Chat at the Cooler - Adventures of a Passionately Curious Mind

Being Remarkable

noreply@blogger.com (Nipun) — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 11:01:00 +0000

Remarkable – Being able to be remarked upon. This is such a simple word but so often ignored and misused. Remarkable does not mean nice. It is being able to make a remark about.

Seth Godin talks about being remarkable and what it means and how to become remarkable.

Check out more about the Purple Cows and how to be remarkable. Seth Godin and couple of other authors have published a book together called The Big Moo, wonderful compilation of being remarkable. Absolutely must have for anyone who want to be remarkable.

Have you tried to be remarkable? What have done to become remarkable?

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Out of Scope

noreply@blogger.com (Nipun) — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 21:54:00 +0000

Some people are very concerned about scope. This is in my scope, that is out of my scope.

Madoff made lot of money, but being truthful and honest was out of scope.

General Motors was number one car company in the world, but maintaining the number one position was out of scope.

Flickr is determined to act upon take down notices, but verifying violations was out of scope, maintaining reliability was also out of scope.

Amazing how many things are out of scope and how those decisions are made.

What is out of scope when it comes to your personal growth?

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Personal Change For Your Life by Browsing Internet

noreply@blogger.com (Nipun) — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 11:47:00 +0000

Internet can do a lot of things. Unless you have been living a mile under a big rock, you know that you can do almost anything with help of internet. You can manage your money, and do other 30 things that you didn’t know you could. Add one more - you can turn your bedroom lights off from internet and another one changing your life. Read on to find three such websites that can bring personal change just by browsing them.

Guy McDowell at Makeuseof.com blog present a decent list of websites that will help you in personal change as you browse the internet. He mentions three websites:

Livingorsurviving.com
TheCircle.org
EverydaySystems.com

Read the entire article by Guy on MakeUseOf.com

Any other websites that you know of? Tell us in the comments below.

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6 Success Factors (or Rules of Success) from Arnold Schwarzenegger

noreply@blogger.com (Nipun) — Thu, 21 May 2009 11:46:00 +0000

Arnold Schwarzenegger gave a speech at the Graduation Ceremony of University of Southern California. He talks about how he became successful and what were his success factors. He shares 6 rules of success that he found helpful in his life and how they can help anyone to succeed.

Doctor Schwarzenegger’s 6 Rules

This is video from Graduation ceremony of University of Southern California and speaking to the graduating students is Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Below are some thoughts from the video about the 6 Rules of Success from “Dr. Schwarzenegger.”

1. Trust Yourself

Trust yourself no matter what anyone else thinks.

2. Break the Rules

“Well behaved women rarely make history.” Arnold talks about breaking rules and how he broke rules to enter the rules of Hollywood to become a successful actor.

3. Don’t Be Afraid to Fail

If you are afraid, you were never try. If you never try you won’t ever succeed.

4. Ignore (Don’t Listen to) the Naysayer

Don’t pay attention to naysayer. People will say it can’t be done, people will give 100 reason why this can not be done. Do not take No for an answer.

5. Work Your Butt Off

You never want to fail because you did not work hard enough and don’t leave any stone unturned. There is no escape to hard work.

6. Giving Something Back

Whatever path you take in life, always find time to give back to the community.

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It is All About the Stars

noreply@blogger.com (Nipun) — Mon, 18 May 2009 23:55:00 +0000

"We need to learn to set our course by the stars, not by the lights of every passing ship." - General Omar N. Bradley, American General

Look at the Stars, Not the Lights

In old days, when compass and other complex instruments weren’t invented, ships used stars and constellations to navigate their path. There are stories of travelers on road navigating to their destination without GPS. Ever heard of the term guiding star? Now you know where that originated from. These sailors and travelers knew exactly one simple thing – to use stars not the lights.

What does this has to do with Personal Change?

Stars represent the vision and that is why we should focus on the vision for personal change. If you follow the light, the short-term goals, you may divert your path and start heading towards the wrong destination. Therefore, learn to set our course by looking at the stars not the lights of every passing ship.

Have you ever set your course on short term and forgot about the long term? What were the results? Tell us in comments below.

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Photo Courtesy: Libertinus

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Personal Change Carnival – May Edition

noreply@blogger.com (Nipun) — Thu, 14 May 2009 23:55:00 +0000

This edition of Personal Change Carnival received 104 posts and from those posts below are my favorite 11 posts. The selection criteria was pretty straightforward. Those posts that were submitted before the deadline were shortlisted and then posts that related to personal change were chosen. Out of this new list, each post was thoroughly reviewed and my favorite posts were listed below.

Please note that this list is my personal opinion and others may have a different opinion about the articles included in the carnival. If you like the posts below, please digg it, stumble it or add to bookmark on delicious.

Lets Begin the Carnival

1. How to Be Somebody in Your Own Eyes - In this post, Jim talks about self image and why it is important to respect yourself and the way you are. Any one aspiring to improve their personal image and wanting a personal change should first evaluate their self-image.

2. What a Glass of Water can Teach You About Leadership? - Eric asks this question and makes the reader wonder what is this about? The post has a wonderful message and leaves you amazed… wow!! what can a glass of water teach you. Read it to find out.

3. Why Relationships are Like Sandcastles Before Tide – The author in his/her own words, “Relationships are forever in flux, forever in change, and holding onto something tightly is like trying to stop the tide from coming …..”

4. Set Goals Then Set Them Higher – Tisha gives an example from her personal life and gives some quick tips on how to set goals. This article is interesting and is a quick read.

5. Cultivating Patience – Axel talks about Patience and how to cultivate it. Author talks about three aspects of cultivating patience. A wonderful view on how patience can be improved.

6. Stand Out of the Crowd – In this article, John talks about personal development in a very simple way. This article is a little different than the subject of this blog, but its worth reading.

7. What Inhibits Your Creativity? – Jason asks this questions and tells how to overcome the boundaries and grow creatively. Nice article, wonderfully structured and easy to understand.

8. Nonverbal Language of Power – Jacob’s article talks about an aspect of self-esteem and self-image. “Backbone” or having power to confront people and being assertive is a quality that is important to make an impact.

9. The Secrets to Becoming Highly Successful in Life – Keith presents a very comprehensive article on what you need to become successful. Vision is one of the first thing you need.

10. 101 Youtube Videos to Teach You the Art of Public Speaking – This post has a lot of good videos, Speaking Secrets of Barrack Obama for example, or How to Control Stage Fright. 9 Basic Steps to Giving a Great Presentation provides details on 9 aspects of public speaking.

11. How to Hack Behaviors – Daryl presents a well organized article on behaviors. The article deconstructs how actions work and then explains how behaviors can be modified. This is a good overview for anyone who wants to change their behavior.

That is all for this edition. If you liked any of these posts please stumble the post or digg it. Perhaps you might want to save it in delicious or tweet it.

Want to submit articles to the Personal Change carnival? Submit your post for the June edition of the carnival by clicking here.

