Filed under: Business Related, General, Growth + Development, Thought-Provoking | Tags: 2008, Jinny Ditzler, new year, your best year yet, Your year-end review
As we approached 2009, people loved this Year
End Review article, so let’s not reinvent the wheel. Wishing you your best year yet!
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As the end of 2010 approaches and 2011 peeks around the corner, I’d like to share an exercise and resource to help bring growth and focus to the transition of the upcoming year – Your Year-End Review.
This exercise can be done alone or in groups,
dealing with business or personal aspects of you.
You need 1-2 hours of time, a comfy spot, a cup of tea or glass of wine, and pen and paper. Most of us are at computers or on PDA’s much of our day, and when you take it back to basics, you use different parts of your brain. You can make different connections.
Filed under: Business Related, General, Growth + Development | Tags: Conscious Capitalism, Holidays, Investing Better, Live on Less, Pepsi Refresh, Rabbit Hole, Reverse the Fallout, Shedding, Tea Party
I was spending time with an old friend last week who is experiencing a separation from his wife.
“That’s going around.” I said. “You know it’s been a really tough few years for people.”
Kind of an obvious statement. But then this man, who is intimately tapped into his community in many ways, said, “Until recently, I thought it was just me. Once you start sharing and opening up with people, the floodgates open.”
The truth is, everyone is experiencing the Fallout of the last few years in different ways. And it’s happening everywhere.
It is not often you get the opportunity to listen to a creative titan like Ron Howard speak. So when I heard he was receiving the 2009 Extraordinary Contribution to Filmmaking Award at this year’s Austin Film Festival, I was eager to hear his advice to up-and-coming talent.
Howard’s keynote was a nod to the learning and collaboration taking place at this year’s conference. And as I suspected, everything he shared could be translated among all industries in business and across life.
Here are a few of Howard’s thoughts, paraphrased by me. As you read this, may you be reminded of the possibilities that creativity lends to presence, collaboration and experience.
You have to prep when creating.
Howard explained it’s essential to talk about the story you are creating in the beginning stages of a film, getting everyone on board with the vision from the start. Aside from inspiring collaboration, you further everyone towards a unified vision when you integrate all parts into the bigger idea.
It’s not about the end result, it’s about the journey.
An audience member asked him how to keep the audience engaged in a story, especially when they know what happens, like in Apollo 13.
Howard’s response was clear: It’s not so much about getting the audience to be invested in the ending. The trick is to get them invested in the character’s journey, engaged in how their life works and intrigued as to how the story will progress.
Then when asked if he could only experience one, choosing between a successful premiere and the struggle and adventures of making a film, he answered he would will always pick the process and richness of filmmaking.
Utilize your resources to the best of your ability and fulfill the creative possibilities of a project.
Resources = money, time and talent. Your resources are never the same. Each person works differently, especially in regards to talent. A canned approach doesn’t leverage the possibility of the story.
No one is perfect. Continue to dream forward.
Ron Howard admitted that if you asked him to forecast the results of a movie, he would have about a 50% success rate in his prediction. In other words: you can’t always guess what’s going to "win."
Inherent in his message is that big rewards take risk. Do your job, fulfill your role, trust your team and lead. Do it knowing that every time you take a step forward in to the unknown, it is a risk. But every time you step, you continue to dream forward.
Each film is special, just as each project and initiative has its own chemistry. Continuing to dream forward and think about creative possibility with your current project or one in the near future takes some of the pressure off "right now" being all you’ve got.
Thank you, Mr. Howard, for the reminder that we can all be championed to great possibility in work, life, and creativity.
Best,
jen
Your Wing Woman
Additional Resources
Elizabeth Gilbert "Nurturing Creativity"
The Austin Film Festival is one of the top screenwriting festivals in the world. It’s a week filled with learning and making connections – one big cornucopia of tips on getting your work produced and how to hone your craft. With direct access to Hollywood giants, development executives and producers, writers are given an opportunity to pitch, collaborate, absorb and be among their peers and mentors.
