-conference on promise keeping: “Dad, we all came up with different ideas so I’ll tell you all of them. I think that the best way to keep promises is to write them down so that we remember. Luke says if you don’t make them in the first place you can’t break them. And I think both of these are good ideas. But we like Theresa’s the best!”
“And what would that be, then?” I asked.
Theresa interrupted by proudly presenting a colour drawing of a box she had scribbled on the way toWe are a month away from the Global Entrepreneurs Summit 2005, XL Results Foundation’s first visit to Australia and first WDW event in London, and we will soon be bringing the first half of 2005 to a close. How are you doing against your 2005 goals? As with every half-time, a thorough review can make all the difference for the second half (just ask Liverpool FC), and so this newsletter is about the bigger picture. I hope you enjoy it!

PURPOSE & PROMISE: HOW BIG IS YOUR BOX?

“Dream lofty dreams, and as you dream, so shall you become. Your vision is the promise of what you shall one day be.” ~ James Allen

At one of my coaching sessions last month, one of my clients said “You mentioned there is a cost to everything. What about purpose? When I step up to my Life Purpose, and live every day fully with contribution and compassion – what is the cost of doing this?”

“…in dreams begins responsibility.” ~ Edna O’Brien

“The cost is responsibility, which is why so few are willing to pay it.” I replied “I’m willing, but I’m unsure. What if I contribute fully, and then find it is more responsibility that I can afford to take? How can I be sure I have the capacity to pay it forward?” he asked. That’s when I told him about the Promise Box.

I was in Bali in April on holiday with my wife, Renate, and our three kids, Kathleen (10), Theresa (8) and Luke (6). On the day we were leaving, the kids had promised that if they could stay up late they would pack their own bags in the morning. When it was time to leave, the bags weren’t packed and the kids were jumping on the beds. The bags got packed in a rush, we were late, and on the way to the airport I asked the kids to come up with their best ideas on how to keep promises.

On the plane, Kathleen reported on behalf of the team following their mini-conference on promise keeping: “Dad, we all came up with different ideas so I’ll tell you all of them. I think that the best way to keep promises is to write them down so that we remember. Luke says if you don’t make them in the first place you can’t break them. And I think both of these are good ideas. But we like Theresa’s the best!”
“And what would that be, then?” I asked.
Theresa interrupted by proudly presenting a colour drawing of a box she had scribbled on the way to

W BIG IS YOUR BOX?

“Dream lofty dreams, and as you dream, so shall you become. Your vision is the promise of what you shall one day be.” ~ James Allen

At one of my coaching sessions last month, one of my clients said “You mentioned there is a cost to everything. What about purpose? When I step up to my Life Purpose, and live every day fully with contribution and compassion – what is the cost of doing this?”

“…in dreams begins responsibility.” ~ Edna O’Brien

“The cost is responsibility, which is why so few are willing to pay it.” I replied “I’m willing, but I’m unsure. What if I contribute fully, and then find it is more responsibility that I can afford to take? How can I be sure I have the capacity to pay it forward?” he asked. That’s when I told him about the Promise Box.

I was in Bali in April on holiday with my wife, Renate, and our three kids, Kathleen (10), Theresa (8) and Luke (6). On the day we were leaving, the kids had promised that if they could stay up late they would pack their own bags in the morning. When it was time to leave, the bags weren’t packed and the kids were jumping on the beds. The bags got packed in a rush, we were late, and on the way to the airport I asked the kids to come up with their best ideas on how to keep promises.

On the plane, Kathleen reported on behalf of the team following their mini-conference on promise keeping: “Dad, we all came up with different ideas so I’ll tell you all of them. I think that the best way to keep promises is to write them down so that we remember. Luke says if you don’t make them in the first place you can’t break them. And I think both of these are good ideas. But we like Theresa’s the best!”
“And what would that be, then?” I asked.
Theresa interrupted by proudly presenting a colour drawing of a box she had scribbled on the way to

> “…in dreams begins responsibility.” ~ Edna O’Brien

“The cost is responsibility, which is why so few are willing to pay it.” I replied “I’m willing, but I’m unsure. What if I contribute fully, and then find it is more responsibility that I can afford to take? How can I be sure I have the capacity to pay it forward?” he asked. That’s when I told him about the Promise Box.

