To increase effectiveness in our professional and personal life we should demonstrate gratitude and embrace thankfulness. This month gives us extra encouragement to celebrate. Let’s take advantage!! Traditionally, Thanksgiving is a time to give thanks for the harvest and express gratitude in general. If your country does not celebrate Thanksgiving, that should not be a reason not to participate in celebrating such positive emotions. Why I am thankful and grateful: I am grateful to have my loving wife Kathy by my side. Ten years ago we experienced some difficult unexpected challenges listed below that altered our life’s plans forever. • Suddenly going into a coma for 3 months, after awakening finding out I had completely lost all vision. • Going through multiple surgeries and painful procedures during a 7 month hospitalization to save my life. • Being told I would never walk again. • Owing the hospital and doctors many thousands of US dollars, accumulated after I lost my medical insurance. With the above seemingly difficulties and challenges I have a lot of gratitude and thankfulness to celebrate: • I feel I was the lucky one lying in the hospital bed during my 7 month hospitalization. I cannot envision how difficult it must have been to be my wife looking at me with many tubes in me, on a ventilator, wondering each day during my 3 month coma, and more months after until I was out of Intensive Care if I would live or die. • Having Kathy to help me with everything when I first got home from hospital; loosing over one-third of my body weight, new to being blind, no medical insurance, inability to walk; or even sit up in bed required a substantial amount of assistance, time and care. • Having Kathy to take care of our pets and everything around the home I used to help with enabling me to recover and put my full energy, drive and passion into engaging in physical therapy and re-skilling myself. • Having my wife as my partner to share and learn together how we would adjust our lives’ to live our new life we were blessed with. • Ability to be grateful and accept life’s challenges, not waiting for external encouragement. Ability to move on and learn how to walk again, learn essential blind skills and successfully returned to work as a productive employee in just less than one year after going into my coma. • Was blessed to be given real life lessons to learn from, enabling me to increase effectiveness in my professional and personal life. I could not have had the time to devote my full attention to the re-skilling needed to obtain my strength and so many new skills so quickly without the support of my loving wife Kathy. I am also very grateful for family, friends, and co-workers that provided valuable support and help when I got home from the hospital. I am grateful for all the dedicated doctors, nurses, therapists, volunteers, Nuns and Chaplains at the Catholic hospital I called my home for the majority of 1999. I plan on celebrating gratitude and thankfulness with my family and friends. I will also reflect on past challenges and successes. I will remember back to when I was fortunate enough to smell turkey and all trimmings lofting through the air as I celebrated Thanksgiving 1999 in the hospital. I am very grateful that by November 1999 I did not have a feeding tube, was able to eat solid foods and enjoy my turkey dinner. I’ll re-live in my mind, the simple successes, like when I was first able to go outside by myself in my new constant blackness, feel the fresh air blowing against my face, smell the trees and flowers and experience the freedom from my hospital bed. Developing an attitude of sincere gratitude for your current blessings unleashes the power for receiving many more. Some of you might have read about a few of my past challenges from my other blog posts. I feel re-living difficulties, humbly stating and graciously accepting will strengthen gratitude and thankfulness. . I will not forget people who are less fortunate than me and are experiencing challenges and can use our thoughts and prayers. I am not beyond learning by any means. That is why I reach out to all of you to allow me to learn how to best keep thankfulness and gratitude in my actions. What do you have to be thankful for? How will you celebrate thankfulness and gratitude this Thanksgiving Day? Do you have any examples of how thankfulness and gratitude has benefitted you and others? Bill Tipton Contributing Author, Global Dialogue Center http://www.globaldialoguecenter.com/ LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/wdtipton Facebook: http://profile.to/wdtipton
Do your goals ever seem out of reach? Have you had challenges or unexpected set-backs on your way to reach success? I sincerely hope we never stop stretching our self emotionally, physically, and educationally. As part of lifelong learning, we need to continuously increase our understanding and ability to value, accept and respect the differences in others, including the disabled, to help increase our successes. If we stop growing, one tendency might be to settle in a place we are familiar with, that requires no change or extra effort on our behalf. Settling for anything less than our clear vision for success will prevent us from fully flourishing in our professional or personal life.
To live with vitality, drive and positivity I believe we need vision and passion for life and work. Vision and passion can be considered fuel for our body and mind. If we are lacking in either of these sources of positive energy, it is very difficult to live up to our best potential.
How can we keep focus directed on our vision and believe in our abilities for success? How can we maintain our passions when we are at times, exposed to negativity, misunderstandings, experience difficulties and perceived road blocks? All such challenges need to be put into perspective or they will distract and blur our vision. How can we embrace the attitude to expect and dare to believe our vision will become a reality?
If we listen and believe the words of negativity spoken, and about doubt by some in our abilities and value, it could be possible for these words to suffocate our passions and drive.
Anything that diminishes my vision and belief in success and recovery I describe in the analogy below.
The smoke that occurs when a forest fire’s first embers smolder can be the first sign one is losing vision. Soon more and more wisps of smoke fill the air. Shortly after, if left unchecked, there is a blazing forest fire out of control. It is very difficult to get your vision and belief in success back until the fire is out, the smoke has cleared, trees and brush have grown back and all of the wild life has returned, bringing the forest back to a place filled with life and tranquility.
Restoring the forest back from such a set-back can take as long to recover as recovering our vision, once we have lost our way. Therefore it is critical not to loose focus or be distracted by negativity or non-believers.
We should not hold negative past experiences in our hearts when we relentlessly, tactfully and ethically pursue our goals. This diminishes our effectiveness for success. Forget the past and those who did not understand and were critical, and pursue ahead confidently with a clear vision. Partner and network with others who share our passion for life and positivity. These partners will keep our forest of life strong and vital keeping any minor set-backs and embers of doubt from igniting into anything that cannot be easily contained and managed.
Remember on our journey to our vision’s success, we will not be able to please everybody our work touches. This mind-set is one of the more difficult lessons to remember for me when I drive to produce quality and beneficial work.
Just imagine what we can accomplish if we keep our vision and passion alive!! Do not give up your vision before you allow your seed of vision to mature, take root and turn into a forest of success.
Look forward to hearing your thoughts and suggestions to help us to have ever increasing expectations of our vision. We can benefit from hearing how your vision of success has become a reality and celebrate with you.
