success | Success and Impact

18 Nov 2014

Sticky Post By Summer Knight Posted in doctor is in, Entrepreneurs, Leadership, success, success and impact, Success and Impact on Purpose, YOUnique Excellence Pillars Permalink

The Doctor is In – How often do you update your Success Life Strategy

Sticky Post By Summer Knight On November 18, 2014

How often do you update your Success Life Strategy and why/ how are you going about it?

Annually, I review and update the entire Success Life Strategy (SLS). Throughout the year, I engage with different parts of the SLS at different intervals. For example, I may evaluate the Success Quotient section monthly or even daily based on working toward a goal, objective, or action item. On the other hand, no need to review my Values section unless I have a difficult decision to make that is creating conflict, doubt, or second-guessing.

To make next year an Exceptional Year, I review through last year’s objectives, goals, and actions and the Success Metrics assigned to them to determine where I succeeded and where the challenges lay. All of these taken into consideration together is my Success Quotient. The more I achieve these metrics, the more successful I am at reaching my goals. The old adage: you won’t achieve what you don’t measure.

Then review my Values, YOUnique Excellence Pillars (how I operate in the world), and the Impacts I want to make with my life. Reflecting on what I’ve accomplished, the challenges had, what I’ve learned, and new opportunities, I may make adjustments on parts of the Success Life Strategy. Then I begin working on the creation of my next “Exceptional Year.”

What are your YOUnique Excellence Pillars? Share yours with us below!

14 Nov 2014

Sticky Post By Summer Knight Posted in Entrepreneurs, Leadership, life goals, life plan, success, success and impact, Success and Impact on Purpose, vision Permalink

Delving into your Success Quotient

Sticky Post By Summer Knight On November 14, 2014

Your Success Life Strategy focuses you on creating the impact and multi-dimensional success you deserve to have in your life. 100% of the people – just like you- who have incorporated this tool into their lives have had profound results. Including me – its been THE KEY to my own success.

One element of the Success Life Strategy is creating your “Success Quotient.”

So, what is a Success Quotient and how can you use them?

Once you’ve created your Success Life Strategy, you have a set of objectives, goals, and action items. To move forward effectively, you will want to measure your progress, which is why we adopted the Success Quotient.

The Success Quotient is a set of metrics – preferably quantitative and objective, yet sometimes qualitative or subjective – that measures your progress toward your goals and successes.

For each item – as I shared in the above example – you create a measurement of success trying to become as objective as possible even for soft or personal goals. We do this because it can be difficult to see the transformation we make in our lives, when we don’t actively measure the actions we take to create change in our lives.

That’s why I’ve been such an advocate of creating your Success Life Strategy – it’s a plan for your personal life to create multi-dimensional success and really affect impacts that you feel are important with your life.

A key part of this is the Success Quotient.

23 Jun 2014

Sticky Post By Summer Knight Posted in doctor is in, q&a, success, success and impact, Success and Impact on Purpose, YEPs, YOUnique Excellence Pillars With No Comments Permalink

The Doctor Is In – Q & A With Dr. Knight

Sticky Post By Summer Knight On June 23, 2014 With No Comments

Denise Gonzalez wrote recently:

Dr. Knight, you talk about YOUnique Excellence Pillars. How are these useful? Can you give an example of how you used them?

Denise, “Excellent” question about YOUnique “Excellence” Pillars (YEPs). OK, that was goofy. Couldn’t help myself.

Let me share an example of how I used my own YOUnique Excellence Pillars to develop the culture of our consultancy called Firecracker International. I did this for two reasons:

Attract similarly minded consultants as “Firecrackers”
Attract clients who appreciated these characteristics

I used my personal YOUnique Excellence Pillars as the foundation for our company’s culture through our Value Statements. Here’s what they are:

Catalysts fueled by the Outcome
Big Picture Strategists, Assiduous Problem Solvers, Tactical Creators
Be the Hero You Already Are
Full Force Living
Cultivate Magnanimity in Every Moment
Courageous Truth with Compassion
Inclusive Big Tent mentality and 1HumanRace Culture
Be the change we want to see in the world.

