It’s been an extraordinary summer. And now it’s almost over. The relaxed pace of August is about to accelerate into September. I’m ready. I’m excited. I’m certain this Fall will be huge. I can feel the opportunities flying in formation towards me. I feel the nervousness that always precedes the Big Game. And for me, September 2 to December 23 2008 is the biggest game of all. It’s the one that determines the success of the entire year.

As I’m writing these words on a flawless Toronto afternoon, Gustav is drenching Louisiana. Thousands of people are watching anxiously to see when they can go home again. All around the world, similar dramas are being played with people’s lives. Some of them are acts of God, and some of them are acts of Man, but all of them are forcing people to live in fear of their lives and their future. Not me. I’m safe, and dry, and loved, and healthy, and deep into my self-actualization zone. I’m cognizant of my gifts. I’m grateful for them. And I want to be worthy of them.

That’s why I’m anxious at the same time that I’m bathed in wellbeing. I have all the skills, insights, energy, resources and people I need to make this fall a winning season. At the same time, I’m asking myself the questions that always precede the Big Game: How can I wow, amaze, and inspire others to want a whole lot more of what I have to offer? What do I need to do this season to reinvent myself for the new realities? How can I be a model of what’s possible? How do I spread kudos and magic around me wherever I go?

These are big questions. I don’t have the answers. I’ll find them as I go along. They’ll also find me. I’ll do what I know I must do when I must do them. Like this blog for example. I didn’t know what I was going to write until I started. I hadn’t even formulated the questions until I wrote them down. Now I have four Big Questions that will guide my quest for Preeminence this Fall. What are yours?

Here’s the final thing I’ll say today: If you have the freedom to focus on your gifts, use it. Or lose it.