Angelina Carleton
Apr 19, 20203 min
Updated: Sep 8, 2020
When we begin our journey with personal and business development, we are told to make our first vision board.
Yes vision boards ("VB") help but so is lining up each year's vision boards in your home office to see what priorities, patterns or "possibilities want to be called forth under the whisper" of an image or two in what your eyes now see.
(Credit goes to Michelle Goss and Jeanine Mancusi of Lucid Living for their "positive imagination" work related to "possibility that wants to be noticed under the whisper")
So what else can we do while in our home offices these days?
1. Invest in a hard bound/hard cover coffee table type book where you write out milestones each month: the who, what, where, when, why and include photographs or tabs if it is a three ring binder; track your wins, losses and progress in what you learned each month in take-away's. Online stores such as Staples, Office Max, Office Depot or Amazon offer binders or craft stores such as Hobby Lobby sell gorgeous, large blank illustration books to start today.
2. Don't just stack the wins - stack the losses as well in asking yourself what you learned from it. Push aside any feelings of shame for the moment [and the negative ego that says "Get it right!"]. See what insights you gain from the tough times in the human experience of when an ideal was no longer true. Or we bought into an illusion, if we are being honest. Perhaps the motivations of others surprised you or how the experience changed you for better or worse.
There is a saying that if you tell a woman she looks awful in an orange shirt, she will never wear that color or shirt again. If she cares about your opinion, her feelings will become hurt... injured inside. Separate from the shirt color, did something else get lost in that moment of loss?
Was it worth losing or did a part of you also die that moment, because of criticism? Maybe that shirt is not complimentary but it connected you to positive memory. Or another's harsh judgement missed that it was your shirt to get your hands dirty in, with gardening, and it was not about your measuring up in executive presence for other's approval.
3. For three minutes, emotionally put yourself in the perspective of another, whether you care about them or not. Whether you like them or not. Allow these few minutes to actually step into their shoes and imagine what their daily life is like. What is important to them. Visualize how your treatment toward them positively impacted them or not. If this other party is your client, imagine how what you offer helps them have a better life.
Empathy goes a long way as well as loyalty and trust. I can think of owners and associates at specific companies who saw me as a full human being in fair negotiations; they earned my repeat business and respect. That saying of "people don't care what you know until they know you care..." is true. That shared or extended heart space wins as humans are emotional beings whose feelings are very personal to them.
I can edify quite a few individuals within The Family Office Club group and database, for instance, who have led consistently with their core values and personalized emails in our business relationship. That customized treatment goes a long way with appreciation as well as referrals.
My call to action to you, dear reader, is to start with the online resources in gathering your supplies, your place for realistic contemplation in your home office and your head space to make room what is new in your comfort zone.
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Most leaders receive enormous support in growing their professional goals, while they have little to no support to grow their bigger vision or dreams. At Legacy Planning, we guide clients for 12 months to move them from concept to completion. When clients retain us, we increase their wealth by aligning their values & developing their focus so their legacy becomes a reality.