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Extraordinary!
If you have ever heard me speak in person you may have heard me say that
our words are powerful. If we had any idea how powerful our words are, we
would be very careful in choosing the ones we allow to come out of our
mouths. Our words have a dramatic impact on our reality.
I recently had the opportunity to visit a beautiful resort on a mountain
to facilitate a Board Meeting for an organization.
Whenever Shelley MacDougall and I start a retreat with an organization,
we start by asking the participants to create intentions of what they
would like to accomplish.
My mountain top retreat was consistent with this, but the difference was
that I challenged these people to come up with extraordinary intentions.
One word changed the level of expectation.
When asked to come up with an intention participants often write down
things they think can be accomplished.
When asked to come up with extraordinary intentions they usually write
down things they would like to accomplish but aren't sure they can.
My wife Rose and I experimented with this one day when we were on
vacation. We decided to have an extraordinary day. We wondered if it
would be possible to make every thing we did, every moment,
extraordinary. Could we make the ordinary, extraordinary? We decided that
our conversations, our meals, our experiences, a cup of tea, quiet time
by ourselves independent of each other, our intimate time together, the
people we would meet, the movie we would watch would all be
extraordinary.
We truly had an extraordinary day!
A cup of tea was much more than a cup of tea. We were served in a silver
tea pot in a luxurious environment by an impeccably dressed server that
made our afternoon special. The tea was special blend of Earl Grey, and
we loved it and appreciated every sip.
We get to choose and yet we often choose ordinary. I am not saying it is
bad, it is just what we tend to do, day after day. One person's ordinary
might be different than another person's extraordinary. I am not
suggesting you compare yourself to other people, just define
extraordinary for you.
I have found that when we look for the extraordinary we often find it.
When that is the level we are shooting for we tend to raise our standards
and the amount of effort we give to get there.
What are your extraordinary possibilities?
Do you choose to have an extraordinary life?
Do you choose an extraordinary Saturday, game of golf, experience, bottle
of wine, day with the kids, creative time, day at the spa or walk in
nature?
As coaches who care deeply about the success of the people we work with
in the club management industry we have created a program called The
Extraordinary Leader. To take a look at the way we are working to
make a difference in the level of leadership in an industry please check
out The Extraordinary Leader Program at www.thecoachingdept.com
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