The Ultimate Skill e-Newsletter

By Mike Lipkin

Remember: There is no small stuff. Everything is significant. Be proud of how far you’ve come. Have faith in how far you will go.

Live Brilliantly.

Your life is a contemporary saga. You are a walking drama. Your story is as compelling as anything Hollywood has ever produced.  So see your challenges in mythic dimensions. See your crises as rites of passage taking you to the next level. And give yourself credit for the hero you’ve already become.

I make a living interviewing people and telling their stories. I also make a living sharing my experiences with others. Wherever I go, I collect anecdotes that I can use to illustrate a key principle in my books or seminars. I know that my audience may forget a rational point, but they’ll always remember a moving story.

And guess what? The most moving stories are those of everyday people who step themselves up through their attitudes and actions – especially when other people need them most. In fact, I’ve found that people are tired of being offered the examples of the immortals. It’s hard for someone doing all they can just to get through their day-to-day challenges to relate to a “Giant” who appears to have changed the world. What people want are examples of peers confronted by the same challenges they face.

Often times, the most powerful part of my seminars comes at the end when I ask people to share their key takeaways from the program. Person after person stands up and shares their personal “AHA” – the one thing they believe will make a difference to their life. Sometimes they are passionately exuberant. And sometimes, they are still a little shy as they quietly share their thoughts. But all times, the audience is spellbound by their message. Every word resonates with the group as a whole. Every person empathizes with every person. There is so much more binding us together than there is pulling us apart.

From this moment on, I want you to see all the experiences of your life with a new perspective. I want you to magnify your lenses. There is no small stuff. So make every experience bigger. Every experience carries magic within it. Think about your last 24 hours. How much magic have you taken for granted? To quote Walt Disney, “Remember the magic in every moment.”

One of the biggest themes permeating my research is that everything is becoming more intense. I call it emotional-inflation. People are becoming more sensitive. They’re reading more into each action, especially in the workplace. The smallest action can cause the biggest consequences.

As someone who is always mixing with a wide diversity of people, I’ve learnt how much a single word, look or gesture can influence others. I’m continually amazed how much people are affected by something I may not even have been aware of at the time. I’m always thrilled when it’s positive. And I’m always stunned when it’s negative.

Excellence, said Aristotle, is a habit. We become what we repeatedly do. The slightest shift eventually has a major impact on our life’s trajectory. You never know how much an action can change your life. But what we do know is that everything leads to everything. Good deeds done well yield equivalent results. Bad deeds or negligent actions yield the same. Every action is a deposit on our future. Or a withdrawal.

So don’t underestimate your experiences. Don’t underestimate your influence on others. Don’t underestimate your life and don’t underestimate yourself. If you’re going to err, err on the side of overestimating yourself. People who overestimate their ability achieve more than those who don’t. They live large. They risk more. They go further. They dream bigger. And they reap the results.

You’re on a journey to your own Middle Kingdom. Your own personal Brass Ring awaits you. But there are peaks and valleys ahead. There are friends and there are foes. There is pleasure and there is pain. There is certainty and there is doubt. There is love and there is hate. There is health and there is dis-ease. Above all, there is the great adventure. There are the dragons to be slain, the princes to be saved,  and the riches to be discovered.

Live Brilliantly. What does that mean? According to the Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary of the English language, Brilliance is defined as: great brightness; sparkling; glittering; lustrous; distinguished; having or showing great intelligence, talent or quality; conspicuous mental ability.

So for you to live brilliantly, you have to find your source of great brightness. You have to discover and develop your great intelligence, talent or quality that will help you become a Keeper of the Flame. You have to apply your conspicuous mental ability in a way that’s uniquely you. That’s the mission you’re signing up for by continuing further.

I must warn you that Living Brilliantly comes with a price. It means never settling. It means stepping up. It means assuming responsibility for making things better. It means living in anticipation of the next wake-up call. It means being willing to cross the threshold into unexplored territory. It means burning your excuses so you can travel light.

It also means forgiving yourself when you don’t. Keepers Of The Flame are masters in Relativism. What do I mean? They know that criteria or judgment vary with individuals and their environments. You’re a fallible, vulnerable part of a much larger ecosystem. You will stumble. You will slide backwards. You will slack off. It’s inevitable. So it’s not about always being impeccable. It’s about how quickly you recover your momentum so you can get back to Living Brilliantly.