Zig Ziglar

Note to Reader:
(This blog post marks the fifth anniversary of my blog, Monday Morning Motivation.  I wrote my first post on August 7, 2010.  The first two years I posted daily.  The last three years I have posted weekly.  I have received over a quarter of a million page views during these five years.  So, thanks to everyone who has stopped by.)


I was 35 years old when I first heard about the importance of goal-setting in achieving one's dreams. In college I had dreamed of being a writer but at 35 was far from my dream. I had only written about 200 poems in 15 years. I set a goal to write a poem a day for a year. That year I wrote over 400 poems.

Now, after more than 30 years of setting goals and writing thousands of poems, I have come to understand what Ziglar means in this quote.  The person I have become through the process of struggling to achieve my goals is more important than whether I did or did not achieve my goals.  The journey, as others have said, is more important than the destination.

So, how has achieving my goals made me a better person, a better writer?  Has my journey been more important then my destination?  

My creative journey has given me a greater appreciation for the struggle of all creative individuals.  I understand what it means to be an artist or a writer.  I am less willing to criticize the creative works of others.  Yes, some of us may be more skilled than others, but we all have creative forces running through our veins.  I know what it means to put pen to paper or paint brush to canvas and not find an audience for my work.

I have a greater appreciation of the creative energy that drives my being.  If I don't write or draw, I become melancholy.  I need to expend my creative energy.  The more I create the happier I become.  Failure to create leaves me lifeless, empty.

I have gained the ability to create anywhere and anytime.  I can write a poem while sitting in a mall while my wife shops.  I can write in church while the minister is preaching.  I can doodle while sitting in a business meeting.  I can take a walk at 6 a.m. and compose a poem.  Creating works of art has for me become a way of life, not a destination.

And most importantly, through my creativity I have found spiritual healing and understanding.  As a teenager, I was troubled by the hypocrisy of church members.  Writing has helped me see beyond the hypocrisy and to gain an understanding of the hearts of others.  I am a better person for the time I have spent creating.

Have you set goals for your creative journey?  Have you come to understand that the journey is more important than the destination?

About Zig Ziglar

1926 - 2012

Hilary Hinton Ziglar was the tenth of twelve children born to John Silas Ziglar and Lila Wescott Ziglar.  When Ziglar was five, his family moved to Yazoo City, Mississippi where he spent most of his early childhood.  His father and sister died a year later.  Ziglar served in the United States Navy during World War II.  He married his wife, Jean, in 1946.

Zig Ziglar began his career as a salesman and eventually moved into motivational speaking. He wrote and published more than a dozen books including See you at the Top, Secrets of Closing the Sale and Confessions of a Happy Christian.

Hephzibah Menuhin

Some people believe that freedom means doing whatever one pleases.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  Freedom is about making choices.  And one's choices defines whom one becomes.  People seem to forget that freedom actually means taking responsibility for oneself and others.  Freedom is about choosing which burdens to bear.  Freedom is about choosing one's passions and obsessions.

As creative leaders, we are free to choose how we express our ideas, beliefs and opinions including what paints or metaphors to use.  Our freedom is in the choices we make.  But freedom is not just about our expression, it is also about our obsessions.  What are we focused on?  Where do we spend our time?  What are our passions?  What drives us to share?

Freedom is also about choosing to accept our burdens.  None of us live without pain or challenge.  We all face the darkness that haunts our dreams.  We must choose to accept that which weighs us down, to shoulder our responsibilities, to bear the brunt of our pain.

About Hephzibah Menuhin

Hephizibah Menuhin was born in San Francisco on May 20, 1920 and was descended from a distinguished rabbinical dynasty.  She became a pianist, writer and human rights activist.  She died January 1, 1981.

Jack Penn

To be human and to live with other humans is to face challenges and difficulties. We experience disappointments, heartaches, roadblocks, failures and even death. How we choose to respond to the challenges that life hands us is a measure of the type of person we are. Do we pick ourselves up and make something of what has happened or do we remain buried in the rubble wishing to die? 

