Envision what Really Good looks like
It’s time to dream. Look around you. See connections, and tie them together. See the beauty around you. Acknowledge everything you don’t know and know that anything is possible. Use both sides of your brain and add them together. Let them take you outside the box, outside of everything you know, and there you’ll see it. What is it? You’ll know when you see it. It will be better than you could have imagined.
Don’t envision alone; bring them along. Who are they? Envision that too. Participate. Let it resonate. It is all of your vision. What do they see? What do they want? What do they dream? What resonates for them? What’s the purpose?
Your purpose and your vision are intertwined, unable to be unwoven. The complexity is what makes it yours, all of yours, together. As you talk, the complexity deepens; as you listen, it deepens more. As it deepens, it expands. Allow it to crack your brain open, crack your heart open to what is possible. Which is everything. Don’t hold back. Listen to it. Sense it. Feel it. Think it. See it. Hear it. Touch it. Taste it.
Build the box, then step outside it, out into the universe. Now step back. Pause. Listen again. Think bigger. Think beyond what is possible. Remember, anything is possible.
Empower your people and networks
You can’t do it alone, nor should you. Embolden. Inspire. Get in there. Get others excited, get them on board, get them invested. How can you get their hearts in it? By putting your heart into it, even as you know it will continue to change. By letting it go, even though it feels like yours, so it belongs to everyone. The people you know and love – who do they know? Who do they love? Who do the ones they love, love? Who can they excite? Who do they disagree with? Who makes them think? Who makes them angry? Who challenges them? Inspire those people too. Let their hearts in too.
You aren’t in charge anymore. Give your vision a lift, and let them take it with them. Build synergies. Create connections. Leverage differences. Lift off. Leverage all the senses. Explain why it matters, why it makes sense, why it’s true. Ask, what is true? Let them experience how it feels. Show them the difference it makes. Be vulnerable. Be authentic. Connect. Let it spread. Allow the vision to expand as it inspires, and morph as it touches those around it. Fill it with the hearts and souls of everyone it touches. Allow it to expand and spread and become its own.
Execute your vision and values
It’s time to make it happen. What is ‘it’? You’ll know it when you see it. Experiment, iterate, prototype. Make mistakes. Make more mistakes. Learn from them. Experiment again. Be squishy, leave your vision big. Don’t allow it to diminish as ‘reality’ sets in. There is no reality. Keep your values in mind. Collaborate. Lean on each other. Listen to each other. Challenge each other to do more, think differently, think together. Learn from each other. Work in tandem, work together, talk through it, sense through it, feel through it, think through it.
Create something, anything. What is it? Doesn’t matter. Create something else. It will become what it needs to be. Try. Fail. Build. Design it from scratch. Model it on something else. Break it, and put it back together. Break it again. Implement it and ask each other, what happened? Affect something. Feel the effects. Realize what is happening.
At a standstill? Do something, do anything. Be open to accidents. Be open to changes in direction, changes in mood. Be open to changes in vision in voice. Keep talking to each other.
Do you see it yet? Either way, keep going. You’ll know when to stop.
Evaluate your performance
Step back. Take a break. Have a snack. Breathe. Ask yourself, ask each other, what worked? What was beautiful? Where can you shift? Where were you surprised? What didn’t you expect? What was the criteria? What was the goal? What is the goal now? Has it changed? What new ideas were generated? What was the value? How do you feel? How do you want to feel?
Be kind to yourself, be kind to each other. But be honest. Be true. Be compassionate. Be tough. Assess and calculate, but also feel it deep inside you. Look over it, evaluate it. But then close your eyes. Now what do you think? Listen to the tiny voice inside you – what is it saying? Listen to each other. Listen to understand.
Ask each other the hard questions. Don’t hold back, don’t surrender. Enjoy the pleasant surprise of understanding you are mistaken. Then, give yourself grace. Give each other grace. Mistakes are a gift. Allow them to crack open your minds to a new reality. Process the new information. Toss it back and forth and allow it to grow each time. Build on it. The mistake will become something beautiful. You needed that. You didn’t know. Look into each other’s eyes. Does your vision still match your values?
Explore your context and decisions
Step back. Look at what’s around you. Allow your vision to grow into open spaces. What’s new? What’s changed? What do you see differently? Make new connections. Sever the ones that no longer serve you. What should you do next? What do you know now, that you didn’t know before? See with new eyes. See the world through each other’s eyes. How have you grown? How have you all grown? Where have you grown apart and where have you grown together? What have you lost?
Sit still. Observe. Dig deep. Take another step back. Now ten steps more. What do you see? What is just outside your field of vision? You know it’s there. Get quiet so you can feel it.
Now move. Dance. What comes up now? Is it different? How has it changed? What do you see now? What’s different now? What will be different in the future? Get closer. What’s different? Get closer still. What can you see? Sit with your success. Sit with your failure. Know in your heart they are the same thing. Ask yourself “What don’t I know yet?” What will you never know? Be humble. Be brave. Be an explorer.
Envision what Really Good looks like
Dream bigger…
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