Many of you are two weeks into your New Year’s resolution – addressing something you want to change about yourself or your life. Merriam Webster’s Dictionary, defines “commitment” as: “The act of answering: solving … a formal expression of opinion, will or intent.”

What problem are you trying to solve – being too heavy, too loud, out of shape, bored? What do you believe about this problem or opportunity? What do you REALLY have the will to address? As Merriam says, are you emotionally “impelled” to do it?

Impelled implies a force that you need to exert. This is key – and why many resolutions are dead by February 1st.

If you really want to stop or start something – you need a lift off to get you going. Shake up the status quo.

Step 1. Enlisting others for a push, pull or support is critical: your boss, peers, spouse, kids, your best friend or a formal support group.

Step 2. Try.

Step 3. Try again.

Step 4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 as often as necessary.

Real commitment to a change implies you are convinced about your decision, belief, direction. Your belief must be unshakeable, despite setbacks or falling off focus. Expect these. They will happen.

As Mary Robinson, the first President of Ireland said, “Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending.”

This is commitment – sticking with it – and trying again, and again and again. If it were easy, it wouldn’t require a Commitment. Really. So, yesterday was a miss. What is your “again” today?

© Copyright 2012 Sage Leadership Strategies, LLC All rights Reserved.               www.sagelead.com

Seth Godin has a way of cutting to the core on an issue in a really impactful way.

Sometimes it’s the simplest idea, just executed – or executed well – that only matters.

Want to lose 10 pounds? Eat less. Exercise more.

Simple formula.

WE are the ones who complicate matters – our physiology, our will, our fears. There is no shortage of reasons WHY we CAN’T do something.

If you are trying to achieve something that you’ve been working on a for a while, I have two simple questions for you to reflect on:

Do you REALLY want it?

WHY?

If you REALLY want it and it’s for an energizing, positive reason, the rest is easy. The commitment and motivation are 80% of the ingredients. If it’s compelling enough, you can find a way to get the support, tools or resources you need. The hardest part is figuring out what you want and why.

…or being honest with yourself if you are really COMMITTED to it.

If you are not committed, drop it. Save yourself, your spouse, your boss, your parents a lot of heartache, time and money.

Sometimes, the hardest word is no.

© Copyright 2012 Sage Leadership Strategies, LLC All rights Reserved.         www.sagelead.com

An Entrepreneur is someone who “organizes, operates and assumes the risk for a business venture.”

In a recent Teds video, Cameron Herold says we need to be raising more of our kids to aspire to be entrepreneurs, leaders who create jobs, versus getting good “safe” jobs. Even with MBA students we groom them to get corporate jobs. Key tips:

• Teach your children not to waste money.
• Teach your children to save a large percentage of the money they make from an early age.
• Ask your kids to look around the house and yard and come back with a proposal of what needs to get done and how much they would charge for it. Negotiate with them on the final fee.
• Make one night a week story telling vs. story reading at bedtime. Give them 5 items and ask them to make a story about it. This teaches them to think on their feet, develops creativity and polish and confidence with speaking.
• Foster in them the following: attainment, persistence, tenacity, sales, handling failure, boot strapping, speaking, leadership.

I believe that developing a comfort level with taking and managing risks, and working into the unknown are skills and character traits that will only increase in demand in the 21st century.  Why not identify kid’s entrepreneur potential in school versus just slotting them on the talented math, English or science tracks?

These times are screaming for applied creativity in business ventures. What if your entrepreneurial spirit and appetite for taking risks were fostered in school? These can best be addressed, as Herold says, by remembering when you were a kid and all things were possible. It’s time to dream and play. And never give up.

Check out Mike Myatt’s 5 Leadership Tips for 2012.

He makes some wonderful points – and I agree with his areas. Yet I suggest collapsing the areas and have a concerted focus on one area that will impact the other four areas.

Many of my executive coaching clients focus on changing 3-5 areas over the course of a year. This dissipates effort and can marginalize results. I have found that consistent and concerted effort in one leverage area can give you greater results in a deep, sustained way which can be a better return on your investment of time and energy.

