I was sitting talking to Michael Gerber one morning, who for decades has been the go-to expert for business owners through his work with E-Myth Worldwide. We were talking about personal leadership and the thrill of witnessing the moments when leaders experience their big breakthroughs.
I thought of my client, Belinda Keaganm,* who was promoted every year for five years before finally becoming the CEO of a large financial institution.
I thought of my client, Ari Chellis, who stopped being a “do-er,” started being a strategist, and earned himself the title of Chief of Staff of the chairman of an international organization.
I thought of my client, Caroline, the President and General Manager of a leading software company, who through faith and humor beat cancer not once, but twice.
As Michael and I celebrated their accomplishments, we talked about what it takes to be able to see the possibilities – to know and trust that the visions we have for our lives and our leadership can come to us even if we don’t know how to create them. It’s not luck. It’s openness. It’s willingness. It’s faith.
You can teach yourself to see the miracles that lead to breakthrough, the miracles that give you an edge. You can’t create those moments, but they’re there. As I wrote in the book The Inner Edge: The 10 Practices of Personal Leadership, Eureka moments, aha’s, epiphanies—they’re not scrunched into our in-boxes. We can’t force them to show up by working harder. Flashes of insight occur when we are relaxed, open, and alert.
Are you open to the possibilities before you? Most people aren’t, as Michael observed. In a lull in our conversation, he took a deep breath and sighed.
“Most people don’t see the miracles.”
*Clients’ names have been changed by request.
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