My Daughters Speech
My 10 year old daughter is preparing a speech to put herself forward for the position of Head of School Council. She asked me to help her start writing this. We talked about her time at the school, which she joined aged 4 and will be at until July 2018. In total she worked out the number of days she will have been at the school meaning she only has a handful left. We talked about making each day count and that day by day she’s been able to add value through:
- Learning: maths, english, reading, writing, physical education and so on
- Growing: in confidence, as a person and in character
- Connecting: to her peers, teachers, new children, those she’s found challenging and more
Her speech will start with: “1140…..[pause]….that’s how many days I will have been here” and she will go on to talk about what she’s done with those days in making them count. However, she knows it’s not actually about the number or what she’s done with them but what she gained from them, in others words it’s the quality not the quantity. It’s the value that matters.
Visual Synopsis
Today saw me publish my 50th visual synopsis drawing. It’s been a target in my mind ever since I was challenged by my husband. But now I’ve reached this, thanks to book 50; Awaken the Giant Within by Tony Robbins, I’m reflecting on the journey to 50. Why do I do these, what have I gained with each one and what now?
Luckily I know why I am doing them. I practice my own intellectual property and system each and every day and the reading and then drawing is part of this; an aim of growing. I also overlay my ‘purpose’ which is INSPIRE; I aim to be inspired by the content and learn, I find inspiration in ‘undoing’ each book and redoing as a visual artwork and I hope to inspire others to read the books I do and retain key lessons while possibly having a copy of my visual synopsis as a reminder.
It’s not actually about 50, it’s about every bit of inspiration I find on a page and turn into a drawing – and then being share with others. It’s about the value created to me and to others including the authors.
Kindness
I have gone past day 300 of acts of kindness this week, for 2017. In total I’m on day 671, as last year was a leap year and when I first started my kindness experiment. So what do these number mean? Actually nothing.
I have moments of particularly inspiring acts littered through the past 671 including connecting to Nessa, a wonderful lady suffering cruelly with an eating disorder. There are strangers in coffee shops and children I speak to in schools, all are amazing. They aren’t planned acts of kindness but create moments as I make sure I act within my definition of kindness; “to give without expectation or exception”.
The number is just a daily count, it’s interesting but not where the value is. One moment of kindness, when done for the right reason and with the right opportunity, can improve a day, inspire a smile or even save a life from darkness.
Success
I worked on a strategic session with a fellow board member this week and we discussed ‘growth’ with my context being “how do I quickly spread the impact of GLAS?“. He challenged me to look (1) the definition of ‘quickly’ and (2) the meaning of ‘impact’.
He then highlighted that since I formally launched GLAS (Global Life Alignment System) in summer 2016, that only a couple of people knew about it. Today we estimate that over 1,000 people know about it now. We also worked out that the system has impacted, with evidence, about 250 lives including 150 children who of course will impact others as a result.
I was frustrated that I wasn’t growing quickly enough but actually it’s not revenue or time that matters; it’s impact that matters – and that we are inspiring people to act and make better sense of their life. That they are empowered to make deliberate choices, be kinder, better aligned with others and energised while having a clear sense of purpose. The revenue will surely follow the awareness and impact. We now have a folder of “UMI; Unprompted Moments of Inspiration” which people kindly send us.
My daughter knows her purpose; to CREATE. She will deliver a speech that will be what she created with clarity, about the school experience she created, and with a future she will go on to create.
My numbers all add up fine.