I thought I was doing all the right stuff, but I wasn’t getting there as fast as I had hoped. I remember earlier in my career, I was hungry to advance to an executive leadership position. In fact, the pathway to excellence is paved with these moments – positive defining moments we create for others. Additionally, we have the opportunity to create defining moments for those around us every day. It is important to be aware of our defining moments. Like Johnson, we each experience our own defining moments on the road of to excellence. Why? Until that time, her longest run was eight miles. Johnson finished the 26-mile marathon in four hours and four minutes, good enough for 83rd place in the women’s division – definitely qualifying as one of her life’s defining moments. “I guess I was in better shape than I thought. “As stupid as I felt out there running, I’m proud of myself,” Johnson said after the race. Rather than quit, she decided to keep going (no doubt a defining moment!) and hung on to finish her first 26-mile race. Instead of stopping and retracing her steps, she joined about 4,000 runners taking part in the Revco-Cleveland Marathon. A few minutes later, another runner confirmed her suspicions. Four miles down the road, as the race route took the runners out of downtown and into residential areas, Johnson said she experienced a sick feeling that she was possibly in the wrong race. Georgene took off at the sound of the starting gun. There was also a marathon scheduled to begin 15 minutes earlier. The 42-year-old secretary had registered to run in a 10 kilometer/ 6.2 mile race that Sunday. It was a mistake in timing that became a defining moment in her life. She got to the starting line of a weekend race 15 minutes early. Or we may be defined by the moment a boss lets us know he believes in us or even the moment of honest self-reflection that triggers us to change.ĭefining moments, indirectly or directly, create a new direction or perspective for us. We could also be defined by the moment when we decide to make our family’s experience different than the one we grew up with or the moment we experience a positive example and decide to model it. Or perhaps, the moment we commit ourselves to a goal or the moment we decide to go another direction. We might also be defined by a moment of perfect intuition or one where our best judgment was ultimately found faulty. We might be defined by a moment of glorious victory or one of horrendous failure. We might be defined by a word of encouragement from a colleague or, just as likely, from a word of discouragement. As Mufasa, the Lion King himself, said to his son, Simba, from the heavens, “You are more than you have become.” These few words created a positive defining moment for Simba to start acting like the king he was.įantasy or reality, it works the same. These moments shape who we are and who we will become. Are they literally moments?ĭefining moments might be positive or negative, but either way, we are never the same after experiencing one. In some cases, a single encounter can change your life forever. If you consider your strongest memories, positive or negative, you’ll notice the imagery in your mind is actually defined by your recollection of a precise point in time. Nobel Prize winning scientist Daniel Kahneman, asserts that we experience thousands of individual moments every waking day. The building blocks of our excellence are moments… literally. Other milestones include job retirement, 25th anniversary trips, 30th-year-on-the-job plaques or gold watches, salesman's $10 millionth dollar of revenue earned, a manager who has had 10 direct reports promoted, etc.(Excerpted from 7 Moments… that Define Excellent Leaders) Milestones: Milestones are similar to transitions in that some milestones mark transitions, such as graduation or birthday milestones (e.g., 18th, 21st, 30th, 40th, 50th, 60th, 100th birthday). Ex: graduations, retirement, getting married, promotions, first day of school, end of projects, buying a house, first paycheck from a new job, etc. Transitions: classic occasions for defining moments. It also has the side effect of being good for business.” Offering to help someone in a difficult time is its own goal and reward. “Business leaders who can spot their customers’ moments of dissatisfaction and vulnerability-and take decisive action to support those customers-will have no trouble differentiating themselves from competitors. Loss of loved ones, negative feedback, etc. Pits: Negative defining moments-moments of hardship or pain or anxiety. Peaks: Moments that make us feel engaged, joyful, amazed, motivated.
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