David Gets More Creative

Here is another entry from my friend David Spiegel. He mentioned me in his daily inspirational email so I couldn't help sharing it here today. Thanks again, Dave!

"As long as you believe it is impossible, you will actually never find out if it is possible or not."

- John Seymour: English author

The Universe is sending me messages once again!

After receiving today's quote of the day, I received my daily insights from my mentor and friend Doug Smith at Front Range Leadership:

Every problem is an invitation to get more creative.

They seem to go hand in hand. If you believe a thing to be impossible then it absolutely will be. Change the word "problem" to read opportunity the outcome is inevitable. Change! And with each new opportunity the creative waters flow. First they trickle and after some time and with repeated use they become like flood waters,unstoppable.

20 years ago I told a vendor I was working with that I had made the decision to sell only Halloween. His response"you can't make a 365 day a year living that way! Good luck with that!"

I didn't know how, I just believed that I could and would. I made the statement and then lived up to that commitment. Simple!

The challenge/opportunity was stated "I will make my lively hood in Halloween!"

For 20 years I have creatively crafted a a life built around that statement. I can not begin to tell you how many times I have heard"...and what do you do the rest of the year". Too many times to recount that's for sure! It did not happen over night. It was not always easy.

There was no magic formula other than hard work and commitment. There were set backs and stumbling blocks and learning curves and many many changes along the way. And here we are,20 years later with the opportunity to be creative once again. As a matter of fact the level of creativity today is so much greater today in part because of the experience and expertise accumulated over the last two decades.

In those 20 years I have worked Halloween from every angle imaginable, wholesale, retail, eCommerce, distributing, consulting, manufacturing, designing, packaging import export and more. Each new skill affording me new lessons and the chance to become even more creative.

And so it will be with future endeavors. Believing that anything, no every thing, is possible will insure that my creative being will continue to grow and that there is no limit to success. Not even the sky!

-- David Spiegel

Comments

Personally

Improving performance does require us to take our work seriously. But it does not require us to take ourselves too seriously. Taking things personally is a waste of self-esteem. -- doug smith

Start With Decisions

Do you share leadership? The most powerful teams share leadership responsibilities AND attitude. When you develop a team where people feel empowered to take charge, take responsibility, and take ownership you then no longer need to do all the difficult work. Delegation becomes easier. Collaboration feels more natural. Start with decisions. It's fast and easy as a leader to make all of the big decisions, but when you include your team in the conversations it takes to gain mutually shared understandings and collaborative decisions, you no longer have to "sell" your decisions --- people simply know what you as a team have decided and act accordingly. No passive aggressive resistance, no passengers on your team "bus" -- just fully engaged team members. Start with collaborative decisions. The rest will be much easier. -- Doug Smith

Promise and then Deliver

Be careful what you promise to gain a new customer. They are only new for a day. After that, expectations continue even if you forget your promise. Be careful what you promise. Do you have what you need to give your customers what they want? Because probably, what they want, is what you've promised. -- doug smith

Get Going!

What goal are you working on? Maybe you don't spend every minute of every day working on your goals. I certainly don't. But when I do work on my goals they propel me forward. They get me going. Find your favorite goal. Work on it. Even if you start with the smallest task. Put one task after the other like little steps leading to a lofty elevation. Goals get us going. Because standing still goes nowhere. -- Doug Smith

Life Never Stops Teaching

Which learning curve are you climbing? The lessons keep coming. When we keep growing, our energy sparks with new creativity, new courage, new compassion, and new clarity. When we keep growing, life's adventure brings more smiles than troubles. High performance leaders make it a point to keep learning. That means taking on the tough assignments. That means listening to the needs of your team and building on their ideas. That means constantly debriefing, decoding, and deciding. There's a lesson in all of this somewhere. Centered leaders find the lesson and grow. Life never stops teaching. What have you learned today? -- Doug Smith

Focused Truth

Focused leaders have zero time for inauthentic messages. They tell the truth unconditionally and insist on the truth consistently. Be a leader who can handle the truth. Be a leader who tells the truth. -- doug smith

Don't Jump!

I do it. You've probably done it, too. It gets us into trouble misinterpreting and reaching false conclusions. Slow down. Ease up from that jump. Stop that jump to conclusions and you'll avoid many big falls. -- doug smith

Solving Problems Requires The Courage to Tell The Truth

Can a problem be so tough that we deceive ourselves about solving it? In any problem there is a temptation to soften the edges, smooth the rough spots, to paint a better picture than we see. Sometimes we take sides and spin the truth in favor of our side, even when that contributes to a conflict or problem. We can do better than that. Solving problems together requires the courage to tell the truth as you see it. Not our version of the truth. Not our ideal of the truth. The truth as it exists, weak spots and all. If we want to clearly analyze a problem, we must be willing to see, and tell the truth. -- Douglas Brent Smith

Focus on Process

Fix the situation and let people be who they are. As much as you might want to change them, that's not your business. They are doing what they think is right, even if it is horribly wrong. Turn around the situation and watch them rotate, too. -- doug smith

Developing Leadership

We are constantly developing leadership -- the work is never done. New challenges, new people, new goals. That includes how we lead and who we develop as current and future leaders. Developing leadership is a constant. What's your plan? -- doug smith

High Performance Leadership

Search This Blog