From a talk given by Vance Caeser
Resources: http://www.vancecaesar.com/resources.html
- “To create abundance in life, you must give more than you expect to receive”
- “How Will You Measure Your Life?” book by Clayton Christiansen
- Your only job is to make your boss happy without losing your integrity; you are your own boss
- High achiever definitions
- relative position in peer group versus peers
- quantitative measures
- typically, top 3% of any group
- but you can be your own judge of high achievement
- Synonyms for success:
- peace
- freedom
- helping others
- for some it is a #
- it’s always inside of a person; individual, diverse answers for each person
- Leadership is based on emotional intelligence, which is built on self-awareness
- Families based on gratitude (thankfulness, acknowledging successes, etc.) help children to grow up w/ a mindset of exploring internal happiness
- Emotions create the drugs in our bodies; belief systems strongly conditions the kind of emotions we have, therefore beliefs lead to the drugs that are in our bodies
- On an annual basis, review “What are the beliefs we’ve operated on in this past year?”
- Purpose creates abundance
- Purpose, beliefs, who we associate with, are the three keys to development of our lives and happiness
- When life decisions aren’t working, that is the time to sit down, listen to yourself, take inventory of your beliefs, examine which ones are creating anxiety for you
- “Some day I’m going to be happy when…” means you’ve given up on being happy today
- “I get to do this today” vs. “I have to do this this today”, demonstrates responsibility versus victimhood mentality
- Viktor Frankl, use your vision, see success, let it guide you through the daily clutter which will seemingly take care of itself as you focus on envisioning your success
- Balanced life involves managing energy, not time (see HBR article)
- Brands: distinctive, relevant, consistent
- Relationship-building, not networking; connection, not contacts
- knowing a name
- knowing their story
- earning their trust so they want to be around you, too
- It’s really important to know what your story is, what your values are, what your role in the world is; develop your signature story, can deliver it in 10 seconds or talk about it for 2-3 hours
- Sharing stories and looking for overlap builds trust with others
- You can’t trust what a person does, only who they are
- Leaders are distinguished by the fact that they have followers; leaders are followed for:
- technical skills
- authority, title
- respect, reverent power
- Cheryl Sandberg, lean-in circles, Nat Geo “blue zone” longevity studies, people with long lives join authentic communities and give to them
- How do you deal with “poison”?
- fear and love are our basic emotions
- hire for character 1st, energy 2nd, competency 3rd
- you are the CEO of your life, stay away from people committed to living in fear
- you “hire” your boss, your friends, etc., you can pick different ones
- It’s important to feel like you’re in charge, cultivate a free agent mentality
- Nordstrom once encouraged its managers to seek an outside position and get a job offer once a year to give themselves options and work in that free agent spirit
- It’s important to learn how you learn, and then only work and learn in that way
- Great leaders are always great educators, they focus on listening to people to use their own brilliance to help them grow faster
- You have all the answers already, the answer isn’t out there, it’s inside of you
- Be clear on why you’re here, know why first, then how, then what
- Have clarity about your vision so you know what you need to do to get there; you vision will serve you if it’s inspiring
- Live a conscious life, be aware of what you do, use your heart as a scorecard, listen to your feelings
- Do what you love, with people you love ~Steve Jobs
- You choose your consequences, choose wisely; Stoic philosophy
- Toltec, 4 beliefs:
- Be impeccable with your word
- Don’t take anything personally
- Don’t make assumptions
- Do your best, learn from your efforts
- Simon Sinek, TED talks
- Human connection is invaluable
- Don’t bet the farm on your vision, you can have multiple visions and you can update them over time; life is the journey of moving from vision to vision, you can always have more
- Impediments to integrating these lessons:
- fear
- ego-centrism
- relying on others for answers
- Purpose can be updated, continual growth of self, embracing one’s flaws along the way
- For kids
- get really clear about the life you want to live
- talk about values
- talk about roles you want to play
- structure your life around these things
- make decisions based on these criteria
- Discover your purpose, we all have one but we have to find it
- The questions I ask myself define my life by virtue of the answers I give
- Examine periodically the questions you spend your time thinking about and make sure they’re the right questions to be asking
A House Rises 