The Virtuous Circle

What You Are Looking for Is Already in You

Gaby Natale

• Publisher: HarperCollins Leadership
• Year: 2021
• ISBN:
  9781400220151
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Women in Business
• Index: Business

Gaby Natale, host of the award-winning talk show SuperLatina, has created a system of 7 immanent archetypes that, once activated, create a clear path to achievement.

From growing up in a small town in Argentina to winning three Emmys for her nationally syndicated talk show, Gaby Natale has proven that success isn't something you are born into—it's a skill. Success is attainable for anyone who is willing to put in the work to develop the ability to achieve their dreams. These dreamers see beyond their surroundings to transcend the limits of their own particular circumstances.

In this book, Gaby interviews successful personalities, such as Carlos Santana and Deepak Chopra, to learn what they did to achieve their dreams. She breaks down their stories to discover how they channeled their innate strengths and abilities to best work for them.

Through seven archetypes that trace the path from conception to the consummation of a dream,? The Virtuous Circle will teach you to:

• Identify and cultivate their own potential for greatness
• Develop an action plan, step by step, in order to make their vision come true
• Understand what skills they must develop to achieve extraordinary results
• Convert enthusiasm into fuel so that they can overcome adversity
• Develop a sense of purpose to become an agent of positive change

This is a book for dreamers, the rebels at heart who see beyond the circumstances surrounding them, those who suspect that something wonderful is waiting for them, but they have not yet dared to take that first step that will take them to their new destiny.

CHAPTER 1

WHAT IS THE VIRTUOUS CIRCLE?

#VIRTUOUSCIRCIE

CLOSE YOUR EYES,

open your mind,

AND GIVE YOURSELF

PERMISSION TO SEE

BEYOND THE VISIBLE.

@GABYNATALE

Take a photo and share it online using #VirtuousCircle

Put your hand on your heart and honestly ask yourself: How far you could go if you developed your abilities to their full potential?

The only way to know for sure is to start down the path of personal transformation.

The Virtuous Circle teaches you how to use your head and your emotions to defeat the things holding you back. It challenges you to begin the most difficult and satisfying conquest: to conquer yourself.

In The Virtuous Circle, you will find practices I learned from pioneers and leaders who have been able to identify, nurture, and manifest their potential. This book includes simple, sequential, and practical steps.

It’s not about things magically happening; it’s about having a plan that enhances the possibilities that already live within you. It’s a way of using your intelligence, your thoughts, and your emotions to reach your maximum potential.

I’m convinced that self-improvement is the most valuable asset a person can have in life. And not only is it the most valuable, it’s the only one nobody can take away from you. Everything else can vanish without warning: our personal relationships, our material wealth, our health.

Not even the most powerful person on Earth can guarantee they will have one more day of life on this planet. Seeking to control the uncertainty in our lives is a battle we lose before it even begins. The reality is that we have no way of controlling the circumstances that surround us. What we can do is decide how we will react.

HOW WAS THE CONCEPT FOR THE VIRTUOUS CIRCLE BORN?

One of the things I love most about my profession is that you live a thousand lives in one. I’ve had the opportunity to live in four countries: the United States, Argentina, Mexico, and England. I’ve reported from extraordinary places: a morgue in the middle of the desert, the gardens of the White House, an armored Border Patrol car, and the Grammys’ red carpet, to name a few.

But what I love most are the people, not the places. For more than ten years, through my television program SuperLatina, I have interviewed pioneers who have developed their potential in extraordinary ways.

I’ve had the chance to meet high-performance athletes, renowned artists, great thinkers, and global leaders. In my program I have learned about paths to success from Deepak Chopra, Carlos Santana, world boxing champions, as well as Emilio Estefan and Enrique Iglesias.

I’ve also marveled at the stories of anonymous heroes who have survived unimaginable experiences, such as natural catastrophes, human trafficking, or military conflicts. I’m especially fascinated by people who achieve amazing things against all odds. These testimonies, along with my own personal experiences, are the source material for this book.

After years of doing interviews, the idea of the Virtuous Circle started to take shape in my head when I asked myself questions that piqued my curiosity.

The first thing I asked myself was: Is there a quality common to all the extraordinary people I have met and interviewed?

