Bean's Landing

The buzz words of our time often come in the form of risk, failure, courage, and other action oriented verbs. We constantly reinforce a concept that in order to get the rewards out of life you must be willing to assume risk. It is kind of a natural law. You want the apple, climb the tree (no biblical reference meant, I am just eating breakfast).

Does this constant reinforcement make our message less meaningful? Do people start to ignore it because they hear it all the time? This is the way mass marketing falls apart. Bug me enough with your crap and eventually I will just tune you out. The problem is that the risk reward message is not crap.

Maybe the message begins as nonverbal cues from parents to children who yet have learned about commonly repeated “buzz” words. Often we suppress children’s natural tendency to take risk to discover something new out of a wrongly assumed mantra of “good” parenting. Don’t let Hannah touch that stove, she will scar her hand. Are we not assuming that she won’t do something risky while we can’t see her and receive the scar anyways?

Now, I am not saying that what we need is negligence and absolute abandonment. But, I am saying that the way we teach our children, the things they see us do, the way we react to their behaviour, is typically how they will end up reacting until they are old enough to discover freedom and risk for themselves. By then it is often too late, and the conformist nature of non-risk  taking individuals often leaves them with jobs they hate, debt they cannot escape, and habits they feel mystified about ever assuming. To me that sounds like the greatest risk of all.

should be no different from transforming yourself. Yet, we become experts, receive MBA’s, and read countless bestsellers on the practice of transitional management approaches, while we ignore the model dictated by our own nature. It should be roughly the same methodology to change yourself as it is to change your organization. Sure, you will always have outliers, people who deviate from the common practice. But don’t you also have habits, or problems, within yourself that don’t fit the common solution model?

The basic idea is this. Before you push your people to take on more responsibility, pursue ever-more-demanding personal development goals, and embark on decision-making that currently scares the bejesus out of them, maybe you should focus on getting them to buy in. The leader who can tie individuals back to a mission that supersedes their personal self-indulgences, and sees a mission as benefiting the whole will ultimately be more successful.

This is not an altruistic point of view, but rather it states the simple fact that I am better with you than I am without you. When you seek to change that new year’s resolution, that ever pressing problem at work, or the educational model that never seems to work, first look at why it matters and tie your people back to that.

This idea is fresh in my mind. All supporting or contrasting point-of-view are welcome for its refinement.

Often the greatest barrier facing a project has nothing to do with talent, time put in, or resources.  Time and time again teams who work together often leap over the highest hurdles in the world. So, why do we buy into the idea that gossip is an okay and normal activity.

I see it everyday taking place in my work. The whispers, the blatant attack behind another’s back, the casual dropping of a hint to see if you are a willing participant in the rumor spreading. All of this while the castle burns. We see it everywhere, from the network news to supposed Reality TV, but why do we so willingly participate in the destruction of a fellow employee, not to mention human being.

I think it’s fear. It seems we are afraid of the real challenge of facing the great obstacles of success, so we resort back to petty commentary on the faults of another. Still want to focus on another’s weaknesses? How about helping them with the things you see they could be doing better? But, this takes courage, and respect, and consistency, and commitment, and bravery, and all of those other things people who gossip tend to lack.

Having trouble with a project? Listen more closely to the conversations outside of that project and therein may lie the solution.

Often when we set out to lead a project, others, or ourselves we run through the list of things we need to do. But, leading is often a matter of being able to recognize what you shouldn’t do and being really good at not doing those things.

When we want to lead our families it is often a function of not getting into tremendous debt, not having an affair on our spouse, and not leaving your kids alone to fight the forces of society. When we want to lead ourselves we often don’t eat that Twinkie, don’t watch that extra hour of TV, and don’t sleep until 12 on weekdays.

Sure, there are plenty of things leaders must do in order to lead. But, there is often very little good work we can do if we are spending too much time doing a lot of the things we should not do. Know where you are weak, vulnerable, or over qualified and stay away from those things at all cost.

How often do we only define OUR market as that which makes us a profit? After all, this is the point of the game, right? Set up your service, define your market, properly serve your market, and watch the money roll in…

But, what if your business, by virtue of its necessity for all, places you in front of markets who take profit rather than produce it. Often is the case in industries such as Health Care, where the product is that of life, that we do not get the option to turn down certain markets. But, so often we don’t see them as the market, we see them as burdens, the thing interfering profits, the single most destructive thing to our grand plans. We are good at defining this market.  Our service is there and it’s the best in the world, so why isn’t the money rolling in?

