Make Choices Easy

Mindset Workout

mental

Mental Workout

Be authentic and take a risk with yourself.  Take off your ‘leader’, ‘parent’ hat and help create a vision of who you are.

spiritual workout

Spiritual Workout

Stretching your heart and discovering connections in beliefs and values that exist but are not obvious.  Use your mind to find connections, use your heart and make them real.

James Carter is the Founder and CEO of Be Legendary. He has spoken for hundreds of groups and tens of thousands of people while training hundreds of new and experienced facilitators on how to facilitate meaningful activities. James is also the co-author of two books with others like Stephen Covey, Ken Blanchard, Deepak Chopra and Brian Tracy. James lives in Boulder, CO with his family and rides his bike as much as possible.

Learn more about James.

The Power of a Symbol

From the video you can see how powerful a symbol can be.  Life-changing even, in the right circumstances.

Historically, symbols have been a rallying cry for groups, for families.  Think of a family crest or coat of arms that still exist to this day.

Consider our symbol to the right.

Do you see self-awareness?  Strong belief?  Courage?

What are some ideas around a symbol for you?  It does not need to be unique to you.

For example, this morning I woke up feeling SUPER lethargic and not really wanting to do much of anything.  Yet, I had a LOT to do.  During my morning routine, I decided to have my symbol today to be a rocket taking off from a launch pad.

I know that once I get started, I have plenty of energy and passion.  But not being outgoing by nature, sometimes it takes some ‘juice’ to get me going.  The rocket was the juice.

What are some symbols in your life that have meaning?  What about your high school or college mascot?  Does it carry any meaning for you?

For MANY people, they take the symbol idea to a whole new level – maybe even you!  These are people who get tattoos.

Tattoos are all symbols that carry meaning, even when they are in a place the person cannot see!  Each tattoo has a story or special meaning to the person.  Special enough that they want it permanently placed on their body.

Personally, I don’t want tattoos but if I did, our snail leaving its shell might make it onto my body!

KEY POINTS:

Having a clarifying symbol can make choices EXTREMELY simple and easy.

Your beliefs and values help create your personal symbol.

Our Symbol - a Snail Leaving its Shell

Write down some notes about symbols that matter to you, like your team mascots.  What meaning do they convey?  How might they help you make the right choice, in the moment?

What are some ideas around a symbol specific for you, like my rocket ship?  It does not need to be unique to you right now.

You may or may not be artistic but you might even sketch out some ideas.

If you come up with several symbols or ideas, you might even want to consider going online and hiring a graphic artist to create a special symbol or collection of symbols to put into a crest (create a family crest during Sunday dinner?).

In the end, these symbols will help you make decisions and choices.  Today, even as I was writing this, I could feel my energy ebb and went back to my rocket – instead of getting up to go walk around I doubled down, kept writing and even had my own person epiphany along the way!

Want to use this workout with your team?

Complete instructions are below to create a unifying vision.

I HIGHLY suggest you do not show the video.  Instead, use the choices listed in the Leader’s Guide and read them off to the group.

If, for some crazy reason I cannot think of right now, you need to show a video, there is a team version below.

There is also a Leader’s Guide video and downloadable PowerPoint and Leader’s Guide instructions.

VARIATION – You now know the power of a unifying symbol and goal.  Instead of the US flag, choose something that is personal to your team.

Steps for you as a leader:

  1. Review the video and decide whether you are going to use the PowerPoint or not.
  2. Watch the Leader’s Version below – very important.
  3. Think about how hard you are going to push your team after the first set of choices.  The harder you push, the better the response from the team.  You WANT them angry at you!  It will be okay they are angry because it is YOUR fault they are angry.
  4. Create a dialogue around how to become a true team using the idea of the flag.
    • What is our ‘flag’?
    • What are our values?  Beliefs?
      • Start with the little stuff – being on time, for example, or saying ‘Good morning’ first thing in the AM
    • Do not judge the suggestions!  Get a large list and then start talking about them.  You can rate them on a scale of importance – 1 to 10, which can create dialogue.  Saying ‘Good Morning’ may be a 10 for some and a 1 for the introverts who have not had coffee.
    • Narrow down the list to a very few.
    • Keep the entire list for future reference.
    • Regardless of the mission and vision of the organization, your team is creating your own vision.  I cannot stress how incredibly valuable this is for your team.

Notes:

  • Having a dry erase board or flip chart is great as you brainstorm afterward the elements of your ‘flag’.
  • Depending upon how hard you push people, they may get angry.  This is a GOOD thing.  You want emotion brought into it because that is where change occurs.
  • You can select a piece of the team ‘flag’ each week for several weeks for continual improvement.
  • Coming up with a visual representation of the team ‘flag’ can be invaluable.
  • Some teams have actually created a gesture to let people know they are following the team ‘flag’.
    • One group simply tapped their open palm on their heart while looking at someone.  This was a show of appreciation that this person helped them.  It has stuck with this team for over 6 years, yet not a single original member of the team is still on that team!
    • Another team had new offices with glass walls on the hall side.  This opened up the office feeling but was actually quite isolating.  They created sticky notes with different messages/symbols they could simply put on the window/wall as they walked by the office.  Not interrupting the person but was a way to stay connected and let each other know they cared.

Wrap up conversation with:

    1. One aspect of the team ‘flag’ to notice and enhance in the coming week.
    2. Make sure the team chooses and NOT you.

Leader's Guide Video

Powerpoint Presentation

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Leader's
Guide

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