Wouldn’t the world be a different place if we could all be even just a bit more extraordinary? One of my colleagues, the CEO of a global NGO, shared with me recently the most fascinating thing she learned from reading Steve Jobs’ biography: “Quite fascinating, he talks a lot about his ‘reality distortion field’ that he used to not see reality and almost will things into happening. Mostly he instilled enough confidence in people to believe that something was possible, so they decided it was and were able to make it happen when before it was deemed impossible.”
Possibility Thinking
It seems to me that Steve Jobs was a ‘possibility thinker’, and able to share his ideas in such a way that people were inspired to believe in them, and would work together, tirelessly, to achieve them! To me, that indicates a certain type of fearlessness, almost an internal source of courage and conviction, that when expressed appropriately, ignites peoples passion and commitment.
Being Intentional
It also appears that Steve Jobs was also very ‘intentional’, indicating that he had deep clarity around the outcomes he wanted and was extremely focused towards achieving them. To me, this indicates an incredible depth of self confidence and assurance as well as an unwavering commitment to deliver what he set out to. This kind of leadership is very contagious; people love following someone who seemingly knows what they are doing and exudes a sense of certainty about it.
Possibility + Intentionality = Winning Formula for Being Extraordinary
Strategies for increasing your capacity for being (more) extraordinary: For those of you who would like an additional ‘shot of the extraordinary’, you might like to take some time out, find a quiet space, ask yourself these four key questions, reflect on the answers and apply them to your business:
- If I could go back to scratch and start my business all over again, knowing what I know now, what could be possible for me and for my clients/customers?
- What options are available to me to manifest more of this possibility into my business, right now?
- What is my intention (my new focused high level and very clear outcome) that could distort or shift the current reality?
- What exactly will I do to improve my results?
- How will I engage and ignite people towards supporting me to achieve that?
Can you imagine how much fun it would be, how prosperous we could be and what a difference we could make if we as business owners adopted just a bit more possibility thinking and became more intentional?
