Do you realize how important your own voice is in every single circumstance? Just think about this incredible body and mind you have — that is uniquely processing every thought stimulus and word around you. And, also absolutely incredible — there is no one else on the planet that is processing the data in the same way, with the same filters. That is why what you are uniquely thinking is so valuable to the planet.
Every time you are thinking about an issue, your unique way of looking at it has incredible value. We all have to learn to speak exactly what we are thinking and not what someone else wants us to say.
What a novel idea! Just being you, saying what you think without judgment or an agenda, is pure and stimulating. You will be amazed how people respond when you just speak the truth from your heart.
So many times, I am in a meeting and have no idea about the industry we’re talking about or the detail of the situation (which, in most of my work would be a crisis) but I just listen with soft eyes. By that I mean, listening with a blurred focus, and with absolutely no judgment or pre-determined outcome. Just listening to every word and conveying to the person I’m looking at that what they are saying hits my own soul — then I’m always able to contribute something. It may help or it may not, but it will be how my brain, soul and every cell in my body processed what I was hearing.
How many times, in a meeting, have you really said what you think? For instance, “ Hey, this presentation, on a scale of 1 to 10, is about a 2. Not anybody’s fault, just feels like it missed the mark. Just my opinion, no judgment or agenda.” Or possibly even, “Hey, this solution is incredible. Can’t believe they came up with that. Wow, kudos!”
How many times do you really express what you are thinking? Do you know the most important thing you can do is express what you really think? Always be yourself because, as I have said in previous blogs, you are unique, incredible and extraordinary — and you have to express it, every day and every moment.
This is a critical key in chopping wood and carrying water. You will not be in the groove if you are doing something that someone else wants you to do. You have to get in alignment with you, and your incredible, unique point of view — not someone else’s. It just won’t work otherwise.
My feeling is, this is the fundamental problem with legacy governments and command and control businesses — there just isn’t room for the person to be themselves. And being yourself isn’t a weekend deal. It is every day, every moment.
So, lets take a deep breath, and throw out what everyone else wants in our life. Like a piece of paper, crumple it up — or, light it on fire — and be done with it. And from this moment forward, always say what you think and feel, what your heart says. And say it (or if you want, scream it) because you — as an individual — are what is needed now.
Just this week, I was so reminded of it… We had 5 of our team in an in-person meeting and one member of our team, Jeff, was on the phone. The 5 of us who were together thought we had finished the presentation and fell off the line. But Jeff kept calling back in. We all said, sorry the line disconnected, but we’re done. But he just kept calling back in, even though he was in a bad cell area, and we couldn’t hear him. Finally, he called back and he was almost screaming, he said, “You forgot to build the audience! You have to add building the audience!” And we all looked at each other and said, “Wow, Jeff, we missed it.Thanks for your persistence.”
He saved us, and it’s because we have to celebrate all of our different points of view and original voices. So always let your individual and unique self express itself — in a big, big way. Right now, we need you.
Rock On—
AZ
