Posts tagged with ‘life’

How Will You Transform the World?

Wise words from Woodrow Wilson: “You are not here merely to make a living. You are here in order to enable the world to live more amply, with greater vision, with a finer spirit of hope and achievement. You are here to enrich the world, and you impoverish yourself if you forget the errand.”

Live your best life. And in the process, your best transforms the world.

I believe we invent our world in each moment; our world is created by those who live in it at this exact moment. And, the quality of our invention is based on each of us knowing ourselves to be able to contribute our best.

We are born with our unique DNA – our unique combination of talents, strengths and passions. The more we know ourselves, the more we become acquainted with our gifts – those attributes unique to us. Our happiest and most successful lives are lives that use what we are good at and passionate about doing.

This uniqueness is critical. Because we are all so different, we constantly add color, texture, experience and impact to our world. The more we know ourselves, the more we live this great uniqueness and the more of it we bring to the world. Our world expands. Our world improves. This is how we create our world. This is how we transform our world.

I see that most people live only a fraction of their capabilities – either by choice or by being unaware; they know so little about themselves and their hardwired greatness. They either don’t know how to discover what they are good at and what they are passionate about, or choose not to make the effort. The result is they do not access their greatness zone – that place of their greatest happiness – and therefore, do not bring their best to the world. You can’t bring your greatness to the world if you don’t know what it is.

Grace was an educator in a large international distributor. She spent the time to understand herself and pushed hard to land a job as an educator – a job that played to her talents and passions. She was enthusiastically connected to her students and intellectually connected to her role. Grace’s classes frequently had a waiting list. She flourished in your job, which amplified her life. She knew her talents, passions and strengths and brought her best to her work; she inspired greatness from others. She raised the bar. She wasn’t a national celebrity but was indeed a celebrity to many people she taught. She changed their worlds.

Identify several famous people who have committed themselves to their craft or area. Their talents allow them to be great at what they do. Their passion allows them to connect in an exponential way. The combination is a world changer. Think about Michelangelo, Robert Frost, Oprah Winfrey, Ellen DeGeneres, Emeril Lagasse, Charles Dickens, Abraham Lincoln, Da Vinci, Ghandi, Martin Luther King Jr., Babe Ruth…the list goes on. They were good at what they did and passionate about doing it. And in the process they added great value to the world. They created a more significant world. They transformed the world.

Now,identify several non-celebrities around you who have committed themselves to their craft. It could be a partner, spouse, colleague, teacher, pastor, friend or anyone else. Those who play to their greatness expand the world for all of us.

People who play small don’t transform the world. People who don’t know their talents and passions, live a fraction of their potential and their gifted lives. Not only do they miss out, but they also shortchange the world; they don’t achieve their greatness and don’t share that greatness to recreate the world in an exceptional way – each day.

Answer the following to discover more about your hardwired greatness:

* What are you good at?

* What are you passionate about?

* What is success (happiness) for you?

These questions start your process to discover the combination of gifts you were born with. You start to see your passions, talents and strengths. Use these be your best, bring your best and live your best. Besides having an amazing personal and professional life, playing to your greatness will also transform the world.

Jay Forte is a motivational speaker and performance consultant. He is the author of Fire Up! Your Employees and Smoke Your Competition, The Hunt for Opportunities Success Manual and the on-line resource, Stand Out and Get Hired. His new book, The Greatness Zone – Know Yourself, Find Your Fit, Transform the World is due out in September 2010. He works to connect people to their talents and passions to live fired up! More information at www.LiveFiredUp.com.

If you felt moved, inspired, touched, helped, annoyed, or anything after reading this, please let us know. Our wonderful bloggers really do appreciate your comments and feedback. It’s super easy and takes a minute. Click on comments below.

Posted by Jay Forte on July 24th, 2010 in Career, Family, General, New Directions, Personal Stories, Relationships, Spirituality, Things We Love | 1 comment Read related posts in gifts, greatness, happiness, life, passion, talent, transform the world

Tell Your Story

Sit with an older uncle or aunt, mother or father and they will share stories of their lives. In these stories are lessons about love and loss, happiness and success, disappointment and envy. We learn who they were and what they believed. We learn about life.

I work personally and professionally with people to teach them how to reconnect to their talents and passions – the things they are great at and love to do – because in these, they learn about themselves and invent a more personally significant life. And the process to learn about your talents and passions requires getting good at telling your story.

As you share your story, the following great things happen:

*You start to better see what things you do and do not like.
*You start to see how you feel about things, what you love and what you do not love.
*You start to see events that move you and influence you.
*You see your wise and poor choices.
*You become more aware of the true you – of your talents, passions and strengths.

Nelson De Mille said, “We are all pilgrims on the same journey…some pilgrims just have better roadmaps.” Those who live more significantly have a clear sense of themselves and therefore can create a more authentic road for their personal and professional lives. This information comes from their experiences, their observations – their stories.

So one way I help my audiences become more self-aware is to journal – to write. Here is how to start:

*Start a journal – handwriting is the best way to begin. Advance to the computer when you feel connected to the process of writing. I find most people are more connected to their thoughts and feelings when they use pen and paper. Regardless, choose the method that works for you.
*Write each morning or evening for a minimum of 10 minutes; write every day.
*Select a topic to write on each day. Here are several examples:
**What I loved about today.
**Why I was angry today.
**When I am my happiest, I am doing…..
**When I feel my most capable, I am doing….
**The craziest thing happened today was…
**Two great people I met today were….
**The most significant change that happened to me today was…
**Something I thought would be terrible became great because…
**Look at a leaf, tree, moon, flower, etc and describe what you see and how it makes you feel.
**Describe what memories the smell of a…. makes you think of.
**The funniest thing I saw today was…
**I am so blessed because…
**I wish I could do more of…
*At the end of the week, reread your stories. What do you see in your perspectives? What do they tell you about you? How much better do you see what you are good at and passionate about doing? What lessons of life are you starting to see come through?
*Encourage your family, friends, etc. to join in the story process. Share your stories when you get together (mealtime, coffee, etc). Learn about yourself and others.

I believe we have both the ability and responsibility to invent our lives; we create the quality of our life each day as we live it. The more we know ourselves – our talents, passions, strengths and interests – the more we can build our best into our lives. We learn about ourselves in our stories – in our observations and perspectives. We learn who we are by telling our story. Then we can customize our lives around what matters most for us.

Stories not only help us look into ourselves, they also share our true selves with others. As we explain our views, attitudes, approaches and events, we connect at a more significant level with others. When we write our stories, we create a history, able to be passed to future generations. Our stories are our gift to ourselves and to others.

So tell your story. It will give you information about you. It will share your wisdom with others. It will create your history. Stories – our link to the past and our key to the future. Share what is going on inside your head and heart.

Jay Forte is a motivational speaker and performance consultant. He is the author of Fire Up! Your Employees and Smoke Your Competition, and the on-line resources, Stand Out and Get Hired, and The Hunt for Opportunities Success Manual. He has just completed his new book, The End of Average; Know Yourself, Find Your Fit and Transform Your World; chapter downloads will soon be available on his website. He works to connect people to their talents and passions to live fired up! More information at www.LiveFiredUp.com.

If you felt moved, inspired, touched, helped, annoyed, or anything after reading this, please let us know. Our wonderful bloggers really do appreciate your comments and feedback. It’s super easy and takes a minute. Click on comments below.

Posted by Jay Forte on May 9th, 2010 in Career, Family, General, Personal Stories, Relationships, Things We Love | No comments Read related posts in authentic, diary, engaged and passionate, keep a journal, life, personal history, powerful life, share, stories, storytelling, thoughts, write your thoughts