In my book “Nobody Can
Take It Away From You” I talk about personal energy and how we need to
cultivate, use and protect it. This is the second part of my three part series
on The Path to excellence. Giving time and thought to this tool will help you
with your personal energy in many ways.
You’ve decided to start and have chosen the path that leads
to excellence; it’s an exciting energy moving you forward. After making that
decision and feeling excited what’s the next tool you require to keep pursuing
excellence? How do you stay on this path, especially when things are difficult?
I call that next tool your Stand. You decide what you Stand for.
What do you Stand for? This is an important question. Your
Stand is the set of core beliefs you live by and follow. It is the line in the
sand you won’t step across or be forced over. What you Stand for is a glimpse
into your character; it defines you as an individual. And knowing what you
Stand for helps you to define what your path of excellence looks like and the
reason you’re on it. That is a key part of this entire journey of life. You are
the person who needs to define what excellence means to you. Excellence for you
may be different than the status quo or the societal norm. There is nothing
wrong with that, as long as it is within the legal and moral limits of society.
Many people don’t take the time to define their personal
ethos let alone truly focus on and live them. If you take the time to ingrain
and write out what you Stand for and then you are able to articulate that; this
Stand generates and creates a lot of energy in your life. Once you really nail
down your Stand it becomes a powerful and guiding force. Your day to day
decisions become easier because you are guided by the principles of what you
Stand for. This is incredibly beneficial when one is faced with life’s difficult
or darker decisions.
Having a well-defined Stand is optimal for protecting your
energy and saving it for what really matters in your life. When I wrote my New
Year’s blog about To Don’ts Lists versus resolutions I included one of my Stand
principles.
I won’t allow the
things that matter the most in my life to be at the expense of those that
matter the least.
This one simple principle guides me in my time management
and where I will direct my energy. I won’t Stand for wasting my time on things
that matter the least in my life. I won’t allow other people to dictate what I
will or will not spend my energy on. Getting in touch with what you Stand for
and then making those things part of your personal everyday way helps you to
live from your true nature.
With your Stand as a tool you are more capable of leveraging
your time, energy and focus. If you have a hard time saying no and then end up
doing a lot of things you don’t really want to; understanding your own Stand
will give you permission to say no. If you feel something at work is ethically
or morally out of alignment with what you stand for then you can voice your
opinion and know that you stood for what really matters in your life. What
people do with what you have expressed is up to them, but you have taken your
Stand.
Finally and I think the most important point is this. When
you have a well-defined Stand that you walk and talk, it will define your path
of excellence. After you choose that you want to pursue excellence as an art,
this tool will help you create it in all areas of your life. And I know from
experience how much of a dynamic shift this will bring to your walk and talk.
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