Advancing Successfully

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I recently saw Malcolm Galdwell, author of The Tipping Point, Blink and his latest, Outliers-The story of Success.  Here’s what I gleaned from hearing him and reading his fascinating new book.

First a little context: The theme of Outliers is: What makes Successful people successful?  (Hint:  It’s not simply intelligence and ambition.) 

 Here’s what Malcolm said about his new book:

“My wish with Outliers is that it makes us understand how much of a group project success is. When outliers become outliers it is not just because of their own efforts. It’s because of the contributions of lots of different people and lots of different circumstances— and that means that we, as a society, have more control about who succeeds—and how many of us succeed—than we think. That’s an amazingly hopeful and uplifting idea.”

Here are three of the theme’s in Outliers that I found compelling:

1.  Meaningful work must have 3 elements:  autonomy, complexity and a connection between effort and reward.    In the end it’s not the amount of money we make that makes us happy.  Hard work is only a prison sentence if it doesn’t have meaning, which as a coach, I often refer to as fulfillment. 

2.  Extraordinary Achievement is less about talent than it is about opportunity.  For achievement to happen, it is beneficial to diagnose what opportunities are naturally occurring that we can take advantage of.  It’s not enough to have talent; it has to be matched to opportunity.  These opportunities are often random in that they relate to timing….like the year or month we were born.  They also are a product of our legacy..The culture from which we come from and how it shapes how we communicate, think or learn.

3.   Mastery:  10,000 hours of practice is required to achieve the level of mastery associated with being a world-class expert—in anything.  That boils down to practicing 4 hours a day for 10 years.  To master anything it better be something that you love and something you are willing to commit to practicing 10,000 hours.  To me this resonates with the idea of committing to focusing on strengths, niche and passion.  Zeroing in on those things we can spend enough time on to master….or the things we have been practicing long enough to achieve mastery.  Now that I’ve been a coach for 8 years, I resonate with this in that I notice the power of hours and hours of practice.

Ok, thanks for reading my book report.  Let me know your ideas and impressions.

Retreat to Advance Spring 2009

Advancing with Strength & Presence

Jeaneen Schmidt Chicks on Sticks 2009

We complete February 2009 celebrating the physical strength and presence it took for me to compete in my first Nordic Ski race.  We’re also celebrating the strength and presence exhibited by each of you who completed my annual beginning of the year Reflection and Intention process, An Opening to 2009!  You each took a courageous inventory of your current results and asked:  What are my thoughts and actions creating?  What is actually happening?  What gains and breakthroughs am I celebrating? What have I learned?  What do I choose to let go of? What do I want that is different from this?  I honor the 2009 client slogans below which are already building great waves of momentum!    May these slogans inspire all of us to continually refine our responses to these powerful questions:  What am I intending to create in 2009?   What are the strengths and qualities of presence I will bring to each and every moment of this year?

2009 THE YEAR OF:

• Fire in the Belly Qualities: Love, Forgiveness & Understanding.
• Health, Wealth & Bliss
• Really, truly, deeply, Moving Forward  Qualities: Creativity, Communication & Gratitude
• Sails full of Grace  Qualities:  Birth, Integrity & Clarity
• Being Present & Being me–Surrender to my life as it is now
• Breaking Through & Creating a Foundation
• POWER!
• BEING-Stepping into a Bigger ME Qualities: Strength, Adventure & Light
• Counting it all JOY  Qualities: Trust, Perfect Timing, & Patience
• Family & Career Growth
• Stepping OUT!!!
• The Next Level  Qualities: Joy, Love, Peace, Prosperity, Health & Service

 

Advancing into 2009

My morning commute from the house to the studio today

 

The first 2009 New Year’s slogan was born today.  It was delivered by an exuberant friend from her mobile as she drove over a snowy mountain pass.  She declared, with quite a bit of enthusiasm:  “I’m going to be Fit and Fine in 2009″  What’s your name for 2009?  What theme will inspire your entire year?  If you are intent on designing an amazing New Year…see An Opening to 2009 for my annual beginning of the year private coaching offer.  Ok..off to play in the snow.  Let me know your New Year’s slogan here.  We’ll build a list, bless each one twice and together we’ll unfold a most precious 2009.   We are going to be so-o-o-o-o fine in 2009 :-)

Advancing into a Bold YES!

