Packing Right

Though I travel often, I’m not always the most economical packer. I do fine with the clothes, but I always seem to have a couple of extra books (that don’t get opened on the trip), and extra training materials that I take “just-in-case.”

So as I pondered what to pack for the next year, I thought carefully – I decided not to worry about being too economical – while I could have fit more in this bag, everything here I plan to use every day. Here’s what’s in my bag.

Gratitude. I practice being grateful and appreciative every day. I find when I am grateful and appreciative, not only do good things come my way and I enjoy each day more, but that same grateful spirit makes me more open to learning.

Reflection. To be a more effective learner we must be more reflective. Let me be more direct – I know I learn better and more effectively when I practice reflection more often. I’m packing this for myself, all of those I coach, consult and train, and for everyone who reads what I write this year.

Personal Leadership. Yes, I wrote a book on leadership and so it seems logical this would be something important to me. Forget that fact for a second. The bottom line is that we all lead and that as we become better leaders we become better human beings. How do we become better? Practice and experience; in other words, learning. Packing my personal leadership skills is practical for me in almost every role I play in life. Why wouldn’t I want to pack this?

A Remarkable Expectancy. I expect great things; from my relationships, from my business, from my clients, of my family, of myself. When we have higher expectations we tend to live up to them – and as we stretch to reach these expectations, we need to be in a learning mindset.

My new Kindle. I love this tool and it is definitely part of my learning journey this year. Plus it may help me with “real” packing – keeping the unopened books at home, and multiple books in a small package.

As I look back over this packing list, (reflecting even as I type) I know that these things will make for a remarkable learning year for me. I hope you consider one or more of these items for your packing list as well.

Kevin Eikenberry is an author, speaker, trainer, consultant and the Chief Potential Officer of the Kevin Eikenberry Group - a learning consulting company.  He is also the author of Remarkable Leadership - Unleashing Your Leadership Potential One SKill at a Time. You can read his blogs here and here.

Comments

[Rosa Say]

I so vote for Remarkable Expectancy Kevin, for we all can set our sights so much higher - and for the sake of our world I think we need to.

My favorite quote on this elevation of our expectation is the one I chose as the epigraph for Managing with Aloha (and I like your attaching *remarkable* to it):

"Treat people as if they were what they ought to be, and you help them to become what they are capable of being."
~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) German writer, scientist and philosopher

[Kevin Eikenberry]

Thanks Rosa - I wrote about expectency this morning for my Unleash Your Potential newsletter next Monday. In fact I used your Goethe quotation - I love it as well. Once the article is posted to my blog, I'll leave the link here so others can read it if they wish.

Thanks again!

Kevin :)

[Joanna Young]

Kevin, I was struck by "remarkable expectancy" too - probably because it's the one I most need to learn myself.

I can't quite find the words for it, but it's something like shifting from a mindset I've long struggled with around expectations of myself ('should' be able to do this that and the other), to one where I allow things to be.

Almost like giving permission for things to be remarkable (which for me would include unexpected, surprising, wonderful, above and beyond anything I could have predicted).

I don't know if this is making any sense... it is for me, kind of, and I'll pop the words into my bags anyway!

It's great to have you as a contributing author here Kevin, and I'm looking forward to continuing the conversations and learning with you.

Joanna

[Steve Sherlock]

Welcome Kevin! It is good to have you here.

So you like your Kindle, I have heard mixed reviews. What makes it work for you?