as intense and it is said, “they are way too serious.”  I have spent some time thinking about what I should be serious about.

After reaching a milestone birthday recently, I starting reassessing many aspects of my life.  I realize that time is flying fast.  All things considered, when you count the value of your days and all that has to be accomplished in them,  I thought to myself ‘I gotta get serious.’  What do I mean when I say serious ? When I think about being serious, I think about focus. Prioritization. Weight.  Discipline. Consistency.  Webster’s defines serious as 1) of showing or characterized by deep thought; 2) requiring thought concentration of application and/or 3) weighty or important.  Because life is filled with so many activities, interests, ideas of curiosity, goals, distractions, responsibilities, fantasies, and even mundaneness, we can find ourselves wandering or engaged in life with meager attempt.  Brilliant individuals are able to quickly assess what they count as serious and what isn’t serious.  Is your business or career a serious matter? What about your faith and health? Are your relationships and finances a serious matter? What about your self care?  Are conversations and contemplation a serious matter? The list goes on and on.  The beauty of it all is that you are able to define what is serious to you.  I can not define what it is for you, but I ask the question today, ‘are you serious?” You are the one who defines what is weighty. 

Becoming sensitive in this area may require admitting that there are areas that have been shrugged away as non-important or ignored that should have more attention.  Asking the question can reset focus and eliminate mindless activities and wasting of a precious commodity known as time.

I leave with this thought from Psalm 90:12:

12 So teach us to number our days
that we may get a heart of wisdom.

Days….We only have a few of them, so let us use them wisely.

The Art of Treating People Well

“Love your neighbor as you love yourself”. This is a command and principle I have heard over and over again since I was a little girl and I have even repeated the saying.  You can repeat a principle verbally without really understanding how to execute the principle in day to day interactions.  Earlier this week as I was sitting at my desk, a thought came to mind about this principle and soon thereafter a phrase came to mind: the art of treating people well.  As I look back through my formal education, spiritual upbringing, and even professional development, I noted that there was NEVER a class or course offered or an extended emphasis on how to treat people.  I believe our society equates this as a principle that should be taught in the child rearing years. 

Most service oriented businesses are employing some type of training around this topic.  The sheer nature of customer interfacing and the desire to deliver exceptional service has economic implications. People like great service and will pay for great service. But how many individuals have the desire to become artful masters at treating people well just because?  How many have embraced this as a way of leading in life? As I further contemplated this topic I looked to those who I admire who in my opinion were/are great leaders (Jesus, Mother Teresa, Oprah, and a list of others) and found that one of the common things they were exceptional at was treating people well. I could give countless examples.  Be it through their service, philanthropy, or teachings, at the root of it is love and a desire to treat others exceptionally regardless of whether they deserve it.  As we aspire to lead brilliantly, let us not forget the strength and brilliance of serving, loving, generously giving, forgiving, and impacting others because we simply treat them the way we would treat ourselves.

iLead....

I like leading. I really do.  I recently gained an understanding that leadership is a value within my internal value system. It is an intricate part of who I am. I realized that I could stop apologizing for this trait. I have dissected this reality wanting to understand what was the driver behind my desire to lead.    “Oh you must be type A” or “wow, you are assertive” some might say.  Leadership can be associated with these sayings. Leadership can be associated with power and control. Some like to lead because it allows them to be out front. These are relevant factors related to leadership but I realized that power and control were not motivating factors for me.  As I began to look introspectively, I asked questions and finally came up with an answer as to what really drives my desire to lead.  Dictionary.com defines “lead” as to go before or with to show the way; conduct or escort.  I like the word escort.  An escort is a person who typically accompanies another on a journey with the desire to get the individual to a destination safely, informed, and empowered.   There is also typically a desire to show honor when you escort a person. This is what motivates me.  I love clarity and those who provide it. I love the feeling of being placed on a correct path towards a destination or having undergirded someone else on their path in excellence.    How are you escorting the world around you?  Do you realize that this is leadership? Do you realize that you can escort others in just about anything: in the workplace, at home, or in your community? Lead with knowledge related to your hobbies. Lead with your style and fashion. Lead with your beliefs. I am purposing to lead (escort) in this season. Thus iLead……. will you lead?