Whether you’re going on an extended trip or just across the hall into the conference room for a presentation, make sure you’ve packed exactly what you need.
Your internal toolkit contains all your essentials:
- Personal Theme Song
- Laughter
- Signature Dance Moves
- Neutral Lenses
- Service Mindset
- Creative Outlook
- Love
#1 Personal Theme Song
Absolutely never ever leave home without this. You might have a different theme song for each day of the week, or for different experiences (making sales calls get one song, while presenting to your team has another). Stop whatever you’re doing right now and tell me your theme song!
#2 Laughter
Life is way too important to be taken seriously. Just ask my friends Steve & Jason of The Not So Serious Life; they regularly share their not serious opinions on all sorts of serious issues. And Bernie Glassman offers great advice in The Dude and the Zen Master:
“Let me give you a wonderful Zen practice. Wake up in the morning…look in the mirror, and laugh at yourself.”
#3 Signature Dance Moves
No one needs to see you. You don’t need to see you. Move. Just dance.
#4 Neutral Lenses
Remember that information is neutral until you assign meaning to it. See people and situations and experiences as if you’re gathering information; don’t interpret any of it too quickly.
#5 Serve
Serve at your earliest inconvenience. Serve from your heart. Serve without expectation of return. Serve because you love, not because you want. Your daughter asks you to play with her just as you’re on your way to a serious (see #2) business meeting? Drop and give her ten minutes.
Even after all this time,
The sun never says to the earth:
“You owe me!”Look what happens with
A love like that!It lights the whole sky!
— Hafiz
#6 Creative Outlook
What if you don’t know all the answers? HOORAY! What if the solution that worked last week no longer makes sense? HOORAY! What if you’ve been tasked with a seemingly-overwhelming project for which you feel completely unprepared? HOORAY! What if none of your hand-outs were printed and you don’t know it until five minutes before your presentation begins? HOORAY!
Given your situation, what would you like to create?
#7 Love
Robert Holden is my go-to guy on all things love-of-self-related. If you’ve not yet read his book Loveability, I recommend it immediately.
“Everyone we see is seen through the filter of our self-awareness. Therefore, how we see ourselves — loveable or unloveable — influences what we see in others.”
Love isn’t on your packing list as optional; it’s the one thing to be sure you grab if you run out of time and nothing else gets into your bag. Love is the essential.
Let me know if you’re unsure where it’s located or why it’s so important.
Loving you,
arminda