Bill Tipton
Contributing Author,
Global Dialogue Center
http://www.globaldialoguecenter.com/
During challenging times when jobs are being lost and some organizations are re-structuring, it is crucial to discover, re-evaluate and recognize our unique skills to enable us to truly represent our values. When corporations are re-evaluating their work-force and individual employee’s skills we should take this opportunity to be proactive. It is critical to recall our past experiences, difficulties and successes. We need to formulate our past life lessons into words that can clearly articulate our values and what we can offer as transferable skills. Internalizing and appreciating such skills and directly correlating these values to align to new opportunities will help in any interview or resume writing activity. When looking to find other meaningful work, this list will help our prospective employer, our sponsor, stakeholder, or our customers to quickly recognize the values we have to offer that will help us all succeed. When describing transferable skills to those who do not understand the value of utilizing the differences and abilities of the disabled and others who are perceived to be different can be more challenging. Consider when talking to others who do not value differences, that some skills are unique and rare and if leveraged into transferable skills can be highly valued and a unique selling point, in my opinion. An example of some of my transferable skills (•) I humbly note as an example from my life’s experiences (-) are listed below. • Strong technical background, unique innovational viewpoints - 25 years of technical experience. Becoming completely blind instantly has enabled me to develop a rare unique innovational viewpoint. • Delivers innovative solutions to complex technical and organizational problems. - I was blessed with the opportunity to now live as a blind person, learn how to walk again, become skilled very quickly in many new technologies enabling me to return to work after a very critical life threatening event. Overcoming many other obstacles has heightened my ability to be innovative at solutions I deliver to complex problems. • Passionate leadership style and skills to direct or create effective trusting dialogue. - I am the leader of a business group of over 100 employees from over 15 countries. Collaborate with CEO’s, CIO’s, VP’s and Directors, internal and external to my organization and corporation to enhance and accelerate positive results. • Experienced in working in networks of interdependent global workers that must share information, act under severe time constraints, and establish effective relationships at a distance. - The teams and individuals I work with are usually all virtual from many countries and time zones. We have very tight deadlines to deliver our work which requires effective relationships and flexibility working across many time zones. • Skilled in working on a wide range of projects, domestic and international - With over 300,000 employees from many countries in the corporation where I am employed has given me many opportunities to work on a wide range of projects. I work with a diverse group of individuals, which always enhances our deliverables. • Not afraid of taking risks; excellent entrepreneurship and innovative ideas. - Have accomplished many firsts. Helped to establish first ever internal accessibility group where I am employed by pursuing on my own until I received buy-off for my idea and received sponsorship. • Enhanced listening, auditory and other interpersonal and physical senses. - Now that I have no eyesight my other senses have been heightened. My special and unique senses allow me to employ this talent in business collaboration and negotiations. • Developed written communications that have been published in a variety of sources to educate, inspire and give readers new insights. - My weblog, where thousands have read and participated, "Networking Forum", "ACM Ubiquity:", "Careers and the disABLED ", "Blind Californian" and other publications. • Exceptional at networking across businesses, organizations and corporations; maintaining long lasting professional relationships and connecting with others. - The pioneering work I have accomplished required me to walk alone not allowing the false walls, boundaries of organizational and business structures to stand in my way for success. Maintaining long lasting professional relationships while accomplishing entrepreneurship work. • High regard for excellence with relentless determination to deliver it - My relentless determination to deliver value has been documented in many publications, books, articles, videos and by nomination of Hewlett- Packard, and Nationally recognized recipient of Employee of the Year awarded by The Careers and the disABLED Magazine. • Extremely adaptable, able to handle immediate drastic and critical changes. - Went from going into a coma in May 1999, losing all vision instantly, in hospital for 7 months, having to learn how to do everything all over again and returning to work in May of 2000, took extreme dedication to re-skill myself, will, desire and passion to succeed. If we review past life experiences, translating into transferable skills, we can leverage to find exciting, rewarding and gratifying opportunities. Do you have any tips to help us discover transferable skills from our life’s experience and articulate into words? Any techniques to increase success of describing skills to people who do not understand the value of utilizing the differences, and abilities of the disabled and others who are perceived to be different? We look forward to hearing your thoughts, ideas, success stories and best practices to help educate all to acknowledge our valuable unique transferable skills. Bill Tipton Contributing Author Global Dialogue Center http://www.globaldialoguecenter.com/ LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/wdtipton Facebook: http://profile.to/wdtipton
In today’s world with cost cutting initiatives, the demand is to do more in less time, often sacrificing quality for quantity to achieve quick profit over sustainable profit. In this environment, it is easy for some people to be pushed aside. Have you noticed this trend in your organization? Unfortunately, pushing people aside, commonly happens, because it is the easy thing to do. Some decision-makers do not have knowledge about those put at risk by their actions. I'm not suggesting it's personal, but rather than taking time to truly understanding the differences, skills, and value each individual employees brings, some are routinely pushed aside in cost-cutting initiatives; their valuable skills and contributions are discounted by lack of knowledge and understanding. One demographic facing such challenges, in my opinion, is people with disabilities. They are often seen only for being disabled, which overshadows the abilities, value, and skills they possess. I believe during these challenging times, it is even more critical to educate leaders and decision-makers, who do not understand the value of utilizing the differences in everybody. Why? Vast pools of talent, innovative advances, and significant profits will be lost when we need them most! One challenge the disabled face is those needing to be educated about the abilities of the disabled, choose the easy way out. It does take a little extra effort. Educating themselves is not important enough to put out the effort to gain accurate assess an individuals value and level of skills. People with disabilities are seen only for their disability, which overshadows their abilities. Some of my observations that work against valuing abilities: • Inaccessible tools lead to job retention, attraction and promotional opportunity challenges. • Lack of knowledge about assistive technology and how it works and interacts with technologies by individuals who might be trying to help. • When you’re in the minority, your voice is often squelched out and disregarded as inaccurate by the majority. • Fear of the unknown and working with people who are perceived to be different. How can we overcome the discrepancy of full inclusion? Get to know people for the value and skills they bring. Build considerations for people with disabilities into cost-cutting initiatives. Demonstrate the importance of taking the time to accept and understand the differences in everyone as a benefit and not a hindrance. We look forward to hearing your thoughts, ideas, success stories and best practices to help educate all to acknowledge and value the abilities in everyone. Bill Tipton Contributing Author Global Dialogue Center http://www.globaldialoguecenter.com/
Do you have any ideas of how to educate the people who do not have time or feel it is important?
Do you have any thoughts to help others value the abilities of the disabled and others who are perceived to be different?
It is hard to believe we have already traveled through ½ of the year. I hope you have found your journey filled with excitement, joy, friendship, love and any difficulties you may have experienced has not stifled your positive attitude, energy for life and pursuit towards your goals. With the challenges many have during these uncertain economic times it is easy to fall into negative feelings and attitudes. When we see and hear about all of the humanity injustices, our world resources being depleted and degraded, lack of jobs, the gap between the rich and the poor / middle class growing, causing many individuals to slip into poverty and become homeless and hungry can make one become negative. Extreme immediate changes in one’s life causes some to go into “Fight or Flight” mode and act and engage in battles for their own survival. Several feel this is the only way to act to survive. A few will even emotionally abuse the disabled and others in these trying times to get ahead. Some of the people who may make hurtful comments may not be acting in such a way if times were not so challenging and difficult, in my opinion.
