Proactivity is Key to Fulfilment

Many of us are looking for more happiness and fulfilment in our lives, after all, there is often scope for improvement! We don't have to stoically accept whatever is thrown at us, and accept it as 'our lot in life'.

Making improvements requires proactivity. What does that mean? It means making our lives the way we want them to be, rather than accepting them the way they are.

Stephen Covey, who wrote 'the Seven Habits of Highly Effective People' says that proactivity begins with the mindset “I am responsible for me, and I can choose".

If we accept that whatever we experience, we created (whether consciously or unconsciously), then we can choose to experience something better.

Our next challenge is to make a few decisions around 'what would I prefer to experience, what do I choose?'. We need to visualise that better something, and get clarity about what we want from our lives, which requires us to make choices. The clearer the vision, the more laser-like our focus can be.

So start today by going for a long walk somewhere peaceful, pretending for a while that you dont have all these constraints that you tell yourself are holding you back, and picture your life as you intend for it to be from now on.

Good luck!

Are leaders born or made?

You know, debating whether leaders are born or made is a little bit like debating whether there is a God... depends what you mean by 'God'. I think we have to start by defining the notion of 'leader' we are holding in mind. For example, many of us when 'leader' is mentioned think Gandhi, Obama, JFK, or business leaders. I'd lke the expand the thought process a bit. If a great leader is someone who makes things happen, provides a great role model, causes other people to drop what they're doing and follow, we should think a little about the unsung quiet leaders in our midst. Maybe those who act out of principle, inspiration, higher purpose, voluntarily, rather than for bonuses. For me, those are the great leaders, people I aspire to be like. And I dont think you can categorise those people as either born or made, and training certainly didnt make the difference. How can we find our passion, our inspiration, our contribution? Then, we can't help but lead!

TRUE Leadership

I was fortunate enough yesterday to hear for the first time Robert Kennedy's speech forty years ago (see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77IdKFqXbUY), in which he questioned the way America measured progress and well-being.

It struck me as a fine example of the essence of great leadership. It was inspiring, all about the highest human values, and suggesting to people that maybe continual striving to accumulate more and more material wealth is not the whole answer to progress and well being.

If we accept for a moment that the highest values we can aspire to, and which are likely to deliver lives most worth living for ourselves and those around us, would include happiness, freedom and love, then we can begin to see that unfettered capitalism, rampant greed and a competitive/scarcity mindset may on occasion conflict with those highest values.

Now, we're not arguing here that poverty is good. The reverse is true, and wealth creation helps lift people out of poverty. What happiness studies have found, though, is that happiness is increased significantly for people who begin to earn until they get to £10,000 per year, then the happiness impact of adding to that diminishes. We just get used to a higher and higher standard of living and it becomes part of the fabric. We dont get happier.

Happiness comes from relationships, striving for worthwhile goals, making a contribution of service to others (just TRY a sample of voluntary work to find out what I mean, one selfless act).

Have a listen to Kennedy's speech. Forget politics, be human, focus on what's important to us all

Personal Leadership

A few thoughts of my own on personal leadership...

we hear all the time that we are living through a period of furious pace of change. One take on this can be seen in the (technology-centric) 'shift happens' video, see http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=ljbI-363A2Q

Clearly, we can't stop change happening, nor slow it's pace...
Change is not a bad thing. It is inevitable, and it is fast.
Some things change and some things don't...

For me, personal leadership is about knowing who you are and what you are for, having a beacon to guide you through the storm of change. Many people today are clear what they are against... many people today find purpose and fulfilment from being against something, whether it be wind farms, nuclear energy or the prospect of an eco-town being built near their home. Another perspective is to decide what you are for in this world.

The good news is, we needn't be like a cork bobbing on the tide of popular opinion and ever-changing (not always for the better) societal values. Indeed, there is little virtue in just 'going along with the others'. As philosopher Edmund Burke is reputed to have said: "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing".

We have the option to decide who we are, who we will be, what we are for, what difference we will make in this world. This is effortful work, requiring much contemplation and deep personal honesty (it comes from within). However, deciding our purpose and reason for being is the first step to discovering a level of passion and inspiration within ourselves that can lead to an extraordinary quality of life.

And, guess what, change begins with ourselves, as Gandhi memorably remarked: "Be the change you want to see in the world".

How much more fulfilling such a life is than living the life of a grazing cow...

Personal opinion! Paul

Welcome to Soul Work!

Hello and welcome to my Soul Work blog. My tagline is 'Do what you love, love what you do'. This blog is dedicated to helping people find more fulfilment in their work and, as a result, in their lives.

Enjoy!
Paul