Friday Reflection: People Make People Better People

 

Weekly Show Reflection:

How many times have we heard that if we want to be successful we need an accountability partner? An accountability partner is someone who holds you to your own word. It’s been my experience, and the experience of this week’s guests, that we don’t even realize sometimes that that is exactly what we have created in our lives, what a person is doing in our lives.

Let’s start with Monday’s guests IT manager Joe Lange and toymaker John Veneziano. Joe and John and Joe’s brother John share a lifelong love and that is for music. And they do this through their band distantBrother. I went to school with these three and remember way back in the day their love for playing instruments, singing, and performing. What is interesting about their band is that they don’t play out anywhere. What is even more interesting is that two of the band members live in New Jersey and one lives all the way out in Seattle. With the help of technology, they meet on Tuesdays through Skype. They lay down and share tracks over the Internet. And when they’re ready, they post them on iTunes for purchase.

Of course, at one time, they had the quintessential dream of playing Madison Square Garden and achieving fame. And while they loved that dream, they are excited about their reality. They have been able to keep this passion alive their whole lives. And, I don’t want to blow up their spots or anything, but that’s about thirty years now. So my question to you is this: What do you think it is that keeps them going? My guess is that they feel accountable to each other. They depend on each other to be there every Tuesday night. They encourage and inspire each other. And even if they only complete four or five songs a year, you can hear in their voices how much they truly enjoy creating together.

Tuesday’s guest is a whole different scenario. Kanani Briggs is someone who sells the product Arbonne but is involved in a non-profit organization called Mission of Hope Haiti. Her connection to Arbonne is important here, because it was through her connections that she discovered Mission of Hope Haiti. Her initial goal was to raise $6,500.00. She got her husband and children involved, she committed to her Arbonne friends, and then she met families in Haiti. Now, Kanani says that she has always had a desire to serve, and she would like to be doing more, but has the responsibility of a family to serve first. But, do you see where I am going with this? There are many people in Kanani’s life that hold her accountable to her commitments to serve Haiti: the involvement and participation of her family, the relationships she has formed with her Arbonne friends, and finally, the connects she has made with families in Haiti.

Kanani’s situation makes me wonder if when she embarked on this journey of service, if she knew she was creating powerful accountability partners.

On Wednesday, Deb MacMillan, an intuitive coach from England was here to share with us what I believed at the start to be this passion for singing in a choir. Now, I knew that this passion was new for Deb, that it started for her somewhat recently in her late 50s, but what I did not know was that she was going to share with us other amazing step-out-of-your-comfort-zone experiences from her life that included things like modeling lingerie in her early 50s, and participating in a Lindy dance competition with friends in her mid 50s.

Deb is so familiar with facing fear that speaking with her makes you realize that there isn’t that much to truly be afraid of. She acknowledges the fear, gets nervous about whatever it is she wants to do, and does it anyway…nervously, but she does it anyway. And, with each experience, there are other people involved: friends or family. They provide her encouragement, expectation, and – yes – accountability.

Speaking with Deb just made me realize how habit-forming getting outside of your co...