0 Moments in Motion....Moments in Love.....Working, Playing and Living

By Join James Jordan

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Moments in Motion....Moments in Love.....Working, Playing and Living

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I really don't have a distinction between work and play

 they really are all one and the same for me

....and that's perfect . 

I am blessed with moments of distinction inside of each of those activities that are all a part of the game -
the game I call life.

Classic Moment  - 

It has been a blessed day of activity and I noticed that we are all just moving about the day in communication with organizations and individuals.  I also noticed that I have come to miss the down time.  The time that I actually get to spend with any member of the team to just be with them.
 
Learning - 
Stop and stand in the space of each person's importance to yourself and to the team.  As the leader it's your responsibility to hold the team accountable for managing their self care.  Make sure you have someone that holds you accountable for the same.  Take a break but press on doing the work of today - today and leaving the work of tomorrow for tomorrow.


Classic Moment -
I called my mom's home and the answering machine picked up.  Yes, that's right, my mom still has an answering machine! I told her we need to get her voicemail so she doesn't have to have her husband "turn off the machine"  when they don't get to the pone fast enough. She says that voicemail is a bit too impersonal.  I love my mom


Learning -
If it aint broke, don't fix it.  I was actually able to get the great quote of the month from my mom's beautiful voice on the machine.  Her message, taken from some other source and retold in her words to us all is

In order to smell and appreciate the beauty of the rose, we must endure the thorns.

Dr. Vergia Kemp-Blackmon, July 29,2010 8pm

Classic Moment -
I experienced some moments of stop today.  Moments where I felt as if I was just not communicating effectively and not to mention technology was kicking my butt today from incorrect codes for conference calls and wrong conference call numbers to dropped calls wrong buttons and a whole bunch of other things.  Then there are the moments when I make, what I believe to be, effective requests and they still go unattended.

My Godson, who is absolutely amazing, leaves dishes in the sink after he completes his meal.  I don't quite understand it and I try to get into his world but it's difficult.  I take him on a journey - and excuse me if this sounds crass but I ask him what it would be like if he were to use the restroom and not manage his personal hygiene.  I thought it was a good example to drive my point home but a new coach of mine, Dan Howard, pointed out that it sounds more like I was making my Godson wrong for not completing a task the way that I wanted it done.  I explained that I've been working on this and that I even provided a list of Thomas Jefferson's key notes....one being don't put off for tomorrow what you can do today.



Learning -
Consider re-framing instances such that they take a person to the place of bliss and possibility, instead of being critical - even when the issue is one that hits a real sore spot with you.  For instance, if you believe (as I do) that your environment makes you who you are and calls you into being and someone does not share that belief - present this

How can you ever have all that you want when you leave things undone?

 Dan Howard, Production Supervisor July 29, 2010 11pm

When framed from that perspective, it allows the opportunity for another to look for themselves at what's possible.  Thanks Dan


Classic Moment -
I received and invitation to celebrate the completion of a course with some of my former co-participants.  There were 3 people.  One gave me a direct invitation, Thanks Monique, One gave me an invitation at my request - and it turns out that she did the course because I told her it was the most amazing curriculum in communication ever - The Communication Curriculum, thanks Debbie and One did not invite me to celebrate at all.

Learning -
We really are the difference to one another.  We create, re-create and create ourselves our world and all that is around us.  Acknowledge everyone for something because they really do make a difference .

Notes to a Leader

James Jordan

Today, I agree to take on communication - from me to you, you to me and us to the world.  I agree to acknowledge the many people on my list that only get acknowledged here on these pages.

0 Serendipity, Synergy, and Flow

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Serendipity, Synergy, and Flow

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Part One of Three
CASE STUDY

In my other life, as a hospital and psychiatric community program consultant and leader of an operational excellence consulting firm, I was certainly known as The One who could get done what no one else seemed to be able to get done and with velocity. I got it done and used my favorite phrase often....work it out. I am thankful that that there are several large systems of care that are thriving today because of my contribution.

Ponce, Puerto Rico, October 2009

I really got my contribution to those processes but it began to occur to me as pressured and, I found out later, that my work left some people feeling bullied and put upon. I have never been committed to having people feel that way at all - so it caused me to take pause. The pause was really a question.

