A shortcut

The sales guy approached the financial controller to sign off the balance sheet, so that he can take out a product pulled out of market for free to a customer.

He wants to do it this way by not telling his marketing manager, not obeying the rules of the wearhouse bookkeeping. In a word, he wants get it done under the radar of his boss and the company’s policy, send the product to the customer quickly, hassle free.

He thinks if he tells his boss, it will cost his emotional labor to explain, to justify, to persuade, to make change of the system… too much work!

Therefore, he chooses a shortcut, for sake of the company’s development – to keep a customer happy.

However, he did not think the potential cost to the company. What if the customer tells others about how he got the product? What if the product pulled off the market for a reason that it could be potentially not good to consumers? What might be the cost to the company’s reputation if the product has defect?

A shortcut is costly.

You can take a shortcut on the basis that you have the intelligence and wisdom and good estimation.

Taking a shortcut is based on high investment.

When you open your hands…

When I opened my hand to a stranger first time, I felt uncertain – will she open her hand to me as well? What if she refuses my handshake? What would other people think of me?

I felt vulnerable.

However, people also open their hands to me when I open mine.

It’s a brave action to open your hand first.

You are brave to bring yourself up to the front first.

Exposing your vulnerability is a brave action.

We grow from our vulnerability, becoming stronger and more connected.

Crack

We fill cracks on the floor, on the road, in a wall.

We fill cracks and holes in our hearts with all sorts of desires and stories. We are panic when we leave the crack open without putting anything in immediately. We can’t handle the exposure of our vulnerability easily.

It takes courage to see our vulnerability, to experience the pain.

However,

“There is a crack in everything, that’s how the light gets in.” By Leonard Cohen

When you open your vulnerability, you will receive new energy. A new birth will take place.

What are you searching?

You made New Year’s resolutions. You have planned your goals for the next 3, 6, 12 months, or even next 3 to 5 years.

Then during your journey pursuing your goals, you change and modify them. You abandon some goals, pick up new initiatives.

You want to make a lot of money and follow those successful “get rich schemes” training courses to find your happiness. You find these are not totally what you look for. You feel that you need to learn so much before you can have confidence to get where you want to go… you really get frustrated on many spins you’ve entered…

And you are not alone.

Most of us spend our time seeking happiness and security without realizing the underlying purpose of our search.

“Each of us is looking for a path back to the present: We are trying to find good enough reasons to be satisfied now.” – Sam Harris

What are you search?

What do you want now from the bottom of your heart?

When you begin to pay attention to the present moment: what do you feel? why do you feel the way you feel?

Then you start to raise your awareness about the quality of your life.

A new trip

You get excited before a new trip.

You get worried about the new trip

You get overworked preparing for the new trip.

You get anxious before the new trip.

You also get comrades going with you. This changes everything how you feel about the trip.

Now you get people understand you, your worried, and your ambitions.

Take a trip less traveled with like minded people makes things much bearable during tough times. It makes a trip much more excited and encouraging at the same time. And the best of all, you will finish the trip.

Find your comrades before a new trip can make a difference.

Be a good listener

To connect with people or to have influence to others need you to be a good listener.

Being a good listener means you have your full attention on the person speaking to you. You have curiosity to ask her questions to find more about her and her doing.

When you become a good listener, you understand people better. Being understood is one of our native needs – that is to get accepted and to get recognized and to be seen.

What do you feel if you are accepted, recognized and been seen?

I would open my heart to the people understood me. I will feel happy to see the person. I will feel closer to the person. And naturally, what ever the person says will make a good impression on me. She will impact me somewhat.

That’s how influence works.

Being a good listener is to be an influencer.

When you grow up…

What do you want to become when you group up?

You must have figured this out when you were a kid…

Are you who you wanted to be? If, it’s a Yes, how did you get here? If it’s a No, how did you get here?

I wanted to be a weather woman when I grow up – but, I become an engineer, a researcher, a manager, trainer, coach… a life- long learner.

My motivation to become a weather woman is to have freedom, explore many places, being curious. And this motivation has driving me to learn different fields, to be curious about people’s potentials, to be permanent learner.

Conquer

It is not the mountain we want to conquer, it is ourself.

It is the world we want to conquer, it is ourself.

when we change, the world around us cannot stay the same.

Change ourself, the world around us changes.

When we conquer ourself, we become the change we want to see.

Cleaning up day

When season changes, we use a day or two to organize our clothes, bedding according to the weather. We have the spring cleaning day when winter is over. We roll out our thick blankets in the fall preparing for cold winter.

We use these days to prepare, sort out stuff, refresh ourselves.

How often do you check on your files to clean your documents? How often do you check your personal inventory to see if you have prepared for your next goal?

You could choose one day a month or every two weeks or every week to tie up your loose ends, such as chat with a few close friends, arrange meetings, reply insignificant messages, make personal appointments, check on your favorite sites or celebrities…

You need a day or two to refresh, recharge, prepare for your next action and future.

When you pause, you create a gap for you to grow, to see opportunity, to breath deeply and move forward with more clear thinking and determination.

Mark your calendar for your cleaning up day.

When you lead a change…

As a leader, you want to make a difference, you want to make a change.

A change you want to make starts within yourself. Only when you up to the change, you can make changes around you.

The author for the best book seller – The leadership gap, Lolly Daskal said, “Great leaders change the world around them. But I promise you, they start by changing what is within.”

You want to make a change, become the change you want make first.

You will need to know yourself, who you are, your strength, your inspirations, your gaps to get where you want to be…

It is not easy to be on top of everything you do. As a matter of fact, it is impossible to be on top of everything you.

To be on top of a wave or with a wave, you will need to be open minded.

We are all changing every moment biologically – old cells in our body dying, and new cells at the same time growing. Our muscle cells grow in different speed from our skin cells, our hair cells, etc. In a similar way, for each change in our life it needs different time to take place. We get to be open to learn, to observe, to adapt and grow with each change.

When we stop learning, we stop leading.

When we can lead ourself, we can lead others.