Transformation4Change

Keep Digging Forward – The Story of My Life

Life has a way of making us look back where we recollect our past victories and struggles. Struggles don’t define us but rather build us up. Sometimes we get stuck in the past that we are unable to see opportunities and possibilities for the future. Picture driving somewhere and constantly looking in the rear-view mirror. Keep Digging Forward captures the story of my life and how I dealt with the challenges and pressures of life to get to where I am today. The podcast provides nuggets on how to navigate adversity, disruption, challenges and be resilient through it all. If there is anything worthwhile to use to complete the year, it should be to Keep Digging Forward. Allow the content of this podcast to support you to finish the year well and strong. I get a kick out of seeing and hearing my readers and listeners continue to beat the odds and achieve what they want in life. No matter the gravity of the challenge, just Keep Digging Forward.

How to Change Your World

The success you want in your life, business, relationship, career, in various areas of your life come dressed in change clothes. It was Einstein who said doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting a different result is equal to insanity. We are all suffering from bouts of insanity when we continue to make excuses, spend money we don’t have through credit purchases, smoke, and drink ourselves to oblivion, stretch business expenses into bankruptcy, destroy our relationships by doing stupid things, while expecting things to change. You must be kidding yourself thinking that your results will change without you changing. There is a blueprint to positive personal and business results, and it comes through doing things a certain way. We all have in our power the ability and capacity to change our world if you are hungry enough and really determined to change it. You can change the trajectory of your life, your leadership journey, the direction of your business when you take the necessary actions required consistently. Stop playing the victim and start working from a position of victory. You can change your world one change at a time. Allow the nuggets from this podcast to reframe your thinking and cause you to be so uncomfortable with the status quo and then take the necessary actions through change. You are better than you think!

Set Your Past on Fire

We all have a past. If you consider yourself as part of humanity, then you have a past. Your past can either empower you or cripple you. When you learn to put the past behind you, then you can move ahead with whatever you want to do. Some carry an ugly past with them that it becomes a heavy burden to shake off. Others literally embrace the attitude of what is in the past must be left in the past and not brought into the present. I have heard it said that we should let go of the past unless we want to continue to live there. What’s in your past that you are carrying with you? What are those disappointments and regrets that you continue to feed and nurture? Are you still carrying hurtful memories of the boss or colleague who treated you unfairly several years ago? You cannot travel light in the direction of your dreams and aspirations looking backward. Set your past on fire so that you can travel light to your destination. This podcast will show you how. Enjoy and share it with all those you care about.

Today is a great day because we are alive. Today is an opportunity for each of us to focus on our goals, ambitions, and possibilities. Today is an opportunity for you to lead better, inspire your team, solve a business and personal problem, and inspire the world with your aspirations. I don’t know about you but each day I wake up, it is a gift. We can squander the day by looking back on our disappointments, live in regret, waste it on that person who hurt us. To fulfill your goals and potential, you need to rule the day and make the best of each day. Each day holds the key to your future and each day is filled with possibilities. The quality of your future will be made up of a summation of the way you have used each day. Ruling each day is about living with intention, operating from a legacy mode, operating from a creative plane rather than a competitive plane, and doing the things that move you in the direction of your dreams. Your life will be different when you learn to rule the day. Allow the content of this podcast to make you uncomfortable so that you can act on ruling the day. I take this opportunity to thank you for taking the time to listen to my podcast and sharing it with your peers. Remember to reach out and touch the world around you. Greatness is more about what we invest in people and not just what we give them. Have a fantastic week.

Employees know when a leader is authentic and employees like to work for an authentic leader. As a leader, when you engage your employees at a superficial level they see through your lack of authenticity and play along for as long as they can. Authentic leaders get the job done through their employees and team because they lead with their hearts and lead from the core. Your employees want to give their best provided you are willing to be authentic with them and stop the politics of manipulation. 

