What's on Your Bookshelf?
“What’s On Your Bookshelf” is a personal and professional growth podcast exploring the intersections of passion, potential, and purpose - featuring multi-certified coach and leadership development consultant Denise R. Russo alongside Sam Powell, Zach Elliott, Tom Schweizer, Dennis LaRue, and Michelle King.
What's on Your Bookshelf?
96 - Intentional Living - Partner with Like-Valued People
Have you ever wondered how living with anticipation and urgency can transform your life? This week, Denise Russo and Samantha Powell unpack another section of John Maxwell's "Intentional Living." We delve into how forward-thinking and timely action can make a huge difference. With insights from John Wooden’s timeless wisdom, we discuss how to prepare yourself for those golden opportunities when they appear. You'll learn the secrets to proactive, intentional living, ensuring that you're always ready to seize the moment.
Imagine starting each day with a mindset geared towards success and balance. We'll explore how positive anticipation can help you achieve work-life harmony and spark innovation. Whether you're a busy professional or a young parent juggling multiple responsibilities, we offer practical advice on how to plan your day effectively. By entering every situation with a constructive attitude, you can foster creativity and collaboration, making every meeting and interaction more productive and fulfilling.
Lastly, discover the transformative power of an abundance mindset. Listen to a heartwarming story about a high school football team rallying around their former coach, now a political candidate, demonstrating the lasting impact of leadership and community. We’ll discuss how believing in limitless possibilities can attract opportunities and enable you to take meaningful risks. The episode wraps up with a call to action: Adopt an abundance mindset, seize opportunities, and make significant contributions to enrich both your life and the lives of those around you. Don't miss this inspiring conversation that can help you lead a life of significance.
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Welcome to what's on your Bookshelf, with your hosts Denise Russo and Samantha Powell.
Speaker 2:Hi everyone, welcome back. It's another episode of what's on your Bookshelf. This is our life and leadership podcast, where we're living out loud the pages of the books on our bookshelves. My name is Denise Russo and I'm here with my friend and co-hosthost, sam Powell, and we are exploring a book called Intentional Living by John Maxwell. This particular book is about choosing a life that matters, and it's definitely one of my favorite books that's on my bookshelf. We're almost to the end of the book. We're in the last section of the book, so I'm looking forward today with anticipation, sam, of talking with you about this chapter.
Speaker 1:Yeah, me too and I think that this book is coming at such a good time, right at the end of the year as we think about stepping into the new year. We you know that always kind of brings this reflection time and this time of anticipation of, like, what next year will bring for us. So I think this book is just really coming so perfectly for people to take a moment for themselves and really think about how do you step into 2025 intentionally right, In a way that you're living the life you want in the way you want. And this book, I think, you know, like a lot of John's books, they're very straightforward. They give you a list of things to think about, they give you topics to think about, right, there's rules, there's all this sort of good stuff Like they're just also very practical.
Speaker 1:And this book is so much of that too, and we've, in the episodes previously, have gone through the sections on I want to make a difference, doing something that makes a difference with people who make a difference.
Speaker 1:And today we'll wrap up kind of the fourth section of this book, which is at a time that makes a difference. So I want to make a difference, doing something that makes a difference, with people who make a difference at a time that makes a difference, and these two chapters in this section, like you said, are about living with a sense of anticipation and being urgent, about seizing significant opportunities. So I thought it was interesting how he I thought it was interesting that, at a time that makes a difference started with anticipation. I like I don't know what do you like? That was not what I expected when I read I don't know what do you like that? That was not what I expected when I read the like you know the broad titles of the sections and then when we got to it, I was like huh. But as he goes through this, I totally like I. It's just an interesting thought process.
Speaker 2:Well, it's funny because it's sort of of like thinking there's never a good time for certain things, like people will often say things like I'll do this when when I get a different job, when I get married, when I have my kids, when my kids are grown, when I'm retired, and so when is a good time?