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Photo Courtesy: penner42

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A Personal Vision or A Mission Statement

noreply@blogger.com (Nipun) — Mon, 11 May 2009 23:10:00 +0000

“Vision is the blue dot, the guiding light that helps lost travelers to reach their destination, their goal.” There is a clear definition between personal vision and mission statement, but it can get confusing at times. This article presents a great post from a great blog, the only correction I have is, it should be vision not mission statement

Vision not Mission Statement

Michael Miles wrote a great article some time back titled The Value of a Personal Mission Statement on the Dumb Little Man blog. The author however calls a person’s vision as mission statement. I think the article points out a great list of tips for a great vision. Going back to the definition, vision is a desired state that you want to be at, mission statement is defining the principles that you will follow to get there, in other words, mission statement is how you will get there.

The Difference

We have talked about vision, mission statement and how they are different in article titled why you need vision.

The purpose of Vision is to define which wall you want to climb, Values ensure that you are using the right ladder to climb the wall and Mission statements define how you plan to climb the wall with the right ladder.

We also talked about the difference between the three elements of success and how they relate to each other. Still confused? Read Benjamin Franklin’s mission statement.

In the upcoming posts, read how to develop a mission statement for yourself. Get updates via RSS or through email and stay on the top of your personal development with Chat at the Cooler.

Picture Courtesy: ogimogi

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Benjamin Franklin’s Mission Statement

noreply@blogger.com (Nipun) — Mon, 04 May 2009 11:19:00 +0000

Mission statements come in many shapes, sizes and colors. They can be speeches or can be poems, they can even be long essays on what you want to achieve in life and how you will go about doing it.

Few days back, I came across mission statement of Benjamin Franklin on www.franklincovey.com. Mr. Franklin’s mission statement is not a speech, its not even a essay, neither is it a poem. It’s much simpler than that. It’s his set of values statements. This post present Benjamin Franklin’s mission statement.

The Mission Statement

Mr. Franklin’s mission statement is a very simple set of statements. The wonderful thing about this mission statement pattern is that it is once you know your personal values, it is simple to create. Below are the personal values of Benjamin Franklin that is also his mission statement as claimed by www.franklincovey.com.

Chastity: Rarely use venery but for health or offspring, never to dullness, weakness, or the injury of your own or another's peace or reputation.

Cleanliness: Tolerate no uncleanliness in body, clothes, or habitation.

Frugality: Make no expense but to do good to others or yourself; i.e., waste nothing.

Industry: Lose no time; be always employed in something useful; cut off all unnecessary actions.

Justice: Wrong none by doing injuries, or omitting the benefits that are your duty.

Moderation: Avoid extremes; forbear resenting injuries so much as you think they deserve.

Order: Let all your things have their places; let each part of your business have its time.

Resolution: Resolve to perform what you ought; perform without fail what you resolve.

Silence: Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself; avoid trifling conversation.

Sincerity: Use no hurtful deceit; think innocently and justly, and, if you speak, speak accordingly.

Temperance: Eat not to dullness; drink not to elevation.

Tranquility: Be not disturbed at trifles, or at accidents common or unavoidable.

In next few posts, we will present mission statements of many great leaders of the world. If you would like to get these mission statements and other posts go ahead and subscribe via RSS or subscribe via email.

Photo courtesy: Wikipedia

Why You Don’t Live Your Personal Values and How to Change That

noreply@blogger.com (Nipun) — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 13:45:00 +0000

Almost everyone wants to grow, everyone wants to be successful. In an ideal world people like to live their personal values. They would like to be truthful and honest in all the dealings. They would like to work hard, they want to do the “right thing.” Unfortunately, most people don’t.

Why People Don’t Live Their Personal Values

Although everyone would like to have great values, most people don’t live them because of following reasons:

1. Sacrifice

People want to be called for having great values but they do not want to sacrifice their comfort. If you want to live your core values, be prepared for some pain. If you decide to be honest, it is not going to be a smooth and steady road. Whenever you are honest and speak the truth, there will be some inconvenience for you and maybe for those you are dealing with.

2. Someone Else’s Values

If you want to be the “best-in-class” athlete because someone else wants you to be that, I am afraid that is not going to happen, unless you decide that you want to be the best-in-class. Fulfilling someone else’s wishes are not going to help you to live your values. Find your personal values and stop living someone else’s life.

These are the two main reasons why people don’t live their personal values. What are some of the other reasons you have seen? Why do people stray away from their core values? Tell us in the comments.

How to Live Your Personal Values

How do you start living your own personal values? Well the key is really simple. Don’t do what other people do.

1. First, Stop Living Someone Else’s Values

The first thing you need to do is stop living someone else’s values. Your friend wants to be a hero, but you don’t have to. Your best friend wants to be fearless enough to jump from a plane, you don’t have to. Your mom wants you to become excellent in painting, but you are more interested in music. Stop living values that are important to someone else.

2. Now Find Your Values

The next thing after you stop living other people’s values is to find your values. By finding your own you know what is important in your life and what are things that are near your heart. Start living your personal values by discovering your personal values.

3. Be Prepared

Prepare yourself and understand that there will be some things that you will have to let go. To become a better person, it will be important to have strong values. Once you have identified your values, develop and build your personal values. Keep in mind that this is a road where you will encounter desire to take shortcuts, you will want to do the easy things. Bur remember once you take that path, there is no coming back. If you really want to have strong personal values, do not take the shortcut no matter how attractive it may seem for short term.

What tricks do you use for living your personal values? What challenges do you encounter and how do you fight them?

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10 Elemental Characteristics or Qualities of Good Leadership

noreply@blogger.com (Nipun) — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 03:35:00 +0000

What are the characteristics of a good leader? Where should you start if you want to be a good leader? What are the most important qualities of a good leader? In fact, what are the 10 most essential characteristics without which a person cannot become a good leader?

This post will answer all these questions.

The 10 Essential Characteristics of Good Leader

So what are those characteristics or qualities? Below are the 10 characteristics that are absolutely necessary for being a good leader.

1. Character

The first thing a good leader needs is a strong character. We all know of someone who is in a leadership position or is a leader with not so strong character, and we all know how these people end up. These leaders with not-so-strong characters, often go down as fast as they climbed the ladder of success. Therefore, to be a good and sustainable leader character is the most important quality you need.

2. Communication

If a leader can not do the rest of it, she at least needs to be good at this – communication. The leadership and its implications revolve around this quality. It is an absolutely important quality a leader needs. The importance of communication can not be overemphasized for being a good leader.

3. Listening

What goes hand in hand with communication is listening. A good leader needs to listen to her followers. She needs to get feedback on a regular basis, open her eyes and ears and keep listening. Now a word of caution. Listening does not mean to blindly follow and accept everything that is said and shown.

4. Relationships

The next important quality of a good leader is building and maintaining relationships. A good leader knows the importance of relationships. She knows that the strength of a leader comes from the people that follow and support her. And that is why a good leader takes good care in building relationships.

5. Vision

Vision is important for everyone, leader or not, for their growth. But vision is specially important for those who as want to lead. Knowing what outcome you want from an assignment, a project or any task gives you authority and helps you and your team to have clear communication and well-defined expectations from each other. In past, we posted a whole series on how to develop a personal vision.

