The Xtra Mile Group

Leaders, you have the ability to invite new opportunities in through new ways of thinking. What could you be more open minded on? What are some roadblocks that could be removed with a new perspective? Make it a great week!

Happy Friday, leaders! What do you need to bring into next week? When it comes to your attitude, effort, actions, and beliefs, what needs to change and what needs to stay the same?

Do you bring your integrity to work? Poet and writer, Maria Popova does. You may know her from various TedTalks, her work with The New York Times, or from her blog The Marginalian. When asked about her writing process, she replied, “Much of what is published online is content designed to be dead within hours, so I find most of my material offline. I gravitate more and more towards historical things that are somewhat obscure and yet timely in their sensibility and message.” She is inspired to write with integrity; the timeless beauty found in truth that bridges the gap between the modern world and our not-so-distant past. In one of her blog posts, she expressed, “One of the saddest tendencies in our present culture is an indignant intolerance for the basic humanity of being human.” She highlights the hypocrisy of a modern world that judges the past with a modern standard while they fall short to their own perfectionist ideals. She adds, “And yet the eternal test of character — our great moral triumph — is the ability to face our own imperfections with composure, reflecting on them with lucid and luminous determination to do better — an essential form of moral courage all the more difficult, and all the more important, amid a cultural atmosphere that mistakes self-righteousness for morality and suffocates the basic impulse toward betterment with punitive intolerance for human foible.” Without connecting to our shared humanity and morals, each day full of ‘determination to do better’ is unfulfilled. We must protect the integrity of our work if we want to develop ourselves, our team, and our organization. Continue asking, “What is my ‘why’? How am I aligning with my morals?”

Leading with integrity is a high trust behavior. Don’t abandon it!

Leaders, growth doesn’t happen alone. We have mentors, bosses, friends, and family that help us along the way. Don’t forget to give them credit! Make it a great weekend!

How are you playing to your strengths?  Jonah Peretti was a middle school computer science teacher. He received a graduate and master's degree in this field but ended up founding The Huffington Post and BuzzFeed. Jonah is a successful case study of playing to his strengths. Although he was not a writer, he combined his background in computer science with his passion for social matters to meet the entertainment needs of people online, with what he called the “Bored-at-Work-Network”. As long as you know what your strengths are and see the needs of people and organizations, you will be able to make more of a difference. If every leader in an organization could identify their strengths and play to them, imagine what they could accomplish! What are your strengths? Where is there a need for your strengths?

Look in the mirror! The strengths you have now are the building blocks to who you want to become. How might having a growth mindset impact your development as a leader? We spend so much time focusing on what we are not, what are your strengths? How often do you spend time developing those strengths? Go the Xtra Mile this week and cultivate your strengths!

Whether it’s reading a book together, doing some research on the computer, or taking a walk to clear you mind, find a way to contribute to your goals with a loved one. How might having an accountability partner impact your journey towards your goal?

Wednesday reset: What are your goals and where are your priorities? It is important to keep yourself accountable to achieving your work/personal goals, but is achieving taking you away from your priorities? If fixating on your goals is taking you away from the people you love and things that bring your joy, is it really worth your time? Here are a couple good rules to keep you at a healthy balance of challenging yourself towards your goals and rewarding your work.  1. For every step to take towards your goal, reward yourself by doing something you love.  2. For every two hours you spend working towards this goal (off the clock), spend one hour with a VIP in your life. Make sure you pencil in time with the ones you love.  3. Since you are a ‘goal getter’, could you involve your loved ones? Need someone to keep you accountable? Ask them to help! Do you both have things you want to work on? Plan quiet time to work on them together! Never forget where your priorities lie and don’t compromise them on behalf of your ambition! You can do both!

Country music artist, Jimmy Dean, said it best; agility is key to achieving your goals. How are you “adjusting your sails” in response to change?