I was in Bali in April on holiday with my wife, Renate, and our three kids, Kathleen (10), Theresa (8) and Luke (6). On the day we were leaving, the kids had promised that if they could stay up late they would pack their own bags in the morning. When it was time to leave, the bags weren’t packed and the kids were jumping on the beds. The bags got packed in a rush, we were late, and on the way to the airport I asked the kids to come up with their best ideas on how to keep promises.

On the plane, Kathleen reported on behalf of the team following their mini-conference on promise keeping: “Dad, we all came up with different ideas so I’ll tell you all of them. I think that the best way to keep promises is to write them down so that we remember. Luke says if you don’t make them in the first place you can’t break them. And I think both of these are good ideas. But we like Theresa’s the best!”
“And what would that be, then?” I asked.
Theresa interrupted by proudly presenting a colour drawing of a box she had scribbled on the way to

Kathleen (10), Theresa (8) and Luke (6). On the day we were leaving, the kids had promised that if they could stay up late they would pack their own bags in the morning. When it was time to leave, the bags weren’t packed and the kids were jumping on the beds. The bags got packed in a rush, we were late, and on the way to the airport I asked the kids to come up with their best ideas on how to keep promises.

On the plane, Kathleen reported on behalf of the team following their mini-conference on promise keeping: “Dad, we all came up with different ideas so I’ll tell you all of them. I think that the best way to keep promises is to write them down so that we remember. Luke says if you don’t make them in the first place you can’t break them. And I think both of these are good ideas. But we like Theresa’s the best!”
“And what would that be, then?” I asked.
Theresa interrupted by proudly presenting a colour drawing of a box she had scribbled on the way to

-conference on promise keeping: “Dad, we all came up with different ideas so I’ll tell you all of them. I think that the best way to keep promises is to write them down so that we remember. Luke says if you don’t make them in the first place you can’t break them. And I think both of these are good ideas. But we like Theresa’s the best!”
“And what would that be, then?” I asked.
Theresa interrupted by proudly presenting a colour drawing of a box she had scribbled on the way to the airport. “It’s a promise box.”
“What’s a promise box?”
“Well it’s like my wish box, where I keep my wishes. But this one is made just for promises. I think maybe sometimes is difficult to keep promises because we have nowhere to keep them. Look, it’s got a padlock so the promises can’t escape.”
“And the padding around the box?”
“That’s so the promises don’t get broken, Silly.”
“And that little person?”
“That’s not a little person. That’s a normal size human being. So you can see the box is huge. Just in case you want to keep a really huge promise.”

“In a gentle way, you can shake the world.” ~ Mahatma Gandhi

Mahatma Gandhi saw our compassion as a bank account, and that we determine the size of our own account. When he said “Breach of promise is no less an act of insolvency than a refusal to pay one’s debt”, he meant that our responsibility lies as much with the promise box as with the promise. The larger we choose our promise box to be, the larger the promises we can keep. Our promise box determines our capacity to contribute. When we choose the size of the box, we are choosing the size of our purpose.

“I’ll complete what I promised God I’d do, and I’ll do it together with his people.”
~ Bono, throughout the U2 Elevation Tour

At the age of 16, Paul Hewson answered a note on his Dublin high school bulletin board to join a new student band. After 18 months of practicing, the band won a talent show in Limerick and got the financing for their first record. The band change its name from “Feedback”, to “The Edge” to “U2”, and Paul changed his name from “Paul Hewson” to “Bono Vox” to just “Bono”. That was in 1978. In 1984, Bono took part in Live Aid, became exposed to the plight of the poor in Africa, and from that point on became involved in every major initiative to make poverty history.

One thing