Sometimes the m is silent when you follow the masses.
In her post Bernadette Jiwa on the dress (you know which one – don’t pretend you don’t) says ” If you’re following the crowd then you’re not creating your own unique voice” . The temptation to try get some of the shine from the 35 Million views that BuzzFeed got can be irresistible (I know because I RTed the post too). But the best interaction I get is from content that I had a hand in, something triggered by an observation while walking, reading, showering, writing, speaking, listening, running, meditating that I add my personal voice to.
Mediocrity is the child of conformity and is nursed on bland pablum until it has no teeth. Take a bite out of an idea today and raise a bit of a ruckus with your opinion, position, contribution.
Are you an adder or a subtracter? Most of us add and subtract value every day. At the end of the day, what is your +/- rating? Are you giving excellence to your work, relationships and self?
Having a net positive day, week, life doesn’t happen by accident. It requires intention and action that is pointed to creating value. It requires persistence in the face of convenience. It requires character.
Just being aware that all our choices and actions have consequences, good or bad, is a great first step. You can make a difference. Your decisions change you, change your relationships, change your relationships and change your world.
I am intentionally trying to be healthier. When I run, workout, play sports, walk, resist temptations I am taking positive steps toward living healthier. As I work to get healthier, others see my efforts. My relationship with my beloved, my kids, my family, my friends is improved when I feel better. My community doesn’t need to have space, resources or energy to devote to my care and can direct it where it is needed most. When I go to the gym today, eat more fruits and vegetables, moderate my vices I can add these to the positive side of my ledger.
When a client requests my services and I don’t do my best, I subtract. When one of my grandkids needs a receptive ear and I am there – I add. When I don’t react to being delayed in traffic or angrily curse at being cutoff – I add.
Are you up to a challenge? Would you observe as many of your intentions and actions as you can for the next 7 days and record whether they are positive or negative. Will you try to add value and excellence in every situation, for just the next 168 hours? If you are up to it, I would appreciate (and I am sure other readers would too) if you would comment on this post or associated tweet with #value and your total?
Make Today Remarkable. Make adding value your problem.
I get to make a lot of choices every day. I choose what I eat, when I sleep, where I go and how I get there. I choose how I feel in specific situations, why I say the things I do, who I listen to, and if I am going to live up to my expectations for myself. I choose to trust and then that choice becomes invisible.
Trust doesn’t mean that all my expectations of myself or others will be met. Trust doesn’t mean that I won’t be disappointed. Trust doesn’t mean that I am on moral high ground.
Trust is the frame that I choose, today, to wrap my life experiences, thoughts, and passions in.
It doesn’t make me gullible. It doesn’t deny me the right to question. It doesn’t close the discussion. Trust helps make the picture in the frame easier to see and maybe understand.
In a world where the distrust index continues to rise, I wonder if we can reverse the spiral by choosing to trust.
We worry about what a child will become tomorrow, yet we forget that he is someone today. ~Stacia Tauscher
How do we honor our children and grandchildren regardless of their age?
– be a great listener (listen intently and listen globally to what is said and unsaid)
– be equitable ( try to bring what is needed to each child in each situation, not just their share, not what they deserve but what they need)
– be a confidant ( keep the secrets that are shared unless danger is involved)
– be a reliable parent ( quality time only works if their is enough quantity time for the relationship to blossom)
A child can ask questions that a wise man cannot answer. ~Author Unknown
I am often surrounded by people who think they are experts. I am often one of them, myself. My expertise blinds me with bias and blinkers me to options. I hope to learn to be more like my grandchildren who ask with curiousity not problem solving at the heart.
Even if you’re on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there. – Will Rogers
My impatient, imperfectionist with an action bias shining through.
I am heading into a couple of days of strategic positioning and exploration. I am always excited by the prospects and like many people a bit apprehensive about the unknown.
Without tradition, art is a flock of sheep without a shepherd. Without innovation, it is a corpse. ~Winston Churchill
Ambiguity fits with my style and I am comfortable stepping forward when the path isn’t clear but those around me might need more certainty.
Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower. ~Steve Job
The cusp of greatness is upon us but large institutions and individuals are resistant. How do we get our feet moving? The first small step is just a first small step, but the second and third and … are what propels movement. I commit to taking five steps and seeing if that unsticks us.
Mindless habitual behavior is the enemy of innovation. ~ Rosabeth Moss Kanter
“Prediction is very difficult, especially if it’s about the future.” – Niels Bohr
“The groundhog is like most other prophets; it delivers its prediction and then disappears.” Bill Vaughn
” He who asks fortune-tellers the future unwittingly forfeits an inner intimation of coming events that is a thousand times more exact than anything they may say. He is impelled by inertia, rather than curiosity, and nothing is more unlike the submissive apathy with which he hears his fate revealed than the alert dexterity with which the man of courage lays hands on the future.” – Walter Benjamin
My prediction for you is;
If you make it (the issue you are most passionate about) your problem, you can make a difference in your world. If you find two other passionate people who make it their problem, the ripples become bigger. If they find two people and they find two people.. you can see a river of change take place in their life and the world and people they care about.
“Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative and creation, there is one elementary truth the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one’s favor all manner of unforeseen incidents, meetings and material assistance which no man could have dreamed would have come his way. Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it. Begin it now.” Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe
Start today with a commitment to make it your problem.
Have you ever lost your voice? Too much partying? Caught a bug while travelling?
Did you feel helpless? Did the silence seem somehow calming? How did you make yourself understood?
Words, ideas, conversation, debate are all very important to me and define how I see myself and how others see me. Ten years ago, my sister gave me a coffee mug that said “Everyone is Entitled to My Opinion” – I think she was joking, half joking.
I get the opportunity to express myself in one on one discussion, group settings and large presentations. My ideas and opinions are heard. My gratitude and outrage has an audience. My personality allows me to speak provocatively and honestly into almost every circumstance.
What if I lost my voice? Overuse, exertion illness all could cause the vibrancy and volume of by voice to disappear, temporarily. Cancer or another disease could rob me of my rants more permanently. But I would find a way to be heard. You are listening right now to the words I pounded out on my keyboard. I could paint, dance, direct and still have a voice. I have a position of privilege that helps my voice be heard. Some of the privilege has been earned through education, persistence, hard work, networking, reputation and some was inherited when I won the ovarian lottery. I don’t know what the percentages from merit or mother.
Some remarkable people among us go unheard every day. A single mom busy raising 2 remarkable children and working 1 and ½ jobs to make ends meet may be too busy and weary to stake her claim to a soapbox. Children express themselves often and often loudly but the distractions of the world leave us missing their real point. Seniors, who have much to teach us, don’t receive the respect their have earned.
I can become a better listener, an audience for those who have lost their voice. You can intentionally invite someone to tell their story and really listen to them tell it. You may not be able to do anything else (or you maybe you can) but listen.
I can become an advocate for the voiceless – not from my perspective but after listening, from theirs. You can retell the stories you hear to your circle of influence.
I can approach voicelessness – mine and others and make it my problem. Will you make it your problem?
Make Today Remarkable, for someone you don’t know,
Make It Your Problem 