In my post yesterday, I made this radical suggestion – to just focus on one thing. When one more effectively manages the white space it can support being more present. Living in the now and making minute-by-minute choices within a long-term perspective will transfer to the kind of choices Myatt suggests.

If one is truly living in the present then they: don’t miss opportunities, postpone decisions or numb themselves to feeling okay about not spending time with family, they listen more, are more curious to learn beyond knowledge, are more engaged, and are aware if they do want to pick up that book.

Living in the whitespace to support mindful leadership could be a cornerstone for Myatt’s tips. What do you think?

By the way, Mike I am so impressed with the volume of reading you do – and I am an avid reader myself. I’m wondering if you read 10 less books and focused more on being versus doing, how your leadership experience might be different? Just a thought that came to me while I sat idle for a moment before finishing writing this post.

© Copyright 2012 Sage Leadership Strategies, LLC All rights Reserved.         www.sagelead.com

…Or in some cases let there be white space.

Whether you are leading your business, life or family, I suggest exercising more of just one behavior that can make all the difference: manage the white space. This means:

• Giving yourself more breathing room
• Exercising the option to say no more
• Not jam-packing your day by scheduling every minute

If you’re like me – a recovering perfectionist – I sometimes schedule down time – I block an hour or two, a day or a week.

Allow downtime where you do things to foster:

• Insight
• Integration
• Reflection
• Creativity
• Renewal and Energy

If you can’t manage yourself and your own energy, then you can’t manage or lead your constituents: whether they are your board, employees, customers, spouse or children.

Since all relationships ultimately are connected to the relationship you have with yourself, and you are all you can control – it starts and ends with you.

The white space is the seed that ultimately leads to being more present. The ability to be more present will give you all the rest: answers and support you need to manage whatever comes up this year.

If 2011 was a year of challenge and transformation, 2012 promises to be a year of possibility – integrating and solving the seemingly impossible…magic!

© Copyright 2012 Sage Leadership Strategies, LLC All rights Reserved.         www.sagelead.com

Yesterday as I reflected on my Grandma’s life, I learned that new technologies take longer than we think to make it to market, if at all, or to become popularized and cashed-in on their commercial value.

I’m sure you’ve heard the adage: Is there really anything new under sun?

I’m sticking with Grandma’s leadership this week: old wisdom is the new wisdom. She always said, hold onto your clothes long enough and they will come back in style. I have to admit I have some of her hats and coats from the 40s that I have worn recently!  I also wished I’d kept my fry boots – they’d be back in style and worth a fortune! Yet they were my sole present for Christmas one year when I was in high school, as my parents struggled to make ends meet raising six kids.

It’s all about perspective. Innovation is not about invention. It’s about taking an invention and making it useful, repurposing it and/or commercializing it.

So, I ask you – what exists right in front of you that you could view differently – whether it is a product, a problem, an employee, or your relationship with a family member? What is something that you can change about your life or business that would give you more money in the bank, greater productivity or satisfaction? These are different faces of the same coin. They are all about changing the energy of your current situation.

If you want your business or life to be different – The ultimate question is, how do you take what you have and make it different or conceive of it differently? This is innovation grandma-style – transform the old into the present for future wear-ability and endurance.

© Copyright 2011 Sage Leadership Strategies, LLC All rights Reserved. www.sagelead.com

Ben and Jerry’s gave out ice cream to the protesters on Wall Street this week.

This action generated a lot of questions for me: is it possible to be a corporate entity and support those protesting “corporate greed” and asking banks and their leaders to be accountable for money they received via the government bailout?

Is it possible to be a person or corporation that benefits from the current business models but to also see that there may be other possibilities?

Is it possible to fight for social causes and be concerned with making money/delivering value to your clients and shareholders?

At what point does too much money become too much?

What can social advocates and business leaders learn from each other?

Can we be “one of them” and also “one of us?” How do we dance the the dance of duality and remain in dialogue to foster creative solutions?

We only need to look as far as our political leaders to see that once we get positional and dig our heels in, solutions are stymied. Staying connected and dialoguing is the goal. When that stops, game over.

