What Will Matter

 

This week we share a powerful message from Julio Melara. As you read the list you may or may not agree with all the points, but many are worth taking the time to reflect on and taking personal inventory to see if we are focusing on what truly matters!

We all have one life to live and give on this earth so let's make it count!

("The purpose of life is a life of purpose." Robert Bryne)

Living our Lives on Purpose

This past weekend I woke up on Saturday morning to an email a good friend had forwarded to me.  It was Michael Josephson’s “What Will Matter…” quote.  It has been at least fifteen years, since I last read it.  As I read it and reflected on words and insights I can honestly say it resonates so much more with me today. I share it with you today, to remind you to maximize the moments, prioritize your life and make sure you live on purpose!

What Will Matter…
 
Ready or not, some day it will all come to an end.

There will be no more sunrises, no minutes, hours or days.  All the things you collected, whether treasured or forgotten will pass to someone else.

Your wealth, fame and temporal power will shrivel to irrelevance. It will not matter what you owned or what you were owed.

Your grudges, resentments, frustrations and jealousies will finally disappear. So too, your hopes, ambitions, plans and to do lists will expire.

The wins and losses that once seemed so important will fade away.

It won't matter where you came from or what side of the tracks you lived on at the end.

It won't matter whether you were beautiful or brilliant.  Even your gender and skin color will be irrelevant.

So what will matter? How will the value of your days be measured?

What will matter is not what you bought but what you built, not what you got but what you gave.

What will matter is not your success but your significance.

What will matter is not what you learned but what you taught.

What will matter is every act of integrity, compassion, courage, or sacrifice that enriched, empowered or encouraged others to emulate your example.

What will matter is not your competence but your character.

What will matter is not how many people you knew, but how many will feel a lasting loss when you're gone.

What will matter is not your memories but the memories that live in those who loved you.

What will matter is how long you will be remembered, by whom and for what.

Living a life that matters doesn't happen by accident. It's not a matter of circumstance but of choice.

Choose to live a life that matters.

Be blessed this week.

Drago

 

Just Show Up & Do The Work!

Positive leaders don’t lead because they want recognition or enemies. They lead because there is something they must do, build, create, transform, and change. They lead because it’s who they are and what they are meant to do.

However, with leadership comes scrutiny, praise, critics, and attacks. A leader could find a cure for cancer and would still have some people criticize them for it. There was even once a leader who transformed the world by feeding the hungry, healing the sick, and loving the unlovable, and yet he was killed for it.

If you are a leader, expect to be attacked. Positive leadership doesn’t mean you won’t be criticized. It means you have the grit and belief to overcome it. Positive leaders don’t lead in a tranquil sea of positivity, but through the storms of adversity and negativity.

Leadership is knowing that the critics will criticize you while still saying what needs to be said and doing what needs to be done. History doesn’t remember the critics. It remembers the one who withstood criticism to accomplish something great.

In our modern social-media–driven world, you will have more fans and critics than ever. The keys are: Don’t let praise go to your head and don’t let critics into your head. Be so invested in your craft that you don’t have time to listen to the naysayers. No time for negativity. You’re too busy creating the future.

If I would have listened to the naysayers and critics, I would have stopped working on my craft years ago. I want to encourage you to never let the opinion of others define you and your future. Your identity doesn’t come from what the world says about you. It comes from who you are on the inside.

Your work, leadership, and mission are too important to allow others to define your destiny.

No matter what anyone says, just show up and do the work.

If they praise you, show up and do the work.

If they criticize you, show up and do the work.

If no one even notices you, just show up and do the work.

Just keep showing up, doing the work, and leading the way.

Lead with passion.

Fuel up with optimism.

Have faith.

Power up with love.

Maintain hope.

Be stubborn.

Fight the good fight.

Refuse to give up.

Ignore the critics.

Believe in the impossible.

Show up.

Do the work.

You’ll be glad you did.

True grit leads to true success.

Be blessed this week.     

Drago

 

Powerful Moments! - Drago

This week we share a powerful message from author and speaker, Jon Gordon. Jon's message is a great reminder to us all and is easy to be overlooked with the business of life. We need to stop, get our heads up from our devices and look around, powerful moments are all around us!

You know who they are. You see them every day.

They exist in the spaces between our busy lives.

He's the security guard that stands between the world outside and your office inside.

She's the register person between your groceries and your car.

She's the bank teller between you and your money.

The train conductor. Dry cleaner. Secretary. The waiter between you and your lunch.

Even your sweet faced children who stand between the front door and your bedroom when you arrive home from work.

They are the familiar faces we see every day. They are the people we spend time with, even for brief moments that make life more meaningful, more connected, more real.

They are the people we encounter between where we were and where we are going.

At various times during your day they stand right before you, here and now.

And I have a theory that says how we treat the people in between our busy lives is directly related to our happiness.

For how we treat the people in between where we were and where we are going is indicative of how we live in the present moment.