I hope you have accomplished positive work in these difficult times. With a positive attitude, courage and believing in your skills, talents and letting your inner beliefs and passions hold true, you can make a difference!
It may be hard to break out of a negative frame of mind if your negative thoughts get a tight stranglehold on your inner beliefs in yourself. One good way to keep positive in what seems like challenges is to look at the difficulties and obstacles from another perspective.
An immediate way I can ground myself is to ride on paratransit. Paratransit is a service to drive the disabled who cannot drive themselves, provided in some areas. I am completely blind and ride paratransit to get to some locations. When I ride paratransit I ride with many people with a broad range of disabilities. Just the other day on the way to work I was sitting in the back seat. I was the only person in the car and was holding a pleasant conversation with the driver when it was time to pick up another passenger. When the driver helped the passenger get in next to me, I cheerfully greeted the person as I looked towards their face, with a heartfelt “hello, how are you today?” I did not hear an answer, so I asked again. The driver then told me the person sitting directly next to me cannot speak. I thought to myself as I looked towards this person, I wonder if they had any expression on their face of acknowledgment of what I had said. Since all I can see is blackness, I had no idea if they were even looking towards me as I attempted to greet them. Before I reached my destination this person got out of the car with help from the driver, without my being able to communicate with them, for whatever reason, I never knew why this person could not speak. These true to life, real experiences always make me think about what priorities should be most important in my life and what should be valued. This experience brought back memories of when I did not have the ability to speak for a while after I lost my vision. I wondered if this person’s lack of ability to speak was permanent or temporary.
Let’s work together to fight off negative attitudes, incorrect perceptions and thoughts that will hinder our ability and others to do work at our best potential. If I was not open to considering the possibilities of others, I might assume incorrectly, just because I could not communicate with the person I rode with on paratransit they were not capable of positive work, but in reality they could have been ingenious and were on their way to work to do very valuable, creative and important work that benefits all of us. Try not to let the distractions of the challenges make you lose your focus on what you really value. Do not stifle and blow out the flame of the positive energy of people you do not understand. We need all of the positive people working together to solve our complex problems we currently have. I hope with the help of other positive and courageous people we can all draw from our strengths to help us pursue our goals and dreams in these extraordinarily challenging times. I believe positive energy can flow through virtual connections.
Has anyone noticed increased challenges for the disabled during these challenging times? Does anyone want to share your accomplishments this year,that you are grateful for? Any lessons learned? Anything you need help with during these difficult times?
Remember we are all extraordinary people. No verbal words or misinterpretations can tear down our true inner souls. They can only put superficial wounds in our outer body that will hurt terribly at times, although these assaults should not be treated as fatal and bring us down. Embrace the gift of positivity!!
Bill Tipton
Contributing Author
Global Dialogue Center
http://www.globaldialoguecenter.com/
After many lengthy, exhausting and stressful days and nights at the hospital my wife Kathy would call our home phone. She would let the phone ring, and ring until no one answered and the answering machine picked up and played the recorded away message. Kathy listened to my recorded voice speak “Bill and Kathy are away and please leave a message”. She held the telephone receiver to her ear with love, companionship, sorrow and fear in her heart and tears in her eyes. She felt some relief pulse through her weakened body and mind while my recorded voice brought back memories of better times. Although Kathy liked to listen to my voice, hearing my familiar voice stirred up thoughts of sadness and the uncertainty and loneliness that was now apart of her daily life. This recorded voice of mine was the only connection back to the happy reality Kathy once knew when she had the opportunity to listen to my real voice any time.
While Kathy listened to the recorded voice, I was in a coma hooked to a respirator and other life support devices. Nobody knew if I would ever awaken. Kathy cherished her only connection to my voice on our answering machine and the reality she once knew.
With many prayers from all over the world, determination and faith, I awakened from a 3 month long coma, completely blind and unable to speak. After learning to talk with a Tracheostomy by holding a special device to block the hole in my throat Kathy once again was able to listen to me speak to her with love and companionship in my real voice.
I truly hope nobody ever takes for granted the simple things in life that can go away immediately and forever, such as listening to a love one speak to you. I understand some with certain disabilities may not be able to speak and others cannot hear voices due to hearing impairments and can relate by replacing the ability to hear or speak with other communication methods one might use.
I feel like I was the lucky one at times being in a coma and having been oblivious to all of the uncertainty and sadness that stirred around me as my family and friends wondered if I would live or die. I personally think it would be very difficult to only have a recording of Kathy’s voice to listen to as my only connection to her. I cannot imagine how she felt having to rely on a recording to bring back memories of me. I also cannot fathom how she took care of me daily in the hospital, took care of the house we live in, all of our household needs, taking care of our pets and everything else while going through such stress, fear, loneliness and uncertainty.
Our wedding anniversary is this month; and Kathy and I will celebrate our love together. I was in a coma for our 12th wedding anniversary. Later I was told Kathy was all dressed up nicely in a dress, jewelry and heels as she visited me as I laid there hooked to the world and in my hospital gown; very lovely looking couple.:) I do not plan on missing this year’s anniversary!!
Cherish every day. We never know when the voice of life might be distinguished forever.
Does anyone have a simple gift that means so much? Any other stories of how you stay connected to loved ones? I hope we take the time to cherish life’s simplest gifts and stay connected to each other before we loose the chance.
We all look forward to hearing from you.
