Randy Siegel builds the people who build organizations.

Organizations hire Randy to transform high-potential employees into a new generation of leaders. Randy gives them the leadership and communications skills they need to rise through the organization.

CEOs hire Randy to help them become more charismatic leaders, spokespeople, and ambassadors for the organizations they serve.

Individuals retain Randy when they find themselves at a crossroads in their career or life. By connecting them with their power, passion, and purpose, Randy helps them rediscover their internal navigation system so that they know which path to take.

His work is based upon a proprietary process that facilitates self-discovery to clarify personal perspective, true purpose, and professional image.

For information on coaching: BuildYourInfluence.com
For information on training: BuildYourLeaders.com

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Randy@BuildYourLeaders.com
Phone: 828.236.0045

Postcard from Asheville, NC

Have you ever stumbled upon a book that made your world a little larger? Years ago, I found a wonderful book by prolific author Joseph Dispenza, The Way of the Traveler. Little did I know then that Joseph would become a valued mentor and dear friend.

In his book, Joseph says travel is an excellent vehicle for spiritual growth and self-discovery when fueled with intention. To guide readers along this path, he offers a series of insightful exercises. One of my favorites is to pack those values you would like to take along on your trip.

Earlier this month, I traveled to Hungary to teach in the MBA program of the Budapest University of Technology and Economics. In preparation for the trip, I followed Joseph’s advice. I wrote four values in my travel journal that I wanted to accompany me on my trip. They were: courage, openness, gratitude, and service.

In Budapest, I reviewed these values each morning over breakfast. This small ritual helped me focus upon my intention; it also enriched my life. My Budapest adventure helped me acknowledge the courage I have already shown in my life; accept–even appreciate–others’ styles, values, and cultures; be grateful for new experiences, my life, and my work; and finally feel proud knowing I had been of service.

Thank you, Joseph, for helping me to see travel and life in a new light.

This month, we’ll examine choosing heaven over hell.

P.S. Are you are on Facebook.com? If so, I invite you to join my new group "Stand in Your Power!" It’s a wonderful group for those ready to take their careers–indeed their lives–to a higher level.

Choosing Heaven Over Hell

You’ve heard it asked: Is your glass half empty or half full? This wise old maxim relays a universal truth: What we focus on creates our world. The Buddha said it best when he said, "We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts we make the world."

When I read today’s headlines it’s easy for me to fixate on the half-full glass. I can fall into a fearful pit when I think about my prospects for the next year and my shrinking financial statement. Friends are losing jobs, clients are cutting back, and experts warn we haven’t hit the bottom yet.

I look at those who appear unaffected by the current crisis with envy. I wish to be in their shoes. I engage in "if only thinking." "If only…, I would be safe and secure. If only…, I would be happy."

Piero Ferrucci tells a wonderful story in his book The Power of Kindness: The Unexpected Benefits of Leading a Compassionate Life. It goes like this:

"Once upon a time there was a man who hated his job. He was a stonemason and he had to work all day long for a miserable salary. ‘What an awful way to live,’ he thought. ‘Oh, if only I could be rich and loaf all day!’ His wish grew so intense that in the end it came true. The stonemason heard a voice saying, ‘You are what you want to be.’ He became rich and could immediately have things he had always wanted: a beautiful house, delicious food, great entertainment.

He was happy until one day he saw a king pass by with his procession, and he thought, ‘He is more powerful than I. How I would like to be in his shoes!’ Once again he heard the voice and, as if by magic, he became king. What a thrill is power! All obeyed him, all feared him. He was happy for a while, but it didn’t last. Bit by bit, a wicked dissatisfaction took hold of him. ‘I want more,’ he thought. ‘I want, I want, I want.’ He saw the sun in the sky and thought, ‘The sun is even more powerful than I. I want to be the sun!’

He became the sun, big, strong, and bright. He ruled the earth and sky. Nothing could exist without him. What happiness! And what importance! But then he noticed that beneath him the clouds prevented him from seeing the landscape. They were light and mobile. Instead of being a fixed shape in the sky, they could take an infinite variety of forms, and at sunset they flushed with the most striking colors. They had no cares and were free. How enviable.

His envy did not last long. Once more he heard the voice saying, ‘You are what you want to be.’ At once, he was a cloud. It was pleasant to be suspended in the air, mobile, and fluffy. He enjoyed taking different shapes, now thick and opaque, now rich and white, now fine as embroidery. But sooner or later the cloud condensed into raindrops and struck a rock of granite.

What an impact! The rock had been there for millennia – hard and solid. And now the little drops of water burst on the granite and flowed onto the earth, where they were absorbed to disappear forever. ‘How wonderful to be a rock,’ he thought.

Instantly he became a rock. For some time, he enjoyed life as a rock. At last he had found stability. Now he felt secure. ‘After all, it is security and solidity I am seeking, and no one is going to move me from here,’ he thought. The raindrops struck the rock and trickled down the sides. It was a pleasant massage, a gift. The sun caressed and warmed him with its rays – how beautiful. He had attained completeness.

Well, not yet. One day, he saw a figure approaching on the horizon. It was a man, slightly bent and with a large hammer – a stonemason, who began striking the hammer against him. Worse than pain, he felt dismay. The stonemason was even stronger than he and could decide his destiny. ‘How I wish I could be a stonemason,’ he thought.

Thus he became a stonemason once again. After being everything he had wanted to be, he became again what he had always been. But this time he was happy. Cutting stone became an art. The sound of the hammer was music, the fatigue at the end of the day brought the satisfaction of a job well done. And that night, he had a wonderful vision of the cathedral his stones were helping to build. It was a magnificent revelation and he experienced a feeling that he knew would never leave him. It was gratitude."

Instead of focusing on what I don’t have, I am now focusing on what I do have: family, friends, work I love, and these beautiful mountains in which I live. When fear seeps into my thoughts, I evaporate them by recounting those things for which I am grateful.

William Blake wrote, "Gratefulness is heaven itself." When you live in gratitude, you choose heaven over hell.

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