Speaker 2:This is talking about a time that makes a difference, which means there has to be something that is prompting you to look at time through an interesting concept, and so one of the quotes that John says that I really loved is that he says to me anticipation. This is about thinking about that time that does make the difference. Not just time in general is a wonderfully proactive and intentional word for seeking out significance. People with anticipation plan to be significant. So when you think of what you described the beginnings of the book to be about being all these pieces and elements together with other people doing things that make a difference, and elements together with other people doing things that make a difference, this piece is saying that if you have a plan, then you can anticipate for when you'll make a difference. Mm, hmm.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I, and I think that it makes me think about you know, when people say, oh, someone was before their time, or you know like this probably would have been good, you know at a different point in history, or you know like this probably would have been good, you know at a different point in history, or you know something like that, and I love this concept that he's got of living with anticipation. And then you know the second part of this book, and the second part of this section of the book, you know, goes into like seizing the opportunities right, that's the next chapter is the seizing the opportunities. Goes into like seizing the opportunities right, that's the next chapter is the seizing the opportunities. But in order to like, his point really is in order to seize, in order to take action, like you have to be sitting here on the edge of your seat, living in a way that you're ready for when things you know come your way and you've got to be. You know like if you're not it's the John Wooden quote which I'm blanking on exactly how he phrases it.
Speaker 1:But basically, like if you're not ready when the opportunity like comes your way, you know, like if you're not prepared about preparation, like, if you're not prepared when the opportunity comes your way, then like, then you're, you know, you just sort of miss it in general, right, and so this is sort of like the well, how do you do that? And if you live in a sense of anticipation and, like you said, anticipating a life of significance, of significant actions, then you, you're ready for when, when things come your way, when the time is right, right when those opportunities present themselves, you're prepared, like john wooden says you should be the action is the key word to intentional living, because I remember john maxwell teaching us something like have you ever heard of people, or known people, that are just always getting ready to get ready?
Speaker 1:so they're prepared. I fall into that trap myself Sometimes.
Speaker 2:Well, it sort of has me thinking. Now we record these episodes in advance, so the US elections have not yet happened while we're recording this, but by the time this episode comes, the elections will have happened and the winners will have been named, or so we think will have happened, and the winners will have been named, or so we think. So it got me to thinking about this part where if you are always looking in the past and or talking about the vision for the future, but you're not acting in the present, then is it really intentional living? And so one of the things that John points out in the book is he says when you live with intentionality, you know and understand that every day is your time to make a difference.
Speaker 2:And so I was recently watching the two different conventions for the two major parties running in our country and they both were talking about, you know, days of the past and how great it was, and sort of painting a picture for what the future could look like. But neither group was talking about what they're doing right now to make a difference right now, with people that make a difference right now doing something that makes a difference right now. And that's the point of John's book is that every day is your time to make a difference. But the question is do you live with this sense of anticipation and urgency in a positive way? Not because you think time is running out, but the reality is time is running out. And so what are you doing with your moments? Because every moment matters.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, and he's, he's. His one quote that I highlighted in here was you can't take action if you're spending too much of your time trying to get to the front lines. You need to be on the front line and, like his argument is to be on the front line, ready for action, ready to take action right now when it happens. You need to be setting yourself up, laying the groundwork for you being at the front lines of whatever it is that you're trying. You know whatever significant thing you're trying to do in the world, and you do that by living with, like, this mindset of anticipation. And he's got some nice intentional application here. He's got how many, five, five different ways to kind of do that. But, or, you know, like how anticipation helps us to get into that place.
Speaker 1:But I, like the first one I loved, of anticipation causes us to value today, which is again, like, not what I think of when, when I think of anticipation.
Speaker 1:Anticipation for me, helps me value tomorrow, right, the thing that will happen with tomorrow. But he's saying that you know, when you live with intentionality, you know and understand that every day is your time to make a difference. Right, you're anticipating the action, like bringing that action into your present, into this moment. And so it's like, if you've got this constant drumbeat of anticipation, it's yeah, you're going to obviously anticipate things coming up right and things that you're excited about right, that vacation down the road, the big life change, whatever it is. But it also, if you really are doing it right, if you're really fully embracing anticipation, you're all of a sudden able to appreciate today, appreciate what's happening now, because you've been anticipating it's like what's here. It's like it's the thing. I'm ready, I'm, you know, I've, I've done what I needed to do to get here, which I think is interesting, like I just I never, when I think about anticipation, I didn't think about it in that lens.