My organizational clients LOVED the work that I did because my operations team and I trimmed fat, contained cost and promoted revenue generation - but at what cost? I got my answer to that question during my work with a former key client in Detroit, Michigan. I worked with a group of executives and one was nick named CBOO (c-boo). Sounds cute but it was actually a function of business operations. I, in fact, helped the organization’s CEO come up with the title and job functions.

The job functions and the organizational needs should have been a match made in heaven but it turned out to be, in my direct experience, an absolute nightmare. The organization needed a compassionate, loving, focused and sensible operations person to lead it from Good to Great (Jim Collins) but what I saw was a hard, tyrannical, unreasonable, imbalanced expression of the job functions. It truly was CBOO like the kind of “Boo!” that children think of when they are startled and become afraid.

I remembered the intensity in which this leader took on an issue that minimally impacted the total operation of the organization. I knew that because I knew their operation, inside and out, because I had been with them for about ten years. I remember the look on the faces of the dedicated team members and staff that received the brunt of this tyrant’s imbalanced response. I remember my feeling. That was the exact moment I knew that I did not want to be any part of that organization nor that kind of “leadership.”

So I recounted that experience not to gossip or belittle the executive “leader” but to say that sometimes there are moments in your work life, whether you own the business and serve partner organizations or you are an employee working for an organization, when you just get - in a moment, like a discovery. You discover, I don’t want to be a part of this. This is not what I am committed to nor is it an expression of who I am.

Moments like those occur to me as moments of serendipity. The moments that you have an accidental discovery of something that you, literally, had no idea was in the air -

ser·en·dip·i·ty
 /ˌsɛserendipity
–noun
1. an aptitude for making desirable discoveries by accident.
2. good fortune; luck: the serendipity of getting the first job she applied for.

serendipity. (n.d.). Dictionary.com Unabridged. Retrieved July 27, 2010, from Dictionary.com website: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/serendipity

This is like and amazing wake up call and in that moment you discover freedom. Freedom to choose TO make a new choice in your life.

Now there’s also another description of serendipity that we all had the opportunity to see in the movie of the same title - the fun description. The kind that, if you were an observer, you would describe as an exciting anticipation that FINALLY, it’s going to happen. You’ve seen it coming, or you didn’t see it coming but you know it should be coming. Like watching two intended business partners passing each other at a convention or business meeting.

As an observer at the meeting and as someone who has been to the mountain top of success. You notice two people that would be well suited for future success if only they would get together. If they only would spend a moment in real conversation - they too would know. They would know that their dreams and wishes are so similar. They would know that, together, they could accomplish so many great things.

I’ve had that kind of experience as I’ve been invited to the table of leadership and as I have taken on the responsibility of leadership with others. It’s been a chance statement by someone - like Jen, one of the newest members of the Freedom Fighters, said at the close of our Self Expression and Leadership Program (SELP) -

I want it all and I am ready!

Jen Smith, Freedom Fighter 2010

I was lucky to be in the room and to feel how that statement resonated with everyone in the room, all of us. I discovered someone that would be a new partner for having it all. We had passed each other in the room and exchanged some great conversations but it was not until that moment that I got it!

I thank God for giving me the aptitude to make desirable discoveries by accident - or perhaps I should thank God for giving me the ability to recognize the miracles that are in front of me all of the time.

Today, right now, I thank God for all that I am and all that I have. Today, I thank God that I was able to snap the picture at the perfect moment to capture the beauty to share with everyone else - in that moment, now.

3 Our Word

By Join James Jordan

3

Our Word

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The other day I gave my word to find favor and gratefulness in every single moment of the day. I lied! In an instant, I forgot my word. Instead of seeing the moment that someone failed to do what he said he was going to do as an instance of sweet ignorance or a moment to teach, I became upset and frustrated. I then remembered my promise, I apologized and began again.

