Steal the Show
I’m reading an amazing book on personal performance by Michael Port, Steal the Show.
I’ve been pondering some of his simple yet profound ideas all week and wanted share two of them with you. Challenge yourself and see what you can discover by really sitting with these ideas and looking at them with fresh, unbiased eyes. What I’ve learned in my years of personal development training is that we can never know everything and no matter how ‘accomplished’ we may feel, there is always another layer to things beyond what we think we already know.
I wish you great success as you spend time with these ideas and discover some amazing new things about yourself!
Idea 1 – Michael says, often we ‘make the choice to play small’.
Nelson Mandela said, “Your playing small does not serve the world. There’s nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you.”
Remember – we ALWAYS have the power to choose who we are and what we stand for. We can choose to see the world as limited and scary or we can look at the unlimited potential and dream bigger than we can possibly understand intellectually.
To have the life you want, be willing to ask yourself – Are you choosing to play small or are you open to seeing the big possibilities and really imagining the greatness and potential you could be sharing with the world.
Michael encourages us all to “…think big about who [we] are and what [we] offer the world.”
Are you thinking big? If so, what are you offering the world that will make a difference? Please write and let me know – I’d love to hear from you!!
Idea 2 – There is a difference between self-expression and self-understanding.
Have you ever noticed that sometimes your communication is clear and focused and other times driven purely by emotion? You may not even be aware of your own tendencies to one style or the other.
It’s good to ask others for feedback – find out how you are perceived – are you typically seen as sharing how you feel with no clear goal or intention or are you purposefully expressing yourself so that your intention resonates with the people around you?
A way to evaluate this for yourself is to examine the results you get – do others understand and align with you or are you often left feeling that you’re disconnected, people don’t ‘get’ you or that you’re not being heard and understood?
Next time you want to express yourself, step back, think before you act and be mindful of what you say and how you say it, before it comes out of your mouth.
This may require counting to ten (or even 20!), taking some deep breaths, writing out your script, or even saying nothing until you feel calm and focused.
Being a bull in a china shop and running on emotion only can have it’s place, but you won’t be an effective communicator or leader if you constantly perform in this manner.
