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.
Comments
Post a Comment