Bill Tipton
Contributing Author
Global Dialogue Center
http://www.globaldialoguecenter.com/
In the US and some other countries we celebrate Mothers Day. I wish all the mothers and their families a very rewarding and joyful Mothers day. I believe Mothers who have disabilities, or care for children with disabilities have special talents of caring and an encouraging mind-set of positive determination we can all learn from. I believe you will find the mothers in Mothers with Disabilities: Physical limitations are no limitations to loving and nurturing a child by Mary Hill beneficial and inspiring. Just a couple of points from Physical limitations are no limitations to loving and nurturing a child. • For mothers who have disabilities, parenting a young child presents unique challenges—and brings very special rewards for mother and child alike. • According to Through the Looking Glass (TLG), a Berkeley, California-based nonprofit organization focusing on assisting families in which one or more members has a disability, nearly nine million parents in the United States have a disability. Have you integrated your disability, or your family member’s disability into your way of life and are a successful mother? Can you share what you learned and your experiences with others to help our readers who might be just learning how to be successful at being a mother with a disability, or caring for a child with a disability? Do you have questions for others? Happy Mothers Day!! Bill Tipton Contributing Author Global Dialogue Center http://www.globaldialoguecenter.com/
Have you ever awoke and found yourself unexpectedly in complete darkness and discovered you were forced to immediately change the way you do everything in your life, including the way you work? I recently had an opportunity to participate in an interview that was published in Careers and the disABLED that some might enjoy and find useful in their professional and personal life. In addition to my interview, you can read about other positive individuals that are truly making a difference in the world they live in. The interview with me has dialogue on the value of networking, reskilling techniques, ideas for selling oneself, proper attitude for success, and other valuable lessons to be successful in what ever a person chooses to accomplish in life. A positive attitude and willingness to accept unexpected changes can help us during hard times. Adaptability and re-skilling to accommodate change is an especially critical and necessary skill needed to resolve the complex social, humanitarian, ethical, environmental and business challenges we are facing with so much uncertainty, and in some cases, fear in the world today. Accepting change, help and holding determination in our hearts and having the courage to walk alone at times in uncharted territory with self confidence is necessary so we don’t slow down any transformation we might be going through in our fast paced world. I sincerely hope none of you have to overcome going into a coma for three months, loss of all vision, give up the ability to look into people’s eyes, and see the person looking back with thought and meaning in their bright eyes and expression on their face. Also, never again being able to look at a computer monitor with one’s physical eyes, while using a computer and other challenges I briefly talk about overcoming in the interview in the Winter edition of the Careers and the disABLED publication. This publication is shared electronically with the permission from CAREERS & the disABLED -Equal Opportunity Publications.
What did you learn from the interview that you can use in your life? Any suggestions to help us handle critical changes with a positive attitude and willingness to accept unexpected challenges? I wish you the very best in overcoming what at first looks to be insurmountable barriers so when you come through your struggles you can be even more productive, have the ability to help others, and yourself more successfully than you ever dreamed could be possible. We all look forward to hearing from you.
Bill Tipton
Contributing Author
Global Dialogue Center
http://www.globaldialoguecenter.com/
We all at times have to make difficult decisions that will significantly change our life and family and friends around us. Some times we are forced into actions. Other times we voluntarily make changes to seek out a more meaningful life where we can be respected for who we are, and our unique skills and passions are valued. I use the analogy of our options in life as stepping stones. The stones are evenly placed with equal spaces between each one on the path of life as we move through our normal daily routines with no obstacles or unplanned events. Each step is easily reached with no effort. Most of the time the path is so easily walked upon, we can step from stone to stone without even realizing we are moving through life as the years pass. At times we need to stretch our limit and experience some discomfort to reach the next stone when things are a little more difficult. Other times unexpected challenges will cause us to loose our balance and temporarily stumble as we attempt to step forward, making us feel a bit unsure of ourselves. I believe to make a dramatic jump forward in our life, sometimes we have to leap through the air a little bit higher and leave the security of a solid stone, if the next stone is just out of reach. When this happens we need to leave the security and familiarity we know, leaving the ground and flying through the air to the next stone. Before anyone makes their leap, they should not hesitate, once they have made up their mind. Hesitation will drain their momentum causing them to fall short of their goal. The leap requires trust and confidence in a person’s abilities and skills. Such a leap into the unknown does not come without fear and anxiety. However, at times it must be done to realize our full potential in life. As we fly through the air in-between stones, wonderment might be dwelling on our minds, anticipating if the next stone we land on will be level, sturdy enough to hold us safely, and will have catapulted us to a place of joy and fulfillment. Instead of making the leap into the unknown, we could have taken the road of least resistance and found a closer stone to reach for. I understand that for some, if we are not forced into making the step into the unknown, the risk is not worth the potential benefits. I hope you can trust your abilities, skills and your personal values to make such a leap without hesitation when you need to. Is anyone taking a leap into the unknown? What made you make such a decision, instead of taking the road of least resistance? Do you have any tips to share to help others to trust themselves to take the leap with courage, faith and well being? Bill Tipton Contributing Author Global Dialogue Center http://www.globaldialoguecenter.com/
Has anyone ever hit a roadblock that seems impenetrable? Have you been unable to sleep because the day’s challenges keep racing uncontrollably through your mind at lightning speed as you anticipate tackling challenges all over again the next day? Does your mind uncontrollably contemplate solutions, strategies and actions to solve your challenges as you try to force sleep? Does stress and anxiety ripple through your body? I believe we can all help each other meet such challenges we face in an ever changing and complex world we live in. Like others, I have faced many challenges, some small and some critical. Skills learned during hard times can be transferable and leveraged to help us in our every day life. Have the attitude that such painful and uncomfortable learning’s are a blessing in disguise. We need to be observant as not to miss out on how we can gain knowledge from our difficulties and learn to live without fear. With our shared experience, and lessons learned in handling such challenges we can help each other in our personal and professional lives. A few key lessons learned from my experiences Some thought they should unplug my life support when I was in a coma for 3 months. • Trust your inner instinct, have faith like my wife Kathy, family and primary care doctor did when they decided not to end my life • When you enable a life to live you never know how many others that life will have a meaningful impact on. All medical specialists said I had no hope of ever walking again. • Believe in yourself and do not fully rely on the opinions of others. •Dare to live, have faith, take chances and do not believe all negative comments directed towards you. I recently listened to the recording of an excellent dialogue: Putting Our Differences to Work: HARD TIMES: Gifts of INSIGHT hosted by Debbe Kennedy. Many insightful and passionate leaders discussed and shared valuable lessons about difficult times and the value of learning and accepting these as a new opportunity for a new beginning. I hope we can all have the courage to live without fear and create meaning in our life. How can we help each other confront and defeat our roadblocks, fear, challenges and other obstacles’ that prevent us from fully flourishing as the person we want to become? Any insight to help put our restless minds at peace when we try to regenerate in our daily needed sleep? Do you have a story to share with lessons learned? Bill Tipton Contributing Author Global Dialogue Center http://www.globaldialoguecenter.com/
I hope you had a wonderful and fulfilling last year. It is time for careful thoughts, reflection, re-examining our ethical morals and start planning on how we can be confident in handling uncertainty, stay positive, productive and loving to others as we precede down the road of this new year. This year has started out with some deep ruts, steep ditches just off the surface, large rocks, littered with other obstacles and plenty of dead ends that will temporarily halt our progress. To get back on our road requires self reinvention enabling us to successfully continue to our destination. It is important while navigating such a challenging road, we do not take on too much collateral damage projected by others to weaken our inner souls and true self core values and beliefs. To help prevent us from going off our road of life will require our careful and undivided attention to successfully navigate down a road filled with such obstacles. Have you had challenges, obstacles, barriers or other difficulties last year? Maybe last year was productive and fulfilling and all you hoped for. With the economic meltdown, people losing jobs, and other critical global issues, I believe last year had more challenges to test us than other years. With instability and uncertainty some people tend to stray from their faith and ethical morals and act selfishly, only looking out for themselves. With the global issues we face today, we need to work together to solve very challenging and complex problems we have. During these difficult times, it is no time to trample over other people or intimidate them into submission to make small temporary short term advances for oneself, as tempting and easy as it might be. We need to stay our course of humble, strong humanitarian leaders to lead others successfully through the maze of difficult and unique obstacles and challenges. In either case (negative or positive) experiences you had last year I hope we can learn from our experiences to help make this year all we wish for. I truly believe, even from our most dire and uncomfortable experiences we can find valuable learning’s to help us in our personal and professional life. Do you have any experiences (negative or positive) you want to share with us? Any lessons learned that will help us in this new year? In your new year’s resolutions I hope you include being the best ethical leader you can be, to help guide lost and weak individuals who are tempted by quick fixes for solving challenging and complex problems, and help the ones who are losing their jobs and homes, by no fault of their own in most cases. We look forward to hearing from you in this new year so we can all work together to help each other navigate a challenging new year successfully and rejoice in our opportunities for renewal. Bill Tipton Contributing Author Global Dialogue Center http://www.globaldialoguecenter.com/
During December we have many opportunities to celebrate cultural, spiritual or religious holidays in our own unique and thoughtful ways. Just a few examples are Sinterklaas, or St. Nicholas Day, Hanukkah, Christmas, Kwanzaa and New Year’s Eve.