BTW, I could not see all of these myself. I hired an expert who helped me to clarify these because although I’m an expert in Strategy and Succcess, finding your YOUnique Excellence Pillars requires an internal and external team.

Take a look at this example at Firecracker Innovation.

03 Jun 2014

Sticky Post By Summer Knight Posted in doctor is in, life plan, q&a, success, success and impact, Success and Impact on Purpose, vision With No Comments Permalink

The Doctor Is In – YOUnique Personal Impact STATEMENT

Sticky Post By Summer Knight On June 3, 2014 With No Comments

“A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives.”

Not all people feel they have the capability of creating impact in the World. The Success and Impact team believes everyone has the capability to create their unique impact in the world – their family, their community, and beyond. We call this your YOUnique Personal Impact. We are not alone as Anita Roddick observed,

“If you think you’re too small to have an impact, try going to bed with a mosquito.”

The Elements of your Strategic Life Plan™ include:

Your Vision Statement
Your YOUnique Personal Impact
YOUnique Excellence Pillars (YEPs)
Your Core Values Statement
Your Long-Term Objectives

We are going to delve deeper into Your YOUnique Personal Impact STATEMENT.

Your YOUnique Personal Impact are those Impacts that you want to create in the world that leave your legacy of what you did, for whom and why. Your YOUnique Personal Impact Mission answers the questions:

“What is my YOUnique Personal Impact in the World?”
“Why am I creating this YOUnique Personal Impact?”
“For whom am I creating my YOUnique Personal Impact?”

The impact you are capable of making in the world is YOUnique to you. This is because only you have your unique set of passions, qualities, interests, priorities, behaviors, skills, talents, and even quirks. Accomplishing one of your YOUnique Personal Impacts takes strategic planning and could take you three or more years to reach.

Catalyst Points are those accomplishments and inflection points that move us to vision – from where we are to what we want to become. Your YOUnique Personal Impact(s) are the major Catalyst Points in your life – considered an “interim” or the Milestones to accomplishing your Vision – because you work toward them and oftentimes also use them as a springboard to the next part of your Success Journey. Catalyst Points properly directed lead to the vision. Incorrectly done, they lead away from the vision.
Examples of types of “impact” other successful people who leveraged YOUniqueRx to create includes:

Leaving a legacy
Building a business
Creating a charity
Starting a social movement
Changing someone’s life predicament
Making a career change
Up-leveling a hobby
Making a major life change
Getting your health back together

Consider that it’s not only your potential, but it’s your duty to use your unique qualities, passions, interests, behaviors, skills, talents, and even quirks to impact the World! Dr. Knight often says,

“It’s time to step into your YOUnique Heroism. Clarify why you are on your human journey, and take action on how you want to positively impact the world.”

The YOUniqueRx was created to help you to create impact with your life. Click here to learn more about creating your YOUnique Impact.

19 May 2014

Sticky Post By Summer Knight Posted in doctor is in, life plan, Life Purpose, q&a, success, Success and Impact on Purpose, vision With No Comments Permalink

The Doctor Is In – 3ACT

Sticky Post By Summer Knight On May 19, 2014 With No Comments

Communities can REALLY show up! I wrote an article last month on the 3 Phases to creating Purpose-driven Focus that defines Your Success. The problem was, my acronym came up as CAT rather than ACT. Well, YOU – all our wonderful readers, commenters, editors, colleagues, and friends – stepped up to assist with the ACT! acronym.

3 Phases to creating Purpose-driven Focus that defines Your Success:

Activate
Catalyze
Thrive

What does each of these mean?

ACTIVATE
In the YOUniqueRx program, we gain purpose-driven focus by creating a Strategic Life PlanTM (SLP). This documents your vision, impact, values, YOUnique Excellence Positions, and objectives. This process yields greater confidence in your ability to reach your Success Quotient milestones by clarifying your Purpose, outlining big goals, and articulating your Value Hierarchy. The outcome is focus on how you spend your time and clarity in choices and decision-making.