Speaker 2:I don't think that everybody gets to experience this feeling that he describes, and in this part of the chapter he was saying that for him it became illuminated when he had a health scare. It became illuminated when he had a health scare and so he was faced with the reality that his days might be numbered. And the reality is, all of our days are numbered, we just don't know the expiration date. And so it got me to thinking about my friend Wendy, who you know I often talk about on our episodes, and uh, and I've noticed that through her cancer diagnosis that she lives every day with zest, with appreciation and with anticipation. And one of the things John says in this part of the chapter is the difference between assuming and numbering your days is huge. You can think about oh well, I only have this much time left, like the thing we talked about, a couple episodes that I had seen.
Speaker 2:This article that said, on average, if people live to be like 80 years old, let's say that you only have. This is profound. You only have 80 birthdays, 80 summers, 80, whatever the holiday holiday is, you might celebrate on an annual basis, and that makes things seem so fast and so small. And so if you number your days, it's one thing, but if you have this anticipation for assuming that you can make the very best of the days that you have, then how much better would life be. And so he talks about how anticipation then prompts us to prepare for that time.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely Right. If you're in this constant state of anticipation right, that helps you value today and and value tomorrow, right, and all the things you need to do to get ready for that then it helps us to think about okay, well, what do I need to do to make that happen? Right, like again, we're recording this way in advance because I have a baby coming.
Speaker 1:So, we're getting everything recorded, but we just did the first day of school for my son, and the day before was preparation. It was the anticipation of, okay, tomorrow the schedule looks different. Right, it's a big shift from the summer where it's been. Whatever, you know, we do, there's no schedule to all. Right, you've got to be on the bus at this time and so therefore we're gonna, you know, do this.
Speaker 1:And so it was getting clothes ready, it was having the backpack packed up, it was having the lunchbox, you know, laid out, all those little things that helps us prepare. Because we knew, like, if we're anticipating what the day is, then we know these things will make this run smoother. We'll be ready for all the things and then we can sit in just the enjoyment of it. Right, you can sit and just actually have the moment to connect before school starts, instead of running around and scrambling out the door and all that kind of stuff, right? So if you're anticipating what you want that experience to be, right, and especially if you're thinking about significance, right, Like, I want a significant moment on the first day of school and I already know my son's not going to want to pose for pictures, but I would like those.
Speaker 1:So I'm going to plant that in for pictures, but I would like those, so I'm going to plant that in his head before he goes to bed, Just so you know, don't get mad tomorrow. Pictures are happening. Everybody does it, it's fine. So it's, it's planting those seeds to get to the. You know the experience, the life that you want really right it very intentionally right, Like I know what this is, so therefore I prepare for it.
Speaker 2:Have you ever known people, sam, who work anticipating, waiting for five o'clock to happen, or waiting for Friday to come, or dreading for Monday to come? That's not the anticipation we're talking about here. This is more like what you described, which is I can remember a time when I was younger and being so excited for the first day of school and getting the backpack that I wanted, and I was pretty anal, I guess, because I made sure all my color-coded folders had the exact right handwriting with my name on them and I took meticulous attention to detail to make sure everything was perfect because I was so excited to start that first day of school. But what is it that changes in us as we get older? That we then dread the future instead of anticipating that future with excitement?
