Point of Impact Friday

I decided to create a running weekly post from me that highlights those moments that were most impactful from the week – light bulb moments, connections with people that made an impression, podcasts or articles that challenged me to think in a different way.

I think there’s value in sharing moments and things that shape us, and I know I’ll appreciate this down the road when I look back and can see how these highlights have influenced my path.

I’m calling it Point of Impact Friday, and today is my first one. 🙂

1: My annual department outing for work.  Every year I come up with an outing to do with my staff and my manager so we can get out of the office, talk about life off the clock, and sometimes even learn something new. (Last year we did a cooking class at Sur la Table – it was really fun!)

This year I took everyone on a Caribbean themed Betty Lou Cruise. It was so nice to see everyone mingling, laughing, taking pictures, and being relaxed. I’m really thankful I have such a great group of people I’m surrounded by, and I have felt guilty that I haven’t been as present as a manager the last few months.  I set high expectations to always be on the ball, available, human, and as close to perfection as possible, which has caused me to feel more like a failure than an asset recently, but I’m working on it.

Having this night out with them to be away from computers and enjoy connecting was great for everyone.

2: Tim Ferriss’s podcast with Tony Robbins.  I transformed from a Tony Robbins skeptic to a Tony Robbins supporter last summer when I read his book Awaken The Giant Within while on vacation in Italy.  In this podcast he talks about how the best achievements are the ones which bring fulfillment.

Have you ever achieved something you worked hard for and once you got it, it didn’t feel that great?

It was probably lacking in fulfillment.

I am an avid goal setter, and there have been a lot of times that I’ll achieve a goal that I surprisingly don’t really care about it.  Case in point, qualifying for the Boston Marathon this spring.  I was pretty excited for maybe 5 minutes after I crossed the finish line, but the satisfaction wore off quickly.  I hate road racing – why did it matter that I qualified for another road race?  It didn’t.

3:  Seth Godin’s post called Do You Need a Permit?  In a nutshell this is a short, incredible post about supporting people who want to make a dent in the universe and dare to be different, rather than play it safe.  Here’s the post – check it out.  This one is going up on my wall for sure.

Where, precisely, do you go in order to get permission to make a dent in the universe?

The accepted state is to be a cog. The preferred career is to follow the well-worn path, to read the instructions, to do what we’re told. It’s safer that way. Less responsibility. More people to blame.

When someone comes along and says, “not me, I’m going down a different path,” we flinch. We’re not organized to encourage and celebrate the unproven striver. It’s safer to tear them down (with their best interests at heart, of course). Better, we think, to let them down easy, to encourage them to take a safer path, to be realistic, to hear it from us rather than the marketplace.

Perhaps, years ago, this was good advice. Today, it’s clearly not. In fact, it’s disrespectful, ill-advised and short sighted. How dare we cheer when a bold changemaker stumbles? Our obligation today isn’t to spare the feelings of our peers from future disappointment. It’s to establish an expectation that of course they’re going to do something that matters.

If you think there’s a chance you can make a dent, GO.

Now.

Hurry.

You have my permission. Not that you needed it.

*****

Pure brilliance Seth. This resonated a LOT for me.

Did you have any points of impact this week?  I’d love to hear about them.  If you can’t think of any, then make it a point to notice them in this upcoming week.  It’s amazing how many you will notice once you start to look for them.