Role Models
Good Evening one and all,
A quick thank you first of all, and welcome to all our new subscribers to the daily dose of motivational medicine. I hope you manage to get something of interest and use from the contents.
Today I would like to speak to you about your role models. Who do you look to, to provide you with the information, the skills and the techniques that you need in order to get those things done that you need to get done. These are the people who will support you no matter what - but pull you up when you sink a little low. So who do you look to when you need inspiration?
I am fortunate to know some amazing people. The people I work with are experts in their own fields and I desperately play catch up on a daily basis to make sure I don't let my end of the bargain down. Now as a Librarian, Consultant and Information Manager, one might argue that I could offer a great deal to the mix, and I do - just that I am also aware that I still have a lot to learn. Then there are other people in my life who are remarkable. My significant other is always willing to challenge conventional thinking and is willing to try, try and try again something new in order to find out what works and what doesn't. I think it was Einstein who said "I have not failed 10,000 times, I have found 10,000 ways that will not work." My partner is like that.And then there is my family. My children have a lot to teach me, as dd / did - my parents, aunts, uncles, cousins - this year especially has taught me a lot about human nature.
And then of course there are your friends and acquaintances, your social groups and church groups along with your personal belief system, and your faith. If you have friends and acquaintances like mine you will have a wealth of people to inspire you, to challenge you, to nurture and support you as you pick your way through this debris field we call life. (BTW - a debris field - are things that get dumped in your path by well meaning people - usually those people who don't want you to change !!)
Here are a few suggestions for you (and you would be disappointed if I didn't give you some :-)
Your parents - you may not agree with all they do, but they will have instilled some disciplines into your way of thinking, and acting. If your parents are smokers - then you are 100% more likely to smoke than those who do not have parents that smoke. Frightening statistic. I had one parent who was a smoker and one that didn't. Thankfully I chose the non-smoking side to fall down upon.
Then there are your siblings and other relatives - not to mention those people you spend a considerable amount of time with every single day - yes your co-workers. Spend some time with them and find out what makes them the kind of people that they are. You may find things that you want to incorporate into your lives, but the other side is just as important - what don't you want to be/do "when you grow up?"
And talking of the people you work with - my first professional role was with a group of 70 other individuals - who all had a role to play in the organisation and I took the opportunity to learn from as many of them as I could, so do the same. Fastrack your own career by leveraging the knowledge of others. And no I don't mean stealing other people's ideas. Again - find out what worked and what didn't and make adjustments to your game plan accordingly.
The final point is this - what are you hoping to do and achieve? It may be, the people you need to emulate are not available to you (for whatever reason), so find as many books, articles and other writings as you can, and spend some time studying them. People like Churchill and Socrates are no longer with us, but their writings are. And people have devoted their lives to find out how other people live. So make good use of your public library. Be an avid reader of things outside your normal reading comfort zone - you never know what you will find.
However, I will make a point here - if you make a habit of reading the tabloids and gossip mags, guess what - your point of view will be slightly off colour (so to speak) so please make sure you read more than one - at least that way you may get a more balanced view.
Remember what goes into your mind, is likely to come out of your mouth...
July 8, 2008 at 18:22
Reader Comments (1)
(according to Mike Dooley)
I have this new thing I do where I make a list of things that I want but I write it in a specific format. It works!
I AM SO HAPPY AND GRATEFUL NOW THAT I have a new car.
(you write whatever it is that you want at the end of the sentence) BTW, the new car happened and it was GIVEN to me.