Better


Better

In a way, this is a lament. It is a call to be better, but you must cut through the undergrowth to get there. We all resist this, but some less than others. These are called leaders.  You are to be understood as that you have a set of items common to all people. Some discipline them better and sooner than others, and some bend them to fit a pattern or desired end that will sometimes put them in the side track of success. Able to see it but unable to get back to the mainline of success. Some actually like to go to the siding and to then complain the entire time they are being there, in this place they know so well. They are addicted to victimhood. The book "The Peter Principle" discusses this, and the idea was that you rise to one step above your capability and then will hopefully get moved into the next place back and regain your momentum, but plateau there. Most of the time you will have so soiled your current abode to the point of needing to flee and you take your lack of awareness with you and then despoil your next landed position. We know these people... we hope we aren't these people.

The Ode to listening is about a number of things, but mostly they are later iterations of the small group of easy ones. Listen, to your heart, you know yourself better than others do, but be vigilantly and brutally honest. Listen to the counsel of good people that have more knowledge or wisdom than you. Listen to the noise of distractions and discipline them out. Listen to the knowledge that you are not listening to an important subset (above or below your station) that would be of value. Listen to how you can help someone else, then act. Listen to your detractors, but only for ways to improve.

This list is similar to the Fibonacci sequence, in a way. If you do this to your current or next station or position you will be different, but in a way that your actions make that difference different. Work this idea this way: I will listen, apply, grow, teach, and repeat. Like doing math, if all you do is see the pattern of hieroglyphs and not the process you will stop at two digit addition. If you learn the process you will then move to the next step. You need this for algebra, and you need algebra for higher math. Similarly, to only think about your own career, position, or friends, then you become insular and narrowly confined. To walk past the shoeshine guy or room service and not acknowledge them is to telegraph that they are invisible and you are a narcissist. You want your room clean and you probably need to shine your shoes, so at least acknowledge their humanity and then leave a respectful tip. It is the same with your sycophant fawning and shallow attending to your boss and disregarding of those that work under you. They all see both and think you are slimy... go listen to them and then apply, grow, then teach what you have learned about yourself.

When you implement this life pattern your next position will allow you to learn from others that know more than you and that you can apply in a new way. It is the math thing of Fibonacci that amplifies. By the third iteration your growth is outstripping the ability of others to grow parallel to you. Like buying rental property and getting an income, if you are using that income to buy another property and your competition is buying a new boat your next round will outpace their ability. It matters not if you are a recruiter or a manager. If you discipline the throughput your next round will be amplified. It is a pattern with friends, cooking skills, listening and life. The ability to use your last experience to avoid repeating errors or to grow faster happens. Then you grow faster faster...

The last point on this is when to plateau. That is your call, and you need to have a place to do this. Everyone on a bus needs to know where to get off. Even the driver. Entropy and stasis happen. Lean into it. Make a strategy to get off of the bus someplace or you will end up going to the terminal with the driver, except the driver belongs there. You don't. The place you ended up is called regret. The peter principle is now your friend... This Ode to listening is about waking up. Paying attention. Find a stick and start whacking the undergrowth that is slowing you down. Tie a bandana around your forehead and get started out of the morass that you have found yourself. Take some friends to a higher ground and burn something! Listen... That is the sound of your Dreams... They are beating in your heart, waiting to be heard.

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