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Chapter Seventeen

Glowing Every Week

I hope by now you are Glowing more. You’ve completed your Glow Profiles and understood what might be working for and against you. You’ve identified which of the nine actions are going to make a difference and have begun to acquire the habits and competencies of your key actions. Keeping on the path is about focusing your energy.

Staying on the Path

Much of what you have thought about in this book is designed to increase the stock of positive energy available to you at any point in time. The challenge you face is to ensure that all the actions you take focus rather than dissipate your energy. In the course of this book you have met a host of people who have been able to create and flourish in Hot Spots in their working life. For all of them, the capacity to focus their energy was crucial to their success. Having watched people who Glow over long periods of time, I see that they stay on the path by focusing on the journey forward, by removing the obstacles on the path, and by keeping track of progress.

Keep Defining What Is Important to You

Our lives have their own rhythms, and there will be times when more energy is available than at other times. I know for myself that when my kids were young, a great deal of my energy went into caring for them, and I was content to look for other people’s Hot Spots and flourish in them. Now that my children need me less, I have more energy available to create my own Hot Spots. What I have seen in myself and others is that focusing on what is important is essential to staying on the path.

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Be Vigilant for Distractions and Obstacles

On your journey, distractions and obstacles will litter your path. Don’t let them slow your progress; push on through, actively removing the impediments in your way. A wonderful way of conceptualizing this is to think of the journey of Odysseus, hero of Homer’s Odyssey.

In Homer’s story, Odysseus has been journeying for many years and is now set on returning home. His path takes his boat and crew across dangerous straits. The journey is perilous, and few sailors ever come through alive because they are distracted by the seductive songs of the Sirens, who entice the seamen into their watery graves. Here is Circe, the sorcerer-goddess, telling Odysseus what to expect:

Odysseus is determined to journey through the straits alive and also to experience the wondrous sound of the Sirens. Circe warns him:

Thanks to Circe’s advice, Odysseus and his crew were able to sail through the straits and return home. The wax in the ears of the sailors and the rope around Odysseus’s hands and feet were sufficient to avoid the distractions of the Sirens.

There will be distractions on your journey, although they are unlikely to come in such an attractive form as the Sirens. People will say that cooperation is “unfocused” or that it’s not up to you to ask the big questions or that you should focus on the immediate team. Like Odysseus, you will have to consciously and intentionally reduce these distractions—perhaps by avoiding these people, perhaps by spending time with the energizers around you rather than the distractors.

Use the Glow Checklists

One way of staying on the path to ensure that you Glow is to check your status and your progress periodically. The checklist presented here consists of thirty questions that will help you plot your path. The checklist contains three sets of ten questions, corresponding to the three circles of the Glow Profile:

The first asks, “Are you doing enough to Glow with respect to your skills, attitudes, and habits?” My suggestion is that you should glance at these ten questions every week. You can download them from the Hot Spots Movement Web site (http://www.hotspotsmovement.com) and pin them on your wall. After each question, you will see the specific actions related to that question. Look back at these actions if you need inspiration.

The second set of questions asks, “Are your colleagues and team doing enough to provide a context in which you can Glow?” Sit down and review these every month—preferably with the rest of your team. Again, after each question are listed the specific actions the question refers to.

The third set of questions asks, “Is the wider community or company in which you work doing enough to create a context in which you can Glow?” Again, review these every month to be sure that you are doing enough to create a wider context in which you can Glow.

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The Glow Checklists

Personal Glow Checklist (Review Weekly)

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