5. Passion

Passion is the fuel for your burning desires. It is this quality that differentiates between the ordinary and the extraordinary. For being a good leader, it is important to know about the subject matter of the area you want to lead in. Passion is the first step of achievement.

5. Positive Attitude

The Yes Attitude, the power of positivity. This quality is a required not just for a leader but everybody. However, this is specially necessary for a leader. A Leader needs to be positive and motivate his team, in times that are hard and times that are brutal. When times are tough and his team is absolutely down, when times are really frustrating, a leader is the who carries his team and his organization forward and that is what a leader needs to do - look at the bright side of each and everything.

8. Responsibility

Ever heard of an irresponsible leader? No? Think again and a little harder. You will see a lot of them if you look around in the politics today. A leader influences people and has a lot of power to move his team and followers. An irresponsible leader can create a disaster if he does not act responsibly.

9. Decision Making

Leaders make a lot of crucial and decisions. The ability to make good decisions is therefore essential for becoming a good leader. Decision making, the ability to make decisions, helps the leader make rights choices when there are several options and several paths to choose from.

10. Initiative

By definition a leader is someone who takes the lead or initiative in some part of life. Taking lead in the crux of being a leader and this quality is inherent in a leader.

So, here’s the list of ten qualities that a leader absolutely needs. Do you think there are some other qualities of a good leader that should be on the list? Tell us in the comments below.

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Picture Courtesy: lumaxart

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Personal Change Carnival - April 2009 Edition

noreply@blogger.com (Nipun) — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 22:02:00 +0000

The first ever Personal Change Carnival received about 100 posts and from those posts below are my favorite 15 posts. The selection criteria was pretty straightforward. Those posts that related to personal change were shortlisted and then the posts that were submitted before the deadline were chosen. Out of this new list, each post was thoroughly reviewed and my favorite posts were listed below.

Please note that this list is my personal opinion and others may have a different opinion. If you like the posts below, please digg it, stumble it or add to bookmark on delicious.

In the post Jet Like Motivation, Axel G writes about getting motivated and determination and how it can help you in personal development. Read more about it in the article Jet-Like Motivation
Charles H. Green from Trusted Advisor talks about importance of trust in relationships and how to measure trust in the post Oprah and Two Trust Tests. In past we have talked about credibility and qualities for personal impact, trust is an important factor and is necessary for personal growth.
Growth Article talks about how the necessary components of growth. Like water, sunlight and soil, some things are absolutely necessary for growth, this post explains it in detail.
Emotions are Learnt Paradigms presents a wonderful article on how emotions play a role in our lives. Stacey also explains how emotions come into existence. Personally, I think understanding how emotions work is necessary for personal change and personal growth.
Obstacles vs. Obstuckles provides the differentiation between obstacles – the challenges in everyday life and obstuckles – when you get stuck and stop moving forward. William urges his readers to not let obstacles become obstuckles and keep moving forward.
How to Unlock Your Intuition touches on an uncommon topic – intuition. Jim talks about how he used intuition to find answers to his questions. I believe getting to know your intuition and using it can help you and develop your personality.
4 Ways to Finding Purpose in Life talks about using introspection, environment, natural ability and inspiration to find your purpose in life. Steve has presented a good overview on how these four ways can be used. Also, read why you need a personal vision or purpose for your life.
Change Your Thinking to Change Yourself is an article that says it is important to change the way you think for changing yourself. Attitude definitely matter a lot and this article presents some tips on how to change your thinking.
15 Valuable Lessons We Can Learn from World Champions is a unique article by Vincent. In this article, Vincent illustrates 15 winning habits of world champions and he does a very thorough job.
Have Fun Unleashing Your Latent Creativity asks a simple question, “How to develop a personal style of creative thinking?” In this article, Jim writes about developing creativity and using it for personal growth.
Public Speaking Tips – Presenting an Influential Speech will Boost Your Career Andrew talks about importance of public speaking and presents some steps to improve this skill. At Chat at the Cooler, we have talked about 9 Basic Steps to Giving a Great Presentation.
Become a Better You in the Car is a post about how to utilize the time in car and become a better person by listening to CDs. Kim explains how she used time in car to become a better person.
Three Achievement Strategies provides some strategies for achieving your goals and vision. Interesting post.
10 Reasons Why Your Relationship With You Matters is a post that provides a quick list of reasons why relationship with yourself matters. This post is worth a look.
How You Can Make New Behaviors Into Old Habits talks about how to bring personal change by adopting new behaviors and turning them into old habits.

That is all for this edition. If you liked any of these posts, I am sure all the authors would appreciate if you could stumble the post or digg it. Perhaps you might want to save it in delicious or tweet it.

Want to submit articles to the Personal Change carnival? Submit your post for the May edition of the carnival by clicking here.

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Photo Courtesy: penner42

Vacation Time

noreply@blogger.com (Nipun) — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 11:46:00 +0000

Readers!

Time has come for me to spend some time on a vacation – wandering in the jungles of Satpuda or beaches of Goa!

I will be on vacation starting March 23rd and will resume posting starting April 9th and thought that I would give some time of your life back to you. During next few days take some time and create your personal vision by using vision exercises or by asking some questions to yourself.

If you have already discovered your vision, spend 10 minutes and identify your personal values. Once you have identified your personal values, start developing your personal and core values.

Until then… Adios!

Picture Courtesy – Today is a good day

Creating Personal Mission Statements to Define the Path to Success

noreply@blogger.com (Nipun) — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 11:19:00 +0000

So you double check whether your ladder is leaning on the right wall. Is it leaning to the correct wall? Yes! And is the ladder good enough to climb the wall? Yeah!! Great. So now you can climb on the wall with the ladder right? Not quite. Do you know how to climb a ladder and how you would want to climb a ladder? Depending on what type of ladder it is, the answer to the question may vary. So then what can help you in answering that question?

What is Personal Mission Statement

The purpose of Vision is to define which wall you want to climb, Values ensure that you are using the right ladder to climb the wall and Mission statements define how you plan to climb the wall with the right ladder. We discussed about importance of the right ladder (i.e. what values can do for you ) in a previous post.

Mission statement completes the recipe of success as it is the third of three ingredients of success. Vision is what you want to be in the future, your Personal Values are the foundation for your success. Mission Statement – the last ingredient – defines the path of success. Mission Statements in simple words is a high-level goal statement that spells out how you are going to achieve your vision. As with any goal, this high-level goal should be specific, clear and positive.

Developing a Mission Statement is a long and continuous process. Stephen Covey, in his book 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, talks about the process, following is a small excerpt:

A mission statement is not something you write overnight. It takes deep introspection, careful analysis, thoughtful expression, and often many rewrites to produce it in final form. It may take you several weeks or even months before you feel really comfortable with it, before you feel it is a complete and concise expression of your innermost values and directions. Even then, you will want to review it regularly and make minor changes as the years bring additional insights or changing circumstances. But fundamentally, your mission statement becomes your constitution, the solid expression of your vision and values. It becomes the criterion by which you measure everything else in your life.

