Inspiration... Watch out! It's right next to you!

TEAM:

It's often that I wake up and cant wait for the day to get started. I know that sounds cliché, heck even rehearsed, but its true. I'm an early bird and often awake by 5am each day. Weekends I normally sleep in til 6am, today being the exception. Yep today I slept in til 8am! It must have been that extra rest that led me to write this.
As I checked PEAK this morning I was reflecting on my week. Reflecting on who I talked with and what I accomplished over this busy week. Tons and tons of inspiring thoughts and ideas raced through my head. Almost all these brilliant moments came from a common place, PN05. Yes the District that is my home away from home. The best people, in the best stores, in the best Region in VZW. I know I'm biased but when you know its true why not yell it from the mountain tops?! How inspiring is that?!
How inspiring is it to have such an AMAZING TEAM to spend time with and to learn from? How did I get so blessed to work with such talent, such incredible individuals that band together to make things happen? I mean here I am in my jammies writing an email to you all, grinning ear to ear, thinking about what's AMAZING things I got to be a part of this past week. The coolest thing about it, its my job! You see you never know when things will happen next to you that will forever change the way you think, do, or be. You never know when inspiration will hit you right between the eyes. I have shared my definition of inspiration vs. motivation with many of you so I wont bother repeating myself, but in the spirit of naming I feel compelled to share what inspired me just yesterday. Call it therapy by email.
I felt inspired to sit amongst the Seattle Downtown TEAM yesterday in their meeting. The ideas they discussed, how original and organic they were, refreshed me. Everyone contributing, involved, and active throughout the entire meeting. I was in awe of what was happening. Small yes, but inspiring nonetheless. I was especially moved by William. He talked about how the first 30 seconds of each customer interaction is so critical. His passion and excitement was felt. He was practically jumping out of his skin to talk about something so minute in concept yet so critical to our business. WOW! How he named it, the way he articulated how he approached each opportunity was inspiring! I wish I could have video taped that and sent it out to everyone I know!
As my day progressed my inspiration grew. I had a career discussion with Mike at Northgate. We talked about how he can continue to grow his scope of influence, what's next, how he gets there, so on and so forth. We discussed leadership and what that meant. Mike was talking about a recent conversation he had with one of his reps regarding their career. He went on give details of this conversation and how he felt it had impacted this rep to perform at a higher level (maybe even inspiring them to do so). Something struck me during our conversation, something different. I wasn’t surprised that Mike was having great conversations with people, but it was the passion at which he described the interaction. I have seen this passion before in other forms, but I never took the time to take in where it came from. I have been too focused on the content of material vs. the way it was delivered. I learned something new. I learned HOW Mike inspires his people.
I wrapped my day in Northgate by sending an organizational announcement to you all, Ryan had been promoted to ASM. I sent a text to him explaining so and congratulated him again on his accomplishment. We exchanged a few more texts, but it was the one he sent at 3:44pm yesterday afternoon that inspired me the most. It ended with "I wont let you down." Now the thought had never crossed my mind that indeed Ryan would let me down, but the fact that those were the words he chose to send meant a lot. Those few words inspired me. It got me thinking about how I need to show up again and again, day after day, because he was counting on it. Those words inspired me because he expected me something from me and I wasn’t going to let him down.
So today, Saturday (I guess it should be my day off), I send you something to think about. What's right next to you that inspires you? Who is next to you that inspires you? What are the many things in just a day that move you to do what you do? Share it with others, heck share it with everyone that will listen! Share it with your customer like William does. Share it with somebody you mentor like Mike does. Share with someone who is mentoring you like Ryan does. Trust me, inspiration is all over and life is too short not to share it!

How Albert taught me how to "make the team"

TEAM:

Solid finish to the work day. As I hung up the phone after my last "car coaching", I tuned into ESPN Radio eager to hear about the busiest sports day of the year. After all I was on my way home to watch the big game. But it wasn't the talk about the Men's NCAA National Championship, or the Donovan McNabb trade, or even Tiger's return to golf & the Masters that got my attention. It was baseball that got me. Yes, today was opening day for Major League Baseball, but it wasn't even the start of season that excited me. (I have grown apart from baseball over the last couple of years with talk of steroids and HGH.) It was a discussion that MLB personality John Kruk was having about his favorite to win the National League, the St. Louis Cardinals and the reigning MVP, Albert Pujols.

Kruk went on to share a discussion he and Albert had during Spring Training. He asked Albert what motivates him, Pujols replied something to the effect of he comes to Spring training every year to make sure he makes the team. Are you kidding me? Wait, did the best player in the land just say he goes to spring training to make sure he makes the team? There is no "respect me" because I have won multiple MVP's (3), have been an All-Star several times (8), or World Series Champion (1)? Heck there wasn't even a line about how he works really hard or how lucky he has been over his career, the crap you usually hear from professional studs.... I almost crashed my car.

I don't know Albert Pujols, and I don't think we all have to be sports junkies like myself to appreciate Albert's perceptions. I have read of Albert's accomplishments on the field (thank you Google), but today I learned everything I need to know about Albert off the field. I learned that respecting the game is about showing up everyday like its your last and not taking anything for granted. I learned that playing to "make the team" means practicing your craft over and over no matter if you are "the best". Naturally there is a connection to what happens on and off the field, but the fact that he respects his craft so much not to call attention to it, astonishes me. WOW!!

So I leave to ponder the following: What can Albert teach you about your craft? How can we respect our craft enough to make sure we show up everyday to "make the team"? What impact will this have on how you practice or your results? What would happen if we didn't take our customers, partners, or TEAM members for granted? What results would change if our TEAM had Albert's mindset?