Perhaps it is not a problem of elimination, but a problem of service. Maybe we should look how to service these markets, and not how to destroy them.

This really is the question we should be asking ourselves. More times than not, it is a matter of what you are willing to do to get where you want to go. The phrase is common “beg,steal, or borrow” but do we put much thought into what it means to actually live that? Do we use it as a phrase to live out the term literally?

Beg? Right off the bat this feels submissive and degrading. After all, who in the hell wants to live life on their knees? Beg God for wisdom. Beg your wife for understanding and faith. Beg your children for trust. Beg yourself not to quit. That’s not so bad, is it?

Steal? Steal time from TV and shitty advertisements that want to sell you junk you don’t want, won’t use, and don’t need. Steal time from gossip and do something that changes the world, even if it’s only one person’s world. Steal time from petty inconveniences and learn to enjoy the beauty of all of life. Steal time wasted on what you are not, and focus on what you are.

Borrow? Borrow the wisdom of the sages and turn it into your own. Borrow money if you can turn a profit (tread carefully here). Borrow a friend’s time to have a conversation. Borrow recipes, witches brews, potions, and soap with all that you meet. Remember food and beer (wine for some) are the unanimous uniter.

So, there it is. Love what you got, go after what you want, and be content with what you receive. We are all on this wheel.

Ever feel like your constant starting produces even more stopping? That the sudden light bulb of impulse yanks you away from your current task to work on the now-more-important one? Some times we work in settings where fires must be fought, but often our switch is brought on by a mere lack of focus and diligence.

We all know about focus. It’s the Holy Grail of energy drinks and childhood disorders. Focus demands more of our health dollar than almost anything other than 6-pack abs. So, we will not look much at this. But, what about diligence?

How often do you approach a task and finish it all the way through, with the utmost of your skill? There is much evidence that this is the best way to extract the most goodness from any situation. Pick your task, know what finished-well looks like, and work until you produce the results. Wash and repeat.

What effect would this have on your life? Finishing that last workout every single time. Eating those 2 vegetables everyday. I am sure you could name a 100 things in this category.

Just on my mind. Throwing it out there.

Are we really doing right to our fellow-man by ensuring his constant social security? This does not refer to the Retirement plan, but to the undeniable security of his social being for, what seems to be, infinity. Are we lowering standards while raising expectations? That’s a hell of a cocktail to play with.

High expectations are the exact things freedom is made of. Tell a man what he can be, give him the basic tools to get there, and leave him free to go get it. Seems fairly simple. This system requires high individual standards, a reliance on self-reliance, and typically goodwill to do good. In a free society the hopes is that the junk will be run out-of-town.  Admittedly, this is not always the case.

But, our current system finds us going the opposite direction. We lower our standards in school, set up systems that place responsibility on the whole and off the individual, kill self-reliance by guaranteeing a pretty good “bare” minimum. This only hinders the poorest of our citizens, getting them further away from the life they deserve to have. When we guarantee their survival for life, we suppress an instinct for survival for life.

The poor in our country suffer not from a lack of income, but from a lack of capability to get ahead.

is a phrase you should mind fully look for. Taking your baby to the park, packing up the stroller, loading up the dog for a jog in the park, learning and controlling some of your investment process, or reading a book that challenges your assumptions are all things that people would often consider more trouble than they are worth. But, this approach of not doing something because it is difficult leaves value on the table, and that is exactly where you want to be.

There is very little to be gained from settling for the most comfortable approach to a situation. While taking your daughter to the park may not be new, the experience is alive and fresh and encourages her to step outside her zone, and yours as well. You know what’s not new? That re-run. That same-ole toy. That same-ole dance. There is a lot to be gained from doing the things most people find more trouble than it’s worth. But, then again going the comfortable route insures you won’t fail, right?

The idea has been around for thousands of years. The concept of using the heavier weight of one object to elevate and place another, important object is literally the fulcrum upon which the modern world pivots. But, how do we use it in our personal lives?

Leverage is often refered to as using people to get what you want out of them, but this idea seems ultimately fruitless and disadvantageous. Yet, being open to and aware of people when they sincerely want to help you is a skill anybody can harness. Very often the people who can help you get where you are going want to help you get there. People like to promote their own kind.

This is the basis of all mentor relationships. Being genuine friends with someone is more than politics on a tailgate over a 12 pack of beers. It is a mutual alliance towards shared values, shared interest, or shared objectives. We work best when we are in teams because it is impossible for us to hold the shared experiences of everyone on the team.

The theme is this: Let people promote you, and be constantly promoting others.