In the next few weeks, we will present how to create a personal mission statement, how to use it for personal development and variety of other posts on mission statement. Be the first one to get these posts from Chat at the Cooler by subscribing via RSS or via email.

Photo Courtesy: Bareform

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Top 7 Free Best-in-Class Personal Change Newsletter You Must Subscribe

noreply@blogger.com (Nipun) — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 11:37:00 +0000

I am very excited about this post. No not because publishing the post would give me a million dollars. Rather this may give the readers a great resource for staying updated with some of the world’s best authors and getting a chance to knowing them on a personal level (depending on how much time you are interested in investing). What follows this paragraph is seven absolutely wonderful sources for extremely rich content on personal change written by some of the world’s best-known authors.

The 7 Great Newsletters

What makes it so exciting is that, these famous authors (or their next generation) write the articles for their subscribers and only their subscribers. This might even contain some of the upcoming projects or articles that may make in their next best-seller. So here it is readers, the seven absolutely best personal change newsletters on the internet.

Dale Carnegie – Dale Carnegie was probably one of the first authors to have studied personal growth and leadership in great detail. The institute has a newsletter that provides insightful tips and techniques for personal change and improving work and related issues. Sign up for Dale Carnegie Training Institute’s Newsletter.
Stephen R. Covey – Folks, I will tell you this upfront that one of the most popular authors of all time does not have a newsletter by traditional definition. But don’t be sad, Mr. Covey does have a Stephen R. Covey blog and you can subscribe to it in your RSS feed by click here.
Brian Tracy – Brian Tracy is amazing. I absolutely love his book, Eat That Frog. On his website, there is plethora of information including several newsletter to select from. These newsletters are on variety of topics ranging from Personal Success to Entrepreneurial Success. Click here to select the newsletters you would like to subscribe to.
John Maxwell – Giant Impact is the company associated with John Maxwell and my understanding is that they do the marketing and organizing for John Maxwell. Giant Impact releases a newsletter called Leadership Wired about once every month (though their website says twice a month). This is a must follow and has a lot of good material on leadership and related areas. Subscribe the newsletter by clicking here.
Ken Blanchard - Ken Blanchard, the famous author and co-author of best-sellers One Minute Manager, Who Moved My Cheese and lot of other books, has a great newsletter that present articles on doing business, managerial skills and leading people. If you’ve read either of the two books mentioned above, this newsletter might be for you.
Center for Creative Leadership – This is a unique institution, a top-ranked, global provider of executive education. They have been around for quite a while – close to 40 years. Grab their newsletter, Leading Effectively to learn about tools, tips and advice for improving yourself.
Steve Pavlina – If you have been around in the blogging world for even a little, it would be near to impossible to miss the name Steve Pavlina. He is a big name and writes on various topics related to Personal Development. His newsletter is a great resource for those interested in self development.

Now I know there might be some other newsletters that should go to this list. What are these? Tell us. What others should have made it to the list? Expect great content and wonderful resources posts in upcoming weeks. Subscribe to the blog via RSS or subscribe via email and be among the first to get the latest posts from Chat at the Cooler.

Photo Courtesy: mag3737

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Personal Vision and Core Values – A Kaleidoscope

noreply@blogger.com (Nipun) — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 10:47:00 +0000

A mosaic or a chemical mixture or a kaleidoscope, whatever you may want to call, this post is exactly that. I wanted to look at how other bloggers see personal vision and values and add a little different flavor to Chat at the Cooler. Tell us how do you like this experiment in the comments below.

Picture Source: Lynn (Gracie’s mom)

Personal Vision and Personal Values – Different Shades

How to Define Your Personal Values, Vision and Goals – This is a great article by Rachel Walker. Rachel talks about discovering values, pairing it up with vision and setting up goals. However, I do not agree with Rachel on her disintegration of vision. In the article she explains that vision includes, envisioned future and core ideology. I would rather say core ideology is your value system and they are not two different things. That’s my opinion, what do you think?
Seven Characteristics of a Powerful Vision – George Ambler on Practice of Leadership talks about Visionary Leadership by Burt Nanus. George has does a wonderful job in summarizing the main points of seven characteristics of powerful vision. We also mentioned 5 Simple Tips to Powerful and Effective Vision.
Company Values and Personal Values – Author Sergiu Truta from the blog SergiuTruta.com takes a look at an interesting aspect of aligning company values and personal values and how should organizations align company values with employees’ values. Interesting post, I say.
Is Personal Vision the Key to Getting What You Really Want From Life? – Karl Rogan writes about Coffee Philosophy and asks this question in the post – Is Personal Vision really the key? Karl details what is personal vision and its benefits and also talks about how to create a person vision. I think this post pretty much sums it all up really nice. Earlier last month we posted the Create Your Personal Vision series. We talked about creating a personal vision in great detail.
Vision Boards – In this post, author at Vision Board blog talks about a product called Vision Board. However, if you read the entire post (its kind of long), author talks about 4-step method for success using vision – Dream it, (Write it), See it, Achieve it. There is a lot you can get from the post, its a really long post, so scroll and the post has some great content.
How does one discover their core values? – This is a different type of post. Charlie is on a quest to, like many of us, the quest of understanding life. In this post, she presents her personal experience and how she goes about finding the core value. Charlie, you might find a previous post Discover Personal Values in Less Than 10 minutes. Once personal values are discovered it is important to develop these personal values.

The next post is about Top Best-in-Class Newsletters you must Subscribe to. The list includes many best selling authors and is a must read. Get this and other similar articles first by subscribing to the blog via RSS or via email and get the latest posts from Chat at the Cooler.

Did you like this experiment of bringing bloggers focusing on variety of aspects on personal vision and personal values topic? Tell us in the comments. What else would you like to see? If you like this article please stumble it, digg it or share it any way you like.

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Develop and Form Your Personal Values

noreply@blogger.com (Nipun) — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 11:37:00 +0000

In the previous posts, we talked about how to discover your personal and core values in less than 10 minutes and how to write a value statement. In this post I am going to talk about developing your personal values.

Developing Your Personal Values

Developing your personal values is a three step process. You need to define the value clearly and then clarify it further. After that, create value-based guidelines to support your personal values. Once you have the guidelines, start the 30 day roll-out. This is a really quick summary of development process. Lets look at the process in detail.

Define Clearly – The first step to start developing your personal values is to define the value clearly. What do you mean by excellence, for example. If excellence is one of the value you have selected, what does it mean to you? Define what is excellence. Use values statement for defining your personal values. For example, your value statement might be, “I will excel in everything I do.”
Create a checklist– Once you have put a definition to the values, the next step is to create a checklist. This list should have specific value-based guidelines that are in line with the value statement. Based on your values statement for excellence, develop a checklist of value-based guidelines. Some of the guidelines may be:
1. I will stay updated on ___ (the subject you want to excel in).
2. I will give 100% in everything I do and will not compromise for less
Start the 30 day roll-out – Now that you have a list of value-based guidelines that defines each personal value you discovered, it is time to implement the set of values. In the next 30 days, resolve to make all decisions, take all actions with the set of values in mind. Anything you do, no matter what, should support your personal value system. Continuing our example about excellence – to embed excellence in your value system, you should start by making small commitments. Make some small commitments and keep them and little bigger ones and keep them. Start with just first value-based task and embed it and then next one and the next one. At the end of 30 days, look back and find where you came short and improve those in coming days.

