MAWMonday Motivators 01/17/2016

by: Dr. Michael A. Wright In Blog, Coaching DiaryTagged , , , , , , ,

#MotivationMonday
URBuildingContinue. You are making progress. At least you are reading this each week. You may not have achieved the lofty goals you set for yourself about 2 weeks ago, but you had something to learn. You spent these weeks learning that things take more time than you thought. Usually 3 times more than you thought. You have also learned, if you listened, that you are not exactly who you had hoped you would be. I encourage you to integrate that truth and keep moving. You are amazing, even the parts that are still in progress. You are enough, even when you feel you are not doing enough.

Never Alone
Some people think that they have to do it alone. Just because you have done it alone up to this point does not mean that it will always be you alone. Supposed supports may have let you down, but that does not mean that all supports will respond that way. Just as others must learn to support you consistently, you have to learn how to access and utilize the supports you could have. There is growth enough on all edges of experience. Your task is to work toward the limits of your expertise, and stay open to help that extends your reach.

Differences for Collaboration
They are not like me. How can we benefit each other? I’m convinced that not enough people think this way. Many are closed to the idea of the other. They see the other as strange and not worth the risk of getting to know. But, just as closed is condescension and the approach that the other needs my help—that I have nothing to gain from the relationship with the other. Or, the more deceptive mantra: “It is wrong to expect something in return.”

Relationships are an exercise in reciprocity. That is give and take on both sides. Your task is to monitor what you are given, and what you give away. What you receive should be what you want. What you give you should be happy to bestow.

Consistency is Success
That’s it. That’s the characteristic of a successful existence. The goal is to do whatever it is for a long time. Take David Bowie as a life lesson. A performer for ages. Relevant for decades. Missed now that he is gone. He did a ton that others would not do. In the process, he moved the culture forward, created freedom, and made us feel a trifle less weird in our adolescence. Keep doing what you are doing. Keep living within your expertise. Would that you have an impact as well.

Too Much Talking is Waste
Here is the continuum: Thinking, Talking, Planning, Doing, Reflecting, and Improving. The balance of time weighs more heavily on the latter operations. In fact, doing, reflecting, improving defines expertise. Your task is to get the thinking and talking to planning with every idea. Outline that plan and get to implementation, and do amazing things.

Beyond Potential
The danger of being a person of great potential is that you get ensnared with the potential. You become satisfied with the accomplishments as bonus–just proof of your ability. But, the world cannot buy your potential. They can only buy the products you create. Realize that production is the greater of the two. Potential primes the pump, but production outputs, fashions, packages, and disseminates. You are amazing. You are enough. Create products in order to live honestly expressing that truth.

Dr. Michael A. Wright received his Doctor of Philosophy in Social Work degree from the University of South Carolina - Columbia. Since 1997, Wright has led MAWMedia Group, LLC, a firm helping individuals and organizations tell stories and translate ideas into capital.