Towards the core of your Greatness - Grow and flow towards your Greatness (Part 3)
Jean-Francois Cousin
Global Executive & Team Coach, MCC ? Keynote Speaker ? Author ? Former Chairman, ICF Global Board
In Part 1 and Part 2 of this series, we started unwrapping the gifts of greatness you received, and unfolding the most amazing story there may be: YOURS
I hope you could connect your dreams, hopes and aspiration with your purpose and explore what the activities you do in 'flow' tell you about the greatness you could reach.
Today we shall build a bridge between your individual success and the significance you yearn for, consciously or not.
About your greatest sense of accomplishment
This is a moment to reflect about what you want to be remembered for, about the achievements you are proud of to look back at, and then find out what they mean to you.
Think about the 'activities that provide (you) with the greatest sense of accomplishment'. What difference do they make in your life? In others' lives?
At my core , I am...
If you are in the mood to stretch yourself, bravely attempt to define yourself in a few words:
"At my core, I am..., and I am here to (do)..., and the difference I make to those around me is..."
Just as Lady Gaga said, "I am genuinely a musician, at my core, (striving to) make the future of music... I am here to be a musician, not a superstar."
If you give this arduous exercise a try, allow yourself a good quarter of an hour to come up with a first draft, and then revisit your findings time and again over the next days - ideally with a few meditation sessions in between!
- At my core, I am...
- I am here to (do)...
- And the difference I want to make to those around me is...
The difference you wish to make could be about helping others, bringing more justice, harmony, growth, freedom or beauty, for example (neuroscience has proven that we are happier giving than receiving).
You need to slow down to find it. It matters deeply, and it will simplify your life.
Towards the core of your Greatness
As you reflected in the 2 previous posts about your dreams and aspirations, the activities you do in ‘flow’ and –today- about what has significance to you and others, you started to find more of the components of your inner greatness. Most likely, the very core of your greatness potential lies at the intersection of those three groups.
May I invite you to copy your previous notes around this picture?
For Kathy - based on the part of her story I shared in Part 2 of this series:
At the heart of the picture, Kathy's greatness potential is "develop business in a way that makes a positive difference to the lives and careers of people, completely leveraging her talents at long-term, strategic planning and at figuring out the simplicity behind complexity". And that can be a part of her life purpose.
Keep in mind that not all of what you wrote under 'aspirations', 'flow' and 'significance' belong together. Just connect the triads that constitute a 'whole' and a seed of your greatness!
Billy Cox asserted "you were created to make a difference and there's a difference in this world that only you can make." I do hope this exercise helped you zoom-in on it.
Connect your greatness potential with your life and career, and build an action plan
It is now time to bring your 'human basic needs' in the picture, so as to establish a sustainable way for you to contribute more of your greatness.
I recommend that you complete a 'safety / reality check' by reflecting about this:
How much more of your greatness potential can you unleash whilst:
- Preserving a healthy work-life balance
- Meeting your financial needs
- Maintaining your job security - if that is something you wish or need to do
- Protecting the quality of your family life and of your relationships with people who matter most to you
- Keeping the status you need for advancing your other endeavors
- Continuing to increase your 'value' as a professional
- Uphold the degree of 'freedom' you need to be happy
- Living your Life according to your values
If nothing holds you back, luck is with you!
Should you find that some of your needs prevent you to fully unleash your greatness potential at this time, you may start by unleashing your greatness potential in your professional and personal lives bit by bit. You can first do some things differently -and with a different mindset-, rather than do different things.
It is finally the time to plan how you will unleash more of your greatness into your life and career. Start your action plan with the end in mind: if you contribute more of your greatness, what will your life look like, five years from today?
Then craft up to 3 specific goals you must go for, to fulfill your vision.
Which 'SMART' actions (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Time-bound) will you take to reach each goal, and which behaviors will you adopt to do so?
Unleashing your greatness potential in your work life...
For a bit of fun, let's imagine that part of your greatness lies in your love of and talent at gardening, and the significance of it for you is making your garden more robust, balanced and beautiful for others to enjoy...
Yet you are a senior leader for whom becoming a full-time gardener isn't a viable option. How can you unleash part of your greatness as a gardener into your professional life?
Let's leverage the power of metaphors to do that... Envision your Company as your garden, trees, shrubs and plants as your employees, and birds as your Clients...
Now, connect the tasks you love to do in your garden with equivalent tasks in your Company...
It could look something like this:
Now that you have clarity about what your greatness potential is, you can make congruent choices to unleash more of it, and it becomes easier to uphold the integrity and the courage to do the right things for yourself and for others.
Seneca said "there is no favorable wind to the person who does not know where he wants to go". Conversely, now that your destination towards more of your greatness is clear, the universe might well conspire to blow your sails, and those of people around you!
The gifts of your greatness to others
Not everyone might initially 'approve' of your 'greatness-choice'. Still, as you grow and flow towards more of your greatness, the positive ripples on most people around you shall include:
- The positive difference your greatness makes in their lives, of course, and also
- Inspiration, from the choice you made about what you want to contribute
- Admiration for the talents you have surfaced
- An encouragement in pursuing their own growth and dreams
Key takeaways from this post and the 2 previous ones
Along this series, you have taken the chance to
- Remove the barrier of the "others' approval", besides those of your limiting beliefs and of your fears - notably of change, failure or success
- Unwrap the gifts of greatness you received, by finding what messages
- your aspirations, dreams and hopes of achievements
- the activities you do in 'flow' and
- the significance you aspire to carry about your potential for greatness
- Identify what the core of your greatness-potential is
- Connect it with your life and career
- Design an action plan to be more of who you can be
- Uphold the integrity and the courage to do the right things for yourself and for others
You can now be in "a state of being, flowing from your whole, true self, honoring your values and purpose, that contributes positive, transformative ripple-effects on others."
"The purpose of life is a life of purpose." - Robert Byrne
Have a fantastic Tuesday #GameChangers!