One of the biggest challenges that we face as writers and artists is selling our work.  Writers send out manuscripts to publishers only to receive rejection slip after rejection slip.  Artists seek galleries to represent and sell their art and often must sell it themselves.  Making a living from creative work has always been a challenge.  Even Vincent Van Gogh, one of the most famous artists today, sold only one painting in his lifetime and that was to his brother.

Is the blank page or the empty canvas your stumbling block?  Is the lack of time preventing you from creating new work?  What is holding you back and preventing you from moving forward? Do you need to improve your skills? Do you lack commitment? Have you failed to set measurable goals?

As creative leaders, we have been given the gift of creativity which can help us turn our stumbling blocks into stepping stones. So get out your chisel and chip away at that stumbling block in your path. Find the opportunity hidden within the stone. Find the hope within the fear.  Grasp the victory from the claws of defeat. 

Book Review

Hard Choices by Hillary Rodham Clinton
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

First, let me say that prior to reading this book I was not a Hillary Clinton fan.  I supported Obama in the 2008 election.  And I was concerned that this book was just a brochure for her next run for president.  Fortunately, I was wrong.  This book is full of stories of her time as Secretary of State and the people she met.  I was fascinated and intrigued as I read it.  She tells stories of both failures of diplomacy and successes.  She provides insight into many of the key players on the international scene and some historical context to current events.

If you are interested in international politics, you should read this book with an open mind.  While you may not agree with Clinton's conclusions, you will have a better understanding of who Hillary Clinton is and the challenges the United States faces on the world stage.  And, yes, if she obtains the Democratic nomination, I will probably support her.  My only wish is that she would have remained as Secretary of State another four years instead of choosing to run for President.  She could have accomplished so much more.

I also have walked away with the belief that people who run for President should have spent time as Secretary of State.  Presidents have less influence on the internal affairs of the country than they do on the international scene.  Congress has greater control and influence on the American society than any one President.  Congress makes the laws and determines the direction of the country.  Decisions made in Congress are with us for generations.  Presidents can twist arms, but in the end, their influence is short-lived.  Presidents can do more on the world stage than they can at home.  Unfortunately, most candidates for President have very little experience on the international stage and waste much of their time in office learning how the world works.  If Presidents spent time as secretary of state before running for President, they would have a greater opportunity to influence world events.

I would recommend this book to anyone interested in international politics or in understanding what makes Hillary Rodham Clinton tick.  I also would recommend that you listen to the audio version of the book.  While Clinton read the opening and closing chapters of the book, she did not read the whole book.  Kathleen Chalfant did an excellent job of reading most of the book. Though, I would have preferred to have Hillary's voice all the way through.


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Book Review

The Cider House Rules by John Irving
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The Cider House Rules is another brilliant novel by John Irving, one of American's finest novelists.  I saw the movie based on the novel about 15 years ago.  I remember little of the movie except for Michael Caine who played Dr. Larch.  I liked the movie at the time and will now have to watch it again.  Irving is a phenomenal storyteller who tells his stories in a circular fashion.  Each circle reveals more of the story.  Detail after detail is slowly added to the story.

The story is about abandonment — about orphans and abortions and about unwanted children.  Dr. Larch has spent a lifetime doing what he calls: "God's work."  He delivers unwanted babies, raises them in the orphanage until he can find a home for them.  He also provides abortions to women who are early enough in their pregnancies.  At the heart of the story is Homer Wells for whom Dr. Larch could never find a home.  Larch teaches him how to deliver babies.  Homer ventures out into the world and his life becomes entangled with the lives of Candy and Wally.

This is a novel that everyone should read.


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Harley King

Are you on fire?  Are you burning with passion? Are you passionate about life? Some people walk through the world of existence lost in a fog. They have no idea what they want to do with their lives or what they want to accomplish.  They are simply trying to make it through the day so they can spend another night in their dirty beds.

Creative leaders must find their passion to be successful.  When I graduated from college, I wanted to be a writer, but did not know what I wanted to write about.  There was nothing I was passionate about.  Nothing that drove me to put pen to paper and spend hours writing. If you want to be successful, you must burn with passion.