Case Study - Integrity

Lets take another example and apply the above steps to it. Lets assume, integrity is one of your personal values. Now we will apply the three-step approach to your personal value.

Define Clearly – What does Integrity mean to you? Define it. Lets say we define integrity as below.

Integrity is being honest and fair with everyone in my daily life. It means that I would make decisions and take actions based on facts and be honest in all parts of my life.”

Create a checklist – Now that you have defined integrity, break it down and create a list of value-based guidelines. Remember not to create too long list or its effect might be lost. 4-5 tasks should be the limit. In this case, some of the guidelines could be:
1. I will be answer all the questions honestly.
2. I will be honest when dealing with everyone
3. I will treat everyone fairly.
4. I will not judge anyone and treat people fairly
Start the 30 day roll-out – You have created the checklist ready to use. Number of guidelines may vary with the values. But remember the tip in the above point. Don’t make the checklist too long. Now, in case you just can’t resist making it long go ahead and fulfill your desire. But when you come to this stage and are ready to implement, select only 4-5 guidelines to implement in a 30-day span. Use the approach discussed in previous section. Make small commitments, start with just one guideline and keep the commitment. Commit to following another guideline and the previous one and keep the commitment. After 30 days, review your actions and improve.

How do you develop new values? Have you used 30 day roll-outs before? How about 30-day tests have you used that?

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Further Reading -

Values Statements – An Important Missing Piece of Your Success Puzzle

noreply@blogger.com (Nipun) — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 12:28:00 +0000

So you discovered your personal values by using the two methods or vision exercises, what next? Will knowing your personal values help you succeed? Nope. Knowing your personal values is a start, and the next thing you need is to define and clarify these values and develop these values. In this post, we will define the values by using values statements.

So What the Heck is Values Statement?

I am sure you have heard of vision statements and mission statement, but values statement? What is that? Out of 1000 people out there, only 50 people seriously think about planning for success, only some 10 people have heard about values statements and only 2-3 use it. If you are one of those 2-3 people who have used values statement, please tell us about it in the comments below.

Value statement is a line or short paragraph that defines what each value means and clarifies your personal values by providing it a strong and clear definition. This can be done by having a statement for each value or by having one paragraph that addresses all your personal values. Let’s look at an example.

Let’s assume one of the personal values your discovered is “Integrity”. A sample values statement might be

“I will embrace integrity by being honest and fair in my everyday life.”

How to Create a Values Statement

Now, let’s look at how should you go about constructing the values statement for your personal values. Creating your personal values statement is a systematic process. The steps for creating a values statement are:

Understand – Understand the importance of personal values and how your personal values help you succeed.
Discover – Once you understand the importance of personal values you should discover your core values.
Rank – After discovering your set of personal values, measure how important each of these values are to you. Out of the set of discovered values, rank the personal values.
Define – Now you have ranked these values, it is the time to define them. What does each value mean to you? How would you live by the value in your daily life?
Choose – There are two basic formats for writing a values statement. The first and more commonly used format is to have an individual statement for each value. The second format is where a paragraph describes all the values. I prefer individual statement format, because it is more readable and easier to understand.
Finalize – This is one step when you should review your values statement and refine it. Change the words or make the statement catchy by playing with words and grammar.
Display – After you have finalized the format, the last step is to put it on a piece of paper display it at a place where it can be seen until you can remember everything on that paper.

Going that Extra Mile

Once you have a values statement and get more clarity about what your personal values are, chances are there will be some new personal values that you would like to incorporate in your daily life. For doing this it is important to develop these values so that you can adopt them and use them as your foundation for everything you do. The next post will discuss how to develop personal values and how to adopt them in your everyday life. Grab subscribe via RSS or subscribe via email and be the first ones to get the future posts from Chat at the Cooler. Photo by Jeremy Books

Further Reading -

Discover Your Personal Values with Your Personal Vision

noreply@blogger.com (Nipun) — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 12:55:00 +0000

You can create your personal vision in less than 15 minutes by using vision exercises and by asking vision questions. You can use the same exercises and questions to discover your personal values. Previously, we have talked vision exercises and vision questions, in this post we’ll use these two tools to discover your personal values.

Vision Exercises

Vision exercises are great tools for creating a personal vision. These vision exercises can be used to discover personal and core values too. Vision exercises mentioned in Create Vision Statements with Vision Exercises - Part 1 and Part 2 can be further explored to discover personal values. Here we modify the 6 vision exercises to use them to discover your personal values.

With the End in Mind – Read the vision exercise 1 before proceeding further. Now answer these questions. What would you want the four speakers to say about your values? What would you want them to say about your character and your guiding principles?
Your Superb Lifetime – Read vision exercise 2 and then read ahead. What personal values do you need to getting to this superb life? What personal values do you like in people around you?
Can’t Live Without and Want to Get Rid of – The next four vision exercises are mentioned in the post using vision exercises. As described in the exercise, divide a piece of paper and label “Can’t Live Without” and “Want to Get Rid of”. In the Can’t Live Without column please write any of the values that you feel you feel are important and would like in you life. For the Want to Get Rid of think about your past behavior and write everything you wish was different in your personality.
Genie Exercise – What are the three things you asked for yourself, your family and community in this exercise? Do these tell you what values are important to you?
Retirement Day – What values do you want your colleagues, your employees to have seen in you?
Your Legacy – Think about your grandchildren. What values would you like them to have seen in you? Which values would you want your life to be defined by? What adjective would you want people to use when describing your life?

By adding just few more lines to the vision exercises, you can discover your personal and core values.

Vision Questions

Just like vision exercises, vision questions can be used to discover your personal values. Vision questions can be a powerful way for creating your personal vision. Similar approach can be used to discover your personal values. Asking questions, like those for creating personal vision statements, will be a thought-provoking adventure.

So You Discovered Your Personal Values…

Most people discover their values and stop. They believe discovering personal values or core values will help them reach the pinnacle of success, and then they fail. Just discovering the values will not help. They next step is to define what each of those value mean to you and then develop these values and use them in your daily life. The next posts will be about defining your values and developing them. Be the first one to get these articles. Subscribe via RSS or subscribe via email and get the next from Chat at the Cooler.

Do you or your organization has a values statement? Did you discover your values? Did I miss something? Talk to us through comments.

Further Reading -

List of Personal Values

noreply@blogger.com (Nipun) — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 12:01:00 +0000

There are many lists for personal values that can be found on internet. Some of them are long, some are very long and some are short. In this post I have tried to put together few lists available out there to help those who are searching for a perfect list.

Here are the few lists of personal values:

List 1 – This is the list we have used for discovering your personal values in past. I think this list is sufficient and covers almost all the required values.
List 2 – Steve Pavlina gives a huge list of personal values. I think that list is unnecessary and is redundant. However, some may want a very comprehensive list, so here is the most comprehensive list of personal values.
List 3 – If you are looking to develop a vision or mission statement, the list of values at timethoughts.com created might help you.
List 4 – This list has about 300 different values, a little too many for me, but may help some others who are looking for more.

