This is the season in which we start planning when and who we will invite into our homes for the holidays. As we prepare our guest lists we think about how each person makes us feel and what they add or subtract to the event. It is also the season in which I do the most baking and as I bake I reflect on many things, including how the year has gone – and boy has it gone this year! As we reflect on our year and prepare our guest lists, we should spend even greater energy on how we invite success into our lives.
For those who are bakers, you know that most recipes call for a teaspoon of several ingredients – for my favorite Pumpkin Bread this is a teaspoon of baking soda, cinnamon, vanilla and salt. Bakers know that forgetting one of these small ingredients will dramatically change your recipe, and so it goes with our life recipes. Even more importantly - don't forget the main ingredient (that full 2 cups of Pumpkin)! By incorporating or changing just a few behaviors we can turn over a new leaf and invite success in.
Incorporate or Change these ingredients in your life recipe to invite success in.
1 Teaspoon of Abundance Mindset
By adjusting our mindset to one of abundance, we can change our lives. Many times, this comes by changing our internal dialogue and believing that success is granted to more than a chosen few. Having an abundance mindset helps us know that there are many doors, not just one that we can open to invite success in.
1 Teaspoon of Attitude of Gratitude
In this season – adopt an Attitude of Gratitude. Countless successful people say that by focusing on the good and creating positive energy around what has gone well in their lives has attracted even more success. It is the boomerang of life – what we send out into the world, we get more of.
1 Teaspoon of Being Open to Opportunities
The inventors at 3M who failed to make a stronger adhesive would never had anticipated that the failure provided the opportunity to produce Post Its, which would become a corner stone product of their organization and they would be producing Billions of those little sticky notes each year. When we limit our options, we close the door to opportunities – Instead fling open the door to opportunities to see what you can do with what you have, to see further down the drive and when an opportunity is coming your way!
1 Teaspoon of Learning from Mistakes, Missteps, or Failures
Learning is the thing we so often forget in our success recipes. Successful people will tell you that failure preceded success. They were brave and took great risks, they bet it all. They Jumped. When they lost it all or fell, they learned instead of letting fear stop them and close doors. Each time we get back up, we are that much closer to success – Learn and adjust the recipe and it will be better each time.
2 Cups of Grit
I love to make pumpkin bread, but one thing that will forever frustrate me is that my pumpkin of choice has changed from a 16oz / 2cups to 15oz cans. How dare they! Now when I make my recipe I must choose to either open two cans or 1 of the larger 29 oz cans if I want the full two cups. Then I must store the extra. Both paths create extra work, but I take on the extra work because the recipe is much better as a result. In life we have two options – we can give up or we can find our grit. Angela Duckworth defines Grit as a “special blend of passion and persistence”. You need to find your grit with no less than 2 cups – 1 filled with passion, 1 filled with persistence. By not giving up, you will be able to open the door and invite success in.
As you prepare your guest list this fall, invite success into your life. Don’t forget the teaspoons of Abundance Mindset, Attitude of Gratitude, Being Open to Opportunities, Learning AND the ever important 2 full cups of Grit. These ingredients will make life much sweeter because you have invited success in. Even if you only open the door a crack with one ingredient you are on your way, but I vote that you swing it wide open and complete your recipe for inviting success in!