When I began speaking many years later, I did have a passion.  I had a message I wanted to deliver.  I had a desire to make a difference.  I was on fire and I touched the hearts of others. If you put yourself on fire with passion, people will come to watch you burn.  People will be engaged and inspired.  If you are not passionate about what you do, people will not pay attention.

What is your passion?  What drives you to rise before dawn and create? What are you passionate about?  Passion helps you burn through the negativity and hostility that the world heaps upon your creative work.  Passion helps you to keep going even when everyone is telling you to quit.

Harley King

The home is one of the most important places in the lives of people from all around the world.  It should be a place of retreat and comfort, a place of hope and rejuvenation, and a place where we rest our head at night and restore our spirit.  Yet, how often do we take our home for granted?  How often do we fail to appreciate what we have?  How often do we look at our neighbors and wish we had their homes?

My seven year old daughter reminds me again and again about how important the home is.  Whenever we talk about moving, she wants to bring our house with us.  For her, the home is a safe and loving place.  

Here are some quotes that talk about the importance of home.

• "Love begins at home, and it is not how much we do . . . but how much love we put into that action."  Mother Teresa
• "The strength of a nation derives from the integrity of the home." Confucius
• "I long, as does every human being, to be at home wherever I find myself."  Maya Angelou
• "He is happiest, be he king or peasant, who finds peace in his home."  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
• "The light is what guides you home, the warmth is what keeps you there."  Ellie Rodriguez

Changing the world begins at home.  I believe we first need to change ourselves before we can change others.  Second, we need to change our home before we can change our village.  What are you doing to make your home a place of peace and love, a place of warmth and conversation, and a place of hope and respect?

Harley King

Who inspires you to be better than you are?  Is it a grandparent?  A parent?  A sibling?  A spouse?  A daughter?  A son?  We all need someone to push us to be better than we think we are?  We need someone who sees the talents in us that we don't see ourselves.

For me that has been my wife of 42 years.  Whenever I don't think I can do something, she is there to push me beyond the barriers of my thinking.  Whether it starting a new job that I doubted if I could be successful or getting me to do something I think is impossible.  She often sees what I cannot see.

Do you seek to find the good in others?  Do you seek to push them to do more then they think possible?  We have all been put on this earth to help others — to inspire them.  To help them become more than they are.  By helping others achieve their dreams, we achieve our own. By inspiring others, we inspire ourselves.  What we give out is what we receive back.

A little girl lived up in the mountains with her parents.  One day she became upset at her mother and ran out of the house.  She came to the edge of a cliff, and in her anger, she yelled at the top of lungs: "I hate you. I hate you."

Her own words came echoing back to her: "I hate you. I hate you."  Scared, the little girl ran back into the house and told her mother that someone hated her.  The mother realized what had happened and told her daughter to go back out and shout, "I love you."

Although the little girl was afraid, she tiptoed back to the edge of the cliff and shouted: "I love you. I love you."  Echoing back came the words: "I love you. I love you."

What we send out is what we receive back.  Do you look for the good in others?  Do you seek to inspire them?

Harley King

Much of the self-help literature stresses the importance of confidence.  When we make a decision, we should not look back.  We should not question ourselves.  We should not doubt ourselves.  We should act as if we have no fear.

Yet, self-doubt can be a good thing since it prevents us from becoming overconfident.  When people are overconfident, they make mistakes.  They assume too much and become reckless. Doubt gives us the opportunity to step back and reassess the situation — to make sure we are making the right decisions.  

Have you ever made a decision and then had second thoughts?  This is normal.  We often second-guess ourselves.  Most of the time our initial decision was the best one and we should move forward.  But occasionally, this moment of reassessment gives us the opportunity to change course and correct our mistake.

My wife and I spent our honeymoon in Acapulco, Mexico.  Since we were young with almost no money and I had only a part-time job, my parents paid for our trip.  One day a young man offered us a free dinner if we would attend a sales pitch about time shares.  We took him up on his offer.  Now, I am a sucker for a good sales pitch and I bought hook, line and sinker.  I signed the contract even though I did not have enough income to make the monthly payment.

