Whenever you feel a loss of power and effectiveness in your life – a.k.a. stuck – there’s a good chance it’s because you’re not being honest with yourself. Meaning there’s a good chance you’re not acknowledging your true feelings – your fears, struggles, confusion, hopes & dreams. Now you’re probably not doing it for a lot of good reasons. That sort of honesty can be uncomfortable…
You’ve got wonderful thoughts in your head – big thoughts, passionate thoughts, thoughts that make you come alive when you think about them. We all do. These are our lifeblood – where we find meaning and purpose. One of the challenges we all face is bringing these thoughts to the light of day. Letting them leave the womb of our mind to face a world that can demand clarity that we don’t yet have. This threat of exposure can give us pause.
Your personal truth. It’s a feeling. Before you can even put it into words, it’s there. It’s a knowing about who you need to be – and what you need to be doing. Sometimes it’s unclear. And when it is, the great chewing complacency of the world will try to rip it from your grasp. It will offer you mediocrity in return. Don’t take it. Trust the feeling – however faint. It will grow stronger. It will get clearer.
It’s subtle and pervasive in many corporate cultures. Talk substituting for action. I’ve often found a frequent offender to be the manager who’s gung-ho about a new management book. He likes the concepts. He talks about them often. He gets others to read the book. They like them too. The book’s jargon makes its way into their everyday language…
By definition, if you want to create something extraordinary you’ve got to leave the majority. You’ve got to break free from commonly accepted ideas and practices and go out on a limb. The catch, of course, is that you risk your sanity in the process. It’s never easy to be a non-conformist, dissenter, or rebel. You end up walking the fine line between crazy and brilliant.
Last week I facilitated a planning offsite for the senior leaders of a financial services firm. They’re a sharp group known for taking smart risks and have been very successful at it over the last 20 years. Never ones to hold back, the conversation became very intense at one point. Two executives angrily argued back and forth on an issue for 10 minutes. The temperature in the room felt like it had tripled in that time. We needed to break the tension.
Greatness isn’t calculated and it’s never by the book. It’s born from the moments when – after studying the book – you put it down and let your instincts take over. The moments when you stop thinking, trust what’s in your bones, and let loose. However, it never happens on its own. Preparation is key…
The person with the firmest grip on reality is the one who realizes that he DOESN’T have a firm grip on reality. That his opinions are always limited to the world he’s seen. And that no matter who he is, that world is small. He stands by his opinions, but has no illusions that they’re “right”. His power comes from humility.
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