Lolly Daskal

Trust Me On This

If you boil relationships down to the most important element, it is always going to be trust-not leadership, values, partnerships, or anything else.

Trust is the foundation, of any secure and successful relationship. It must be earned and maintained. If you don’t trust, your relationships are in trouble.

In his book, On Becoming A Leader, Warren Bennis says, Integrity is the basis of trust, which is not so much an ingredient of leadership, as it is a product. It is the one quality that cannot be acquired but must be earned.

Developing trust is like constructing a building. It takes time, and it must be done one piece at a time. As in construction, it’s much quicker and easier to tear something down than  it is to build it up. But if the foundation is strong, there is a good chance that what is built upon it will stand.

Trust is not something that simply exists from the beginning, something we can assume or take for granted. Instead, know that trust is an emotional skill, an active and dynamic part of our lives that we build and sustain with promises and commitments, our emotions and integrity.

Lead From Within: Say what you mean and mean what you say as you interact with others today and everyday.

People Matter

Recognize that people matter.

We can often trace our greatest achievements and disappointments back to an individual who influenced our lives in some way.  Our parents, spouses, partners, friends, colleagues, business associates, co-workers and neighbors all impact our lives.

The skills we develop and the people we choose to be part of our lives will have a profound significance. Choosing the right relationships and partnerships is a pivotal part of you being successful.

It would be very difficult to find anyone you would consider “successful” who didn’t benefit considerably from the relationships he or she formed. Your life isn’t a solo act. It is a series of collaborations and partnerships.

Thinking and interacting with others can provide you with new and powerful ideas. We need to be grateful to those who help us. If you want to reach your potential, you must choose the right people to bring into your life. Take time to reward the people around you who believe in you.

Who are the people in your life?  What roles do they play?  Are they empowering or dis-empowering you?

People matter, they are the destined part of every success story.

Labor Pains

When you give birth to something, whether a child, a creative project, a new business, or to a new aspect of yourself, you will experience labor pains.

Labor is effort, hard work, but if you don’t go through labor you won’t give birth to anything new. If labor is so difficult and painful, why would you sign up in the first place? Because birthing something new gives you the rewards and the blessings that are worth every second of the pain.

When you have the aches and pain, you can also choose to be creative. You can look for birthing partners. Your birthing partners can remind you to look beyond the pain and keep the creative vision alive.

Think about the times in your life when you created or birthed something new that you were proud of– was the pain worth it?

Don’t be afraid of the pain. Go into the labor and give birth again.

I realize to grow and prosper, I must labor with love in my heart and give birth to new wonders.