Even before the ink was dry on the contract, doubt set in.  I knew I had made a mistake.  I could not afford the deal no matter how good it was.  People can read me like a book and I am sure the salesman could read the doubt and even fear on my face.  He made the mistake of telling me that if I was not satisfied, I could tear up the contract.  I didn't hesitate.  I tore up the contract and walked out of the room, not waiting for my wife.

My young bride was shocked and embarrassed by my behavior and she has not let me forget it in 42 years of marriage.  Of course, now we laugh about my cold feet and doubt.  Yet, I know I made the right decision.  Sometimes, doubt protects us from ourselves and our impulses.

Yes, self-confidence is important to success, but self-doubt is a lighthouse that will keep you from running aground.  Don't become shipwrecked on the rocks of time. Be willing to rethink your decisions and change course.

Harley King

Let me begin by saying that I cannot carry a tune.  The irony is that I have spent 25 years leading people in singing as part of a customer service workshop.  The music touched people's hearts and changed their lives.  

Singing has the power to soothe the savage beast that lives inside all of us.  Music will cheer you up when you are down.  Singing can lighten your load and free your soul from the burdens it carries.  Music communicates at a deeper level than mere words or pictures.

When I was in college and I felt down, I would walk the railroad tracks that ran through campus and sing to myself.  Singing cheered me up and helped me feel better about myself and the world.  I would sing then and often still do the first two lines from the old gospel song, Lonesome Valley.  I didn't know the lyrics to the entire song but these two lines stuck in my memory.

"You gotta walk that lonesome valley
You gotta walk it by yourself."

Here is Pete Seeger singing a version of that gospel song.

Often when I am alone and need to pick myself up, I sing the chorus to another gospel song, Swing Low, Sweet Chariot.  

"Swing low, sweet chariot,
Comin' for to carry me home
Swing low, sweet chariot,
Comin' for to carry me home"

Here is a version of the song sung by the Dublin Gospel Choir.

Harley King

Life is not simple and we are often faced with challenging decisions.  Do you take the easy path or the difficult one?  Do you make courageous decisions or safe ones?  Do you make decisions that build your character or corrupt it?

I am by nature a shy person and this has often led me to make safe decisions.  I don't approach strangers and strike up a conversation.  I don't go up to authors after a speech and introduce myself.  I have, though, made a choice in the work place to overcome my shyness. I will approach strangers and introduce myself as part of my job.

My wife, on the other hand, has never met a stranger.  She will strike up a conversation any place, any time, with people she does not know.  We attended an art fair recently and she spent time talking with artists, engaging them in conversation while I stood by listening and wishing I had that kind of courage.

I also will seek out the easy path, avoiding where possible the dangerous or difficult ones. When driving a car and needing to turn left across a busy street without a stoplight, I choose to turn right and find a driveway or parking lot I can turn around in.

And I often don't make the tough decisions when I disagree with a person.  I will choose not to state my opinion if it will cause friction with someone in a position of authority.

So what impact do these choices have on my character?  How have they helped to create the person I have become? I sometimes think of myself as lacking courage — of lacking a willingness to standup and be counted for something I believe in.  I keep my beliefs to myself and do not stir the waters.

What about you?  How have your choices created the person you are?  Have you been able to make the courageous decisions?

Harley King

I still remember the very first standing ovation that I received 26 years ago.  I had spent three hours speaking to a group of 250 managers.  I was surprised and elated.  I had connected with my audience and moved them to stand and applaud.  As a professional speaker, I have since received numerous standing ovations.  Each one was a powerful form of recognition and appreciation for a job well done.

We all need standing ovations.  We need the people in our lives to recognize and appreciate what we have done.  We need people to say thank you.  You have touched my life.  But we also need to give standing ovations to the people in our lives — to say thank you to a spouse, a child and a friend.  We need to develop an attitude of gratitude.

Most of us are not hermits, living alone, isolated from friends and family.  We need the help of others — including people we have never met — from the person who assembled your cell phone to the farmer who provided the food on your table.  Think how barren your life would be if there were not other people to fill it with laughter and hope.

