The Positive Energy Workplace

One of the trickiest things to do in these beautiful lives we lead can be the simple act of honoring ourselves. "Trusting our intuition." "Going with our gut." These phrases are tossed around with great popularity. The spouters of such wisdom being hailed as gurus, wise sages, and teachers pointing us to that bottom line truth within us that we know to be true, but so easily forget or too often override. Hearing people talk about this, it seems easy, an "of course!" Doing it, is a whole different animal.

It takes commitment and choice to honor intuition. It is an active process.

It creates impact. Impact that is too important to ignore.

I've been observing the differences between intuition vs. fear vs. comfort zones a lot lately. It seems the more sophisticated my business gets, the bigger the game becomes, and the more people I meet who are up to big things...the harder it becomes to discern between intuition and fear. I grapple with this, and I see others grapple with it as well in their own unique way. And I've learned this has a cost; emotional, time, energetic, and yes, financial. The amount of money I've spent, just over the last 3 years alone, when I've ditched my intuition is significant. (Yes, I added it up.) I've decided I can be horrified by this, or I can now claim my honorary PhD in "honoring your intuition" and use my new found powers for good. I'm going with Dr. Anese.

All this being said, all costs aside, I think the financial cost is the least of it. I believe that the biggest cost of not honoring our intuition is in the spiritual cost, the energetic cost, and the cost to the impact we're meant to have on this planet as leaders in our lives and organizations. This is a very big deal.

How do you tell the difference between fear and intuition? How do you honor yourself, stay true to yourself at all costs, and create the impact you're meant to create?

I'm working on a couple of articles right now - one on "leadership vitamins". Yep.

I was working with a client today who's got a vision that would move any man, woman, or child to tears. Truly, no exaggeration. I spent an hour in goose bumps. As we get more into his work and he wishes to take it broader, I'll likely share a bit more about it, but in the meantime, thought I'd share one of the key themes from the call. Not one of us is immune to this gift/tool/resource...What is it? The Energy of Vision...and 3 guiding principles that help move it forward:

It's all about the energy. The energy you bring to your life, your leadership, and to your team - physical, emotional, and vibrational - is having an impact at all times. How you use it has a significant impact on your leadership influence, your personal productivity, and the engagement and productivity levels of your team.

The Power of Wanting...

The Want List...

This is a picture of one of my clients who came out to St. Charles this last week for a Private DTE Retreat. This is Dr. Cheryl Perlis (Perlis Wellness Center in Lake Bluff, Il) and she is one phenomenal doctor, with a mission that runs deep and involves supporting and empowering women in and with their bodies, at all ages. She specializes in Gynecology and Aesthetic Solutions, and I will say, hands down that she has to be one of the kindest, most thoughtful, cool, committed, no-nonsense, and loving doctors I've ever met. Anyway, here's Cheryl at our retreat earlier this week in St. Charles. This picture in particular is one of my favorites...It's a picture of her "holding" her "want list."

Notice the 5 full flip charts that she's filled out? Those are the things that she wants to have an impact on, bring into her life, make happen and pay it forward with. That's quite a want list. What's also powerful is that those things on her want list have multiple positive ripple effects. She gave me permission to share this with you as I was struck by the power of this woman and her list. I was struck by who she had to be to allow herself to create it, where she had to allow herself to "go"...fully engaged, full permission, awake, and hungry. Here she is - arms wide - holding the power of want. And what's really cool is that this want list, will help her mission and vision manifest itself in even more powerful ways - so not only does she feel great, others benefit as well. The visual of her working on this list and then lined up against the wall with it is something I've imprinted in my heart and mind and will keep with me for a long long time. It all started with the simple question of "What do you want?" And it inspired this post. So let's talk about wanting...

Anese & Cheryl - Post Retreat

Ultimately every client or program participant who works with me can count on being asked THE "How bad do you want it?" question within about 15 minutes of us knowing each other...often less, and most often before they even get to the consult appointment with me. I've gotten to the point that if a person tells me they want "it" less than an 7 or an 8 on a scale of 0-10 (10 being highest), I'll suggest that we wait to work together. Abrupt? Not at all. I say it in service of the client, their time, energy and money, and in service of my time, energy and attention. If someone comes to me to make shifts in their own leadership or behaviors or wants to make a significant change in their lives, I want, and even need, them to really want it. (We joke that I can't want it more than they do.) Making sustainable changes can be difficult enough, even when the want dial is at an 8 out of 10... So getting clear on the reasons why they want something, and really how much - helps.