Today is my birthday and birthdays tend to make me reflective. Besides, my dear husband reminded me this morning that THIS birthday is special because I’m officially entering the “senior citizen” category. Of course, I let him know I was not sure that was a good way to wish me Happy birthday! Anyway, that bit of news put me even more in the mood of reflecting.
In reflecting about the past year I was thinking about what my clients have taught me. Here are a few of the lessons I have seen my clients learn, and have also learned or re-learned myself.
- Success has to do with hard work, but even more with planning, focus and perseverance.
- Pursuing perfection matters, but accepting yourself as human and therefore not totally perfect frees you to learn from failure.
- Resistance to change usually masks fear of growth.
- If you don’t make the time for yourself to relax and get inspired, no one around you will ever be inspired by your leadership.
- Less talk and more action gets more results.
- Consistency in word & actions is the best way to build trust.
- Dreams that push your limits expand your horizons.
- Money without integrity only brings guilt and grief.
- Having the guts to have hard conversations is always better than silence, telling half truths, or lies.
- Sharing positive and kind words every day builds relationships and is a gift to yourself and others.
- Unless you learn to love and respect yourself, you can’t be loving and respectful of others.
- To lead any project, you have first to believe you can achieve your vision or goal. Unless you believe, you’ll not have the passion, persistence, and influence to get it done.
- Money invested in personal development and professional growth generally has at least 30X return on investment. If you are not willing to invest in yourself and other leaders in your organization now, you will pay for it later with less benefit.
- Not giving attention to sleep and health will undermine your best efforts for success.
- Your smile and positive attitude make a huge difference to the people around you.
- Change might be scary and hard at first and messy in the middle. Yet, the feelings of satisfaction and accomplishment will make it worthwhile in the end.
- The more you serve and think about others, the more joyful you’ll become.
- Life is more than work and worries. If you take time to relax, have fun, and enjoy nature, you’ll renew and refuel and be better at what you do.
- Practicing gratitude is more enjoyable, healthy, and productive than negativity and complaints. And it can be learned!
- Take care of the small things. The way you do the small things is usually the way you do everything else.
- Excellence comes from constant attention to details.
I could probably come up with more, but its time to go out and celebrate!