Who in your life needs a standing ovation today?  Reach out and touch their lives.  Say thank you.  Tell them how much they mean to you.

 

Harley King

What do you do when you are faced with a water puddle blocking your path?  Do you walk around it?  Jump over it?  Or make a big splash?  As adults many of us have forgotten how to celebrate life and enjoy the gifts we are given.  A water puddle is something to be avoided so we don't get wet, muddy and cold.  As children we probably loved splashing our way through water puddles.  We enjoyed the moment.  As adults we must learn to find those moments again and enjoy them.

We often get caught up in the day-to-day struggle to survive — working hard to put a roof over our heads and food in the mouths of those we love — that we forget to enjoy the simple things like a sunrise or a rainbow or a water puddle.  Sometimes we feel that life is passing us by — that we are riding on the fast train to nowhere.  We need to climb down off the train occasionally and stomp through water puddles.

Life is filled with many blessings if we stop, look and listen — if we pay attention to the world of nature.  When was the last time you climbed a tree or went for a hike?  When was the last time you watched a butterfly flit from place to place, held a flower in your hand, or listened to a cricket chirp?  Life is filled with hope if we would only believe.  

Take time to celebrate life, to enjoy its blessings, and to live passionately because before you know it the journey will be over and the opportunity squandered.

Harley King

All human beings face suffering and pain in their lives.  Some of us are better at coping with our disappointments than others.  And for many of us time is the only healer. And in some cases even time does not heal — the pain still lingers.

Some are able to transform their pain and suffering into works of art.  Others remain trapped in an endlessly cycle of sorrow and disappointment.  As creative leaders we must find ways to mold our suffering into creative works that inspire others.  Pain can be a source of great beauty and hope.  Suffering can give birth to joy and happiness.

Kahlil Gibran wrote, “Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls; the most massive characters are seared with scars.” 

We often dream of a world without pain, suffering and disappointment.  The pain inspires action and change.  Some of world's greatest creative leaders have used their pain and suffering to make changes in their lives and in the world.  

Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote, “We must learn to regard people less in the light of what they do or omit to do, and more in the light of what they suffer.”

If we knew more about the pain and suffering of others, maybe we would be kinder and gentler towards them.  We often are so caught up in our own pain that we fail to see the suffering of others.  By embracing the suffering of others, we will be able to transform our own pain for the good of human beings.  Reach out today and hug someone who is suffering.

Harley King

Telling my personal story has often been difficult for me because my nature is to stick to the facts.  I was raised to believe in factual truth.  I have a bad habit of correcting my wife in front of people when she has the facts wrong.  And she lets me know it.  Old habits are hard to break.

It has taken me years to appreciate the importance of changing our stories in their re-telling — to understand the value of embellishing the facts.  Facts are not as important as meaning.  The truth resides deeper in our memories than facts.

Yet where does one draw the line? Reporters in recent times have been fired or forced to resign because they have played too loose with the facts.  And in some cases, reporters have fabricated the entire story.  Memoirists have been criticized and had their books pulled from the shelves because it was found that they fabricated some of their memories.

Do we violate the reader and writer bond when we embellish our stories?  The reader is expecting the truth and is upset to find the writer has altered the facts.  The trust is broken.  The reader feels betrayed.

Yet the great storytellers embellished their memories to make them entertaining.  Life as we live it has long stretches of boredom.  Life as we imagine it is full of adventure and romance.  Great writers understand this principle.  

Life as we know it is chaotic and without purpose. Imagination allows us to bring order and meaning to events.  Life is lived in the moment and only understood through creative reflection. Life is not as much about names, events and facts as it is about feelings, connections and dreams.  Life is about memory.  Cherish your creative memories.

May your memories grow in proportion 

to the richness of your creative spirit.

Harley King

This is a photo of my maternal grandmother taken in the early part of the 20th century. I remember hearing a story about my grandmother when she was a teenager.  She and a cousin snuck out of the house early one morning and went riding on horses.  My grandmother was thrown from the horse and broke her leg. Rather then tell her parents, she limped back to bed and pretended to be sick.  It took two days for her parents to discover that her leg was broken.

