Recently my daughter attended one of my speaking engagements. Certain Brain Fitness events which are open to the public, work well for her to attend. She is helpful, I enjoy her company and I can count on her candid and honest feedback on my presentations.
After the session I asked her how she enjoyed herself, she made an interesting remark. Her comment was, “I couldn’t wait for you to bring it home!”
Immediately I knew she did not mean that she couldn’t wait to leave and go home, but I still needed her to clarify.
Her response was that the speaker ahead of me was taking too long, getting off track with his message, and using words that she didn’t think were appropriate. I felt the same, but was more focused on getting ready to deliver my part than to pay much attention to his.
She then proceeded to say that she knew that once I got up there my message would be strong and clear and I’d bring up the ‘vibe’ and energy in the room. In that way, “I’d bring it home.”
This was quite a compliment. It’s definitely one of the nicest and most powerful ones I have ever received – especially coming from a person who, without a moment of hesitation, would tell me if I didn’t deliver.
This experience has stuck with me. It’s made me realize how important and vital it is in our lives to have people in various roles, where we know we can rely on them to, ‘bring it home’.
So what does ‘bringing it home’ mean?
According to one source in can pertain to:
- Positive and motivating phrase to get to the punch line.
- Encouragement to state the point.
- To return something to its rightful location.
This makes sense. There was a theme to the days event, and my daughter wanted the speaker ahead of me to stay on track, get to the point and not meander all over the place taking up extra time and using jargon that did not pertain to the topic at hand.
When that was not occurring, she couldn’t wait for me to go up and ‘bring it home’.
And you know what? I did.
Speaking and teaching are areas I am trained in, I do regularly and most of all, I love.
In an emergency situation like a fire or injury, I would not be the person to rely on. If someone was needed to climb a tree or scale a building to rescue a child or cat, I would not be the person to call either. If you needed someone to fix your plumbing, implement electrical repairs, or even cook a multi-course meal with fancy dishes for a group of people, do not ring me up.
In areas such as those and others, I’m okay to admit that I’m not your go-to person as I won’t be capable of ‘bringing it home’.
Looking at my personal life and the people I count on to deliver the goods they are capable of, I realize how important it is.
As youngsters, if you wanted someone with a competitive spirit, speed and tenacity, you’d call on my youngest sister – that’s why she was such a great athlete and ran anchor in the relay races. Even if her team was substantially behind, once she was given the baton, you knew she’d get it to the finish line first. She would ‘bring it home’.
If you want someone to offer a keen eye, practical intuition and common sense solutions to your problems, then give my mom a shout, she will deliver, even if it takes a bit of time or she needs to sleep on it first.
If you want advice or networking suggestions on your business plan, then contact my daughter’s father, this is where his expertise resides. Ask him to volunteer on a school field trip and he’ll run the other direction!
There are areas we are passionate, skilled, and have forged pathways of experience – those are our wheelhouse and herein we make powerful contributions to others and our society.
We do not need to compete, compare or be equally skilled – that would be redundant and make us less strong as a whole.
Going into the year ahead, consider the areas where you can be relied on to ‘bring it home’, and take note of those special places, honour them, cultivate them and ensure you are gifting those around you with those qualities and skills. They are important indeed.
As well, make sure you are pointing out to those around you, the ways in which you are grateful for how they, in their own unique way, ‘bring it home’.
Happy New Year,
Jill
Note: In my Brain Fitness training programs I use integrative movement such as Brain Gym® to support people of all ages in moving from stress to balance. We describe this shift as a way to return home to ourselves: to homeostasis. If you are looking for quick, fun and easy ways to shift back to a more grounded, clear, centered place while dealing with life’s constant demands and speed of change, then join us for an upcoming event!