Horizon Point Consulting

Category: Personal Development

We all need a little personal development mixed in with our professional and career development. Read blogs in this category for stories and best practices for personal wellness and wellbeing, skills improvement, and  more.

  • The Essence of Authenticity

    The Essence of Authenticity

    We’re talking about #authenticity here at The Point Blog. This poem captures the essence of advice for authentic living.

     

    when it came to listening

    my mother taught me silence

    if you are drowning their voice with yours

    how will you hear them she asked

     

    when it came to speaking

    she said do it with commitment

    every word you say 

    is your own responsibility

     

    when it came to being

    she said be tender and touch at once

    your need to be vulnerable to live fully

    but rough enough to survive it all

     

    when it came to choosing

    she asked me to be thankful

    for the choices i had that 

    she never had the privilege of making

     

    Lessons from mumma

    from

    The sun and her flowers

    Rupi kaur

  • The Year of Authenticity

    The Year of Authenticity

    2016 was the “Year of Stories.” 2017 was the “Year of Innovation.” And whereas these themes for 2016 and 2017 at Horizon Point were determined at the conclusion of both years, on January 7, 2018, I already determined that “2018 Is the Year of Authenticity.”

    Why?

    Well, because I didn’t spend much time in 2017 living authentically. I was too distracted. Too busy. And throughout the year of doing lots of leadership training, teambuilding, coaching, and just having lots of conversations with people, it seems as though I’m not the only one that struggles with living authentically.

    2017, in large part, was the year I spent becoming something I swore I would never be. Our doctor friend talks about it often, when women in their mid-thirties (I turned 34 in December) come in to his office wanting a diagnosis of some kind for how they are feeling. They seem to have it all, but because of a conglomeration of things, they are wallowing in misery and want to find a place to place the blame. Where a pill can be prescribed to fix it all.

    Although I never saw a doctor in 2017, looking for a diagnosis related to how I felt, and maybe I should have, (I did see several for a lump that turned out to just be “density”). I do believe for myself and for many women my age, the cause of this is a lack of authenticity.

    The problem comes from a lack of being true to oneself amid trying to be everything to everyone else, accompanied by the feeling that none of the doing is noticed and/or appreciated.

    2017 was a year of tension. One in which business was growing, my children blossoming, but stress was all around in balancing these two important parts of my life, which led to neglecting some others. I fought with the two people closest to me more than I ever have, began to wake up in the middle of the night not being able to turn my brain off (I’ve never had a problem sleeping) and I felt like everything I was doing was out of a sense of obligation, not enjoyment.

    I knew something was wrong mid-year when all I wanted to do was escape (to where, I don’t know) and my husband told me, “One of the things I love most about you is your confidence. Where has it gone?” In seeking to help everyone else live with confidence, I had somehow lost my own.

    So, I’m committed in 2018 to being authentic, and helping others lead with authenticity. To that end, here is what I believe leads to an authentic life:

    1. The Practice of Listening. First, listen to yourself so you can then listen better to others around you.  And listening requires quiet and stillness.
    2. Living in Gratitude. For out of a place of gratitude comes the ability to see all things for what they are.
    3. The Ability to Not Do Things Out of Obligation But Instead Out of Joy. This means saying no so you can say yes to what matters and what uniquely makes you you.
    4. The Ability to Be Vulnerable. You and I don’t have it all together, no one does. And out of the realization of this comes the ability to connect to others.
    5. The Ability to Not Compare Yourself to Others.   

    I’m focusing on these points this year. I’ll talk next week about how I think they can best be cultivated and practiced and I hope you’ll join me in living some of these practices as we embark on authentic living in 2018.

    Like this post?  You may also like:

    Saying “No” to Something is Saying “Yes” to Something Else

    Real Leadership

  • 2017 Book of the Year

    2017 Book of the Year

    “Being original doesn’t mean being first. It just means being different and better.”

    Adam Grant, Originals

     

    Most of us strive to be better.  Few of us strive to be different.  But what if being different is a requirement for being better? For being an original? Turns out that to take better beyond just ourselves, we have to be both.  We have to be non-conformists in order to move the world, according to Adam Grant, author of Originals.

    And because our goal at Horizon Point is to build a better workplace through innovative people practices, we’ve chosen Originals, our 2017 Book of the Year.

     

    The book teaches how to become an original by:

    1. Taking calculated risks. We think most innovative people have risk-taking in their DNA, but it turns out there are some guardrails around risk taking when it comes to the most successful innovators.

    2. Embracing failure.  Failure that leads to innovation comes from quantity of ideas not necessarily quality.

    3. Embracing diversity of thought.  For more on this: Diversity and Inclusion In My Eyes and In the Eyes of My Children.

    4. Speaking up. You can’t be original if your ideas don’t get translated.  This requires voice.  More on this here.

    5. “Passionately procrastinating”.  For more on this: Leaders, Set Manageable Goals to Lead and Run Well.

    6. Converting your enemies. Your actual enemies. Not your frienemies. There is a great example in the book to describe the difference.

    7. Building commitment through purpose.  

    8. Getting over yourself. The ego, especially an inflated one, gets someone who could have all these other characteristics nowhere. Being authentic is required to be an original.

     

    “In the quest for happiness, as Grant writes, “many of us choose to enjoy the world as it is. Originals embrace the uphill battle, striving to make the world what it could be.…Becoming original is not the easiest path in the pursuit of happiness, but it leaves us perfectly poised for the happiness of the pursuit.”

    Go pursue.

     

    Like this post? You may also like:

    Our pick for best leadership book of the year:  Reality-Based Leadership

    Our pick for best novel of the year:  A Fall of Marigolds

  • Networking During the Holiday Season

    Networking During the Holiday Season

    For job seekers, the holidays can put a hold on the job search. So, what should you do while everyone is enjoying time off from work? Since more than 50% of jobs are filled through networking, use this down time to network, network, network!

    Networking can be intimidating. The best way to overcome the fear is to develop an elevator speech, practice, and network every chance you get.

    The University of Denver offers these guidelines for developing an elevator speech:

    • Keep your commercial simple and brief, and always include who you are, what you want to do and why it matters (or what the employer/client will get out of it).
    • Use a story or example to demonstrate your best qualities.
    • Use strong, action-packed words and speak in a confident, personable tone.
    • Be relevant. List the accomplishments (paid, unpaid, work, education or life experiences) that are relevant and compelling to your audience.
    • If job searching, be clear about the job title, function and industry you are interested in.
    • Practice your commercial, but don’t memorize; you want to sound natural!
    • Make a connection between yourself and your new acquaintance. End with a question to draw the contact into the conversation.

    Source: https://www.du.edu/career/networkingandevents/networkingtips/elevator.html

    Here is a list of networking opportunities to get you started (note the opportunistic ones!):

    • Personal Relationships (family, close friends, social groups)
    • Professional Relationships (colleagues, professional associations)
    • Associations (alumni, community, licensing, etc.)
    • Opportunistic (a woman you meet on the bus, a man next to you at the gym, online networks, etc.)
  • Jump start your 2018 professional growth now!

    Jump start your 2018 professional growth now!

    Have you ever wanted to start your own business?
    Jump start your 2018 professional growth now!

     

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