Honor Guard
“Self Confidence in the vision frees you to take action.” – Toni Randall
This Monday morning, Presidents Day, has me contemplating my vision and all that I must do in the week ahead to bring the things I want to have happen to life.
How about you? How is your vision looking for your week ahead? Do you have the confidence to pull yourself towards that vision of what you want to have happen in the short and long run?
Isn’t the ability to have a strong vision one of the biggest assets of a truly great leader?
Just as my friend Toni Randall, our guest last week on the radio show shared (you can hear the recording here), even more important than having confidence in ourselves we must have confidence in our vision. Without it – all kinds of crazy stuff gets smack dab in the middle of our way – most of it floating around in our head and holding us back.
Moving towards what we want to see most in our life can be a scary task to be sure! Especially when we are reaching towards lofty goals and dreams. Last night Ed and I watched another Tony – this one with a “y” at the end of his name as Oprah interviewed Tony Robbins. It was a powerful show – one that had Oprah participating in Tony’s Unleash the Power Within – fire walk seminar. They talked about the whole idea behind walking on fire and how it makes you face your fears so that you can conquer anything.
One thing Tony Robbins said that I found so true is this – “Make a problem big enough it helps you to avoid your fears.” I had a huge aha moment or two around that thought. How many times do we ourselves, or people we know, continue to have problem after problem – when in fact the problem is easier to deal with then the underlying fear it is covering. You know the old “I can’t do what I really want because . . .(fill in the blank) ”
We can begin to swell up our problems subconsciously so that we don’t have to face a fear – the thought of that in itself is scary – right? It really has me thinking here this morning how I can eliminate the perceived problems I might have before me in the week ahead. So come Friday I can look back on my week with joy in doing my best.
Think about for yourself – and what if you removed a few problems from the forefront of your life – what fears would they help you to face? What vision, goal or dream for your life might you be staring directly at in the process of removing the obstacles? It’s a very interesting perspective. One that requires bunches of confidence to be gathered up to get the problems pushed out of the way.
Every day we face the unknown – the clearer and more confident we are as we head into it, the better we can chart our course and keep ourselves afloat into tomorrow! Moment-by-moment – or as Russell Crowe said in the movie, Master and Commander (in which they encountered “boat loads” of problems
– constantly), “We must survive this day!” Of course in doing so he always was keeping the vision to where their ship was headed while other ships were firing away at them.
On Saturday our baby girl, Bailey, turned 20. This officially made us no longer the parents of teens! Funny thing is that I woke up Saturday morning thinking about the words “Honor Guard”. I think it dwarfed from dreams during the night of guarding my daughter and honoring her on her special day as she would be thousands of miles from me. Interestingly enough this morning as I am writing to you I looked up what it is that an honor guard does …
Part of it read, “Only those persons who are highly motivated andmaintain exceptionally high standards of appearance and conduct and show aptitude for ceremonial duty are likely to be considered.” This morning as these words flow for the Victory Letter I can’t help but think – shouldn’t we each be our own Honor Guard as well as for those we hold most precious to us?
A tradition we have had for a number of years now is to keep on element of our Christmas lights burning until Bailey’s birthday, our peace sign (see pic). She asked us to do so many years back – and it is a tradition we have come to love. As we turned on the Peace sign for the last time on Saturday night we honored her and all she means to us in our life. Again the honor guard scenario as we act as the guards to honor her in her life.
One final thought before we set off onto the journey of our mutual week’s ahead – another one also shared by Tony Robbins last night – the notion that you can’t be fearful and grateful at the same time. The two emotions discount each other. I invite you as I am doing – to take a deep breath – look past the problems (and the fear they may be covering) – surround yourself with the thoughts of your blessings in your life right now, today. Let the good outweigh the bad as you make your vision for what you want in this world ready to have happen!
Join us Wednesday for the Victory Circles Radio hour. Our guest is Jason Womack author of the new book, Your Best Just Got Better – Work Smarter, Think Bigger, Make More. Surely this will add only more fuel to this topic of discussion. More Info here.
Wishing you a week of clear sailing ahead! Think undoubtedly about what you will guard while honoring your vision(s).
To Your Successes and Victories!
Cheri










