BE DO HAVE are three most powerful words in our life.
Successful leaders ask themselves who they need to or want to BE before they start DOing. They almost always follow BE DO and then HAVE. In that order.
But what happens if you do flip the order?
When I look back, there are three types of people I have been in life:
First, the BE DO HAVE.
In the moments when I rose effortlessly, joyfully, enjoying my work and wanting to go to the office every day. I was living my values and my strengths, driven by strong purpose, inspired by someone or something in my life.
In that period of time, I was beating the world at will. I had joy, satisfaction, self-worth, and money.
Second, when the DO led the HAVE and the BE
There were hard fought wins and everyday battles that tired and burned me out. The desire to DO more, to outlast everyone and everything sapped of energy. I was always hurting. and always, almost at the finishing line, never past it.
I know now that I probably never achieved my true potential even at the top of the heap but did not know that then.
It probably explains how we burnout, working ourselves to the top of the corporate hierarchy. Spurred by years of learning the virtues of hard work and believing success depended on our own effort, we follow DO- HAVE or do more to get more. Running faster and slower.
Finally, the points in life when HAVE came before the DO and the BE. “If I had more money, more hours”, “If I had a world that was kinder”, “If I had more degrees”. An unconscious victim. We all have been here at some point. There is no guanrantee that I wont be there again, but the trick is to be more self aware.
All three happened unknowingly. I do not grudge or judge them. But they certainly offer a lesson in why BE DO HAVE is a winning habit.
So as a coach, I always start with the question: Who do you want to be?
Which of these people are you right now?
