Reinvention Tips

Monday, May 19, 2008

Back Story:

It was my second year in the Air Force in the midst of Operation Desert Storm. My supervisors were sent to Kuwait and I remained behind-stateside and suddenly put in charge of retired military drivers and enlisted Airmen-like myself.

“After all, one day I was their equal and the next day I was their supervisor. This had to be a hard pill to swallow, considering my age (twenty-one) and gender. I remembered what I learned in basic training: “never make or accept an excuse.” This went over like a lead balloon. I felt like the Gestapo as I declined excuse after excuse over the next few weeks. The men didn’t recognize the new and improved, firm and authoritative Lisa. The grumbling began. They resented my power and made the smallest gestures to ensure I knew it; they snatched keys from my hand, gave me the evil eye and turned their backs on me as I relayed their assignments to them. I felt betrayed. They made it clear that they were OK working with me but not for me.

With the knowledge that men and women were sacrificing their lives defending our allies across the world, the last thing I wanted to concern myself with was how these men treated me. I pretended that our safe stateside base was in the middle of Desert Storm and no one was going to get in the way of completing our daily missions. I learned that change is first ridiculed, and then questioned, before it is ultimately accepted.

Par for the course, the men mocked my authority, questioned why I was chosen to lead them and tested me, before adapting to their new leader. It took nearly six weeks for them to accept my appointment and a few more weeks for them to socialize with me as they had before.I efficiently ran our unit as if my life depended on it. Less than a year later, I was nominated for and won the prestigious honor of Airman of the Year Worldwide for the Logistics Squadrons.”

Staying the course wasn’t always easy for me but I learned that remaining steadfast and persistent proved to be rewarding.

Lisa Lockwood is a Speaker, Author & Reinvention Expert
She can be reached at Lisa@LisaLockwood.com www.LisaLockwood.com

(This piece is copyrighted; please credit the author if you intend to use it.)

Labels: empowerment, Lisa Lockwood, reinvention, self-help, Undercover Angel

Subscribe to
Posts [Atom]

Persist Until You Succeed!

Sunday, April 13, 2008

Last Wednesday I was invited to be interviewed on Fox Business News Happy Hour in New York City. Later I found out that the program broadcasts live from “The Bull and Bear Pub” in the Waldorf Astoria Hotel…very cool.

I was interviewed at the bottom of the hour by Cody -the male half of the Rebecca Gomez & Cody Willard co-anchor team. Cody composed himself after some chuckling disbelief as he tried to imagine that I was once a SWAT cop he said, “I know persistence was one of the tools you used to accomplish so many goals in your life…in thirty seconds can you tell our audience how to be persistent?”

In essence, I answered, “When you keep your focus on your goal, your mind will assist you. It will look for new and creative ways to get your outcome. It’s your job to continually respond by acting upon those new ideas.”

Keeping in line with my goal of providing you with the knowledge, tools, support and hopefully, the inspiration you need to recreate your life, your career, your health and/or your relationships, I’d like you to be aware of the importance persistence is to the formula.

In, The Science of Getting Rich by Wallace Wattles, I was never more moved and inspired by his following words:

“God’s gift to you is more talent and ability than you could possibly use in your lifetime. Your gift to God is to develop as much of that talent and ability as you can in this lifetime.”

Having said that, when would now, be a good time to declare that you will persist until you succeed?

‘Til next time, consider taking action on an unaccomplished goal that you haven’t crossed off your to do list. Trust that you will generate new and creative ways to make it happen!

Lisa Lockwood is a Speaker, Author and Reinvention Expert
She can be reached at Lisa@LisaLockwood.com www.LisaLockwood.com

Labels: Lisa Lockwood, reinvention tips, self-esteem, self-help, Undercover Angel

Subscribe to
Posts [Atom]