Unfortunately I've noticed that as a society we are becoming more comfortable ignoring others. It’s a common practice on the NYC subways but even during my walks in Ponte Vedra Beach I will say hi to people and they just walk right past me without acknowledging that I exist.

If you walk right past the security guard at work without saying hello because you are just too busy then you are not in the present moment. If busyness and stress prevent you from connecting with your co-workers when you arrive at work then you are not in the present moment. And it is during the present moment where happiness, relationships, love and life are created.

To live life fully, then, is to make the most of the time in between where you were and where you are going and the best way to make sure you are doing this is to create meaningful interactions with the people in between. When you really think about it we all represent the people in between for we all live between the lives of each other-connected by phones, cars, roads, trains, oceans, planes, the internet and most of all love and energy.

So share your kindness, time, energy and compassion. Don't let the seemingly insignificant moments slip away for in reality they mean everything. We are all the people in between and when we recognize the significance of each other we also feel it and experience it inside ourselves.

Be blessed this week.     

Drago

 

Now Available In Store!

Now Available Online!

14 Days of Self Love

Growth Inside Fuels Growth Outside

A group of tourists walked through a quaint English village in wonderment. They were enamored by the town's winding cobblestone streets, the beauty of its courtyards and plazas, and the sense of history emanating from its ancient churches. While strolling through the local park, the tourists struck up conversation with an elderly gentleman and found out that he had lived in the town for his entire life. One of the tourists, eager to hear more about the town's history, asked, "Sir, have any great men been born in this village?" "Nope," said the old man, "only babies."

Personal Growth Is a Process

In our twenties, we think ahead to when we'll be ideally situated in our career, positioned to do exactly what we enjoy, and enjoying immense influence in our occupation. Like children on the way to Disneyland, we impatiently await arrival at our destination instead of appreciating the journey there. However, as we age we encounter an uncomfortable truth: growth doesn't happen automatically. We cannot coast through life hoping one day to stumble across our dreams. Unless we set aside time to grow into the person we desire to be, we'll not reach our potential.

Leaders develop daily, not in a day. They commit themselves to the process of growth, and over time they reap the rewards of daily investments in their development. In this lesson, I'd like to share five principles to encourage you to adopt a lifestyle of personal growth.

#1 Growth is the great separator of those who succeed and those who do not.

When I went to college, there was no gap between my peers and me-none at all. We started on the same level. However, at the age of 17, I made a commitment to spend an hour a day on my personal growth. I studied and read, filing the lessons I learned along the way. Now, in most cases, the gap between my former classmates and me is pretty wide. Am I smarter than they are? Absolutely not. Many of them got better grades than I did in college. It's the growth factor-my commitment to the process of personal growth-that has made the difference.

#2 Growth takes time, and only time can teach us some things.

When it comes to personal growth, you cannot substitute for time. Yet, the mere passage of time doesn't make you wise. Experience is not the best teacher; evaluated experience is the best teacher. To gain insights from your experience, you have to engage in reflective thinking. I have a habit of taking ten minutes every evening to look back on the day. As I reflect on what happened, lessons emerge, and I capture them in my notebook so that I can learn from them.

#3 Growth inside fuels growth outside.

The highest reward of our toil is not what we get for it, but who we become by it. At the age of 17, I decided that I would read, file, and begin to prepare lessons. From that simple discipline I accumulated a wealth of content that fueled my speaking and writing. I never set out to be a leadership specialist; I was simply diligent about reading, filing, and studying. With respect to personal growth, take the long view on results. The most important question to ask is not "What am I getting?" from the discipline of personal growth, the most important question is, "Who am I becoming?"

#4 Take responsibility for your own growth.

For 15 to 20 years, the school system holds us responsible for growth. Educational curriculum clearly spells out, "here's what you do next," and "here's the next step." Then we graduate with diplomas and certificates, and we no one longer have anyone to map out the next step for us. If we want to continuing growing, we have to do it ourselves. We have to put together a game plan so that we become students of life who are always expanding our minds and drawing upon our experiences.

#5 Determine the areas of your life in which you need to grow.

You've probably heard someone say, "You can do anything as long as you put your mind to it." Sadly, as nice as that sounds, it simply isn't true. In watching people grow, I have discovered that, on a scale of 1-10, people can only improve about two notches. For instance, I love to sing; that's the good news. The bad news is that I can't carry a tune. Now, let's be generous and say that, as a singer, I'm a "two." If I put lots of money, effort, and energy into developing my voice, perhaps I can grow into a "four." News flash: on a ten-point scale, four is still below average. With regards to my career, it would be foolish for me to focus my personal growth on my voice. At best, I'd only become an average singer, and no one pays for average.

Don't work on your weaknesses. Devote yourself to fine-tuning your strengths. I work exceptionally hard on personal growth in four areas of my life. Why only four? Because I'm only good at four things. I lead, communicate, create, and network. That's it. Outside of those areas, I'm not very valuable. However, within those areas of strength I have incredible potential to make a difference.

Where can you make a difference?

Have a great week unless you choose otherwise.

Drago