The answer is yes.

Despite having different styles, ages, professions, nationalities, and stories, there is an invisible thread that ties together all those I’ve interviewed. These headliners and anonymous heroes have cultivated a remarkable quality that distinguishes them from the rest: they have the ability to see beyond what’s visible.

Consciously or unconsciously, they have allowed themselves to see their beings not only as they are but as they could become. Then they went a step further to find a way to turn that vision into reality.

Now that I had discovered the common thread in the success of so many extraordinary people, I wanted to know more: Is it possible to group these common elements and synthesize them in a framework of step-by-step action that others can replicate?

Again, the answer is yes! And you will find that framework in The Virtuous Circle. You will learn to visualize, plan, execute, perfect, persevere, achieve, inspire, and reach your potential through the seven archetypes that make up the Virtuous Circle.

Your first turn in the Virtuous Circle is about to begin. Get ready to enjoy every twist along the way. The instructions for this ride are simple and powerful.

The Virtuous Circle is made up of seven archetypes that live within each one of us. Each constitutes a phase and corresponds to a particular action. The seven archetypes and their respective actions are: the dreamer (visualize), the architect (plan), the maker (execute), the apprentice (perfect), the warrior (persevere), the champion (achieve), and the leader (inspire).

The Virtuous Circle: seven archetypes that go from idea to execution.

1. The Dreamer: The dreamer’s stage is one of thought and visualization. It begins with imagining something not yet present in reality. It’s the spark that begins the Virtuous Circle. This is the time to connect with the essence of our inner child, that same child who danced happily and carelessly, not wondering what the right steps were, not caring if someone else had better rhythm. This stage is an opportunity to begin to unlearn external conditioning and abandon self-limiting thoughts in order to let our minds fly and see beyond the visible.
2. The Architect: In this phase, the architect builds an action map with the ideas and concepts created in the dreamer’s stage. It’s time to make plans, evaluate options, and analyze what may be the best ways to turn our visions into action.
3. The Maker: This is when theory and reality meet. The architect’s plan is put into practice. This is the stage in which the world may reflect back at us the unexpected: the challenges may be greater or different from those we anticipated, the skills we have may not be sufficient, or we may underestimate the time it takes to achieve our dream. We may realize that sometimes even the most “perfect” plans end up being “ferpect” and we will need to reassess.
4. The Apprentice: It’s time to focus on perfecting your craft. The apprentice stage represents us following our internal GPS, which asks us to recalculate our route so we can continue moving forward. Now that we’ve seen our ideas in action, it’s time to adjust. In the maker stage, we saw what happens when we put into action all the plans and ideas of the architect and the dreamer. Now is the time for the apprentice to begin the quest for excellence along a path that will eventually lead to mastery. What talents need polishing? What abilities are missing? What strategies work and which ones need to be changed?
5. The Warrior: This is the stage in which our commitment to our dreams is put to the test. In the apprentice stage we perfected our skills and adjusted the action plan. Now is the time to strengthen our tenacity and resilience. We have the skills we need to achieve our goals, but the opportunity we dreamed of has not arrived yet. Frustration and the feelings of injustice lurk close by. We are sorely tempted to abandon our dreams. Now’s the time for the brave, for the bold, and for those who keep going when others stop. We have reached the last mile, but we still don’t know it—and we constantly wonder if it’s worth so much effort. This is the stage when we learn that it takes a true warrior to keep the dream alive.
6. The Champion: All the preparation and work of the previous stages finally meet the opportunity we’ve been waiting for. It’s a time for praise, successes, and applause. But beware of success. Not all that glitters is gold. After achieving their dreams, champions can lose their way. They may give in to new temptations and become a magnet for the wrong type of people.
7. The Leader: This is when the champion becomes an inspiration. Champions achieve their goals. Leaders go one step further by transforming their achievements into something bigger than themselves. The leader not only triumphs but leads by example. Not all champions are leaders, but all leaders are champions.

Before I explain each archetype in detail, I want to make some clarifications about the nature of the Virtuous Circle.

The Virtuous Circle is not . . .

Magic: It’s not about waving a wand over your life so that solutions magically rain from the sky. Nor is it a recipe to become a millionaire overnight. The Virtuous Circle i...