Step 7: Your Gift

Here we are folks at the last of the seven steps. Remember, like anything – repeat as often as necessary for the things most important to you.

This is the summary of this last step:
Step 7: Your Gift
Enjoy the victory.
Many of us don’t stop to celebrate our accomplishments as we dash to the next urgent thing. Share your success with others.
Do you take time to celebrate your victories, big or small?

Here’s how it showed up for me when I was challenged by the prospect of climbing a 50-foot telephone pole and leaping to catch a trapeze bar. Make sure to read about Steps 1-6 before reading this:

Step 7: Your Gift
My arms were now stable and parallel to the ground. From this state of inner calm, something shifted. I still wanted my 100% intention and a big part of me knew I already had accomplished it by recognizing the power within me. I now turned 45 degrees, shuffling my feet just slightly to face the trapeze bar. Knowing my 100% was still in the future I smiled at the trapeze bar and asked for what I wanted, to grab hold of it. I slowly put my hands straight up in the air and in one swift leap, I flew horizontally to grab my gift. I pumped that bar long enough to anchor it to remember the moment, the extra 1% Power of Inspiration.

This is my Peak Event, a constant reminder that I can have what I want when I set a clear intention and stay focused on my desired outcome. And so can everyone else. We all deserve the best.

Step 6: Your Integration

Moving on to the second to last step in approaching any challenge or anything you deeply desire in life – Your Integration.

Here’s what we say on our website:
Face your fears and do it anyway. We sometimes shy away from doing what we know must be done by denying, suppressing or hiding parts of ourselves.
Do you understand why you postpone critical decisions?

Integration is basically about accepting all parts of ourselves – great, good, bad and ugly. In the end, it’s about Being Your 101%. I know when I hide, suppress or deny any part of me I build stress, and I am not who I want to be. There is only one me, one you and one everyone out there. Quit the compare, criticize and condemning that we do onto ourselves and live the life that you desire, by your design.

Here’s what Step 6 was for me during the 50-foot poll exercise:
“With both feet tightly squeezed on the pizza-size platform, and now on top my first thought was “YES, I made it to the top” and the instant next thought was “I’m not there yet” and the pole was shaking. It took a friend to gently remind me from below: “Bobby, you know it’s not the pole that’s shaking.” I took a slow, deliberate and long breath. Instantly, in that one breath the pole was now calm. That was the moment of truth for me in the entire event, I have the power to calm my inner storm and choose differently. It was also a moment of amazing humility and gratitude for something beyond me was working with me to accomplish this intention.”

Remember to share Your Peak Event with us here: http://www.resonantinsights.com/YOUR_PEAK_EVENT.html

Step 5: Your Power

Moving on to Step 5: Your Power.

Step 5: Your Power

Put all of yourself into what you do.  There are moments when you have to put 100% of yourself into making something happen.  You know those moments of power.

Do you put 100% into your intentions that really matter, to you?

Here’s what happened for me at this point of climbing the 50-foot telephone pole:

“Having observed my team mates do this event all afternoon, I was now ready for what I made up was the most difficult part of the event — hosting myself up onto the pizza-sized platform, one foot at a time.  I learnt later from my friends below that I stayed at this spot for a very long time.  It felt like just a few moments to me.  As I hugged the pole I had a rapid fire of thoughts and emotions bubble up.  The continuous “I can do this” now turned to a deep guttural scream.  As I roared, my first foot got on the platform and then the next.”

Remember, we are all animals at origin – just highly evolved.  When I forget that fact and hide, deny or suppress those animal instincts they show up “side ways.”  When I can accept them, welcome them and then choose how to RESPOND (vs. react) then I am being the mature man I am, exerting my power intentionally.

Please comment on your thoughts about intentional power.  How does it show up in your life?  Do you celebrate it or deny yourself this gift?

Survey Results: Seven Steps to Success

In our launch newsletter we asked our readers to complete a 2-minute survey.  Unfortunately there was a technical glitch with the link and while over 200 people went to the site, only 16 responses registered.  We are switching providers before offering the next short survey.

Be that as it may, here are the insights based on the 16 responses – treat these as qualitative and directional.  See the report here.

1. 3:5 people said they are “somewhat clear” about their intentions in areas of life that matter most and only 27% are “completely clear.”