How do you enjoy celebrating your special holidays?
If your special holiday tradition requires the purchase of material gifts, I understand such traditions and partake in such customs as well, like I talk about in Decorating a Christmas Tree with a Disability.
I have found the simpler, non-material gifts have more meaning and are just as valuable as anything that can be purchased, in my opinion.
In Special Thoughts During Holidays I talk about the gratitude and joy that can be experienced from non-material gifts, as I laid in a hospital bed for 7 months.
In Holiday Traditions I talk about how after I went completely blind I am still able to experience my enjoyable traditions that include family and friends.
It is far more important to be grateful and find meaning in simple meaningful gifts of human companionship and helping others when we celebrate our traditions. With the global instability in the world we are experiencing, these attitudes and actions are even more important to help us enjoy the holidays and others during this time of joyful and caring celebrations.
Even a simple gift of a glass of lemonade can be cherished with extreme joy! To learn how and why a glass of lemonade can taste so good and be the best gift of all, if this was your first drink of cool liquid in many months, listen to Lemonade on the Road to Recovery on Podcasts at the Global Dialogue Center.
My Thoughts Of Valuable Simple Gifts Of Appreciation
• Give the gift of your personal companionship by spending time with others.
• Offer your expertise to others to help them. In return, you will find the person you help can help you equally and mutualisticly.
• Work to help the less fortunate, or those who are in need.
• Offer some of your time and energy to help others in your community and in the world.
• If you are in a position to give, give to others and organizations that can use your aid.
• Teach, mentor and give guidance to people in your personal and professional life.
• If in your professional life you are in direct contact with customers, treat them with respect and caring, like you should do for other co-workers.
• If you are working, educate yourself for innovation and leadership thinking, even if you’re in an individual contributor role.
These gifts I list are equally reciprocal as gifts to yourself. When you give the gift of oneself, there are others that receive your gifts through the people you touch you will never know benefited from your generosity. These gifts of ones self spread from person to person like wild flower seeds blowing through the wind and sowing an open field of dry grasses with the seeds of life. With kindness and gratitude and helping to create a better place for all I picture the gifts of California Poppy, Purple and pink Lupine seeds covering the hillsides for miles and miles. Soon a field of beautiful bright orange, vivid purple and vibrant pink flowers cover the fields where once only dry grasses, rocks and dirt in a variety of brown and tan hues existed.
During this holiday season, let’s plant some wild flowers of joy for others by giving the unselfish gift of our self.
How do you like to celebrate your special holidays? How might you celebrate this year? Will you be the one who gives the gift of a drink of lemonade to a person who was not able to drink any cool liquids for many months and make their day? We all look forward to hearing from you, so we can celebrate this enjoyable season together.
Bill Tipton
Contributing Author
Global Dialogue Center
http://www.globaldialoguecenter.com/
I believe all things happen for a reason. Most of us have had unexplainable circumstances at some point in our life that have had underlying meanings.
One unexplainable event happened to me very soon after I got home from the hospital. I was in the hospital for seven months and lost all of my vision and ability to walk, due to an extremely critical medical condition that hit me without warning.
Very shortly after getting home from the hospital I received a telephone call as I laid in bed recovering. The voice on the telephone asked “ is this Bill Tipton?”. I said with some hesitation, “yes, it is” Then the person on the telephone asked, “are you blind?” I answered “who is this? They quickly responded I am John Doe, from a church I had never heard of. John Doe said a member of his congregation had found a Braille bible in one of their pews after a service. The Braille bible had my name and telephone number hand written in it. John Doe said they were calling me to return my Braille bible. I responded with astonishment, my name is Bill Tipton and I am completely blind. I told them I had never been to or heard of their church. I also told them I just got out of the hospital after a seven month stay and that was not my bible and I did not know Braille. I graciously thanked them for taking the time to call, as we both were in wonder of who the bible belonged to.
I felt sensations of bewilderment and amazement run throughout my body wondering with astonishment how this bible with my name and telephone number got into their church. I wondered why that apparently lost bible was left on a seat in the pew of that church. I thought this unexplainable event must have happened for some very special reason.
To this day I never found out how that bible got in that church. Every time I think about that Braille bible with my name and telephone number written in it I am in wonder. When I think about that telephone call those same sensations I had when I got that mysterious telephone call run through my body all over again.
Some incredible events in my belief that followed that mysterious telephone call.
• I returned to church in my wheelchair without any eyesight.
• Learned how to use a screen reader to allow me to use a PC and applications without eyesight.
• Learned grade one and grade two Braille.
• Learned how to walk again and left my wheelchair behind after many doctors from multiple hospitals said I had no hope of ever walking again.
• Joined three non-profits in my community to help others.
• Returned to work after a tremendous amount of re-skilling to enable me to contribute my very best to my employer as I help many customers and employees from all over the world.
I truly believe others have experienced unexplainable events that have taken them on similar paths as mine. If you have not, maybe we need to take life slower, so even the dimmest simplest of signals do not go unnoticed. Even if you do not fully understand the underlying meaning, your heart and attitude needs to be open to let your inner self accept the signals. Unexplainable events if associated with proper timing to your calculated planned events can catapult your success. Just a few examples of the planned events I talk about are learning from co-workers, friends, observing others, networking, work experience, formal education and doing volunteer work to help others.
