Maximizing Personal Performance comes through Actualizing Personal Purpose...

we Do our best as we Become our best! Growth today increases tomorrow's Performance.

Over the course of my lifetime, it has been my great pleasure not to be in prison but rather to meet with people on the inside of prisons. The purpose of one of these visits was to encourage and inspire the leadership qualities of Correctional Officers through Leadership/Team Regeneration Sessions. Visiting inside has never bothered me, but during one visit inside with guards and inmates, my eyes were really opened. The guards took me to their storage room for confiscated criminal contraband, and what I saw there shook me to my core.

The inmates demonstrated incredible creativity and talent in making this contraband. I saw knuckle-busters made out of plastic chairs, knives constructed from tooth brushes, and switchblades fashioned from pieces of plates and table tops. When I saw these items I became angry and frustrated because these inmates were (as we are going to talk about) maximizing their creativity and performing at a high level … but for what?

Here’s an important re-focus for my life and for yours!

It’s not enough to be our best or to beat our best in 2021. Being our best for the best, pure, high purpose of our life is the key to personal fulfillment and sustaining our maximum performance. What were we created to be and to do? How do we live out our personal values?

Here’s my point: Maximizing Performance comes through Actualizing Personal Purpose... we Do our best along our journey to Becoming our best!

Henry Ward Beecher said, "No man can tell whether he is rich or poor by turning to his ledger. It is the heart that makes a man rich. He is rich according to what he is, not according to what he has." Much of our leadership development training these days (its fun over Zoom) is being focused around the leaders top 7 values and how these "frames" impact leadership style and team relationships.

In 2021 we are all playing two games: the Inner game and the Outer game. The Inner game focuses on the TO BE list and the Outer game tends to focus on the TO DO List. Our quest for success demands that we take massive action. You will conclude by focusing on this action, but not to the exclusion of the Inner Game. Real change comes through changing behaviours; behaviours become activated by mindset and belief system. Exploring the inside helps us understand and influence what we believe, which in turn impacts what we do. The pleasant irony is that as we focus on "tuning up" our Inner game we always positively impact our outer game.

Jenn and I walk to the BEAR and BACK (White Rock beach) daily. Our Inner Game 2021 decision to walk 7k, 10,000 steps, activates our Outer Game behaviour "keep your feet moving Ryan!"

Indeed, as our inside game develops we often grow a new and better perspective, as Mark Twain so humorously described: “When I was fourteen years old, my father was so ignorant I hated to have the old man around. But when I was twenty-one, I was surprised to see how much he had learned in only seven years.”

Success in professional sports, business, and life is created through constant improvement from the inside-out. The key to increased performance is to be proactive and intentional, not reactive and waiting for your circumstances to change. When we take responsibility for shaping our heart, our courage, and our enthusiasm, our hungry spirit and our will to win is intensified. (contact me to discuss your Inner game growth.) That will to win, in turn, delivers our outer victories. It’s been said that you have to become a champion before you can win a championship.

I am convinced that every person alive today is hungry at some level. For many, the Inner game may be under development. For others, it’s fully energized. Our hope for each of you is that 2020 has positively disrupted your Inner Game, increasing your desire to grow and fuelling your energy to increase your WINS in 2021!

Would you like me to coach or train you and your team throughout 2021? Contact me!

Words from a client, after our training last week...

"Hi Ryan, I wanted to send you a personal message to thank you for the training session with our management team, it has left an indelible impact on me. I have booked meetings with my staff team over the next month and will be weaving in the concepts gleaned in the trainings.

My leadership style has always been one of coaching and mentoring. The idea that you shared about "if you can name it, you can fix it" and importance of language is such an important reminder for leaders.

It is easy to get caught in the business of work and not take time to pause and be deliberate. To build sound self awareness through the active practice of positive brain muscle memory. I hope that these concepts can spread through the agency like yeast in a rising bread."

Want this for your team? Contact me!

SHORT SHIFTS with Ryan Walter - Ryan's new way of adding value to you and your family Every-Monday-Morning in 2021. Learn more about SHIFTING today's Mindset in order to WIN tomorrow's GAME! https://www.ryanwalter.com/short-shifts