There might be hundreds of other lists out there, but these four lists pretty much cover everything. So here it is - the list of list of personal values.

Once you have the list of personal and core values, the next step is to develop them. If you would like to know more about how to develop your personal values or create a vision statement, grab the subscription to Chat at the Cooler. You can subscribe via RSS or subscribe via email and get the next post.

Photo Courtesy: Crystl

Related Posts:

How to Discover Your Personal Values in Less Than 10 minutes

noreply@blogger.com (Nipun) — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 12:01:00 +0000

What is 10 minutes worth for you? How about changing your life by knowing what is important to you? You think you already know what’s important to you? This post may prove you wrong. A majority of people don’t know what their core values are, they do not give enough time to figure out how they want to live their life.

How much time it takes? Less than 10 minutes. That is how quickly you can start discovering your personal values. Read this post and discover what guiding principles or personal values are important to you.

Discovering Your Personal Values

A set of personal values is like a good ladder that helps you to reach the top of the right wall. Personal vision is necessary for personal growth, but a set of personal values is required for making the growth sustainable. Here we present some methods to discover your personal values. Once you have read these methods set aside 10 minutes for this exercise, pick up your writing instruments, carry your calm mind and find a quiet place. This required preparation is necessary and is briefly discussed in the post Creating Vision Statement With Vision Exercises. Lets look at these methods.

Method 1 - Generation Method

This method is based on the fact that your past decisions and problem solving attitude reflects your personal values. In order to identify your personal values, lets start with the two questions. Answer these questions to start the discovery.

What is the most memorable decision you took in the past that makes you feel good about the incident? Think about this question for a moment. What made it memorable? What makes you feel good about it? What is that you liked about this incident? Write everything down.
What is the most memorable decision you took in the past that does not make you feel good about the incident? Similar to the question above, what is it that has made the decision memorable. Why this does not feel good? What was something that you did not like about this incident? Answer these questions and write them down on a piece of paper.

These two questions are important. They help you discover your liking and disliking about the situation. Now stop here for a moment and try to answer these questions:

From the things that you liked and disliked, can you identify the guiding principles or core values?
What personal values are reflected in the incident here?

If you can not answer these questions at first, don’t be disheartened. Just try hard.

This method should be used to discover your existing personal values. This method will help you determine what is important to you based on the way you have handled situations in past. This is a comparatively simple method but you should also consider the fact that as with most people, your behavior changes with the time and if the incidents you listed are not recent enough, the personal values you discover from this method will relate to the time of the incident.

Method 2 - Filtration Method

This is a more straightforward method. I like this method because, it is easy and the result of this method – the values you discover seem to be more relevant than generation method.

To start with discovering your values, look at the list of most common values below. This list has more than 125 personal values. Select your top 25 values you would like to have and that seem important to you.

Accomplishment Accountability
Accuracy
Adventure
All for one & one for all
Beauty
Calm
Challenge
Change
Cleanliness, orderliness Collaboration
Commitment
Communication
Community
Competence
Competition
Concern for others
Connection
Content over form
Continuous improvement
Cooperation
Coordination
Creativity
Customer satisfaction Decisiveness
Delight of being, joy Democracy
Discipline
Discovery
Diversity
Ease of Use
Efficiency
Equality
Excellence
Fairness
Faith
Faithfulness
Family
Family feeling

Flair
Freedom
Friendship
Fun
Global view
Good will
Goodness
Gratitude
Hard work
Harmony
Honesty
Honor
Improvement Independence
Individuality
Inner peace Innovation
Integrity
Intensity
Justice
Knowledge Leadership
Love, Romance
Loyalty
Maximum utilization (of time, resources) Meaning
Merit
Money
Openness
Patriotism
Peace, Non-violence
Perfection
Personal Growth Pleasure
Power
Practicality Preservation
Privacy
Progress

Prosperity, Wealth
Punctuality
Quality of work Regularity
Reliability Resourcefulness
Respect for others Responsiveness
Results-oriented
Rule of Law
Safety
Satisfying others Security
Self-giving
Self-reliance
Self-thinking
Service
(to others, society)
Simplicity
Skill
Solving Problems
Speed
Spirit in life (using) Stability
Standardization
Status
Strength
Succeed; A will to-
Success, Achievement Systemization Teamwork
Timeliness
Tolerance
Tradition
Tranquility
Trust
Truth
Unity
Variety
Wisdom

This list is a sufficient list of values to choose from and covers mostly all major values. If you have a burning desire to scan all the possible personal values in the world, a comprehensive list of personal values might help you.

Once you have a list of 25 core values, look at them again and select 10 most important personal values. Now, you can stop here or filter it even further to select 5 top personal values.

You Discovered Your Values What Next?

Once you have discovered a set of personal or core values, it is time to define then and develop them. It is time to start living by them and accommodating them in your daily life. At work, at home, with friends or with adversaries, these personal values should be followed all the way to the success.

Did you try Generation Method or Filtration Method? What seems simpler and direct to you? What advise do you have for other readers? Tell us in the comments.

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Further Reading -

Personal Vision is Useless Without a Good Ladder

noreply@blogger.com (Nipun) — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 12:45:00 +0000

In today’s world we all do things and we do it with all our heart in it. We blog, we use twitter, we engage in social conversations, we have a Facebook account and we try to be productive. We use gadgets and Firefox extensions and mobile productivity tools. We are busy reading articles and busy searching all the information in the world and we are really busy. And we become busy to keep ourselves busy with things that don’t matter in life. Take a step back!

You Think You Can Succeed With a Personal Vision?

Create your vision and then work on all these things. Write a blog, tweet all you can and get engaged with social networks. But only after you know why you are doing what you are doing. Without having a clear vision, its like trying to reach the top and not knowing which wall the ladder should be leaning on. We often get so worked up in keeping ourselves busy that we forget the bigger picture. We start climbing the ladder and we do it faster and faster only to realize that this is not the wall it should be leaning on and that we have been trying to climb on a wrong wall. Developing a effective personal vision helps, but just having a compelling vision will not ensure that you will be successful.

You Cannot Succeed With a Personal Vision

After trying to climb on a wall for a long long time, you realize that you were leaning on a wrong wall and you now lean on the right wall. Great!! And you start climbing and you climb for a little while and the ladder starts shaking, it breaks and you are on the ground again. So, now not only do you need the ladder to be leaning on the right wall, you also need the right ladder. Ever heard of that - people falling on the ground because they used a wrong ladder to climb the pinnacle of success? How about Bernie Madoff, Satyam’s Raju Brothers or Enron to start with?

All these mentioned above used a wrong ladder to reach the top of a wall. Their ladder, the values on which they formed their empire, was wrong and that’s why it broke. The guiding principles – or the lack of – that drove them to be successful led them in the wrong direction. They had a vision – a strong and compelling one – but it had no relation with the core-values. The vision was to earn money and they compromised their values for their vision. So even though they were successful, it did not last very long.

