This week I am at the Down Syndrome Affiliates in Action (DSAIA) Leadership Conference in Cincinnati, Ohio. Before I explain what that has to do with you, I wanted to share the photo above.
That is me Thursday evening with Bill Clement, 2-time Stanley Cup Champion, author, broadcaster, speaker and entrepreneur. That big chunk of medal on my hand is one of Bill's two championship rings.
On Friday Bill gave a talk that reminded me why I started Mighty Purpose, why I do the work I do, and re-inspired me. Bill had 3 messages that I believe we should all take to heart.
Do not live in the past. Whether the you accomplished things of towering success or failed in painful miserable ways, it does not serve you to live at any time but right now.
Being a source of energy for those around you. Don't be an energy vampire.
Instead of pushing those around, pull them with through your example.
An important part of this conference to me is sharing with the other attendees. So this week the folks at DSAIA allowed me to present a couple of breakout sessions. One session I facilitated was about the most important questions all organizations should ask.
I love those the questions. What makes them special (and why you should care) is that these questions are also the most important questions you should be asking and answering about your life. I called my session "The Perfect Organization". Let's instead call these questions The Perfect Life Test.
During the 4th week of the Motivate (Beta) Fellowship the fellows were asked to answer the 4 most important questions. I call these 4 questions The Perfect Life Test. Here is the exact exercise I asked the Motivate (Beta) Fellows to complete and below is the workbook I shared during the DSAIA Conference.
2 - What Are Your Anchors?
3 - What Is The Most Important Thing You Should Do Right Now?
4 - How Will You Live This?
The answer to this question is compose of 2 parts: A) What Is Your Purpose?/How Should You Be Making The World A Better Place?; and, B) What Are Your Values?
The statement of "A" should be completely idealistic, should not deal with "how", and can only be accurate if your final statement stops just short of a generic "My purpose is to make the world a better place." Write a draft statement and then ask "Why?" of a part of it. Redraft using that answer until you get to the "generic threshold".
Purposes come in different types. A short list of types included: certain people, certain communities/organizations, certain issues/hobbies/interests, greater causes, and money.
Statement "B" should be at least 2 and no more than 4 behavioral values. Look at Exercise 6 in the document below for an example of how I help leaders identify core and aspirational values of their organizations. Identify no more than 3 core values and up to 1 aspirational value.
Another way to do this is to freely brainstorm a list of things you value. Then combine, edit and evaluate that list down to group of 10. Third, write 2 or 3 descriptive "I am..." sentences to clarify every item on that list. Finally, use that list as tool to identify your 1 to 3 core values and select an aspirational value if you choose to. Use Step 5 in Exercise 6 to help you.
Another way to ask this is "what do you leverage to be successful?" Use Exercise 8 to help you. Your answer to the first question will never change if you identify it correctly, the answer to this question may change over time and may have to change if you want to live purposely.
What Is the Most Important Thing You Should Do Right Now?
This will be your rallying cry and will include some action planning.
My wife and I have used this for our family. Sometimes our family's rallying cry has to do with something grand - like starting Mighty Purpose. Other times its less grand - like purchasing a bed for our son. Whatever you choose, this should be big enough to take you at least 2 months but not so big that it takes you more than 6 months.
Use Exercises 9, 10 and 11 to help you identify our current rallying cry (shoot for 2 to 6 months, not the annual timetable suggested for organizations), the component objectives to achieve your rallying cry, and the things that are always important.
How Will You Live This?
To put this another way, now that you've identified all of this stuff about yourself, how are going to make sure that you live like it every month, every week and every day?
A big part of organizations "living it" involves communication (see Bonus Question A in the document below). The reason that communication for organizations is so important is because the leaders need to make sure that every part and every person that composes the organization acts in alignment. But as an individual you probably don't have 10s or 100s or 1000s of folks inside of you to inspire to pull in the same direction (unless you are ill).
For you its about developing personal habits and making the hard choices in the moment.
PS: I use some version of this workbook when I do workshops for organizational leaders, facilitate retreats for non-profit boards and management teams. The cool thing is that Plato was right, the organization and the soul are analogous.
We don't live just for ourselves. People around us are part of our responsibilities, and we should care to them just as much as we care for ourselves. But before we can do that perfectly, we should know first who we really are. For someone to be a blessing to do his mission in this word, it is important that you know yourself. You know you weaknesses, as well as your strengths and other factors that will surly affect your growth. It's indeed important.