Your Superhero Powers

I’ve created a short video to help you understand the power of the new Superhero culture in business and in your life. It’s just over 8 minutes long and I think you’ll find it entertaining as well as helpful in clarifying how you can tap into your own superhero powers.

I’d love to hear your comments once you’ve watched the video!

Enjoy!

Jennifer

What would Superheroes be without villains?

Probably a lot happier.

Yet we’ve all heard that those annoying issues we have to resolve usually come to us in the form of gifts; lessons we could never learn but for the challenge.

I actually prefer to get my “gifts” in the form of elegant dinners or beautifully wrapped packages, but the gifts that help us to build our Superhero character, to truly excel in our world, usually come in the form of villainous challenges that keep us up at night, UNTIL we find meaningful and effective ways to resolve them.

So, I’d like you to meet my favorite villain, appropriately named, Not This Time. I say favorite because this villain gives me my biggest challenges, he’s the excuse I long to use when things get too rough. Let me explain.

“It doesn’t count when:”

Not This Time is one of the worst, because he knows we know the right thing to do in every instance, that’s what makes us Superheroes in the first place. Come on, have you ever really not known what was the ethical, “right” thing to do about something?

Of course not, we know, and NTT (abbreviating villains makes them easier to write about) knows we know. But here’s the kicker, here’s what happens every day in the world we live in, NTT reminds us there are always exceptions. There are exceptions to doing and living what’s right when: we are really angry, when it’s our family, when we’re running late, when it’s too expensive, when we’re really tired, and the list is endless.

That’s the misconception that this villain wants us to believe - that there are times when we don’t have to do what’s right, as long as we live in integrity “most” of the time.

What a lie.

Just as kindness and unkindness ricochet, so does even one small decision to do it the easy way just this once; give in to our anger or frustration or other emotion, just this once.

Besides there’s a good chance no one will know anyway, at least that’s what Not This Time wants us to believe. Naturally we know, and that’s enough.

A Relationship Example

Let me give you an example. As a Superhero, you know that we end all relationships in as positive a manner as is possible. The model of retribution and revenge is quite old fashioned. One-upsmanship is not the role model for future generations. We have the ability to take our egos out of the picture and to understand if someone is really acting out, really being outrageous or angry or rude there is a need that is not being met. We have the ability to perceive that need and find an amicable way to handle the situation, no matter how difficult or impossible it appears on the surface. This is knowledge that we possess. It’s an unwritten law in the code of Super Ethics.

Last week something very frustrating happened. I have a business relationship with an individual who became entirely erratic, in fact he kind of melted down. This person acted in a very irrational and emotional way. In short he was about as childish and annoying as an adult can possibly be. And not childish for five minutes, but his unnerving behavior lasted for several hours.

Not My Favorite Gift

I was furious, annoyed, and ready to just end the relationship; why should I put up with that kind of whining, irrational behavior? My conscious, Superhero mind reminded me there was a big need here, and that he was relating that need to me in the only way he knew how. He didn’t have any other tools at his disposal to communicate in a more grown up, logical manner. This is what he was giving me as a gift, the ability to take my emotion out of the mix, to make the effort to see why he was so incredibly worked up, to work on the virtue patience, of which I have very little, and then to resolve the issue.

BUT the other part of my ego kept saying, “sure, but not this time. This time’s different, this time he has gone too far. It doesn’t count now, only in most other circumstances when it’s not this frustrating and infuriating. Not this time.”

Not This Time loves jumping into any situation because that means that in our most trying and annoying moments we don’t have to behave in a way we know will resolve an issue, we get a “Get out of being Adult” free card to use at will. And this is why this particular villain thrives. This part in each of us decides we don’t have to act rationally, that we can act out just as badly as “they” can. This delights the villain and ensures that chaos remains alive and intact.

An Experiment For You To Try

Why not have some fun this week and see just how much more you can accomplish if you dump Not This Time every time he rears his ugly head. Ask yourself, “What if I always acted in the way I knew was right, no matter what the circumstance?” and “Why not use this philosophy right now, no matter what seems to be taking place?”