With everyone attempting to accomplish more in less time in their personal and professional life, it is vital to pay attention to your unexplainable events as much as your planned events. This frame of mind is needed to take advantage of the catapult effect I described when you associate different types of learning opportunities together. This is even more critical during our unstable financial and economic situation our world is in today, when we are asked to do more with less, some are loosing jobs and their homes. In some parts of our world some are fighting for the bare necessities of life to enable them to live without enough food, access to medication to fight critical deadly diseases, lack of shelter and other very unfortunate situations. . If you do not take advantage of unexplainable events, it is like throwing away a free learning opportunity.
In the US we celebrate Thanksgiving Day this week. This Thanksgiving Day one of my many things I am grateful and thankful for is the ability to accept help from unexplainable sources with humbleness and gratitude. Live with an attitude of faith and expectance to help your dreams become a reality.
Has anyone else had a unexplainable event happen? If so, after the event happened did that event trigger any special learning’s to help you? Do you see any explanations from my mysterious telephone call? We all look forward to hearing from you.
Bill Tipton
Contributing Author
Global Dialogue Center
http://www.globaldialoguecenter.com/
." On Sept. 18, 2007, only a month after doctors told him that he had three-to-six months to live following a recurrence of pancreatic cancer, he presented a lecture called "Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams" to a packed auditorium at Carnegie Mellon.
The moving and often humorous talk recounted his efforts to achieve such childhood dreams as becoming a professional football player, experiencing zero gravity and developing Disney World attractions. In the process, he shared his insights on finding the good in other people, working hard to overcome obstacles and living generously.
"If you lead your life the right way, the karma will take care of itself," Pausch said. "The dreams will come to you." Listen to Randy Pausch Last Lecture: Achieving Your Childhood Dreams.
What I learned from Randy Pausch’s Last Lecture.
Are you fearful and uncertain in these volatile and unstable times we are all facing in the world today? With financial meltdown, corporations letting employees go, small businesses going out of business and shutting down. Family owned and operated businesses loosing everything and having to start life all over again. Non-profit organizations struggling to keep their doors open to serve others who terribly need their services during these unstable times. Families and individuals loosing their homes, belongings and facing uncertainty and fear as they wonder where they will live. As our world’s population ages the elderly and disabled services are being cut, or completely eliminated.
With the instability in today’s world I believe we have a reason to fear the uncertainty in our live’s today.
I have personally seen family members loose their jobs, their homes and belonging’s. I have seen friends and co-workers loose their jobs from the companies they unselfishly worked for loyally for years. I have seen nonprofit organizations drastically trying to find ways to stay open to help the people who need their service, even more desperately during these unstable times. Throughout these difficulties with money, housing, lack of employment, medical problems, taking care of our elderly family members or friends, all cause stress, anxiety and fear of the unknown. This tends to put extra strain on friendships between family and friends.
Having a disability can add greater complexity into some of these difficulties. I am completely blind, and even though I use assistive aids or technology, I still need help reading my postal mail, filling out paper forms or the other things a sighted person does in their daily life. During these challenging times the help I might have been able to find in the past from a sighted person might not be available due to them taking care of more time sensitive critical needs. For some blind and visually impaired people, sighted help is provided by volunteers in some areas. Volunteers are not as abundant during these challenging times, probably because they are trying to take care of their own needs. People with different types of disabilities might be facing other added challenges that compound the difficulties others are experiencing.
During my challenges I am facing I have found the following to be useful.
• Do not be afraid to ask and accept help. Asking for help does not mean you are weak. We all need help at times.
• Helping each other if you can is critical. If you have family or friends it is best to band together to solve and handle some of the immediate challenges and plan for the long term obstacles and difficulties you know are in your future.
• Some of you might have gone through difficult challenges in past. It is time to remember what you learned from going through those complicated and undesirable times and put those lessons learned into actions now.
• If you are still working, be open and flexible to the changes that will come your way.
•If you are working, or not, learn new skills that will be valuable to you and your employer to help each other through these difficult times.
• Always be reinventing yourself with current knowledge and technical skills that keep up with this ever changing world we live in.
• Think about the others in the world who never had a house to live in, do not have enough food, or shelter, are experiencing fatal or critical medical conditions and have no family or friends.
• If you have religious beliefs turn to your spiritual beliefs and/or your faith for confidence and guidance.
•Do not give up! Believe in yourself and your abilities and values; even if others tell you differently.
Do any of you have ideas to overcome our challenges we face today? How did your faith and inner strength help you through uncertainty and fears? Are any of you facing uncertainty we might be able to give virtual help with? Do any of you have other suggestions to help us? Like I talked about, wee need to band together to solve some of these complex global issues we face today.
We all look forward to hearing from you so we can stick together to help each other.
Bill Tipton
Contributing Author
Global Dialogue Center
http://www.globaldialoguecenter.com/
Do any of you feel like others get better opportunities than you do?
It can be easy to fall into this thinking when you are working many, many hours and are putting your heart and soul into your work, and you are not seeing the results you expect. It may seem like your work is not valued or noticed.
During times of global instability in some corporations, organizations, non-profits, local communities, our environmental degradation and other challenges it is easy to get discouraged and doubtful of your value, or the work you are doing.
I believe we need to pay attention to opportunities that demonstrate our value and skills to work towards our goals. We should be ready to engage in and jump at the chance to participate in any worthwhile opportunity to demonstrate our skills, learn by doing or learn from others.
These opportunities may come your way, if you are aware of what is going on around you and are ready with the correct skillset. Others you will have to search out. If you are pioneering a new and different opportunity, you will need to create this opportunity yourself.
There are many ways you will come across your opportunities in your professional and personal life.
Some skills that will enhance our readiness to accept new opportunities
List of 10 items.
• Embrace and learn from changes in your professional or personal life.
• Use and learn new technology to increase your value as an employee or to yourself.
• Find ways to further your skills by education, or learning by doing.
• Increase your personal and professional skills by networking and learning from others.
• Constantly be aware and be looking for new opportunities in everything you do.
• Think ahead about how one opportunity can open the door to your next opportunities that may be better aligned with your end goals.
• Know how and when to turn down new opportunities if you are too overloaded to complete them successfully. Adjust your current work load to accept new opportunities that better align with your goals and stop others as needed if possible to fit into your schedule.
• Learn to value your differences and use them to enhance the successes in your opportunities.
• Work with others ethically and value the differences in all when you are pursuing your opportunities.
• Do not be afraid to do something you have never attempted before and are not quite sure how you will accomplish the task. If we wait until we are sure we can accomplish the task with the precision and ease of accomplishment we feel comfortable with, we will miss the opportunity. That opportunity we miss might have been the one that will advance us to our next level of our desired goals. Be ready to accept the challenge with passion and courage!
