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Join The Pacific Institute's Winner's Circle Network: https://lnkd.in/edPEwf6G Here's this week's message! Discovering What You Already Have In the classic 1939 film, “The Wizard of Oz,” there is another “story beneath the story” going on in this memorable tale. Taking a look from a different angle, it’s a story about the power of belief.   You see, Dorothy and her friends all wanted something. As is often the case, they looked for someone else to give it to them, someone in authority who had “the power.” They teamed up because they figured their efficacy was greater together than it was separately, and they were right. They were a real team with a common vision and not just a collection of separate individuals. They were able to overcome life-threatening danger to finally come face to face with what they believed to be the all-powerful Wizard.   When they met the Wizard, they discovered several particularly important things. Perhaps the most important discovery was that each already had whatever it was he or she felt was lacking; it was their personal beliefs that needed changing.   The Lion wasn't really a coward - he proved that on the journey to Oz - but he believed he was, so most of the time he acted like it. When the Wizard gave him a medal and reminded him of his bravery, he affirmed the truth of a new belief, and that was all it took. Same thing for the Tin Man and the Scarecrow. Dorothy could have gone home any time she wanted, she just didn't know she needed to ask how. For her, the journey was a risky rite of passage into her own strength and her own heart. Each of them had “the power” all along.   So, you see, “The Wizard of Oz” can be seen as a wonderfully entertaining story about the power of belief and the importance of becoming our own authority. Who is your Wizard of Oz, and do you really need that person to tell you what you already know about yourself, in your heart?

Join The Pacific Institute's Winner's Circle Network: https://lnkd.in/edPEwf6G Here's this week's message! In Your Best Interests The idea of being free has absorbed the thinking of philosophers down through the ages. With a broad brush, the idea of freedom has created societies for the people, or against them. Today, though, let’s take the idea of “free” and place it in a far more personal context. A lot of us grew up with the notion that we are free people, able to choose where we live, what we do for a living, and to come and go at will. But many people, although certainly free in these ways, are emotional prisoners. Have you ever thought about what it means to be emotionally free? Dr. David Viscott, a well-known psychiatrist, said that emotional freedom means that you can do what you want, when you want to do it. You see, when you are emotionally free, the premise is that you believe in your own goodness and you act to increase your sense of self-worth. You understand that whatever interferes with this self-belief is false, so you seek to exclude and avoid those falsehoods. Being emotionally free comes down to being free to believe in yourself and in your specialness, and feeling free to make the most of it. Of course, all of this requires that you be free in expressing your emotions and responsible for the consequences of doing so. Freedom without responsibility breeds trouble, just as responsibility without freedom breeds resentment.

Join The Pacific Institute's Winner's Circle Network: https://lnkd.in/edPEwf6G Here's this week's message! What's Next for You? In order to move ahead, to reach goals that we have set for ourselves, we need to make the future picture of what we want more inviting, more attractive, more necessary than staying in our current reality. This is easier than it sounds, because of two things innate in human beings. We have the ability to use “forethought” – looking forward – and to use our imaginations. In other words, we can look ahead and dream of a future. As far as we know today, no other creature on earth has these two abilities. Another asset we have is the ability to use different words, to create different pictures, which bring on board different emotions. The word “change” can be off-putting, as we see more risk than reward. It’s much easier to stay as we are. But if we use the word “growth” instead, that allows us to see the benefit of adjusting our attitude, and creates a “want to” emotion within us. It’s easier to see value in growth, than it is in change. When we set a goal (which is all about growth), and create that gap we mentioned yesterday, energy and creativity are unleashed in our minds. Those dreams of the future cause ideas and drive to close the gap – and we are tremendously creative creatures! We can dream of just about anything, and make those dreams reality.

Join The Pacific Institute's Winner's Circle Network: https://lnkd.in/edPEwf6G Here's this week's message! No Time Like the Present If you follow your current direction, where will you be in a year? In five years? In ten? And is that where you really want to go? This is a very important question, and to get the maximum benefit, you need to be honest with yourself. And whether it’s the new year, or any other month of the year, there is no time like the present to discover your answers. Someone once said that the best way to predict the future is to get a very clear idea of what is happening now. As scary and intimidating as this might sound, we need to do the same thing in our lives if we are not happy with where we are, at the moment. If you ask yourself this “where am I going” question and you don't like the answers you are coming up with, it is important to realize that you have the power to alter your direction. You can start to do it today. In fact, you can do it this very minute, if you really want to. All that is required is that you choose to grow in a new direction, with all your heart. Fix the vision, the picture of what you want and where you want to be, and then follow through on that commitment with appropriate actions, one day at a time. You have the courage and the strength, the perseverance and the resilience, because you’ve already been brave enough to ask the question. You don't need to know exactly where you are going with pin-point accuracy, or precisely how you will get there. You will want to keep a bit of flexibility to handle any curve balls that come your way. But you do want to have a good sense of when you are moving in the right direction. And how do you know when that is happening? Slow down, take time to reflect, and ask yourself, “Does this feel right?” Then listen for the answer, and make any necessary corrections as soon as possible. Gather your courage and answer the question. Where do you want to go?

