Get Through Your Filters

Did you ever put the wrong glasses on?

When I used to wear prescription glasses I had a vast collection developed over the years with varying degrees of prescription. If I put the wrong glasses on, I couldn't see so well. The filters I relied on distorted, instead of helped.

I don't even know why I kept all those old glasses. They weren't useful anymore. Maybe they reminded me of sights I'd seen before. Maybe I thought they'd be useful as a costume or to develop a character (I'm also an actor). It didn't make sense, they proved not to be useful, and I eventually donated them where they could do some good.

You may not have a box filled with old glasses, but you probably do have a set of filters that you look through. You may not even be aware of these filters.

We all see the world through the filters that we have developed. Some filters help - some don't. They all to some extent distort what is really going on. Unless we develop the ability to set aside our filters, they exert far more control over us than we should let them.

Filters of place. Filters of personality. Filters of culture, nationality, race, gender, age. Some are so thin as to be imperceptible and some are so codified that we can't even remove them. They've become part of who we are.

Your perception may be less under your control than you realize. What filters are in your way?

Centered leaders find ways to release their filters. High performance leaders find the distortions and seek clarity.

What old pairs of glasses do you need to discard?

Seeing clearly is a gift. Sometimes we have to unwrap that gift, take off the filters, and see anew.

--- Doug Smith

Front Range Leadership: High performance leadership training

doug smith training: how to achieve your creative goals

Comments

High Performance Leadership Combination

We can rationalize anything without making it justified. Leaders should always ask: who is this good for other than me? High performance leadership does NOT mean performance at any cost. It means performance that serves a noble cause while also benefiting people. High performance leadership is a combination. Results without relationships are shallow and temporary. Take care of both, and you'll be a high performance leader. -- doug smith

New Ideas

New ideas won't break you but they can make you bigger. -- doug smith

Your Reputation

More authority means higher levels of responsibility. More power requires more service to others, not less. What you do with your power is who you will be known as. Also, how you use the power you have creates who people will remember you as. How do you want to be remembered? -- doug smith

Start With Kindness

When you start with kindness you don't have to stay there, but you probably will. It works better for others. It works better for you. If you're human, you'll probably relapse. It does take practice to stay the course. The course starts by starting. When you start with kindness, it becomes more naturally the way. High performance leadership develops from the core leadership strengths of clarity, creativity, courage, and compassion. Build one of those strengths today thru some act of kindness and the others will get stronger as well. -- doug smith

What You Need

Use what you've learned to become what you need. -- doug smith

For example

Get good at something that won't obsolete itself. For example: emotional intelligence creating great conversations encouraging people leadership What would you add to the list? Which ones are you developing? -- doug smith

Decide

What do you want? Are you getting what you want? Intention is direction. Decide. And, then go. -- doug smith

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

Measures Matter

Some people measure quantify first and quality later. Some people measure money first and impact to the team later (not even second!). How you measure productivity might determine your character and your reputation. Put people first. -- doug smith

Show Integrity

The goals we seek bring a lot of pull to them. We get wrapped in them. It's useful and it's powerful when we care about our goals so much that they propel us forward and keep us working even when we're tired, beyond the boundaries of our usual limitations. But they should not take us beyond the boundaries of our usual values. They should not trick us into bending the rules just because the rules are in the way. Truly high performance leaders of character who are focused, and centered, and noble maintain integrity. No cheating is ever worth the outcome. Integrity is so rare that many people don't even recognize. If you do, be thankful. We need leaders like you. To truly understand integrity you've got to keep it. Even when it's hard. Even the lines are blurred. -- doug smith

High Performance Leadership

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