Speaker 2:And so John says here that when you anticipate that you can and will make a difference in life, you will prepare differently. So if you think about people who really love what they do and who they do it with, they don't wait for five o'clock. They probably hope that five o'clock doesn't come as fast as it will. They don't wait for Friday just to escape where they are, to have two days of a reprieve. They might anticipate the weekend with some sort of excitement and plan, but they also don't dread that Monday is around the corner.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think I absolutely agree with that, and I see that a lot with people who are struggling with work-life balance is that they don't live in enough anticipation of how to bring what they want into their every day. Right, it's like, oh well, I have to do all this stuff. Like they just get on the roller coaster and ride it wherever it goes, instead of saying, okay, the roller coaster is going to go this way, like I know how this is going to go, so what do I need to do to be ready for that? Right, like I would always talk to as a leader, talk to, especially like younger parents, like who are struggling with that. You know, transition of like now I have kids and now I want to make sure that I'm out of here at a certain time of day, or now the kids started school and I need to, you know, make sure I do that. And it's like well, how are you going? Like, well, what is like, how are you going to prepare for that? What's the anticipation that you're going to do? What is that space that's going to allow you to do that? Because that can't start at four, when you all of a sudden need to leave. It needs to start at 8am when you sit down, so that your whole day is you thinking and working towards and anticipating. This is how I want the whole day to go, so that I'm done at this time right, so that I've walked away and things are wrapped up the way they need to be, and I'm going to anticipate that there are problems and there are things that are going to pop up and and what does that look like? And so, like I think that you're you're totally onto something we tend to get so caught up in the ride of.
Speaker 1:We work Monday through Friday, we do whatever you know, whatever the schedule is that you have in your in your life, in your industry, and all that sort of good stuff. We just get caught up on that train and then we think, oh, we're gonna like just deal with the rest of it, like okay, outside of that then is when I have all my free time, right, when it's the weekend, when it's my off days, I get to do whatever I want, and that's that's not living with anticipation, that's the good anticipation. That's just living with reacting, reacting to the circumstance that you're in. Living with anticipation is I know these things are coming right and I want to have this sort of experience, this sort of significance in the world. And so how am I going to make that? How am I going to make that work?
Speaker 1:And John says here right, anticipation helps us generate good ideas. So if you get into that mindset of I'm going to anticipate how things will go, I'm going to anticipate being ready for the things that I want, it gives us a lot of creative space to think up things that we never would have thought about. Think of solutions we never would have thought about. This is where coaches are helpful, right, because they help you think through your own thoughts on that, that kind of stuff. But it's that.
Speaker 1:Well, what would it look like if I had this life that I wanted? What would it look like if I was intentionally piecing my day together? Right? Like? What would that? What were all the pieces that would need to change? Right? Like from like atomic habits, right? What are all those little tiny things you need to put into place that get the system running the way you need it to? What's the design of the system supposed to look like? And I think in that space, like, you end up with really interesting ideas and things you wouldn't have thought of if you don't live in anticipation.
Speaker 2:I think the point that you're describing is living in positive anticipation with the intention of something good happening.
Speaker 2:I've been going through this certification with a company called Fierce Conversations, and in Fierce Conversations there's these elements that say you might have to have a conversation with yourself or with others. That isn't always a positive conversation, but it can be a constructive conversation. And so when you're anticipating this generation of good ideas, it's sort of like thinking, if you're going to go into a meeting with a diverse group of people, I've seen both sides of the coin where some people will be dreading going to the meeting, thinking well, only so, and so is ever going to talk, or nothing is really going to come out of this, or why am I wasting my time at another meeting about a meeting that was about a meeting? But if you go into it with a positive intent, with intentionality behind it, then the generation of good ideas is really powerful, if you go into it with that positive mindset that you were talking about. And so John says in this part that when you have an idea, if you think it's the only one you'll ever come up with, you hoard it or you hold on to it. However, if you anticipate that you will have more ideas, you're willing to share it and I can think of a client I have that I was working with this week on a really, really big sporting event project that will be happening in a couple years from now. So you think about it, it's not even close, it's happening in a couple years from now. So you think about it, it's not even close, it's happening in a few years from now.
Speaker 2:But this meeting was with a group talking around sort of the strategy for how to envision this thing coming to life. That has never been done in the city. It's being done in. It's never been done to the level that they're perceiving it could be done with. And there were two distinct um platforms happening in this conversation that I was a part of. One was a group of people anticipating with excitement and energy and wanted to brainstorm and really poke holes in some of the ideas that were presented and there was energy there.
