SIX THINGS
Friday Dec. 13, 2013
Friday.
The thirteenth.
Oh, my …
Lucky day!
I’m heading off shortly to a meeting – about some very difficult tasks. They aren’t impossible. I believe they are difficult. I believe I can mount them, ride them and harness them or at least get them improving in a similar direction. I’m meeting with someone I don’t know, someone who holds the key, based on his beliefs of what is possible, or not. I expect he’ll downplay the enormity of the tasks and be skeptical of my capability – that’s his job I suppose, to choose the best service provider . . .
My task is to demonstrate I hold the key to creating a successful result. Smug? Perhaps I am. Arrogant? Of course. Believing I am the one, the only, the most appropriate choice – of course I have that confidence. But that comes with an appreciation of the enormity of the problems to be solved, tasks to be done, expectations to be managed.
Impossible dreams, impossible tasks, impossible people, impossible odds – who knew it could be so tough? Many have tried, failed, given up, thrown up their hands. Possible dreams, possible tasks, possible-believing people, probably odds – what changed?
Not the facts, people or goals – only attitude, perspective, belief, confidence.
Have you ever done SWOT analysis exercises, identifying – strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats?
Is it all that simple, or is every complex problem, still complex even when broken down into its mini-parts, its components of history and mystery, facts and misunderstandings, realities and misperceptions of reality?
Today, this morning, I’m armed with two things – imagination and attitude. Belief and confidence. Knowing what I know and understanding what I don’t know. OK that’s three pairs of things. I guess I’m armed with six things.
Becoming who we are and what we are made of isn’t a culmination of our ingredients, and aging. Unless you are cheese.
Who we are is a far more complex recipe of experiences and thinking, shattered dreams and picking ourselves up again, overcoming what life throws down on our path – rising over it or going around, finding solutions in the middle of someone’s malaise by saying ‘Hey, can you tell me your problem? Maybe I can help?”
Beginning.
And end.
Bookends of our existence, have nothing to do with what is on our shelf, what is on our plate, what constitutes our agenda.
Agendas are nice.
Tidy.
Perhaps a symptom of an orderly mind.
Just as a messy desk doesn’t mean you are scatter-brained, a concise agenda means little beyond the organization of those thoughts on that piece of paper at that moment. More like a balance sheet, than a budget. More like an accounting tool than manifesto.
Organizations have and regularly make statements of purpose – of mission, vision, values.
Is that important? Or, a vestige of style points from a time which has swiftly past?
What matters?
People matter, still.
They always have but need of organizations still drive the collective agenda – don’t they, because numbers matter, aggregated power is formidable and amassed funds are dauntingly intoxicating.
How is connection made?
Maybe, by reversing how it was lost.
Unless that connection never existed in the first place, then how can it be made?
Cervantes encouraged us to dream impossible dreams.
Who asked us to do impossible tasks?
I think that falls into three groups – those who want something off their plate, those who believe it can be done but just don’t know how, and those who will agree with me in a belief that – notwithstanding incredible difficulty – that a solution really is possible.
I’m hoping for that third kind – and then, it might be a lucky day.
Mark Kolke
200,584
column written/ published from Calgary
morning walk: -13C / 8F, dark, fresh – refreshing, traffic light, fresh dusting of snow overnight, Gusta and I jogged up the long hill with enthusiasm fit for a day of daring boldly!
Comments Received:
Hi Mark, Your daily writings help give me an idea of you and that helps. I do appreciate your honesty and the thorough way you look at the facets of issues. That is a rare quality. I love the deep quiet of winter and in this area it is all too brief. You may experience it differently given that it lingers so long. I do not understand the compulsion to socialize heavily when every cell in my body wants to sit and be quiet in synchronicity with the quiet of the winter. For us the riot of spring starts in February so I know I need to enjoy what we have now as it will not last long. I send my best. Be well, MH, San Francisco, CA
