This morning I thought about a particular student at the school where I work. This young woman inspires me with her courage and accomplishments. As adults we take every opportunity to pass wisdom on to someone younger or less experienced than ourselves. With students, we try to motivate them to be the best they can be, so that they may realize their true potential. This is the unwritten responsibility of each adult. We must positively guide and mentor so the next generation maximize their potential and so that the world is a better place now and in the future.
This morning, I wondered "How many of the adult mentors, teachers, coaches, sources of wisdom, have endeavored to be the best they can be?" My father used to say "Do as I say, not as I do", which is valid because it's important for young people to "taste the Kool Aid" (thanks Sef) presented from their mentors. However in our efforts to support, inspire and motivate the next generation did we forget something? Did we forget ourselves? Have we become distracted from opportunity for our own self improvement? Are we accessing or creating opportunities to be the best us that we can be?
Many mentors, teachers and coaches chose to live vicariously through those they mentor and abandon their own quest for self improvement. As we get older we chose to believe that the obstacles to our personal growth are real and growing exponentially. This is not true. At different stages in life many adults ignore their "Beginners Mind" (BM). Our BM allows us to appreciate things like we've seen them for the first time and also inspires us to take risks and journeys for self improvement and self discovery instead of being paralyzed by fear, anxiety, insecurity or ego.
Robin Sharma suggests a very interesting list of "The 10 Human Regrets" in his latest book The Leader Who Had No Title. It would be deflating to know that tomorrow is your last day, however it would be even worse if any of these regrets applied to you:
You reach your last day with the brilliant song that your life was meant to sing still silent within you.
You reach your last day without ever having experienced the natural power that inhabits you to do great work and achieve great things.
You reach your last day realizing that you never took any bold risks and so you never received any bright rewards.
You reach your last day full of pain at the realization that you never took any bold risks and so you never received any bright rewards.
You reach you last day understanding that you missed the opportunity to catch a glimpse of mastery because you bought into the lie that you had to be resigned to mediocrity.
You reach your last day and feel heartbroken that you never the skill of transforming adversity into victory and lead into gold.
You reach your last day regretting that you forgot that work is about being radically helpful to others rather than being helpful only to yourself.
You reach your last day with the awareness that you ended up living the life that society trained you to want versus leading the one you truly wanted to have.
You reach your last day and awaken to the fact that you never realized your absolute best nor touched the special genius that you were built to become.
You reach your last day and discover you could have been a leader and left this world so much better than you found it. But you refused to accept that mission because you were just too scared. And so you failed. And wasted a life.
It's never too late to be your best you. Allow the courage of many of the youth around you to inspire you to be your best you. Direct some of your own wisdom towards yourself. Let's not live through young people, instead allow them to teach you some things about yourself and how great you can be. Are you being your best you? jas
