What do you see?
And now back to our regularly scheduled programming.
How often to we approach our little part of the world as a series of “I-just-gotta-get-through-this and then I can -” Have you caught yourself promising yourself, the gods, the universe that as soon as I get through this project I will be all caught up and I can focus on life in general.
Hmmmmm maybe resolutions are not just for breakfast anymore, or New Years Day for that matter. It seems as if every few weeks some of us set our To Do list aside and adopt a “Resolution of the Month (or week or day) club.”
Maybe I am the sole serial resolutioner in the world. Anyone? Anyone?
How do you see the world around you? When you look around and see the things that are going on around you where does your focus and energy go?
- With my luck, what else could go wrong?
- That was a great learning experience, NEXT
- When will the other shoe drop?
- Wow look what I did. Tah-Dah!
- When will they realize they hired the wrong person?
- I got this!
- Other _________________________
- More _________________________
So, did you choose something from the odd numbered grouping or the even numbers? How do you see your life and your ability in the world? Is it from a position of LACKING something (odd numbers) or from an ABUNDANT paradigm (even numbers)? There are times that we can realize that we made a wrong decision or that a current idea might not have been our most brilliant approach to the world, that happens from time to time. Our value isn’t wrapped up in the fact that we made a wrong decision. Perhaps we should revel in the fact that we made a decision and had some movement rather than fretting and worrying about the outcome and missing out on an opportunity or just motion of any sort.
Atrophy stinks. If you have ever had a broken bone or sprained something and you have had to have a limb in a cast think of what it looks like (and maybe even the stale odor that wafts out) when you remove the cast. So, move something. Move anything. Move everything. If you make a wrong move, FIX IT. Duh! I read in Covey’s book on seven habits many years ago – People don’t FAIL, they QUIT. Apathy is quitting.
We have an opportunity to look at everything from many (or maybe 2) different vantage points. Take the bar code (image) in the beginning of this post. They don’t call them Universal Product Codes (UPC) for nothing. These ubiquitous patterns are everywhere, everyday. When you first look at it what do you see? Do you see a series of black stripes of various sizes with some numbers in a variety of patterns along the bottom? Yeah. Sure. That is what it could be. OR perhaps you see a series of white stripes of various patterns peaking out at you over those numbers at the bottom. Whether your description was the black stripes or the white stripes isn’t the real point at all. Both are correct. Actually maybe the answer is (c.) All of the Above.
The point of the UPC conversation is that there are more ways to the answers than we sometimes think about. Particularly when we are in the midst of moving from one series of resolutions and/or projects to the next, life is more than preparing for one 100-yard dash to the next.
I have had the blessings of several mentors in my life. One of those cherished individuals along my journey was my adviser and marketing professor. He taught me two important things that I have used almost daily since my undergraduate days. Maxim #1 – The product is what the consumer thinks it is, nothing more. Two key words stick out here that some will read and say – oh, I don’t sell anything so this does not apply to me. Those words are: product and consumer. I SUBMIT, to all who might think this way, which is faulty thinking. We have to stop and think for a minute what is the PRODUCT and who is/are CONSUMER? We all sell something. If you are looking for a job or a promotion…guess what YOU are the product and the consumer is the committee deciding your fate. Feel free to fill in your own products and consumer words along the way. Maxim #2 – Perception is everything. If, our audience (i.e., spouse, partner(s), students, boss, target audience, etc) has a skewed picture of what you are presenting or offering you are stuck with their misinformation and no deal is struck.
What is your perception of your own life and ability? Do you approach from a lacking perspective or are you more of an abundant person? When you work with others, do you help them see their own abundant being? What’s the perception of your products?
“Life is 10 percent what you make it and 90 percent how you take it.” – Irving Berlin
“Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves.” – CC Jung
RawAbility 