Debbie Quarles, one of my co-participants in a leadership program called the Self Expression Leadership Program (SELP) and now coach, said to me the other day, “I’m dealing with if I should go to a new event because I’ve already given my word to attend another event.” I said, what’s the new event? Debbie replied, “it’s a camping event and me going to the event will determine if it’s an overnight trip or just a day trip for the scout troop.” Of course, if you know me, I said forget the adults, the kids will be over joyed by an opportunity to be out in the wilderness AND for overnight trip! Man - just go for it.

In that moment, I really got present to that Debbie considered carefully her promise - her word - and was willing to forgo the opportunity to create an amazing adventure for some little guys. I then realized that it wasn’t about her pleasing or not pleasing the little one’s - it was about honoring what she said she would do. As I lament, perhaps her keeping her promise was more of an adventure for the little guys than a night in the woods.

It was an interesting conversation with Debbie and I believe she was actually able to work out what she said she would do - in communication - and still create a great over night with the little guys.

What’s surprising to me is that I was, initially, really cavalier about her relationship to her word because.....(and it really doesn’t matter - just fill in the blank). I get it. It’s what I tend to do sometimes. I just create a justification for breaking my word - as if that makes it alright. I don’t hold my self accountable, as I did earlier this week when I forgot my promise to find favor and gratefulness in every single moment. I have been careless in the past.

“But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken”

(Matthew 12:36).

I am exceptionally clear, as I watch my current team unfold, that my word, your word and our word are so essential to the effective development of US. US as a community of people who can trust each other, count on each other and love each other. I get it - in a very different way than I ever got it before.

The new way I get it is: OUR WORD IS POWERFUL! Our word is a powerful expression of who we are as human beings, what we stand for, what our legacy will be and who the world knows us to be. It’s as simple as that. For those of you with children or who work with children, for those of you who lead teams of people, know this - your word is golden.

Given the golden power of your word, I offer you this to consider: Be impeccable with your word, the first of The Four Agreements. That does not only mean keep your promises and communicating updates and changes in original promises, it also means doing what you said you would do, by when you said you would do it and how you know it should be done. Mostly, I believe it means - know that what you say to your child, your co-worker, your team mate, your spouse, your subordinate or to your world really makes a difference.

Consider carefully your words and do not take them for granted. Use your word for the magic of possibility, creation and abundance. Use your word to acknowledge the difference people are to me, to you and to the world.

I promise to honor the word I gave to you, I promise to do my best. Thank you for accepting me as a humble human being - and know that when I forget my promise that I expect that you will remind me from a place of favor and compassion and I will do the same. Thank you for your trust. Thank you for knowing that there is a system that works and trusting that system because of the word that the leaders gave to you that it works. Thank you for being a part of a team in action.

James Jordan, Notes to a Leader

Today, I acknowledge Tim, Jenny, Jon, Jen and Bruce for the difference you are to the world in action - The Freedom Fighters. I am moved by the stand that you all are. I am moved by your trust. I love you and thank you all. Welcome to the team!

1 Gratitude

By Join James Jordan

1

Gratitude

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The hardest arithmetic to master is that which enables us to count our blessings.

Eric Hoffer, Reflections On The Human Condition





Gilda Rixner, Graduate 2010, Non-Profit CEO
(Photo by Ethan Michael)

I know that the conversation of gratitude is sometimes fraught with should's and ought’s. I’ve mostly moved away from conversations of should and ought’s and just began to expect that people will do exactly what they will do, exactly when they will do it. It really makes for a much better appreciation and recognition of the blessings that show up in my life – moment by moment!

Today, I had the opportunity to speak and dance with people for whom I am grateful that have come into my life. I was invited to celebrate Gilda’s victory and was honored by that moment. I had the opportunity to acknowledge one of my team mates, Tim, for accomplishing a small task that will forward his action ten-fold and forward the team’s action one hundred-fold. I had the opportunity to call out for Traci a member of the team who we missed during a call and finally, I had the opportunity to acknowledge Daniel for honoring his word.

Each of these moments was very special because they speak to matters of the heart and to the core fabric of our human experience – inside of the human condition. Here’s what I say they are:

• Communication – causes all things to happen. Without communication there is a poor probability of effective and coordinated action. Speak!
  
  
• Self Expression – allows us to have a sense of freedom that, in the moment, is void of all elements of looking good. In fact, this freedom may catch you off guard. Dance!
  