2. A bit over half said they consciously own their choices “most of the time” and 27% said “all the time.”

3. 3:5 people are clear about the commitments they make to themselves and others “most of the time” and 27% fall in the “all the time” camp.

4. 3:5 people run out of energy “sometimes” at work and 27% “rarely” run out of energy.

5. The majority of 67% say they put 100% into the things that matter the most to them.

6. Half the respondents postpone big decisions “sometimes,” 20% said “most of the time” and 20% said “rarely.”

7. Only 13% said they stop and take time to celebrate their victories, big and small, “all the time,” a good 2:5 said “rarely” and 1:3 said “sometimes.”

Regardless of what these qualitative results mean as a trend – what do they mean to you?  Do you take the time to think of these 7 steps?  Learn more at www.resonantinsights.com.

Step 4: Your Work

We are at the mid-point of our 7-step process. So far we’ve looked at:
Step 1: Your Intention
Step 2: Your Choice
Step 3: Your Commitment

Now it’s time to act. Step up into doing the work. Not “job” but Your Work. Each of us have unique gifts. What is yours to do is yours to do. This is the time in that challenge or opportunity you seek to overcome or achieve that you take the steps to make it happen

Approach your intentions with focus & tenacity.
When you work toward your intentions with commitment, focus and tenacity are a natural outcome. Practice sustainable focus. Do you run out of gas because you skipped Steps 1-3?

Here’s what I experienced when I was climbing the 50-foot telephone pole:
“I stared up at the 50-foot pole and the staple-shaped handles I was to use to climb the pole. I knew this was the moment to get going. The first few steps were like I had rocket fuel propelling me up. I noticed my hands were sweaty. I wiped them on the wood of the pole so I could grab the staples more firmly. Every move was deliberate and in slow motion. About half way up I looked down. Instantly I had that pang of fear, of failure, creep up again. That’s when I started to slowly say to myself “I can do this, I can do this, I can do this…” all the way up to the base on the tiny pizza-sized platform on top.”

Hopefully you are starting to see how this story flows. Please share one of Your Peak Events with us by filling out the short form at: http://www.resonantinsight

Step 3: Your Commitment

Your Commitment

So far I’ve covered Step 1: Your Intention and Step 2: Your Choice.  Today, I will describe the 3rd of 7 steps: Your Commitment.

Make it real and be accountable.
Sometimes we make commitments (explicit or assumed) that we aren’t truly bought into.  Be conscious of your commitments.  Are you clear about your commitments to yourself & others?

Let’s start with those commitments to yourself, to myself I will illustrate with a simple example.  I can commit till I go blue to a work-out routine and at the end of the week I made other things more important.  The result, I am out of integrity with myself.  For me, it takes “support accountability” for me to feel the true pressure of a commitment.  Another example: I launched Resonant Insights on June 19, 2010 – exactly 3 months from the date I left Microsoft after 8+ years.  I chose that date thanks to the suggestion of a friend.  I asked him to support me (critical, can not be assumed) and he accepted (also can not be assumed).  I also told my wife that I wanted to get the mass email out by the end of June 19.  It was a self-imposed deadline.  It got done!

Now let’s look at those commitments to others.  Let’s take a simple example we’re all familiar with.  You meet an acquaintance at a public place.  You both show initial excitement at meeting unexpectedly.  You both say “Let’s have coffee ‘sometime.’”  Neither of you commit to the when/how/where.  Weeks go by and nothing happened.  As opposed to clearly nailing the specifics of the coffee date and both of you putting it in your calendar.

Commitments are binary.  They must be 100% yes or 100% no.  A maybe means you’re not ready to commit, at that’s fine.  And when you are ready – go 100% folks!  Apply this in any area of your life: work, relationships, play … you name it.

Step 2: Your Choice

If you didn’t read the post with Step 1: Your Intention, I invite you to do so first.

Step 2: Your Choice
Make sure your intention is your choice.
We are always at choice. Yes, there are things we have committed to DO. Your attitude makes all the difference.

Do you consciously make your choices and own them?

Most intentions that fail are “well intended” without the conviction to “make it so.” You can only make it so when you are “onboard.” Yes, You are onboard. You can’t enroll others to believe in what you want unless you believe in it. Friends can certainly believe an intention for us and they definitely have an impact on our believing AND the faster path is to first believe in your choice yourself.

