Sheep Walking, Finding Our Tribe, Leadership, Visionary Thinking, Stillness, Introverts, Steve Jobs………..

This is where my thoughts have been lately.  Now you know what I do in my spare time:)

And, yes, the first word is not a typo, it does say “sheep walking”.

All of this comes from:

1.  2 books, I have just read (thank you, Mona) “Tribes” by Seth Godin and “Quiet” by Susan Cain

2.  A concept taught to me by my teacher Paul Cutright

3.  The vision and intensity of Steve Jobs.

Steve Jobs

And they all fit together.  Synchronicity is what we often call that or being in the Flow.

I love being inspired.  It makes it much more exciting/interesting to get out of bed in the morning when we feel inspired.  The written word is powerful indeed and I encourage that you spend time each day with writing that inspires, challenges and lifts you up.  It will guide your day.

Sheep walking.  It is what it sounds like.  Following like a sheep with no connection to your own values, dreams, desires in life.  Following who ever is in front of you at the moment.   Steve Jobs was no sheep walker.

We can hide by being a sheep walker.  We don’t have to risk “failure”. We don’t have to worry about ‘standing out”.  We don’t have to fear rejection.

But we also will not be developing and sharing our own gifts and talents.  We will not be digging deep within to see what it is we truly value and want to share in the world.  We will not be  inspiring others by our own inspirations.

Godin speaks of this in “Tribes”.  He believes that we need to wake up to our own gifts and talents and become leaders ourselves.  He doesn’t believe there are too many leaders but far to few.  We often have a fear of competition but truly we are unique and our gifts are unique.  If we develop our own talents we can be a leader within that framework.

It is time to stop hiding and be inspired by our own gifts and talents and then share them with the world.  Large or small.  Get inspired to be inspiring.

I just saw the movie “Jobs” about the co-founder of Apple Computer, Steve Jobs.  I loved it.  I wept and I laughed out loud.  Jobs was one intense guy!  He had vision and he was inspired and inspiring.  He also drove people crazy.  It would have helped him perhaps to have learned some people skills:)

Jobs had a huge task because he had a powerful vision.  He saw it so clearly but it did not exist yet in this world.

The resistance of the human mind is a powerful thing.  The mind does not like change………..not the status quo mind.  But Jobs was always pushing the envelope, “Create something that has never been created before.”  He pushed his teams because he knew there was more, so much more.  He knew there were solutions to the questions that he had.  He knew that his vision was right.  He never wavered.  He did not listen to the naysayers around him and there were plenty.

He did a great deal of his work alone but he also had to rely on his teams for the pieces he did not have.  He didn’t want sheepwalkers.  He wanted each person to be awake and leading with his/her own gift.  If they did not, he wasn’t interested in working with them.

Where are you sheepwalking?  Where are you hiding?  Where are you settling?

You may not have a vision as large as Steve Jobs or maybe you do.  Are you developing your gifts?  Do you need to develop your self confidence in order to begin sharing your gifts?  Have you been on auto pilot for a while now?

We have a tremendous opportunity here in these years that we live.  We can coast and look to others who are filled with passion and life or we can be inspired by them and begin to create our own.  Large or small.  It does not matter what it is or what it looks like.  If it is your dream and your passion, follow it.  Your heart will never lead you astray

There may be set backs and rejections and difficulties but they are a part of building the strength within that you need to fulfill your dream.

I will close with a quote by Jobs……..

 

“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”~ Steve Jobs