Speaker 2:But there was another element of another group that was a part of the phone call that was sort of defensive around. Well, we've already presented this idea. Why isn't that good enough? And there needs to be guardrails and this is going to be on scope creep. Now. Part of what they were describing is real life and what happens at work, that you do need to have some sort of construction around ideas. But the difference was in the mindset. One mindset was excited and wanted to see the future unfold. The other one was not just putting up barriers but was was having a mindset that was very fixed as to we can't see that there's more than just one good idea.
Speaker 1:Right, right, yeah, and I love that I highlighted that same quote because, to me, I think we often struggle with a scarcity mindset, right, and we're fear-bongers into a scarcity mindset all the time, right, by like the media, by society, by social media, all that sort of good stuff of like. There's just not enough of things to go around and so, therefore, I have to hoard, and ideas can be one of those things. But if you live with the sense in this idea of a plentiful mindset, right, there's enough for everybody there's. You know, they're like, there's a million ways to get there, there's a million paths that could take us to a million different destinations, right, like, then you start to approach life very differently, right.
Speaker 1:You start to approach conversations. You take more chances, right, if you know, hey, if this one doesn't work out, there's something right behind it and there's a huge freedom in that. But that's a there's a very big mind shift for people to go through. I think, especially because, like I'm thinking back to the solve for happy, when we got into, like, a lot of the science behind, like, are you know we? We default to the negative, the negative, we default all the things that could go wrong, right, to keep us safe. Instead of this plentiful space of like you know it could work out, it'll be fine, there's more. If this one doesn't come along, there's going to be another one. And you know, if you can sit in that space and you can anticipate more ideas, more, more thoughts, more things coming your way, then, yeah, you just behave inherently differently, right. And, and his next point is that anticipation prompts us to look for ways to help others, which I think is also like it kind of comes right off the bat that you have, you get better ideas, you know, and and you find better ways to look out for somebody else, right, if you can sit in this place of I'm prepared, I'm not in reaction mode all the time you've got the mental and emotional capacity to look to your left and look to your right and to say, well, what does that person maybe need? Right, like, if I'm going to do this for me, I could do this for you.
Speaker 1:Right, like I my son, at the end of summer, went over to a friend's house and it was you know a bunch of different things. Like it was kind of a last minute like get together, so there were a bunch of your kids there and a few of the kids had carpooled. Like there were kids that lived in the same neighborhood, like a couple groups of them. So it was like one parent dropped them off, one parent picked them up. But like it's that anticipation of, oh, all these kids are going to the same place at the same time, from the same neighborhood. Like right, it's these little things that if you get, get into this mindset and out of the like oh, now I have to take this kid to this place, and like my, you know I'm only thinking of this like narrow space, you miss the opportunity to say, hey, how about I give your kid a ride there and you give the kids a ride back, and then you know we've shared in the responsibility and and you only get to that place if you're if you're sitting in anticipation.
Speaker 2:It not only helped the parent right, because you got to free up some of your time, but I'll bet having those kids be in the same car together with one of the parents was a great experience for the kids. I was thinking back to even just when I was watching one of the conventions on television. There was a scene where one of the candidates who is running for an office was a coach of a high school football team that had won a state championship, but years ago, not like just recently. And so in this particular scene of the event, that team came out on the stage and they all had on their jerseys from when they were in high school, these people. They looked like they were at least 40 or 50 years old.
Speaker 2:The jerseys really didn't fit anymore, but when you were looking at the excitement on their faces, it was like instantly they were brought back to that memory and about that time when they were together as a team doing something that made a difference at that time in their life. And now they were able to bring it forward, to be able to witness their coach on stage going for a really high office in our country. And I think that then segues well into this next step, which is where John says anticipation helps us to possess an abundance mindset. Anticipation helps us to possess an abundance mindset, and so when I'm thinking about this person, one of the things that seems to be an ongoing theme of the people that had an experience with that person was that he never thought about himself. He always thought about others and wanted abundance for everyone. And that legacy, while he's even still alive, was super evident, playing out in front of us on the news, in television, in the newspaper, and so this particular person is showcasing that people with an abundance mindset don't ever think there's a lack. In fact, john says it this way is that people with an abundance mindset think that's okay, we'll just bake another pie. In other words, if somebody gets a piece and eats up all the pie. It doesn't mean. Well, I guess there's no pie left, right, okay, we'll just bake another one.
