A 20/20 Vision for a 2020 Year

What would 2020 look like for you if you actually lived liked you were dying as the song goes?

What if you didn’t need to be faced with that circumstance but could be intentional with living out your legacy; what we call Legendary Living.

The challenge many of us face is we actually don’t have a real good picture of what our desired legacy is. We have become so focused on “fracking” ourselves, like the oil recovery process, to give our best, more often based on other people’s needs, desires, concerns and fears we have and in doing so, lose sight of how to “foster” ourselves. To be curious about who we are and why we matter and discover or recover our legacy our Legendary Living.

I used to set up some goals and expectations going into a new year and more often than not they fell by the wayside and emotionally went into the failed department. Exercise more, lose weight, get organized, learn a new skill, live life to the fullest, save more money, spend less money, quit smoking, and spend more time with family and friends are the top 10 most common goals or resolutions people set every year.

I believe the reason new year goals frequently don’t succeed is they are part of the “fracking” experience. We are feeling or thinking we need to do more, more with less, help more, be more available, more, more, more and more. You see this pattern of more is exactly what fracking is about getting more out of something already mined so to speak. 

What if we aren’t even in the right mine? What if you’re in the right mine but the wrong department? What if there is another mine that is just waiting for you to show up at?

Legendary Living is about being in the right mine, in the right season, with the right people for the right outcome. It’s about our desired legacy and fostering it every day.

So, for 2020 instead of more “fracking” goals lets go after a 2020 vision for you and your desired legacy; and answering 3 Questions:

1.      What are you passionate about?

2.      Who are you to be in relationship with?

3.      Why are the first two questions so hard to answer?

Your answer to these three questions will reveal who you are (identity) and why you matter (legacy) and the success system that drives it.

 As a professional leadership coach, I find that most leaders are not able to easily respond to what they are passionate about and if they do respond immediately it is more of expected response than their authentic selves. Passion really is choices and choices reveal what we are passionate about and the system that those choices are executed in.

What are you passionate about?

If I am passionate about being overwhelmed then the frustration, unmet expectations, anger and judgement that my passion releases will create a dictatorial workplace culture that will shut down creativity, innovation, engagement and prosperity.

 If I am passionate about being curious then the genuine interest, being valued and heard, joy and confidence will create a participatory workplace culture that empowers creativity, innovation, engagement and prosperity.

Remember your system is perfectly designed to achieve the results you get and your passion is the fuel for it. So, what are you passionate about and does it line up with your desired legacy?

 Who am I to be in relationship with? 

As human beings we were made to be in relationship with one another. Every faith or living system has human interaction. I like to suggest that if you live in a closet, by yourself, with no lights, windows or doors your relationships are pretty simple just you. As soon as you have a light and a mirror it won’t be long until you need a volley ball named Wilson (Tom Hanks in Castaway) and if you have a door and open it then this relationship thing just got a whole lot more complex. I mean 16 different personality types, 5 love languages, 5 conflict management styles, 5 learning styles, 4 appreciation languages, social styles, men are from Mars and women are from Venus and emotional pasts that often inform the present and take the future hostage.

Knowing who you are is essential to being able to meet others where they and you are at. Whether it is having a difficult conversation, passionately disagreeing without taking it personally or being empowered by healthy conflict and change, having a system that actually protects relationships, empowers emotional fairness and increases physical and psychological wellness. The answer to this question becomes very clear as your clarity of who you are is achieved and how that clarity becomes attractive to others; people want what you have!

Why are the first two questions so hard to answer?

This question is an interesting one in that as soon as you read it, you most likely responded with a commiserating laugh; “Yep exactly; those questions are tough.”

Think of this question as being your system that serves as both a platform and filter for how you answer the first two questions. We each have our own platform and filter and it is composed of a blend of transactional (what we do and how we do it) relational (who we are and why we matter) ingredients based on our worldview.

Our system as we said earlier is perfectly designed to achieve the results we are getting and if we want different results we need to change the system. It seems that if 2020 is going to be more of 2019 that we need a system that puts greater value on working together than not.

What if we had a system that was curious about our similarities rather than highlighting our differences and that curiosity came without expectations, judgement or opinion? What if we were genuinely curious about why someone was passionate about something?

What if we start that curiosity question with ourselves; what am I genuinely curious about? Its right here where we define our worldview, our platform and filter, to answer the first 2 questions.

A 2020 vision for a 2020 year that starts with you and I being better people together!

What’s at risk to go after it? What’s at risk not too?

For those leaders who are serious about growth and making a positive impact in their spheres and would like some help with that, you can reach out to Michael Walker for a complimentary 45minute coaching conversation. You can reach Coach Mike at michael@capstonecoaching.ca We look forward to helping you achieve your desired success!