  
• Celebration – acknowledges the victories, small or large, that piece together our lives. It is a privilege to be invited to celebrate with another – for in the moment of celebration WE all get to taste victory and if all we did was celebrate daily we would be victorious – even inside of any former moments of defeat. Invite!
  
  
• Acknowledgment – forwards all action, conversely, lack of acknowledgment does not only stop all action it also reverses all action. Whether you acknowledge someone for an accomplishment, a missing element in a promise or for an honorable moment – it causes something to be stirred in the soul of another and thereby creates a shift. The shift is not a change, like from good to bad or bad to good. It simply is a shift and movement from where someone was to a new place. It’s a call out (stand) for right here, right now. Call!

Speak Dance, Invite and Call. Play the game of being human. Be thankful for all of the moments of humanity because they allow us access to be grateful, now – right now.

I am so thankful for the moments in which people actually allow me to be a contribution to their lives. I am so thankful for the opportunity to learn, coach and be coached. I am so thankful for the ability to express my emotions for the people, places and things that touch my life. I’m really thankful for the opportunity to be a part of you.

James Jordan, Notes to a Leader, July 2010

Today, my word is to find favor and gratefulness in every single moment of the day. Thank you for this moment.

0 Attitude Determines Altitude - Freedom

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Attitude Determines Altitude - Freedom

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Today, I had the great pleasure of speaking with one of my future key partners, Greg, and one of my leaders, Blaine. There was a poignant moment in which I had great learning. Greg said something to the effect of, I want to make sure I don't disappoint the process nor you all. Blaine acknowledged Greg and said it's very refreshing, in this day and time, to hear someone speak from a perspective of what you can contribute to the process as opposed to what you can gain. Greg then went on to acknowledge his role and responsibility with regard to being cause in the matter of his life and the life of others.

Those moments in conversation had me be real present to the kind of people that are being attracted to the team - thoughtful, provocative, responsible and clear that they get to choose in life.

A key learning, added to my book of phrases a few weeks ago

Freedom is - not freedom FROM but freedom TO. Like the freedom to choose to do something, to be in action to have movement and not a freedom from whatever has held us in bondage from the past.

James Jordan May 2010 Notes to a Leader.,

coupled with the conversations from above, help me have a deeper appreciation of the impact of attitude and thought on any endeavor. My wish for myself and for the people who surround me is that we all get and stay present to the heights to which we can go when we alter our attitudinal process and our thoughts to support freedom TO...

I leave you with this thought from a provocative and powerful man who Dennis Waitley calls a hero:

The last of the human freedom is to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances.

Viktor E. Frankl

Today, right now - I promise to get my plan, review my plan and work my plan because I am free to choose TO do just that! Today, right now - I can go as high as I say I can go - because I say so.

0 And so the journey begins, thank you. . .

By Join James Jordan

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And so the journey begins, thank you. . .

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It seems like we've been down this road before - when in fact it's absolutely a new road because yesterday is gone and tomorrow has yet to arrive. Now is here and I am here. I am now. Here's a copy of a text that I sent to my newly forming team, affectionately named the

Hi5 Freedom Fighters.

" Only when you are standing on higher ground can you reach out and life others. Someone is looking to you for the vision, the belief and the plan. I promise to use what I gain from you to clarify my purpose, fire up my passion and contribute to our team's achievement of the highest ranks of noble service. Thank you for you - today, right now."

James Jordan, Message to the Team July, 2010

I reformed a great group of words that I discovered in one of my readings and made them my own. I thought it absolutely fitting for the folks who are taking a grand leap of faith and taking on our lives - based solely upon our word - creating world. I'm honored by such faith and by such trust. I hold that kind of interaction as part of the sacred bond between people.

The Hi5 Freedom Fighters are a distinct group of 7 and then 14 that I am personally selecting to go out and impact the world in a big, big way - My commitment is to build 7 (seven) who will agree to build 1 (one) to have one dollar ($1) for every life they have touched during a one year period. This years goal is to have touched the lives of 100,000! That means that the unfolding of the Hi5 Freedom Fighters will have touched 1.4 MILLION people in the span of one year. When WE accomplish this measure, then we will create a new fight - perhaps together or perhaps with another team but because we declare community - WE will never, never, never go at this alone.