No one said being a Superhero was easy, but the power you create from your actions, and the power you share with others, are tremendous contributions and will inevitably make business go smoother as well. Besides, it’s kind of fun to do the right thing. It becomes a habit!

Super Hero Power: Shining - The ability to create luck, as if being born under a lucky star, hence always finding a way to shine.

How many of us wake up every morning and say, as we are turning off the alarm, “Today is my lucky day”? I don’t, at least I didn’t use to. Now let me tell you what happened.

The other day I fell when preparing to buy hanging flower pots one afternoon. I was dashing around at break neck speed, and managed to slip on a flower pedal and go sailing into space, landing on the concrete in such a way that I bruised a rib, sprained an ankle, severely hurt my shoulder and bruised both knees. I am therefore hobbling around that evening in Wal-Mart, leaning on a grocery cart feeling very sorry for myself as I bought groceries.

So I see a checkout line with no one in front of me, on a Friday evening when the rest of the lanes were filled with carts waiting to check out. I hesitantly asked the woman checking out customers if she was open. She looked up at me and said, “Yes, and this is your lucky day!”

My lucky day…I don’t think so!

Well, I had decided whatever the day was, lucky was not the way I would describe it. And here was this woman telling me today was my lucky day, which made me stop and reflect on exactly what was going on in my life. And I decided she was absolutely right. I teach attitude and creating our own luck for a living, and here this young woman was, teaching me a lesson I had obviously temporarily forgotten. It was my lucky day because:

I had not broken anything that would incapacitate me, and I wasn’t in excruciating pain by any means. I was rushing because my daughter was coming in town in two days for a visit; she was six months pregnant and we were going to have fun together planning for the baby.

The day before that I was getting an opportunity to visit my son who happened to be working out west, where I live. And the more I continued this line of thought, the more I realized just how much I had to be lucky about. However, I was busy focusing on just how unfortunate and unfair that I had fallen and was now uncomfortable with so much going on in my life.

In Super Hero language, this super power is called shining, the ability to create luck, as if being born under a lucky star, hence always being able to shine. And that’s exactly what we do when we realize every day we are creating our luck by how we think, what we say, how and where we focus our attention, etc.

Born under a lucky star?

Years ago as a journalist I was assigned a story by the New York Times on an upcoming trip to Jamaica. A friend at the time heard about the assignment and said, “Boy are you born under a lucky star.” I remember thinking at the time that my “luck” seemed to be a lot of hard work to me. I spent every evening, after my day job of working as an editor for a small publication, sending query letters out to other publications on potential stories. The New York Times was one, and they happened to respond by assigning me the story.

Luck, as we know it, is a combination of hard work and belief and energy and passion and tenacity.

BUT it starts with the attitude, that shining ability that separates us from all the others who have education and experience and talent, but along with that seem to truly doubt their abilities to succeed. Remember what we focus on we draw to us, and if you doubt your ability to focus on what you want, well that’s what you’ll get.

If you decide to change your ideas about your “luck,” you can start to see some really “lucky” results. Let’s assume you think habits, or beliefs on even simple things, can’t be changed. OK, now look at the wastebasket closest to you right now (assuming you’re in office or home and not an airport) Move it to a location far away from where it’s been. All you have to do now is wait, and watch yourself toss paper onto the floor, where the basket used to be.

The great news is in a few days you’ll acclimate, and only toss the paper where the wastebasket has been moved; meaning we can change a habit, change a belief, by determination and practice.

There is a formula to create success

To acquire the super power of shining, start waking up every day and focusing on what you have to be lucky about, and then remind yourself if you can create this much luck, you can create an entire day of luck. What this will do for you, of course, in the business environment will be to start changing how quickly and effectively you’ll be reaching your goals.

This “luck” ability will ultimately be your success mechanism; you’re ability to create what you want using an actual template, understanding there IS a formula to create success. Yes, some people are born luckier, because they figure out somewhere along the way that they get to create that luck and catapult to successes others only dream about. Start imagining how many ways you can make this your lucky day!