The Characteristics of Shine

Shine is bright energy that creates change. Change in you. And change in other people around you.

When you Shine, you create a bright energy that helps you to be seen and it can shift the engery of the space you’re in. It is also infectious and helps other people to create bright energy too.

Your Shine is built from sparks that you create across 14 different characteristics. Here’s an overview of each of those and ways you can build them:

MIND LED

_Influence_

  • To grow your influence, some important aspects to check in on and remind yourself of are, being persuassive through positivity and joy verses pressure and fear. Fear-based influence will not make someone else Shine. And, you create more sparks with this characteristic when you have true belief in what you’re seeking to influence instead of doing it for greedy gain or something you don’t trust or have a value connected to it.

Solution driven

  • We all face problmes. But when the most sparks are created here, is when you move past the problem quickly and see the solution. When you’re using past failures or learning to drive your forward quicker. And, when you create vs complain, or when you seek resolution verse wait for direction.

Inquisitiveness

  • There are never too many questions. 
You must control these to not overwhelm, but the reality is, there is something always more to discover. An easy way to increase sparks is start asking more questions. Moe questions about your philosphy. More questions to people when you don’t understand fully. More questions about possiblity and what could be. If you don’t do it often, take a few minutes and sit back and day dream. See your future self and ask questions about how you can create that version of you.

_Wit_

  • Yes, this about your ability to use humor. It’s about being able to find the lightness in a situaiton so you can move past challenges fast. Because creating sparks with this characteristics is about your speed. It’s about your mind starting to think of solutions even before the problem has been full explained. You don’t want to get ahead of anything. And must be mindful of being sure you have all the details. But often people labor on in their explanations and when appropriate, how quickly are you getting to the point and being able to move things forward.

_Conscientiousness_

  • This has much to do about honest and integrity, because of it’s relation to hard work and doing things by what is “right.” It’s about your ability to recognize other peoples needs and being will to put in the work to help, especially when you’re in a management role and need to spend extra time building a team member. You create more sparks with this when people know you’re true to your word, will follow through, and the work will be done well.

Control

  • This is an important characteristic, especially as you build your Shine to it’s brightest point. When you are driving with your passion and your energy is full sparking, you must know how to control it to not overwhelm other people. This is about konwing when not to speak, and not feeling the need to speak unnecessarily. It’s about choosing your battles well, and not always needing to be right.

_Active listening_

  • Many of us have already heard about the difference from hearing and listening. But beyond listening, are you doing it actively. Are you using more than only your ears to listen? There is much to gain from people when you focus on them and use their body language as part of your listening, and when you are giving them the reassurance of your attention as you lean in and connect. You can build sparks here by adding on to the ideas you’re listening too verses moving on to something else and giving the other person the time and validation that makes them feel fulfilled.

HEART LED

Energy

  • How are you using your energy? As we all are juggling life and the things that pop up while we try to grow, are you allowing yourself to be light and bright or are you finding your energy heavy? When you use your energy to support your brightness, you’re creating the most sparks here. There is an important distinction with this characteristic; many people will say, I’m not a high energy person, but what does that mean? Your energy can still be high even if it’s not loud, boistrous and visible. And vice versa, your energy could be low and still be loud. It’s the value of your energy, especially from a positive standpoint that matters most. It’s the type of energy that you’re putting out that impacts the sparks you create.

Creativity

  • WE ARE ALL CREATIVE! The first way to make a spark with this is to acknowledge that. At the root of creativity, being creative is about new ideas verses imitating. Some people naturally create more sparks here, but each of us have the ability to do it if you’re will to try. This characteristic connects a lot to imagination and believing in what is possible, which is fundamental to our Shine.

Presence

  • 
How are you showing up? When you’re getting in front of people does it excite you or create fear. And if it’s the latter, how do you build this characteristic to create more sparks so you will Shine. This has much to do with understanding your audience and valuing their differences, opinons and reactions. And being able to be agile to adjust your presence to accomodate audiences and allow yourself to lead.

Compassion

  • With this characteristic, you’re likely to gain more sparks when you recognize the importance of other people and find balance in supporting yourself and supporting them. How can you be more empathetic to other peoples feelings while also doing the same for yourself. It’s about balance with this characteristic and lifiting other people up, sometimes even when you believe they wouldn’t do it for you.

_Motivating_

  • What are you doing to move people forward? Are you encouraging change, results, growth, not only in people who are willing to listen, but to yourself? This characteristic sparks when you seek to use your bright light to help other people make theirs brighter. And when you succeed here, you’ll often find that many people come to you with their problems because they know you’ll provide them with something that can drive them.

Drive

  • This is an important characteristic to success. It’s also important to recognzie how you are spending your first minutes in the morning to ignite yourself. You will increase sparks with drive when you seek soemthing greater. When you push for something more. When you set your sights on big ideas that might be harder to reach, but you reaching for them will 
take you farther than achieving something small.

Passion

  • 
Maybe one of the most improtant to recognize with Shine is passion. It helps you to focus on your vision and what you ultimately seek. With passion, you know you’re around it when your energy is up when you speak about the thing you love. And when you feel that feeling to love something so hard you must have it, find it or create it.

You can develop each of these further with SPARK: Unlock and Unblock Your Shine Potential, which takes you through simple lessons filled with learning, questions, and creative thinking.