We're just two hours away from this amazing FREE webinar. Register Now: https://lnkd.in/gSdimw6K #ThePacificInstitute Kevin Spindt Sarah Sarkis #SelfAwareness #SelfRegulation

This is the superpower most leaders are looking for and either don’t yet know it or they know it, but do not have the tools and knowledge to leverage it consistently. During this 60-minute session, participants will explore the critical and (often) overlooked role of self-awareness and self-regulation in the game of leadership, change and growth. This month's special guest is Sarah Sarkis, a licensed psychologist and certified executive leadership coach who is the Senior Director of Performance Psychology at Exos. Register now! https://lnkd.in/gSdimw6K

Join us for the Beyond Limits Webinar and discover the power duo of growth and change: self-awareness and self-regulation. Led by Kevin Spindt, our Chief Growth Officer, and special guest Sarah Sarkis, Psychologist, Certified Executive Leadership Coach, and Senior Director of Performance Psychology at Exos, this 60-minute session will equip you with the tools to unlock your leadership potential. Click the link to register now! https://lnkd.in/gSdimw6K

In today’s fast-paced workplace, feedback is more than just a nice-to-have. It’s essential for driving performance and collaboration. According to Zippia, 73% of employees become better collaborators when they receive feedback, and 48% care more about their work. At The Pacific Institute, we understand the importance of open communication in fostering a culture of growth and improvement. Feedback doesn’t just help individuals grow—it helps teams excel. Let’s create environments where feedback is a tool for success, empowering employees and organizations to reach their full potential. #ThePacificInstitute #Culture #Zippia

Join The Pacific Institute's Winner's Circle Network: https://lnkd.in/edPEwf6G Here's this week's message! Looking Back, Driving Forward In these weekly messages, you have read about the need for purposefully setting goals for ourselves, in order to unlock the energy and creativity inside each of us. When we set a goal, we cause a “gap” for ourselves – between the way things are and the way we want them to be. It is in our nature to want to close that gap. Keep in mind that the primary job of our creative subconscious mind is to keep us like we know we are. Setting a goal changes how we “know we are.” We must close the gap to maintain our sanity. In order to close that gap, to make the outside picture match the inside picture of who we know we are, our creative subconscious turns on enough energy and creativity to make it happen. We either get drive and ideas to move toward what we want in the future, or ideas and drive to stay where we are. Herein lies the danger of spending too much time looking back at the past. We’ve talked before about how human beings are picture oriented. Here’s the catch: we move toward the strongest picture. Our natural tendency is to maintain our current idea (picture) of who we are. In order to change, we need to make that future picture (goal) stronger and more attractive than the one that shows us staying put. By constantly reminding ourselves of our past, we lock onto the old picture and lose the drive to move forward.

Join The Pacific Institute's Winner's Circle Network: https://lnkd.in/edPEwf6G Here's this week's message! The Road to Achievement We can take our “wants” and turn them into meaningful, attainable goals. We are going to define our starting point and our end-point, in order to create the path to goal achievement. It is important to understand the difference between “want to” and “do.” “Wants” set up the “do’s” in your life, and your goals will need to be written to reflect the “do.” So, if your goal is to spend time with each of your sisters or brothers, you would write your goal statement like this: “I spend quality time with each of my brothers and sisters. I make sure they all know how important they are to me.” Suppose that you are a parent, trying to balance work, home, and family. It is a difficult road to travel, one filled with many choices. You want to spend as much time with your family as possible, but you have to work in order to provide a roof over their head and food on the table. Guilt kicks in as you attempt to do it all. Now, thinking of work as a “have to” causes additional stress, which can shadow your work and home time. To remove the “have to” from work would help a lot, so your goal statement would be written as, “I love the work I do, because it affords me what I need to spend time with my kids.” One final tip: When you write out your “wants” and goals, make sure you write them in the present tense – the future as now. Take out the “going to” and replace it with “I am.” You are seeing your future as if it has already happened, creating that gap we talked about earlier. The gap is important; without it, there is no energy to grow.