Does anyone have any suggestions or comments to help us increase the amount of opportunities we find? Any suggestions to help us be as ready as wee can be to accept the opportunities with eagerness and passion? Do you have suggestions’ to help us take advantage of every opportunity we get?
We all look forward to hearing from others.
Bill Tipton
Contributing Author
Global Dialogue Center
http://www.globaldialoguecenter.com/
Is anyone experiencing any challenges in your personal or professional life?
With the uncertainty in the economies of some nations, lack of affordable and quality health care, elder care, hunger, deadly diseases, world human conflict and global environmental problems, there is a great deal to cause challenges in our lives.
One of my challenges is elder care. Both of my wife’s parents are elderly and need more and more help every day. They currently still live in their own home. Neither one can drive any more. The challenge is trying to schedule the many doctor’s visits, interpreting the doctor’s diagnoses to them, recommendations and medical prescriptions, financial issues, home maintenance, finding and getting personal help, purchasing necessary items from stores and all the other things that some elders can’t do for themselves any more. Her dad is 91 and had congestive heart failure multiple times last year. He eventually had multiple heart bypasses, a valve replaced and a pace maker put in his heart to save his life. Her mom is 88 and had multiple surgeries this year to repair a broken hip. Her mom is legally blind and hard of hearing.
They will be married 66 years next month. They are both set in their ways and possibly like most elderly people, do not like change and new technology. This fear and reluctance to change causes hesitation and avoidance when we suggest resources, assistive aids or offer our help.
I talk about some of my observations and challenges in Elder Care by the Disabled.
My wife and I are very blessed to still have her parents around to be able to experience these challenges!
Do you have any examples of overcoming any of your personal or professional challenges? Do you need help or advice with challenges? Have you also found a challenge to be a gift; like I described above? Are you working on solving some of the critical complex and widespread challenges I described in the intro to this post?
We all look forward to hearing from you.
Bill Tipton
Contributing Author
Global Dialogue Center
http://www.globaldialoguecenter.com/
Recently I had the opportunity to play a game I had not played since elementary school called four square.
One difference from the last time I played this game is I am now completely blind and need two canes to walk safely. I am also about 35-40 years older than the last time I played
I am not sure if they play this game called four square in other countries? If so, maybe it is called something different.
How I Was Given this Opportunity to Challenge my Senses
I was at a recent family gathering enjoying everyone’s company and cheerful conversation. I walked out to the driveway to ask one of my cousins a question when I heard the laughing and the bouncing rubber ball near by. These sounds caught my attention with curiosity and wonderment. Thoughts raced through my mind wondering if I could play this game with no eyesight.
Soon my nieces, great nieces and great nephews asked me to join them in the game. At first thought I imagined how I might be able to play without any eyesight, and wondered if I should attempt to try this.
To play this game there are four squares on the ground. These squares are usually drawn on the ground with chalk. Each of the four people in the game stands in their own square. The goal is when the ball comes into your square you are to hit the rubber ball into another person’s square. The person who misses the ball or overshoots another person’s square looses that game.
I thought to myself why not give this new challenge and experience a try.
I folded up my long white cane and put it into its holder and fastened it to my belt. I folded up my white support cane and partially stuck it down the back of my pants to secure it since I only had one cane holder. I could have set my support cane aside while I played, but I wanted my support cane for emergencies in case I started to fall or get unsteady standing and moving around in my square with no canes.
With the help of the others in the game letting me know where my square was, I positioned myself into the center of my square. Then I heard the sound of hands hitting the rubber ball. Immediately after I herd the hands of another player hit the ball I heard a different tone as the ball struck and bounced off the ground. I stood there crouched down ready to turn in any direction quickly to try to hit the ball. I imagined the rubber ball being brick red in color since that is what I remembered the color was when I last played. I listened intently as I tried to follow the ball’s sound as it bounced from square to square and from person to person wondering when it would come into my square. I was intensely concentrating on the sound of the ball hitting the ground. Soon I could distinguish the different sounds of the ball hitting the ground depending on what angle, direction and speed the ball hit the ground. After a bit, once I got into a rhythm, I imagined in my minds eye the compression of the rubber ball as it bounced off the ground. With more compression I could gauge that the ball would be traveling faster. From the sound the ball made I could hear if the ball was going towards me and would bounce in my square. If the ball did bounce in my square I would gently time my attempt to hit the ball based on my methods of gauging the speed and location of the ball from my auditory observations. When I would make hand contact with the bouncing ball I would hit the ball towards another persons square. After a few successes, I was having a great deal of fun! I was amazed I actually was hitting the ball! I was very glad I tried to play the game instead of sitting out and never knowing if I would succeed, or fail. I played the game with eagerness and joy for quite a while. I eventually stopped when I could no longer concentrate intensely enough to follow the bouncing ball accurately.
To read about another of my recreational firsts, read Hitting a Softball without Sight.
Has anyone else ever tried something they were not sure they could accomplish? If so, how did you feel after you decided to try the unknown instead of sitting on the sideline and missing your opportunity to extend yourself? Even if you did not succeed, how did you feel after making the attempt? Not succeeding in my opinion is better than not trying; depending on if not succeeding will cause you or anyone else physical harm.
We all look forward to hearing your thoughts and comments.
Bill Tipton
Contributing Author
Global Dialogue Center
http://www.globaldialoguecenter.com/
David Roche is a humorist and performer who has transformed his life experience of living with a facial disfigurement into a compelling message that delights audiences around the world.
His presentations are uniquely effective at communicating the social consequences of being perceived as “different” in our society. In early June, 2008, David performed one of his most popular performances “The Church of 80% Sincerity” for the Kennedy Center for Performing Arts. Happily, that performance was captured on video at the Kennedy Center Millennium Stage archives.
I am very grateful to have met David in person and have listened to one of his talks live. I found David’s message very helpful and inspiring to myself. I hope you take the time to watch or listen to the video.
What thoughts came to your mind when listening to David Roche? After watching the video do you think you will act any differently in your personal or professional life? Do any of you have fears of being rejected and being un-loved like David talks about? We all would love to hear your thoughts, comments and suggestions.
Bill Tipton
Contributing Author
Global Dialogue Center
http://www.globaldialoguecenter.com/
I personally believe we all should take time to celebrate our passions and joys in our life.
Time goes by very quickly. If we breeze through the actions of living life like a robot with no emotions, enthusiasm or interactions we would truly miss out on life’s pleasures. We need to take the time to celebrate the joys of living. Be aware of your surroundings, others feelings and share mutual passions. Embrace how different each of us are and enjoy the uniqueness in personalities, viewpoints, skills and perceived abilities.
