Saturday, January 9th, 2010 was the first GTY meeting of the year.  What a great and exciting meeting it was. Our GTY project is really starting to take shape.  Patti helped me decide on the photography project – a photo blog. I have always wanted to do one of these, but for some reason never have.

After our meeting I had a photography class at SAIT from 1-4 (working towards my goal for my photography certificate). It was a great class and left me itching for more.  I went home and started right away on my photography blog. I  bought my first domain, created the first entry for my blog and then proceed to email it to everyone I know.  I have been so excited and happy since Saturday, all I want to do is run around, take pictures and post them on my blog.  It just makes me feel giddy like a little kid.

Then today, I get an email that Steve Farber has posted a pingback on my blog!! I was like what?!?!? Then yep, there it was, Steve Farber wrote about Patti and I in his blog. I was so excited, I called Patti right away to see if she knew about it. Then every time some one stopped by my office, they got to hear about it too, lol.  Although this lead to them seeing my blog and the muffins and wondered if they could have one, too funny.

I can’t explain how happy I am to be focusing on my passions. It makes all the difference in my attitude and confidence in my abilities. I know I have a lot of work ahead of me, but I am not thinking about it that way. I am thinking about all the great photos that are waiting for me and all the things I will learn and hopefully everyone will enjoy my blog along the way too .

Thank you so much Patti!! You have already helped me move leaps and bounds forward and I am very excited to see what 2010 holds.

I spent the last two weeks of 2009 on holidays. The first week was quite busy going from family to family, but great company, food and fun was had.  The second week was spent going to the gym, napping and reading.  Oh and most importantly making new goals.  I have always been goal oriented, but 2009 I met my goals very quickly and was just in the “mean time”. I was worried that I would have trouble with my goals because of where I am in with my career I will need to make some decisions on specializing or management or an entire new industry.  I started to think about my goals everyday and every time I was be able to add something else to the list. I found that a lot of my goals were personal rather than career-oriented.  I generally keep a very full schedule, but 2009’s schedule was full of items that did not satisfy my personal life or passions.  This is what I came up with for 2010;

Personal

• Take care of myself
  • Maintain a healthy diet, I like the everything in moderation rule
  • Floss everyday
  • Encourage active living everyday
• Finances
  • Maintain a $0 balance on my credit card
  • Build up emergency fund / cash savings above and beyond RRSPs
  • Be financially responsible to myself
• Cooking
  • Experiment more with my cooking, try new recipes
  • Learn to make soup
  • Learn to make preserves and can
• Photography
  • Continuing working towards my photography certificate from SAIT
  • Pick 1 major project for the year – photo blog – www.angelasimms.com
• Start and use a gratitude journal

Career

• be a better / active listener – no interrupting
• focus on my networking skills – CCNA certification completed by June
• complete technical paper to achieve C.E.T. certification from ASET

I am very excited to be focused and have fun pursuing my passions in 2010.

Angela and I met the other day and it was a great meeting.  Angela has been working on her goals and has pinned down a few more, I have challenged her to define one or two a little more clearly, but it is neat to see her progression with them.

Ange was a little concerned that they were mostly personal goals and I mentioned a quote I’d heard;

“One cannot effectively lead others until they have mastered leading themselves”

Working on one’s personal goals is definitely the way to begin.  One of the strongest passions Angela displays is with her photography and she works hard on it.  As a result she has been challenged to put together a blog where she posts a photo a day, and you will be happy to know, she has done so!  Head on over to Angela’s Photography Blog and check out her beginning!

I have also asked permission to use her photography in some of my business work, you can see her photos in this video called The New Leadership completed this week for the business.

Do you have a special person in your life who really shines, has a contagious and enthusiastic energy where when you leave their company you are charged and lit-up for hours, and inspired for days – then you need to meet Angela. She has just that spark!  With each and every meeting, this is becoming loads of fun!  Keep up the fantastic work, Ange – you are truly a star!

