TASKS AND OPPORTUNITIES
Friday, August 13, 2021
Directions change suddenly, results can vary, from full stop to full-on raceway …
Ah+ha moments arrive, much like people do.
They arrive without expectation or warning; they distinguish themselves from those oh+oh moments.
The ah+ha conversations are unscripted, revealing surprise when least expected.
Sometimes changing little, or changing everything.
I was talking recently, finally, after many attempts to reach him …
He was the last member of a group, volunteers I was connecting with one-to-one for the first time. I was mildly cranky; it had taken too long. Finally, we talked. It turned out to be a wonderful and enlightening exchange. He’s on board, keen to help, and he revealed information and perspective, which tells me he’ll be far more valuable than expected. Ah+ha indeed!
Sometimes people with gigantic brains and best ideas reveal themselves and their ideas slowly – they choose their timing, we don’t.
Their choice of what to reveal and when is sometimes tactical, but just as often because I hadn’t asked the right question or set the stage for them to put it forward. In hindsight, I’m so glad he wasn’t available earlier, for we might have missed the magic in this exchange. Slower/later turned out much better.
I’ve had some tumult lately, some very specific and the cumulative impact of several things colliding simultaneously. Just as collaborative and cooperative terms are similar but not the same, I would describe this as the culmination of many past experiences being available or in my repertoire to be known – right now – for a broad spectrum of tasks and opportunities at hand.
Some days, when the day is done, I feel like a weary old man who postponed his midlife crisis far too long – and who now needs one!
On the other hand, in many respects, the stresses of the last two years and the tumult of recent weeks have collided – neither collaborative nor cooperative, but complementary in the ‘fitting together’ meaning of those words. I see choppy water ahead on both professional and personal fronts – not from fear of trouble but from the exhilaration of the ride directly into the next big wave …
I imagine kayakers navigating swift rapids getting the same thrill of that ride, whether that river leads to a glassy lake or over an unexpected cascading waterfall – but life’s like that.
Sure, kayakers have maps and know where they are going.
In life, we have maps too; we do our homework and benefit from what we know, where we’ve been and use so many tools to figure out how we will get to our next destination or capitalize on a great opportunity that just revealed itself …
But all that depends on predictability.
Life, on the other hand, is never predictable. Sure, actuaries, economists, and professors tell us what has a high degree of probability, but they are collectively less reliable than the weatherman used to be.
The next opportunity or call or meeting might be the end of life as we know it or the beginning of a new life we never imagined …