If you have a vision, a plan, a goal, a mandate, a purpose or a worthy aspiration - you will need a village of allies.

If you have breath, you will need a village of allies to grow, evolve, belong and experience a meaningful life of contribution.

Who are your allies?  Say their names.

1. Friends/listeners: they don’t need recruiting as they already exist. They know you, love you and if it matters to you, it matters to them. Ask for encouragement, teach them to not take “I don't wanna " for an answer. Ask them to keep calling forth nothing less than your best.

2. Prospects/clients/constituents: these are the people that you serve. How are your relationships with them? What do you need to ask them for?

3. Co players: sustainability and meaningful community They share your hunger and compelling purpose and are investing and gulping right alongside you.

4. Champions: these people think you are great. They will champion you always and forever

5. Coach / mentor: a professional who is committed to shepherd you through the process with rigor to help make your game real and make it happen, yet the ownership belongs with you. They will be among the most powerful champions for you.

6. Expert resources: what are the skills that you don’t already possess. Who can help you with that? They will handle all the things that are important functions for your game but that don't represent a good use of  team,

7. Spirit: the practise of quieting your mind, opening your heart and connecting is a great source of inspiration and comfort. Quiet your mind and your spirit. Attach to Someone greater.

8. Volunteers:  these are the people that can provide what you need at a price that you can afford. What is your contribution to these wonderful humans?

9. Naysayers/competitors: these allies help stiffen your resolve and inspire you to prove them wrong. When they point to flaws in your plan, you have the opportunity to correct them while sharpening your strategic thinking. They can drive the bar higher than it would be without their example.

10. Come in and get me: All allies are important but none more so than those who commit to come in and get you when you’re overwhelmed, when you retreat into old comfort zones and when you lose faith in yourself and your game. They never forget and they don't let you settle.

11. HEroes SHEroes: you may not know them personally, but think of those that have inspired you.  Let their example inspire you.

Lead yourself well. Build your village. Initiate conversations. Keep noticing, naming and growing.

** some of this content is from the book, The Bigger Game by Laura Whitworth, Rick Tamlyn and Caroline Macneill Hall. 

From time to time (as in monthly), it is a sound leadership practise to notice if your attention to self-respect is still intact.

Your goals, aspirations, values and whatever meaning you want out of work and life WILL NEED boundaries of self-respect to preserve your energy, time, mind management, healthspan practises and personal growth.

Double-click on notice and name - and choose progressive, aligned-to-you, boundaries of self-respect.

Lead yourself well.

What's the point of the expenditure of your energy and focus?

When you are 95 years old and look back to right now, will you smile?

Work and life is dynamic. And while you are doing 'all the things' to provide food and shelter for your chosen set of people, notice and name your sense of purpose and how it supports or distracts from what matters most. (aka, that means that you will also need to have clarity of your core values.)

Ah, it's a bit of a rabbit trail that will provide immense clarity of your current and future decisions and choices.

What you focus on, grows.  What you give energy to, grows.

If you matter to you - do the personal work for your own leadership while you are out there saving the world.

Lead yourself well.

Notice the meh / mundane days.
What's missing?

It is meaning or purpose?
Meaningful connection?
Absence of your favourite contributions, skills, or talents?
A gap of knowing-doing?
Unclear core values or aspirations?
Weariness of not being seen or heard authentically?
Boredom?
Or.... what else?

Is the pain of the unknown less than the pain of the known?
Is the risk too much?
Are there possibilities between same-old and meaningful life/work?

Notice.
Name.
Choose.

Lead yourself well.