Purpose

I just read "Heroic Leadership: Best Practices From A 450 Year Old Company That Changed The World" by Chris Lowney.

He is a former Jesuit priest turned corporate investment banker. He describes Jesuit practices of how to become a better leader and one of the practices is to meditate for 5 minutes three times a day.

I wish to record the meat of my meditations...to keep me focused and moving forward.

The first focus is that divine love pours out into the world without end. It is not a limited quantity. This means knowing I and everyone around me is a "loved person of unique dignity and potential...". I don't have to respect the person but I do need to respect their divine spirit.

The next focus is to meditate on my key personal goals. Career, Relationships, Financial, Home.

The next focus is to take stock of my actions thus far in the day to see if they helped me reach my long term goals or moved me in the opposite direction. In the words of Al-Anon or AA, take a "fearless moral inventory" twice a day based on my actions. And if they were in the opposite direction to ask for divine help in moving me in the right direction.

The final focus is a "restless drive to imagine a greater project, or a better way of accomplishing the current problems". It also touches on motivation. What goals motivate you that you would go beyond 100% effort to achieve them. That idea of athletes going beyond what they thought possible to achieve the impossible.

So the meditations are:

-Key goals
-Divine Love
-Fearless moral inventory
-Motivation

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

27 April 2011

LOVE:

Reminding myself on a day to day basis that I am divinely loved and that I am lovable does so very much to help my self image. I am always loved...unconditionally!

GOAL:

BE INSPIRATIONAL!! That isn't really defined enough, but I am working on it. The last part of the book was about values, it says basically "This is who I am, this is what I stand for and this is what I want." The what I want is easy enough, as is the who I am. I am the sum of my experiences, but the what I stand for...that one is much more difficult. I am going to have to do some work on that. And figure out what I stand for. And what I will not accept.

Career goal is the same employed by August in New Orleans in the oil and gas industry working to save lives through reliability engineering.

INVENTORY:

I had a conversation with a friend last night about success and winning and it is hard for him to understand me because he doesn't view the world like I do, so while he gets the idea of perfection he hasn't ever judged himself to that standard. And as a result he is much more willing to take risks and has far fewer "attachments" It was a good conversation and I think that by focusing on it I will effect a change in my behavior and my thinking! I know the discussions and examination of my self care has made a huge impact on my outlook. I know it takes longer to plan my meals, and make sure that I am taking care of myself, but in the end I am better able to help/take care of others. So it is a win-win for me and for the achievement of my goals. Why would I ever do something that prevents me from reaching such lofty goals. And goals which I am passionate about.

MOTIVATION:

Going above and beyond, never accepting that adequate is good enough. I think part of the reason this is such a challenge for me as that I don't see the difference in doing and adequate job vs. doing an outstanding job. In my life, there has never been a benefit to doing an outstanding job. Other than it requires more energy and effort. But it is never recognized or appreciated, so why do it. I know that doing the exceptional is never about how others perceive it but about how it makes me feel. And maybe this is the issue...maybe I always am going above and beyond and don't recognize it because of my issues with success and winning. How does one define exceptional accomplishments vs. ordinary accomplishments. I actually don't have any idea. I am going to turn this one over to the divine, and ask them to show me what it feels like to achieve something extraordinary vs. something ordinary. Maybe that way I can get a handle on this.
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