Living in the Flow

Every year time seems to go by faster and faster, have you noticed? As we get older and still have big dreams we want to accomplish, we can get a bit anxious about this rapid passing of time. Do we have enough time remaining to accomplish what we set out to this year, a decade ago, or maybe even at the outset of our careers?

One highly effective way I've found of approaching this dilemma is by setting an intention to live life in the Divine Flow. Steven Lane Taylor does a wonderful job of explaining this way of living, giving us proven tools for recognizing and cooperating with the underlying current that exists in each of our lives. He's so good at this because for years he did it the hard way, the way many of us do - pushing, scheming, and manipulating circumstances and events, trying to get them to go as we thought they had to for us to meet our objectives. Eventually he realized that the Universe is actually on our sides, working daily to guide us to the fulfillment of our dreams in a joyful, effortless way!

I had a perfect demonstration of this idea in a big way a couple of years ago. After two months of training to pass my audition to become a certified Jazzercise instructor, I broke my toe (and my confidence) 10 days before my audition. I was the only one out of 11 to fail - can you imagine how I felt? But encouraged by the support of family and friends I arranged to have a top instructor mentor me, and two months later I passed the audition with accolades. I immediately took over a well-paying class with up to 100 customers, many of whom have been with Jazzercise over 20 years. In just a few weeks, we were all having a great time together, although I found out later that most of them were dead-set against me at the beginning. If I had not had the opportunity to train with one of the best, I doubt I would have been successful in winning them over in the long run. The Universe really was conspiring for my good, even if it didn't appear so at the time!

So keep one of my favorite bits of advice from Steve in mind the next time something appears that doesn't look good: if the appearance isn't good, it's not over yet. For much more on this, I recommend Steve’s book: Row, Row, Row Your Boat, Living Life in the Divine Flow.

The Power of Recognition

I was recently recognized by Rio Salado College as one of its Outstanding Adjunct Faculty members for 2009-2010. Fewer than 5% of the 1100 adjunct faculty are awarded this honor, so I am proud and excited about this accomplishment. I work very hard to help my students in every aspect of their learning, including reading comprehension; study and test taking skills; college essay writing; case study analysis; and basic grammar, spelling, and punctuation. It’s not an easy job, because not every student wants the level of feedback and attention I provide. That’s what makes the award so fulfilling, to learn that my efforts really are appreciated. But I was surprised by another reaction I had to this, besides appreciation: I found myself wanting to do even more. It felt like now I really had to (and wanted to) live up to this title of outstanding adjunct faculty member, and that was a good thing.

What’s the take away for anyone in a leadership role? It’s to remember the power of recognition. You may have heard the expression, “Catch ‘em doing something right!” How wise that advice is. When we tell employees that they did something well and give them specifics, a few things happen. First, they realize someone is actually paying attention to what they do. They understand that it really does matter whether they show up or not. Second, they learn exactly what they did well so they can do it again. And finally, they feel proud and may well respond as I did and want to do even more. The best part of all for those in leadership is that there is no cost to this performance and morale boost. All it takes is awareness on your part and a little bit of time. Give it a try today, and see what happens.