Written by: Simon T. Bailey, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
Many years ago, when I was working in a cubicle farm and had settled for a chair, check, and a cup of coffee, one of the most influential mentors in my life, Dr. Mark Chironna, said, “You weren’t born to fit in, you were born to be brilliant.” The moment he said it, the vault of my potential that was covered with cobwebs of self-doubt and low self-worth fell off. No one had ever told me that I was brilliant.
Needless to say, it launched a movement around the world. People are born brilliant and then spend the rest of their lives having their brilliance buried by virtually everyone around them. I realize that people all over the world have reassessed their lives and decided to embrace the following:
Work from anywhere
Stay remote permanently
Who you are is bigger than a job title or what you do
Meaningful work is more important than a paycheck
Invest in an environment that activates you rather than
Work for a leader who cares about you as a whole person
Love it or leave it
Mental Wellness + Employee Experience = Customer Loyalty and Customer Love
Release Your Brilliance aligns with the direction of the world now more than ever before. According to Diana Sievers with Qualia Insight, “A multigenerational workforce presents an exciting opportunity for businesses to maximize the knowledge and expertise of their more tenured talent while also bringing in a diversity of thought to innovate and break through the way things have always been done.”
Furthermore, this is a greater opportunity for the best of us to care about the rest of us. According to the Greater Good Science Center, a research institute that studies psychology, sociology, and neuroscience of well-being, “Empathy is a key ingredient of successful relationships because it helps us understand the perspectives, needs, and intentions of others.” When you are operating in your brilliance, your light illuminates someone else’s darkness.
Your brilliance is needed now more than ever before. Your family, friends, co-workers, and even your organization all benefit from your brilliance. Imagine what would happen if each person on Earth simply focused on releasing his or her brilliance. Truly, the planet would experience an Evolutionary Transformation, unlike anything mankind has ever seen.
It was true 15 years ago and it’s true now. People are born brilliant and then spend the rest of their lives having their brilliance buried by virtually everyone around them.
Here are 15 ways to Release Your Brilliance:
Decide today to actively seek your Universal Assignment. Then, every day declare and affirm that you are making a contribution and living a brilliant life.
Identify three “doors of opportunity” on which you should be knocking.
Start asking bigger questions. For example, “How much value can I create using my intelligence?”
Find opportunities to teach what you’ve learned to others to help awaken their curiosity.
Examine your motive behind every text or e-mail that you send out. Does it make more sense to call them directly, meet in person, or connect virtually?
Find an accountability partner and ask them to give you feedback about how you behave on a regular basis.
Do a gut check the next time you’re faced with an important decision. Clear your mind. Call a time-out and go for a walk around the block. Relax and take a deep breath.
Study how to be quiet. Spend 15 uninterrupted minutes each day simply being quiet.
Clean your workspace. A cluttered desk represents a cluttered mind, and in a cluttered mind, your intuition is like the lost slip of paper that can’t make it to the top of the stack. Sometimes you just need to clear your space. The physical act also creates mental order.
Build relationship capital with others by finding out what is important to them. Ask them how you can help them.
Think about disempowering words or phrases that were said to you when you were growing up. Write them down. Then, write down the most powerfully positive, life-enhancing phrase you can think of to replace each one. For example, replace “You’re a sore loser” with “I’m an awesome winner.”
For the next seven days, keep a list of your daily activities. Determine which activities are high-impact and yield the highest results and brilliance – and which ones are low-impact, yielding low results. After seven days, ask yourself, “Which activities help me release my brilliance and make me more effective?”
List three things you are currently doing to influence the world around you. If you can’t think of three, include things you’d like to do that would make a difference. Then think about and write down the action steps you need to take in order to make it happen.
Learn to laugh. The kind of laughter I’m talking about comes from a deep place in your soul. It is not a smirk or a grin; it is a belly laugh. When you laugh, you come alive emotionally. All those around you feel your brilliant, radiating energy. Your light will illuminate their darkness. As you polish yourself, you polish others.
Identify 10 positive things that happened to you this week and share them with your accountability partner. Then ask him or her to share the same with you.
When I wrote Release Your Brilliance, I was struggling to find my place in the world and to make sense of it all. I tried to fit in and get people to like me, but I didn’t even like myself. As the years go by, others continue to teach you that your special genius isn’t valuable – bosses, friends, spouses, and sometimes even your own children! No one acknowledges your brilliance anymore, not even you.
In the midst of it all, their comes a time when you have to unlock the vault. Release Your Brilliance is the combination to the vault that you unlock from the inside out.
For more on Release Your Brilliance, check out the book on Audible.com – Release Your Brilliance by Simon T. Bailey - Audiobook - Audible.com: English
Simon T. Bailey, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
SUCCESS magazine calls Simon T. Bailey one of the top 25 people who will help you reach your business and life goals. He joins a list that includes Oprah Winfrey, Brene Brown, and Tony Robbins. Washington Speakers Bureau recognized him as one of the 12 business speakers who emboldened audiences to think big and lead with purpose. Simon was the first Black American sales director for the Disney Institute based at Walt Disney World Resort. Since leaving Disney, he has served more than 2,100 organizations in 50 countries. His three LinkedIn Learning courses have been viewed by 250,000 individuals in 100 countries. He’s also written 10 books and has one of the 100 most-read motivational and successful blogs.
