On Monday I sat down with Sarah, an editor friend of mine, to plan out an upcoming e-book. We zeroed in on the STRONG Goals concept for the book and I explained the six different tenets of the program to her. It was interesting actually verbalizing and explaining my ideas that I had written about. I talked about scheduling important items, single tasking in a timely manner and then making sure the goals were realistic. We brainstormed back and forth, trying different ideas and working with words.
When I got to the word realistic she stopped me. She said that realistic was a good concept but that she was feeling something different. She liked the word “real” and tried a few variations. Then she said something profound. She looked at me and said, Are you living the real you?
This was the exact thing I was trying to convey. While goals need to be realistic, they truly need to be Real. They need to be true to who we really are.
I started thinking about how to portray the real concept. After our meeting, as I was driving away, I realized that REAL tied in with my first book, The Path of Consequence and the idea of The Seven Talents.
These are…
Personality: What makes us unique?
Passion: What are we passionate about?
Purpose: Why are we here?
Path: Where are we going?
People: Who are our mentors and friends?
Problem solving: What problems do we need to overcome?
Place: Where do we want to live, work, and play?
I then asked myself… John, are you living the real you?
The answers just poured into my mind. In fact the whole story in the book came back to life.
I love the question, because it forced me to dig deeper and consider a lot of options. In the next few days I want to share some of my answers with you. But today, I would like to hear your comments…
Are you living the Real you?