You Need a Set of Personal Values

For long-term success, a set of personal values - the second ingredient in the recipe of success – is required. Your personal values or core values are the guiding principles of your life and each action you take should not violate these principles. Your personal values or your guiding principles make you aware of what's the right thing to do and what might not be ethical. Once you know your vision, it becomes your reference for all the activities and tasks you do.

You can use the personal vision to set your priorities and whenever you are lost you can think about your vision to gauge if you are in the right direction. Your core values on the other hand give you the benchmark to live your life and do your job. Your personal values are like the metrics for living your life. You can use these metrics in your daily life to confirm that your actions support the guiding principles and your personal values. The way you conduct yourself in your personal and professional life should be inline with these values. Each day of your life should not violate the criteria of your personal values. If honesty is one of your value, then you should make sure that your every action supports this value of honesty. Nothing you do should violate this value.

In future posts, we will discuss what are some one the common personal values and how to identify these personal values.

You and The Ladder of Success

So to reach the top of the wall you want to, not only do you need to make sure that the ladder is leaning towards the right wall, you also need to make sure you are using the right ladder – a ladder that will not fail and that will take you at the top.

Share your comments. What are your thoughts? How do you determine what ladder is good and what is not? Do you think you can succeed without personal values?

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Further Reading

Create Your Personal Vision Series

noreply@blogger.com (Nipun) — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 13:00:00 +0000

In last couple of days we posted some articles about why and how to create your vision and vision statements. This post summarizes all the articles and may help to review anything you may have missed.

3 Ingredients of Success - Vision, Core Values and Mission Statement – What is a secret for being successful? What does success look like for you? Have you given a thought how you would achieve it? (Continue Reading…)
Why you need a Vision for Your Life? – Do you know where you are going? Do you what you want from your life? (Continue Reading…)
Start Creating A Vision to Transform Your Life – What is common between Walt Disney and Microsoft? Yes, they both define success in their own ways. Walt Disney created Mickey and Mini and Donald and Disney Land, Microsoft is the top software company and more than 80% of the companies running Windows. Both were extremely successful and both knew the secret of success. (Continue Reading…)
How to Create a Compelling Vision and Successful Vision Statement – Success starts with a good vision and creating a vision is not simple. Last week we started creating your vision, in this post we will talk about steps for creating a compelling vision and successful vision statement. This four-step approach is simple and logical and enables you to create your vision and vision statement. This post also presents you two most common ways to create your vision. (Continue Reading)
5 Simple Tips to Powerful and Effective Vision and Vision Statements – A compelling vision inspires you when you are low, guides you when you are feel lost and provides meaning to your tasks at hand. An effective vision statement strengthens and solidifies the vision. So what makes a vision and vision statement powerful and effective? (Continue Reading)
Dr. Martin Luther King’s Vision Statement – “I Have a Dream” – Dr. Martin Luther King was one of the people of modern world who made a huge impact on mankind. He had a dream – a dream of equality, a dream that all people would be equal, that people will not be judged by the color of their skin. He dreamed of a world where everyone will be truly free. (Continue Reading)
Creating Vision Statements with Vision Exercises – Vision exercises are simple and interactive way to create your personal vision. Vision exercises are fun and can help you get focused. These exercises provoke some thoughts and help you understand yourself, your vision and your values in a more comprehensive way. (Continue Reading)
Creating Vision Statement with Vision Exercises – Part 2 – Vision exercises, as we mentioned in the earlier post, are great tools for creating your vision. Part 1 of this article discussed the four requirements to use vision exercises and two vision exercises. This post present four more vision exercises for discovering your personal vision. (Continue Reading)
7+ Powerful Questions to Ask Yourself For Creating Your Personal Vision – We discussed about vision exercises in great detail in previous posts. Part 1 of creating vision using vision exercises presented two exercises and part two presented four more vision exercises. While these exercises are very powerful and very effective each of them require some time to be spent on them. In this post we present a shorter and quicker way to discover your vision. (Continue Reading)

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Photo Courtesy - h.koppdelaney

7+ Powerful Questions to Ask Yourself For Creating Your Personal Vision

noreply@blogger.com (Nipun) — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 12:19:00 +0000

We discussed about vision exercises in great detail in previous posts. Part 1 of creating vision using vision exercises presented two exercises and part two presented four more vision exercises. While these exercises are very powerful and very effective each of them require some time to be spent on them. In this post we present a shorter and quicker way to discover your vision – by asking questions. We discussed how to create vision and why should you have a vision and now we present 7 powerful questions that will help you to create your personal vision.

Asking Questions

Asking questions is a thought-provoking way to solve problems of life. As simple as it may seem but questions have a deep relation with problem solving. To get answers you do need to ask questions. Here, we apply the same principle - asking questions to get a vision for our life. But before you start remember the 4 requirements to start a vision exercise. Below are the 7 questions that will help you discover your vision.

What contributions do you want to have made to the people around you – to your family, friends, work area, community?
What character would you want your family, friends, co-workers to have seen in you?
What change would you want to have brought into your community that would be remembered by generations to come?
On your last day, when you walk out of the office, what change would you want to have made in the work and people you worked with?
What would you want your great grandchildren and their children to know about you that makes them proud?
What are some things in your life today that you wish were different? How would you create that difference? What would your perfect life look like?
What are the different roles you have in your life (Mother, daughter, sister, project manager etc.)? What changes do you want to bring in these roles?

These are the 7+ questions that have a potential of changing the way you look at your life, transforming your life and bringing success.

Once you have your vision…

Once you have discovered your vision the next step as we have discussed number of times in past is to create a compelling vision statement. Once vision statement is created the next thing is to identify your core values.

What do you think?

What do you think about this approach? Which approach do you like better exercises or questions? Tell us in the comments section below.

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Photo Courtesy Leo Reynolds

Further Reading -

Creating Vision Statements with Vision Exercises – Part 2

noreply@blogger.com (Nipun) — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 12:19:00 +0000

Vision exercises, as we mentioned in the earlier post, are great tools for creating your vision. Part 1 of this article discussed the four requirements to use vision exercises and two vision exercises. This post present four more vision exercises for discovering your personal vision. Before continuing further it is recommended that you read how to start creating vision and vision statements.

Before you Begin

Again, as in the previous post, do the required preparation and get the four important things before you start the vision exercises:

A Quiet Place
15 minutes for each exercise
Calm mind
Writing Instruments

If you wish to learn more about these four things and have not read the previous post, please read creating vision statement with vision exercises part 1. Let’s get straight to some more vision exercises.

Vision Exercise 3 – Can’t live without and want to get rid of

This exercise is a little different from the first two exercises mentioned in the previous post. This vision exercise is very simple and straightforward.

To start this exercise, draw a vertical line dividing the piece of paper (or its electronic equivalent) into two parts. Label left side as “Can’t Live Withouts” and the right side as “Want to Get Rid ofs”, and start thinking. Write all the things you can not live without on the left side. Think about what are the essential things you do on a day-to-day basis for your survival. Now think about those things that you would like to get rid of. Start writing them on the right side. After you are done, you would have a list of things you like in your life and would like to continue doing them and another list of things you want to get rid of from your life. Use these two lists to create your vision, the “can’t live without “ list would tell you what are the things that you should consider to include in your vision and “get rid of “ list would give a quick idea of the non-essential things that should be taken off your life to attain your vision.