We have joined forces with two great organizations to create an amazing synergy - bringing the community into the board rooms and bringing families back to a healthy state of financial and physical well being, more about those entities later. . .

To date, the man and the woman who have joined me and the woman who has join the man are a great testaments to faith, trust, action and workability. In spite of their fears and doubts, they have said yes to living out loud - today, right now.

The plan, the progress, the pains and the triumphs are what we will celebrate here on these pages. So as we birth a new team with a vision of family, community and prosperity with a vigor for a healthy life with a fully embodied spirit and precision purpose - mindful of the end but present to the now - I invite you to join me. Will you?

Thank You

I already thank Anshul Dudeja for this beautiful backdrop, called dwaterdrops, on which you will read about this journey. The backdrop symbolizes the tears of God and the sweat of man and woman nurturing a long planted seed to be the most beautiful flower known to the world of WE.

I mostly thank my mom, Dr. Vergia Kemp and my dad, James Sr. for being the source of my life that I could come to share this with you. I also thank the current great loves of my life, Tina Mendoza Torres, my cousin's Beverly Jones and Theresa Kendrick, Stacey Nakasone, Kehau Gasper, Maria Murakami,Lavalle Ramos, Shaz Ramos, "Cheryl" Valencia-Spray, Sharmayne Padilla, Graciala Eulate, Jessica Flores, Neisha Becton, Katie Foy,Tamara Perry, Tia Hardamon, Steve Sirotko, My cousin's Lawrence and Jonothan, James "Bugsy" Spray, Mark Ho, Chance-Wade Ramos, Shane Ramos,Carlton Jow, Vincent Andrada, Jon Basebase, my God son Desmond, my nephew Gabriel, my God daughter Shaz, my brother Kimo, my God son NaQuan, my nephew Jakob, Anthony Washington, Octavio Magana, John Domeniconi, Nick Poblete, Gilbert Romo, Ranjit Deshmukh, Gualberto Ramirez and the new body of children that have come from these.

I thank the great loves of my life, who I don't see or speak to daily but who are still very present in my spirit, Carol Jow, Suzanne Miyata, Lisa Zara, Stacey Yim, Terri Dangaran, Jessica Miller, Mona Hing,Maria Mederios, Kelly Leahey, Kelly-Anne Chun, Lori Delima, Dana Christian-Washington, Sarah "Crickett" Oquist, Norma Islas, Aquim Hiu, Ruben Gallegos, Eric Nakayama, Remi Baptiste, Arthur Haruyama, Sean Henderson, Mark Boyer and Jason Briggs

And finally, the great teachers and coaches of my life, Grandma Mozelle, Big Momma, my Aunts Mate Miller, Lois Durham and LaDean Donald, Uncle Verbin, Sr. Joan Madden, Linda Inlay, Momma Mendoza, Mama Prince, Momma Luka, Momma Spray, Momma Yokoyam, Momma Jow, Dr. and Momma Ho, Momma Nakayama, Fr. Charles Oyabu, Mr. Nakamoto, Mr. Mederios, Mr. Hiu, Mr. DeNeeve, Mr. Jenkins, Mrs. Kaneshiro, Mrs. Thomkins, Mrs. Hiu, Margaret Doversola, Dr. Don Stannard-Friel, Sr. Rosanne Murphy, Sr. Mary Laxague, Dr. Anna McQuinn, Dr. Terry Brink, Momma Flores, Ed Blackmon, Robert DeiRossi, Lucinda Vosburg-DeiRossi, Cindy Crow-Urgo, Carol Hardgrave, Polly Franson, Mari DeMera, Dr. Jackie Ryle, The Body of Landmark Forum Leaders, my co-participants and staff of Landmark Education, Caroline Travo, Ernie Hawthorn, Tim Sherman, Blaine Williams and Tim Michael

The list hardly includes the number of people that have touched my life for a reason or a moment and have been an amazing contribution to me and yet it is still long - because you are the people that inspire me are the reason I am who I am today, right now - great servant and leader. My most honorable and humble thank you.

The journey continues. . .