We all have stories from our childhood about our ancestors — the uncle who was a drunk and burnt the house down, the aunt who rode motorcycles and the cousin who died young.  As artists and creative leaders, we need to turn our family history into stories, poems and paintings.

May you be blessed with stories about your ancestors.  For in those stories, we can discover who we are and from where we came.

I wrote a story poem some 35 years ago about a story I had heard as a child.  I showed it to my grandmother when she was 83.  She told me the facts were not correct and she was right.  I changed the details of the story to protect the innocent.  Yet for me, my grandmother lives on in this story.  I discovered my ancestors through the process of writing the story.


Brother AL

He was a little bit of a thing —
knee-high to a grasshopper
as pa used to say.
But his hair was the funnier sight —
white as the coverings
women wear in church.
Been that way since birth.
He didn't seem to mind it, though,
until he met Ruthy Shonkwiler.
She was a big-breasted girl
with farmer's hands.
Seems he fell in love
the moment he set eyes on her.
But as things have a way of happening
in this neck of the woods,
she had her heart set on Stephen,
old Samuel Yoder's youngest,
tall as an oak
with hair the color
of a bull Angus.

Now, Alvin wasn't one
to let obstacles get in his way.
He would stuff pages
out of an old Sears catalog
into his shoes to make him taller
and he was always on the look out
for something to blacken his hair.

It happened one day
that Ma was cooking up
a big batch of prunes
and she set the juice out to cool.
Alvin, in his infinite wisdom,
thought that it was God's answer to his prayers.
He dipped his snow-white cap
into the kettle of juice
hoping to turn it black.
Well, let me tell ya,
it didn't work.
All he got was a lickin' from pa
and a hot bath and shampoo.
Ma, though, thought he should be taught a lesson.
Said if people don't like
what the good Lord gives them,
then the good Lord ought to take it away.
So she shaved his head
clean down to the scalp.
Embarrassed the poor guy to death.
Ruthy, I'm told, laughed and laughed.

Well, he survived somehow
and married, Eli's oldest, Sarah.
Together, they had a parcel of kids,
not a white-haired one among them.
Ruthy went off to college
and married some doctor fellow
from out east.

To this day Alvin refuses
to eat prunes
or order anything out of a Sears catalog.

May your ancestors live in your stories 

and reveal themselves through your memory.

Harley King

While I saw my first robin this year over a month ago, I am still reminded with each new sighting about the importance of the seasons.  The seasons are the touchstones of our lives.  They remind us of who we are and what we are all about.  This year has been a particularly hard winter where I live and people delighted in the coming of spring.  The seasons measure the passing of time.  

Our lives are also like the seasons.  Our youth is the spring of our lives — full of energy, excitement and enthusiasm.  We seek to discover the meaning of life and the world into which we are born.  Why are we are?  Who do we want to become?

In the summer of our lives, we settle into the world, mating and raising a family.  We find employment to pay our bills and hopefully, provide us with a sense of purpose.  The questions of our youth become less important as we are in pursuit of life's abundance.  Like the squirrels we are finding nuts and burying them for the coming winter.

In the autumn of our lives, we return to the melancholy of our youth.  We think again about the meaning of life and our purpose for being here.  We question and challenge the decisions we have made.  Have we settled for too little?  Have we given in too easily to the demands of life?  If our time in this life is limited, what changes do we want to make?

In the winter of our years, we know the end is near.  We can feel the coming death in our bones.  We will return to the soil from which we came.  We watch our friends and companions of this life pass on to a world beyond our grasp.  We live in memory of what has been — hopeful that our passing will be blessed.

The seasons have also been a touchstone of my creative life — beginning with the wild and crazy hopes and dreams of spring.  I wanted to be a poet and a novelist — a rich and famous world traveler.  In the summer, I chose to find a job to support a family.  Writing was relegated to the early morning hours while everyone slept.  In the autumn of my years, I have written thousands of poems and published little.  I am more interested in the process of creating then in fame and fortune.  Winter is around the corner and I find myself also drawing and creating art.  I wonder what will happen to my creative work after I am gone.  Will it disappear?  Or will it find a home somewhere?