If we do not take advantage of life’s experiences, whether negative or positive, we will truly miss out on the true meaning of why we are living on this earth.
This month has been very special for me for many reasons. I want to share three celebrations I had the opportunity to experience during a week of vacation from my valued employer. This will get us started thinking about what we all can celebrate in our lives, and how we can help others unselfishly.
To start off my week of gratitude and celebrations my first thought is that I am thankful that I have the ability to celebrate. This month is my wedding anniversary. You can read a post I wrote last year to celebrate this very special occasion with my loving and caring wife Kathy; I call Anniversaries - What They Mean to You.
I tragically missed my twelfth anniversary. Read the post to see why I missed this anniversary and why I do not want to miss any more opportunities to celebrate my anniversary and why I believe I am very lucky to have the ability to celebrate the joys in life.
I was honored and grateful to attend a book release reception with my wife Kathy for a very exciting and valuable book titled: Putting Our Differences to Work. The author of this innovative book is Debbe Kennedy, my friend, colleague, Founder, President and CEO Global Dialogue Center and Leadership Solutions Companies.
I met many positive leaders at the reception who are truly celebrating life to the fullest. They are incorporating all people in their positive and meaningful work; valuing the individual’s unique differences. I have had the privilege to have worked with some of these outstanding creative leaders in the past. Some I continue to do meaningful work with and others I just met at the reception and will work with in the future. This was a very remarkable event to celebrate life and be engaged with others who are making a positive difference in the world.
Read: Putting Our Differences to Work, to learn more about the leaders and how you can learn to be a better leader and make a difference in your organization, community and in your personal life.
To end my week my wife Kathy and I had a very nice dinner with a friend I had not seen in years. My friend and I used to go on tandem bike rides in the foothills near where I live. I started going on tandem bike rides just after I learned to walk again after a very critical medical condition which took away all of my eyesight and the ability to walk for 1 year. I now walk with two canes. I have one support cane and one long white cane.
When I would ride on the bike I would fold up my canes and attach them to my larger fanny pack so I could get to them quickly and easily if I needed to walk. I always wore a helmet on my rides. As we rode I could smell the fresh air and scents of trees and flowers. I could feel the breeze blowing around my face, arms and legs. Our rides were relaxing even when going uphill as we peddled the miles away. I would listen to the birds as we rode trying to figure out what type of bird was singing. We did a lot of talking as we rode. I think I must have talked off my riding partners ears; it seemed to me. I especially liked coming down this one steep hill where we would go very fast through some gentle curves that went from side to side. At times we would have to pass cars on the side of the road or as we made turns down side streets. I could hear when the cars were relatively close to me; but I was never a bit scared or worried. I had complete faith in my friend and riding partner. We always had a great time celebrating life on our rides.
Our night out to dinner and our talk afterwards went by so quickly. It was a very nice way to end a week full of exciting life experiences and celebrations!
If I wanted to I could have stayed at home and not been engaged with others during my week on vacation. If I did this; just think of what I would have missed if I did not choose to share myself with others and allow others to reciprocate. If I took the perceived easy way of life and rushed through this month like a robot I would have missed many opportunities to enjoy what life has to offer and the ability to meet many outstanding people.
I hope that you can live every day to the fullest and can enjoy the celebrations in your life. I hope you do not pass up any opportunities because you are too rushed by the actions of just living life. Instead try focusing on the engagements and opportunities that may come up. If you do rush through life, it is like me and my friend on the tandem bike racing down the hills. You are going too fast to see the opportunities to celebrate life, meet new people and enjoy all life has to offer.
Does anyone have any celebrations you want to share with us? Do you have any suggestions to help others get engaged to find celebrations of life? What makes you feel life is worth celebrating?
We all look forward to hearing your thoughts, comments and suggestions’ to help us celebrate life’s joys.
Bill Tipton
Contributing Author
Global Dialogue Center
http://www.globaldialoguecenter.com/
Hello everyone,
I personally think it is difficult to keep up your self confidence when others are telling you that you are not able to complete certain tasks in their opinion. When others make verbal remarks to you that hurt and sadden you could negatively impact your self confidence. If the comments are focused on your disability; these comments may even hurt worse since nobody in my opinion ever chooses to be disabled.
I believe we can expand on our discussion we started in my post, SELF-CONFIDENCE: How to Improve to help us further. I am sure others have additional examples of how your self confidence could be negatively impacted with examples of resolutions.
I would like to know how you keep negative comments or inaccurate assumptions from diminishing your self confidence. How do you keep the anger and frustrations you feel deep down inside from negatively impacting the people you care about in your personal or professional life? How do you proceed ahead and keep positively focused on what is important so these negative attitudes do not impact the great work you may be doing? Do you have any possible solutions to help minimize the destructive feelings you may feel when your self confidence is in jeopardy.
What I try to focus on when these destructive feelings come up for me are the following:
• Don't allow your first thoughts be negative. If they are; take a breath before you speak or act. Maybe the comments are constructive to enhance your skills or talents and just may sound negative in the way they were presented to you.
• Gauge how much time you spend defending yourself. Fighting the battles to prove you are correct might take too long and use up too much of your valuable energy and resources. You will have to gauge how much time you should spend defending yourself and how much of an impact losing the battle will truly have on your life. If you let these negative feelings fester inside you, this negativity will show through in the other work you are doing in your personal and professional life.
• Think of overcoming this negativity or misunderstanding; look for the learning in the experience. I think that most leaders have to learn to deal with negative comments and you should think of your circumstances as good practice, no matter how painful they are.
• The obstacles you are facing might be a clue that one door is closing and another one is about to open for you. If this is true this is the time that is most critical for you to not let negativity cloud your mind, actions and visions.
• Maybe the work you are doing is pioneering work and has never been accomplished and is very technical and organizationally challenging. In these situations you will run into obstacles and more critical and negative comments than you would if you worked on more standard work. I would think that most leaders doing pioneering work have these same challenges before they can succeed in their dreams and goals.
If negative attitudes or misunderstandings are in your life; I hope they will not impact your self confidence. We are all valuable people in our own unique and different way and we should minimize the impact others have on our self confidence. I know this is extremely hard to achieve for sure. In the midst of your hurt and anger it is not easy to keep focused and continue to think clearly and rationally! If you want to successfully proceed ahead on your important life’s path; you will need to walk alone at times and leave the negative words and thoughts behind you.
We all look forward to hearing your thoughts and suggestions on this very essential topic. We are all too valuable and life is too short to let others extinguish the fire within us before we have a chance to light the torch of our passions!
Bill Tipton
Contributing Author
Global Dialogue Center
http://www.globaldialoguecenter.com/