Where are you going? Are you there? What more do you want to accomplish? What legacy are you leaving behind? These are the kinds of questions that I like to challenge myself. Maybe they are similar to ones you ask as well.
We all know that the best way to accomplish something is to ACT. It is in the moments of action that we find momentum which leads to achievement. If you haven’t heard, I recently left my 30+ years in corporate life to get more involved with adding value to others' personal growth journey. As I look back at my corporate engineering and manufacturing career, I have been preparing for my current journey for my whole life. Please understand - I can be slow to see things - and I did not know exactly when this day would come until late August of 2021. However, it was in early July that I knew that change had to happen. Not was going to happen, but rather, it became a determined destiny.
We cannot achieve our wildest dreams by remaining who we are. John C. Maxwell
When I was growing up, I have long had an interest in reading to help me grow professionally and even emotionally. I would read articles and books, often taking notes and then file them. Really, it was more like put in a file drawer with the other articles I would read thinking that someday I could read it again, and then I’d “know it.” The problem was that I did not recognize the best ways to integrate the information into practice that would immediately take root and grow. The other challenge was that even though I wanted something fun to be a part of my day, I had this internal belief that I don’t get to have fun until enough of the work is done. The bigger challenge was that some days there was a lot of work to be done! And if this attitude lasted over several days, I would lose motivation and momentum because I wasn’t getting a “reward” time. I would literally ask myself “When do I get some fun?!”
Your life today is a result of your thinking yesterday.
John C Maxwell
(And the corollary: Your life tomorrow is a result of your thinking today.)
Well, my habit of collecting personal growth articles contributed to an overall growth mindset, and then I met my new challenge which was also a success. I discovered that I had a math and science aptitude and interest. This led to choosing Chemical Engineering as a college major. While that may sound like I must be super smart, let me reassure you, I am not. Actually, I get more satisfaction out of knowing one of my favorite actresses, Jennifer Garner, also wanted to become a chemical engineer, until she discovered her love for acting, and how rewarding that could be for her. (Yes, Jennifer Garner also wanted to become a chemical engineer.) While I adored her in Alias, I liked even more that her “success” was in something different than chemical engineering. This is one of several steps that opened me up to thinking that chemical engineering did not have to be my end goal in a career either. If she could, I figured I could too. Of course her acting seems to have paved the way for her to get way more followers on Instagram, than I have from a career as a chemical engineer. No surprise there!
Anyway, back to the corporate career - I said that something happened that led to knowing a career change was an even greater necessity? In 2015, when I joined the John Maxwell Team, I began a serious investment in my growth journey. After going through the certification, I immediately started leading mastermind groups in my corporate world; and added a desire to do more with this to my corporate annual review profile. Over the next 5 years, I did nearly a dozen masterminds. Then in July 2021, during my semi-annual review, my boss/manager said it was time to take that off of my profile as it no longer applied. This was no not a discussion point. It was removed without discussion and without getting my input - Highlight & Delete. Instantly, the quote by Karen Quinones Miller came to mind, “When someone tells me ‘No.’ It doesn’t mean that I can’t do it. It simply means that I can’t do it with them.” This led to determined steps to making my dream a reality. I didn’t know when, but when I did know, it was going to happen.
When someone tells me “No.” It doesn’t mean that I can’t do it. It simply means that I can’t do it with them. Karen Quinones Miller
You may have experienced something similar, or maybe there is some dream that you have long had, but have dismissed it as irrelevant - like my boss did with my goal on the job profile. Your dream is your dream. Let’s end with a few of my favorite quotes on dreams and what I want to leave as additional encouragement. Maybe one of these will become your inspiration as well:
“Too many of us are not living our dreams because we are living our fears.” Les Brown
“If you want to change your life, begin by changing your words. Start by speaking the words of your dreams, of who you want to become, not the words of fear and failure.” Robert T. Kiyosaki
Poet Carl Sandberg said, “There is an eagle in me that wants to soar and a hippopotamus in me that wants to wallow in the mud.” Therefore, the key to success is following the impulse to soar more than the desire to wallow.
If I, or anyone with Leadership Harbor, can add value to your pursuit of YOUR Dream, we would be honored to walk alongside you.