Archive for the Life Purpose
During a break at the ASTD conference last month where I was coaching, I wandered over to the conference book store to see what they had to offer. The selection was quite extensive. I smiled when I saw a stack of Nan’s books, Hitting Your Stride: Your Work, Your Way 
Randy Pausch died this week and will be featured on ABC News several times Monday through Wednesday next week. Who is Randy Pausch you ask? Here’s an excerpt from ABC News, “It all began with one, age-old question: What would you say if you knew you were going to die and had a chance to sum up everything that was most important to you? That question had been posed to the annual speaker of a lecture series at Carnegie Mellon University, where Pausch was a computer sciences professor. For Pausch, though, the question wasn’t hypothetical. Pausch, a father of three small children with his wife Jai, had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer — and given six months to live. Friends and colleagues flew in from all around the country to attend his last lecture. And — almost as an afterthought — the lecture was videotaped and put on the Internet for the few people who couldn’t get there that day. “ (Full Article from ABC) You can watch the lecture on You Tube. Although Randy’s video is less than 5 minutes, it’s filled with messages. His attitude, despite terminal cancer, is amazing. In 5 minutes he covers perseverence, family values, life passion, life leadership, personal character, karma and much more. Working moms, Randy’s given us a reminder to really pay attention to what’s important because we just never know what lies ahead. It’s so easy to get caught up in the demands of our busy lives that our do to lists take precedence over the good stuff. It takes a consistent effort to make sure we run our lives versus let our lives run us. Remember, you’re in control.
So, I bet you’re wondering what in the world could rap music have to do with life lessons for executive women? Keep reading. I was perusing Tony Robbins’ newsletter when I noticed a link to an appearance on MTV. I thought, “Tony Robbins is going to take a shot at being a rapper now? Come on!”. Anyway, I was just curious enough to watch so I clicked through. Seems that Hurricane Chris in his 51/50 Ratchet CD has some serious clarity about personal leadership. The video from Hip Hop Owner’s Manual describes a rap music term, RATCHET. The definition of Ratchet is living your life’s dream and being yourself without regard for what anyone else thinks. In Rapper speak, “Doing YOU”. Ratchet comes with a few guiding principles: