— Enliven The World

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Tag "value"

What if I just wrote honestly and not to please my audience? What would I write?  What if I could live my life how I always dreamed of, what would that look like?

What if I actually learned to like people? AND all their issues and problems? AND  stopped dealing with them as problems themselves?  Stopped seeing them as a burden or a curious idea? Would I be able to help them more?

What if I expected less than I got and therefore was happy all the time?

What if I started reading the Bible less for its problem solving help, and more for the miraculous story it tells? Less for what it can do for me to benefit my life, and more for what it can teach me about God…?

What if I truly saw my life as a story, or a movie, and embraced every moment as a scene, where each line was dialogue, and crucial to moving the story forward? What if I really saw myself as important? What if by being important I could help others and make them feel important?

I don’t know what would change but I think it would be something.  And it would be profound.

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Too often we tell stories without connecting to the larger story. When we do that, the audience is lost in the telling.

They don’t know where the story you are telling right now fits in the larger story. Usually they aren’t sure why this story is really important in the long run.

Audiences must have the context as well as the content, and it is up to the story teller to provide both, explicitly or implicitly.

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We tell stories because they are about conflict.

One man against nature, or another man (including himself), or against man’s own creations (machines). The good ones always show something to watch out for;  something that might diminish your resources.

Because humans have learned how useful stories can be, we inherently pay attention to them. We want to know when the conflict is coming, where the dangers lie. We simulate them in our heads, putting ourselves in place of the main character, all so that we can truly see what’s coming on the horizon.

Stories are about a character who wants something and overcomes conflict to get it, and we all can relate to that in one way or another.

What stories are you customer’s telling?  Where are they on their journey?

What stories are you telling?  Where are YOU on your journey?

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… and you would never know!

Because once you found your personal values and you can successfully tell a few stories about each one, then what do you do with them?  How can you use them to guide and determine your steps deliberately? That is exactly what we’ll be going over this week.

I am also looking for thoughts and ideas on applying values to work, business, and life.  Did the steps I laid out last week work for you?  What do you think would be the best way to apply those values?  Do you even think values are important?

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The end of week two and we are on a roll.  We discussed some very useful ways to find your personal values, steps you can take to discover how you can consistently and reliably make decisions.  Next week we will talk about how to translate those personal steps into business success.

Insights from this week:

1. Your values will drive your personal and business success.

2. Translating the power of giving to your organization.

3. Some easy steps to find your personal values.

Some Interesting Thoughts and Sites:

1. A great article from Andrea Patrick about building rapport with your clients.

2. Awesome post from Future Buzz about the currency of fresh conversations.

3. Interesting and thoughtful infographics from Web Design Ledger.

4. How to treat your home page as the Ultimate Landing Page!

5. Some helpful information about direct response copy.

Something extra!

Another small but powerful insight from Seth Godin; move past the drama!

Thanks to all of you who read this, back next week to discuss the benefits of values in your organization and how to apply personal values to your business!

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How will you interact with people?

One of the first steps to building a quality organization is determining what your organizational values will be.  Values are the code a person lives by, the ideas and concepts that they use, consciously or unconsciously, to make every decision.  Your company is no different.

Whether or not you actively craft these values, they will exist regardless.  You will either make them happen or your every decision will bring them about automatically.  The choice is yours to either take control of your life or let up to chance.

Enlivent is an example.  Our main values are teaching, giving, learning, and fostering meaningful communication, and all of our actions, products, and business strategy decisions fall along those lines.  The same could be said for any organization, for profit or nonprofit.  How you decide to interact, to offer your product or services, will determine the quality of your organizational performance.

What are your values and how will they move your business?

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