Game Changer, Principle 4: Grow your touch stones, grow your systems.
Let's get started today. Begin at the beginning. Remind yourself of the fundamentals of your business and your work pursuits.
- Why do you do the work you do each day?
- What business are you in?
- How can you engage others to build something better today?
- Who are you working for today?
Every day, take a few minutes and meditate on what your journey is all about.
In this post, I talk about why that inspiration work is so important. I describe how to take your next step in changing the game for you and your business. It involves these activities. You need to grow your daily touch stones. Grow your daily systems. Grow yourself. Then you can grow your business.
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Why start the journey to grow yourself and your business?
- There is money to be made.
- There are mortgages to be paid.
- There are sports events to watch and play.
- There may also be some accolades.
But why do you come to work?
For me, I work at this work because I believe in depth that I will inspire, achieve, and empower amazing growth in others. That is my grand vision of who I am and what I work to accomplish. It is my first touch stone every day.
Who are the people who teach you about life? For me there is a beautiful little man, my nephew, who was born last January. (See his picture at the top of this post.) Bennett is learning every day what life is all about. He teaches me see things very differently. Bennett recently has been learning a new way to get attention when we are out to eat. In his case, he wants to engage with the the cute 1 year-old girl he sees sitting near him in a restaurant. So what does he do? He raises up his hand and waves. He calls out in his chirpy little cry. He smiles. And he keeps on doing it. Until Bennett gets the little lady's attention, he keeps trying to connect. With luck, she notices, and she waves and calls back.
Bennett reminds me that as people we are fundamentally in the business of engaging with others. To do so there are lots of good ways to get attention. To grow myself, my pursuits, and my business, I need to playfully engage others. How do I need to positively engage others today? How do I plan to get attention for my projects today? That is my second touch stone.
When it's time to be productive, I know that I need to think about and possibly refine my systems in order to grow. In this Game Changer / Grow with Social Media series we've already covered the first three principles. Principle 1, Live inspired and grow your vision. Principle 2, Deliver amazing content. Principle 3, Be the hub, the network, and the connector. Principle 4 expands these points. Be convinced of your daily touchstones ad=nd your daily systems. Building momentum in your business life requires building daily touch stones. Structuring your engagement with others can be done by building and refining your daily systems to grow.
The touchstones you engage throughout your day empower the level of achievement you can reach. Your simple, inspiring, affirming messages matter. A simple, easy-to-follow plan matters. Adaptability matters. Focus on the core reasons for your activities so that you can sort out which activities are really important. Work on the most important things first. Refine and tweak everything else. On my list, I put five main daily touchstones. These are the steps and the reminders that I need to take today.
Keep the big picture in mind as you engage each step. Why are you doing this work? Who are the people who you are working for? Are you positively engaging others today to achieve your next important work or life milestone? How do the activities that you do everyday add up to something worth doing?
The ways that you engage those touchstones throughout the day structure what is possible for you to achieve. A day begins with a plan and a moment of inspiration. A day continues with both work and rest. A day requires purposeful moments of reflection. They let you tell if you are still going in the right direction. A day is empowered by engaging others. Direct, simple plans for conversations are the right thing to strive for. Clearly define what you need and who you need and who you need it from. Require that ambiguity be removed or eliminated when you need to engage a series of people or participants in your engagements. Always be clear about moving toward an objective. Ask others to be clear with you on what the shared objectives really are. Keep the engine of business moving forward deftly and efficiently. These are all pieces of the puzzle of becoming part of a learning, adapting organization. Finally, a day ends by looking back at what you've accomplished. Take a few minutes at the end of each day to consider the broad brush-strokes of what you've done today and what you will do tomorrow.
Who wins in life? Planful, purposeful, clever people win. Leaders who empower others and the success of others win. Citizens of the world, who remember that we are all apart of a great big human team win in this life. Those who choose to be a light on the path for others to follow win in this life.
The pieces of your daily puzzle fit will fit when you prioritize what is important. Your daily touchstones become key components of your daily plan to achieve your grand vision. Focus on the pieces that really matter. Keep the engine growing with a little inspiration, and a little fun, everyday. Review, inspire, and encourage others to take up the challenge with you.
There is no way to win without picturing the win first. Empower yourself, empower your dreams, and empower others with a picture of how to achieve more each day. Daily touchstones and building better systems of daily engagement are part of achieving your big picture goals. Ultimately, in this game of life the hard work you do should empower the big win. But in order to really win big, you've got to share.
Your touchstones should always point back to the people and things that really matter. As we wrap up this point, reflect on the words of Afrojack and Wrabel (Ten Feet Tall):
"I'm clumsy, yeah my head's a mess
'Cause you got me growing taller everyday
We're giants in a little man's world
My heart is pumping up so big that it could burst
Been trying so hard not to let it show
But you got me feeling like
I'm stepping on buildings, cars and boats
I swear I could touch the sky
Ohhh ohh ohhh
I'm ten feet tall"
Build yourself. Let others build you. Be ten feet tall. Be amazing today, my friend. Grow with integrity, game-changing inspiration, and better social media.
-Chuck
Chuck Kirkpatrick, Founder
C Kirk Media Group
https://ckirkmedia.com
If we're giants in a little man's world.
Let's empower others to be giants right with us.
Live inspired, change the game, and grow.