Last Saturday, Angela and I finally met after a very busy fall and emerging winter.  The day was freezing -30 Celsius and one could not only see their breath, but could watch as it lingered in the air long after you left!

It was great to see Angela – as usual energetic and full of enthusiasm, add to that she shared a lovely set of home-made Christmas gifts for me.  There is something about a home-made gift that makes one truly feel cared for and thought of at this time of year.  Two beautiful soy candles – clean burning, lovely scent and all natural among the gifts!  Angela shares my love of the environment and shows that with almost everything she does.

Since we began, I have been asking what I can do for Angela, what she might want this GTY relationship to do for her and if she has a specific direction she would like it to go.  As of yet, we have spent some time sharing but not pinned anything specific down.  Well at our last meeting, Angela agreed to take some time over Christmas and January to  develop a set of goals for herself, dig deep for clarity and take a look at her direction.

We both agreed it’s much easier to offer her what I have and know if she knows where she is going.  That way, she has an opportunity to be specific as to what I might share – everything of course – but mostly the sharing that will truly make a difference in supporting her dreams and goals.

It’s pretty tough to make introductions with my connections, to see what is in my past or present ready for offering, if she is not quite sure where she wants to go.

I am happy and more than open to helping her with goal-setting and a directional path, acting as a sounding board, a person who asks questions for Angela’s own self clarification and someone who pins Angela to the wall if it gets a little too vague.  I sure hope Angela knows to expect that from me. Open to supporting the process via phone, email, skype, online – what ever it takes, happy to have Angela contact me anytime!

I have to say, after a visit with the ever-positive Angela, it continued to be a fantastic day – regardless of bitterly cold weather!

For the time being, a lovely Christmas, some time to renew and await 2010 for fresh starts and crazy, wild and unending dreams!!!!  (All of which I know are achievable if one believes!)

Although we are still early on in this process I really need to send a big THANK YOU out to Patti. It is a truly amazing feeling when someone puts the effort into you so that you can work at being as successful and happy as you can be. I am a true believer in positive thinking and that happiness is a very important part of life. I had strayed from my views and others were starting to notice a negative change in me. With the work we have done thus far I have been reminded of what is important to me and getting myself back on track. As I said before, it is an amazing feeling and I am really looking forward to what exciting things and challenges are ahead.

Thank you!

The end of 2008 proved to be a very busy one for me with a lot of changes. I broke up with the boyfriend who wasn’t meant to be, I got a promotion I didn’t expect to happen for at least a year, then we moved into 2009. I bought a my first condo and being a senior at work was presenting me with more challenges and I was starting to feel overwhelmed by it all. I wanted to talk to someone I trusted and I knew would give me honest, straight forward advice. I really just felt like I needed to talk. The first person who came to mind was Patti. I remember when she was leaving the company that she told me, I am leaving the company but that doesn’t mean I am leaving Angela and to call her if I needed anything. That is what I did, well maybe I emailed her, I am not sure right now.

We met for a lunch the got fairly emotional for me because we were touching on what we call the “tough stuff”. These are things I generally don’t address in my day to day life because it seems easier to ignore them, although we all know that isn’t true. At first I felt selfish and felt like the relationship was one sided because I was talking about myself. After a few meetings she has assured me that she is also gaining from this experience.

Patti suggested that I read Steve Farber’s book Greater Than Yourself. I immediately loved the concept and was so excited when Patti asked if I would be her GTY project. It is a great feeling to know that someone sees you being able to go far and achieve great things in your life. Now I need to figure what those will be, lol.

We are still working through what our GTY project will look like and with business trips for both of us our meetings have been a bit stretched out. Thanks to our work thus far I have decided I need to prioritize some things in my life and will be changing the focus of some of my commitments in 2010. This will allow me more time for our GTY project. YAHOO!!!

You have 1 lifetime. That’s it!
Statistics Canada says the average life expectancy is 80.4 years. What percentage of that time have you already used?

I am talking about chronological age right now.  Many folks who travel in my particular circle neither act nor behave as “mid-lifers” because of their energy and enthusiasm, however, the facts are the facts.  An average Canadian is going to live about 80.4 years.