CATALYZE
Having developed a strong base from which to operate via your Strategic Life PlanTM, it’s time to take action. Action Elements include creating short-term goals that would constitute an exceptional year, ranking priorities, and to implement through action steps and sequencing. This is where the real fun happens and you experience the power of combining BrainScienceTM with your Strategic Life PlanTM.

THRIVE
Leveraging the 5 Equities of a Human Being, you remember and acknowledge the “ebb and flow” of life. You use these 5 Human Equities – Your Purpose, Your Success Quotient, Your Connections, Your Brain, Your Body – as a springboard for creating your life goals while assuring that you also maintain a healthful flow in your life.

These are the 3 Phases of the YOUniqueRx process to creating Purpose-driven Focus you can use to transform in your life. Make a commitment to yourself. Transition through these 3 Phases – Clarify, Activate, Thrive – to Catalyze Your Success.

02 May 2014

Sticky Post By Summer Knight Posted in confidence, Life Purpose, success, value, Women With No Comments Permalink

Guttural Confidence

Sticky Post By Summer Knight On May 2, 2014 With No Comments

There are over 550 women in my immediate network who have raised money taking their businesses to the next level. Of course, we meet and speak on many topics, the most interesting to me is the topic of SUCCESS.

This week I attended the We Own It Summit surrounded by 200 of some of my most prized friends – women who had developed high scale businesses. Again the topic of success came up. But more importantly, the CONFIDENCE to garner that Success.

Don’t you have to pause when a group of people who have raised over $5B in capital, hired thousands of employees, and covered the globe with their products transition a conversation to confidence. The authors of “The Confidence Gap”, Claire Shipman and Katty Kay after interviewing some of the most influential women in the nation were also surprised to discover the extent to which even these women suffered from self-doubt.

A study in 2011 by the Institute of Leadership and Management in the United Kingdom, surveyed British managers about how confident they feel in their professions. Half the female respondents reported self-doubt about their job performance and careers, compared with fewer than a third of male respondents.

Even Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg said a year before her book, Lean In, was published: “There are still days I wake up feeling like a fraud, not sure I should be where I am.”

Here is THE KEY TO SUCCESS:

Confidence is more significant than competence in reaching your success.

The more self-assured you are, the more you will uplevel your success. How can you do that? By developing a Strategic Life Plan and gaining clarity on your 5 Human Equities. This process removes tendencies that crush self-doubt such as second guessing yourself, ruminating, perfectionism, and difficulty with decision-making. It gives you Guttural Confidence.

Image by SweetOnVeg (CC BY 2.0) via flickr

01 May 2014

Sticky Post By Summer Knight Posted in Life Purpose, success, value With 2 Comments Permalink

Albert Einstein is wrong!

Sticky Post By Summer Knight On May 1, 2014 With 2 Comments

How many people would argue with Albert Einstein? Here is a quote a YOUniqueRx client sent recently:

“Try not to be a person of success, but a person of value.” Albert Einstein

Yes, this quote is attributed to Albert Einstein – smart guy – but if he said this, he is wrong – well, at least 50% wrong.

It is imperative for YOU to be both – be a person of value and be a person of successful. When you are a person of value; you are successful. And when you align professional and personal life with your life purpose, your success and your value become intertwined. So, the quote altered:

“Strive to be a person of success and a person of value.”
Albert Einstein and Summer Knight (BFFs)

Another way to think about this is when you are focused on your life purpose, you become recognized and easily identified. In addition, when “on purpose,” your value increases because you are more passionate, considered more an expert, and attract more of the right opportunities. So, here’s another quote:

“A person of purpose-focused success is a person of value.” Summer Knight

And I think Albert would agree!

Live YOUnique! Summer

BTW, please share some of words and phrases that inspire you. Let me know who its attributed to; especially those you developed from your own experience!