Reflections
Leaders,
managers,
owners
need
to be
their own
interpreters.
Even though
you may think
you are being clear,
all those who
work for
and
work with
you
aren’t inside your
head.
Explain yourself
in a way
those around you
can
understand.
State your purposes clearly.
And repeat often,
no one gets it the first time.
(Oh,
maybe this applies
to all of us.)
A child
walking along a beach
begins picking up shells.
Soon her hands are full.
Instead of setting down a few,
she calls over a friend or parent
to hold them
so she can pick up more.
These end up in a bag or jar
somewhere in her room,
forgotten.
Until Mom or Dad
ask if they can be thrown away.
“No. No.” She cries.
And forgets about them again.
Like children,
adults pick up
projects,
to-dos,
positions,
expectations
and have a difficult time putting them down.
Maybe it’s time to look around
your life
and
see what you’ve
picked up
which needs to be
put down.
Imagine what you could do if your hands
were empty.
You do too much.
Period.
What good work are you doing
that isn’t your highest good?
Where are you
serving,
working,
spending time
where it’s more of a
“should”
and not
a
“I get to”
do this?
It’s time
to let go
of one of these.
Because when you do
too much,
you’re not really
doing much
well.
Do you want to feel great?
Make others feel great.
Do you want to feel lifted up?
Lift others up.
Do you want to get better?
Help others get better.
Almost anything you want
comes from helping others
get the same thing.
So why aren’t more of us
doing it?
If your
life’s work
isn’t
to inspire,
what is it?
Remember,
some of the most
important,
impactful,
loving,
caring,
grace-filled,
work
is being done
by
people
you will
never
hear about.
So do yours
no matter
who is looking.
You’ve heard it before.
The voice speaking in hushed tones
reminding you of
who you are
and
what you are capable of creating.
And “real life” smothered it.
The message comes quietly
from time to time
telling you
what’s killing you
and
what needs to end.
And “practicality” smothered it.
As you’ve grown older,
it grows quieter
and more insistent
at the same time.
It’s smothered more quickly now
by your
ruts
and
routines.
Yet it still speaks
of your deepest unrealized yearnings.
When will you listen?
Smothering the whisper
is smothering
yourself.
If you want lasting impact,
showing up
and
caring
beats
showing up
and
bullying.
(Everyone nods head in agreement.)
The problem is
your way of
caring
may feel like
bullying
to everyone else.
Find ways to
gain awareness
of your
impact.
(The easiest way:
Ask someone on your team
for honest feedback
and
give no rebuttal
to what they tell you.
If you cannot do this,
your caring might be bullying.)
Keep your head down.
Work hard.
Keep your nose to the grindstone.
Good advice, I suppose,
if you want
to miss
what’s happening all around you
and
if you want to eliminate your nose.
Conference-goers used to bring
a pen and a notebook,
no bag.
Later, they begin bringing their own bags.
Then, the conferences started giving them branded bags.
With technology’s advent conference-goers
brought
a laptop, a pen, a notebook,
and the bag got bigger.
Today’s conference-goers drag
rolling bags filled with
computers, dongles,
pens, notebooks,
snacks and ??
The bags get bigger.
Maybe it’s time to question
what we are carrying around
at conferences
and
in life.