In 1977, I published Winter Silence, my first book of haiku to celebrate the birth of my daughter.  The book was organized by the seasons.  In 2014, I read and recorded the haiku from that book.  Enjoy this short reading.

May your heart rejoice 

with the coming of robins in the spring.

Harley King

Maya Pyramids - Mexico       

My most memorable class in high school was American History my junior year, not because of the subject but because of the teacher.  He encouraged me to think.  In college, I took only required history classes and I could not tell you anything about them today.  History was not something that inspired me.  I came from the generation that spouted such slogans as "Don't Trust anyone over 30."

I did not discover the value of history until I was in my early forties.  I was taking a trip to Mexico with my family and decided to read something about the history of Mexico.  I read the book, The Conquest of New Spain, by Bernal Diaz del Castillo.  Diaz was a soldier with Hernan Cortez when he conquered the Aztecs.  He wrote this first hand account years later.  I was hooked.  I was soon reading other books of history as well as biographies and memoirs.

Buddha - Asia

History at its heart is about storytelling, not dates and names.  And history like all good stories has many lessons to teach if we are paying attention.  Nations and their leaders, unfortunately, have a tendency to repeat the mistakes of the past.  We never seem to be able to learn from history.  By the second or third generation after a key historical event, the lessons are being forgotten.

But history goes beyond nations and their leaders.  Artistic disciplines also have a history.  Beginning artists study past artists.  Beginning writers study great writers.  Beginning musicians study previous musicians.  Failure to know the historical roots of one's artistic profession will often lead to mediocre artistic endeavors.  As creative leaders we need to know from where we came.

The same is true in business.  If business leaders do not know the history their organization and their industry, they will make the same mistakes that their predecessors did.  History has so much to teach.  We need to pay attention.

And we also have personal histories.  Where were you born?  What was your childhood like? Do you know the history of your family? What mistakes did you make?  Have you learned from your mistakes?  Or have you repeated your mistakes again and again?

May you learn the lessons that history has to teach and pass them onto others.

Machu-pichu, Peru, Inca

Harley King

There are hundreds of reasons that we should believe in our talents.  As creative leaders, we should celebrate our unique visions of the worlds we inhabit.  We should be proud of our accomplishments and our victories.

Yet, many of us are plagued by self-doubt and a lack of confidence.  We feel we are not good enough.  Even when we are successful, we are afraid that others will discover that we are frauds.  We race through life hoping that the truth will not be revealed and that we can escape embarrassment and shame.

We fail to realize that we have many reasons to love ourselves.  We are so busy focusing on our mistakes and weaknesses that we don't ever discover the truth.  We see only our faults and failures.

Open your eyes and see beyond your mistakes.  Take a moment and give thanks for who you are and what you have been able to accomplish.  Count all the reasons you should love yourself.  Then accept the gift of talent that you have been given and appreciate your strengths.  Be confident.  Be strong.  Love yourself.

Harley King

Sometimes we as creative leaders are our own worst critics.  We often don't appreciate the talent we have been given or the skill we have mastered.  We have a difficult time accepting praise from others.  Sometimes we don't even want to let others see our work.  We are afraid of what they may say.

We need to learn not to beat ourselves up over every minor mistake or perceived mistake.  Mistakes actually are good things because they often lead to new creative ideas.  Don't let your mistakes knock you down.  Find the opportunity in the mistake.  

The Japanese have a concept called kintsugi which is the art of repairing broken pottery with lacquer mixed with gold, silver or platinum.  The artist treats the breakage and repair as part of the history of the object, not as something to be thrown out or hidden.  The artist embraces the flaws and imperfections. 

As creative leaders, we need to stop trying to be perfect and, instead, embrace our flaws and imperfections.  We need to incorporate our flaws into our work.  We need to find the beauty within the ugly.  We need to enjoy what our flaws have to teach us.