Your current position in life, your successes, shortfalls, achievements, and more came because of your imagination. We can use our imaging and imagination for great strides, or we can use it to talk ourselves down and stagnate. The imagination is the mental faculty out of which visions arise. The pictures or images we form in our minds are either energizing us or pulling us down. When we were kids, we were effectively using our imaginations to paint great pictures on the canvas of our minds. When we grew up, for whatever reason, we allowed our imaginations to be contained all in the name of “Being Realistic”. Visions, pictures, images are built first in our minds before we go to work and make it a reality. The imagination is the most marvelous, amazing, miraculous, and powerful force the world has ever known. Everything you and I enjoy today came from someone’s mind. How effectively are you using your imagination? Are you using it for the greater good, or for something else less important? Visualize the exact picture of what you want in detail and go to work to create it. You are creating every moment of your life. The question is are you visualizing and creating the life you want. What you think about every day, how you visualize your life is creating your reality. Stretch your imagination, get to work, and design the life you want and the life you imagine. Use your imagination constructively.

For things to change, we must change. We are all products of change. Leaders need to change to be successful in leadership. You have heard it said that change is the only constant, yet we find it difficult to embrace, explore, and exploit change. Your success in leadership, business, relationship, and whatever you are aspiring to comes through change. Change holds the key to organizational development and effectiveness. Refusing to change will stagnate your progress and advancement. As a product of change, I know without any reservation whatsoever that when you change, you change your results. I have worked with various organizations in change and transformation. What I have observed over the years is that some of the organizations want better results without wanting to change the way they do things. This way of thinking is flawed and misplaced. It is very costly when we refuse to change. We cannot expect a different result when we continue to do things the same way. Learn to ride the waves of change; learn to appreciate the different seasons of life and business and pivot with each change. Keep this at the forefront of your mind that WHEN WE CHANGE, OUR RESULTS CHANGE.

Life has a way of making us look back where we recollect our past victories and struggles. Sometimes people get stuck in the past that they are unable to see opportunities and possibilities for the future. Picture driving somewhere and constantly looking in the rear-view mirror. That is a disaster waiting to happen when you don’t stop looking back. You do have a choice though to stop that disaster. It's very comforting to focus on the past especially when it’s a great and successful past. As nice as that might sound, we do ourselves a disservice when we constantly tout what we have achieved in the past. It's also a disservice when we constantly empower our past of regret, disappointments, disruption, hurt, pain, worry, and fear. If there is anything worthwhile to use to complete the year, it should be to keep looking ahead and let go of the past be it good, bad, or ugly. Allow the content of this podcast to support you to finish the year well and strong. I get a kick out of seeing and hearing every single one of my readers and listeners climb the ladder of success and accomplishment. The caveat is to ensure that whatever ladder you are climbing is hanging on the right wall! Life is too short to be climbing the wrong ladder.

Whatever rocks our world, makes us better not bitter! Conflict is good when we harness its power to grow the business, let go of our rough edges, improve business or personal relationships, refine a business model, improve the way we communicate, allow us to change the way we do things, see things and remodel things. We call these constructive conflicts. On the other hand, we can say a conflict is bad when we aloe it to tear us apart, destroy our relationships, cripple the business, cause destructive behaviors, suffocate our creativity, make us bitter, angry, unresponsive to change, and all the other ills of destructive conflict. What makes a conflict either constructive or destructive depends on how it is dealt with. I believe you have experienced conflict with your boss, family, employees, customers, significant other, spouse, leadership, team, and others. What was the outcome of that conflict? Did the resolution of the conflict make you better, things better or worse? Conflict is a great gift when you confront it, work through it constructively, and learn from its amazing power.

Your mind has significant power. Your mind can be your greatest ally or your worst enemy. It is composed of thoughts, perceptions, memories, beliefs, programs, habits, and tendencies. You can divide the mind into two main parts, your conscious “thinking” mind, and your subconscious “auto-pilot” mind. Your conscious mind is the “voice” in your head that has a thought, opinion, or judgment about everything it experiences. The subconscious mind is the “computer” that takes all the information from your senses and generates thoughts, actions, feelings, and behaviors that create your reality, or your experience of life. The mind has three basic functions: thinking, feeling, and wanting. To change your results, therefore, you must choose different thoughts that will change your feelings and actions. Choose to think about things that your sensory factors pick up. Put differently, you can put your attention on things that are outside of you, like the things you see, hear, feel, taste and touch. When you allow outside stimuli to direct your thoughts, you focus on ‘what is’ rather than ‘what can be.’ Possibility thinking is about thinking about what is possible as opposed to what is in the now. If you impress thoughts and ideas upon your subconscious mind over and over, you become one with what you want to be, do, and have. When you use your intellectual faculties, such as your will and imagination you will achieve your goals and heart desires.