 

I just now committed to a bold Yes.  One of those Yes’s that all your friends say in their best London English, Why of Course!  You must do this!  For me it’s been 3 days of feeling the intensity of the fear of making the WRONG decision.  I’ve spent hours contemplating all the possible choices and calculating all the possible impacts.  I’ve reviewed my values, my purpose and the vision of my business. I’ve looked carefully at the risks and possible rewards of this innovative YES.   Vividly, underneath all this valuable analysis, I’ve been experiencing intense fear.  Primal fear of the change that this bold Yes will bring to the status quo of my life and business.    I deeply resist the chaos that this change will usher in before I get to truly inhabit the next more resonant land that I have been envisioning all along.  

Isn’t this how it goes?  The call comes and we know we have to answer YES…and yet there is always “Trouble at the Border”.   I’ve noticed this theme of “hesitation before the leap” in many of my client conversations this week.  Does it come from the business culture that wanted us to be innovative YET taught us be cautious as mistakes can indeed jeopardize our careers?  Does our success get in the way of our growth as there is so much more at risk with each yes?  Do we unconciously know that there is so much more to lose if we are wrong????  Yet all of us, deep down yearn to say yes and silently regret those times when we back away.

Whatever we posess, we fear we might lose it if we step forward.  Whenever we are thinking about me or mine, we are in the realm of the wounded ego.  The ego which is desperately trying to control things, to keep us safe and protected and WAY smaller than what we are capable of being.  In order to step forward into leading our lives and those we serve, we must get comfortable with the terrifying AND exhilarating process of moving through the fear and uncertainty that the ego throws up, toward what is truly calling.

When it comes to saying yes to our personal destiny, I love this line from the new movie, The Moses Code.  ”God doesn’t call the qualified, he qualifies the called.”  However you hold the presence of the divine, remember that this presence within us, is always calling us to expand into our greatest potential.  It is calling us to change, create and innovate BOLDLY.  When we say yes, it’s vital to remember that we are not yet the person or organization that will fulfill the call.  We grow into it.  Ahh, this is where the surrender and leap of faith must take place.  This is why coaching support is essential.  Left to our own devices it’s way too easy to stay small and protected.  Then of course, the outcome, although we are protected, is often; poor, lonely and sad.  The outcome of the YES…Exhilaration, change, abundance and growth. 

Therefore, we retreat into the silence.  We retreat into supportive coaching conversations.  We discern the strong voice of the call to which, despite our full body fears…we must in the end answer boldly…YES! 

 

 

Retreat into the Darkness

I’ve spent the last few weeks immersed in Debbie Ford’s new book.  Why Good People Do Bad Things-How to Stop Being Your Own Worst Enemy.  Basically I’ve had to face the painful truth that I am a People Pleasing, Too Cool, Good Girl, who wants to be the Savior of the world, often acts like a Depressed Victim and tends toward being an Overachiever…selfish to the core. 

These are the masks that I have used unconsciously throughout my life to protect myself from the shame of my wounded ego.  These crappy masks have been lurking in the dark corners of my unconscious, quietly reeking all kinds of havoc in my life despite my spiritual progress.  While my masks protect me, they simultaneous have me experience myself as limited. 

These masks are my shadow.  I’ve been accepting them, tracing them back to the childhood wounds that created them and with the gentle flashlight of Self love the adult Jeaneen is healing those wounds.  It’s been intense and day by day, I’m feeling lighter.  I’ve been forgiving myself.  I’ve been applying the spiritual antidotes of vulnerability, generosity, humility, compassion, being of service, willingness and integrity.

Integrity is the one I love the most, because it trumps everything.  Debbie writes, “When we are living a life of integrity we don’t have to worry. When we’re being honest with ourselves and true to our values, we will admit it when we’re being greedy, guarded, intolerant, stubborn, self-absorbed, or deceitful and get the help we need.   Integrity leaves us a trail to follow when we’ve lost touch with our higher self.”  p202.

The adult Jeaneen that has emerged from the transformation of being in India, is quite busy, gently forgiving and loving all the parts that “Saint Jeaneen” had hidden away.  Whew.   Why am I doing this?  Because I can’t step into the greatness that I am truly capable of, the greatness of my authentic Self if I’m hiding behind a mask.  I must be willing to shine the flashlight of love and healing into my dark shadow, exposing the shame and fear.  Courageous yes…and oh my.  I’m feeling that this is EXACTLY what is needed for each of us to step into our full potential.