Benjamin Franklin said: “There are three things extremely hard—steel, a diamond, and to know one’s self.” Knowing yourself isn’t always easy. Yet, you need to know yourself in order to be in alignment with your whole self, and to live your core values and beliefs in work and life.

When you know yourself, you have more flow and ease in your life, and you feel more internal guidance and alignment with a larger whole. You feel connected and uplifted – the energetic state that I call love. When you love yourself and how you present yourself to the world, it feels good to be you. You are more effective and productive.

• Do you know you?
   
• Do you live you?
   
• Do you love you?

The Power of Alignment

I believe we have an inner guidance system that wants harmony in all aspects of our experience, which is why being out of alignment doesn’t feel very good. We’ve all experienced pressures to conform in business and in life, sometimes to things we don’t believe in or even abhor.

Being love-centered in business is an antidote to misalignment. In the Amare Way, alignment in shared goals and values provides a common ground for love between your company, employees, customers, and other stakeholders. Without alignment, your company suffers energy drains, confusion, and frustration, which hurt morale, productivity, and performance.

Here are some “mirror“ questions from my book to assess alignment in your business.

1. Is there alignment across your corporate purpose, strategy, and execution?
    
2. Are the value proposition and the value you deliver aligned?
    
3. Does what you as a company believe, say, and do all match?

3 Ways to Get Aligned with Putting Love to Work 

1. Start with higher purpose. Answer Peter Drucker’s famous question: What business are you in? If the answer is about what you make or sell, add “so that…” until you get to your higher purpose.
    
2. Match goals. Identify your goals. Ask customers their goals. Assess the match. Have your sales team do the same. See how you can maximize synergy so your goals serve their goals too. 
    
3. Do an audit. With your team (and egos aside), assess consistency and integrity across your company purpose, strategy, and execution; words and actions; value proposition and value delivered.

Resources for Helping You To Be You

Leadership Circle Profile: Great assessment tool for leaders that reveals alignment between competencies and actions, and what drives them. Contact me for recommendations for top coaches that offer this. 
 

The Big Leap: Phenomonal book by Gay Hendricks about how to overcome the “Upper Limit Problem” that holds us back from living and working in our zone of genius.
 

Six Daily Questions: Marshall Goldsmith’s top “Did I do my best at…?” self-assessment questions. And make your own version of his longer daily checklist to see if you’re living in line with your priorities and doing what you said you would do.

Today’s Amare Wave Wednesday Quote

“Find out who you are and be that person. Find that truth, live that truth, and everything else will come.“
—Ellen DeGeneres

Thanks everyone for tuning in to Amare Wave Wednesday! Do YOUR one amare thing today to improve your business and grow the wave!

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