Daily SPARK Minute with Simon T. Bailey

“What is one thing that everyone can do to elevate their game, like right now? So, one thing that I would encourage you to think about is what’s been your biggest takeaway in the last 24 hours? So, a moment ago, the question was asked by Claudia, who was sitting here in the middle, what is one process that you can improve as it relates to the customers that you serve? I hope you caught that and that you will own that and say, here’s what I can do right now. That’s professional. Personally, what would it be like to get up 15 minutes early? I know some of you are traveling overseas, but starting next week, getting up 15 minutes early. Focusing that time just on you. That’s something you can do right now.”

“Harry Kramer is the former chairman and CEO of Baxter Healthcare. I was hosting a virtual event. Harry, today, he’s retired from Baxter Healthcare, and he is a clinical professor of leadership at Northwestern University, and he runs a private equity company. I said, ‘Harry, in your 40-year career, leading thousands of people globally, what is the one thing you share with individuals as the key thing to play to win?’ He said, ‘Simon, you have to self-reflect.’ I said, ‘Unpack that for me.’ He said that every day for the last 40 years, he’s asked himself these three questions. How did I grow today? What difference did I make today? What am I going to do better tomorrow?”

“One of the mentors in my life said, people don’t fail because of lack of focus. They fail because of broken focus. And what I would invite all of us to think about in collaborating is not so much what I’m getting. It’s about what I am giving and who am I becoming when I collaborate with O’ Brilliant One. One of the things that I celebrate about you, and I heard it yesterday, and I heard it here today on stage. You have this ability to reach across the aisles, to move beyond your silos, or what my friends in London called stovepipes, to move beyond that to say, ‘How do we get things done? What can we do?’”

“O’ Brilliant One. It is time to do a 90-day assessment. How have you been doing? When you look at the last 90 days of your life, how did you grow? What did you learn? What’s different? What needs to change? What were some of the life lessons that you have really taken away from the last 90 days? So, net-net, live your life in quarters. So, as you get ready for the next 90 days, how are you going to behave? How are you doing to believe? And who are you going to become as a result of the next 90 days? So from today forward, I’m inviting you to self-assess. Don’t wait for anybody to tell you. Begin to ask questions and say ‘How am I going to become a better human being? You are absolutely, positively brilliant. Why? Because Simon says so.”

“Self-control. Self-control has been one of the greatest challenges of my personal journey because there have been times when I have been out of control. So, you wonder, ‘Simon, what did you do to understand self-control?’ I had to examine the choices I was making, the actions I was taking, the habits that perhaps were permanent that needed to change, and when I begin to zoom out and recognize that I need to take self-control, I also realized it was tied to my character. So, where are you today and what can you do to take control of yourself by looking at your choices, your behaviors, your habits, and your decisions? Self-control. 

“O’ Brilliant One. Today, I wanna invite you to write down at the end of the day, what went well. I’ve discovered over time, sometimes we can focus as we reflect on the day about what went wrong. But when we step back to focus on what went well, we are practicing gratitude, kindness, creating hope within ourselves, all because of that desire to say ‘You know what, here’s what really went well, and as I think about the future I desire to be well, even tomorrow and the day after, and the day after.’ So, what went well? That’s what I want you to think about today.

“Joy. Your joy is so important to protecting your mental health because joy comes from the inside out. Joy is the ability to step back and to survey everything that’s going on, then making a decision to take control of the steering wheel of your future from the inside out. Joy is inner-directed. It’s inner lead. It’s that part of you that says ‘I don’t have to say anything right now, but just be in this moment and be full of joy.’ Joy is your superpower. Be joyful.”

“Did you know that loneliness is a growing epidemic that impacts all people from all backgrounds? Loneliness is real, and we are invited right now to break the stigma of loneliness because listen. You can be by yourself and be alone, but you don’t ever wanna cross over into loneliness. So, what can we do today to end the epidemic of loneliness? What would it be like to check on someone? Ask them ‘How are you doing?’ If you know someone lives alone, or someone that you have heard of, writing them a note, sending them an email, reaching out to them so that we end this epidemic of loneliness, to ensure that everyone knows that they matter, and someone cares, and sees, and understands where they are in their journey. Even if it’s just a listening ear.”

“Hope. A hopeful person is a helpful person. A hopeless person is a helpless person. Today, I just wanna invite you to be full of hope in your conversation, in your dialogue, and whatever you’re dealing with, whatever you’re facing, decide that you know what, I choose to be about hope. And when you choose to be about hope, oh my goodness, amazing things happen because everybody begins to surround you because of your belief in a better tomorrow. So hopeful, that’s who you are. Be a hope dealer, a hope pusher, a hope seller, a person that’s full of hope in how you look, and what you say, and what you feel. Because a hopeful person is a helpful person. Okay brilliant you, have an awesome day.”

“Affirmations are a powerful way to set the tone for the day. In fact, how you start the day, determines the day. So, I’m gonna give you three affirmations that I would like for you to repeat after me. Here’s the first one. Today is going to be a brilliant day. Here’s the second one. Today. I expect amazing things to happen for me. And here’s the third affirmation that I want you to repeat. And that is, I am more than enough. When you repeat these affirmations, what you discover is how you start the day, determines the day.”