The Element of Finding Joy in Every Victory And Its Hope for Experiencing More Abundance - Personal Power Edition

With the new day, comes new strength and new thoughts – Eleanor Roosevelt

Oh to be victorious…

…to live life to our full potential… and to make every day a winning day…

….to fill each day with a blessed victory…

…a victory, worth a resounding, private or public, “Yes!”

A mental victory….

A physical victory…

An attitude victory…..

A gratitude victory…..

A relationship victory….

A career victory…..

A health victory…

A lifestyle victory…

Victories don’t have to come with a trophy, or a certificate, to mean something to us.

Any meaningful accomplishment is a victory.

Becoming more aware is a victory

In my post The Element of Awareness and Its Hope for Understanding It's Half the Battle, I suggested that awareness is half the battle, giving examples from my work and life.

What is the secret to becoming more aware?

It is being more open.

We should be open to ideas, suggestions and inputs from others, and be willing to take their advice.

Often when we have a problem, we retreat and head off people who are trying to help us, because we don't want to hear what they have to say. We think of it as interference.

What for?

Isn’t it much better to get all the help we can?

Most of us have no problems accepting physical or financial help, but advice, oh no, never!

We don’t want to hear what others have to say about our situation.

“What do they know?” “It is none of their business”

We are quick to underestimate, or to take offence, at any advice we are offered.

Sometimes, we pretend to be open – only to respond with a vicious, delayed, negative reaction.

What good is this?

We may justify this with self-talk.

 “Who do they think they are, trying to tell me what to do – what do they know?”

Or “Ha, he’s the one to talk!”

Self-talk, such as this, is never productive.

Awareness – whether it comes as advice, or as knowledge someone passes on to us, whether it comes as a joke at our expense, or a mistake we have to pay for, is always good for us, never bad.

Recently, I was reading the book Talent is Overrated by Geoff Colvin.  In it, he says that excellent performers have learned to spot non-obvious information that is important.

This is the awareness we should all strive for.

Colvin says 2 people can look at the same thing and see the same thing, but the ones with deep knowledge will be able to perceive more.

This is brought home to me every time I start a new Commissions Analyst assignment.

Those with knowledge (they have typically been in the company for a while) will instantly be able to spot things that I can't.  They will say to me, “This is a credit memo - see here the transaction type says x”, something I will miss, because I do not yet have the knowledge.

You can see how it is in my interest to develop rapid awareness on every new Commissions Analyst assignment.

Should we limit our knowledge to our immediate calling, or sphere of work, or business?  That depends on how specific our calling is.  As a musician, if we learn everything there is to learn about music, we may have nothing to lose, but if we are Charlie Munger, Warren Buffett’s investing partner, we study widely and deeply, fields as wide-ranging as microeconomics, psychology, law, mathematics, biology, and engineering, and we apply insights from all these fields to our investing

If ever there was a case for awareness!

If you want to become more awareness focused, read my post The Element of Awareness and Its Hope for Understanding It's Half the Battle for inspiration.  I hope it helps you usher more awareness angels into your life.

Moving on….

Taking the initiative is a victory

It was initiative that got my daughter Tanita into her present job, as I narrate in my post The Element of Taking the Initiative and Its Hope for Being a Star At Work and In Life.

When we take the initiative, things fall into place.

People sit up and notice.

We are given opportunities, or we are given greater responsibility.

My post The Element of Taking the Initiative and Its Hope for Being a Star At Work and In Life gives several examples of people who were given opportunities - just because they “took the initiative”.

What does it mean to “take the initiative” ?

The book How to be a Star at Work by Robert E Kelley, lists 4 elements.

Going beyond your job description is the first.

The second, third and fourth elements are listed in my post, The Element of Taking the Initiative and Its Hope for Being a Star At Work and In Life.

You might think you should focus on your individual needs - when it comes to deciding what initiative to take.

Wrong!

Kelly says the focus should be, not on your needs, but on what is needed by the situation, task, project, department or company.

Tomorrow, as you start your work week, think about that.

Don't wait to be told what to do - think about what is needed  - and then take the initiative.

Pick up the phone.

Write an e-mail.

Call a meeting.

Share your ideas or thoughts.

Write a proposal.

Good things happen when you take the initiative.

Get started this week.

Approaching everything with a problem-solving attitude is a victory

Whatever challenges we face in life, we have 2 choices.

We can throw up our hands and say, “This is it.  I can't take it, anymore.”

Or we can say, “How do I solve this, how do I make the best of a tough situation? Is there another approach I can take?”

Approaching everything in our lives with a problem- solving attitude is a victory.

It is especially important - when life deals a blow to us, or presents us with a tough challenge.

Because, whatever the challenge, a problem-solving attitude can turn a hopeless situation into a hopeful one.

Relating to a teenager?  Yep, that too!

My post The Element of Seeing All Problems as Puzzles and Its Hope for Becoming Master Solvers tells you how I did it.

Become a problem-solver.

Ask more questions.

Seek more answers.

Tap different resources.

Make a list of ideas.

You can turn any situation around.

You just have to put your mind to it.

Welcoming constraints is a victory

Resources and time – these will always be in short supply.

With deadlines to meet, and  challenges to face, how do we do it?

This is where our resourcefulness comes into play.

How can we be more efficient?

Can we break up the work and do it in chunks?

Can we automate any of it?

Can we get more done when we are at our productive best?

Is there a creative way to approach any aspect of our work - and speed it up, without losing quality?

Throughout history, people have done amazing things with constraints, as I narrate in my post, The Element of Constraints and its Hope for Focused Creativity.

We can too.

We can turn Mission Impossible into Mission Possible.

Personal power….it’s our ticket to higher productivity, more well-being and greater success.

As we begin a new work week, each one of us should make a commitment to approach things differently this week.

Be more aware.

Take the initiative.

Adopt a problem-solving attitude.

Welcome constraints.

Here's to starting a new day in a new way. Let's get it right!

With the new day, comes new strength and new thoughts – Eleanor Roosevelt

As always, thanks for reading, and have a great day and week…..M…..a Pearl Seeker like you.  Thanks to Ajay, for his comments on my last post, and thanks to the rest of you - for your likes, pins and votes. Much appreciated!