Once you do that, make that choice – stick with it. Not as in “hold on to it” but as in believe it’s the best choice you can and have made at the moment. Recognize you have the ability and freedom to change that choice at your free will. Along with owning your choice, respect yourself for the choice you made.

Many times the choices we make are not popular, are not as per the norm of society/our community. Do it any way if you firmly believe in your choice.

To illustrate how choice shows up in real life, I continue sharing my experience of climbing a 50-foot telephone pole and leaping to catch a trapeze bar (read the entire story at:

http://www.resonantinsights.com/YOUR_PEAK_EVENT.html

“Next, standing at the base of the pole, I had to say to the event guide “I choose to do this event.” And every part of me from the inside was shaking knowing that meant choosing to accomplish my intention, having my 100%. I wasn’t doing this for someone else, I was doing it to prove to myself that I have what it takes to achieve this intention.”

I invite you to share Your Peak Event by filling out the form on the page linked above.

Watch this trio sing, from 1966: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJKnr3axayg.  My main take-away is the main line: “What’s Your choice?”  The rest is simply data/information the tri of guys make up.  In the end, it’s her choice.

Now apply this in all areas of your life – are you the leader in being clear about the choices you make?

GNH (Gross National Happiness) Instead of GDP

In a world so obsessed with measuring everything, I love what Chip Conley says in this TED Talk.  Chip is the founder of the very successful Joie de Vivre line of hotels.  He quotes Albert Einstein that says it all:

“Not everything that can be counted counts.  And not everything that counts can be counted.”

Plus he says that while almost all CEOs agree that the intangibles are important, but only 5% measure those intangibles as metrics.  At Resonant Insights we ask those who work with us to pay attention to both – the tangible and intangibles.  We support you in finding the meaningful metrics that count and how to measure them.

Step 1: Your Intention

The Seven Steps model is the foundation of what Resonant Insights workshops and consulting services are based on.  There are many 7-step/10-tips ways of getting to the success you desire.  They are all full of great wisdom.  I share this model based on my experience of living these steps.  They worked for me in a moment of great challenge and desire.  I am hoping they serve you, my reader and those you may consider inviting to join this blog.  REMEMBER, please share Your Peak Event at our site.  We want thousands of stories about those moments of knowing the brilliance within us all.

Here’s what Step 1 is about.

Step 1: Your Intention
Be clear about your desired end-outcome.
Some of us get so busy with DOING that we don’t allow ourselves time to determine what we truly want.
Are you clear about your intentions?

Take our 2-minute survey to share your experience of the Seven Steps.

To illustrate how the Seven Steps can be applied to your Peak Event, here is Bobby’s experience of climbing a 50-foot telephone pole and then leaping to catch a trapeze bar:  

Step 1: Your Intention

It was a hot sunny afternoon at a rustic ranch in California.  After having done three other challenging events, I knew the pole was the event I truly wanted to accomplish.  Before climbing the pole I was asked by the event guide what I wanted from the event.  As my whole body trembled with fear and excitement I looked him in the eyes and said: “I want My 100%.”  I was tired of coming so close to achieving what I wanted in life and then falling short.  That day, in front of the pole, my 100% was to make it to grab the trapeze bar.Please fill out the form on our site and send us Your Peak Event now!

What do you believe?

Another hillarious video – it’s long so if you only have 2 minutes watch the last bit of it if you are looking for a great laugh.
Jokes aside – here’s what I take away from the “science” of what is shared here on TED:
- our brains are wired for us to recognize patterns
- we believe patterns we’ve seen/experienced before
- good and bad

My conclusion: recognize those patterns that dictate your thoughts – choose the ones that work for you and reprogram yourself to believe differently for those that don’t work for you. We have all had those events in life when we don’t believe we can do something. My personal favorite, from my experience, is my climbing a 50-foot telephone pole and leadping to catch a trapeze bar. I entered the event gripped in fear of not achieving my intention – to grab the trapeze bar. I didn’t think it was possible. Having been through the 7 steps (we teach at Resonant Insights) I came out with a huge gift – the gift of believing “I can do it.”  The “formula” is not new.  Many have proposed the formula of 1. Conceive, 2. Believe, 3. Achieve.  Believing is the hardest part as we are hard wired to believe the patterns we are familiar with vs. challenging new ideas that can result in the big break throughs – for ourselves, our organizations and our world.

Share your Peak Events with us here and subscribe to this blog to read many inspiring peak events.