Every single day, each and every moment of our lives is a fantastic gift to be shared and valued for it’s place in our own life-time.  We have learned many lessons, garnered many relationships and pulled through some pretty tough stuff – all of us!  We have challenged, surmounted and won.

So what are you giving back? When does the ‘ME’ become Us, We, Our?

Am I the most brilliant person that ever lived such that people should be clamoring to acquire my knowledge? No.  Is Angela so far down the totem pole in knowledge and experience that she NEEDS to have a guide? Certainly not!

But what if…. what if we as a human race sought out others who we think could find value in learning from our trip-ups, who might just need a door opened so they don’t have to knock so often and so hard?  What if we reached out and shared those valuable tid-bits that took experience, pain and hard knocks to learn, then imparted a bit of wisdom to smooth the way for another?

How would you feel if when you went to work everyday someone was there to truly guide you and you didn’t feel like building your career was a continual battle?

Greater Than Yourself!

Reaching out, discovering your own strengths, uniqueness and talent.  Sharing it with someone who will really run with it and take it farther than you ever could!  Seeing the possibilities in the eyes of someone who knows how to shine.

I am not sure of all I have to offer, I have no idea whether what I deem as valuable truly is to anyone else, I guess I will discover that as time goes by.  What I do know is that I want with everything I have to tap into Angela’s needs and offer what I have with openess, honesty, integrity and without anything in return.  One caveat, that she one day seek out her own GTY project and pass it forward.

Is it leadership stuff?  Or life stuff?  Is it connections to take her where she wants to go? Is it tools I have found and successfully used? Who knows what the sharing will be, I only hope whatever is shared that it’s what will propel and launch Angela as far as she wants to go and much, much farther than I ever imagined. Why?  Because I believe she has what it takes, because I believe we can work together for a wonderful transfer of information and because she is truly full of amazing potential!

In April 2009, Angela gave me a call based on our past working relationship and asked if I would mind very much if we met to chat about some things she was working on and she wanted another set of ears for perspective.

Meet we did, and while we were meeting it became clear that Angela is on a huge growth path.  Her real desire to improve, become all she can be and develop personally and professionally is admirable.  She ‘gets it’ in terms of awareness that as individuals we have the power to create our own world.

It was a great meeting and we seemed to connect quite deeply, more than a former boss and employee, it was more like a couple of great friends.  It was the meeting that started it all.  The more I learned and read about Steve’s Greater Than Yourself, the more I believed we were a great match for this kind of a project.  Upon sharing the book title with Angela, she read it and she also shared it out with others.  Then when I asked her if she would be willing to be my Greater Than Yourself Project, she said yes!

We have since started feeling our way through “What would this look like?” and “What can Patti offer?” but the connection is already proving valuable in what I have recieved.  Nothing formal from Angela, that is not how it works – this is about what can be shared with her and what I can do to promote, enlighten, help, share knowledge and contacts.  The magic in this is the awareness which returns to me, the knowledge I learn about myself and growing myself as a person as a result of this connection – THAT is fantastic.  Thank you Angela!

Greater than yourself is a philosophy as written in a book by Steve Farber – a book like no other, which resonated with me because the idea is to work with others in sharing all you are and all you have that they may become truly “Greater Than Yourself”

I was first introduced to the book as a result of being interviewed by Zane Safrit on his radio program which is personal, passionate, opinionated and helpful.  Zane’s radio program covers, among other topics, Leadership, Business and Politics.  After that interview I became a regular listener to his radio show not to mention checking through the archives at which Steve Farber was also a guest on Zane’s program.  I was hooked and after listening to the interview with Steve, I immediately went out and purchased the book.

As I began to read his book I realized many of the things he was teaching are similar to what I already do, however, I have never before formalized or committed to it with any one individual.  Well, now I am making an investment in my own ‘Greater Than Yourself’ project and thought the commitment would become stronger if I did so publicly!

Welcome Angela Simms to Greater Than Yourself!