On Friday I hit a major milestone in my business. The milestone itself is less important than what I learned by celebrating it— by building a gigantic Lego set with our kids.
This family build was so epic, I had to document it in time-lapse. Our son Leon (7) co-produced, and built about half of the 2300-piece set. You can feel his—ok, our— unbridled giddiness in this video.
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When our clients win, as coaches we often say “How are you going to celebrate?” We don’t do this because every action deserves a participation award. We do this because people don’t often make a conscious choice to acknowledge their wins. We’re more likely to move on to the next conquest.
Why must we celebrate?
- We celebrate to savor the vibe of what we achieved. Savoring amplifies our experiences, so that the Universe hears “More of THAT, please!” We become happier in the process.
. - We celebrate to include others. My family usually knows I’m working pretty hard, but they don’t always get to join me in the process. Celebrating a breakthrough makes it a family affair.
. - We celebrate to be present to our greatness. It doesn’t require a $180 Lego set, or even a fancy meal. However, doing anything to acknowledge a win reminds us that we were responsible for its completion.
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I was blown away last week to learn that Lego released what they call an “Ideas” set of an important figure in my childhood— Voltron. 🙂 Lego Ideas sets are submitted by fan builders, and once their ideas hit 10K votes, Lego reviews, and selects special ideas to redesign, and mass-produce for sale.
Our family of 5 each built a Lego robotic lion, and the process turned into something so much more. It could just be the metaphor of the 5 lions forming Voltron (Defender of the Universe).
The kids helped me create something I missed out on as a kid. Although I didn’t own the die-cast metal Voltron, I was so obsessed growing up, that he ended up in my manifesto when I launched my coaching practice:
“My fellow 1980’s latch-key friends may remember a (rad) anime cartoon called Voltron. It was about a badass, giant robot that was formed by five separate robotic lions.
Each had their own unique special power. Every episode, some new alien threat would push the lions around to the point where their leader basically said: ‘OK, enough of this sh*t. We’re forming Voltron.’
You could always count on Voltron whooping some alien ass and restoring peace to the galaxy.”
Just like Voltron, you’ll need each NN (lion) to create the whole of you. In the nurturing of our seemingly disparate talents and skills, we experience moments of Full-Life Integration, where the whole of us beats alien ass on a whole other level.”
– The Full-Life Integration™ Manifesto
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Props to my coach, for Permission to Celebrate. I ran out with Frankie and bought this Lego set. So grateful for the designers at Lego, and the fan who had the vision for this.
Who knew it would be such a great metaphor for our little family of 5? A family that builds Legos together… becomes Voltron together. Or, something like that. At the end of the video I ask Leon what the robot represents, and he said “family.”
What are you either celebrating, or SHOULD BE celebrating this week?
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Read the Full-Life Integration Manifesto and download the free workbook here.
THANKS FOR STOPPING BY
Kristoffer Carter (“KC”) is the creator of This Epic Life, which provides coaching to executives and founders of culture-conscious organizations, as well as meditation training. As a meditation teacher, KC has over 33,000 active students on Insight Timer. As a workplace culture consultant, he has designed + delivered programs for AT&T, Avery-Dennison, Good Life Project™, IAC Applications, and many more. KC’s work has been featured in Business Insider, onstage at TEDx (“What if change was FUN?”) Wisdom 2.0, and in countless conferences and podcast interviews.
One Response
This is a timely reminder for me as I’m coming to the end of a 4 year art project and I hadn’t even considered how I might celebrate. To be honest I usually feel quite down after completing something, wishing that I could have done better. So I will try to keep your message in mind!
P.S. Who has the pleasure of dusting all the Lego?!