Knowing how to invent your future builds confidence and skill to seize opportunities that emerge only in the present and are often missed. My grandfather always said, “Luck is when preparation meets with opportunity.” Based on my interviews with 20 self-made leaders, preparation for a successful life requires the following:
Winning framework
Know yourself: The good, the bad, and the ugly so you can lead with and expand the good, and mitigate the rest
Find your natural calling like a surfer riding the sweet spot on the wave in the flow of cause and effect in your life and business
Paint compelling pictures of your dreams as a guide for you, and those who support your success
Build and rebuild your commitment and the commitment of those who follow you until a powerful momentum is created
Respond to the flow of the moment like an athlete in “The Zone,” versus reacting to your ego’s fears and wild hopes
Master inner stillness like the eye of a hurricane, or the heart of a master, which creates power and confidence that lifts people out of their habits
Our calling
Our calling is not our profession, an activity we choose, or what someone expects of us. It is our essence, or as some would say, the trinity of our soul that each of us is born to express. Our consciousness of it can be buried under an avalanche of fears, but since it is our essence, it is always with us. We just have to rediscover its nature and how to use it to invent our futures, which is applied differently at each stage of life.
In each of our lives, the moment we truly discover our calling, everything we do is different. Like the old Zen master said, “Before enlightenment we carry water and chop wood. After enlightenment we carry water and chop wood” … but now with a certain joy and skill we had never imagined.
Build your early life around your greatest potential
When your entire life is ahead of you, the earlier you make the right choices to focus your youthful energy, the more rewarding, productive, and meaningful your life will become.
Probably the hardest thing for me was to recognize who I was. Once I knew my natural gifts, I started painting the picture of my future. — Bill McGinnis, CEO, NTS Corp.
Mid-life acceleration — continuously invent an expanding future
Making the right moves with your experience and lessons during your peak earning years will leverage the trajectory of your life.
My biggest challenge was the transition from being a great cook to teaching and leading. — David LeFevre, chef and owner of three renowned restaurants
Enrich your life with freedom and renewed purpose
Focusing your wisdom to enrich your full potential and experience to live with a powerful purpose is the secret to happiness and fulfillment.
It is when I am connected to my purpose that I am at my best. I have access to an intelligence beyond myself. — Larry Senn, founder of Senn-Delany Leadership (Just turned 80)
Paul David Walker is an executive leadership consultant and coach. He has successfully guided the CEOs and senior executive teams of such Fortune 500 and midsized companies as New York Life, Mutual of Omaha, Chase GIS, Finance One, Pacific Mutual, Rockwell International, Conexant Systems, Harrods, Anne Klein, Union Pacific, StarKist, The City of Long Beach, Culver Studios and many other thriving organizations. He also is author of Unleashing Genius: Leading Yourself, Teams, and Corporations.
