Are You Giving It All You’ve Got?

January 2022

I learned long ago it simply isn’t possible to give all you’ve got to everything in life. There just aren’t enough hours in the day. But when you focus your leadership practice on accomplishing the things you hold most dear, that’s when leveraging your superpowers can enable you to change the world—and you’ll enjoy doing so.  

Leadership coaches commonly encourage people to set bold goals for themselves and their teams at the beginning of each year. Certainly, setting cascading corporate goals can be key to aligning team members around specific desired outcomes.

But I must be honest. I’m not keen on setting annual goals for myself. It’s not that I don’t set goals, I just don’t make goal-setting a once-a-year leadership practice. Instead, I take stock of what’s happening around me daily because life can change on a dime. I prefer to stay uber nimble. My mantra is: Why put off until a new year something I can knock out of the park today? 

Face it, every day brings new, unforeseen challenges. So, I deliberately remain flexible enough to adeptly shift my leadership practice, as needed, to focus on whatever may have suddenly become most important now.

Granted, certain things remain at or near the top of my Most Important Priorities list year after year, although I may reprioritize certain things at the drop of a hat, depending on how the world turns.  I deliberately leave myself wiggle room to voraciously go after whatever I think has become most important on any given day because you just never know when this day might be the last shot you will ever get to make a certain difference.

Of course, while this process works for me, it may not suit you. We each have our own unique superpowers and care-abouts.

According to my own CliftonStengths Personalized Strengths Insights Report (discussed in my June 2019 blog post) one of my innate strengths is Achiever. My Personalized Strengths Insights Report advises, “Your Achiever theme helps explain your drive. Achiever describes a constant need for achievement. You feel as if every day starts at zero. By the end of the day, you must achieve something tangible in order to feel good about yourself. And by every day you mean every single day—workdays, weekends, vacations.”  

I have developed a daily leadership practice that begins as soon as I wake up. First, I pray for strength, courage, and guidance to follow the path set before me this day. Next, I review and sometimes readjust my day’s priorities. The items outlined below are generally my top priorities, although I may elevate a particular priority when current events dictate.

Dedicating at least part of each day to my husband has always been a top priority, and especially so since that day a decade ago when he was diagnosed with stage 3 cancer. Because of that wake-up call, I rarely accept speaking or other business engagements that require travel away from home unless my husband can (and wants to) travel with me.

Exercise and maintaining good health have always been on my “top five” priorities list. While working in corporate America, my schedule was so full that I had to put yoga classes on my calendar, to ensure I fit it in. For years, my husband and I have made a routine of taking 3-plus mile walks together, at least a couple of times each week. When COVID entered the picture, I elevated exercise and maintaining good health to the “top two” spot. We now walk three to six miles every day unless the weather doesn’t cooperate. Thankfully we live in the Sunshine State, so weather isn’t usually a problem. 

Not being one to just sit back and complain, giving back to my community moved up to my “top five” list some years back. It recently became an even higher priority for me now that our basic freedoms and liberties are at stake. 

You might think my profession as an author and public speaker would be one of the highest priorities of my leadership practice. It is, but it usually comes after the items mentioned above. I always honor my commitments, and I certainly enjoy my work, but my profession may not be a top priority on any given day.

My priorities yard stick reflects, in part, something the CEO and Chairman of the WD-40 Company, Garry Ridge, shared in my book Heartfelt Leadership: How to Capture the Top Spot and Keep on Soaring:

 Marshall Goldsmith tells a lovely story about interviews he did with people on their deathbed. They’re talking about the greatest memories they had in life. It wasn’t the BMW or the corner office. It was about the people they had helped along the way.

 My yard stick also reflects the wonderful “superpowers” advice Dr. Jodi Berg, President and CEO of the Vitamix Corporation, shared when I interviewed her for my latest book, Women on Top: What’s Keeping You from Executive Leadership?:

 It’s really hard for people to understand what their personal purpose truly is. So, I thought “what if there was a way to help people realize their own personal superpowers?” Superpowers are the things you are really, really good at. They are the things you love to do, and they give you energy. If we focus on using our own superpowers more often, just imagine what could happen.

So, as you venture into this new year, consider refocusing your leadership practice on your superpowers and your personal priorities for the day. Then give it all you’ve got. By doing so, not only will you be more likely to enjoy a more fulfilling 2022, but you will be more likely to improve the world around you.

And remember something a good friend of mine said to me recently:

The world is not changed by the masses. The world is changed by a few passionate people. Thank you for being one of them.