Are You Taking Advantage of the Transitions in Your Life?

If you are like me, when you think about transitions that have occurred in your life, you will mostly recall major changes. Some were good, and some were bad. But you remember them because of the impact on your life.

Transitions are also the points in our lives that offer the greatest opportunity for learning. As a situation changes, we have the ability to reflect on the change itself, how we react to the change, and how it affects our future.

I spent time this week thinking about transitions, and realized that I am continuously in transition. These transitions occur in three main areas.

1) Time – Transitions occur daily as we have morning routines, afternoon routines, and evening routines. We transition from day to night. We transition through our week. We transition through the seasons of the year. But most importantly we transition through the seasons of our life.

2) Relationships – Relationships are always in transition. Relationships are growing stronger or becoming weaker. At a minimum we must give attention to a relationship to maintain it. Relationships are the most dynamic transitions of our life.

3) Activities – The activities and tasks that occupy our time, effort, and energy are in transition. We gain new interests, we lose interest in others. We are driven by our responsibilities to our families, our employers or clients, and to ourselves. The focus of these activities transition based on our priorities and the surrounding circumstances.

The importance of recognizing all of these transitions is to take advantage of the learning opportunities. Each transition provides an opening to improve.  How often do you take advantage of your transitions to enhance your life?

Get in the Spirit

No one can deny the power of a positive attitude. Countless stories exist in medicine, sports, and the workplace on the impact a positive attitude creates. You can search the National Institute of Health website, and find details of over 40 studies that included the impact of optimism on healing.

When we speak of spirit, it has a different meaning. We typically use phrases like “the spirit of the season”, “team spirit”, or we want an event to have a certain spirit. Spirit typically does not relate to just one person. It relates to the atmosphere surrounding a group or an event.

But attitude and spirit are related. A team with good spirit is a collection of people working together with good attitudes. A collection of attitudes can be the core of the spirit.

If you want to improve your team’s spirit, or you want to create a spirited environment, you need to start with attitude. So today, there are 3 questions you should ask yourself:

1. Have I checked my attitude recently?
2. Am I positively influencing those around me with my positive attitude?
3. Am I building a powerful positive team spirit?

5 Key Paths of Motivation

My friend and business partner, John Maxwell, once told me, “If you want motivated employees, hire motivated people.” His point? I can’t motivate people, I can only inspire them. Motivation originates and is nourished from within.

So I decided to spend some time thinking about how we become motivated. Is it something we can create through intentional action, or is it an emotional response?

Some believe that you can become motivated by being inspired. But I don’t believe that inspiration alone will create much motivation. To be significantly motivated, we need to link inspiration with one of the following motivation paths.

1. Desperation – We are filled with motivation when we are faced with desperation. We have no other choice. We are frantic for something to change. Our fears increase to a level that requires action.

2. Clear Desire – Clarity of purpose will provide us with motivation. If we are able to see the future we want to create in exact detail,  we will be motivated to achieve. When our purpose or vision is fuzzy, or only a dream, our motivation is also subdued.

3. Momentum – We are motivated by winning. Small wins lead to bigger wins. If we begin to achieve success, we are motivated to attain more.

4. Breakthrough – A significant discovery or advancement can fuel our motivation. If we suddenly see new opportunities, we become energized to continue. We want to discover the next breakthrough.

5. Methodical Persistence – Some of us are driven towards a goal, step by step, steadily. We never consider giving up. We never consider failure as an option. We are driven by the process of improvement. This feels different than desire or breakthrough because it is less emotionally charged. We are attached to the practice and less towards the outcome.

There are times when I have felt a lack of motivation, but now I have the ability to develop it intentionally. I can select a source of inspiration. I can decide which motivational path will be most effective. (I hope I can always act before I get to the desperation stage!) Then I can allow my motivation to grow through the actions associated with that path.

Motivation truly does come from within. So where do you need more motivation to increase your success?

Productivity Is Not the Only Measure

The measure of your effectiveness is not productivity alone. Getting more done in a short period of time is important, but it should not be your primary measure of effectiveness. With my background in manufacturing, this was an idea that took me some time to put into perspective.

Excellence is more important than productivity. People pay for excellence. People admire excellence. Excellence has longevity. Productivity is based on what you accomplish only during a specific moment in time.

So here is the question to ponder this week. In your business, or your life, where is excellence more important than productivity? We cannot be excellent in everything. So for you, what matters? Where do you need to be excellent, and where do you need productivity?

I have learned that in most cases when you focus primarily on productivity, you risk short changing the result. You risk compromising excellence for time. In many parts of our life, this may be acceptable. But there are key areas of your life and your work where you should never compromise excellence for time.

Where is it more important to be right than fast? Where is it more important to be fast… to be first? Where can you adjust and improve as you go? Where are mistakes more costly?

There are areas of your life where you need to be prepared to always give your best. Do you know your area of excellence?