S.U.M.M.I.T. Leadership

"Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear - not absence of fear." - Mark Twain At work we started a new thing in our daily touch base meetings. It is based around bringing daily inspiration or motivation. To me, it is an incredibly positive tool and seems to be gaining some traction. This past week we have spent some time talking about fear. Which is a great topic, because more often people don’t want to talk about it. We would rather avoid it, ignore it, or pretend it doesn't exist.  Here's the thing about fears…we all have them. Each person generally has something that they are afraid of. One thing that I have come to realize, is that I have lived my entire life being overshadowed with fears, and has had an impact on the outcomes in many things over the course of my life. It has affected my friendships, my participation in sports and extra-curricular activities, my grades in school, the relationships I've had, the jobs I have had, often holding me back fro...

"The strongest principle of growth lies in human choice." - George Eliot   There are moments in your life that make you who you are and set the course of who you're going to be. Sometimes they're subtle moments. Sometimes, however, they are big moments you never saw coming. No one asks for their life to abruptly change, but it does. It's what you do afterward that counts. That's when you find out who you are.   Your attitude and mindset can make all the difference. It's not about what happens to you, but how you interpret what happens to you and, most notably, how you respond to it. We are not victims unless we choose to be. You must now focus on your power to choose. If you are to experience transformational growth in all areas of your life, you must realize and understand what is in your control. By understanding your power of choice, you can realize that living the life of your dreams is actually more in your control than you have ever imagined.    To c...

"To love others you must first love yourself." - Leo Buscaglia Happy Valentine's Day, Everyone! A day filled with and dedicated to love. We all know it's essential to love and to give love. But it's also essential to love yourself too, and you should likely start there first. Self-love supports healthy self-esteem, which is a prerequisite for a healthy relationship. Without sufficient self-love, we are not capable of truly loving others. Love can only develop once you make your own happiness a priority. The same thing is said for things like forgiveness and acceptance. To truly forgive and accept others, we must first forgive and accept ourselves as we are. There is a lot of growth that comes from engaging in loving relationships. Whether that is with friends, family, significant others, or whomever. But it stems from having healthy self-love. When we have healthy relationships, we practice things like love, forgiveness, and acceptance. Healthy self-love and self-...

"Keep your dreams alive. Understand to achieve anything requires faith and belief in yourself, vision, determination and dedication. Remember all things are possible for those who believe." - Gail Devers Life is filled with its ups and downs, and sometimes things can definitely feel overwhelming. Sometimes it feels like everything is stacked against us. And if that is where we focus our thoughts, it can lead us to feel like giving up and giving in. We feel like we are not worthy and deserving of anything good. We begin to self-sabotage our efforts. We begin to give in to fear, uncertainty and self-doubt. Whatever we have going on in our lives, we must remember that life happens 'for' us, not 'to' us. How we respond, with our thoughts, beliefs and actions is critical. It's important that we continue to dare to dream, and dream big. Dreams help guide us, pull us through and keep us focused on aiming for bigger goals.  It is okay to dream.  In fact it is nece...

"Renew, release, let go.  Forget yesterday, it is gone and it has already forgotten you. Don't sweat tomorrow, for you have yet to meet. Instead, open your eyes and your heart to a truly precious gift - today." - Steve Maraboli Imagine there is a bank that credits your account each morning with $86,400.  It carries over no balance from day to day. Every evening deletes whatever part of the balance you failed to use during the day. What would you do?  Draw out every cent, of course!  Each of us has such a bank. Its name is TIME. Every morning, it credits you with 86,400 seconds. Every night it  writes off, as lost, whatever of this you have failed to invest to good purpose.  It carries over no balance.  It allows no overdraft.  Each day it opens a new account for you.  Each night it burns the remains of the day.  If you fail to use the day's deposits, the loss is yours. There is  no going back. There is no drawing against the "tomorr...

"Success means having the courage, the determination, and the will to become the person you believe you were meant to be." - George Sheeta They say that these are the two greatest moments in a person's life:  The first is when you are born. The second is when you discover why you were born.  Defining what you were designed to do.  Defining who you were meant to be. Defining your purpose. What inspires you?  How do you contribute?  What is your life purpose?  Why are you here?  Why do you do what you do? What drives you? What motivates you? What gives you pain and what brings you pleasure? What is it that you want so much that it will help pull you through the tough times, and self-motivate you to move forward? Your purpose should help define your actions. Defining what this is for you will lead you to live a more fulfilled life.  It will give it more meaning and a focus and serve as a daily motivating factor.  We have to know why we are here....