Five ways to play a bigger game.

Back in September 2012, I found myself at the Entrepreneurs Organization Conference in Istanbul. The theme for the event was transform, transcend, together. Right now, I am away (this time in Australia) and still thinking about the same things…how to play a bigger game…and what I am going to do about it.

I attend these events because the time spent gives me a chance to reflect on ‘what now’ – and also to be inspired by the others in attendance – each of them there because they want to ‘play a bigger game’ too.

On my travels in Istanbul I saw the following quote which got me thinking ….

“Again, you can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something – your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.”
~~Steve Jobs

Fundamentally as entrepreneurs we have to trust others and ourselves. Trust is something we give – not earned.

Here are five insights into playing a bigger game that I took away from my time in Istanbul:

1. The way we see the world determines the way we live our lives – and if we ‘see’ those people around us who contribute to us – and we acknowledge them authentically we will ‘see’ a happier world.
2. The question I ask myself each day – am I thriving, surviving or did I make the world a better place. Challenging, and reflecting give me focus.
3. Don’t let what you cannot do – get in the way of what you can do. It is better to work for five minutes on the bigger game today rather than wait until you have ‘all the time in the world’ – in my experience that day still has not come.
4. People who love what they do every day – believe the future can be bigger, or better, or more fun than the past and that they can influence it.
5. People who are engaged with what the do – do so from a place of happiness. Disengaged people are seeking pleasure – there is a fundamental difference between happiness and pleasure – pleasure cannot be sustained after the activity of producing the pleasure has stopped. True happiness comes from a state of well-being.

So ask yourself – what will assist me on the journey of becoming the best version of yourself? And let me know what you discover.