One thing I do know – despite our many flaws, we live in a great country and we need each other now more than ever to get out of this mess alive. Can we dance in the gray areas? Can it be yes, and?

Yes, we can’t be naive to agendas. Yes, a little ice cream can go a long way to smoothing edges and satiating hungry bellies.

What’s your take on it?

© Copyright 2011 Sage Leadership Strategies, LLC All rights Reserved. www.sagelead.com

When the stakes are high, it’s necessary to be in alignment to get the right results.
During my flight lesson this week I sought a safe, informative and fun flying experience. I put my life in the hands of my pilot/instructor – what could be higher stakes? You’ll notice in my video clip that my shoulders couldn’t be closer to my instructor.

Co-Piloting

Tight quarters – yes – but I also needed to be closely aligned in mind and spirit as well in order to heed his instruction. My motivations were a desire to learn, to not crash and stay alive and to keep Lloyd focused – our lives depended upon it.

In order to listen, I needed to have complete trust and faith in his abilities – skill and wisdom. I learned that flying not only requires understanding a vast amount of technical knowledge but also paying attention and listening to the view, movement and sound of the sky to know just how to adjust the wings. So too, with leadership, we need to listen to our environment and those we serve to know how to adjust our wings – our ego, our actions, our words – to have the impact we want.

All co-pilots know they need to be seamless, complementary and volleying with their movements and skill to act as one unit that propels the plane forward. It requires being a leader and follower.

As a leader, how do you engender trust in others? When you have a high stakes situation, how well prepared are you? Do you listen to, and trust your gut instincts? As a follower, how well do you listen and get your ego out of the way? How well can you volley control back and forth from leader to follower?

© Copyright 2011 Sage Leadership Strategies, LLC All rights Reserved. www.sagelead.com

Deep insight, intensive workshops, breakthrough coaching sessions, a cataclysmic life event… these all are catalysts for change. These are the events that many wanting change seek.

We can come off these events with a high, with a great uplift in our motivation or a low searching for meaning, answers.
THEN, reality sets in and the heavy lifting of integrating these events – emotional and mental shifts and behavior change – into our daily living sets in.

This is where I see the need for an uncommon practice to take root: realistic optimism. How do you stay optimistic and steady with your practice of behavior change despite what you know, despite how hard it may be, despite the lack of support you may face in your environment? How do you keep the faith and believe you can do it? How do you acknowledge the incremental, daily changes you do make?
Regardless of what others say, savor what you know to be true. Savor your improvements. These are the roots that grow great fruit.

© Copyright 2011 Sage Leadership Strategies, LLC All rights Reserved. www.sagelead.com

It rests not just in legislation but with how providers choose to behave in their day-day patient interactions. Thomas Dahlborg has a great blog that reflects on putting “care” back into health care and that this is what doctor’s promise when they take their oath.

This week, I had a follow up appointment with my surgeon on a benign biopsy. In a cost-conscious, productivity-minded system, I experienced my doctor as a humble, accountable human.

My appointment last week was cancelled last minute because he had emergency surgery. I rescheduled this week and his office called me the morning of my appointment – they had a cancellation, did I want to come in earlier? I said yes.

After sitting in the waiting and then patient room for 50 minutes, I still hadn’t seen the doctor. My time is valuable and sitting around during a weekday is money spent for me. I poked my head out of the room to see if he was in sight. As I opened the door, the doctor came in. I shared my experience: “I’m flexible but this is enough waiting.” He immediately said, “I’m sorry. I take full responsibility.”

Wow. This stopped me in my tracks. How refreshing. He then took his time to explain everything to me in language I could understand. He was not arrogant, curt, or harried. He was slow, focused, deliberate and present with me. I was a real human in front of him. He spent whatever time I needed to answer my questions.

This is all we ask of our healthcare providers: To remember that they are treating a whole person who has an ailment, not an ailment attached to a person. My doctor demonstrated empathy, care and compassion – an often low-leveraged human technology that shifts one’s experience. His behavior may have been helped by the fact that he was just back from his own medical leave after having surgery. Perhaps he could more easily walk in my shoes.

© Copyright 2011 Sage Leadership Strategies, LLC All rights Reserved. www.sagelead.com