Hi this is Mike Lipkin. It’s January 1 2012 and I’m in Toronto.
Welcome to the Year of the Dragon. Specifically, welcome to the year of the Water Dragon. According to the Chinese Zodiac, the year of the Water Dragon comes once every sixty years. And unlike the wicked, fire-breathing dragons of Western mythology, China’s celestial dragon symbolizes bold and benevolent power. Dragons are ancient, majestic, wise, and intelligent. Dragon years are considered particularly auspicious for new businesses, marriage and children. Dragon years also tend to boost individual fortunes and the world economy.
Of all the Dragon years, the 2012 Water Dragon is most likely to bestow the Chinese Five Blessings of harmony, virtue, riches, fulfillment and longevity, adding even more weight to my belief that 2012 will be about breakthroughs, not disasters.
Last year, I coached clients in Africa, Asia, The Middle East, Europe and The Americas. The common denominator of winners is that they all saw themselves in emerging markets, irrespective of their geography. Whether they were from Ghana or Germany, Chad or China, Saudi Arabia or Singapore, they saw themselves as part of the global community of 7 billion people. They revel in their double-ability – that is their capacity to create new solutions for new opportunities that they help produce. Just like I’m doing now – I’m generating the possibility of a phenomenally successful 2012 with you, and then I’ll help you make it so.
The macro-economic global forecast for 2012 may be for slower growth. But that’s for mere ordinary creatures. Water Dragons breathe abundance into their environment. They are noted for their calm, visionary intelligence, and balance of right brain creativity with left brain logic. They understand the Crisis Paradox: in slow growth periods, the majority of people tend to lose their optimism and energy. They are worn down by their own anxieties. Their desire to thrive is replaced by their need to survive. It’s a simple case of supply of demand. The demand for bold aggressive action is greater but the supply is smaller, therefore bold, aggressive operators are highly rewarded.
It’s also called the Inspiration Dividend. Customers want something extraordinary and they’re willing to pay for it. Whether it’s the finely sung words of Feist, or the magical prose of Haruki Murakami, or the snug warmth of Canada Goose, or the functional beauty of Apple, or the satisfying taste of Johnny Walker Black, or the reassuring thoroughness of my accountant and physician, Water Dragons do whatever it takes to enhance their impact and enrich their communities. They are the reasons why 2012 will be the end of the old world and the beginning of a brave new world. Are you one of them?
So here are Lipkin’s Seven Moves of The Water Dragon for a breakthrough 2012:
1. Exercise Care. Crises will come at you fast and frequently. Breathe. Think. Focus. Prepare all the time by getting better all the time. We can’t predict the crisis, but we can predict a superior result with superior training. Be patient when patience is called for. Act urgently when it’s urgent. And have the wisdom to know when to do what. But when you’re in doubt: act. Inertia isn’t your friend. There is no such thing as status quo. Everything is moving all the time. Life is a long march. It’s exhausting, exasperating and exhilarating in equal measure. Fatigue makes us stupid. No one is at their best when they’re redlining. When you’re out of gas, you’re out of the game. 2012 is an Olympic year. Train like an Olympic athlete. Own the podium. Go for your Gold. Take ultimate care of yourself so you can take care of everyone else. This is the first step because it’s the step upon which all others depend. If you don’t take this step, nothing else is sustainable.
2. Be Comfortable with Tension and Ambiguity. 2012 will be a year of opposites that will continually pull at each other: hope and despair; enthusiasm and resignation; big and small; escape and engagement; interdependence and self-reliance; caution and courage. Success depends on our ability to hold two opposites in our minds at the same time and still perform powerfully. Find your centre. Sustain your balance. Live through your imbalances. Keep coming back to your core. How do you find your core? Mindful experience. Dial up your awareness – use every event to sharpen your mental blade. There is no “should”. There is only “it is” or “it isn’t”. Accept the way “it is” or “It isn’t” and make it the way you want it to be.
3. Celebrate. Spread the kudos. Broadcast your gratitude. Be fascinated by your good fortune. Revel in your gifts. Whatever the time, make it a good time to be with you. Make every conversation count. Make every meeting a masterpiece. Talk and listen to others like they’re the person you would most like to be with at that moment. The way we engage others becomes their opinion of themselves. Motivate by example, especially when you don’t feel like it. Act like you mean it and the feelings will follow. Live every day like it’s one more than you deserve. Growing older is a privilege denied to many.
4. Believe in Your Personal Mojo. Your Personal Mojo is your unique energy. It’s your one-of-a-kind charisma and courage. It’s your exclusive power of contribution and capacity to create new possibilities. It’s a kind of magic that we all have but very few of us use. The primary difference between Water Dragons and everyone else is that Water Dragons fully express themselves. They dare to go where others are afraid to tread. They know what they’ve been given and they know what’s expected of them. Whether they’re an Olympic Athlete like Michael Phelps or Usain Bolt, or a legendary actress like Meryl Streep or Glenn Close, or an iconic performer like Oprah or Lady Gaga, or an internet mogul like Mark Zuckerberg or Larry Page, They continuously explore and experiment with their limits. To quote the late, great Steve Jobs, “Those who are crazy enough to believe they can change the world usually do.”
5. Make Big Promises And Keep Them. Whatever It Takes. If we make big promises, we excite others and we stretch ourselves. By keeping them, we delight others and we develop ourselves. Sometimes we need to make promises we don’t know how to keep. Then we need to find a way to keep them. And there’s always a way. Today’s limits are tomorrow’s springboards. Like any discipline, the more we practice making-big-promises-and-keeping-them, the more masterful we become. First, it becomes a way of thought. Then it becomes a way of life. What’s more, with every follow-through, we train others to expect us to deliver with our next promise. It’s a virtuous cycle. Their expectations become self-fulfilling: they believe in us, we believe in ourselves and together, our partnerships create remarkable results together.
6. Keep Talking & Listening. Nothing happens until somebody speaks. We are the composites of our communication. The more people to whom we talk, the greater our influence. Water Dragons live to listen and share. They develop their social networks any way they can – online and in-person. They meet, tweet, and call. They proactively reach out to people different to themselves. They open themselves up. They are connectors. They develop a reputation for adding value. First, they educate, then they profit.
7. Still your mind. These words are not the only sounds in your head. They’re part of your mental cacophony or chorus, depending on your mood. You may not even remember them a few seconds from now. Ambiguity and uncertainty are deafening. We’re all a mind beat away from pandemonium. Success is a function of the silence we can create around our focus. Turn down the chatter. Schedule quiet time. Make it a ritual. Pay yourself the time first – at least one seventh of your waking hours. We cannot cope with the tension unless we’re relaxed.
That’s it from me. Be a Water Dragon. May the flow be with you, may the current always be at your back and may you ride the wave of your dreams in 2012!