Speaker 2:I remember being little and our house was always the house that everyone came to Everyone. The door was always unlocked. People would come in and go out without knocking on the door and always my mother had some fresh baked treat of some sort and it never ran out and she couldn't anticipate how many people would come that day. But she had an idea that over consistent time there would at least be a dozen people in and out of that house on any given time. So she anticipated with abundance that no one will ever come into this house and not feel loved, and her way of giving love was either with her time, her hugs or her food. And so when you have this abundance mindset, people want to be around that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely. It's an infectious thing, right, it's when you're the person who's anticipating and you believe that there will be more, there will be something for everything. Like people are very attracted to that, right, and it and it just gets you into this place where, like, you're not only in the right frame of mind to seize the opportunity, but so are all of the people around you. And that's what the second part of this section of this section is is seizing significant opportunities. And you know, john gives us five ways to do that as well. And the first is to to lean in and to help someone right, like you, just you be the helper, right that's, you know, that's the quote from Fred Rogers is, like, when there's bad things happening, like, look for the helpers, right, it's those people that jump in and say, yeah, let me.
Speaker 1:My grandmother always says just do what your hands find to do, just help, just get moving, get going, but be ready. If you, if you live in this mindset of anticipation, then you're ready to seize the opportunity and walk into it and help other people. And he, you know john talks about, you know he thinks about people who've jumped in and helped him at times in his life. You know, he, that those people set themselves apart. They have a very special place in his heart Right. They set the seeds of success for him and they compound into something really, you know, really special. So it's, you know, if you're going to seize opportunities, look outward, right, but you've got to get kind of get through the anticipation to be able to do that. And then, you know, start helping people.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we're almost out of time for today, so we'll just sum up the rest of these really quick. After you help people, you take worthy risks. You do what you know is right, even if there's not going to be a promise of return. In other words, there's no quid pro quo here. You give to your peers at a time when it makes a difference for those people, and then you plant the seeds of intentionality in children, which is actually one of my favorite ones. But I'll close with just what he says Make a difference every day. We all have a chance to do that, so I want to encourage everyone that's listening Think about what can you do to make a difference today. Maybe you do it by yourself, but even better if you could do it with others that want to make a difference. And make a difference with something that matters for someone else that needs you to make a difference, and make a difference with something that matters for someone else that needs you to make a difference for them, because maybe it's their time for you to make a difference.
Speaker 1:Exactly. Yeah, I really love that and I think that if you can get yourself into these mindsets that we talked about, if you can follow this advice, you can be ready when the time is right, and that's you know, that that's when it matters, that's that's it right. You don't get second chances on timing most of the time because, like you said, time is always moving forward, is always ticking, and so if you can live in this sense of anticipation and seizing, then you're ready to do the thing, you're ready to go out and make that difference every day in the world in the way that you want to right. So you know it really comes together and, like we said, like you want to make a difference, doing something that makes a difference with people who make a difference at a time that makes a difference. And if you want to be at the right time, you've got to be anticipating and you've got to be ready to seize the day.
Speaker 2:And not tomorrow. The time is now to. Anybody can do something now to make a difference, so we want to encourage you. Share this episode, share this series, join us next week. Next week, we're going to tie out this book and we're going to share with you what 2025 is going to look like, so I'm excited about that as well. Sam, it's always a pleasure to be here with you. What 2025 is going to look like, so I'm excited about that as well. Sam, it's always a pleasure to be here with you. I'm glad that we've been able to spend, yet again, another year together, intentionally living with each other. I can't believe the time has gone this fast. So, friends, thanks for joining in. My name is Denise Russo and on behalf of my friend, sam Powell. This has been another episode of what's On your Bookshelf.