Filed under: Business Related, General, Growth + Development, Resources, Thought-Provoking
This Austin City Limits Festival graced us with the presence of a close friend in the music business. Despite the fact that she travels with an expense account, we invited her to stay with us, and she took us up on the offer.
She returned the favor in the form of a couple of Artist passes, and my music festival experience was forever transformed. We had chairs to sit on, free drinks and snacks to indulge in, and celebrities to admire. And let’s not forget the up-close performances.
We had arrived. We had access in the highest form.
It came unexpectedly: a simple invitation led to a stellar experience. It got me thinking about access, and what it grants us.
And, how often are we given ‘permission’ to enter, and we miss the opportunity?
Defined literally, access is the “right to enter.” And it’s more than just that, access is power. Where and what you want to enter may look different, but just like success, access is something we all want and aspire to.
Access gets you conversations, meetings, relationships and experiences that would not have been possible without being invited or given the right to enter. And, the invitation to “enter” can come in many forms…
- a meeting request with a new group of people in your department leads to a new business idea
- a look from a stranger encouraging you to strike up a conversation leads to a new client or friend
- bad press about your business leads you to an opportunity to make a more accurate name for yourself
Once you learn how to look for it, access is everywhere. In the coming weeks, I want to challenge you to:
- Notice the opportunities and invitations that you choose and those that you pass up over the next week.
- Be clear about where you need or want more access.
- Let the clarity behind answer #2 guide your decisions, participation and engagement.
Who knows? You may determine that a project you previously deemed a ‘pain in the ass’ has the potential to create access for you to leadership on the team. Dealing with an unresolved conflict might be the exact access to attaining a better working relationship and developing a part of your leadership.
As Deepak Chopra says, “You and I are essentially infinite choice-makers. In every moment of our existence, we are in that field of all possibilities where we have access to an infinity of choices.”
I believe in you.
Your Wing Woman,
jen
Do you want more access? Jen Spencer Coaches partners with individuals and companies to help them identify access opportunities to get closer to their vision, goals, and dreams!
Last weekend, I went on a tear cleaning up my home office, computer and closets. Even though I’m a fairly neat and organized person, I was floored by the stuff I discovered.
I’ll air out a dirty drawer of specifics:
· Hundreds of already entered old business cards from past meetings
· A box of old JSC branding collateral from two evolutions ago
· White jeans from 1999 that I swore were going to look good on me one day
· A decade-old portable CD player.
· Old printer cords and boxes that once held electronics
· A stack of 8×10 pics, showcasing that horrendously awkward stage around 3rd grade. I’m not above vanity, yet a wallet size would have been enough.
Several Wilco albums later, the piles were finally complete. In one corner, trash. In the other, giveaway bags. Four hours spent getting complete on older versions of myself; purging, organizing, choosing and I finally realized what I had created: Much needed space.
My cleaning had gone beyond making new-found freedom in the junk drawer, it also cleared space for that which I wanted to manifest. Seasonally speaking, Autumn is a natural time for change. Harvest Moons give us brighter nights to finish gathering those much-needed crops.
So now I ask you, what space can you create in your life? What can you purge? What can you harvest?
First, define your crop. Where did you put most of your energy and labor this Spring and Summer? Whether you have been re-organizing your company, looking for a job, enjoying some down time, creating a website or making a baby, you’ve been planting lots of seeds, even if you didn’t know which vegetable you were planting.
Be clear about what crop you want to reap – more space, better results, focused creativity.
Secondly, take inventory. It’s essential to growth to reflect on where you’ve been and see reality. Do you have a crop that needs to be moved because it’s taking up the resources of more powerful bearing fruits? Did you plant a crop that no longer tastes good to you?
Taking inventory allows for you to unearth a forgotten skill, to discover an item you can use or to recognize a behavior you have that is (or isn’t) working for you. Through this process, we create space for new possibilities to appear.
Where would your ‘spring’ cleaning best serve you?
In strategy? In action? In relationships? In completion?
Consciously defining and creating your space gives your dreams and goals a place to live. Enjoy the harvest!
Your Wing Woman,
jen
Recommended Reading:
Fetzer Institute’s Seasons