While this exercise is straightforward, I feel it is a little shallower than the exercises mentioned previously. The strength of this exercise is that it will give you a good idea of what you want and what you don’t in your life. Once you identify the vision, remember to formulate the vision statement and use the simple tips to make it compelling and powerful.

Vision Exercise 4 – Genie exercise

For those who don’t know Genie is a fictional invisible spirit who has special powers to grant any wish of his master. If you have watched the cartoon movie Aladdin, you know what I am talking about. This exercise uses Genie as the medium to discover your vision. Again, before moving ahead keep in mind the four requirements mentioned above.

Imagine this - one weekend you were cleaning your closet and sorting the stuff in it. While you were throwing stuff out of your closet, you found a magic lamp and you rubbed the lamp and a genie appeared. And just like in the movie, the genie asks for your wish. The twist here is that you can ask for only three wishes. Think about this for a moment. What will be the three wishes – one about you, one about your family and/or friends, third for your community . What would be the wishes you would ask the genie? What change would you like to bring in these three areas of your life?

This exercise uses drama and creativity to create the ambience and help create your vision in a fun way.

Vision Exercise 5 – The Retirement Day

Exercise number 5 on this list is related to your work area, though it can be modified to cover broader spectrum of life.

Imagine that you have worked for 34 years in several business areas and after so many years of work, the day has come when you retire. That day is today. You are retiring today. As you walk out of your office and look behind at the main entrance door, you remember all those 34 years. You remember all the jobs you have had, all the employees you supervised and the bosses you reported to. You recall the major projects you worked on that changed your career. What would you like to have achieved in all the years you worked? What contributions would you like to have made to your job, your direct reports, your boss and your projects? What character do you want your colleagues to have seen in you?

This is similar to “With End in Mind” exercise discussed in part 1 but focuses specifically on work area. To make this exercise more comprehensive, you can add any other area of life.

Vision Exercise 6 – What is Your Legacy

Legacy is defined by Merriam Webster as something that is received from an ancestor. In the context of this exercise, legacy would be your name, your image and your personal brand.

Your name and the your reputation is something you earn as you live your life. People inherit the legacy of their parents, grandparents and great grandparents. It is the choices you make and your karma that brings you name and sketches your image. But your children, grandchildren and so on are stuck with that image, that brand – what you earned. Think about the impact your deeds and choices and decisions would make on your coming generations. What legacy would you like to have left for your grandchildren and great grandchildren? What would you want your grandchildren to be proud of? What are the areas you want to leave your legacy in? How do you want your children to look at you and your achievements?

Take a moment and answer these questions. The Legacy exercise is very powerful and conveys the message loud and clear – if you want your grandchildren to be proud of you, do something that makes real positive difference in their life.

The Next Step

These six exercises are great way to discover your vision and values. However, don’t stop just yet. Once you discover your vision the important thing is to document it some place safe by creating your personal vision statement. Remember the simple tips to make your vision statement powerful and compelling. Once you have a vision statement, then find out your core values and develop your mission statement to create the three ingredients required for recipe of success.

Back to you

Now its your turn again. Tell us which exercise did you like the best? Did these work for you? Share your favorite exercise with us or just tell us how you liked this post in the comments below.

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Photo Courtesy o0bsessed

Further Reading

Creating Vision Statements with Vision Exercises

noreply@blogger.com (Nipun) — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 12:37:00 +0000

Vision exercises are simple and interactive way to create your personal vision. Vision exercises are fun and can help you get focused. These exercises provoke some thoughts and help you understand yourself, your vision and your values in a more comprehensive way. This article presents two vision exercises in detail that will help you discover your vision. Once vision is discovered and the mental image is sketched, transfer this image to paper by using vision statements.

Vision Exercises

You can use any one of these exercises for identifying your personal vision. I would recommend reading all the exercises and picking the best one you like and trying that out. While all these exercises will help you create your personal vision, each one of them is a little different than others. Each exercise has its own strength and there are some aspects missing in some of them. So, if you have got some time on hand, try all of these exercises and consolidate the result to make your vision powerful and effective.

Required Preparation

Before jumping to the exercise there are several things that should be kept in mind to get the most out of these exercises. Having all the required items to start with will ease the process and benefit you the most. Here are the four important things required for these vision exercises:

A Quiet Place – Find a quiet place where you are not disturbed for until the exercise is complete. This will help you concentrate and eliminate the distractions.
15 minutes – Each of these exercises will take about 15 minutes to complete.
Calm mind – I believe a calm mind is the most important asset needed for this exercise. It will help you concentrate during the exercise and help you generate ideas. Creating a time slot on your schedule will mentally prepare you for the exercise.
Writing Instruments – The final thing you will need is writing instruments – pen and paper or a computer. Anything where you can take notes and organize them later will work.

Vision Exercise 1 – With the end in mind

Mr... Stephen Covey presents an exercise to identify your personal vision and values in his book The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. Below is the gist of the exercise mentioned in the book –

“Imagine you are dead and are looking down at your funeral from the heaven. Four speakers are scheduled to speak about you at this service. First person to speak is someone from your family, the second person is one of your friends, the third person is some you work with and the fourth speaker is from the community. Think about for a moment, what would you like these speakers from four different areas of your life – family, friendship, work and community, to speak about? What would you like to have contributed to these areas? What character would you want these four people to have seen in you? In what manner do want to have affected their life?”

Take few minutes, think about these questions and write the answers. Keep fine tuning the answers and finalize them to form a vision statements. While you formulate your thoughts into vision and finalize into vision statements, apply the simple tips for writing good vision statements.

Vision Exercise 2 – Your Superb Lifetime

This exercise takes a different approach to discovering your vision. This vision exercise helps to identify your vision but not by asking what would you want people to say about you rather this exercise asks vision questions to someone else – you. Well lets get right to the exercise.

“If you had all the resources and power and wanted to create a perfect life, a flawless day, an exciting week and a superb lifetime, what would it look like? Imagine the life unfolding exactly as you want, what would you want it to look like?

Ask yourself these questions: What is different in your life? Who are the people with you? How are their characters? How much money do you earn and how do you earn that? What is your daily schedule? What do you do for enjoyment? Are you doing community service? If yes, what kind of community service is it?

Again, before continuing ahead, think about these questions and try to answer them. Once you do have answers to these question, write them down and finalize the vision statement and use the simple tips to make it better.

This exercise touches upon several different areas of life by asking questions to yourself and what you want to do rather than what you want other people to think about you.

After you are done…

After you have completed these two exercises, created a vision statement and applied the simple tips, next step is to identify your values and build your personal mission statement. We will talk about personal values and mission statement here in coming weeks.

Now to my favorite part, comments and questions from the readers. Which was a better exercise for you? What did you like about it? Was it pretty easy to visualize the scene in both cases? Were you able to answer the questions easily? Tell us about that in the comment section below.

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Further Reading