My BEST Day: “The Great Awakening”-- Transformation Begins
I came to realize that May 19, 2008 was also the BEST day of my life.
I began in earnest to conduct a personal self-assessment. I began looking at myself in order to
assess aspects that were important to my identity. In essence, I began to “reframe” – my
personal and professional experiences – in order to “re-connect the dots” to produce a more
versatile and viable outcome.
We are programmed to self-actualize our true nature, but from an early age we’re told, “you
should be like this”, or “you should be like that”. The fact is that if you are to live a happy and
fulfilled life, the only thing you can be and should be, is who you really are.
I examined everything – how I spent my time, what impacted my attitude, what I read (which
was not much), what were the things that really influenced my thinking, my friends and people
that I spent time with, and many other items. It was not an easy process – it literally brought me
to my knees. But it was thorough – and “lit the fire” for the initial stages of my transformation in
regards to my personal growth.
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I also examined my personal development activities that would improve my awareness and
identity, help develop my talents and potential, facilitate my employability, and enhance the
quality of my life and contribute to the realization of my dreams and aspirations. I had definitely
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turned a corner and now I was focused on revamping and re-engineering my skills. People can
be prepared for their future through their past if they have paid attention.
Abraham Maslow (1908–1970), proposed a hierarchy of needs with self actualization at the top,
defined as: “the desire to become more and more what one is, to become everything that one is
capable of becoming”.
Since Maslow himself believed that only a small minority of people self-actualize — he
estimated one percent — his hierarchy of needs had the consequence that organizations came to
regard self-actualization or personal development as occurring at the top of the organizational
pyramid, while job security and good working conditions would fulfill the needs of the mass of
employees.
As organizations and labor markets became more global, responsibility for development shifted
from the company to the individual. In 1999 management guru Peter Drucker wrote in the
Harvard Business Review:
“We live in an age of unprecedented opportunity: if you've got ambition and smarts, you can rise
to the top of your chosen profession, regardless of where you started out. But with opportunity
comes responsibility. Companies today aren't managing their employees' careers; knowledge
workers must, effectively, be their own chief executive officers. It's up to you to carve out your
place, to know when to change course, and to keep yourself engaged and productive during a
work life that may span some 50 years.”
At the start of the 21st century, the self-improvement industry, inclusive of books, seminars,
audio and video products, and personal coaching, was said to constitute a $2.48-billion dollars-ayear industry in the United States alone. By 2006, research firm Marketdata estimated the "selfimprovement" market in the U.S. as worth more than $9 billion - including infomercials, mailorder catalogs, holistic institutes, books, audio cassettes, motivation-speaker seminars, the
personal coaching market, weight-loss and stress-management programs. Marketdata projected
that the total market size would grow to over $11 billion by 2008. In 2013 it was estimated to be
a $12 billion industry".
It is quite amazing that most people do not even read or utilize self-improvement items that they
purchase. Thus, “self-help” becomes “shelf-help” and become decorations that make offices
look more impressive. So many people put their personal growth and self-improvement on the
back burner. What burner is your personal growth on? Have you turned on the gas, is it on
warm or is it on boil? What is your back burner -- is it lit?
The only thing you have that nobody else has is control of your life – your day, how you spend
your time, your heart and your spirit. You are the only one in control of that. I was determined
to intentionally invest in my personal growth and self-improvement each and every day. Author
Jim Rohn said it perfectly: “For things to change, YOU have to change. For things to get better,
YOU have to get better. For things to improve, YOU have to improve. When YOU grow,
EVERYTHING in your life grows with you.”
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It all starts with ME. I knew where I needed to be, where I should be, and what I could be. I
needed to have a high bar set. It was important to have a high bar because I did not want to
settle for less.
I proceeded to develop a plan that my transformation would be centered around. A plan that not
only would serve as “kindle” for a continual and on-going transformation, but would enlarge my
transformational “fire” – in essence my very own “transformational burning bush” – a fire so
strong that it could never be extinguished as long as I was living.
The first component of my plan was to firmly believe that my past does not equal my future –
and it all starts with GROWTH – and how I can continue to grow to my potential. The goal is
to do those things necessary to sustain and contribute to good health physically, emotionally,
mentally and spiritually. In essence “school never ends – the classroom is everywhere.”
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I still had a “sword” but my sword was not very sharp. Daily personal growth was needed in
order to sharpen my sword. Being intentional about my personal growth would keep it sharp.
The next component is PERFORMANCE. This requires massive action and always delivering
outrageous value. This would require examining and evaluating my actions and perceptions on a
regular basis.
I love baseball. A professional baseball player provides a clear and concise definition of
performance. In baseball, you have to be “pitch-ready” every pitch. You must be ready to play
–you have to have an awareness of the game that’s special and significant. Knowing you must
be prepared -- the only way to prep for a game is to prep for the best guy you’ve ever seen and to
count on him having his A-game.
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The third component is BELIEFS. Like a table with four legs that provide stability -- we can
develop beliefs about anything if we have the “legs” to support it. Knowledge of our own
mortality is a true gift God gives us. It is so easy to “exist” rather than to live – unless you know
a “clock is ticking”.
In regards to beliefs, I committed myself to not allow my past to define who I was. Instead I
adopted the slogan – “Next time I will be BETTER”. And I will be. In time, I was no longer
afraid of failure -- I saw what I saw and I believed what I believed.
May 19, 2008, I also made the decision that I was going to become a servant from here on in.
Before then, I wanted to be served.
The final component is COMPETE -- identifying the ideal, then figuring out how to get there
with the resources available.
In order to strive for continuous improvement, it is important to remember -- Today is not a dress
rehearsal. Today is the only guarantee I get – and do things better than I did them yesterday!
We all want to do well, but if we do not do good too, then doing well will never be enough.
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Practice is important. Again, using baseball to illustrate, good baseball players invest countless
hours in batting cages every day in order to “see it” and then transferring what they see to the
actual game. In essence, work on “game transfer” every day.
Finally, promote yourself: Do MORE than you are asked to do … Do it BETTER than anyone
asked you to do it … Do it with an ATTITUDE that is far better than anyone else.
When you combine all four components TRANSFORMATION occurs – at least for me. The
definition for transformation is as follows: Trans’for’ma’tion : n. the act, process, or instance of
changing in character or condition. When you grow, EVERYTHING in your life grows and you
experience “power” to change anything in your life – the power to rise up … find your path …
fulfill your purpose.
Too many people simply fall into a comfortable niche in life and stay there rather than pursue
goals of significance. Leaders cannot afford to do that. Leaders must ask themselves whether
they want survival, success, or significance. The best leaders desire significance and expend
their time and energy in pursuit of their dreams. I adopted the following mission statement:
LIVE with more passion … WORK with greater focus … LEAD with extraordinary influence.
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Being in the zone enables you to “let the ball travel” father. Using another baseball analogy,
above average hitters, wait to begin their swing until the ball is closer to the plate, allowing a
hitter to better recognize the pitch and take a strong swing at it, rather than lunging for the pitch
early in its path to the plate. In essence, being in the zone, one’s life and personal career slows
down to where you can make better decisions and execute more effectively.
Final Thoughts:
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